Yet another buying advice :-)

[RaveAngel]

Hello gentlemen (and ladies of course, if there are some).

My name is Mario, I'm from germany (so please make allowances for my developable school english) and I'm looking forward to building my first Hackintosh.

As result of my search, I finally chose the following components for my project:

- Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4
- INTEL Core i5 750
- MSI N470GTX-M2D12 (V801-835R) (the new GTX 470 fermi card from MSI)
- 4096MB 2x2 PC1600 G.Skill RipJaws CL8-8-8-24 F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
- SUPERFLOWER Super Flower Crown Modular 800W ATX 2.2 80plus SF800K14A
- Apple Magic Mouse

I think, the hdds and the optical drives I'm already using are not that importent here, are they? I just read that I mustn't have a partition above 1 GB for OSX, but that's not the case.
USB 3.0 and SATA6 are not yet supported, I know, but I want to spent this investment in the near future, when it surely also find it's way into OSX systems.
My biggest problem child is the graphics card. In the compatibility lists of the OSx86 Project I see nearly every NVIDIA card is fully functionable. Can I rely that I won't have any problems with this card?
So what do you think about these components? Is it okay to unfold my hardware power in a hackintosh or do you have any improvements or hints for me? I think I investigated very exhaustive, but since I don't have any experience with an OSX86 system yet, I'm still a bit unsure.

Thanks ahead for your expertise.

Regards,
Mario

 

[Jocelyn84]

Everything other than the GTX 470 card looks great. Nvidia 4xx and ATI 5xxx cards are not yet compatible (this may change once 10.6.4 is released), so in terms of compatibility Nvidia GTX 2xx and ATI 4xxx series are as high as you can go right now.

Assuming you game in Windows, you might want to grab an Nvidia 9600GSO or 9800GT now. That way you can use it for physx (in windows) whenever Fermi/ATI 5xxx works with Mac OS.

 

[RaveAngel]

Thanks for your answer.
Surely I want also game in Windows (also I think I would prefer playing with OSX in future if the game supports it), but with a GTX 470 card, there isn't need for an additional PhysX card anyway (apart from the problems with using a dual card config and USB 3.0/SATA6 on a P55 board). I'm waiting now about half a year for fermi so I would very appreciate a fermi calculating in my new box. (I want Direct X 11 and I want PhysX, so my only alternative would be a Radeon 58xx with dedicated 9600+ card, but you say that it isn't supported either. And the lanes problem here again.)
Through I shouldn't have any problems with the rest of the components I think I make this order and if I can't get OSX running, I have to wait for an update that supports fermi. I read several times of indications that fermi will most likely be supported (like this) so I rather wait (and pray) a bit for an update than now order an additional card for running OSX immediately.
Perhaps I can make a little contribution to your forum by being the first one who makes experiences with OSX and a fermi card?

Can you maybe tell from your experience if there are certain manufacturers whose graphics card I should prefer for a hackintosh?

Regards,
Mario

 

[RaveAngel]

Mmh... I don't dare to order if I can't find any safe sources that Fermi will be supported by OS X... I want a next generation card but I also absolutely want to run OS x with my components at least in a near future without buying new hardware... :?

Like I assessed nearly all Nvidia cards are supported by Mac. In view of that, is there a really a certain possibility that Fermi will not be supported?

Apart from that, the eventuality that Radeon 5xxx will be supported but no GTX 4xx are not really given, is it?

 

[pcmantinker]

It doesn't seem from reports on the 10.6.4 betas that 10.6.4 will support Fermi. This is a bit disappointing, but I really do think that in enough time, Apple will release a new Mac Pro that has a Mac version of the Fermi, allowing PC Fermis to work in hackintosh builds. I don't think that we will see a software update to give Fermi support until the Mac Pro with the first Fermi is released.