- Joined
- Sep 3, 2012
- Messages
- 122
- Motherboard
- Ga B250M HD3
- CPU
- i5 7500
- Graphics
- HD 630
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
Hi,
I was planning on doing an Ivy Bridge build to install mountain lion. I will be using the hackintosh mainly for audio recording with my existing hardware m-audio Profire 610. After doing a search on profire 610's compatibility with mountain lion, i found out that even users of this hardware with actual mac computers are having some issues with this hardware on mountain lion and even lion os.
So now I think it's safer to do a snow leopard build using sandy bridge components. I am aware that installing Snow leopard on Sandy bridge will not be as hassle free as mountain lion on Ivy bridge system, but i think the trouble will all be worth it if I can get a stable Mac OSX SL running.
I'm still undecided about some parts that I can use which are available locally. I'd appreciate everybody's expert advice.
CPU
core i5 2500k or i7 2600k (whichever is still available locally, but would prefer i5 as I wont be doing much video editing)
MOTHERBOARD (please help choose)
z68P-DS3 - I found several threads on the forums where users are having trouble with the audio. Mainly because the audio codec listed on gigabyte website was 889, while on rev 2.1 it was actually 887
z68XP-UD3 - very similar board with the z68P-DS3, a few extra features
I also read a couple of threads about successful snow leopard builds using a z77 motherboard with sandy bridge CPU. Can anybody else confirm this please?
GPU - Please help choose. I am not very familiar with GPU chipsets and stuff. I just need a card that will work OOB hopefully as HD3000 is not supported in SL. I won't be gaming, just something that can support my 19inch 1440x900 display, and I need the cheapest, quietest GPU I can get.
HP Nvidia GeForce 8400 - this I have already (scrapped from my 2008 HP a6490d desktop)
Asus EAH6450 Silent 1GB DDR3 - this is my preferred card, silent and cheap, available locally. Will this work?
Asus HD6670 Direct CU silent 1GB DDR3 - slightly more expensive than the EAH6450, but price is still okay. Available locally. Will this work?
BOOT DRIVE
OCZ Agility 3 SSD SATA3 120GB plus a couple of mechanical internal hard drives from previous machines (all sata interface)
RAM
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB Low Profile (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600mhz
PSU
CM Silent Pro M2 520W Modular
CASE
Corsair 550D Obsidian Series
or
Fractal Design R4 (not sure yet if it's available locally)
FIREWIRE CARD
StarTech.com 3 Port 2b 1a 1394 PCI Express FireWire Card Adapter PEX1394B3 - It's pricey and I may need to pay a premium on shipping, but it's alright as long as it works without any issues
OPTICAL DRIVE
SONY AD-7280s (SATA) oem
OS
Mac OS X snow leopard upgrade disc (10.6.3) - this upgrade this will work just as well as the retail disc right?
Appreciate your advice. Thanks
I was planning on doing an Ivy Bridge build to install mountain lion. I will be using the hackintosh mainly for audio recording with my existing hardware m-audio Profire 610. After doing a search on profire 610's compatibility with mountain lion, i found out that even users of this hardware with actual mac computers are having some issues with this hardware on mountain lion and even lion os.
So now I think it's safer to do a snow leopard build using sandy bridge components. I am aware that installing Snow leopard on Sandy bridge will not be as hassle free as mountain lion on Ivy bridge system, but i think the trouble will all be worth it if I can get a stable Mac OSX SL running.
I'm still undecided about some parts that I can use which are available locally. I'd appreciate everybody's expert advice.
CPU
core i5 2500k or i7 2600k (whichever is still available locally, but would prefer i5 as I wont be doing much video editing)
MOTHERBOARD (please help choose)
z68P-DS3 - I found several threads on the forums where users are having trouble with the audio. Mainly because the audio codec listed on gigabyte website was 889, while on rev 2.1 it was actually 887
z68XP-UD3 - very similar board with the z68P-DS3, a few extra features
I also read a couple of threads about successful snow leopard builds using a z77 motherboard with sandy bridge CPU. Can anybody else confirm this please?
GPU - Please help choose. I am not very familiar with GPU chipsets and stuff. I just need a card that will work OOB hopefully as HD3000 is not supported in SL. I won't be gaming, just something that can support my 19inch 1440x900 display, and I need the cheapest, quietest GPU I can get.
HP Nvidia GeForce 8400 - this I have already (scrapped from my 2008 HP a6490d desktop)
Asus EAH6450 Silent 1GB DDR3 - this is my preferred card, silent and cheap, available locally. Will this work?
Asus HD6670 Direct CU silent 1GB DDR3 - slightly more expensive than the EAH6450, but price is still okay. Available locally. Will this work?
BOOT DRIVE
OCZ Agility 3 SSD SATA3 120GB plus a couple of mechanical internal hard drives from previous machines (all sata interface)
RAM
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB Low Profile (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600mhz
PSU
CM Silent Pro M2 520W Modular
CASE
Corsair 550D Obsidian Series
or
Fractal Design R4 (not sure yet if it's available locally)
FIREWIRE CARD
StarTech.com 3 Port 2b 1a 1394 PCI Express FireWire Card Adapter PEX1394B3 - It's pricey and I may need to pay a premium on shipping, but it's alright as long as it works without any issues
OPTICAL DRIVE
SONY AD-7280s (SATA) oem
OS
Mac OS X snow leopard upgrade disc (10.6.3) - this upgrade this will work just as well as the retail disc right?
Appreciate your advice. Thanks