The Best Motherboard for OSx86
December 19th, 2007There has been a lot of debate regarding the best motherboard to get for Leopard and EFI. Here is a quick rundown of the best motherboards and their compatibility:
Intel D975XBX2 (Bad Axe 2)
Form Factor: ATX
Price: $219.99 Retail | $189.99 OEM | $89.99 Open Box
This motherboard is an excellent choice for Leopard. The only thing that needs patching is audio and everything else works out of the box. EFI and the vanilla kernel is also supported. However, this motherboard, which uses the Intel 975X Express chipset will not support the new 45nm processors, and it comes with a hefty price tag: $200+ new Retail. But if you are willing to spend a little more and don’t need the latest and greatest, this motherboard is a solid performer.
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
Form Factor: ATX
Price: $174.99 Retail | $128.99 OEM
This motherboard, which uses the same chipset of the Bad Axe 2, is very similar to the Bad Axe 2 and also has good compatibility with Leopard and EFI + Vanilal kernel. Only audio requires patching and the rest works out of the box, however the built in wireless does not work with Leopard, only Tiger. This motherboard has the same drawback as the Bad Axe 2: An outdated chipset that doesn’t support 45nm processors. But if you’re looking for a cheaper (equal) alternative to the Bad Axe 2, this motherboard definitely works.
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3x | P35C-DS3R
Form Factor: ATX
Price: Ranges from $89.99 to $152.99 Retail or to $129.99 Open Box (depends on model)
The Gigabyte P35 series of motherboards are a fantastic modern choice for running Leopard with EFI. Unlike older motherboards, this series supports the new 45nm processors. These motherboards are also fantastic overclockers, capable of pushing high performance processors over 4GHz with proper cooling. The only patch needed is an audio patch. There are a few minor problems though: RAID doesn’t work, IDE has some issues (works in some cases, other times it doesn’t), and the AHCI BIOS increases boot time by 10 or 20 seconds. However, despite the minor things, this motherboard is a very good choice at a very reasonable price.
There are 4 variants of the motherboard that are compatible with OS X: the GA-P35-DS3L, DS3R, DS3P, and the P35C-DS3R which has DDR3 RAM support. The more expensive models have slightly more features but any of these 4 will work fine for running OS X.
Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2
Form Factor: MicroATX
Price: $46.99 Open Box
The GA-945GCMX-S2 is one of the best cheap motherboard to use with OS X. Everything works right out of the box and for full audio capabilities you install a simple audio patch (skippyretard’s ALC888). This small MicroATX motherboard provides nearly all the features of larger, more expensive motherboards for an unbelievably small price. If you want to build a small MicroATX system or if you are just on a budget, this motherboard is a very good choice. One drawback to this motherboard is that it doesn’t support 1333MHz FSB 45nm processors. The other drawback is that it only supports a max of 2GB RAM so you’re not going to be able to upgrade it further than that and so its not great for intensive gaming, etc.
ASRock Conroe 1333
Form Factor: MicroATX
Price: $49.99 Retail | $32.99 Open Box
Another extremely cheap, solid performing motherboard. Everything works out of the box except audio, which just needs a patch. A drawback about this motherboard is that even though it supports 1333 FSB it doesn’t support any quad core processors, only dual core. So if you are making a high end gaming machine this motherboard isn’t the best choice. But, like other cheap OSx86 motherboards, if you are making a budget system, this motherboard is a good choice.
That rounds up the some of the best motherboards for OSx86 at the time of this writing.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Re: Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2
It does not support AHCI so it will not work with the Jas 10.4.8 Image?..
December 20th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
No, it works with JaS 10.4.8
December 21st, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Great blog, great idea…i been waiting for a list and reviews about best compatible motherboards for hackintosh !!!
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:08 am
You should also put a note on the Gigabyte 945GCMX-S2 motherboard, that it only supports a maximum of 2 gigabytes of ram. This is a major drawback as far as upgrading goes since you can never add more. It is also a drawback when running a VM in Fusion or Parallels since you can’t give Windows XP or other operating systems tons of ram to work with.
On the plus side, if all you need is a cheap and powerful OS X box, then it’s perfect. 2 gigs is plenty for most users and for lightweight VMs when you just need to pop in and use MS Office or whatever. It is also the perfect media center motherboard since it supports 6-channel output with the ALC888 patch.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:13 am
PCWiz Computer Blog
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:52 am
Thanks weaksauce for the tip. I added that drawback
December 24th, 2007 at 1:07 am
The Bad Axe 2 is still my favorite. Besides being fully compatible, it is extremely stable and very easy to overclock.
The price should be less than $200 now.
About the P35s, I believe Sarahbau said somewhere that they can be incredibly slow with OS X.
December 24th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Nope, I don’t think so. Tons of people have gotten P35s (Gigabyte) to work with OSx86 with no problems at all (aside from RAID not working, IDE having a few issues, and some shutdown and restart issues, minor stuff). Specifically for the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P motherboard I am planning on getting, I intend on following socal swimmer’s excellent DS3P installation guide here:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=75863
But possibly I may give it a shot with iATKOS because you don’t need to patch the DVD and its a relatively small download (2GB)
EDIT: And also the price of the Bad Axe 2 is still above $200. It costs $219.99 Retail
December 24th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Any info about the P35 DS4? I must consider the comments about other giga P35 correct as well?
December 24th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Yup, the P35 DS4 rev 2 is listed as fully working with EFI and vanilla support so it should work as well. The list above is just the MOST popular motherboards. There are many other motherboards that fully work but the ones above are the best.
December 25th, 2007 at 3:07 am
Thanks AdmiN(–>~pcwiz)! Happy Xmas ^_^
..oh, fully working but the RAID support?!
December 25th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Thanks!
Yeah, RAID doesn’t work on the Gigabyte P35’s. IDE is a it hazy too.
December 27th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Hi,
Anyone tried an Asus P5LD2 Board? it has an intel 945P chipset,
I happen to have one sitting spare an will give it a try, but just wondered if anyone has already?
Im really looking to use Tiger 10.4.9 but i also have kalyway and iatkos i may try once i know for sure Logic Pro and Final Cut are solidly working on leopard.
Thanks
Neil
December 28th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
You might want to look in the OSx86 Project HCL
December 31st, 2007 at 7:47 am
GA-945GCMX-S2 (rev. 6.6)
GA-945GCMX-S2 (rev. 6.6) is able to boot with Intel
January 4th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
How about the Gigabyte GA-P31-S3G? I think it requires patches for audio and ethernet, but otherwise should just work. Does it comply with EFI?
This looks like it could be a great yet inexpensive option.
Thanks!
January 10th, 2008 at 1:15 am
The GA-945GCMX-S2 (rev. 6.6) now can officially take up to 4GB of ram. It’s been tested and confirmed by multiple people.
January 12th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
is that true that the GA-945GCMX-S2 (rev. 6.6) now can officially take up to 4GB of ram?
were can I find that?
January 12th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
According to the official specifications it only supports a max of 2GB of DDR2 667 RAM but I believe Stellerola that it can take up to 4GB of Max RAM, at least in OS X
January 15th, 2008 at 5:05 am
So, what exactly is meant by “open box” and where can that be ordered ???
January 15th, 2008 at 11:43 am
It will take 4 gigs but only 3.2 gig is usable. The memory controller is 32 bit and gives up DMA address based on video card size…
Installing a 256 MB PCIe card gives you 3 gig usable. Though it is still more then 2 gigs
January 15th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Goron,
Open Box means that the item isn’t brand new, and that the item has been used and the box has been opened. So there is no guarantee you will get all the extras that come with the product and you usually only get the base product.
Open Box items are also prone to more defects out of the box.
Open Box items can be purchased at a variety of online retailers like NCIX (or NCIXUS) and Newegg.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Hi
Thats Great, I’ll buy the GA-945GCMX-S2 with 4 gig RAM. I want to build a new computer for Audio and Music recording only.
1. What type of HD you recommend, SATA or IDE?
2. What CPU you recommend?
3. The most difficult question, will it be as effective as iMAC as I read a lot of comments that say that it will not use Dual core, does that mean that it will run at half speed?
Many thanks for your great help.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Raidmarij,
Here are some generic answers to your questions:
1) SATA is better as long as you get a motherboard that has an Intel chipset (motherboards that use nForce chipsets sometimes have problems with SATA)
2) I strongly recommend a Core 2 series CPU (Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, etc.). They work great and fully support all OS X features/
3) Yes it will be as effective as an iMac, and performance may even be better than an iMac as long as you get a good configuration.
January 19th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Hi Again
I bought GA-945GCMX-S2 (rev. 6.6) and GeForce 7300 GT (PCI Express) today. I will buy Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6850 – Retail and 2 Pieces of RAM each one 2Gb.
1. Is Kalyway the easiest to work with?
2. Any Configuration for the motherboard I mean in the Bios?
3. Other comments and suggestions.
Many Thanks
January 21st, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Raidmarji ummm.. I recommend only a 1066 Bus Processor. Like E6600… anything 1333 will work but underclocks. I am told by MANY sources this board doesnt do well higher then 1280… as in it wont function.. so get a 1066 and overclock it, you will be happier.
Also it will only see 3 gigs of the 4 gigs of ram… as long as your ok with that then no problem
January 21st, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hyper………:(
Really Bad News
I already bought the CPU and they will not change it. Is it that bad?
What do you mean by work but underclock?
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Raidmarji your processor needs a 1333FSB speed *266 bus speed* to run at full speed… the Mobo only does 1280 or so reliable… so you looking at a minor speed loss… like 5% or so… just letting you know. It wont hurt much…
If you run it 1333 bus and get lockups and stuff crank it down to 1280 to solve this is all.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Hi
I’m Shocked
I completed the Hardware and build of the New PC
tried to Install Kalaway Leopard and……..It did not see my SATA hard drives
I tried to install windows XP and it see all my Hard drives.
Any Idea?
January 26th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Raidmarij,
You may want to try iATKOS v1.0iR2 instead of Kalyway
January 26th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Hi
I Don’t think that the problem is Kalyway as I tried Jas 10.4.8 and Mac.nub 10.4.10 and all these three do not see my SATA HD during installation when I chose disk utility to format them.
Could it be something in the BIOS?
But windows installation Runs Normal
January 26th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Hi Again
I connected an External USB HD and Kalyway see it from disk utilities so I think that there is something in the Bios that prevents the installation to see the SATA drives.
Any idea how to configure the Bios?
January 26th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I strongly recommend that you contact Onetrack from InsanelyMac (account on InsanelyMac required):
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?act=Msg&CODE=4&MID=45424
He has the same motherboard as you and he has Leopard working great. Here’s a link to his guide which may help:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=72493
January 26th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Oh also, set the SATA mode in BIOS to AHCI mode.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
WOW Admin
You are really great, So Fast Reply
This motherboard is really strange.
Now…….From My experience, I will post some ideas that meight be useful to other Newbies like me.
I Used 2 SATA Hard drives, 1 is 250 GB and the other is 500 GB.
All the Partition software did not see the 500 GB HD, it shows as Dynamic and 31.5 GB only. I tried Partition Magic, Paragon and Acronis with the same Results.
Windows XP installation can see the 500 GB HD Normally.
My CPU is Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz.
Once I disable the O. C. FSB1333 Core.2 CPU from the Bios…..Kalyway See my Hard Disks……….Really Strange
There is a new Bios release for this motherboard (F5), I do not know if it helps.
One question:
how to down the CPU to 1280?
The Bios Settings for the CPU are:
CPU Host Frequency (from 100-600)
PCI Express frequency (Auto, SYC, ASYC)
System Memory Multiplier (Auto, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5)
January 26th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I would like to throw a few other boards into the conversation in the hopes to get some more information for myself and the others who are shopping for a board right now. I personally was able to get Kalaway installed on a 3 year old Alienware, but it is not Vanilla compatible, so am going to build a new machine. I would like a Quad Core CPU, but have not seen much info about it on Insanelymac. I’m a bit fan of ASUS MOBOS from back in the day when I used to build my own PCs, but I see that Gigabyte is standing tall these days (at least around here). I wonder who builds MOBOS for Apple? I think its ASUS.
My wish list would be 8GB of RAM
45NM Quad Core CPU
Onboard LAN and Sound not requiring patching
Support, EFI, Vanilla, Sleep, Reboot, Making Coffee
Fast and Stable
MOBOS I am considering:
GA-X38T-DQ6
P5B-Delux
GA-P35-DS4
GA-965P-S3
I have spent the last 3 days (GF is very angry) reading thru forums and doing homework, so this may save some time for everyone in the same boat as me. I would like to get some feedback and maybe hear about some other boards everyone is considering.
I also want to know if my built machine will read and use the quad core at this point.
Look forward to hearing from everyone
January 27th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Raidmarij,
Sorry I don’t really know a lot about overclocking etc. but I suggest that you post your question about that on a forum if its important, or contact Gigabyte tech support
GATORFAN,
You are right, ASUS does built many components for Apple, including a lot of the hardware we see today in Apple notebooks. But that doesn’t mean that ASUS is better than Gigabyte, I have 2 machines at home, an older Pentium D based one is ASUS and my new quad core is Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P. I have a lot less problems with my new computer but I guess my problems with the ASUS computer were because of an overheating processor, nothing to do with the motherboard.
I would like to give you feedback on the motherboards you’ve chosen: I strongly don’t recommend the X38T-DQ6 at the moment unless you have money to burn because you HAVE TO use DDR3 RAM for it and 8GB of DDR3 RAM will set you back a couple thousand dollars.
The P5B-Deluxe is a nice motherboard, there are tons of models and variations of it so choose carefully if you are planning on getting it. The GA-P35-DS4 is an EXCELLENT motherboard that is pretty much based on the GA-P35-DS3 with a couple tiny additions. The GA-965P-S3 is also an excellent motherboard with lots of support for it in Leopard, but its old and it doesn’t have a newer chipset so it won’t be compatible with future technology.
Overall, I think the P35-DS4 is your best bet considering the price and the overall bang for the buck, but you may feel differently.
Your machine will “read” the quad cores all right, but all 4 cores won’t be utilized for now. Applications have to be optimized to utilize all the cores and right now, most applications are just being optimized for dual core so while your machine will be crazy fast, until you use programs that can utilize the 4 cores, you won’t get the maximum juice out of it.
I hope this answers everyones questions and feel free to ask if you have any more
January 27th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Dear Admin,
Thank you for your response, it was great. Here are some of my continuing thoughts and issues:
Number one, I’m not at home in the states where getting parts is a cinch and affordable. I’m in Thailand and sometimes getting parts here can be expensive and difficult. Thailand has tax issues and while most of the parts are made here in Asia, you overpay for parts here. I actually wrote that post before going out for lunch and then to the IT mall. While at the IT mall, i stopped at a few shops and got some quotes, as well…tried to see what MOBOs were avail here.
you are right about the DQ6 – its off the list
Was unable to find the P5B-Deluxe here in Thailand.
I was offered the following MOBOS:
x38-ds5
asus maximus
p5k
p5k-r
I wonder if the X38-DS5 is as good as the DS4 you recomend?
Your input?
thanks! and I hope this is helping others as well
January 27th, 2008 at 8:13 am
To add, the X38-DS4 and the DS5 are nearly identical, the only difference I can find is the heat sink change.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_ComparisonSheet.aspx?ProductID=2736,2672
But with BIOS changes and stuff, i am worried and can not find many people who have used the DS5
As of right now, I’m going to get the DS5 unless I hear anything better here
thanks all
January 27th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
OK, ASUS Maximus is far too expensive, but the X38-DS4 and X38-DS5 still have the same problem. The DDR3 RAM required is very expensive and will cost you thousands of DOLLARS. I think your best bet is one of the P5K motherboards.
January 27th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Hi there
Thanks for all the info on the boards, I opted for the gigabyte gcmx-s2 and used Aitkos with ppf and installed straight away with the ppf patcher/emu and the thing works sweet. recently bought an msi 7800gtx from ebay for 42quid and used Scottdangel installer and now it is the quickest thing that I own. xbench did not increase in number compared to the onboard gma950 but the whole mac experience is so much better with this card. The whole system i.e. box came to 225+42=267 pounds for a system that gets the same scores as a mac pro. We have owned powerbooks, imac 24+7600gt, and this thing beats all them hands down.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
What a Journey choosing a board for this rig! GA-P35-DS3P v2.1 is the final choice for me.
The DS34 is not available here in Thailand so there is no getting one of those! I have read great reviews of the board, lost of install notes, hints, etc. The DS3L and DS3R are also available but I like the pipe cooling and good reviews of the board, I’m also reading it over-clocks nicely and has nice support over the next few years of technology. By the time DDR3 ram becomes affordable it will be time to upgrade the MOBO and CPU…For now, as you said – DDR3 is way to pricy and to really appreciate a X38 board, you need a Cross Fire Vid setup and DDR3 RAM…X38 with DDR2 is equal to a P35 with DDR2 for the most part. the P35 rocks and is all you need for now.
P5K from Asus is a great board, but it does not have ICH9R, its only ICH9 which has limited SATA support (read forums, last 2 ports do not work without BIOS changes and some report its not working). Other P5K series such as the P5KPL and the P5KSE are ICH9R and all your ports will work without messin around with your BIOS. Available here are the P5KC and the P5KR, I would consider getting one of those two, but again, I am not seeing a lot of positive reviews, please correct me if I am wrong.
In the end, the two board series compete very well with each other and its just personal choice at the end. They really are very similar to each other.
Now the choice is to get a Dual or Quad Core 45NM CPU. And whether to get 8GB of 800 RAM or 4GB of 1000! but i guess that is another discussion thread!
thanks for all the help man, you have been great and I hope this continues to guide people in the right direction.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I think you made a great choice. I myself have the GA-P35-DS3P Rev. 2.0 and its a fantastic board, although let me give you a tip: Install Leopard on it and if you’re installing Tiger, DO NOT update to 10.4.11. Stay at 10.4.10 because with 10.4.11 the Ethernet doesn’t work.
I have a Core 2 Quad Q6600 and it runs crazy fast, and its not too bad a price either, about $300. I think you should get 8GB of 800 RAM
Thank you and you’re welcome!
January 28th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
P.S. If anyone is having trouble choosing video cards for OSx86, see the OSx86 video card buying guide:
http://pcwizcomputer.com/blog/?p=33
January 28th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
does ASRock Conroe 1333 support EFI and vanila kernel?
thanks a lot
January 29th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Yes it does
And also a side note to my earlier thing about ethernet not working in 10.4.11, well I found a driver that works
January 30th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
IMPORTANT NOTE: The Gigabyte DS3x series boards (and many other P35 boards in fact) have an issue with higher-end systems. These boards will only accept EITHER:
- More than 3GB of ram
OR
- More than 2 Sata devices
BUT NOT BOTH. If you have 3-4 Sata devices and 4GB+ of ram, you will get Kernel Panics. You either have to have less Sata devices or limit your ram to less than 3.25GB.
To Admin: You may want to include this info in the overview so people know of this limitation. It has been confirmed by others on the OSX86 forums.
Thanks, and great site.
A7
January 30th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Thanks, but it’s weird to say because many on InsanelyMac have these boards running with 4GB of RAM and over 2 SATA devices on Leopard with EFI with no problem ??
January 30th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Where are you finding the Asrock Conroe1333 for $49 new? The cheapest I see anywhere is around $80.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:39 am
On Newegg
February 2nd, 2008 at 5:07 am
I have been reading over and over and for some reason every guide I try fails to install OS X86 on my PC. it is an older hp/compaq d530 P4 2.8ghz with 512mb Ram/IDE 40 gig hd.
it seems to me that the bios settings are in the way, but after 15 installation attempts and a week with only 10 hours of sleep…It loaded Leaopard once…and never again. I can’t figure it out! everything worked (sound, network, etc…) but programs like front row didn’t work (black screen).
any help would be appreciated. I have been using the iATKOS v2 installer. I tried settings after settings…I need to have some sort of direction.
February 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
This isn’t the exact place to ask the question, you’d have more luck posting in our forums:
forum.pcwizcomputer.com
But anyway, the fact might have something to do with the processor. Make sure your processor supports SSE3. And when you are installing iATKOS, make sure to not select the vanilla option as it is not compatible with P4s. Also, you may want to try the Kalyway release of OSx86, its worked for a lot more people.
February 2nd, 2008 at 8:24 pm
thank you very much. Processor is SSE3. It would be very nice to have a detailed guide on all the iATKOS settings…such as, do I use Video injection with my Nvidia 6200 and the Titan or other driver? Also what are the pre-requisits for the Darwin bootloader/how it works…and the same for EFI. All I ever see is a bunch of lists of hardware and what it needed…never what the OS X86 platform needs/looks for.
thanks.
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Yeah, iATKOS is pretty hard to install. I strongly suggest you go with the Kalyway 10.5.1 DVD if you aren’t comfortable with this kind of stuff. It will save you a lot of time.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Yeah I was thinking about it…
BTW I found this…this is the kind of info you could put into the guide I proposed:
http://cavemonkey50.com/2006/01/the-perfect-osx86-motherboard/
what i got from that was that the Intel 915 series chipset is compatible and is the same one supported by Apple for developers.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I’d be glad to take suggestions for a guide. What kind of guide do you propose? Yes, the first OSx86 Development Platform machines sent to Apple Developers during the Intel transition were based on the 915 chipset, so yes that motherboard will work.
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Well from what I understand there are factors in what works natively and factors that are patchable. Each factor has a job crucial to the use of the OS X86 platform:
-Bios
-Chipset
-SATA/IDE controllers
-Processor
-GPU/AGP vs. PCIexpress (1.x and 2.x versions)
-~also which cards and Mobos supported Crossfire/SLI effectively?
-~~one could possibly use an Apple Video card (designed for the Mac Pro)
http://www.nvidia.com/page/apple.html
-you know what? I just realized that those are all natively supported if my assumption is correct: if you click on a card from the Apple page it says nothing about Apple on the specs…simply says bus type etc!!!
Ok also some Firewire, USB/USB2.0, IDE, SATA, and Audio controllers did not work at all or needed supporting kexts, etc…
^^^this is a brainstorming seesion^^^
Basically therer are no organized lists of what specific parts of the computer (which means the computer’s components+ the individual parts that make up the mobo…chipset etc…)
define native supporting components…then define non-native supporting components that worked with patching.
eventually if we got it persistent enough we could weed out the best configurations…the OS x86 wikiproject page is too vague and seems to deal more with complete systems.
example of the purpose:
I just found compatible Video cards, and chipsets that work…it’s a start.
I don’t know if I am making sense.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:17 am
First of all, a Mac video card will most likely NOT work in a normal PC (The firmware/BIOS they use is different from the BIOS that normal PC’s use). So, you have to get a PC video card that is supported if you want to run OSx86 on a PC.
Second, I think I have the perfect list, exactly what you want. Its a list of all components and computer systems that work natively, and that work with patching. Its called the HCL (Hardware Compatibility List) and you can see it at the wiki:
wiki.osx86project.org
There is an HCL for every version of OS X 10.4 and 10.5. I hope you find it useful!
February 4th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
you know, you could help us out by doing a review of the minimum needed speed to run variious aplications…and what works with and without Vanilla Kernel…also if there is any patching required.
then again you probably know of a guide.
thanks for your time Admin.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I don’t get exactly what you mean but let me clarify things for you. You can find out the minimum needed speed to run applications on the applications’ website. Anything will run on a vanilla kernel that supports the operating system (OS X 10.4 or 10.5 if you have it) so no patching required. Do you mean that you want me to do a vanilla/EFI installation guide?
February 5th, 2008 at 2:14 am
he he…well I wasn’t planning on asking but since you mentioned it
I found this:
it’s from the PDF manual of the Intel DG31PR (mATX mobo)
————————————-
System BIOS
February 5th, 2008 at 6:12 am
^append^
I’m starting to get the impression that all I have to do is load EFI 8.0 and go pickup a licensed copy of Leopard…nothing else!? No Brazilmac, no Kalyway…nothing!!!
and not to mention my whole setup is 100% mac native compatible!
(at least according to the wiki)
February 5th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
With Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2
Does DDR II 800 work, or ONLY 667?
I’m planning to get 2 PCs of DDR II 800, each one 2 GHz.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
redliner,
Yes, apparently these motherboards have EFI chips. So in theory, if you could find a way (there is no way right now) to flash the BIOS in the motherboard with the mac EFI, then you could run retail Leopard unmodified, but you still need the dsmos.kext decrypter.
Raidmarij,
If it says DDR2 667, thats the max supported, you should get that kind of RAM.
February 6th, 2008 at 7:06 am
“dsmos.kext decrypter”
ah… the key!
well I orderd my parts to night:
every part is 100% native supported. Here are the features:
4 gigs OCZ ReaperX 800Mhz DDR2
200 gig SATA hd
Q6600 processor
intel DG31PR mobo
firewire card
wifi card (actually displays as Airport adapter!!!)
USB Bluetooth 2.0
I am using built in graphics (GMA x3100)
with non-OS X86 until I get my Video card.
I plan on tripple booting Windows XP Pro, Vista Ultimate 64 bit, and OS x86 between the 200gig SATA and an IDE 40 gig (idk about that though…I might not…or maybe just until I can get a knew drive.
anyways: I’ll have all those features…and not need to mess with a single kext.
installation still isn’t clear though. Is it as simple as I said before?
February 10th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Please help me, i am very confused i would like to built a micro atx osx86 system but everyone says to check the HCL. Can anyone suggest me a micro atx motherboard which works with EFI and Vanilla Kernel, usb firewire lan sound work without patching or minor patching i only need two sata drives, one hdd and one dvdr, but i need 8GB ram. The processor either Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad, i don’t really care. But i would like to be sure that reboot, sleep and wake work properly. And the last question is building a system like this is it equivalent to a real mac? What i mean is if i have this system and buy an maudio firewire audio card will work with the included mac drivers or needs some kind of patching? Please make some suggestions, thank you.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Hi, I have a Acer M5630, no matter how much I tried, I just can’t get the Q6600 to work in all four cores. I was going to follow your recommendation to get the GA-P35-DS3P, but Newegg doesn’t have it any more. What would be the next best board to work with Q6600 in all four cores within the similar price range. I also need to have FireWire so that I can use it with my iMac and MBP. I just want to get it right this time as I have spent too much fruitless time on trying to get the Acer working. Thanks.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Sorry, I forget to mention I want to install Kalyway or iATKOS 10.5.1
February 20th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Here in Taiwan, Gigabyte has started shipping a new energy efficient versions of the above boards, which are disappearing from the shelves. They stick an E in front of the model number e.g. GA-EP35-DS3. Are these E models still happy with hackintosh?
March 10th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
guys the difference between the DS4 and the DS5 is the type of ram they use. if you get the DS5 mobo you will have to buy new really really expensive ram while if you get the DS4 you can reuse old ram or get new ram for cheap
March 10th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Yep, e is still happy.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Raidmarji: bro i want to know sumthing as u r using gigabyte ga-945gcmx s2 mobo. u r using 4 gb ram. when the pc starts does bios say memory 4295……. bytes ( 4 gb) or 34000……. bytes ( 3.25 gb)??
i m usign same mobo and 4 gb ddr2 ram. bios says 340……. bytes ( 3.25 gb).
leopard 10.5.2 shows 4 gb ram
win xp 64 bit shows 3.25 gb ram.
but 54 bit xp supposed to show 4 gb ram full. isnt it??
March 14th, 2008 at 1:56 am
guyz i am facing a weired prob.
i just installed 4 gb ddr2 ram in my gigabyte ga-945gcmx s2 mobo with intel core 2 duo. but my bios shows 3.25 gb ram ( 340…. bytes). and obviously win xp shows 3.25 gb ram.
then i installed win xp 64 bit pro and it shud show 4 gb ram as its 64 bit os but it also shows 3.25 gb of ram. then i thought ok as bios finds 3.25 gb ram then my mobo must be faulty.
then i logged in my mac leopard os ( i am trying it in my pc as i will be buying a mac air in few days). mac leopard is a 64 bit os. surprisingly mac leopard shows full 4 GB of ram!!!!!!!!!!!!
then i tried everest and cpuz (3rd party softwares which shows system specs). all of these softwares shows 4 Gb of ram.
so though bios is showing 3.25 of ram actually the mobo gets the 4 gb ram. but i still cant find why win xp 64 bit cant find the 4 gb ram.
April 5th, 2008 at 11:10 am
tasos,
Try the Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2
Rich,
Get the Gigabyte EP35-DS3P
Rashed,
How many SATA devices do you have connected? Anyway, Windows will only show 3.25GB. Boot into OS X and according to stelarolla it will work.
April 5th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Guys I’ve moved this article to here:
http://pcwizcomputer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=46
Please post future comments there.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 am
Does anyone know if a GIGABYTE GA-73PVM-S2 LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 7100/nForce 630i Micro ATX Intel Motherboard will work with Hackintosh?
June 21st, 2008 at 11:02 am
I’ve found a better/chaper motherboard, so i have buy it:
Micro Star P965/ICH8 Mainboard (MSI P965 Neo2)
See:
http://webshop.xps-born.nl/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=69&flypage=shop.flypage1&product_id=255&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26&vmcchk=1&Itemid=26
Buy a core 2 quad processor and ram, and you can install kalyway.
Audio works only if you select all the drivers.
Please, post it on this page.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I have 2 mashines on cheap ASROCK conroe 1333 ddr2 motherboard that have even vga intel gma 950 chipset onboard and works fine with iAtkos 1.0i or iAtkos 2.0i or even with Leo 4 All . Audio works out of the box but output channel ( 2 ) only.It only support 3.2 G of ram and CPU-s with smaller fsb than 1333 as it says on the package-do not buy any Intel E 8xxx proc. Cheap motherboard run nice with cheap CPU. So 2G of ram-enough,2.66Ghz CPU-enough-spend more for HD-s
never enough storage place-only garageband jampacks need 17G of space
September 12th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Can anyone suggest an Asrock motherboard that supports PC_EFI & Vanilla that does not need too much patching? I note the ConRoe1333 does but this board does not support Quad Core which I want to upgrade to at a later date. Anyway I can’t find the ConRoe133 only the ConRoe133 eSata2 which I guess is the same boaed with an eSata port?
I am running Kalyway 10.5.2 on an Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA at the moment which took a bit of patching to get my SATA controller and Lan to work but this has VIA chip sets and does not support PC_EFI & Vanilla, so I want to upgrade my motherboard.
I was looking at the Gigabyte P35 series boards shown above but am concerned about the IDE sometimes not working as my DVD drive and the hard drive I use for Kalyway are both IDE, plus I am used to Asrock boards and like them.
Thank you.
September 14th, 2008 at 9:35 am
What About My Mercury PVM900M maotherboard ?
Does Work At all All it will Just crush
September 18th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I just received my GA-945GCM-S2C yesterday from newegg. The day before that I bought 4GB of corsair value select for an awesome price, along with a GeForce 7200GS 128MB card that was $0 after rebate. Someone had given me a P4-531 @ 3.0Ghz, and I had a customers older e-machine case lying around that I gutted after the innards died! So after all rebated, I have only spent like $90 bucks, and after assembling all the new goodies, I loaded Kalyway 10.5.2 with a few extra options, and when she was done, it rebooted constantly! Well, a few of the included kernels were not like at all, but the sleepkernel, speedstepkernel, and the modbinkernel all worked, but so far, the sleepkernel has been the best choice, so I will probably reinstall with just that kernel running, if I can figure out ho to do that. If anyone has any advice on that, I’d be very appreciative! The audio was a snap after the driver install and a reboot. I search for skippyretard ALC888 driver, but landed up downloading and installing his AzaliaAudio driver instead which turned out to be the right one for this motherboards on board audio. So far, totally painless! I’m having fun with computer again!!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 pm
tnx ~pcwiz for this really one great page.
may i still request though if you can indicate if everything in these motherboards work out-of-the-box with RETAIL LEOPARD. if not, will you provide what extra kexts are needed?
tnx again and hope i’m not asking too much.
p.s. hopefully you can add some more cheaper asus motherboards.
November 30th, 2008 at 3:17 am
How about Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L? Those motherboards above are discontinued products, but it is easy to find on eBay!
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
[...] a dica de um outro site que o ajudou bastante quando ele foi montar seu Hackintosh atual. Repasso o site pra vocês. Lá explica quais as motherboards mais compatíveis para se fazer Hackintosh sem dor de [...]
April 6th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
[...] a dica de um outro site que o ajudou bastante quando ele foi montar seu Hackintosh atual. Repasso o site pra vocês. Lá explica quais as motherboards mais compatíveis para se fazer Hackintosh sem dor de [...]
April 8th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I’m just starting to get into the iMac scene and have been reading tons of threads.
Just wondering…is there an updated list of best compatible mobos. The ones in this blog are pretty old nowadays. Surely there are other boards that also work. If anyone can recommend some that are currently available, that would be AWESOME.
Thx
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:26 am
P5W-DH Deluxe does support 45NM processors with a Bios update. The 975 Chipset was the last to support them.
-Jay