Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › Leopard 10.5 › Best AMD motherboard
8,434 reads · 2010-01-15 – 2010-01-16
Report Leopard 10.5 AMD OSx86

Best AMD motherboard

i gonna buy new mother board... which one is apt for 10.5.8/10.6.1 one... help me... it's urgent...

Primary Author
@selvag Published 2010-01-15
Collection
Leopard 10.5
Archival Footprint
8,434 historical reads · 2 curated field notes (from 4 dispatches) · 2010-01-15 – 2010-01-16
Credited Voices (3)
@selvag (2)@srs5694@lanceomni

i gonna buy new mother board...
which one is apt for 10.5.8/10.6.1 one...
help me...
it's urgent...

Author Updates & Technical Revisions

Follow-up dispatches by @selvag

Author Update #1 @selvag 2010-01-15

can i buy this board

ASUS M2A74-AM Desktop Board

buy sehi.com/_e/Motherboards/sproduct/1013241636/M2A74_AM_Desktop_Board.htm

help me..

i want to install 10.5.8...

Synthesized Community Field Notes

2 technical responses curated from 4 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @srs5694 2010-01-15

Although AMD systems can run OSx86, generally speaking, you're better off with Intel for Hackintoshing. Apple uses Intel CPUs (and I believe Intel chipsets, although I'm not 100% positive that's true of all Apple's models) in all its post-PowerPC computers. This makes it easier to get OSx86 running on an Intel-based system, all other things being equal, since you don't need to worry about CPU compatibility and you're more likely to get a chipset that's similar to one that Apple uses.

If you insist on going with AMD, you should be aware that you'll need to run a third-party kernel and you'll probably have to run a program that scans all your applications for Intel-specific code sequences and patches them so they're AMD-compatible. (Some kernels for 10.5.x include run-time patching, but AFAIK no such kernel for 10.6 has yet been released.) AMD and nVidia both make AMD chipsets right now. I'm not sure which is more likely to work well. I've got a 2-year-old AMD system that runs OSx86 (iPC and Hazard) reasonably well, but the on-board video doesn't support QE/CI, so I've added a PCIe video card (and I still haven't gotten QE/CI working in 10.6). Overall, I had a much easier time with a laptop based on an Intel CPU and Intel chipset. IMHO, you're better off going Intel, even if it means you must get a slightly slower CPU, smaller hard disk, or otherwise cut corners to meet your budget.

Field Note #2 @lanceomni 2010-01-16

@Selvag
I would focus on the actual chipsets of the motherboards you are browsing. The one you are looking at has the following specs:

Northbridge: 740g
Southbridge: SB700

Audio: VIA VT1708S
Networking: RTL8112

These are what you should focus on. I would do a bit more research, personally I am not up to date on newer AMD hardware but my first step would be to gather a list of motherboards in my price range and write down their chipsets as mentioned above. Then search run searching on Google such as "site:infinitemac.com sb700" or "OSX sb700" Try the model number of your motherboard first but generally you will get more hits using the actual chipsets. Try to get some reference of usability before you buy.

You will most likely need to get a graphics card as the onboard video will probably not fetch QE/ci support.

Snow Leopard 10.6 is a bit of a problem. I have not seen a kernel capable of patching binaries on the fly as the Voodoo kernel did for 10.5. Now I may just be lazy or misinformed but Ive manually patch binaries for application and updates and it is a great deal of work If your interested in 10.5 then you should be good to go.

Sources & Contributor Provenance (3 credited usernames · Thread #5218)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@selvagPrimary Author22010-01-15
@srs5694Contributor12010-01-15
@lanceomniContributor12010-01-16