Radeon HD 5770 - can I do it?

[avm]

Hi folks,

I'm brand new here, though I was briefly involved in hackintoshing back in the tiger/leopard days.
However, I don't feel like fighting with an install that is going to give me trouble anymore, and am trying to get ideal components.

I was looking at the CustoMac Mac Pro comparison and I see it lists a Radeon HD 5770.
Budget is definitely an issue for this build ATM, so I'm operating a little on the cheap side.

As 5770s are used in the Mac Pro now, can I expect it to behave better with OSX? I'd prefer to go with a card that's 100% working, but using an old or overpriced NVidia card doesn't sound terribly ideal to me. I'd consider the 5770 a bit of a splurge and it'd certainly be the most expensive component in my rig, but if it's an ideal card for hackintoshing that'll be my choice.

I'd love to be able to get away with a 5670 or a 5750 if I could as well, any other thoughts? (I picked those two as I see they're used in various new iMacs.) Good priceerformance is probably more important to me than most, as this is a bit of a test rig to see how I feel about the whole thing, as well as a challenge to see how cheaply I can do it.

Would love any input regarding videocard suitability. Is there a suitable Nvidia card I missed?

Thanks!

 

[rabbit74]

5770 is 32Bit only at the moment.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4175

My favorite card is the nVidia GTX-260 - Works OOB and very powerful for the money.

rabbit.

 

[avm]

As far as 32-bit only, is that expected to remain the case, or is it looking like it may be OOB by 10.6.5?
I was looking at prices/performance, and the GTX 260 and GTX 460 look similar for price but not performance, as far as I can tell?
Is there a reason to go for the 260? OOB support?

 

[rabbit74]

The 460 is not supported at all yet.

My comments are based on real world trials. The GTX-260 is the only card that has never given me issue and has produced solid results under a broad range of circumstances. I am gutted that it has been discontinued.

Some folks have gotten the 5770 working 64Bit with a modified bootloader, but I tried it and it failed on my system so I can't say 64 bit is an option yet.

The 58xx series cards will likely be the best option in the future but there have not been a great deal of trials with them as yet.

Because of the discontinuation of the GTX-260 and above series, we are in a state of limbo while people test different hardware to find the best alternatives.

We expect to see some big changes from Apple in 10.6.5 and from nVidia driver support but when those changes materialize and whether they bring real solutions is still just guessing.

rabbit.

 

[avm]

Thanks for all your input.
I was really hoping to get moving on an i3-530/P55M-UD2/5770 build, but I think I'll be holding off and waiting to see what develops as far as videocard support. If I get really lucky we might even get a cheaper card that works well.

It's rough being a geek and getting gadget lust, I swear.