Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › OSx86 Core & 10.X › Intel motherboard Recommendation
19,101 reads · 2008-04-09 – 2008-10-13
Report 10.X Core AMD OSx86 Gigabyte G31M / P35

Intel motherboard Recommendation

Besides my AMD leo box (Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4) which is working just great, i'd like to build one more leopard box (for work mostly) and Intel based. I'd like to go as close to org. apple as possibe, EFI/Vanilla, etc. I dont have big…

Primary Author
@milanca Published 2008-04-09
Collection
OSx86 Core & 10.X
Archival Footprint
19,101 historical reads · 17 curated field notes (from 23 dispatches) · 2008-04-09 – 2008-10-13
Credited Voices (9)
@milanca (6)@R0GUE (5)@roisoft (4)@Ianxxx (2)@Puttabong (2)@laxattack@WinLinMac01@naquaada@gibrongib

Besides my AMD leo box (Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4) which is working just great, i'd like to build one more leopard box (for work mostly) and Intel based. I'd like to go as close to org. apple as possibe, EFI/Vanilla, etc. I dont have big budget this time, wanted to go with C2D 2.4 or 2.6ghz and maybe gigabyte ati 2600xt (256 ram). The board i wanted to go with is GA-EP35C-DS3R, gigabyte too. What are your recommendations guys, suggestions. I just wanted to go with gigabyte mobo, it doesnt have to be this one. Maybe some Asus one (Asus P5W DH Deluxe is a good one but suppliers at my place dont have it), there are different ones. I am open to suggestions, thanks bros!

Author Updates & Technical Revisions

Follow-up dispatches by @milanca

Author Update #1 @milanca 2008-04-10

Yep, thanks roisoft again, and thanks guys. Yeah as far as i checked GA-P35-DS4 is much better board, 8ch audio, and also there are 2 firewires. GA-EP35C-DS3R has no firewire. Only chipsets are the same, audio and lan from GA-EP35C are supported as i can see. I am going to check with my local supplier if they can hook me up with GA-P35-DS4. If not (i hope they can) what do you think, could i go with GA-EP35C and still make it work nicely ? Just in case i cant find GA-P35-DS4.

Author Update #2 @milanca 2008-04-11

Thanks, thats what i am going to do, i have two great options to go with, thats great. Besides, i'll just have to wait some time .. bad bad luck, yesterday diesel pump died on my car, the most expensive damn part that could die was that one.. 950eur for replacement, damn, i am still in shock.. heheh pretty soon i'll wake up from the shock when they take all of my money.

Author Update #3 @milanca 2008-06-17

Great future plan Puttabong;-) i like it;-)

Naquaada.. hell of a laptop, it will rock the house i am sure.

Author Update #4 @milanca 2008-06-18
[cite] R0GUE:Hehe, to me that is tight and compromising on many things. If my budget was looser do you think I'd be here?

hehe agree with that. but who knows, maybe you would be here but running MacPro 2x intel Xeon quad core beast bought at apple

Author Update #5 @milanca 2008-09-03

Its been couple of months since i posted this topic when i was interested in building one more Intel based Hack besides my AMD box. Well, i built it last week (hehe after all these months it is the time) and my impressions - super satisfied. My budget was limited, nothing unusual after summer holiday.
So, i took Intel Q6600, Gigabyte EP35-DS3, Gigabyte 8600GT, 2 gigs DDR2 800. Installed from retail dvd os-x 10.5, updated to 10.5.4 and running vanilla kernel on guid partition table. System running great, installed alc889a, ich9 and applied power-off fix. No problems with this system at all, very much satisfied.
I had two minor issues which were fixed in no time. _CFGetHostUUIDString, error 35, some used ionetworkfamilyfix to fix this. Besides graphics and audio string i also added my ethernet string to EFI, no more console error, simple like that. Secondly, X11 wouldn't start, just looping and relaunching itself. I updated it with version 2.3.0 from XQuartz project, works like a charm. My Xbench result, without disk test, is ~ 220 score. QE and OpenGL score is even higher than with my other 8800GTS. It seems that leopard likes 8600GT a bit more. I will post xbench results and also some pics of this fresh built hack.

Synthesized Community Field Notes

17 technical responses curated from 23 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @roisoft 2008-04-09

This board is great, ICH9R, 8 sata, ALC889a (enable core audio), realtek ethernet, USB & Firewire, great overclocking…it´s perfect for OS X. I have GA-P35-DS4 and it works perfect. I don´t like asus for OS X.

Field Note #2 @laxattack 2008-04-09

i agree with roisoft the GA-P35-DS4 is the most compatable motherboard for osx on the market today. I plan on getting it in a month

Field Note #3 @Ianxxx 2008-04-09

I think any of the ga-p35 boards that have ICH9R and alc889
My boards pretty good but not quite as compatable ga-p35-ds3l alc888 only stereo output 2 channels.
ICH9 rather than R was a problem doesn't seem to be any more.

Field Note #4 @roisoft 2008-04-10

you can use that board perfectly and if you need firewire buy a pci device with texas instruments chipset and that´s all.

Field Note #5 @R0GUE 2008-04-11
[cite] roisoft:This board is great, ICH9R, 8 sata, ALC889a (enable core audio), realtek ethernet, USB & Firewire, great overclocking…it´s perfect for OS X. I have GA-P35-DS4 and it works perfect.

What CPU do you have in your Intel system Roisoft? I'm toying with the idea of investing in one of these boards with an E8200 and 4Gb Ram

Field Note #6 @roisoft 2008-04-11

E6850 but i´m going to change it for a Core 2 Quad Q9450 (penryn), if you can think about a Quad core, the new C2Q Q9300 (penryn) is a great choice ..anyway the E8200 is a very good CPU awesome overclock, with stock cooler
3,4 -3,6 ghz

Field Note #7 @R0GUE 2008-04-11

Thanks for the reply roisoft. I'd love to go for a Quad Q9300 but the Q6600 is more in line with my budget unless I reduce the 4Gb ram down to 2Gb and opt for the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R instead.

Field Note #8 @roisoft 2008-04-11

belive me, buy a Quad Q9300+2gb+DS3R and in a few weeks/months buy 2gb more...my cousin has the DS3R and it works fantastic the same as DS4

Field Note #9 @R0GUE 2008-04-11

I'm going to take your advice roisoft and put my overtime money aside for those items.

Field Note #10 @Puttabong 2008-05-13

I will probably consider to buy exactly this setup in the future as well!

Field Note #11 @WinLinMac01 2008-05-13

I'm going for a new 46nm process in the near future. Just waiting for prices to drastically drop then consider my purchase.

Field Note #12 @Puttabong 2008-06-15

Here are my current plans for my future setup - dev.infinite mac.com/hackintosh.txt

Advices?

Field Note #13 @naquaada 2008-06-15

I'm planning to buy this laptop (notebook sbilliger.de/product_info.php/fsc_amilo_xi2550_2x24ghz_3072_mb_ram_640_gb_festplatte) - there aren't so many with 640GB harddisk space but I'm not sure if the Mobilty Radeon HD2700 is supported.

Field Note #14 @R0GUE 2008-06-17

I'm on a real tight budget so this is what I'll be getting:

rogue.infinite mac.com/hack.txt

Field Note #15 @Ianxxx 2008-06-18
[cite] R0GUE:I'm on a real tight budget so this is what I'll be getting: rogue.infinite mac.com/hack.txt

I wish I was on a tight budget like you lol

Field Note #16 @R0GUE 2008-06-18

Hehe, to me that is tight and compromising on many things. If my budget was looser do you think I'd be here?

Field Note #17 @gibrongib 2008-10-13

asus p5wdh nv 7300 4gb ram 500 sata

im using asus p5wdh with retail osx 10.5.4 upgraded to 10.5.5 the system is realy nice only thing no ps2 mouse or keyboards have use usb

Sources & Contributor Provenance (9 credited usernames · Thread #920)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@milancaPrimary Author62008-04-09 → 2008-09-03
@R0GUECore Contributor52008-04-11 → 2008-06-18
@roisoftCore Contributor42008-04-09 → 2008-04-11
@IanxxxContributor22008-04-09 → 2008-06-18
@PuttabongContributor22008-05-13 → 2008-06-15
@laxattackContributor12008-04-09
@WinLinMac01Contributor12008-05-13
@naquaadaContributor12008-06-15
@gibrongibContributor12008-10-13