12-20-2009, 02:15 AM
...for me. Today. With my needs, and my budget.
More seriously, this is where I've arrived after thinking this through as thoroughly and multi-dimensionally as I can. If anyone has any thoughts pro or con on any of these points, please post 'em up in a reply.
It looks to me like there are three basic Hackintosh options in a roughly equivalent price
range, give or take maybe $200. I'm skipping over the RAM, case, HD, video card, etc., as those
would be much the same price for any of these three builds. (maybe DDR3 Ram is a bit
more?)
QuadCore Socket 775 Build
Q9550: $170
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L: $75
Total: $245
Pros:
Socket 1156 Build (i5/i7)
GA-P55M-UD2 $105 ($134 if you get the version with the USB3, etc.)
i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz $150
Total: $255
Pros:
Socket 1336 Build (i7)
i7 920 $190
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R $180
Total: $370
Pros:
Discussion
If I were a student, or had a lot of time on my hands and not so much money, or really want to hack around a lot, the 1156 build would be my choice, hands down. Not even a question.
But none of those fit me. I'm working, sometimes 55 hours a week, with a 2 year old daughter, and my wife is recovering from Lyme disease. When I look at the 1156 forums, I see many more discussions of "I haven't got Ethernet/Audio/etc. working" than for the other builds. I don't have the time for an 1156 build.
So that leaves me with either the 775 or the 1336 builds. I'm leaning a bit towards the 775, both because it's a chunk cheaper (look, if I had more money I'd buy a Mac Pro, so for me right now, $120 is a good piece of change), and because I bet I can get a 775 build up and running in an afternoon.
The lack of the futureproofing does bug me, but I think that the 775 build will last me for at least two years, and at that point I can drop in a new i7 motherboard and CPU from a future board. Then again, I'd have to buy more RAM then.....
More seriously, this is where I've arrived after thinking this through as thoroughly and multi-dimensionally as I can. If anyone has any thoughts pro or con on any of these points, please post 'em up in a reply.
It looks to me like there are three basic Hackintosh options in a roughly equivalent price
range, give or take maybe $200. I'm skipping over the RAM, case, HD, video card, etc., as those
would be much the same price for any of these three builds. (maybe DDR3 Ram is a bit
more?)
QuadCore Socket 775 Build
Q9550: $170
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L: $75
Total: $245
Pros:
- 95 watt power consumption at normal speed
- 12MB of cache
- Reliably overclockable to 3.4Ghz without increasing voltage
- Socket 775 has the most guides, advice, blogs, etc. of any of these three options. Has the most scripts, install packages, etc.
- Motherboard designs quite mature.
- Can get maximum memory throughput by installing RAM in banks of 2 sticks.
- Least expensive of the three options
- Intel has stopped developed of the C2Q line. Highly unlikely to get faster/better chips in the future.
Socket 1156 Build (i5/i7)
GA-P55M-UD2 $105 ($134 if you get the version with the USB3, etc.)
i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz $150
Total: $255
Pros:
- 95 watt power consumption at normal speed
- 8MB of L3 cache; 1MB of L2 Cache
- Reliably overclockable to 3.8 Ghz without increasing voltage
- Somewhat future-proof, as Intel has just started marketing chips for Socket 1156
- Only $10 more than Socket 775 build.
- Motherboard design very young; reports of boards burned out due to heat from overclocking
- Turbo Boost not available for Hackintoshes
- Fewest scripts, installs, guides, blogs, etc. of the three platforms. Appears to be the most difficult of the three platforms to get up and fully running.
- Can't run OS 10.5.
Socket 1336 Build (i7)
i7 920 $190
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R $180
Total: $370
Pros:
- Reliably overclocks to 3.8Ghz without voltage boost
- Mature motherboard design
- Most futureproof
- High number of install guides, scripts, blogs, etc.
- The most powerful processors (albeit most expensive) are available for this build
- Likely to retain the most value of the three options
- Most expensive build, by at least $120
- 135W power consumption at normal speed
- Turbo Boost not available for Hackintoshes
Discussion
If I were a student, or had a lot of time on my hands and not so much money, or really want to hack around a lot, the 1156 build would be my choice, hands down. Not even a question.
But none of those fit me. I'm working, sometimes 55 hours a week, with a 2 year old daughter, and my wife is recovering from Lyme disease. When I look at the 1156 forums, I see many more discussions of "I haven't got Ethernet/Audio/etc. working" than for the other builds. I don't have the time for an 1156 build.
So that leaves me with either the 775 or the 1336 builds. I'm leaning a bit towards the 775, both because it's a chunk cheaper (look, if I had more money I'd buy a Mac Pro, so for me right now, $120 is a good piece of change), and because I bet I can get a 775 build up and running in an afternoon.
The lack of the futureproofing does bug me, but I think that the 775 build will last me for at least two years, and at that point I can drop in a new i7 motherboard and CPU from a future board. Then again, I'd have to buy more RAM then.....