Upgrade hack, possible to keep Snow Leopard compatibility?

[cluthz]

I've been a hackintosh user forawhile, and now it's time to upgrade my second hack.
Currently I have a Asus P5Q-Pro with an Intel E8500 (OC to 4.0GHz), and GTX285.

I was planning in keeping the GTX 285 which I still believe does give me enouh power for most of my gaming needs anyways.
I already have a new PSU (Corsair 850W) and plenty of disks.

The thing is that I would prefer to still be able to use Snow Leopard,
is this possible on a z77 chipset or do I have to get something older?

If SL compatibility is not possible, I'd like to stay on Lion and not ML.

So far my list is:

Gigabyte Z77-DS3H (I guess this is one of the best cheap mobos around?)
Intel i5-2500k (I heard that i5-3570k is not working properly on Lion??)
2x 4GB 16000MHz DDR3.
And oh, I want to have the possibilty to overclock, I need a "k" CPU and a mobo with some OC features, which I believe the DS3H has (i know it's lacking vcore adjustments, but I should still be able to reach 4Ghz on standard vcore?)

My hack now is 100% working, which means all features works, sleep, audio and so forth,
and it is important for me that the new hack will do this too.
I understand that I might haveto sacrifice sleep perhaps on SL, but I can live with that.

Is the z77-ds3h and i5-2500k the best solution for me?

 

[Albertsw]

Why are you ok with running lion but don't want Mountain Lion? They are pretty much the same.
You can't buy lion anymore.

 

[cluthz]

Why are you ok with running lion but don't want Mountain Lion? They are pretty much the same.
You can't buy lion anymore.

I already own Lion on MAS, so that won't be an issue. I actually have Lion installed on the machine too, but I rarely use it.

 

[cluthz]

I appologize for bumping my own thread, but I would really like to know if it is possible for SL on z77 with a Sandy Bridge.

Also, for Lion, would sandy be a better choice on a z77 than a ivy on z77, or should I skip the whole DSDT less z77 and go for an older z68 with sandy?

 

[mozkheeto]

I've been a hackintosh user forawhile, and now it's time to upgrade my second hack.
Currently I have a Asus P5Q-Pro with an Intel E8500 (OC to 4.0GHz), and GTX285.

I was planning in keeping the GTX 285 which I still believe does give me enouh power for most of my gaming needs anyways.
I already have a new PSU (Corsair 850W) and plenty of disks.

The thing is that I would prefer to still be able to use Snow Leopard,
is this possible on a z77 chipset or do I have to get something older?

If SL compatibility is not possible, I'd like to stay on Lion and not ML.

So far my list is:

Gigabyte Z77-DS3H (I guess this is one of the best cheap mobos around?)
Intel i5-2500k (I heard that i5-3570k is not working properly on Lion??)
2x 4GB 16000MHz DDR3.
And oh, I want to have the possibilty to overclock, I need a "k" CPU and a mobo with some OC features, which I believe the DS3H has (i know it's lacking vcore adjustments, but I should still be able to reach 4Ghz on standard vcore?)

My hack now is 100% working, which means all features works, sleep, audio and so forth,
and it is important for me that the new hack will do this too.
I understand that I might haveto sacrifice sleep perhaps on SL, but I can live with that.

Is the z77-ds3h and i5-2500k the best solution for me?

referring to the specification section on the Gigabyte official website, ivy bridge will give you pcie express 3.0 speed on Z77-DS3H. I would say go for ivy bridge since you need graphic performance. another cheaper motherboard would be GA Z77P-D3.

 

[Jamesbond007]

I apologize for bumping my own thread, but I would really like to know if it is possible for SL on z77 with a Sandy Bridge.

Also, for Lion, would sandy be a better choice on a z77 than a ivy on z77, or should I skip the whole DSDT less z77 and go for an older z68 with sandy?

I have heard it is possible, but I have no chance to try it myself so I am not sure. Why don't you try it yourself?

If you wants to keep using Snow Leopard or Lion, a Sandy Bridge CPU with Z68 motherboard may be better since it is known to work (that is what I am using right now). A Z77 with Sandy may also work but definitely not an Ivy with Z77.