Help with building a new hackintosh

Hello there dear hackintosh-ers,

My video production partner and myself are looking into building a computer to save money, and to use OSX as the OS, so we stumbled onto your site.

This is our first time building a computer in general, and it seems like building a hackintosh is going to be a difficult first try, so we are going to need as much help as we possibly can.

We are looking at a few really nice dual core Intel Chips, but besides from that,

I have a few questions to help us start on our build;

About Hardware
1.) What is some really good hardware to use to build a hackintosh for video production? What all will we need? (We are looking to spend about 1500 for everything except for the monitor)

2.) Will we be able to boot OSX right away, or will we have to install windows XP or Vista first? (we are thinking about the possibility of dual-booting Vista)

It's not terribly difficult. Building is a lot easier for hackintoshes than buying. For the most part, research what you want in the computer (performance); like if you were building a Windows box. Then check on the big three forums: this, osx86scene, and insanelymac to make sure that the hardware works. If something you picked doesn't work, than research the next best thing 'til you find it.

A few general rules.
No 8x00 nVidia cards yet. And there has been no testing on 2900 AMD cards.
Don't go with a discrete sound card. Go integrated, but there are some that are better than others.
Watch your network card in the mobo. However, there are some cheap discrete cards if you must have a motherboard with a chipset that doesn't work.
No nForce 5/6, I think. I may be wrong, somebody correct me if I am.
Jmicron is best avoided. But... if you have to...

Try something like:
Core 2 Duo
ICH8-R ATA controller (Bikerdude880)
Realtek / Sigmatel Audio (Taruga)
Realtek ethernet (Manufacturer drivers for some chipsets)
nVidia 7900GT / AMD 1950XT
VIA / Texas Instruments Firewire

Uphuck v1.4 r3 will boot, and with the appropriate patch installs, work 100% after install (except for audio).