GA-EP45-DS5 vs. GA-P35-DS4

mcsmart · #1 11-08-2008, 02:20 PM

Hello everybody.

I want to build a new Hackintosh. Scince I have some experience with OSX86 I thought it would be better to ask before I go out there and buy something

First of all, what I want:

reliability and stability
Intel Core2Quad (all cores have to work)
vanilla kernel
installation with retail-DVD
SATA with AHCI
2 PATA drives (HDD, DVD-Ram) (of course DMA should work)
USB, FireWire, Sound (patches are OK here), PCIE
PCEFI or similar
vanilla Apple Software Updates would be nice too
no shutdown/reboot glitches
hibernate/sleep

My questions:

Can anybody here say anything about the things in the list above?
Is the GA-P35-DS4 really a zero-hassle OSX86 mobo (except from the sound)?
Will I be able to benefit from the TPM-chip in the EP45 board?
I am not really a hardcore gamer and I don't want to use Windows on that machine. Should I buy the EP45-DS5 because it has PCIE 2.0?

Thanks to eveybody who takes the time to give me any hints.

- mcsmart

milanca · #2 11-09-2008, 02:58 PM

Haven't heard a fully successfull story for P45, you can do some more research. So P35-DS4 is the best solution, i think. I have DS3 board with C2Q. Difference from DS4 is there are no firewire ports (as i dont use any f/w devices) and there are not all the possible raid modes(again it has what i might need). With DS4 you could have all of it.

kroviken · #3 12-12-2008, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milanca

Haven't heard a fully successfull story for P45, you can do some more research. So P35-DS4 is the best solution, i think. I have DS3 board with C2Q. Difference from DS4 is there are no firewire ports (as i dont use any f/w devices) and there are not all the possible raid modes(again it has what i might need). With DS4 you could have all of it.

hi milanca...
i just moved myself to Intel system..can u do me a favor by answering these questions:

1. which is better in urself opinion (in terms of updating system); AMD or Intel systems?
2. if Intel; what installer u used (leo4all etc..)? if from 10.5.2,how u update ur system securely?
3. if AMD; just update using ASU by Zeph...isnt it?

thanx 4 any help!
hoping ur help to decide my new rig next week (wanna sell my rig now..)

mcsmart · #4 12-12-2008, 06:31 PM

Okay, just to let you know, this is the hardware I bought recently and everything works very well:

GA-EP35-DS4
Q9450

Quote:

Originally Posted by kroviken

1. which is better in urself opinion (in terms of updating system); AMD or Intel systems?

Of course Intel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kroviken

2. if Intel; what installer u used (leo4all etc..)? if from 10.5.2,how u update ur system )

Well, I personally ordered a Leo-disc from the Apple store and used it for my Intel-Hackintosh. So if you are a bit familiar with OS X a retail install is the ultimate way.

Besides that, any Intel-compatible installer will work. I used iDeneb 1.3 before and this works great, too.
When you are on an Intel-System with PCEFI/Cameleon (with vanilla kernel) you can also use Apple Softwae update to update your OS. I updated my Retail 10.5.4 to 10.5.5 this way - no problems at all.
You only need to be careful with 10.5.6 - it is not released yet but it won't be easy to install, because they updated AppleRTC.kext which is likely going to cause kernel panics and a headache if you aren't careful

- mcsmart

kroviken · #5 12-12-2008, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcsmart

Okay, just to let you know, this is the hardware I bought recently and everything works very well:

GA-EP35-DS4
Q9450

Of course Intel.

Well, I personally ordered a Leo-disc from the Apple store and used it for my Intel-Hackintosh. So if you are a bit familiar with OS X a retail install is the ultimate way.

Besides that, any Intel-compatible installer will work. I used iDeneb 1.3 before and this works great, too.
When you are on an Intel-System with PCEFI/Cameleon (with vanilla kernel) you can also use Apple Softwae update to update your OS. I updated my Retail 10.5.4 to 10.5.5 this way - no problems at all.
You only need to be careful with 10.5.6 - it is not released yet but it won't be easy to install, because they updated AppleRTC.kext which is likely going to cause kernel panics and a headache if you aren't careful

- mcsmart

hi mate...

wow,thanx buddy! i viewed at apple store,it dont cost much..and its 10.5.4..
so.is it possible 4 me to choose GA-EP35-DS4 or GA-EP35-DS3 (if not in store)?

"When you are on an Intel-System with PCEFI/Cameleon (with vanilla kernel) you can also use Apple Softwae update to update your OS. I updated my Retail 10.5.4 to 10.5.5 this way - no problems at all."
this i'm not familiar...how do i know its PCEFI/Cameleon w/vanilla kernel?

if u dont mind...can u show me ur complete system (sound,vga,etc...)

thanx buddy!

mcsmart · #6 12-12-2008, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kroviken

hi mate...
wow,thanx buddy! i viewed at apple store,it dont cost much..and its 10.5.4..
so.is it possible 4 me to choose GA-EP35-DS4 or GA-EP35-DS3 (if not in store)?

There is no big difference between DS3 and DS4. DS3 will work as well, but I think it does not have Firewire ports. And the heatpipe of the DS3 does not look as nice

Quote:

Originally Posted by kroviken

this i'm not familiar...how do i know its PCEFI/Cameleon w/vanilla kernel?

Well, if you don't know what this is you should probably install iDeneb (with vanilla kernel) first. It will install Chameleon for you automatically.
A retail installation is only recommended for advanced users!

My specs are:

GA-EP35-DS4 (2.1 with F5 BIOS)
Intel Q9450 (I'd recommend the Q9550)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO (512MB) (I'd recomment the XT)
4GB Corsair CL4 DualChannel Memory
3 SATA HDDs and 1 SATA DVD Burner (LG) (I really recommend getting rid of IDE drives!!!)
PSU: beQuiet! darkPower Pro 550W

Aydinz · #7 12-13-2008, 03:23 AM

i cant buy the P35 motherboards in australia. it seems to all be P45's now, all the P35's have been discontinued and sold out.

i found this tutorial to install retail on a P45: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=135948

but Milanca said he hasnt heard many good things about the P45's and retail installs so can i just get your opinion on whether i should still buy this MoBo?

Cheers

milanca · #8 12-13-2008, 05:55 AM

Yes, it should be explored some more regarding P45 board. If I was about to build a new machine i would go with the most compatible board (as i did with P35 from gigabyte), minimum or no installation troubles at all, etc.. that would be my goal.

I am very satisfied with P35 boad. Recently i completely fixed DSDT and got rid completely of efi strings, everything goes off dsdt. AppleRTC loaded, HPET, IntelCPUpowermanagement, also sound, ethernet and gfx added to dsdt. Sleep works, timemachine, also hibernate/deepsleep. Pure installation.

What i would go for (so far all positive feedback) is a new intel based board with new nforce chipset, as the new macbooks have. Only restore disk from the new mackbooks is needed to install the new drivers. And of course some newer C2Q processor.

Aydinz · #9 12-13-2008, 07:48 AM

well atm i am looking at buying all new hardware to build a powerful desktop hackmac and i am looking to get:

Netgear GA311 Ethernet PCI Adapter
GIGABYTE EP45-DS3L Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo 3Ghz E8400 CPU
4GB Kit (2x2GB)DDR2 1066 Kingston RAM
22' Chimei 222j HDMI Monitor
Nvidia 8600GT 256MB Graphics Card

could you recommend the most mac friendly hardware models that have the equivelent power?

Thanks

btw i cannot find anywhere in Australia that sells p35 motherboards

nfoav8or · #10 12-13-2008, 08:27 AM

For a good HCL... look at http://www.efixusa.com and navigate to their HCL...

This may be close to Pystar so watch what you do with these sites.

EDIT: direct link to HCL at EFi-X.com... http://www.efi-x.com/index.php?optio...nguage=english

EDIT 2: remember though, this is a HCL for using EFi-X dongles... don't go solely based on this list... it is simply a good place to start.