The Hackintosh Guide, Part 3. Intel i7 Hackintosh Hardware.

[spssw]

Can anyone tell me if I can use a PCI-E NVIDIA 6600 from a late G5 or an intel mac pci-e card for a hackintosh? I have not seen this addressed anywhere on forums.

[derektran32]

I'm booting with Chimera 1.5.4. I still can't get the 16GB to reconize. It's only seeing 4GB but if you go to more info it say all 4 banks are being used by 4gb. If yo go to about this MAC it say only 4gb. Can you think of a fix for this? I've tried so many things and it still doesn't work.

[ericohman]

actually it is a 2 x 3.0GHz Quad-Core Xeon and it scored 7.04 for CPU test in Cinebench r11.5 (get it at maxon)

[ericohman]

can you try cinebench and test cpu score? i use a 2008 2x2.66GHz Quad Xeon mac pro at work and it scores 7.04 in cinebench r11.5 CPU test.

i want to know if the i7 920 is enough or if I need to go to i7 980 (6 cores, double the price)

[TheFeedbacker]

I just bought exactly the same parts for 450€ (630$) incl. shipping. I can't wait building it!

[sn0le]

@TheFeedbacker:

Good luck. :)

[Kerpaltheballer]

Hi, I am planning on making my first custom PC. I would like to have a Core i5 760 Processor but I'm not exactly sure what motherboards are compatible with this one and are ready to be hackintoshed. Could you tell me what's compatible with this processor? On top of that i'm looking to put in 8gbs of ram and one graphics card around 1gb. Thanks!

[sn0le]

@Kerpaltheballer:

I haven't kept up with newer hardware, so I am not the most qualified to answer this.

But Gigabyte motherboards are generally considered the most OSX-friendly.

But I see that many people use Asus motherboards, and even Intel, MSI and others.

You should check out Insanelymac and TonyMacx86.

See if anyone else has built a Hackintosh with i5 760 and see what motherboards they've used.

Good luck. :)

[criticismsociety]

Hi

Your video is very helpfull for building my on hackintosh. But I've got question: Do I need the full Mac OS X or only the update as you did.

[probscus]

i could probably just google it but you might know, can you do a hackintosh on the sandy bridge platform

[sn0le]

@probscus:

Yes. But I am not sure which Sandy Bridge motherboard works.

[randyme1979]

Hey Sn0le, finally bought all the parts i need including a legal copy of snow lepoard @ apple. Cant wait! Hope all goes well tonight.

[kakaroto1986]

will a bluray burner work directly on that hakintosh i mean a bulk one without drivers and stuff will it recognize it directly

[sn0le]

@kakaroto1986:

Some (probably most) will. I don't know which ones.

I know that you can put a Bluray burner in Mac Pros or use external ones on iMacs and Mac Minis etc.

But OSX doesn't support playback of Bluray video.

So in OSX you'll only be able to use it to burn Bluray disks and rip a copy of your Bluray movies.

If you wan't to actually watch a Bluray movie you'll have to use Windows.

[MrTpengineer]

The intel DX58SO motherboard works alot better than most aftermarket motherboards and will work better with osx, it's also cheaper than the motherboard you showed. That and you can't deny the 12 usb support along with usb 3.0 :) It even comes with crossfire and sli cables.

[ericohman]

gigabyte ex58 is discontinued on a lot of places. i've discovered ASUS SABERTOOTH X58 seems pretty much the same. Or is it really picky wich motherboard you use? At least this is also a X58 chip.

Really good videos.

[sn0le]

@ericohman:

Yeah, the EX58s are pretty old now, and replaced by newer models with SATA 6.0Gbps and USB 3.0.

OSX will work on most X58 motherboards.

The difference is what kind of LAN chipset and Sound chipset that is used on the motherboard.

If it's Realtek it should work. Some motherboards have Sound and/or LAN that isn't OSX-friendly.

Googling the Sabertooth doesn't give alot of good info.

The ones that have tried it has had problems.

But it may work, if you know what you're doing.

[ericohman]

@sn0le Okay. It's just 100 sek more for a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R so I will have a look on that instead of the sabertooth.

I'm currently running an old asus pk5c core 2 duo that was pretty hard to get to work so I'm lookin to buy a new computer with more "mac like" hardware. I couldn't get LAN to work on my old asus p5kc so I just bought the macbook air usb-ethernet adapter and it works flawlessly. So I'll just use that if I can't get LAN to work in the future.

Do you know if USB3 is a problem?

[ericohman]

Asus P6TSE seems nice also... Whatever I build I will post a comment here how smooth it goes. Thanks for the videos, really helpful to have all information handy. I used keepvid dot com to rip all your videos to watch them offline as well :)

[Killerdude240]

Will my setup work?

ASUS P7H55-M LE

Intel Core i3

Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT 1gb.

[sn0le]

@Killerdude240:

Yup.

It should work just fine.

[Killerdude240]

@sn0le So, since I heard there's a few tweaks that you have to do in the bios, will it interfere with Windows?

[sn0le]

@Killerdude240:

The only thing that might interfere with Windows is the SATA-controller running in AHCI-mode.

If you already have Windows installed, you most likely had the SATA-controller in IDE-mode.

Changing the SATA-controller to run in AHCI-mode will cause Windows not to boot.

How to fix it:

I made a couple of videos that show how to dualboot.

In short, you either need to reinstall Windows with the SATA-controller in AHCI-mode or you need to put the Windows HDD on another SATA-controller.

[Killerdude240]

@sn0le Thanks. :D

[sn0le]

@Killerdude240:

No problem. :)

[DavidKenny6]

hey thanks for these videos going to look into building this same setup, would the setup you have suggested hold up to Final Cut Pro and intense video editing. As that is what I do, thank you again for these great videos.

[sn0le]

@DavidKenny6:

I use Final Cut Express on this rig, and it works fine.

It should match the 27" iMac at the time.

But my GPU is the bottleneck for my system. A nVidia 9600GT is not state of the art. :)

If you go for a ATI 5xxx or a powerful nVidiacard you should have a rig that matches a Mac Pro in terms of processing power.

And the processing power determines how well the computer will handle intense video editing.

[TheVedicStudent]

Hi,

Got a quick question..I got a Lenovo D20 Workstation it which has Two X5550 cpus. Any ideas where can I got to find out if Hackintosh would work. Thanks for your help. Great video..

[sn0le]

@TheVedicStudent:

I Googled it and all I could find was people having trouble getting OSX to work on it.

Seems like it might be a difficult task. :/

[TheVedicStudent]

@sn0le

Yea..I found someone who has done it and got it working nicely. I will post a guide once I get everything setup. He told me it was 10 times faster then Win7 lol..I cannot wait to try it..

[TheVedicStudent]

@sn0le

I got it working on my D20. Did a geekbench it came out to 14,000. It was simple..just need to fix the graphics software. Can you help me..I have FX1800 video card.

[oviddiulanga]

Can i install Mac OS X Snow Leopard Gold Master 10 6, without to have preinstalled another Mac OS X version on the harddrive ?

Thanks.

[sn0le]

@oviddiulanga:

I'm not sure. But I think it should work.

Is that a BETA? Will it work forever or does it have a date that it will stop working?

[najnacisi]

Hello, I am buying new computer and I want to know what is the difference between:

GA-EX58A-UD5 and GA-X58A-UD5? In our shops there is no EX models anymore just the X models and the price is the same. What about the GA-X58A-UD7? Will it work if I buy this and follow your guide?

tnx for the videos!

best regards

[sn0le]

@najnacisi:

The EX58 has been replaced by X58.

EX58 didn't have USB3.0 and SATA 6.0Gbps like the X58 has.

However, I doubt that there are kexts out there to use USB3.0 and SATA 6.0Gbps in OSX.

But I may be wrong.

When dualbooting you'd benefit from USB3.0 and SATA 6.0Gbps in Windows.

UD7 will work.

But if you want to save some money and spend it on better CPU or other things, you could consider the GA-X58-UD3R.

It supports the same CPU's and up to 24GB RAM, like UD5 and UD7.

[najnacisi]

@sn0le

oh tnx, you are a life saver and what a fast response!! :) hmm, I think I will be getting UD5. I always said.. the mother is the mother and you have only one :P but I believe the ud3r is a good board but I think i will stick with UD5 then cause the UD7 is a little overpriced. can I ask you something? what you would buy if you had 1300$(without monitor). I have decided I buy a i7 950 and UD5,but i am not sure about the rest. I want 12gb ram and SSD + 1tb disk but I am not sure which brand

[sn0le]

@najnacisi:

i7 950 is a good choice. It is only a few dollars more than the i7 930.

i7 960 is twice as expensive, but not that much more powerful. So go with the i7 950.

12GB will be nice if you plan on videoediting or working with large images in Photoshop etc.

Either buy 3x4GB or 2 kits with 3x2GB. Go for quality RAM and not the cheapest kind you find.

[sn0le]

@najnacisi:

I don't know to much about SSD's so I can't offer much advice there.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12, Samspung Spinpoint F3 or F4, WD Caviar Black or WD Velociraptor 600GB is among the fastest non-SSD's on the market.

Just check out Passmark. They have alot of HDD/SSD becnhmarks.

The one I mentioned is on the top of the list of the non-SSD's.

[najnacisi]

@sn0le

Ok, tnx. I will figure something out :P. Seems that the graphic card is the biggest problem. I think that the best way is I get an gtx, 260, 275, 285. dont know. I have once read that you must remove if you have more than 6gb ram when installing leopard. is this right? Or can I keep my 12 GB plugged in? Ok that is all. I will buy it next week and if I will have some problems I will tell you.... really tnx for you hard word and this wonderful guide! cant wait to test it out

[sn0le]

@najnacisi:

There are many ways of installing OSX on a PC, and with some of them there may be limitations on how much RAM you can have in the PC when doing the install.

Thats not a limitation in OSX, but rather the bootloader.

Usually the limit is 4GB, and I guess it has something to do with the bootloader running in 32-bit mode. I'm only guessing since I haven't read much about that.

6GB worked fine for me with Empire EFI, so maybe you can have 12GB during install.

Good luck with the build. :)

[najnacisi]

@sn0le

@sn0le

hello, I have still one question that runs through my head. Lets say we have an unknown graphic card or one who is not supportet yet. Does the installation work with this card and the OSX but only in VGA mode(like windows safe mode,without proper drivers) or it shows black screen? I just want to know this for information. So the installation process would be the same with all cards, just different kexts at the end?

tnx :)

[sn0le]

@najnacisi:

Honestly, I don't know. I'v only used 2 different cards in my Hackintosh "career".

I would think that some cards simply don't work and may cause crash before/during install.

[toranamunter]

@najnacisi I'm running two OCZ Vertex 2 SSDs on my hackintosh, blazing fast drive that seems to play nicely with snow leopard. They have some of the best write performance compared to other SSDs. One thing, don't ever buy an SSD second hand. I've got an older OCZ Apex SSD which is an internal RAID0 design and its a lot slower than the Vertex 2. 

[kookiekareem]

what other motherboards can we use? i cant find a site which sells the one u include

[sn0le]

@kookiekareem:

Well, since things change quickly in a non-Apple computer world my model of motherboard is replaced by newer models.

The Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R is a good Hackintosh motherboard today.

Many other brands work as well, Asus, EVGA, Abit etc etc.

But they may vary on how easy/complicated an install is.

Gigabyte is widely considered as the easiest solution.

The OSx86 Wiki had a Hardware Compitability List (HCL) which can be a good reference when choosing motherboard for a Hackintosh.

[kookiekareem]

@sn0le:

on the HCL it says that the sound on the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R does not work. is there a solution to that? and what wireless card will work with this? the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R will work with all the other parts u use correct?

thank you

[sn0le]

@kookiekareem:

I could not find that. All I could find was that sound doesn't work without patching.

Thats the same for my motherboard, sound doesn't work without a kext.

If you have a kext, it will work.

There are many Wireless cards that will work. As long as the manufacturer says it is OSX compatible it should work.

The other parts will work just fine.

[kookiekareem]

@sn0le

Will the USB 3.0 and the esata work on the Mac??

Thank u very much for your help

[sn0le]

@kookiekareem:

The USB3.0 may work as USB2.0 with kext or DSDT-patch.

Not sure about the eSATA ports. It may require spesific kexts or DSDT-patching as well.

You're welcome. :)

[TzvikaResh]

hi sn0le! thank you very much for the videos! i am about to buy almost all the exact components that you have on your machine and just wanted to ask about the video card, i want to buy the gigabyte 9800gt silent model but i couldn't find a place saying this card works on a hack, do you have any knowledge about this card, as i saw you kinda recommended him?

thanks again

[sn0le]

@TzvikaResh:

You're welcome.

Any 9800GT should be really easy to set up.

Just use the same method that I show in video #6 and use OSx86 Tools to create a EFI-string for the videocard.

There are other ways to do it, but I've only used OSx86 Tools for this.

[alexgharbi]

i'm building one.

what u think about XFX Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3?is it gonna work with no problem and running both dvi?

[sn0le]

@alexgharbi:

I have no experience with ATI cards on a Hackintosh, so I don't know if it will be easy or hard to get it working.

You should check out insanelymac. They have a ATI section in the forum. :)

[alexgharbi]

@sn0le thank u for u response.

wish one u recommend or know that work best from the newer cards?.

of course ill take the risk on my own :)

[sn0le]

@alexgharbi:

Well, I haven't done much research the last few months.

But I know people have been using GTS250 and GTX260 in Hackintoshes.

It seems like Nvidia cards are easier to get working.

But now that Apple started using ATI 5xxx cards in the newest iMacs and Mac Pro's things might have changed a bit.

[mezzadakiller]

@sn0le

Hey, will an ATI 5970, i7 930, and a ASUS P6X58D-E work for this?

[sn0le]

@mezzadakiller:

I checked Insanelymac.

People have sucessfully installed OSX on that Asus board.

And people also have got the 5970 working.

You may have to use a different install method, and most definetly other kexts.

But it should be possible.

[kingsinn]

Hey there liked ur choice in hardware also I had a question about video card ... U listed many video card which one did u had or which worked out well with ur hackintosh .... I mean the one that u used for this video as u also posted the kexts for that card ...thanx

[sn0le]

@kingsinn:

I already had the Asus Nvidia 9600GT Silent videocard.

Same that is in the hardwarelist from newegg in this video.

The card is no longer available since it is very old in the PC world.

[kingsinn]

@sn0le

thanks for the reply and if u dont mind can u recommend me some new graphic cards that will work for the snow leopard ....also i think i will wait for a while as apple is coming out with mac os x lion ...

[sn0le]

@kingsinn:

I'm not very up to date on videocards, so you should check out insanelymac's forum.

They have a section dedicated to videocards.

Lion won't be released until summer 2011, so it'll be a long wait. ;)

[kingsinn]

@sn0le so now i have got an official copy of lion and have you tested which graphic cards works on it smoothly so far . also can you link me to the video that shows the installation of lion ...thanks

[sn0le]

@SpikezHackz:

I can't remember who, but someone I had some PM's with in here told me he had used a Airportcard with a Mini PCI-express to PCI or PCI-express adapter card.

It worked like a charm, a bit expensive though, but probably worth the money to not having to go through alot of hazzle.

[sn0le]

@SpikezHackz:

The motherboard supports any PCI or PCI-express WLAN card as long as you have a driver for the OS you're running.

You can also use a USB WLAN adapter, but again, you need a driver for the OS you're running.

Newegg has multiple internal cards and USB WLAN adapters that are both Windows and OSX compatible.

[andrewsinclair18]

what motherboard would you suggest if we can't find the EX58-UD5. Is there one that has equal ram slots?

[sn0le]

@andrewsinclair18:

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R would be a nice choice nowadays.

It has 6 RAM-slots, and supports up to 24GB of RAM like the GA-EX58-UD5.

For Windows-use it has 2 extra SATA-ports that supports SATA 6Gbps and 2 extra USB-ports that support USB3.0 (may be possible to use in OSX if any kexts are available).

The best part is that the motherboard is about $80 cheaper than the GA-EX58-UD5. :)

[andrewsinclair18]

@sn0le Nice Thanks A Bunch

[sn0le]

@andrewsinclair18:

You're welcome. :)

[andrewsinclair18]

what motherboard would you suggest if we can't find the EX58-UD5. Is there one that has equal ram slots?

[imzaki1994]

can i use a free copy from the internet ????????

[sn0le]

@imzaki1994:

If you by "free" mean a pirated version, yes you can use it.

But keep in mind, $29 is a fairly low price to be sure you don't get any extra "features" in your OS.

[rickphillipsjr]

Excellent ... now you must wait for me to finish my hackintosh build AND do my Norway/Sweden trip ... beers are definitely on me :-)

[sn0le]

@rickphillipsjr:

Sounds great! :)

[rickphillipsjr]

You need to post an address where you can receive beers! You are deserving of many.

[sn0le]

@rickphillipsjr:

Thats a very good idea. :)

I absolutely LOVE beer. Hehe.

[rickphillipsjr]

One more question: If you were to upgrade your video card tomorrow, would you consider the GTS-250? I ask b/c I just got one (the asus) and would like to use it--it is fast and has an HDMI port. And if not, which one would you recommend?

[sn0le]

@rickphillipsjr:

Well, in terms of performance (according to Futuremark and Passmark) the GTS250 is only about 50% more powerfull than my 9600GT.

I'd probably go for a GTX260, since it is 50% (or more) powerful than the GTS250.

However, if I upgraded my videocard, I would try to find something fanless.

I want a minimum of noise from my computer.

[rickphillipsjr]

Do you know of the TDK 440N (AID+440N) dvd writer is on the list of acceptable components?

[sn0le]

@rickphillipsjr:

If my Googling is correct, that is a pretty old optical drive with IDE connector.

So the chances are that it won't work.

Couldn't find any info about it for Hackintosh use.

Worst case scenario is that it doesn't work, and you'd have to buy a $20-30 SATA DVD-burner.

[vsdagama]

Hey man,

First of all: Very nice videos :)

You speak english very well and I like your voice,

you sound interesting (and you are).

I'm not particularly building a hackintosh (maybe) but I am building my own computer soon.

I was wondering if you got your parts from newegg to europe (norway in your case) because I didn't know that was possible.

I have a problem finding good hardware stores in europe (I live in Belgium) to get my parts from. (cheap),

Do you know any?

[sn0le]

@vsdagama:

Thank you.

I sent you a PM with some ideas. :)

[bajer111]

Hi, nice videos, I've almost watched all of them :)

But there is one thing I do not totally get: can I use any hardware? I have some an q9450 cpu, a gigabyte ep45c-ds3r motherboard and some kingston ddr2 ram, do you think that will work?

thank you :)

kristian

[sn0le]

@bajer111:

Thanks. :)

You can't use any hardware. Some motherboards are not very compatible with OSX.

But, your hardware looks like it should be very compatible. :)

[bajer111]

@sn0le okay, thank you. I might give it a try then :) have you experienced any compatibility problems with hardware or software after a successful installation of os x? i mean, will it run exactly as a mac when everything has come together?

thank you again

[sn0le]

@bajer111:

My rig has run like clockwork for over 6 months.

It's all about getting the right Kexts for the hardware you have.

When you do, it should run like a real Mac. :)

[bajer111]

@bajer111 sounds great. i'm gonna get myself a little extra monitor and a hard drive for the project, and i'll give it a go :) thank you

[sn0le]

@bajer111:

You're welcome.

And good luck! :D

[Sypheck]

Dumb question, but how does the hackintosh cope with RAID setups? I'm mostly a PC user but I've been looking into a mac as a workstation but the prices are always obscene. When building your own mac pro on their site I noticed a separate component for RAID, I've been told that this is only for hardware RAID and that macs can still do software based RAID so its not needed. I'm a bit confused though but now I'm looking into a hackintosh as a workable solution. How's the experience with RAID?

[Sypheck]

@Sypheck Also I assume that you can also (given proper conditions) easily overclock a hackintosh system as well?

[sn0le]

@Sypheck:

Well. I've only tested software RAID in OSX.

It was easy to set up, and seemed to work well. But I only tested for a short period.

If you buy a RAID-card, it should do just as fine as a Mac Pro.

Hardware RAID is considered better than Software RAID. But I assume that for an average home user a software RAID works just fine.

Even Applesoldier uses software RAID. ;)

Overclocking is done in BIOS, so it works just the same as if you were running Windows.

[shymin]

sn0le, I wanted to let you know that I just spent the past two days doing some light to moderate work on starting up a new hackintosh build (my first). I think you have a VERY clear walk through, so I'm going to start with your method! Thanks so much for putting the time into these videos, and all the time you put into responding to your viewers...it looks like you're very committed to all the viewers comments and questions, so I really respect you for that! I wanted to let you know how much my

[shymin]

@shymin build cost....so here is the info on cost for parts. Newegg: PSU:Antec PSU 550W Power Supply $70.35-$20 mail-in rebate=$50.35 CASE/DVD:Antec 900 Case+Free DVD Combo Drive (Slickdeals post) $84.42-$20 mail-in rebate=$64.42 MOTHERBOARD: Openbox GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 X58 RTL - OEM $221.11 Microcenter: CPU Core i7-930 Processor Boxed RAM 6GB DDR3, 1600MHz 3x240 DIMM, Unbuffered, 9-9-9-24, XMS3 GPU GeForce 9800GT 1024MB Cost for these three $543.72-$50 mail-in rebate=$493.72

[shymin]

@shymin

Amazon:

CPU FAN Noctua for Intel CPU Cooler NH-U12P SE2 $65.95

HDD Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache $129.99

SOFTWARE/FAN COMPOUND

OSx Snow Leopard - DVD, Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, 3.5 Grams $37.99

Amazon [actually Buy.com]

MONITOR ASUS VH235T-P 23-Inch Wide LCD Monitor $184.86

Total $1338.39 With monitor [before rebate]

 $1248.39 With monitor [after rebate] $1063.53 Cost excluding monitor.

[sn0le]

@shymin:

That is going to be a sweet rig. :)

Plenty of "ooomph" in that system.

And the price is very nice too.

I'd change the WD to a Seagate or a Samsung F3.

They are a bit faster than the WD's, at least a while back. (500GB & 1000GB versions).

[sn0le]

@shymin:

Thanks. It is nice to get that kind of feedback. :)

Gives me more motivation to keep making videos.

If I only had the time. ;)

Redecorating my home takes up most of my time.

[ferrari9172]

Can i still follow these instructions if I used the cheaper GIGABYTE motherboard and the newer intel i7 930 2.8ghz chip? I am new to this hackintosh thing.

[sn0le]

@ferrari9172:

Yeah. There are small differences between the GA-EX58-UD5 and the GA-EX58-UD3R.

They have a different LAN-chip.

The one on the UD3R doesn't require the LAN kext, because OSX supports the chip out of the box.

The soundchip is slightly different, so you might need a different kext than the ones I linked to in my video part #6.

Other than that, this should go like a warm knife through butter.

One of my subscribers are currently running a i7 920 @ 3,2GHz on the GA-EX58-UD3R.

:)

[ferrari9172]

I am new to this hackintosh thing, but if I chose the intel i7 2.8ghz 930 chip, could I still follow these instructions? Also, if i used the cheaper GIGABYTE motherboard, could I still? I dont want to spend more money for a few extra RAM and USB ports

[EvidentIncredible]

And here goes another question. Having ATI HD 4850 equals death? Because it has 2 different EFIs - for i7 and for hd48xx. Which to use and what to do?

[sn0le]

@EvidentIncredible:

You'll need to try them both.

Using the i7 one + correct kext might work too.

[EvidentIncredible]

And the last thing that bothers me.

You installed genue Snow Leo, and it starts in 32bit by default (being capable of 64bit operations at the same time). Does it recognize 6GB of RAM without any special dids and will there be troubles with 12Gb installing? Thx for help.

[sn0le]

@EvidentIncredible:

It will detect your RAM without any problems.

Both Leopard and Snow Leopard run in a sort of "hybrid" mode.

It will run 32-bit apps in 32-bit, 64-bit apps in 64-bit and the kernel in 32-bit.

I think only the X-Serve (Apple servers) run the kernel in 64-bit mode by default.

Even true Mac owners run OSX in the same mode.

A bit confusing though, but thats how it is. :)

[EvidentIncredible]

Got a question.

Is it better to get UD3 or UD5? Is i7 930 is so compatible is i7 920?

So the problem is - I want the i7 930 (2.8GHz) + UD3, will that word fine?

[sn0le]

@EvidentIncredible:

All i7 9xx's are compatible with both the UD3R and the UD5.

The UD5 does support more RAM (16GB vs 24GB) and has some features that the UD3R doesn't have.

Like powerbutton/resetbutton on the motherboard, LED's to indicate voltages and temps etc.

If you plan to run 12GB's of RAM, the UD3R will be more expensive than the UD5.

Since 4GB RAM modules are still very expensive.

[EvidentIncredible]

@sn0le Thx for reply. The place I am at now, the 4gb RAM costs only 2x2GB+6$, so that is not problem for me. As I can see, the 930 will work fine, and the only hesitation is between ud3r and ud5 - the money vs features problem.

[sn0le]

@EvidentIncredible:

Seriously? Is that 1066MHz memory you found?

Usually a 4GB module is way more expensive than 2x2GB kit.

And you'll need 4GB modules to get 12GB on the UD3R.

[EvidentIncredible]

@sn0le 1333 one. Honestly speaking 50$ do not matter a lot, while iMac will cost me about $3000 and iHac is below $1000. And yes, I considered to stop with UD5+i7 930. Again, $50 vs compatibility (and the chance to FAIL the MAC OS X installation (forever)) worth it. Lucky me, I already own HD4850 and 1TB SATA, no additional costs for graphix and hdd.

[sn0le]

@EvidentIncredible:

I checked on newegg.

And 1x4GB RAM (1066MHz) was just as much as the 6GB Kit I used in my example. About $160

Other than the RAM thingy, the UD3R is alot more bang for the buck.

The extra features and the 2xLAN on the UD5 is not very crucial for most people.

I did it so I could go from 6GB to 12GB of RAM without having to change my RAM.

I will just have to add 6GB extra to the 6GB I already have.

[EdwardJamesThompson]

Can you put the components list in the description.

[sn0le]

@EdwardJamesThompson:

It's done. :)

[EdwardJamesThompson]

@sn0le Thanks!

[jaa93997]

is there any software available to check wheter my hardware will be compatible with the snow leopard?

[sn0le]

@jaa93997:

Not that I know of.

But the OSX86 Wiki has the Hardware Compability List. (HCL).

Laptops are listed there, with comments on how easy/difficult it was to get OSX on that model.

Other than that, Google is your best bet to find info regarding OSX86/Hackintosh and the computer you plan to use.

[EdwardJamesThompson]

@sn0le Can you put the components list in the description.

[soccerbitch]

hey Sn0le, i was wondering, can that graphics card u have in the video handle bluray movies, i know u don't have a bluray drive but say like u download bluray movies online and they are usually in .mkv files and i

[soccerbitch]

used vlc player to watch it. but my Nvidia geforce 9200M GS 256MB on my hp dv5 laptop can't handle it cause it skips or struggled to keep up. So i was wondering if u have that problem and u said ur not upgrading yet, but what if u upgrade? what would u upgrade to? im looking for something with 1 GB of memory

[sn0le]

@soccerbitch:

VLC is not reccomended for playing 1080p MKV-files in OSX.

It only utilize 1 core. So with a testmovie I got, it skips and struggles to keep up.

(I can send you the link to the testmovie, just PM me).

I'd reccomend Plex, Perian or any other Mediaplayer.

Hell, even DivX-player was able to run the clip just fine.

Plex uses about 150% CPU when it runs the clip.

(8 cores = 800% is max, so 150% is 1 and a half core).

[sn0le]

@sn0le:

So the 9600GT is more than enough to handle MKV-files in 1080p.

I haven't got a clue to what I'm going to upgrade to when that time comes.

It has to be a fanless card, and one that is easy to get working in OSX. :)

[soccerbitch]

Thank you so much! my laptop plays beautifully with Plex Player =) i've never heard of it, without you i was clueless that vlc use one core of ur processor lol and here i am with two cores. Your the man! and i'll use the 9600GT in my build hackitosh. thanks again sn0le

[sn0le]

@soccerbitch:

No problem. :)

[soccerbitch]

will snowleopard boot up if i have a different graphics card? how can i check to make sure that it will work? cuz im looking at yours on newegg and they dont have it, by the way? theres someting i don't understand, howcome its Asus....Geforce? i thought Nvidia carried the geforce line of graphics card and ATI with their radeon...

[sn0le]

@soccerbitch:

The videocard is probably not in sale much longer.

I saw the Asus is no longer available.

But they have this:

GIGABYTE GV-N96TSL-512I GeForce 9600 GT 512MB Silent Cell 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Basically the same.

But remember, this is old compared to the ATI4x/5x and the Nvidia GTS2xx series.

Asus makes both Nvidia and ATI cards. So do many other manufacturers.

Nvidia and ATI only makes the chipset.

[soccerbitch]

thanks for your feedbacks sn0le, you've really help me understand =) well can't wait for part 9

[sn0le]

@soccerbitch:

You're welcome. :)

Working on part #9, but just got started.

Maybe I'll get it done during the weekend.

=)

[soccerbitch]

whats the difference between 128-bit, 256-bit, and 320 -bit when it comes to graphics card?

[sn0le]

@soccerbitch:

I assume they're listing the "width" of the memory-bus on the videocard.

The wider the bus is, the more data can go trough it at the same time.

Example:

You have 2 highways. One is 4-lane and one is 8-lane.

If 1000 cars have to go from A to B on these highways, it will only take half the time before all cars are at B if they drive the 8-lane highway vs the 4-lane.

[soccerbitch]

never knew that, i thought it had to do with the color lol i was looking at graphics card on newegg and i saw a 320 bit and didn't know theres such thing as i thought there was 128 and 256 bit, thinking that it was for color. well thanks again sn0le, part 9 done yet?

[sn0le]

@soccerbitch:

If you use high resolutions while playing 3D-games a 256-bit bus is preferable.

For normal desktop-use, 128-bit is sufficient.

But I guess there's no point in buying a 128-bit card today, since the prices aren't that higher for 256-bit GPU's.

Part 9 is only halfdone. Have had a busy weekend, so I am not sure when I'll be able to finish it. :(

[sn0le]

@soccerbitch:

The only way I know to check if another videocard works or not is the HCL @ OSX86Wiki and Google.

I've looked at some fanless cards. Found a ATI HD4850 from Gigabyte.

And I just nedded to Google the word "OSX86" and the exact model number of the GPU.

Found lots of threads showing me that the card might give me trouble.

[FunWithOliver]

So I have an ibuypower Gamer Supreme 928i that has a core i7 920 and an NVidia gtx 285 graphics card. The Motherboard is an ASUS so I was wondering if that would be a problem if I try to hackintosh it. Any ideas for me?

[sn0le]

@FunWithOliver:

Find out which model that motherboard is.

Check the OSX86 Wiki, and take a look in the HCL.

(Hardware Compability List).

Empire EFI might work, you just need to find the appropriate Kext's to get your mobo working.

If you're LUCKY everything might work out of the box, and no Kexts are needed.

And as always, Google the model of your motherboard ad the word "OSX86" or "Hackintosh".

You'll find alot of good info that might help you.

Good luck mate. :D

[FunWithOliver]

Thanks, I'll see what I can do from here!

[fred9099]

Good hardware choice.

[sn0le]

@fred9099:

Thanks. I really hope so, lol.

This is probably the most expensive motherboard I've

ever bought.

But I wanted a motherboard that works well with OSX.

And I chose the UD5 instead of the UD3 (motherboard)

because of the 6 memoryslots instead of 4 (3 if you want to run triple channel memory).