GeForce 8400 GS 256MB or GeForce 6600 GT 128MB

[ellnic]

Ok - so you guys remember that system I have been playing around with for my mate? It's nothing special, but it was free - so it made sense to have a play with it. He has a laptop for primary use, so it's not expected that the system be a killer one.

It's a redundant server -the spec is:

Board: Gigabyte GA-8I915G-MF
CPU: Some ancient P4 @ 3GHz (not sure on model no)
RAM: 2 x 512MB DDR PC3200 @ 400MHz
HDD: 2 x 160GB Seagate (SATA)
Sound: Using USB dongle (on board sound is not working in either win or mac os)
Ethernet: Using an Intel 82556 series which I ripped out of an old desktop
Also has: LSI Logic SCSI card (LSI21003) connected to an AIT4 tape drive, DVD drive (IDE).

To Do List:

Hardware: Replacing PSU (noisy bearing), Adding 1GB more RAM (maybe 2GB if I can get the PSU cheaper), adding a dedicated GPU (PCIe as there is no AGP slot), adding Freecom IDE Superdrive (I used to use this on my G5 but the enclosure is shot).

Software: Dual Boot Win7 and (1 HDD for each) as Parallels will not run.

The integrated GPU is pants (Intel GM930 I think). It's not supported fully in Mac OS X and Win 7 is bitching about it.

I've found these cheap:

1. GeForce 8400 GS 256MB (Acer)
2. GeForce 6600 GT 128MB (Asus)

I was looking on the HCL for 10.5.8 here: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index ... CI_Express

The board manufacturers are listed as ZOLTAC and Leadtek/WinFast respectively.

I found the 6600 for £15 and the 8400 for £12.

My question is - Does the board manufacturer make any major difference or is it simply a matter of tweaking settings?

 

[tonymacx86]

Ok - so you guys remember that system I have been playing around with for my mate? It's nothing special, but it was free - so it made sense to have a play with it. He has a laptop for primary use, so it's not expected that the system be a killer one.

It's a redundant server -the spec is:

Board: Gigabyte GA-8I915G-MF
CPU: Some ancient P4 @ 3GHz (not sure on model no)
RAM: 2 x 512MB DDR PC3200 @ 400MHz
HDD: 2 x 160GB Seagate (SATA)
Sound: Using USB dongle (on board sound is not working in either win or mac os)
Ethernet: Using an Intel 82556 series which I ripped out of an old desktop
Also has: LSI Logic SCSI card (LSI21003) connected to an AIT4 tape drive, DVD drive (IDE).

To Do List:

Hardware: Replacing PSU (noisy bearing), Adding 1GB more RAM (maybe 2GB if I can get the PSU cheaper), adding a dedicated GPU (PCIe as there is no AGP slot), adding Freecom IDE Superdrive (I used to use this on my G5 but the enclosure is shot).

Software: Dual Boot Win7 and (1 HDD for each) as Parallels will not run.

The integrated GPU is pants (Intel GM930 I think). It's not supported fully in Mac OS X and Win 7 is bitching about it.

I've found these cheap:

1. GeForce 8400 GS 256MB (Acer)
2. GeForce 6600 GT 128MB (Asus)

I was looking on the HCL for 10.5.8 here: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index ... CI_Express

The board manufacturers are listed as ZOLTAC and Leadtek/WinFast respectively.

I found the 6600 for £15 and the 8400 for £12.

My question is - Does the board manufacturer make any major difference or is it simply a matter of tweaking settings?

You want the 8400. The 6600 is outdated. Don't know if prices are the same, but you may up to 9400 or 9500- just for future-proofing it.

Have you tried Snow Leopard on that thing? I got my Pentium 4 working with it- looks like you have SATA as well- I'd get a mass cheap card and a even cheaper sata cd drive (if you don't have one) and do the iBoot/MultiBeast method.

 

[ellnic]

Hmmm.... Snow Leopard..... Actually, that's a really good plan.

I went with 10.5.x originally because of the RAM situation - but got the green light to pop some more in.

Found these - they are both £35

1. PNY GeForce 9500GT 512MB
2. PNY GeForce 9400GT 512MB

I guess the 9500 is the obvious choice. I've just dropped my mate a message and got approval for:

GPU: 9500GT (£35)
RAM: 2GB (2 x 1GB) (£30)
PSU: 450Watt (the one in there atm is a 300) (£15)

Not a bad system for £80

Would you go for the 9500 over the 9400? (GPU tech specs confuse the hell outta me).
I don't know how much juice these cards suck - do you think that PSU will be ok?

 

[tonymacx86]

Hmmm.... Snow Leopard..... Actually, that's a really good plan.

I went with 10.5.x originally because of the RAM situation - but got the green light to pop some more in.

Found these - they are both £35

1. PNY GeForce 9500GT 512MB
2. PNY GeForce 9400GT 512MB

I guess the 9500 is the obvious choice. I've just dropped my mate a message and got approval for:

GPU: 9500GT (£35)
RAM: 2GB (2 x 1GB) (£30)
PSU: 450Watt (the one in there atm is a 300) (£15)

Not a bad system for £80

Would you go for the 9500 over the 9400? (GPU tech specs confuse the hell outta me).
I don't know how much juice these cards suck - do you think that PSU will be ok?

Seriously- it doesn't make that much difference- both will work great. I got the 9400 because it was cheap, good, and fanless- that may/may not be an issue.

 

[ellnic]

Looks like I won't have budget for a SATA DVD Drive and I can't borrow one this second so the USB method will do nicely ^.^

I have the tonymacx86-snowleopard.zip... will this be sufficient? I take it that the DSDT will need to be different? I'm still learning about this bit.

 

[tonymacx86]

Looks like I won't have budget for a SATA DVD Drive and I can't borrow one this second so the USB method will do nicely ^.^

I have the tonymacx86-snowleopard.zip... will this be sufficient? I take it that the DSDT will need to be different? I'm still learning about this bit.

Well, you actually might try a conglomeration of methods to make it work. Your hardware should be supported by the same kexts as in the tonymacx86-snowleopard folder. That's probably a good place to start, but you can't use that DSDT. You'll have to use LegacyAppleRTC.kext for CMOS reset.

Here's what I think you should have in your /Extra/Extensions:

AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext
EvOreboot.kext
fakesmc.kext
IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector.kext
JMicronATA.kext
LegacyAppleRTC.kext
NullCPUPowerManagement.kext
VoodooHDA.kext
VoodooPS2Controller.kext

If you don't need PS2 support, lose AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext and VoodooPS2Controller.kext. But the rest should be necessary. Also, your ethernet kext will probably just work in Snow the same as it did in Leopard. Just make sure you know which it is and install it in /System/Library/Extensions.

Other than that, make sure of a smbios.plist and com.apple.boot.plist with 32bit only arch=i386 in kernel flags, and you should be good to go! Are you testing this thang today?

Itchin to find out if it works out for ya.

 

[ellnic]

Yeah Testing today. I've copied the CD to the USB drive and installed PCEFI etc etc but had to pop out.

One thing I did notice is that I deleted the mach_kernel fine, but the boot file wasn't there? I just popped the new one in - but it's not invisible.

I will just make those changes as suggested and give it a whirl

 

[ellnic]

Ok - looks like boot file is invisible now.

I made the changes and double checked the BIOS but it's hanging.

I don't have the Extreme option (XHD) in my BIOS, but I made sure ACPI was set to S3(STR) and that the USB key is set as first boot dev but all I get is the attached image.

Did I miss a repair permissions somewhere when making the key drive perhaps?

Steps I took:

1. Format USB key (case sensetive journaled, GUID)
2. Uncheck ignore permissions
3. Restore DVD to key
4. Put Kexts from snowleopard zip file and other sources (all the ones you listed) into Extras folder.
5. Used the app in the Apps folder to install PCEFI
6. rm kernel and boot (although boot file didn't exist)
7. Put new kernel and boot file in.
8. DSDT.aml originally copied over, but removed now.
9. Edited com.apple.boot.plist to <string>-v arch=i386</string>
10. Set BIOS settings as above.

I wasn't sure where to add arch=i386 in the smbios.plist file? Maybe this is it.

I obviously only have the original built in Intel graphics until the new one arrives.. Could the graphics enabler being causing havoc?

EDIT:

BIOS Details:

Intel 915G for 81915GMF F7
05/05/2005-i915G-6A79DG09C-00

 

[tonymacx86]

Have you been able to actually boot to the Chameleon screen? You can always run Chameleon installer from MultiBeast, so that you don't have to replace the boot file.

Could be the integrated chipset- if it's GMA 950, it's supported out of the box. I've never heard of the 930, but you can try the GMA 950 drivers if you can get up and running- otherwise you may have to edit the

http://www.kexts.com/cat/11-intel.html

 

[ellnic]

No joy with boot screen using USB. It just hangs there. I don't see a thing, and there's no activity what-so-ever. I'll try installing Chameleon from the Multibeast.

I booted from the DVD to get info on the hardware and it's a good job I did. I was wrong about the Intel 930. It's this:

82915G/GV/910GL.

If it is this causing the hassle, maybe it would be best to wait for the 9500? Having said that, I'm impatient and want to get this up and running yesterday