boora.ca

My Hackintosh Build List

If you were to put this together today in a city with a Memory Express, it would cost you about $1615  and in January, I’m projecting $1270.

Case/Power/Fan

  • ANTEC Sonata III Quiet Super Mini Tower w/ EarthWatts 500W, eSATA (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX17509(ME).aspx) April $150 Jan $150

CPU/Memory

  • Intel Core™ i7 Processor 920 2.66GHz w/ 8MB Cache (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22588(ME).aspx) April $375 – Jan $200??
  • OCZ 6GB PC3-12800 Platinum Edition Low-Voltage Triple Channel DDR3 Kit (3 x 2GB) (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX23294(ME).aspx) April $160 – Jan $150??

MoBo

  • Gigabyte X58-UD5 (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22584(ME).aspx) April $350 – Jan $200??
  • OCZ DDR3 CL7 Triple-Channel 1600MHz

Video (PCIe w mini-display port preferably)

  • ATi Radeon HD 3650 512MB (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX20118(ME).aspx) April $80 – Jan $80

HDD/DVD Drive

  • Spinpoint 1.5 TB April $120 Jan $100
  • Pioneer DVR–212D SATA April $30 Jan $30
  • Card Reader April $30 Jan $30

Firewire 800/WiFi

  • StarTech 3-Port IEEE-1394B FireWire 800 PCI Card (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX15863(ME).aspx) April $80 – Jan $80??

Display

  • Acer 23″ $250

Other Materials

Thermal Paste
Tool Kit

If you want to know how to put these together, you’ll have to find that on your own.

So what does this show? Well, if you are new to the Mac and you don’t know what apps you will be running and all you want to be able to do is to have a machine that works out of the box without many of the hassles that Windows brings along, buy a boxed Apple machine and be happy. But if you are an experienced Mac user, and you know what you want after configuring dream machines on the Apple store, a Hackintosh might be the way to go if you have time to put it together and do some troubleshooting. But if you don’t have the time to spend to get it up and running, then even for the experienced user, I’d suggest a boxed machine, especially if you are using it in a production environment.

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Raj

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Comments

15 responses to “My Hackintosh Build List”

  1. Rooshil Patel Avatar
    Rooshil Patel

    i say bump the card up to a 4850 at least…because you were saying you want to push out some power especially for editing and such right?it would be a worthwhile addition..as well, arctic 5 silver is the best way to go for thermal pasteeverything else looks about good

    Reply
  2. Raj Boora Avatar
    Raj Boora

    The 4850 seems to have support in 10.5.7 (http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/03/finally-hackintosh-got-ati-radeon-hd-48504870-and-core-i7-support/) and it is about $100 more than the 3650, so in a few months, it will be cheaper and it will likely be better supported by the hackintosh community. So the next time I look at this in a few months, it might get an update.

    Reply
  3. Rooshil Patel Avatar
    Rooshil Patel

    oh, and cmonyou can find a better case then an ugly antec =Pi would say just for the fun, find a mac pro or g5 case online and install the beast in there =D

    Reply
  4. Raj Boora Avatar
    Raj Boora

    True, there are a few HT cases out there that are not too bad, but this one has built in power and cooling. If you have suggestions, feel free to make the edits.

    Reply
  5. Rooshil Patel Avatar
    Rooshil Patel

    built in anything in a case usually spells disasteryou want to find an independent PSU that way you know you have reliability and not some cheap thing in thereas well, aftermarket fans are usually quieter but also move more air keeping the computer coolerthose are 2 things to keep in mindand if i can find a better case ill post it for youfor a PSU however i personally would stick with corsairamazing unitsand for fans, well thats personal preference and also how cool/quiet you want your computer to be

    Reply
  6. Raj Boora Avatar
    Raj Boora

    That is why I labeled that section that way. I was looking at the Mushkin stuff – seems to be well reviewed. Fans on the other hand are a black art it seems.

    Reply
  7. Rooshil Patel Avatar
    Rooshil Patel

    oh, as wellmake sure the psu you get is modularor else you're going to have a case full of ugly cables that'll block airflow as well

    Reply
  8. Raj Boora Avatar
    Raj Boora

    Yeah, I've seen that as well. The new prices are up for the quad core MacPro, we are currently competing against a $2600 machine inc AppleCare.

    Reply
  9. Shetal Patel Avatar
    Shetal Patel

    I do have a tool kit so dont worry too much about that

    Reply
  10. Rooshil Patel Avatar
    Rooshil Patel

    hmm2600 with how many years of AC?

    Reply
  11. Raj Boora Avatar
    Raj Boora

    Standard 3 years. AppleCare is only ever 3 years.

    Reply
  12. Rooshil Patel Avatar
    Rooshil Patel

    ahh true…really? 2600?wow…when i check online its about like 2800+ on education rate…without AC

    Reply
  13. Raj Boora Avatar
    Raj Boora

    Good point – I must have had the US site up for some reason. $2900 is the top iMac shipped with the 4850 card. Those might go quad core come January. We'll have to see what happens at WWDC.

    Reply
  14. Colin Avatar
    Colin

    hey, Did you build this system? How did the OS install go? Would you recommend this hardware configuration? I am thinking about building a system, too. Any suggestions, tips, tricks?

    Tx.

    Reply
    1. Raj Avatar
      Raj

      I haven’t tried the build yet – I’m planing for a January trial. With 10.5.7 out, the 4850 should be supported and outside of being able to get hold of an EFX-I dongle everything is pretty easy to get in town. One of the factors that will influence my decision on doing this build or not is the “value added” on a Mac come January. If it is going to take more than 10h to maintain, especially on a production system, I’m likely not going to go the Hack route. I do however have some friends in the office who are thinking of doing the same thing, so if they can get it going, I might jump in – it’s always easier to take the risk when someone is coming with you.

      Reply

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