Hackintosh!

[brockraum]

So for fun I decided to try and build a hackintosh! I just ordered the parts the other day and they should be coming in within the week. I plan to document step by step my n00bish tendencies and show my mistakes along the way for anyone who is interested! stay tuned

-Brock

[MithrilFox]

Take videos with your HV20 the whole way, and put together a final product :)

If you want to see how my Hackintosh does, check this out:

YouTube - Mac OS X Leopard on a PC!

Sorry, it's a bit long and I didn't put any thought into it, just ran the camera and talked.

[brockraum]

Sweet Video! I might need to come to you with some questions. I'm by no means a computer genius, but I like to pretend I know a bit.
I plan on using a EFi-X chip to set up the bios for me. I thought about doing the swap method but I just don't think im L337 enough for that :hv20-smilie03:

-Brock

[petergng]

Sweet Video! I might need to come to you with some questions. I'm by no means a computer genius, but I like to pretend I know a bit.
I plan on using a EFi-X chip to set up the bios for me. I thought about doing the swap method but I just don't think im L337 enough for that :hv20-smilie03:

-Brock

I have a hackintosh running on 10.5.6 through the ipc pcwiz install. By far the easiest way to pull this off.

[MithrilFox]

Sweet Video! I might need to come to you with some questions. I'm by no means a computer genius, but I like to pretend I know a bit.
I plan on using a EFi-X chip to set up the bios for me. I thought about doing the swap method but I just don't think im L337 enough for that :hv20-smilie03:

-Brock

I thought the swap method was pretty simple. The biggest drawback for many people is that you need a retail DVD... Most people downloaded a "hacked," pirated version of OS X and use it. I installed via my retail legally purchased 10.5.0 DVD, and updated without trouble all the way to 10.5.6.

It's pretty straightforward. Just swap out the disc, install, and make sure the graphics card is working. There are installation programs for making sure the graphics card works, and they are as simple as clicking "Next" buttons.

[bean]

I want to get into the hackintosh scene and build something with considerable power (I'm using a MBP 2.4ghz...it does the trick for simple editing, but AE chokes when I try to do some stuff...) on a budget.

Can someone help me putting together a list of the components I would need and that are known to work flawlessly more often than not?

edit: actually, I have a wishlist on newegg, I'll see if I can link to it and you guys can tell me where I can improve.

[bean]

here, I can't seen to get a link where you don't have to log in....

link (https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=13081608)

missing a disc drive, but that's about it. What am I missing? How will this perform? what can be greatly improved for not that much of a cost?


edit: here's a screen grab in case the link doesn't work. please excuse the size.... (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/3468936205_65ff32df40_o.jpg)

[MithrilFox]

here, I can't seen to get a link where you don't have to log in....

link (https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=13081608)

missing a disc drive, but that's about it. What am I missing? How will this perform? what can be greatly improved for not that much of a cost?


edit: here's a screen grab in case the link doesn't work. please excuse the size.... (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3522/3468936205_65ff32df40_o.jpg)

The Radeon HD 4850 doesn't have full compatibility yet, and there are issues. Last I heard, OpenGL isn't working on it. They have managed to get Core Image/Quartz Extreme going, I believe.

I'm not sure about your motherboard, Google around and see who has tried it and what works/doesn't. The main thing you want to worry about is general compatibility of your motherboard (does it work at all), and then focus on the ethernet/built-in sound. You don't care about the built-in video, and if push comes to shove you could buy a PCI sound card. Make sure of course that the Firewire works, but I don't hear about too much trouble with that.

Basically, you don't have to worry about HDDs, Intel processors, RAM, etc. Just make sure that stuff is compatible on the hardware end (your RAM matches your motherboard/CPU, CPU matches the motherboard, etc).

If it all fits together, your only real concern is the motherboard, graphics card, and possibily WiFi or ethernet (which are less problematic).

Focus real hard on the motherboard and graphics card. If those are highly compatible, you will have little trouble. If they are not highly compatible and you try to "make them work," you will have endless frustrations.

[brockraum]

I want to get into the hackintosh scene and build something with considerable power (I'm using a MBP 2.4ghz...it does the trick for simple editing, but AE chokes when I try to do some stuff...) on a budget.

Can someone help me putting together a list of the components I would need and that are known to work flawlessly more often than not?

edit: actually, I have a wishlist on newegg, I'll see if I can link to it and you guys can tell me where I can improve.
Here's my parts list

EFIX USB V1 Chip
Gigabyte GA-EP45 mother board
Intel Q9650 3ghz quad core
XFX Geforce 9800 GTX+
8Gb of OCZ ram
And a Seagate Barracuda 1.5 terabyte drive

Just waiting on the case and mother board to arrive, should be here
by tomorrow then the fun begins!

[brockraum]

First attempt = fail!
Got shipped a dead board from Gigabyte
sending it back tomorrow, then hopefully within
the week I can try again!

-Brock

[BarteS]

Although you didn't mention the suffix of the motherboard I think you'll be fine with that one. I'm using a EP45-DS3R and it works fine. My only problem is the GPU, I got my computer first and got wind of the ease of hackintosh later on. Result: ATI 4670. First of all it's an ATI, less supported in hackintosh, and second the 46xx still isn't supported (whereas the 48xx is).
One question, why a XFX Geforce 9800 GTX+? It's consuming a lot of energy, somewhat noisy, expensive...so what is the upside for you? I take it you won't use it just for videoediting?

[brockraum]

Although you didn't mention the suffix of the motherboard I think you'll be fine with that one. I'm using a EP45-DS3R and it works fine. My only problem is the GPU, I got my computer first and got wind of the ease of hackintosh later on. Result: ATI 4670. First of all it's an ATI, less supported in hackintosh, and second the 46xx still isn't supported (whereas the 48xx is).
One question, why a XFX Geforce 9800 GTX+? It's consuming a lot of energy, somewhat noisy, expensive...so what is the upside for you? I take it you won't use it just for videoediting?

Actually the 9800 GTX+ consumes less energy than the 9800 GT its powered by just a 6 pin, Its going to be a dual boot system and I want to do some gaming on the windows side so I wanted the 9800 in there! But yes it is overkill if the only thing I was doing was video editing, I totally agree with that.

-Brock

[bean]

not trying to thread jack, but does anyone know of a motherboard that is known to be "the best" or "one of the best" for hackintoshing? But not only that, but a mother board that I can buy from like newegg and not something that has been discontinued. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[brockraum]

not trying to thread jack, but does anyone know of a motherboard that is known to be "the best" or "one of the best" for hackintoshing? But not only that, but a mother board that I can buy from like newegg and not something that has been discontinued. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I know aton of people use gigabyte boards, mine actually wasnt a dud, it just wasnt grounded correctly.It's in the process or installing OSX as I type :hv20-smilie03: I also know that people use DFI as well, both should be available on newegg.

-Brock

[bean]

yeah, I've noticed gigabyte seems to be popular, but is there one board model that works better than all the others?

[MithrilFox]

not trying to thread jack, but does anyone know of a motherboard that is known to be "the best" or "one of the best" for hackintoshing? But not only that, but a mother board that I can buy from like newegg and not something that has been discontinued. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The Asus P5K series seems to work well. I have a P5K-V and it works great, but my particular motherboard is unique to Japan.

[fishops]

I have a gigabyte EP45-DS3L, works perfectly.

[bean]

seems like that board has been discontinued....

how's the hackintoshing going along? working yet?

[fishops]

seems like that board has been discontinued....

how's the hackintoshing going along? working yet?

Woops. Well, a good place to look is the Efi-X compatibility list: http://www.efi-x.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97&language=english

Even if you don't use an Efi-X, that list generally means that OSX86 will work on that board.

My hackintosh works perfectly. Absolutely no difference between this system and my Macbook Pro, except speed, expandability and price. Yesterday I did a logo with Illustrator and InDesign, then today some sound design in Pro Tools and an animation in Motion and Final Cut Pro. Totally flawless.

[bean]

yeah, I'm looking to build something that can handle tasks my MBP can't. For the most part the MBP is fine, like for simple editing and stuff, but when I try to do special effects in AE, especially in HD, it just can't handle it. I want something with mac pro power, and I can do that with a windows system, but I don't want to part with OSX.

[brockraum]

The hackintosh is up and running!

[bean]

I'm jealous...

total cost? how's it working? any problems, hitches?

total noob here, so excuse me for being stupid, but how does the EFIX work compared to the 123boot or whatever? is there a benefit between the two?

[koolpenguin89]

123boot=free. EFIX=$250

Dylan

[bean]

what's the benefit that you get for paying $250?

[brockraum]

when I ordered the EFIX chip I didn't know about the 123boot method, If I where to do it again I probably wouldn't use the EFIX chip. But since I already had it and expressHD apparently doesn't have any sort of customer service I just went ahead and used it.

Nope, no hitches so far. Everything is running very well.

-Brock

[MithrilFox]

I'm jealous...

total cost? how's it working? any problems, hitches?

total noob here, so excuse me for being stupid, but how does the EFIX work compared to the 123boot or whatever? is there a benefit between the two?

As Dylan commented, there's pretty much nothing but a price difference. To my knowledge there is no advantage to using the EFIX chip over a boot loader with retail DVD.

[BarteS]

There is, using the EFIX chip you can use a genuine OSX disc. This because the EFIX will fool the disc by pretending the computer to be a typical Mac, instead of a PC.
This also means you can update OSX easier. (You won't hear me say the other systems can't be updated at all, but probably it's a bit more of a hassle).
But all this demands the hardware is fully supported, which is the drawback of EFIX. It support less hardware than the hacked versions. After all you're building a Mac and use OSX as opposed to building a computer with OSX on it.

In terms of performance of the computer I didn't hear any stories of one of both being better or worse. And honestly I don't see any cause why one of the systems would perform better or worse.

[koolpenguin89]

BarteS, that is false. The whole point of using a bootloader is to use a retail OSX disk, and it will update the same as a real mac.

Dylan

[MithrilFox]

There is, using the EFIX chip you can use a genuine OSX disc. This because the EFIX will fool the disc by pretending the computer to be a typical Mac, instead of a PC.
This also means you can update OSX easier. (You won't hear me say the other systems can't be updated at all, but probably it's a bit more of a hassle).
But all this demands the hardware is fully supported, which is the drawback of EFIX. It support less hardware than the hacked versions. After all you're building a Mac and use OSX as opposed to building a computer with OSX on it.

In terms of performance of the computer I didn't hear any stories of one of both being better or worse. And honestly I don't see any cause why one of the systems would perform better or worse.

Bartes, have you been reading this thread? I've mentioned several times, and even included a video, of my Hackintosh installation which uses a retail DVD without an EFIX chip.

That's the entire point of the boot132 method, it *is* a method for using a retail DVD. I also mentioned that after my installation of 10.5.0, I was able to update normally using Software Update all the way to 10.5.6.

[BarteS]

My bad. I was referring to the Kalyway, XxX, ... solution. That one demands some specific update tricks because the installation doesn't use a genuine installer. The other solutions indeed use the genuine installer and fake a real MAC.
And no I haven't read this thread as I stumbled on Mac projects before ever visiting this forum :) But sorry for the confusion.

[bean]

brock, can I get a link to what guides you used? I'm planning to use the same MB as you, so I might need some help...

[brockraum]

brock, can I get a link to what guides you used? I'm planning to use the same MB as you, so I might need some help...
I didn't really use a guide, but there are alot of hardware guidelines you have to go by. This lists the hardware that works with the EFIX chip, and will work overall even if you use the 123boot method. http://www.efi-x.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&language=english

hope this helps!

-Brock

[bean]

awesome. Also, with the EFiX, do you still have to do all that kext BS or is it pretty much plug and play if you have all the compatible parts?

[koolpenguin89]

I believe with EFiX, their isn't any kext editing because everything has to be perfectly compatible for it to boot up. Thats the good thing about the boot123 method, if some of your hardware isn't perfectly compatible, you can make it work.

Dylan

[bmsweb]

Nice thread, I might have a go at this :)

[oneearth]

After a few failed attempts a couple months ago to get 10.5 on my newly built machine I gave up, yesterday I realized I should try 10.6 and found a simple tool to do it.

I used Kakewalk, http://www.puru.se (for mostly gigabyte motherboards), and it was fairly simple:
I had to make an image of the snow leopard install disk, restore it to my thumb drive(I had to go buy an 8gb one, 10.6 disk is over 6gb), apply the kakewalk patch to the thumb drive, then plug it in the PC and install osx like on any mac, only after first changing a few bios settings. Everything you need to do is outlined in detail in the very short and straightforward pdf instructions.

I was happy that both my dvi monitors were recognized and set up properly instantly(it even spanned during the installation screen) and this was not changed after installing the included ATI 4870 driver afterwards.

Final cut and my adobe apps are working fine and fast, compressor is like 8 times faster than my aging 2.16ghz core2duo macbook pro.

Hack Pro:
Intel Core i7 920 Processor (recognized by 'about this mac' as xeon :hv20-smilie87:)
Gigabyte EX58-UD3R Motherboard
6GB Triple Channel DDR3 G.Skill Ram
ATI XFX 4870 1gb video card
2x 1TB HD (1 for OSX 1 for Win7)

[bean]

cost for that set up?

[cgbier]

Did you use the 30 bucks upgrade or the boxed Snow Leopard?

[bean]

probably not the place to ask, but can't hurt...

I hackintosh'd a gigabyte ga-ep45-ud3p motherboard with a q9650 processor. I got 8gb of 800mhz ram...now, I'm not trying to overdo it here, but I would like to overclock my processor to say 3.6ghz. I've never overclocked before and like any noob, I'm scared of messing stuff up permanently. Can anyone help? My research so far has only instilled more fear into me.

[oneearth]

cost for that set up?

With my 2 dell 2209WA 22" screens about $2200 CAD.
The tower was about $1600 itself including a copy of Windows 7 HP 64 bit.


Did you use the 30 bucks upgrade or the boxed Snow Leopard?
Upgrade disc, I own a stand alone copy of leopard. ;)

[krewcial]

With my 2 dell 2209WA 22" screens about $2200 CAD.
The tower was about $1600 itself including a copy of Windows 7 HP 64 bit.


Upgrade disc, I own a stand alone copy of leopard. ;)

Did you include the hours of labour, setting up, troubleshooting, ... in your cost ?

[tull_power]

Very interesting thread. As a long time hackintosh (as well as regular Mac) user, may I clear up a few tidbits. The Efix USB cludge is nothing more then a memory stick containing a hodge podge of public domain and readily available hackintosh tools. Compared to even a year ago, setting up a hackintosh is dead simple and very effective. You're getting high-end Mac Pro performance for a fraction of the price. And contrary to popular myth, once the hackintosh is setup correctly, it works like a dream, zero problems whatsoever.

The secret is to run it on compatible hardware. If you'd like to try it on parts which differ considerably from Apple's parts then be prepared for a rough ride, but don't bad mouth the Hackintosh. On parts which are compatible (and remember Efix works only on this hardware, sidestepping the problem of non-standard hardware), the Hackinstosh is better then a real apple computer (see all the Mac reliability problems reported on the net)!

To conclude on a slightly unrelated note. MacOS does have it's own set of problems, and while this may sound as blasphemy to a few devotees here, Windows 7 offers most of MacOS X's advantages while still running the plethora of software available (and which the Mac OS X sadly lacks). Unless you need specific Apple software (such as Final Cut, Motion, Shake or Logic) there's really no compelling reason to use a Mac any more, both a real one or a Hackintosh.

[kaydawgy]

With my 2 dell 2209WA 22" screens about $2200 CAD.
The tower was about $1600 itself including a copy of Windows 7 HP 64 bit.


Upgrade disc, I own a stand alone copy of leopard. ;)

How are you liking those 2 Dell 2209WA screens? I run the same dual setup cuz I use the whole Adobe CS4 suite. Makes editing very nice and smooth.

[cgbier]

Tull, what software is missing for Mac? I don't want to start a fight and only ask out of curiosity, but I always hear this statement as a first argument against OS X. When I ask what is missing, I only get crickets as answer or GAMES.

[cgbier]

Sorry for digging out this dinosaur, but I'm going pregnant with the thought of building a Hackintosh the last couple of weeks. Especially, as the updates that Steve just released are a bit underwhelming.

I stumbled over tonymacx86 some days ago, and this seems to be a very interesting Hackintosh bootloader build. The final click came when I saw the CustoMac Pro (http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/08/building-customac-customac-pro-2010.html). That seems to be a decent machine. Well, my taste is a bit too conservative for that case, but....

Anyways, the last time I built my own PC was when I had to decide between a Pentium 133 and 166....
My question is: Did the process of plugging together a computer change much in the last 15 years? Does anyone know or use that TonyMac thingie?

I could put together an iMac with the same (speed-)specs for not much more money, but I need the expandability of a tower...

P.S.: I know the difference between server-grade Xeon and consumer grade i7... that's not the question.

[askclifford]

From experience trying it out on an older laptop, its a lot easier to install Windows, followed by Rebel EFI, and then Mac OSX.
http://download.cnet.com/Rebel-EFI/3000-18513_4-10972605.html

[dc7ks]

Anyways, the last time I built my own PC was when I had to decide between a Pentium 133 and 166....
My question is: Did the process of plugging together a computer change much in the last 15 years? Does anyone know or use that TonyMac thingie?



I've put together two towers in my life and there wasn't really any difference between my last one 7 years ago, and my current one. It's not 15 but it might be helpful.

I also have a hackintosh using parts very similar to what tonymac has in his Customac. While i didn't use the iboot and multibeast method, it looks easy enough.

Instead of using his method, I used digital dreamer's method here

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=185097

they both look to be quite popular.

[cgbier]

Clifford, why should I waste me money on Windows? The SL upgrade goes for 25, the boxed version (with iLife and iWorks) for 150 bucks at B&H right now. Which one of the Win7 version shall I use?

dc7ks, thanks for the link. I'll ingest it later today.

[bean]

I went with the lifehacker.com build just because it was pretty much plug and play. At the time I didn't feel comfortable with trouble shooting any problems that could come up so I went with a proven easy method. Granted I'm using oldish hardware, I've been happy with my Hac Pro. I also got a business version of windows 7 64bit (I think) through a student discount, so it was only like $70. Putting a computer together is still just as easy, if not easier as it was way back when. No wide cables, the heatsink is a bit bigger, gpu too, but it's all pretty much the same.

http://lifehacker.com/5360150/install-snow-leopard-on-your-hackintosh-pc-no-hacking-required