Should tonymacx68 continue to recommend Gigabyte motherboards in their suggested builds?

[billyjackintosh]

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I am a new member to Tonymacx86 and have been working toward my first hackintosh. I really like having the "plug n play" aspect of the customac guides and i used them to produce a parts list of my project. Before you jump to any conclusions, let me briefly explain my decision process.

My background in the mac world was ZERO before running into this site, basically i knew that mac was the "opposite" of Microsoft and never really thought much about them. Until i reached a point of building tons of PC platforms over the years that i grew bored of them and was looking for the next challenge. This is when i came across the hackintosh...

Knowing that i knew nothing about macs and the OS they use. I found that the customac guides were the most effective way for my to get my foot in the door of the hackintosh world. I could have went with a non-gigabyte board but would have more frustration with trying to get things working and risk screwing something up.

As i become more knowledgeable in the mac world i intend to build more hackintoshes in the future as i learn what more of the hardware and software options that are available to us.


So in reply to the original question:
" Should tonymacx68 continue to recommend Gigabyte motherboards in their suggested builds? "

Yes, is my opinion due to the ease and compatibility requirements for noobs trying to get started in the hackintosh world

BUT i think this has another idea at the root of the question ....

Something more along the lines of......

"What would tonymacx86 recommend for successful builds requiring Software modding?" (referring to the different hardware that is widely available)

This could be a whole new zone within this fourm... but more than all it could be the need to condense non recommended builds into there own section, good idea. but where do you stop? just with motherboards, videocards, pci cards....

I see the need to for a specific area or page dedicated to non gigabyte boards, but it also sounds like a lot of work. lol


Just my two cents. if it worth anything

Check out my progress on my G3 customac build, as i said im a noob at hackintoshes, this week im hoping to load the ML OS on my build.

Nice Topic!

 

[DarfWeder]

Ha ha ha,

well my first reaction was: "Damned if you do, damned if you don't". Nothing personal, but just a fact.
Most people that really don't want to get into the nitty gritty of this all, want a list with what to buy and don't want to get too much hassle installing the OS. Simple as that. And really, who doesn't want that?

But, in all honesty, the recommendation sort of backfired with the GA boys revising the board and the chipset and well... there have been (as usual) some mixed results after that.
Personally, I am a character that goes against the odds, so when GA boards do really well, and others are a lot less known, I'm going for the lesser known but with what I have good experiences. But, people have to either find that out themselves, money permitting, or simply want to get that list, and be done with it.
So it serves a purpose for sure. And the NIC issue? Please, get a 15 dollar replacement card with a RTL chip and be done with it, really!

your post raises a quite a few good points, heres my personal view on it (for what its worth).

the customac list is an easy to use list of known compatible hardware, which people can easily order from.
its not meant to be an exhaustive list, or an all encompassing list. noone is forced to use those recommended boards.
we have the user builds and golden builds forums, which include many systems based around asrock asus msi boards, as well as gigabyte.

Well sorry but that is a bit the point. Recommendations are made but mostly for one brand. I am eternally grateful for getting a correct BIOS from the repo site, but technically flashing that (for a user) is the same as flashing something for a GA board to get BIOS 'x' as it has turned out the best. Noone is forced to use the other brand boards, is true. But there is also no list, no (non legacy) wiki or anything else that lists what does work, bar the board search! A non legacy wiki, divided into SNL/Lion/ML would be nice, and/or for Motherboard brands, what works with which OS with which BIOS (repo version) etc... would be nice to have those lists too but there is no central place to put these. That editing these pages can be done by users leads to issues I know, but a submission of the data and someone adding them to the list, can be done.

the subject of modded bioses can divide opinions. some see it as a non issue, some see it as a deal breaker. that is why going with gigabyte boards in the customac list is easier. if someone wants to pick another brand, its a simple case of researching it. there is lots of info out there.

And immediately also the issue then. A central place with correct data, BIOS versions etc, should be the goal and would be nice. Some users even doe their own testing and let us read over their shoulders when they compare a board or four, WOW! I found this info by accident, because the board really lacks that wiki/central place where to look it up.
And is it simple that research? Euhm, no. Don't think it is for any of us. Countless hours, reading, but most of all, I and many others are a hands on kind of person. OK motherboards are not exactly cheap or terribly expensive, but you'd really want that 'do it once, get it right

what kduvernay's z77 matx thread has shown, at least to me, is that many people want and need easy to read, easy to understand information, with clear choices given to them. kduvernay recommends the msi and asus boards listed in his thread over the biostar and asrock choices. result- those msi and asus boards are some of the most popular matx 7 series boards on the forum!

And rightly so, not all what GA makes is gold. From reading all (well, most) of the posts there is a ton of GA builds, I guess followed by Asus and then MSI and the rest. And also not all GA boards are easy or work 100%. Personally I am more interested in the 'others'. It poses more of a challenge mostly. However, supporting that from a distance is far from easy. Thankfully we have some really experienced people onboard that know their stuff. I only started MAC again this year and am still learning, but I am not afraid to run the machine and the OS into the wall, it's only software

i guess my point is that for clarity and easy following, recommending one brand which is known to work in the customac list works. makes it less messy.
individual members are free make their own 'unofficial customac lists'. for example, the threads by kduvernay, minihack, miramar, neilhart, subaro0o, to name but a few have resulted in there being a wide range of boards used on these forums.

ask not what this site can do for you, but what you can do for this site

Well up to a point. The board gives recommendations but really I find it biased (towards GA), and that is fine, it's a free world, but the others are left with a search function only, no list or central place like the old wiki to simply create an overview for a certain type of hardware (i.e. motherboards, NICs, BT etc etc.).

I'm just saying things could be made easier, just look at how much there is to do about graphics cards and what is supported and what not. Eternal gratitude would come forth when we could make a list of what works and HOW in which OS! Cause now, it's like wading through mud all the time.

"May the force be with you."