Hackintosh - Mac OS X (10.5.5) on PC Hardware

OSx86 - http://wiki.osx86project.org/ - Run Mac OS X on non-Apple PC hardware

2008 December - prices are circa October to November 2008

My Hackintosh

Summary

Quad-core system was installed from iDeneb v1.3 with fixes for graphics with Quartz Extreme (Supported) and Core Image (Hardware Accelerated), audio, CarbonLib, and Network/Bonjour. The result is a fully functioning system, including printing and Parallels for Windows XP virtualization. Major performance improvements over PowerMac G5 are appreciated especially for HD-video conversion to burn DVD-video using Toast 9 Titanium. Quirks include: Energy Saver - system does not wake from sleep, and SATA DVD drive does not wake from sleep.

My Hackintosh:
OS: 10.5.5 (iDeneb v1.3)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.8GHz
MB: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
RAM: 4GB DDR2 1066MHz @ 800MHz dual-channel
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3870 512MB GDDR4 PCIe, Scythe USA SCVMS-1000 Sleeve VGA Cooler
DVD-RW: LG 22X DVD±R SATA
HD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 250GB + Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
http://www.nobell.org/~gjm/mac/hackintosh.html

Hardware Details

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 ($180 Newegg)

Note: This was the Quad-Core sweet spot at the time of purchase. Newer 45nm-based Quad-Cores are now available.

MB: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard ($94 NewEgg open box, $115 = $135 - $20 rebate Newegg)
    TweakTown Gigabyte Form (with input from Gigabyte Technical Support) - http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/

RAM: OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P10664GK ($50 = $80 - $30 rebate Newegg)
    MCH Core 1.160V (install one stick, then change BIOS M.B.I. Tweaker setting, save, switch PS off, install next stick)
        CPU Clock Ratio: 7x
        CPU Frequency: 2800MHz
        CPU Host Frequency (Mhz): 400MHz
        Memory Frequency (Mhz): 800MHz

Note: this board seems to be problematic with DDR2 1066 of various flavors - I have not been able to get the above memory to work in dual channel mode at 1066MHz, only at 800MHz. See - http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48114&highlight=gigabyte+p45

Graphics: SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card ($80 = $90 - $10 rebate)
Scythe USA SCVMS-1000 Sleeve VGA Cooler ($42 Newegg)

Note: The Sapphire HD 3870 graphics card is a single-slot design with a loud stock cooler. While I expected this, it is so loud that it prompted me to buy a replacement cooler sooner than I expected. I highly recommend this Scythe "Musashi" VGA Cooler if you have the space for it (it takes up an extra slot and a half = 3 slots total). It was fairly easy to install and is nearly silent. On this Sapphire card, I had to sand down one of the heatsinks so that the cooler would mount perfectly flat agains the GPU.

DVD Burner: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30 [HL-DT-STDVD-RAM GH22LS30] ($26 Newegg)

HD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 250GB [HDS722525VLSA80] (o
HD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB [WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B0] ($120 Newegg)

Case/Power Supply: Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply ($75 special Newegg)
Case Fan: ARCTIC COOLING AF12025 PWM 120mm Case Fan ($10 Newegg)

Note: The motherboard-controlled PWM case fan helps to reduce noise even further.

Software Details

OS: Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.5) - iDeneb 1.3 - http://ideneb.ihackintosh.net/

Put your SATA HD on the first yellow SATA port, do not use the purple ports, and configure the SATA port for AHCI in the BIOS. I used an external USB-DVD drive to boot, but SATA or IDE/PATA DVD drives should also work. The PATA and purple SATA ports are on a JMicron controller. During installation, make sure to click the Options button and select the drivers for ALC889 and JMicron.

Essential fixes

Graphics: ATI Radeon HD pkg installers 10.5.x (Current 10.5.6) - ATI Radeon HD Update: 2 days after new years - InsanelyMac Forum - http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=107526

Audio: InsanelyMac Forum > ALC889A, all analog ports are working with AppleHDA.kext (1.5.7a24) - http://www.insanelymac.com/lofiversion/index.php/t140941.html

CarbonLib: iDeneb 10.5.5 CarbonLib Error - InsanelyMac Forum - http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=128753&mode=linearplus

Network/Bonjour: SourceForge.net: RealtekR1000 - http://sourceforge.net/projects/realtekr1000/

Applications

Most everything works (standard applications are not listed), including:

Adobe Photoshop CS2
Elgato EyeTV 3.0.4
Filemaker Pro 7
Microsoft Office 2004 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Parallels 4 - http://www.parallels.com/ - virtualization - for Window XP install to complete, I had to bump memory up for the virtual machine - http://forum.parallels.com/thread7453.html - remember to reduce it after your major updates (e.g., SP3, IE7) are complete.
Toast 7 Titanium - does not require QE/CI
Toast 9 Titanium (and Toast 8 Titanium) - requires QE/CI, fixed with ATI Radeon HD Update: 2 Days after new years - http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=107526) http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=109922&view=findpost&p=1034670

Pending time for further testing:

Adobe Lightroom 2.2

Quirks

Energy Saver

Wake from system sleep does not work for me with ATI Radeon HD 3870, it used to work for me with ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro.
Wake from sleep for SATA DVD burner does not work for me - the current solution is to NOT put any drives to sleep - uncheck [] Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible.

References

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3 - InsanelyMac Forum / OSx86 Project / OSx86 Installation / OSx86 10.5 (Leopard) - http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=137066
NEW INSTALL: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R, EP45 UD3R and the right stuff to get it up and running! - InsanelyMac Forum / OSx86 Project / OSx86 Installation / OSx86 10.5 (Leopard) - http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=141769
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R?, Questions regarding this motherboard... - InsanelyMac Forum / Discuss and Learn / Buying Thoughts, Reviews, and Recommendations - http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=114739

Other recent builds

While the following are not (yet) Hackintosh builds, I'm listing them here for convenience since hardware is still being swapped around. It appears to be more difficult to get Mac OSX running for AMD, hence the purchase of the above Intel-based hardware.

Fedora 10 Linux

2008 December

Hardware Details

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Brisbane 2.9GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5600DOBOX ($103 Newegg)
MB: GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard ($90, updated S2HP Newegg)
RAM: MEM 1Gx2|CRUCIAL BL2KIT12864AA804 ($35 = $55 - $20 rebate Newegg)
Graphics: POWERCOLOR HD2600PRO 512MB DDR2 R Radeon HD 2600PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 HDCP Ready Video Card ($50)
Case/Power Supply: COOLER MASTER Centurion Micro ATX 541 RC-541-SKR1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply ($75, without PS Newegg)

Fedora 10 Linux

2008 December

Hardware Details

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Brisbane 2.9GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5600DOBOX ($89 Newegg)
MB: GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard ($85, updated S2HP Newegg)
RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 ($50 Newegg)
Graphics: AMD 780G integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 3200-based graphics
Power supply: RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Modular LED Power Supply ($50)

NoBell Home - gjm - last update 2/1/2009 - created 12/28/2008