Compatibility for the Hackintosh I Want to Make

[nwash57]

So I recently got a job and was wanting to build my own hackintosh, but many of the builds I look at have outdated or un-supplied hardware. So I started researching compatibility with OSX and with other hardware and I think I may have put together a usable computer. So I would greatly appreciate it if you guys would help me determine if this is a working build.

Currently I'm looking at:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Intel X58/Intel ICH10R Intel X58 ATX DDR3 2200 LGA 1366 Motherboard (GA-X58A-UD3R)

Video Card: ASUS EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5 Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Processor: Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600
[I heard Sandy Bridges were only compatible with Lion from my friend, but I was skeptical and added it anyway]

RAM: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Hard Drive: Seagate Pipeline HD ST31000322CS 1TB 5900 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Optical Drive: Sony Nec Optiarc AD-7241S-0B 24X Dual Layer DVD+/-RW SATA Drive with LightScribe

Processor Fan: Scythe SCSK-1100 100mm Shuriken Rev. B 3 Heat Pipes CPU Cooler

Power Supply: CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 (CMPSU-650HX) 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Case: I would like to put this hardware in an Antec 900 case

OS: I'm currently wanting to put this on Snow Leapord


I just copied and pasted all the hardware names off of the site (Newegg or Amazon) because I really wasn't sure what was extremely important. I would really appreciate it if someone could help me coordinate my first Hackintosh build.

If you need direct links to the sites I got these from then I'll add a word document with links in the attachments.

 

[flatfoot]

Sandy Bridge is compatible with Snow Leopard. Apple introduced Sandy Bridge CPUs in their systems before Lion was out.

You picked an incompatible motherboard/CPU combo though. X58 boards support LGA1366 CPUs but you picked an 1155 CPU.

I'd go with a Z68 board and an i7-2600K right now; a K-series CPU because it's overclockable in contrast to the normal i7-2600.

The LGA1366 successor is said to be due around the end of the year. That would give you triple-channel memory support and more physical cores like on the current LGA1366. Such a system will, however, be more expensive than an LGA1155 system and will also consume more power.

The rest of your components look good, except that if you go LGA1155 you need to pick a dual-channel DDR3 RAM kit.

 

[nwash57]

Thank you very much! I'll work on fixing my build to meet that. Also, what is overclocking? I here so much about it but I have no clue what it is.

 

[flatfoot]

Overclocking means that you make the CPU run faster than its stock speed.

For example, it's pretty easy to make an i7-2600K, which has a stock speed of 3.4GHz, run at over 4GHz.
It involves some tinkering though (no soldering or anything like that, just messing with the BIOS settings); if you're not comfortable doing that and thus don't intend to do it, you could save a few bucks going for an H67 board and a non-K-series CPU.

 

[nwash57]

Okay I changed out the X58 for the Z68 and got a 2600K sandy bridge i7, if these are compatible do you have a recommendation for RAM? I was thinking RipJaws, but I'm really unsure how to tell if they're compatible with the motherboard.

Links: Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -Z68XP-UD5

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115070

 

[flatfoot]

Any 240pin DDR3 dual channel memory kit will work. 1600Mhz is the speed to go for in my opinion.
Another thing to have an eye on concerning RAM modules is their height. If you have a big CPU cooler that hangs over the RAM slots, that can be an issue, but with your cooler you should be OK.

 

[nwash57]

Okay so now I have a compatible build hardware wise, now I don't understand which DSDT I'm supposed to get, I see that my motherboard is supported, but it has different versions or something, F4, F3, and F2. How do I know what my motherboard is?

 

[crburton]

F4 would be the motherboard BIOS level. I usually flash it to the highest level that is in the DSDT database.

 

[flatfoot]

F4 would be the motherboard BIOS level. I usually flash it to the highest level that is in the DSDT database.

+1. It's for the different BIOS versions; you should flash to the latest one and then use the corresponding DSDT file.

 

[nwash57]

Thanks a ton ill be sure to do that.