Build Advice Hackintosh a G5 overhaul

So I found an old G5 tower with broken screen, keyboard and mouse at a dump. Taking it home was tricky since the dump site has strict laws about taking things out of the area and using it. Of course I was able to sneak it through and look into it.

Doing my research the 2005 G5 series was a PowerPC (none intel base) since 2006 all newer form case are intel and so the OS (which runs specific hardware) no longer support power PC (AMD processor)

I used to run Hackintosh on my compaq laptop and on my clients ACER laptop dual boot with window 7. I was running Snow leopard 10.6.7 and upgraded my client to 10.7.5 lion from snow leopard with some minor problems. So I do have some what first hand at working and troubleshooting MAC on none apple PC.

I was looking at this topic on how to build a hacintosh LINK they specificly say to find and run Z77MX-QUO-AOS board with either an i3 or i5 processor. I want to make this a budget build since I really don't plan on doing much with the MAC I just wanted to understand more of how to build and install if that makes sense.

I am also thinking of selling the whole thing off later on.

But for right now I have plenty of question about working around on a G5 as well as hardware specific to run a Hacintosh.

question:

1. Hardware type specific for the hacintosh... A lot of people say I can run Hackintosh on ANY board and hardware configuration type (avoiding AMD unless I plan to run MAC os X 10.5 and lower) They mention looking at gigabyte board? Why??

2. I don't want to do to much to the case I prefer to leave it as factory form but since it is a MAC are the spacer and screw hole in the right place to fit a mini ATX? What if I have to go and use a ATX will I have to make some modifications?

3. Watercool Mac a yes or a no? The G5 case comes with a ridiculously oversize heat sink with the very beautiful mirror "G5" logo over the top I think it is beautiful. I would like to keep the G5 logo but place the Corsair H100 watercool in to the case.

4. Stability issue with graphic card... Reading for the past 3 days on different topic seems that the Hackintosh has a stability issue with all AMD (ATI) graphic, they were able to patch in the kernel in some of the old graphic series card and also been having issue with some of the Nvidia geforce graphic card. Few topic on MAC forum did say it is better to go with a Intel HD graphic card since they are stable they are more recommended.

So this are all the question I have...

I am new to building a hackintosh so if anyone has ever attempted please fill me.

 

Hi,

I first want to point out I am still fairly new to building Hackintosh's. So I will give you everything I have learned but take it with a pinch of salt.

1. The hardware requirement here are about right, Intel is best and with Ivybridge or better as it will make the installation and post set up a bit easier. The reason for looking at gigabyte boards is they are much easier to set up due to most if not all of the drivers being readily available assuming you us multi-beast/unibeast(installation software) to handle the post installation. Using this software when you first boot into OSX you need to install the drivers(or whatever they are called in OSX) using a tool like multibeast with a gigabyte motherboard + ivybridge CPU (or better) its a one click process. If not then you have to do some checking and modify what drivers get installed from the application. (I have done this from both a Gigabyte motherboard and an Asus motherboard)

2. I can't say for sure on this one but looking at pictures I think you will be ok going with a mATX there will just be a lot of extra space left, however I think you will find that the back-plate will need to be modified since they probably don't have the universal hole that normal cases do. As for a full ATX I would be a bit more skeptical but it might fit.

3. I would say don't bother with water-cooling as long as you have a big heat-sink with some air flow over it, you cpu will be more than cool enough unless you plan to overclock. What you might have to be careful of though is that the G5 heat-sink probably wont fit on current intel CPU sockets so either buy a new heat-sink or you will have to modify the G5 heat-sink to fit.

4. Well the first important thing is never use a vga connector only digital like DVI, HDMI or displayport. DVI is the preferred. As far as the graphics go I can't speak for how good or bad the AMD cards are (though I don't like them much in general anyway), but my first build was with a NVIDIA GTX 670 and that worked fine, the second was with Intel HD 4000, which again was not a cause of any issues for me. So I think you would be fine whichever you choose, what I think might be an important question is what are you planning to on it if your not going to be gaming then don't waste your money on a GPU especially considering how good the Intel HD chips run graphics these days.

I hope some of this has helped, and I hope you have fun building your hackintosh .

One other friendly word of warning, again I am not sure about how true this is but I remember reading somewhere about Hackintosh's, that just building them is a legal grey area and really considered to be that big a deal, however selling them I think is meant to be a bit of a no-no. Something to with with the license agreement, I am not 100% sure, but I though I might give you a head up about it.

Happy building

 

Thank you for the respond back and for the information this clarify a lot on building a hackintosh in a PowerPC G5 series. I am setting a budget of around $600 for parts needed I do not plan on gaming on the PC just working on learning my way around a MAC, converting media and transferring to and from my PS vita and Iphone 5s through my Hackintosh.

So far with the information i have decide to go with GIGABYTE GA-H87M-D3H micro ATX, I5 quad core processor with built in intel HD graphic.

About the back plate thank you for that information might have to see how I can come up with a "universal" fit for the spacer so if it might come to I will be able to swap around with different boards.

For heatsink.. Hmmm since the I5 is a LGA 1150 getting an aftermarket universal fit heatsink might be difficult I see new egg carries only 3 set and I don't like the way they look, the one already in the case is made for an AMD 970. I don't believe they have a universal adapter but i do want to keep the shell over the original beefy heat sink that has the G5 mirror logo. Have to see how I can make it a permanent part internal shell.

I do have the Corsair H100 water it was used only a few times, fan preformed better on my Gaming desktop so it is really just sitting there.

Ahh thank you for the word of the wise I was planning to sell it to a friend of mine who would love the hackintosh more then I would but I do understand about the license agreement so I will just have to give it to him as a birthday present instead.


I hope things goes smoothly on the build but will have to see when it comes time to getting it all together.

Oh one more question.. Will I be able to use an SSD? I don't know if it has a comparability issue with the OS.

 

Every heatsink that fit's the older LGA1156/1155 also fits LGA1150. JFYI

 

Ohhhh!! gosh darn hahaha thank you so much okie that clarifies even more things hahaha ok good I have a wide amount of after market heat sinks to choose from

 

The spacers won't line up with any existing standard, be that ITX, mATX, ATX or whatever. Apple uses totally custom logic boards, which means they put the spacers and holes wherever they want. Equally, the I/O isn't a standard fitting either.

There's lots of build logs around with PowerMac/Mac Pro case, have a look at those for a good idea of what you're getting in to.

Yes, SSDs work with Macs.

 

If you want advice on what hardware works and how to install OSX then take a look at the TonyMacX86 site here. There are lots of useful articles, software, and forums to search if you need help.

 

Power PC chip is predominantly IBM architecture, isn't AMD.

 

Usually the trick with making an easy hackintosh is to get a motherboard tray from a PC case, cut out the back of the mac and then rivet the tray in place.

 

Indeed. PPC was IBM (still is!), which was a totally different architecture to x86 used by Intel and AMD. It used the RISC architecture, that relies on faster, simplified, IPC.

I loved PPC, until it hit the dead end that was the G5. Clock speed just wouldn't go up (The 970 G5s wouldn't go past 3GHz), and the line stagnated...though that did lead to the start of multiple cores rather than single.

 

Just thought I would point out that although SSD's should work, just to be aware that you need to make sure the you install the relevant TRIM drivers once it has booted in for the first time (You shouldn't have to worry while doing the first install), Since apparently it is not available as standard for a hackintosh build.

 

TRIM isn't supported at all on most drives when installed in to a Mac - only original "Apple" drives get it. Garbage Collection apparently works, and there's a tiny installer out on the web for TRIM for non-Apple drives that works on Hacks and Macs alike.

 

Been using TRIM Enabler from here on several machines with no issues; http://www.groths.org/software/trimenabler/

Used with Samsung and OCZ drives.