Software > OsX86 Hackintosh (Intel / AMD)
Tiger supported Sata1 (1.5gb/s) disk speeds originally with ICH7
chrisNova777:
ok so im doublechecking some info from last night, AI told me that ich6 was the first to support 1.5gb/s transfers over SATA1, The information you read was likely a slight misinterpretation of Intel's release history. SATA 1.5 Gb/s was actually introduced with the ICH5 southbridge in 2003, not the ICH6.
The confusion might stem from the fact that while both support the same 1.5 Gb/s speed, the ICH6 introduced several major advancements to the SATA interface that were missing from the ICH5:
AHCI Support: The ICH6 was the first to support Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI), which enables modern features like Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and hot-plugging.
More Ports: The ICH5 typically featured only 2 SATA ports (as seen on your ASUS P5PE-VM), whereas the ICH6 increased the integrated count to 4 ports.
Matrix Storage: The ICH6R variant introduced Intel Matrix Storage Technology for more advanced RAID configurations.
chrisNova777:
ok so SIL3112 can work for booting TIGER + but its only SATA1 speed.
SIL3132 or SiL3124 are neeeded for SATA2 speed + proper support in OSX TIGER.
chrisNova777:
8) if you have one of these boards u acn skip the need for the sil3132 card???? even tho its got many pcie 1x slots for it... u wont need it because apparently sataII works on these boards OOB in OSX Tiger (and above obviously)
There is extensive historical documentation of Intel 975X + ICH7R motherboards running Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (Hackintosh) with full SATA II (3Gb/s) disk speeds. This combination was considered a "golden era" for early Intel-based Hackintoshes because the hardware closely mirrored the original 2006 Mac Pro and iMac specifications.
Proven Motherboards
The following boards are well-documented in the community for running Tiger with SATA II performance:
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe (975X + ICH7R):
Often cited as the premier board for Tiger. It features the ICH7R with three native SATA II connectors.
Gigabyte GA-G1975X (975X + ICH7R):
A high-end board confirmed to support SATA II (300MB/s) through its ICH7R southbridge.
Abit AW8-MAX (955X + ICH7R):
Known for stability in early Tiger builds due to its direct compatibility with the AppleIntelPIIXATA driver.
Key Factors for SATA II Speed
To ensure you are actually getting 3Gb/s (SATA II) speeds rather than being capped at 1.5Gb/s (SATA I), keep the following in mind:
AHCI Mode: For native SATA II performance and features like NCQ, the BIOS must be set to AHCI mode. Tiger requires specific kexts (drivers) like AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext to recognize the ICH7R in AHCI mode.
Driver Support:
In early "deadmoo" or "JaS" Tiger 10.4.x releases, if the controller was set to "Enhanced" or "Compatible" (IDE) mode, speed was often limited to SATA I or even ATA-100 speeds.
Drive Compatibility:
Some older SATA II hard drives had physical jumpers that limited them to 1.5Gb/s for compatibility with older SATA I controllers. Ensure no such jumpers are present.
Performance Reality
While the interface supports 3Gb/s (300MB/s), mechanical hard drives of that era rarely exceeded 60–80MB/s.
Using a modern SATA SSD on an ICH7R board under Tiger will typically saturate the SATA II bus, reaching real-world speeds of approximately 250–270MB/s.
chrisNova777:
does Sil3132 support continue for macosx thru the next versions past tiger? leopard? snow leopard? lion? mountain lion? where does support for 3132 dissappear?
Great question — this is actually where the SiL3132 really shines, because its support lifespan in macOS is much longer than most people expect.
Here’s the real progression:
🧠 SiL3132 macOS Support Timeline
✅ macOS Tiger (10.4)
Works with third-party kexts (Silicon Image driver)
Common in OSx86 builds
Bootable + full SATA II (3 Gb/s)
This is where it became popular in Hackintosh
✅ macOS Leopard (10.5)
Best support overall
Many distros (iATKOS, Kalyway) include SiL3132 kexts
Fully:
Bootable
Stable
SATA II + NCQ working
👉 This is basically the “golden era” for Sil3132 on Hackintosh.
✅ macOS Snow Leopard (10.6)
Still works very well
Requires:
32-bit kernel (recommended), or
Properly patched 64-bit kext
Many users report:
Stable operation
Boot support still works
Good performance
⚠️ Caveat:
64-bit support is less consistent unless you have the right kext
⚠️ macOS Lion (10.7)
Support starts to degrade
Apple moves heavily toward:
AHCI
Native Intel/Apple storage stack
SiL3132:
May still work with older kexts
Often non-bootable or unstable
Kernel extensions may need modification
❌ macOS Mountain Lion (10.8) and newer
Support effectively disappears
Reasons:
Apple drops a lot of legacy 3rd-party driver support
Moves fully to AHCI / AppleAHCIPort stack
64-bit only kernel (breaks old drivers)
👉 SiL3132:
Usually not detected, or
Requires heavy hacking (and even then unreliable)
this is fine because from here on outt apple has built in AHCI drivers that work better thean the sil3132 probably anyway
chrisNova777:
so the only way for me to get NCQ + hot plug capability in OSX TIGER on a intel hackintosh, with 7600GT gpu, and e8600 cpu, would be to use a motherboard that has 975X + ICH7R? is that correct? anything higher or lower will not work is that correct?
Gemini said
Strictly speaking, for onboard Intel SATA on Tiger (10.4.x), your assessment is almost entirely correct. Tiger was the first Intel-capable Mac OS, and its AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) drivers were incredibly primitive and specific to the hardware Apple was shipping at the time (primarily the first Mac Pro and iMacs using the 945/975X chipsets).
Here is the breakdown of why the 975X + ICH7R is your "Goldilocks" zone, and why deviating from it usually leads to a dead end:
1. The ICH7R Requirement
Tiger's AppleAHCIPort.kext was written for the specific Device IDs of the ICH7 series.
Lower (ICH6 or below): Most of these do not support AHCI at all or lack the specific registers Tiger expects for NCQ (Native Command Queuing).
Higher (ICH8, ICH9, ICH10): While these do support AHCI, Tiger lacks the built-in Device IDs for them. While you can "spoof" them by injecting IDs into the kext, you often run into a specific Tiger-era bug where only two SATA ports are recognized, or the system fails to initialize NCQ because the register offsets shifted slightly between ICH7 and ICH8.
2. Why NCQ + Hot Plug is so picky
In Tiger, if you aren't using a "recognized" AHCI controller, the OS defaults to using AppleIntelPIIXATA.kext.
PIIXATA treats SATA drives as if they are old-school IDE/PATA drives.
The Result: You lose NCQ, you lose Hot Plug, and you are capped at "Legacy IDE" speeds (effectively SATA I or worse).
3. The "Higher" Chipset Trap
If you use a P35/P45 board (ICH9/ICH10) with your E8600, you will likely get Tiger to boot, but you will almost certainly be stuck in IDE emulation mode. You might see the drives, but they will show up as "Internal" (not hot-swappable) and won't support the queueing depth required for NCQ.
Is there any other way?
If you don't want to hunt down a rare 975X board (like the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe), there is one "cheat code" that actually works better for NCQ and Hot Plug on Tiger:
The Silicon Image 3132 PCIe Card.
As you've noted in your recent research, Tiger has excellent third-party support for the SiI3132 or SiI3124 chipsets.
The Benefit: If you put a $15 SiI3132 card into any Core 2 Duo motherboard, the FirmTek or Silicon Image drivers will give you full SATA II speeds, true Hot Plug (the drive will appear/disappear on the desktop like a USB drive), and NCQ.
The Catch: You usually can't boot the Tiger installer from these cards easily; you often need to install to a drive on the onboard SATA first, install the drivers, and then move the drive to the card.
Summary Checklist for your Build:
Feature Onboard (ICH7R) Onboard (ICH8/9/10) PCIe Card (SiI3132)
Tiger Compatibility Native (Best) Patchy/Difficult Driver Dependent
NCQ Support Yes Rarely (in Tiger) Yes
Hot Plug Yes Often No Yes
SATA Speed 3.0 Gbps 3.0 Gbps 3.0 Gbps
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