Building a compatible Chameleon Mac + best video card OSX

[spooksie]

I've read through most of the forums search facility and cannot find the answers to these questions. I would be very grateful if you can assist. If I have missed anything regarding past issues if you can give me the URL of the thread it would help.

I priced up a MacPro and was shocked that it was going to cost me nearly £3000. Pricing it up myself for very similar is just going over £1000. I would be so silly to buy from Apple.

I was doing some research on the Efi-x and received lots of negative responses. Regarding Efi-x support and being just a USB dongle. So someone pointed me to Chameleon, apparently its better but I will still need to buy a memory stick.

My build
I want a trouble free build with no problems with conflicts, etc. I will be using this primary for work on the Mac and duel booting Windows 7 / XP for games. I've looked at the compatible list and come up with this. For performance is there anything you recommend?

Processor:
Intel i7 920, D0 SLBEJ S1366, Nehalem, 2.66 GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, 8MB Cache, 20x Ratio, 130W, Retail
£209.50
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...MB-130W-Retail

   1. I know these badboys can be overclocked with no problems, is this compatible with OSX (with over clocking)?


Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P, Intel X58 Express, S1366, PCI-E 2.0x16, DDR3 1333, SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX
£181.90
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...-SATA-RAID-ATX

   1. Will this work out of the box or do I have to change settings on the CMOS bios? If so can you point me in the right direction?
   2. The sound card in this works with osx right?


Video Card:
EN9800GT/HTDP/1GD3 - 1GB Asus 9800 GT, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 1800MHz GDDR3, GPU 600 MHz, 112 Cores1 x HDTV2 x DVI-I
£86.23
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-A...-HDTV2-x-DVI-I

   1. Is this card any good for gaming as it seems cheap, would SLI work in OSX (with 2x video cards)? and would it be worth it?
   2. Or would you recommend another card? I currently have a 30inch Apple Cinema display.
   3. I really really want a better card than last years model. Any suggestions?


Wireless card:
D-Link DWA-556 Wireless N PCI-E Desktop Adaptor
£51.47
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...ctiveda3090-21

   1. Is this really the only compatible wireless card?


Memory:
TR3X6G1333C9 - 6GB (3x2GB) CorsairXMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24
£96.19
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/6GB-%...d-CAS-9-9-9-24

   1. I read somewhere that anything over 800 wont work and will cause a crash on installation. That the memory had to be reduced in the bios to 800 to get this to work. This was on a Intel Core 2 Quad, on the i7 will this have the same problem?
   2. Also I've read due to the processor/mb that 6gb is better than 8gb, is this correct?


PSU:

   1. Quick one 500 or 650 watt? Especially if I can overclock should I go to the 1000 watt mark?


Case and fans, bla bla bla. I'm sure they will be compatible.

Thanks if you can help, even if it part answering.

[SunLizard]

I want a trouble free build with no problems with conflicts, etc.

No such thing as a 100% trouble free build m8.  best you can hope for is 98% or so.  Although you've bracketed your issues, so the going gets a bit easier...

This is a great board for advice on the ins and outs of Chameleon.  I recommned looking at InsanelyMac forums for hardware related advice, too.

Processor: choice looks sound.
Mobo: Stick with Gigabyte for fewer comapatability issues.  All of them have some, you are after all running OSX on an non-apple machine. OC if you must/want to, I have not had much experience with that.
Graffix: NVidia seems to be the hackint0sh graphics card of choice.  I personally like ATI, but that's my albatross...
Wifi:  No data here.  I use a Belken wifi card (20 bucks) and have never had issue with any build 10.4.x -10.5.8 (uses broadcom driver)
Memory: I Gskill PC-8500 which my system shows as 800 Mhz clockspeed.  Its capable of 1066 but I still benchmark within a few points of guys with similar systems.
--------------
The main thing you want this forum for is your DUAL boot capability.  If you can't glean the info elsewhere, these folks can help you work through your issues.

The other thing you can get help here with is reducing the amount of extra extensions you may need for upgrades,  the capable Chameleon can help you with that (Specific questions you will have later, trust me.)

hope this helps you get started.

S_L

[rocksteady]

As S_L already hinted this kind of post/talk fits insanelymac perfectly.

I remember an identical question to yours from a just-got-laid-off sound engineer some time ago. He was asking for advice on building a hack for $$$ reasons.

It's not clear what kind of use you plan for the said machine but:

I priced up a MacPro and was shocked that it was going to cost me nearly £3000. Pricing it up myself for very similar is just going over £1000. I would be so silly to buy from Apple.

Factor in the whole process and you'll see that this is a myth, an easy placebo effect and why/how when something becomes easy, most people miss the fun part.

Most people have a hard time understanding mere editing of text files in order to get their hack up and running, they don't understand the difference between installing OSx86 and running OSx86, the whole "trouble-free hack" is a bad joke.

If the build in question is the one that will put bread on your table and if you're charging more than $10/h, you might want to reconsider your approach (unless you don't mind having a client breathing on your neck while raiding forums/sites/blogs to find an answer that is).

Professional support is always paid support.

There's no such thing as Chameleon-compatible, hackintosh-ready, trouble-free hack and other trendy adagio. It has to do with your skills. 

Of course there are people who run their hacks the way they like, just don't count on it. If you're willing to dive deep into technical stuff and acquire knowledge, have fun.

If you're thinking paying clients/projects, a second thought would be wise.