Cheapo Hackintosh Build (Rs.17000, $278)

[SataFan69]

Hello Fellow Linusians!
A friend of mine has been using a really crap system for quite some time now (a cheap Core 2 Duo, Asus motherboard, 160 GB drive, 2 GB RAM, no dedicated GPU). He wants to get into PC gaming, but he also wants a Mac for schoolwork. His parents don't have enough money to let him buy a Mac Mini or a pre-built PC, so he has been saving up money on his own and he has to take the plunge right now due to personal circumstances. So he has about Rs. 17000 ready to spend (which according to Google equates to $278). 
I have promised him that I'll get the system ready by the end of August, and I do not wanna disappoint him. He will mostly use the Windows side for internet browsing, watching movies and playing some old games like NFS Carbon, GTA San Andreas, Counter Strike Source, The Specialists etc. as well some Play-For-Free games like Battlefield Play4Free and NFS World at 1024x768 or so. The OSX side will only be used mostly for making presentations in Keynote as well as maybe some music in Garageband.

 

This is what I've come up with so far: 

 

CPU: Intel Celeron G1610

GPU: nVidia GT 210

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H61M-S1

HDD: WD Caviar Blue 500 GB

RAM: Transcend 4 GB 

As for the PSU/SMPS + Cabinet, I know a guy who knows a guy who can hook me up with a off-brand cabinet and some Indian 400W PSU.

As for the OSes, I'll be providing him a copy of Windows 7 for free from my side and I'll make a OSX boot-drive from my own Hackintosh.

Keyboard, mouse, monitor and optical drive will be taken from his old system.

Please share your thoughts about the system, and if I can make some changes. And please tell me if the parts will be OSX compatible.

 

Ta.

[SataFan69]

Pretty neat, nothing to add really..

Are you gonna run Mavericks? Or try Yosemite

Mavericks, but I'd like to try Yosemite only if there is a consumer version.

[SataFan69]

Pretty neat, nothing to add really..

Are you gonna run Mavericks? Or try Yosemite

Could you tell me about the gaming performance of the PC?

[SataFan69]

Gaming performance: none, 210 won't do any kind of gaming.. maybe some old games on a low res.

Yeah, just wanna be able to play GTA SA and NFS World on low res, low settings.

[Erik4boss]

You must make sure that all components are compatible with OS X. So I'm guessing the new Pentium is not an option.

[SataFan69]

I'd drop the GPU, get a better CPU (like the intel Pentium G3258) and play on integrated graphics.

You'll need another mobo too of course but it will cost about the same, just get the cheapest socket 1150 mobo, Z97 if you want to overclock it.

Yeah but;

1. The integrated graphics on the G3258 aren't supported by OSX, so I'd need a GPU anyway.

2. The G3258 isn't yet available here in India 

[SataFan69]

A lot of parts just work out of the box these days.. it's not that hard anymore.

Yeah, but the G3258 doesn't.

[SataFan69]

Get a cheap i3, haswell iGPUs are all a lot better than the 210 and they will work out of the box with Mac OS

Tried, none will fit the budget AND be compatible with OSX.

[SataFan69]

But can't you drop the GPU and spend a little more on the CPU?

Let me put it this way;

G1610 + 210 = Rs. 5200

i3 4130 (cheapest compatible i3) = Rs. 7,500

And LGA 1150 motherboards are a tad bit more expensive too.

[SataFan69]

That's a shame..

And weird prices too.. I can get an i3 dirt cheap here

So I just managed to get a used GT 640 for the same price as the 210.

Now what's the gaming performance of the rig?

[theKumba]

Could you please reply to me if it worked? I want to build a hackintosh myself because I cant run MacOS on my main rig and I dont want to spend that much money on it and if I dont want to game on it what graphics card should I get for it?

[SataFan69]

Could you please reply to me if it worked? I want to build a hackintosh myself because I cant run MacOS on my main rig and I dont want to spend that much money on it and if I dont want to game on it what graphics card should I get for it?

I'll be building the rig in the end of October. Will tell you then.