My experience with Hackintosh

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: oppie1
has anyone gotten an Ati Radeon x600 pci working with iAtkos? i've spent the past week trying to get it work...i cant get the screen resolution off 1024 x 768

thanks

Have you tried this yet?

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=81179

 

[Plester]

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
I'm trying to decide between going with a Q6600 and a 7600GT or a dual-core Core 2 Duo/Pentium E and maybe an 8800GT.

I like playing Source games, World of Warcraft (Sometimes, not addicted), roms/emulators, I might pick up COD4 but I have a PS3 for that.

My main concern is Final Cut Pro/Publishing, iMovie, Photoshop (I will modify the ethernet ID for it to work).

Just installed Final Cut Studio 2 on my P5K-E/E6600/gf7800GT hackintosh (iATKOS) and it runs great. The hackintosh opens up a whole new world for video editors who want to run FCP on overclocked hardware. My E6600 runs at 3.46 which cuts down render times significantly compared to stock 2.4ghz. A new E8400 or 8500 at 4ghz will do wonders. Just can't achieve that kind of performance on real Apple hardware.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Plester

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
I'm trying to decide between going with a Q6600 and a 7600GT or a dual-core Core 2 Duo/Pentium E and maybe an 8800GT.

I like playing Source games, World of Warcraft (Sometimes, not addicted), roms/emulators, I might pick up COD4 but I have a PS3 for that.

My main concern is Final Cut Pro/Publishing, iMovie, Photoshop (I will modify the ethernet ID for it to work).

Just installed Final Cut Studio 2 on my P5K-E/E6600/gf7800GT hackintosh (iATKOS) and it runs great. The hackintosh opens up a whole new world for video editors who want to run FCP on overclocked hardware. My E6600 runs at 3.46 which cuts down render times significantly compared to stock 2.4ghz. A new E8400 or 8500 at 4ghz will do wonders. Just can't achieve that kind of performance on real Apple hardware.

Plus you can run Qmaster and build a Hackintosh render farm on the cheap

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Plester

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
I'm trying to decide between going with a Q6600 and a 7600GT or a dual-core Core 2 Duo/Pentium E and maybe an 8800GT.

I like playing Source games, World of Warcraft (Sometimes, not addicted), roms/emulators, I might pick up COD4 but I have a PS3 for that.

My main concern is Final Cut Pro/Publishing, iMovie, Photoshop (I will modify the ethernet ID for it to work).

Just installed Final Cut Studio 2 on my P5K-E/E6600/gf7800GT hackintosh (iATKOS) and it runs great. The hackintosh opens up a whole new world for video editors who want to run FCP on overclocked hardware. My E6600 runs at 3.46 which cuts down render times significantly compared to stock 2.4ghz. A new E8400 or 8500 at 4ghz will do wonders. Just can't achieve that kind of performance on real Apple hardware.

While I am all for Hackintosh, and wouldn't mind trying it myself one day, your statement about not being able to achieve that same performance on Apple hardware is a little off I would think.

I would think that 8 Xeons at 3.2GHz with 1.6GHz FSBs and 32GB RAM would do quite nicely.

Now, I would agree that you are able to build a very powerful system that can run OS X for very cheap, but comparing Core 2 Duos to Xeons is a little off.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Plester

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
I'm trying to decide between going with a Q6600 and a 7600GT or a dual-core Core 2 Duo/Pentium E and maybe an 8800GT.

I like playing Source games, World of Warcraft (Sometimes, not addicted), roms/emulators, I might pick up COD4 but I have a PS3 for that.

My main concern is Final Cut Pro/Publishing, iMovie, Photoshop (I will modify the ethernet ID for it to work).

Just installed Final Cut Studio 2 on my P5K-E/E6600/gf7800GT hackintosh (iATKOS) and it runs great. The hackintosh opens up a whole new world for video editors who want to run FCP on overclocked hardware. My E6600 runs at 3.46 which cuts down render times significantly compared to stock 2.4ghz. A new E8400 or 8500 at 4ghz will do wonders. Just can't achieve that kind of performance on real Apple hardware.

While I am all for Hackintosh, and wouldn't mind trying it myself one day, your statement about not being able to achieve that same performance on Apple hardware is a little off I would think.

I would think that 8 Xeons at 3.2GHz with 1.6GHz FSBs and 32GB RAM would do quite nicely.

Now, I would agree that you are able to build a very powerful system that can run OS X for very cheap, but comparing Core 2 Duos to Xeons is a little off.

Actually there IS a good comparison between Core 2 chips and Xeons. I overclocked my 2.4ghz Core 2 Quad to 3.0ghz and benchmarked it against a Quad 3.0ghz Xeon (dual dual-core) Mac Pro (both 65nm). Here are the results:

5574 - dual 3.0ghz dual-core Xeons (Mac Pro)

6011 - single 2.4ghz @ 3.0ghz quad-core Core 2 Quad

437 points more than the Mac Pro! The Core 2 Duo performance would be more akin to the iMac, but you would get better performance since a Hackintosh uses desktop parts instead of laptop parts (although the iMac does use a 3.5" hard drive), plus you can overclock for improved performance.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Plester

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
I'm trying to decide between going with a Q6600 and a 7600GT or a dual-core Core 2 Duo/Pentium E and maybe an 8800GT.

I like playing Source games, World of Warcraft (Sometimes, not addicted), roms/emulators, I might pick up COD4 but I have a PS3 for that.

My main concern is Final Cut Pro/Publishing, iMovie, Photoshop (I will modify the ethernet ID for it to work).

Just installed Final Cut Studio 2 on my P5K-E/E6600/gf7800GT hackintosh (iATKOS) and it runs great. The hackintosh opens up a whole new world for video editors who want to run FCP on overclocked hardware. My E6600 runs at 3.46 which cuts down render times significantly compared to stock 2.4ghz. A new E8400 or 8500 at 4ghz will do wonders. Just can't achieve that kind of performance on real Apple hardware.

While I am all for Hackintosh, and wouldn't mind trying it myself one day, your statement about not being able to achieve that same performance on Apple hardware is a little off I would think.

I would think that 8 Xeons at 3.2GHz with 1.6GHz FSBs and 32GB RAM would do quite nicely.

Now, I would agree that you are able to build a very powerful system that can run OS X for very cheap, but comparing Core 2 Duos to Xeons is a little off.

Actually there IS a good comparison between Core 2 chips and Xeons. I overclocked my 2.4ghz Core 2 Quad to 3.0ghz and benchmarked it against a Quad 3.0ghz Xeon (dual dual-core) Mac Pro (both 65nm). Here are the results:

5574 - dual 3.0ghz dual-core Xeons (Mac Pro)

6011 - single 2.4ghz @ 3.0ghz quad-core Core 2 Quad

437 points more than the Mac Pro! The Core 2 Duo performance would be more akin to the iMac, but you would get better performance since a Hackintosh uses desktop parts instead of laptop parts (although the iMac does use a 3.5" hard drive), plus you can overclock for improved performance.

That is nice, but were both systems running the same amount of RAM at the same speed? Were the systems as closed to matched as possible? I am nitpicking for my own edification, but these are important things.

Plus, the fact that you get 8 cores with the Mac Pro is awesome. The price isn't... stupid lack of funds, grumble grumble.

 

[Plester]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Plester

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
I'm trying to decide between going with a Q6600 and a 7600GT or a dual-core Core 2 Duo/Pentium E and maybe an 8800GT.

I like playing Source games, World of Warcraft (Sometimes, not addicted), roms/emulators, I might pick up COD4 but I have a PS3 for that.

My main concern is Final Cut Pro/Publishing, iMovie, Photoshop (I will modify the ethernet ID for it to work).

Just installed Final Cut Studio 2 on my P5K-E/E6600/gf7800GT hackintosh (iATKOS) and it runs great. The hackintosh opens up a whole new world for video editors who want to run FCP on overclocked hardware. My E6600 runs at 3.46 which cuts down render times significantly compared to stock 2.4ghz. A new E8400 or 8500 at 4ghz will do wonders. Just can't achieve that kind of performance on real Apple hardware.

While I am all for Hackintosh, and wouldn't mind trying it myself one day, your statement about not being able to achieve that same performance on Apple hardware is a little off I would think.

I would think that 8 Xeons at 3.2GHz with 1.6GHz FSBs and 32GB RAM would do quite nicely.

Now, I would agree that you are able to build a very powerful system that can run OS X for very cheap, but comparing Core 2 Duos to Xeons is a little off.

Quad Core Hackintosh at 3.6ghz

P5K-E - $150
Used Q6600 G0 @3.6ghz - $220
4gb DDR2 - $90
Used 7800GT - $75
RocketRAID 2322 Mini-SAS to PCI-Express SATA II RAID Card - $230
Antec Sonata ATX case - $100
4 x WD750GB SATA hdds - $600
Addonics 4 bay external enclosure w/ multilane - $130
Leopard - $110
Final Cut Studio - $1200
-----------------
Total: approx $2,900

Mac Pro as configured above w/ FCS 2 - approx $18,000

so.... hackintosh edit system and a new car or Mac Pro

 

[TheStu]

Not sure where you are getting $18,000...

Mac Pro
Single Quad Core 2.8GHz Processor (Dual 2.8 Quads for $500 more)
4GB DDR2 FB-DIMM - $200 (OWC)
4 750GB drives - $600 (newegg)
8800GT 512MB - $200
No need for a RAID card, OS X handles RAID just fine. But it is $800 on Apple's website. I do not know enough about the Mac Pro RAID card to say if it can be had cheaper elsewhere (perhaps your card for example).

$4000 give or take when you include FCS2 and that external enclosure that you have listed.

Price climbs to $4500 if you give it dual quads.

For $18 000 I can configure
2 Quad 3.2GHz Xeons
32GB DDR2 FB-DIMM - $2800
4 x 1TB drives - $1200
4 x ATi 2600HD cards - $450 upgrade
That right there is about $9000

So for the other $9000... i don't know... a bunch of 23 or 30" monitors, that RAID card... a new car?

I am not saying that your system isn't fast, and I am not saying that it isn't cheaper. But $18 000 buys a whole lot of Mac Pro, and I still think that an 8-core system at 3.2 will beat out a 4-core at 3.6. Regardless of price, which was my point.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: Plester

Originally posted by: NamelessMC
I'm trying to decide between going with a Q6600 and a 7600GT or a dual-core Core 2 Duo/Pentium E and maybe an 8800GT.

I like playing Source games, World of Warcraft (Sometimes, not addicted), roms/emulators, I might pick up COD4 but I have a PS3 for that.

My main concern is Final Cut Pro/Publishing, iMovie, Photoshop (I will modify the ethernet ID for it to work).

Just installed Final Cut Studio 2 on my P5K-E/E6600/gf7800GT hackintosh (iATKOS) and it runs great. The hackintosh opens up a whole new world for video editors who want to run FCP on overclocked hardware. My E6600 runs at 3.46 which cuts down render times significantly compared to stock 2.4ghz. A new E8400 or 8500 at 4ghz will do wonders. Just can't achieve that kind of performance on real Apple hardware.

While I am all for Hackintosh, and wouldn't mind trying it myself one day, your statement about not being able to achieve that same performance on Apple hardware is a little off I would think.

I would think that 8 Xeons at 3.2GHz with 1.6GHz FSBs and 32GB RAM would do quite nicely.

Now, I would agree that you are able to build a very powerful system that can run OS X for very cheap, but comparing Core 2 Duos to Xeons is a little off.

Actually there IS a good comparison between Core 2 chips and Xeons. I overclocked my 2.4ghz Core 2 Quad to 3.0ghz and benchmarked it against a Quad 3.0ghz Xeon (dual dual-core) Mac Pro (both 65nm). Here are the results:

5574 - dual 3.0ghz dual-core Xeons (Mac Pro)

6011 - single 2.4ghz @ 3.0ghz quad-core Core 2 Quad

437 points more than the Mac Pro! The Core 2 Duo performance would be more akin to the iMac, but you would get better performance since a Hackintosh uses desktop parts instead of laptop parts (although the iMac does use a 3.5" hard drive), plus you can overclock for improved performance.

That is nice, but were both systems running the same amount of RAM at the same speed? Were the systems as closed to matched as possible? I am nitpicking for my own edification, but these are important things.

Plus, the fact that you get 8 cores with the Mac Pro is awesome. The price isn't... stupid lack of funds, grumble grumble.

iirc it was as 1:1 as possible It surprised me that the performance on the Core 2 Quad was better!

You can build an 8-core Hackintosh. You can even build a 16-core quad-proc Hackintosh if you have the funds

 

[Plester]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Not sure where you are getting $18,000...

Mac Pro
Single Quad Core 2.8GHz Processor (Dual 2.8 Quads for $500 more)
4GB DDR2 FB-DIMM - $200 (OWC)
4 750GB drives - $600 (newegg)
8800GT 512MB - $200
No need for a RAID card, OS X handles RAID just fine. But it is $800 on Apple's website. I do not know enough about the Mac Pro RAID card to say if it can be had cheaper elsewhere (perhaps your card for example).

$4000 give or take when you include FCS2 and that external enclosure that you have listed.

Price climbs to $4500 if you give it dual quads.

For $18 000 I can configure
2 Quad 3.2GHz Xeons
32GB DDR2 FB-DIMM - $2800
4 x 1TB drives - $1200
4 x ATi 2600HD cards - $450 upgrade
That right there is about $9000

So for the other $9000... i don't know... a bunch of 23 or 30" monitors, that RAID card... a new car?

I am not saying that your system isn't fast, and I am not saying that it isn't cheaper. But $18 000 buys a whole lot of Mac Pro, and I still think that an 8-core system at 3.2 will beat out a 4-core at 3.6. Regardless of price, which was my point.

I was configuring based on your 8 core/32GB config. (including 2 x 20" LCDs). Throw in 8 core, 4 x 750gb hdds and the $9100 fir 32mb of RAM and voila $17,xxx.

I do skew things a bit in my favor because I happily buy very high quality gear on the used market and save a bunch, but good new PC gear is just plain cheap in comparison.

I am merely trying to drive home the obvious and belabored point that when one starts to try and build out a very powerful Mac Pro or any type of Mac for that matter, the numbers climb to silly heights quickly. Each additional 750gb drive is $400, an additional 2gb of RAM = $500 etc. etc.

Don't get me wrong, I just bought my first Mac (CoreDuo 20" iMac w/ 10.5 - used for $825) and I love it, so this isn't Mac bashing, just a celebration of the free market, enterprising private citizens, and the inexpensive but powerful end result which is the hackintosh. It provides a Mac user with what has been sorely missing - choice, which has been the PC user's world for years/decades. With choice comes a whole host of new users who see opportunity where there once was none, and stuff like hackintoshes result. I know Apple didn't mean for this to happen but that makes it all the more sweet.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Plester

Originally posted by: TheStu
Not sure where you are getting $18,000...

Mac Pro
Single Quad Core 2.8GHz Processor (Dual 2.8 Quads for $500 more)
4GB DDR2 FB-DIMM - $200 (OWC)
4 750GB drives - $600 (newegg)
8800GT 512MB - $200
No need for a RAID card, OS X handles RAID just fine. But it is $800 on Apple's website. I do not know enough about the Mac Pro RAID card to say if it can be had cheaper elsewhere (perhaps your card for example).

$4000 give or take when you include FCS2 and that external enclosure that you have listed.

Price climbs to $4500 if you give it dual quads.

For $18 000 I can configure
2 Quad 3.2GHz Xeons
32GB DDR2 FB-DIMM - $2800
4 x 1TB drives - $1200
4 x ATi 2600HD cards - $450 upgrade
That right there is about $9000

So for the other $9000... i don't know... a bunch of 23 or 30" monitors, that RAID card... a new car?

I am not saying that your system isn't fast, and I am not saying that it isn't cheaper. But $18 000 buys a whole lot of Mac Pro, and I still think that an 8-core system at 3.2 will beat out a 4-core at 3.6. Regardless of price, which was my point.

I was configuring based on your 8 core/32GB config. (including 2 x 20" LCDs). Throw in 8 core, 4 x 750gb hdds and the $9100 fir 32mb of RAM and voila $17,xxx.

I do skew things a bit in my favor because I happily buy very high quality gear on the used market and save a bunch, but good new PC gear is just plain cheap in comparison.

I am merely trying to drive home the obvious and belabored point that when one starts to try and build out a very powerful Mac Pro or any type of Mac for that matter, the numbers climb to silly heights quickly. Each additional 750gb drive is $400, an additional 2gb of RAM = $500 etc. etc.

Don't get me wrong, I just bought my first Mac (CoreDuo 20" iMac w/ 10.5 - used for $825) and I love it, so this isn't Mac bashing, just a celebration of the free market, enterprising private citizens, and the inexpensive but powerful end result which is the hackintosh. It provides a Mac user with what has been sorely missing - choice, which has been the PC user's world for years/decades. With choice comes a whole host of new users who see opportunity where there once was none, and stuff like hackintoshes result. I know Apple didn't mean for this to happen but that makes it all the more sweet.

I get you stacking things in your favor, i have been known to do that on occasion. But my thing is that no one (unless they just have money to burn) is going to spend $9000 at Apple.com to get 32GB of RAM when they can spend $2800 on macsales.com to get the exact same stuff. Same for the hard drives, and the monitors. Processors are a little different since I am pretty sure it is about the same price or cheaper to get the CPU upgrades from Apple, and I certainly have no interest in swapping the CPUs on a Mac Pro.

Like I said before (or at least meant to say ) if I had the cash, I would build a hackintosh since that would also end up being a pretty decent gaming rig for me, but i don't have the cash, so I have to look on with envy and nitpick what I can't have

 

[motoxpress]

The hackintosh concept is fun and if I had compatible h/w available I would try it for sure but, if I have spent over $1k over FCS 2 and am trying to make a living with it I am not going to risk the potential instability. We have enough trouble with just apple h/w already.

-mx

 

[Plester]

Originally posted by: motoxpress
The hackintosh concept is fun and if I had compatible h/w available I would try it for sure but, if I have spent over $1k over FCS 2 and am trying to make a living with it I am not going to risk the potential instability. We have enough trouble with just apple h/w already.

-mx

I cut for a living on Avid Media Composer on this same hardware, which I picked because of its compatibility with Avid and its headroom for overclocking (the chip runs a 3.46ghz at less than stock voltage). Occasionally I see the need for FCP with its better support of quickly evolving formats. It was dumb luck that my hardware works perfectly with OS X. The P5K-E can save 2 different bios configs, so I have one for XP Pro and one for OS X, and a swappable drive bay for switching between OS drives. Just playing with FCP at this point.

 

[Kaido]

$79 Open-Box Bad Axe 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813121060R

:Q

 

[jpetermann]

Originally posted by: Kaido
$79 Open-Box Bad Axe 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813121060R

:Q

Received mine yesterday, installing Kaly now!

Don't forget, open box from Newegg may just be the board and no accessories. Mine was just a board.

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: pastorjay

Originally posted by: Kaido
$79 Open-Box Bad Axe 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813121060R

:Q

Received mine yesterday, installing Kaly now!

Don't forget, open box from Newegg may just be the board and no accessories. Mine was just a board.

lemme know how it works out, i know the board is very good and works very well in osx, i am more concerned about open box boards at newegg, never had any experience with them

 

[jpetermann]

The board itself is working perfectly. No issues that I can tell.

 

[Plester]

the most dangerous refurbs at newegg are vid cards, tried about 4 times and got mostly doa cards. every mobo (a handful) have worked fine.

 

[jalaram]

Originally posted by: Kaido
$79 Open-Box Bad Axe 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813121060R

:Q

Unfortunately, it was out of stock by the time I saw it.

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: jalaram

Originally posted by: Kaido
$79 Open-Box Bad Axe 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813121060R

:Q

Unfortunately, it was out of stock by the time I saw it.

i saw it and was about to pull the trigger, but didnt, oh well, guess thatz 80 something dollars saved for me

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Does anyone know how to make it work in a VMWare solution?

 

[ViRGE]

AFAIK it's not possible, there's basically a kill-switch in the OS's code to keep it from being used on a VMWare emulator.

 

[jalaram]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
AFAIK it's not possible, there's basically a kill-switch in the OS's code to keep it from being used on a VMWare emulator.

I thought some people were using it in a VM on the InsanelyMac forums. However, they seemed to universally too slow to be used on a daily basis.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
Does anyone know how to make it work in a VMWare solution?

Scroll down to the Mac section:

http://pcwizcomputer.com/software/index.htm

It's not a 100% solution afaik, but good enough if you just want to play around. Not sure if Leopard is functioning in a VM yet, but Tiger is!

 

[TheStu]

So, I am anticipating a decent influx of cash soon, and am considering a Hackintosh as my next build.

I was looking at the Lifehacker page for their hardware recommendations, and have been finding places where I can save cash. Things like the case/PSU, I already have a case that works, and a good PSU. I already have hard drives, and a good graphics card and an optical drive. But I still have some questions.

The hackintosh newegg wish list specifies Corsair XMS as their RAM. DDR2-800 can be had for $45 for a 2GB kit, whereas the XMS is $100 for the same amount. Now, the way I see it, there is no need to actually spend that extra $30/GB if I don't have to. I am just curious as to what luck some of you may have had using budget RAM, I have never had a problem with it in my experiences, but this is a slightly different situation.

Also, looking at the wiki, the 7800GT works, but how about the GTX?

Basically I want a newer, more powerful computer, and ideally I want it to run OS X since that is my OS of preference. And as much as I like Apple, my desktop is a gaming machine, that is all I have it for, and getting an iMac is silly since it would be a downgrade in graphics.