Hackintosh 10.5.5 Retail Rig - Starting at $305

[volcs0]

Originally posted by: Zaap
It might be time to retire the P35-DS3L- it's still a great board but eventually the remaining supply is going to dry up.

Just did an install with the GA-EP45-UD3P + Q6600, 16GB, 7600GT (temp until replacement)
Prepped board

Built system (pre rat's nest wiring cleanup)

Booted/installed with Grub-dfe and retail 10.5.4

Right after install, LAN worked OOB, direct System Updated to 10.5.6 without issue.

Rebooted (-v -f) ran UInstaller and selected:

Boot timeout to 5

Nothing for native Boot Res (I've had even a 'correct' setting put my monitor out of range during boot)

PC_EFI v9 Chameleon 1.0.12

Applied the Ethernet EFI String.

Applied the EFI string for my video card.

Installed 4 kext files.

Voila! Done, and it runs perfectly! Using USB audio (better anyway) rather than the onboard, so I didn't futz with onboard. My friend who owns it is already editing a show with this beast.

I highly recommend this board and install method added to the guide if it isn't already- it's fairly cheap/newer-gen, and fully working.


Works: LAN (board has dual LAN, both worked) Sleep/Shutdown/Restart (After installing Chameleon- before that had to force a restart after first update), onboard Firewire, USB, update to 10.5.6

Not working: About this Mac reports 2.4 GHz Unknown (easy fix, haven't bothered), Orange HD icons- system must be set to AHCI. Haven't looked for the AHCI fix yet for the orange drives.

Not yet tried: onboard audio (reported working) eSata (2 purple ports + powered bracket), ATA

This is similar to my system - except I have only 8gb RAM and the 9800GTX.

GA-EP45-UD3P + Q6600 + 9800GTX + 8GB

My install was like this:

0. BIOS settings: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7618939/BIOS-Settings
1. iDeneb 10.5.5
2. Rip Retail 10.5 to drive, download standalone 10.5.6 upgrade
3. Used UInstaller OSx86 Installer to install retail 10.5 and 10.5.6 upgrade
4. Ran UInstaller again and applied all the options.
5. Downloaded and installed the KEXT package for the UD3R (not sure this is even necessary)
http://forum.insanelymac.com/i...&start=100#entry996755
6. Boot with -f -v
7. Apply audio patch: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=129449
8. For 10.5.6, need to install new AppleSMSBios from here: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=108606 in build/development --> use kext helper
9. Deleted AppleIntelCPUPowermanagement
10. I booted into an XP install and used the gigabyte utility to overclock to 3.2Ghz.

Always reboot with -f -v after any changes, or you will get a kernel panic.

Everything runs great - I've not had any problems so far after two weeks. The machine runs cool and fast.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Roel
Found another Zotec

Zotac GeForce 8600GT Zone Edition 256MB DDR3 PCI-E TV/2xDVI

Where can I find more tested cards? In the threads and on the wiki page? I need a few possibilities because not everything is available here.

Research, research, research. The biggest problem with the OSx86 Project is that it's very disorganized. I am developing my own personal DS3L Wiki for compatible hardware that has been tested by Leopard Soup users because of this.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: volcs0

Originally posted by: Zaap
It might be time to retire the P35-DS3L- it's still a great board but eventually the remaining supply is going to dry up.

Just did an install with the GA-EP45-UD3P + Q6600, 16GB, 7600GT (temp until replacement)
Prepped board

GA-EP45-UD3P + Q6600 + 9800GTX + 8GB

The UD3P is my next project. I'm working on the Wiki, which will embody all of my plugins and install procedures. The P35-DS3L is definitely getting hard to come by, and subsequently prices are going up. Will be nice to have a cheap board with better availability!

 

[mosslack]

Kaido, re: Atom kit. Have a friend who tried it on his MSI Wind PC, desktop, not netbook, and has good things to say about it. Here is his comments:

Now up on MSI Wind with 10.5.6 and all updates.

Atom Kit is great, except that sound support is a little weak (weaksauce ???) and requires going into the sound control panel.

But, it is adequate for the job, for sure.

Video was stuck on my specified default of 1280 x 1024 until perhaps the second or third reboot. Thereafter, all resolutions appeared to work.

Boot132 is fully working, so the CD-ROM or the USB stick is no longer required.

I haven't done much testing, yet, but it is looking like a very clean package.

I installed it to one of my new Hitachi 1 TB drives.

No problema.

Thank Kaito and/or Weaksauce for me ... it's a good-un!

Part II:

Tested the Wind using a number of applications, and DVD Player, and all is OK.

A good osx86 releas, lacking only a "guide" to be complete.

Took several hours to install, because the downloaded 10.5.6 Combo Update is no good ... claims my hardware is incompatible, and I should query my hardware vendor ... and has to be deleted (from /Library/Updates) and then reapplied using the implicit download method.

All is OK, thereafter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I will have my memory and such in tomorrow for my Wind and will also give this Atom kit a try. Keep up the great work Kaido!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mosslack
Kaido, re: Atom kit. Have a friend who tried it on his MSI Wind PC, desktop, not netbook, and has good things to say about it. Here is his comments:

I'm picking up a dual-core Atom board from Intel soon, I'll post details on that later. The Wind PC seems to have a different structure, i.e. locked into 1GB etc. Some weird stuff.

Finished up the 10.5.6 Wind kit tonight, works great! Working on making the audio system better.

 

[randomlinh]

hrm, apparently my video issues are back. takes 7-10 seconds to get to my screen. it flashes for a second, and I can actually type/move the mouse, but only see blue during those 7-10 seconds. It happens after leaving the system on for a while, or after putting the computer to sleep. I shoulda got a 256MB card, grr, ha. Not a biggie.

I have two main issues now: the firewall continually asking if I want to add an app to the list (I've had this issue before on a real mac, so I can't say it's the hackintosh). And the password issue... I have my system to ask for a password when it comes back from screen saver/wakes up. That seems to work fine... until I switch users/go to the login screen or put the machine to sleep. Is anyone else experiencing this lack of password asking?

 

[imported_Roel]

Hi Kaido,

I am still not sure about the retail version of OS X. I am buying the 10.5.4. version tomorrow, but I am wondering if I am binded to the single version (MB576) or if the family pack (MB022) will do the job as well? Strangely enough the single version is much more expensive than the family pack (with more licenses).

Did some research lastnight on graphic cards and ended up with the ASUS GF 7300 GT 256. Internetshops here in Poland offered only newer cards, or unknown versions of cards like Zotec 8600 GT "Zone Edition" which aren't yet tested in the forums.

I know that the ASUS is not the best card for hackintosh, because it has no active fan, but at least I found some other ASUScard-users with a working system. To avoid too much heat, I am investing some more in an antec earthwatts power supply and doing some good cooling management inside the case.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Roel
Hi Kaido,

I am still not sure about the retail version of OS X. I am buying the 10.5.4. version tomorrow, but I am wondering if I am binded to the single version (MB576) or if the family pack (MB022) will do the job as well? Strangely enough the single version is much more expensive than the family pack (with more licenses).

Did some research lastnight on graphic cards and ended up with the ASUS GF 7300 GT 256. Internetshops here in Poland offered only newer cards, or unknown versions of cards like Zotec 8600 GT "Zone Edition" which aren't yet tested in the forums.

I know that the ASUS is not the best card for hackintosh, because it has no active fan, but at least I found some other ASUScard-users with a working system. To avoid too much heat, I am investing some more in an antec earthwatts power supply and doing some good cooling management inside the case.

All retail Leopard versions work - 10.5.0, 10.5.1, 10.5.4, single or family pack. There are no license keys on Leopard, so the "family pack" disc is the same as the single-pack disc. It's simply an ethical thing.

I have several fanless video cards. The heat varies from one model to the next, but as long as you have good case cooling it will be fine.

 

[leglez]

Hey where did you find a family pack of leopard for cheaper than a single version?

 

[imported_Roel]

http://www.cortland.com.pl/Mac-OS-X_idc=5_22_27.html

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack
Kaido, re: Atom kit. Have a friend who tried it on his MSI Wind PC, desktop, not netbook, and has good things to say about it. Here is his comments:

I'm picking up a dual-core Atom board from Intel soon, I'll post details on that later. The Wind PC seems to have a different structure, i.e. locked into 1GB etc. Some weird stuff.

Finished up the 10.5.6 Wind kit tonight, works great! Working on making the audio system better.

From what I understand on the Wind forum, if the bios is upgraded the 2 Gb chips can be used. That is what I bought for mine, which arrived today, sure hope it works. I probably won't find out until tomorrow evening though.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack
Kaido, re: Atom kit. Have a friend who tried it on his MSI Wind PC, desktop, not netbook, and has good things to say about it. Here is his comments:

I'm picking up a dual-core Atom board from Intel soon, I'll post details on that later. The Wind PC seems to have a different structure, i.e. locked into 1GB etc. Some weird stuff.

Finished up the 10.5.6 Wind kit tonight, works great! Working on making the audio system better.

From what I understand on the Wind forum, if the bios is upgraded the 2 Gb chips can be used. That is what I bought for mine, which arrived today, sure hope it works. I probably won't find out until tomorrow evening though.

That's great news! Fire it up and we'll tweak it till it works

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack
Kaido, re: Atom kit. Have a friend who tried it on his MSI Wind PC, desktop, not netbook, and has good things to say about it. Here is his comments:

I'm picking up a dual-core Atom board from Intel soon, I'll post details on that later. The Wind PC seems to have a different structure, i.e. locked into 1GB etc. Some weird stuff.

Finished up the 10.5.6 Wind kit tonight, works great! Working on making the audio system better.

From what I understand on the Wind forum, if the bios is upgraded the 2 Gb chips can be used. That is what I bought for mine, which arrived today, sure hope it works. I probably won't find out until tomorrow evening though.

That's great news! Fire it up and we'll tweak it till it works

So is the Wind kit different from the Atom kit? I checked the file location for the Atom kit, but didn't see anything for the Wind.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack
Kaido, re: Atom kit. Have a friend who tried it on his MSI Wind PC, desktop, not netbook, and has good things to say about it. Here is his comments:

I'm picking up a dual-core Atom board from Intel soon, I'll post details on that later. The Wind PC seems to have a different structure, i.e. locked into 1GB etc. Some weird stuff.

Finished up the 10.5.6 Wind kit tonight, works great! Working on making the audio system better.

From what I understand on the Wind forum, if the bios is upgraded the 2 Gb chips can be used. That is what I bought for mine, which arrived today, sure hope it works. I probably won't find out until tomorrow evening though.

That's great news! Fire it up and we'll tweak it till it works

So is the Wind kit different from the Atom kit? I checked the file location for the Atom kit, but didn't see anything for the Wind.

It's a similar concept to the Gigabyte boards...the 945GCMX and DS3L are similar, but the details are different. Both the Wind and Intel Atom mobos are Atom-based, but they are different in some respects and thus have different installation methods.

 

[litlgi74]

Hey Kaido...

Thank your for the incredible resource of Leopard Soup! I am anxious to see the updated v1.1 (this Saturday?)

I am very anxious to build a Hackintosh using you tutorial... But I am hoping you or others may be able to advise me on the best hardware options for the best performing Photoshop CS4 System.

I am a Pro Photographer who spends most of his day in Capture One and Photoshop on a PC... I am not a gamer and don't plan on becoming one. I would just like to build the best possible performing Mac for the money (OCing if necessary).

I should also mention that there is one application (lumapix FotoFusion) that is not made for OSX that I need to run... So I need to either use a dual boot or VMware... for XP. I am just not sure what would be the best performance option... (I am concerned about 4GB memory limitation... I will switch to the dreaded Vista if necessary )

I also currently have a MBP 2.16 Intel Core Duo w 2GBs or ram... certain plugins (Imagenomic Portraiture) in photoshop take more than 15 seconds to run which is pretty much the same on my PC... I am hoping to improve this with my new Hackintosh! I hope this will be possible?

Thanks again for your help
John

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: litlgi74
Hey Kaido...

Thank your for the incredible resource of Leopard Soup! I am anxious to see the updated v1.1 (this Saturday?)

I am very anxious to build a Hackintosh using you tutorial... But I am hoping you or others may be able to advise me on the best hardware options for the best performing Photoshop CS4 System.

I am a Pro Photographer who spends most of his day in Capture One and Photoshop on a PC... I am not a gamer and don't plan on becoming one. I would just like to build the best possible performing Mac for the money (OCing if necessary).

I should also mention that there is one application (lumapix FotoFusion) that is not made for OSX that I need to run... So I need to either use a dual boot or VMware... for XP. I am just not sure what would be the best performance option... (I am concerned about 4GB memory limitation... I will switch to the dreaded Vista if necessary )

I also currently have a MBP 2.16 Intel Core Duo w 2GBs or ram... certain plugins (Imagenomic Portraiture) in photoshop take more than 15 seconds to run which is pretty much the same on my PC... I am hoping to improve this with my new Hackintosh! I hope this will be possible?

Thanks again for your help
John

What's your budget?

 

[litlgi74]

I would like to keep it around $700 without the cost of OSX... Based on the positive responses, I think I would like to use the Q6600. But I am open to your opinions.

John

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: litlgi74
I would like to keep it around $700 without the cost of OSX... Based on the positive responses, I think I would like to use the Q6600. But I am open to your opinions.

John

does that $700 include a monitor? I hope not, cause a nice one for photography is pricey. I managed to snag a dell 2408wfp for $400 w/ the ebay live deals.. but the wide gamut is starting to irk me... colors for non-manged stuff are a bit "glowy."

But do you have version 2 of your plugin? It looks like that supports mutlithreading, and might actually benefit from having more cores. Otherwise, the Q6600 isn't too big a jump from my imac (which was a 2.16ghz c2d). But it's highly overclockable I hear, i just prefer not to deal w/ all that jazz this time round.

What I don't know will be helpful is your video card. CS4 takes advantage of it, and when Snow Leopard comes out, in theory it will open that up even more. So I would say don't skimp here too much. But stick w/ the 256MB cards like Kaido suggests... my 512MB works, but takes a bit of time to start up and does a double take, heh.

oh, right, the point of my post is after rebates and discounts, i built my q6600+8GB for $900, including the monitor ($300+ in discounts). I only reused my old old case. 8GB might be overkill, I did it mainly because I can now run a VM in the background perpetually. So if your budget doesn't include a monitor, you're golden. If it does, that might limit some things.

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack
Kaido, re: Atom kit. Have a friend who tried it on his MSI Wind PC, desktop, not netbook, and has good things to say about it. Here is his comments:

I'm picking up a dual-core Atom board from Intel soon, I'll post details on that later. The Wind PC seems to have a different structure, i.e. locked into 1GB etc. Some weird stuff.

Finished up the 10.5.6 Wind kit tonight, works great! Working on making the audio system better.

From what I understand on the Wind forum, if the bios is upgraded the 2 Gb chips can be used. That is what I bought for mine, which arrived today, sure hope it works. I probably won't find out until tomorrow evening though.

That's great news! Fire it up and we'll tweak it till it works

I'm already stuck, put in the boot132 CD and booted from it, swapped the Leo DVD in and it won't go past the gray apple logo screen, I don't get any spinning clock either. I'm using the HD that I used in my P35 with the final package and it won't boot either. I get the same thing on it, can't get past the gray screen. BTW, bios is v1.20 and it shows the full 2 Gb.

 

[litlgi74]

Thanks for your reply randomlinh....

My budget is for the hackintosh only.... I already have two Eizo CE240Ws.

I am using Portraiture 2... still takes quite a bit of time process images.

I would prefer not to have to OC... but I am looking for the best performance for my money.

Thanks

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mosslack
I'm already stuck, put in the boot132 CD and booted from it, swapped the Leo DVD in and it won't go past the gray apple logo screen, I don't get any spinning clock either. I'm using the HD that I used in my P35 with the final package and it won't boot either. I get the same thing on it, can't get past the gray screen. BTW, bios is v1.20 and it shows the full 2 Gb.

Was your BootCD built for your board? All a BootCD contains is a Linux bootloader, an EFI emulator to fake out Leopard, and drivers for your motherboard. So if you're using a generic or non-Wind PC BootCD, it won't boot properly because it doesn't contain drivers specifically for your system.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: litlgi74
I would like to keep it around $700 without the cost of OSX... Based on the positive responses, I think I would like to use the Q6600. But I am open to your opinions.

Coolermaster 690, 3 Case Fans, 550w PSU ($150)
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P ($137)
2.4ghz Quad Q6600 ($190) or 3.0ghz Dual E8400 ($165)
2GB G.Skill DDR2-800 RAM ($18 x 2 = $36)
Dual-DVI 320mb 8800 GTS Video Card ($85)
1TB Samsung F1 Hard Drive ($100)
DVD Burner ($26)
Sabrent 68-in-1 Internal Memory Card Reader ($14)

You can save $37 by going with a DS3L board off eBay, but the UD3P has more features and is currently in production. You can also save some green by going with a cheaper case/fan/power supply combo, but I like the 690 because it's built like a tank and integrates very nicely with the UD3P (front Firewire/USB/headphone/eSATA). You can go with a Q6600 Quad (more power) or E8400 Dual (faster). Overclocking is totally up to you - you'll need to spend additional money on cooling, so if you want a super fast chip right out of the box, just get the E8400. If you want extra processing for plugins, get the Q6600. The Samsung F1 is a beast - 3x the storage capacity of the Raptor at half the cost, and nearly as fast. There are plenty of video card options; I have a 320mb 8800 GTS (XFX I think) and it works just fine. Nice card for under $100. This has 4 gigs of RAM so you can run OS X, XP, or Vista. VMs are okay but they have emulated video cards, although some do offer acceleration with DirectX (don't know if that applies to Pshop or not).

 

[mosslack]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack
I'm already stuck, put in the boot132 CD and booted from it, swapped the Leo DVD in and it won't go past the gray apple logo screen, I don't get any spinning clock either. I'm using the HD that I used in my P35 with the final package and it won't boot either. I get the same thing on it, can't get past the gray screen. BTW, bios is v1.20 and it shows the full 2 Gb.

Was your BootCD built for your board? All a BootCD contains is a Linux bootloader, an EFI emulator to fake out Leopard, and drivers for your motherboard. So if you're using a generic or non-Wind PC BootCD, it won't boot properly because it doesn't contain drivers specifically for your system.

Nope, I thought that might be the problem, guess I'll have to look for the correct boot CD

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mosslack

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mosslack
I'm already stuck, put in the boot132 CD and booted from it, swapped the Leo DVD in and it won't go past the gray apple logo screen, I don't get any spinning clock either. I'm using the HD that I used in my P35 with the final package and it won't boot either. I get the same thing on it, can't get past the gray screen. BTW, bios is v1.20 and it shows the full 2 Gb.

Was your BootCD built for your board? All a BootCD contains is a Linux bootloader, an EFI emulator to fake out Leopard, and drivers for your motherboard. So if you're using a generic or non-Wind PC BootCD, it won't boot properly because it doesn't contain drivers specifically for your system.

Nope, I thought that might be the problem, guess I'll have to look for the correct boot CD

DIY - just add your kexts:

http://pcwizcomputer.com/index...=view&id=148&Itemid=48

Out pops an ISO, burn it, boot it. Cake

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: litlgi74
Thanks for your reply randomlinh....

My budget is for the hackintosh only.... I already have two Eizo CE240Ws.

I am using Portraiture 2... still takes quite a bit of time process images.

I would prefer not to have to OC... but I am looking for the best performance for my money.

Thanks

damn, I wish I could afford some Eizo's. But yeah, Kaido's post pretty much sums it up. I'm a little tempted to get that MSI actually... just to see if it fixes my video problems, heh. I'm a weee bit lazy though.

I'd see if you can't find out if your plugin could really take advantage of the 4 cores over the mhz bump. Maybe shoot them an email. I went w/ more cores in hopes of snow leopard really helping and my desire to run VM's. But looking back, the mhz may have been a better option because maturity of all that might take a while, heh. I live in LR so I didn't notice a big jump (at least for small things so far).