My experience with Hackintosh

[Rheneas]

I'm considering a prebuilt machine as follows, based on the 10.5.1 HCL on the OSX86 site:

GA-P35C-DS3R (rev. 1.0): Intel® P35 + ICH9R Chipset
480 PSU
Core? 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core (SLACR G0 stepping), 2.4GHz
4 GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 / 800MHz
ASUS GeForce® 7300 GT, 256MB GDDR2
HD1 - SEAGATE 250GB Barracuda 7200.10, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s, 7200-RPM, 16MB cache (XP Pro SP)
HD2 - SEAGATE 250GB Barracuda 7200.10, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s, 7200-RPM, 16MB cache (Leopard)
LITE-ON LH-52C1P-187 Black 52x/32x CD-R/CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive, EIDE/ATAPI
Integrated Network, wireless, and sound

Builder does not offer the recommended Bloodline or Lanparty mobos.

Comments?

Thanks

 

[bigmacattack]

Can someone post the CMOS settings for a DFI Lanparty mobo? Especially the overclocked settings.

 

[iampliny]

Bigmacattack, the specs look sweet. My setup is similar:

DFI Lanparty DK P35
C2Quad Q6600
Tuniq Tower 120
4x1 GB Crucial Ballistix - DDR2-PC2-6400 - BL2KIT12864AA804
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W
Existing HDDs (10k, 7200)
Good ol' GeForce 7300, for now

Finally got the mobo from NCIX today. Tomorrow I build!

Quesiton for Kaido the Lifer or anyone else who has build an OSx86 system on this board -- how can I determine the correct BIOS settings? And drivers from the Kalyway menu? Is this documented anywhere?

Look forward to reporting back ...

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: iampliny
Bigmacattack, the specs look sweet. My setup is similar:

DFI Lanparty DK P35
C2Quad Q6600
Tuniq Tower 120
4x1 GB Crucial Ballistix - DDR2-PC2-6400 - BL2KIT12864AA804
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W
Existing HDDs (10k, 7200)
Good ol' GeForce 7300, for now

Finally got the mobo from NCIX today. Tomorrow I build!

Quesiton for Kaido the Lifer or anyone else who has build an OSx86 system on this board -- how can I determine the correct BIOS settings? And drivers from the Kalyway menu? Is this documented anywhere?

Look forward to reporting back ...

AHCI enabled
HPET 64-bit enabled
Floppy Disks disabled
Serial Ports disabled
Jmicro disabled
S1

 

[iampliny]

Kaido are you ever away from this thread? - hehe

Jmicro is the IDE controller right? What happens if my DVD drive is IDE ...?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: iampliny
Kaido are you ever away from this thread? - hehe

Jmicro is the IDE controller right? What happens if my DVD drive is IDE ...?

Not sure, I have a BA2 board. Got the DFI specs off a friend

And no, constant 24/7 thread surveillance

 

[iampliny]

OK well thanks for pinging me those specs. I'll figure out the rest as I go along ... Cheers.

 

[jhbball]

Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

 

[iampliny]

Originally posted by: Kaido
For people looking for a powerful budget build, here is a great setup for under a grand:

The Sub-$1000 Hackintosh:
Rosewill case with 300-watt power supply - $30
Intel Bad Axe 2 - $175
Intel 2.4ghz Quad Q6600 processor - $280
4GB Transcend DDR2-800 (2x2GB) - $41 x 2 = $82
20x DVD burner with Lightscribe - $38
256mb 7300GT video card - $70
320gb SATA hard drive - $85 (for primary Leopard boot drive)
500gb SATA hard drive - $105 (for Time Machine automatic backup)

Total comes up to $865 (plus tax/shipping) for a 2.4ghz Quad-Core machine, 4 gigs of ram, a 7300GT video card, fast DVD burner, large hard drive, and a Time Machine backup drive. This is a complete system, ready to go, for under $1,000. You will also need Leopard ($109 if you shop around) plus a monitor (Dell monitors are much more cost effective than Apple monitors), keyboard, mouse, and speakers. You can use Apple's Bluetooth stuff by purchasing a simple Bluetooth USB adapter (D-Link has one for $25 or you can get a cheaper one from OWC or eBay). Certain Wifi adapters are supported all the way up to 802.11n, there's a cheap USB model on eBay called "Ralink" or "Air Link" I believe. You can also pick up a USB sound card for under ten bucks on eBay (for audio input as well as output), or just snag a USB mic if you prefer.

OK, here's my $1000-ish Hacky Pro. Just built + config'd this weekend. Leopard is purring llike a pussycat. My only PITA is getting the dual-boot on a single drive to play with Vista (yeah I know, why oh why). I've read the 50-step instructions and it still vexes me.

But Leopard is no problem. My specs:

Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 275.99
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V EPS12V 610W - $119.99
Tuniq Tower 120 - $44.99
2x Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2800 (PC2-6400) - x2 = 4 GB total - $129.98 - $50 MIR = $79.98
shipping - $8.11

(All from Newegg.)

DFI LANParty Dk P35-T2RS - shipping, insurance, all-in - $169.31

(From NCIX.)

What I did NOT buy was a new case, hard drives, or video board.

So my mostly-new box here runs me a cool $690. I'd prolly be a little over $1k with a new 8800, case, drives, & misc.

I'll report more details in a bit. Suffice it to say the Kalyway install was beautiful and easy -- except for some very lame customization included on the disk (icons etc) which I had to undo.

 

[iampliny]

I should also mention that the JMicro drivers work flawlessly - my DVD drive is IDE (PATA) and had no problems booting, burning, etc.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: iampliny

Originally posted by: Kaido
For people looking for a powerful budget build, here is a great setup for under a grand:

The Sub-$1000 Hackintosh:
Rosewill case with 300-watt power supply - $30
Intel Bad Axe 2 - $175
Intel 2.4ghz Quad Q6600 processor - $280
4GB Transcend DDR2-800 (2x2GB) - $41 x 2 = $82
20x DVD burner with Lightscribe - $38
256mb 7300GT video card - $70
320gb SATA hard drive - $85 (for primary Leopard boot drive)
500gb SATA hard drive - $105 (for Time Machine automatic backup)

Total comes up to $865 (plus tax/shipping) for a 2.4ghz Quad-Core machine, 4 gigs of ram, a 7300GT video card, fast DVD burner, large hard drive, and a Time Machine backup drive. This is a complete system, ready to go, for under $1,000. You will also need Leopard ($109 if you shop around) plus a monitor (Dell monitors are much more cost effective than Apple monitors), keyboard, mouse, and speakers. You can use Apple's Bluetooth stuff by purchasing a simple Bluetooth USB adapter (D-Link has one for $25 or you can get a cheaper one from OWC or eBay). Certain Wifi adapters are supported all the way up to 802.11n, there's a cheap USB model on eBay called "Ralink" or "Air Link" I believe. You can also pick up a USB sound card for under ten bucks on eBay (for audio input as well as output), or just snag a USB mic if you prefer.

OK, here's my $1000-ish Hacky Pro. Just built + config'd this weekend. Leopard is purring llike a pussycat. My only PITA is getting the dual-boot on a single drive to play with Vista (yeah I know, why oh why). I've read the 50-step instructions and it still vexes me.

But Leopard is no problem. My specs:

Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 275.99
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V EPS12V 610W - $119.99
Tuniq Tower 120 - $44.99
2x Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2800 (PC2-6400) - x2 = 4 GB total - $129.98 - $50 MIR = $79.98
shipping - $8.11

(All from Newegg.)

DFI LANParty Dk P35-T2RS - shipping, insurance, all-in - $169.31

(From NCIX.)

What I did NOT buy was a new case, hard drives, or video board.

So my mostly-new box here runs me a cool $690. I'd prolly be a little over $1k with a new 8800, case, drives, & misc.

I'll report more details in a bit. Suffice it to say the Kalyway install was beautiful and easy -- except for some very lame customization included on the disk (icons etc) which I had to undo.

Nice, saved yourself a good $1500+ from Apple! As far as the funky icons and stuff go, check out Laik's Virginizer for Kalyway:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=77479

Strips out the yuck-yuck that comes with the default Kaly install

 

[jhbball]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

Hmm, I might have an extra pci express slot, but I'm not sure. I have the Abit P35-e.

 

[jhbball]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

would PCI-e 1x work?

 

[iampliny]

Originally posted by: Kaido
As far as the funky icons and stuff go, check out Laik's Virginizer for Kalyway:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=77479

Strips out the yuck-yuck that comes with the default Kaly install

NICE. And I was doing it the hard way. Good stuff.

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

have a link to where you read you can flash it to use as sata only instead of raid?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: jhbball

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

would PCI-e 1x work?

Yup!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

have a link to where you read you can flash it to use as sata only instead of raid?

I believe I read it in here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=24254

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

have a link to where you read you can flash it to use as sata only instead of raid?

I believe I read it in here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=24254

yeh, found that right after i posted here, this might be useful for a friend, his dell 521's sata controller is not recognized , from what i have been reading on insanelymac, it doesnt look like it will work anytime soon either

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

have a link to where you read you can flash it to use as sata only instead of raid?

I believe I read it in here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=24254

yeh, found that right after i posted here, this might be useful for a friend, his dell 521's sata controller is not recognized , from what i have been reading on insanelymac, it doesnt look like it will work anytime soon either

Yeah...pretty much only plan on having existing supported hardware work for Hackintosh. I've gotten a lot of questions about whether X or Y works or why Z doesn't work...do your research, get the right parts, and it will be fairly painless

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: jhbball
Any recommendations for a pci-sata card that works well in vista/osx?

Does it have to be PCI? The PCIe 2-port RAID card I have ($21.99 from Newegg) has a JBOD option. Also I believe you can flash the firmware to just SATA instead of RAID.

have a link to where you read you can flash it to use as sata only instead of raid?

I believe I read it in here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=24254

yeh, found that right after i posted here, this might be useful for a friend, his dell 521's sata controller is not recognized , from what i have been reading on insanelymac, it doesnt look like it will work anytime soon either

Yeah...pretty much only plan on having existing supported hardware work for Hackintosh. I've gotten a lot of questions about whether X or Y works or why Z doesn't work...do your research, get the right parts, and it will be fairly painless

yeh, for my rig , i bought everything that was supported right out of the box, for my friend's system installing os x was more of an afterthought , thus the issues

 

[theTITUS]

Kaido,

I had a quick question. I was wondering what BIOS settings, if any, I should change on my DFI LanParty DK T2RS. Or do the BIOS settings not matter? The one thing I changed was the SUSPEND mode to S3. I tried configuring SATA as AHCI, but had problems booting after that so I changed it back to IDE. Does that make a difference?

The only reason I ask is because I'm trying to install Kalyway but running into an installation error after it is almost complete with the installation and wondering if it is due to some unknown BIOS setting that I should have changed. Currently I'm reburning the disc at 1x and am going to try to reinstall using the new disc.

I have tried both GUID and MBR and have searched over at the forums at InsanelyMac to no avail. Thanks for your time that you have given to this thread. It inspired me to pick up the parts and try to build this Hackintosh!

Other information:
I have a Q6600, eVGA 8800GT 512MB, WD Raptor 150GB

Cheers!

Michael

 

[theTITUS]

Just for clarification, I tried installing again. It fails with "Less than a minute remaining". The error is "The installer encountered an unknown error that failed the install..." Not sure if that helps, but maybe the timing is more important. It almost completes.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: theTITUS
Kaido,

I had a quick question. I was wondering what BIOS settings, if any, I should change on my DFI LanParty DK T2RS. Or do the BIOS settings not matter? The one thing I changed was the SUSPEND mode to S3. I tried configuring SATA as AHCI, but had problems booting after that so I changed it back to IDE. Does that make a difference?

The only reason I ask is because I'm trying to install Kalyway but running into an installation error after it is almost complete with the installation and wondering if it is due to some unknown BIOS setting that I should have changed. Currently I'm reburning the disc at 1x and am going to try to reinstall using the new disc.

I have tried both GUID and MBR and have searched over at the forums at InsanelyMac to no avail. Thanks for your time that you have given to this thread. It inspired me to pick up the parts and try to build this Hackintosh!

Other information:
I have a Q6600, eVGA 8800GT 512MB, WD Raptor 150GB

Cheers!

Michael

AHCI enabled
HPET 64-bit enabled
Floppy Disks disabled
Serial Ports disabled
Jmicro disabled
S1

 

[iampliny]

Originally posted by: theTITUS
Just for clarification, I tried installing again. It fails with "Less than a minute remaining". The error is "The installer encountered an unknown error that failed the install..." Not sure if that helps, but maybe the timing is more important. It almost completes.

I just got my system up and running, same DFI board as you, same Kalyway. I made minimal changes to my BIOS (and I didn't disable Jmicro, either).

theTITUS, feel free to PM me about BIOS settings.