The Hackintosh Thread

[Zaap]

Just built a kickass "Hack Mini" for a friend. It's up and running Mavericks, everything working perfect. This little machine rocks!

The main build components:

GIGABYTE GA-Z87N-WIFI mini ITX motherboard.

Intel Core i5-4430 CPU

Gigabyte GTX 650 1GB DDR5 video card

BitFenix Prodigy Arctic White Mini-ITX case

Also:
16GB DDR3 1600
120GB Kingston SSD
Sony SATA DVD-R
IOGear GBU521 Bluetooth 4.0

(I didn't realize that the Z87N-WIFI motherboard has built in bluetooth 4.0 that works in OSX, but the built in wifi doesn't work.)

Assembling the board. (Barely larger than a CD case).

Assembled in the BitFenix Prodigy case and firing up for the first time. Mavericks runs absolutely perfectly on this machine- took only about 20 minutes to install and set up. Everything works but the board's built-in wifi. Sleep works. The board's built-in BT 4.0 works.

The UEFI looks seriously cool on this machine.

^ Not actually my screen shot, but you get the idea.

ABTM. MacPro 3,1 identifier seems to work best match for this machine.

Geekbench.

It's like a mini-Mac Pro, but for a fraction of the cost. I built and am currently putting it through its paces in my office at work; my usual multi-day burn in test.

 

[Kaido]

Wow nice! Dual LAN too - that might be my next PFsense board!

Any issues with setting up Haswell?

 

[vailr]

Very nice.
There's also this board version without WiFi (and ~$30 cheaper):
GIGABYTE GA-H87N LGA 1150 Intel H87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128660
This alternative GTX 650 card is ~$99 (after $20 MIR):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130827
Although: maybe the onboard Intel GPU would be adequate.
Are there any speed comparisons between a GTX 650 card and the Intel i5-4430 GPU?

 

[Ichinisan]

Nope, no BIOS support, but then I figured that going in. It seems to me, that unless BT support is built into the motherboard, then I don't see how it would work, since I'm using a BT dongle that needs OS-level drivers to function.

I had an old "AnyCom" nano-size Bluetooth 2.x adapter I got from Fry's for $20. It allowed me to use any Bluetooth keyboard in the BIOS as long as the system supports USB keyboards.

I suspect it remembers pairing somehow in non-volatile memory. At boot, it seems to simulate a USB keyboard/mouse until the OS/drivers try to initialize the Bluetooth part.

I was totally surprised when I was able to access / navigate the BIOS with a Bluetooth keyboard on my old Core2 Quad HP system.

 

[Tyranicus]

Used this guide to install Mavericks, on current system (see sig).
http://www.tonymacx86.com/374-unibeast-install-os-x-mavericks-any-supported-intel-based-pc.html

But every time I used MultiBeast 6.0.1 for post-install somehow manages to make the HDD drive non-bootable.

boot0 :GPT
boot0 :GPT
boot0 :GPT
boot0 :error

Is your drive larger than 1TB by any chance? I had the same problem. Here is a guide to fix it.

 

[Zaap]

Wow nice! Dual LAN too - that might be my next PFsense board!

Any issues with setting up Haswell?

Yeah the dual LAN gave me some trouble at first (one side not working) before I realized it's two separate drivers (native Intel and Atheros) after I loaded the Atheros driver (from multi beast) both work fine.

No issues with Haswell- set up from tonymac's latest Unibeast. The only slight wrinkle setting up this board is it requires VT-d =disabled in the UEFI BIOS. (Or boot flag -x). Other than that, no problems.

Very nice.
There's also this board version without WiFi (and ~$30 cheaper):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128660

Ah cool, now I wish I had known about that! Ah well. At least it has the added benefit of native ability to use a BT keyboard in the UEFI. (Not sure if the owner will even use a BT keyboard though, but at least it'll be easier for him if he wants to).

This alternative GTX 650 card is ~$90 cheaper (after $20 MIR):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133471
Although: maybe the onboard Intel GPU would be adequate.
Are there any speed comparisons between a GTX 650 card and the Intel i5-4430 GPU?

Something is screwy- right after I bought it, the GTX 650 card went discontinued, and now it's showing up at $173- but I definitely did not pay that for it. It originally was the same price as that other card, including the instant rebate making it $89. The main reason I liked it vs. that one is the additional VGA out and two-PCI slot layout. I would steer anyone away from that same card for $173- that's got to be a glitch.

The owner is going to be driving a 21" wacom Cintiq along with another monitor, so onboard graphics was out. I'm sure it's gotten much better, but I'm still not a big fan of onboard graphics, especially for an artist's system needing some fairly decent graphics horsepower.

I had an old "AnyCom" nano-size Bluetooth 2.x adapter I got from Fry's for $20. It allowed me to use any Bluetooth keyboard in the BIOS as long as the system supports USB keyboards.

Interesting. I'm going to have to look into that. Bigger issue for me even over BIOS (since I haven't really had to mess with the BIOS in ages) is just being able to switch OS's at boot from the BT keyboard. It's a shame- the logitech keyboard has a USB cable that plugs into the computer to keep it charged, but I was hoping they could have also made it function as a standard USB keyboard before OS boot. No such luck of course. I wonder if it's possible to use an older BT dongle that supports BIOS booting for just the keyboard, but a newer 4.0 dongle for everything else after boot up? (For example, pairing my phone, and possibly my Apple trackpad won't work with an older BT dongle).

I'm going to have to do some experimenting.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah the dual LAN gave me some trouble at first (one side not working) before I realized it's two separate drivers (native Intel and Atheros) after I loaded the Atheros driver (from multi beast) both work fine.

No issues with Haswell- set up from tonymac's latest Unibeast. The only slight wrinkle setting up this board is it requires VT-d =disabled in the UEFI BIOS. (Or boot flag -x). Other than that, no problems.

Interesting note about the VT-d. I'm guessing VT-x is still applicable in VMware?

I like this board a lot. Don't use Wifi or Bluetooth, so I'd probably get the basic version. I've gone through a lot of hardware changes in the last year, totally off-course of what I was planning on. Currently we are using a B75 for my wife's Photoshop rig & nothing else. I quit doing computer work on the side due to my work schedule and also scrapped my other computers. I have do have some Roku 3's on the TV's with the B75 acting as the Plex Server for them, no more HTPC either. Very family-friendly!

I'm eyeballing the Acer C720P touchscreen Chromebook ($299) for the couch floater. The iPad didn't really work for us because I hate typing on a touchscreen, but I didn't want a whole computer to maintain. The Chromebook is a happy medium between those two. I did try out my old laptop with DeepFreeze & an SSD, so it booted up quick and reset itself on every reboot, but the Chromebook has a 6+ hour better life with instant-on & "just Internet", which is pretty much what I'm looking for.

The GA-H87N looks absolutely fabulous. I'm debating between an i5 & GT650, or going with a full i7 & 680/780 GPU. I do wish it had 32GB RAM, but with SATA-III SSD's being as fast as they are, virtual memory isn't too much of a pain when needed. I think I'm also going to replace my PFsense box with a GA-H87N; the H77n ended up going to another project earlier this year. Plus, I haven't done a project in FCP7 in awhile, so I feel that a move to Mavericks would be pretty safe at this point. I'm actually really enjoying FCPX + Resolve as kind of an enhanced iMovie setup - I can get in, do quick projects, and have access to better tools without needing to mess around with FCP7. So I think the setup will be:

PFsense: GA-H87N Mini-ITX
Mine: GA-H87N Mini-ITX
Wife's: B75
TV: Roku 3
Couch: C720P Chromebook

I haven't picked up a Roku 3 for my home theater yet. I have one on our living room TV and one on my elliptical machine (repurposed a computer monitor for that, since the Roku 3 has a wireless headphone jack right on the remote control, no speakers needed!). I'm thinking about getting an Intel NUC and throwing Plex + Hypersin on it for both movies & retro/MAME gaming, but the Roku 3 is extremely family-friendly, it just lacks the games. Not sure yet.

It's nice that Hackintosh is both inexpensive & easy these days. Boards for $100, GPU's for $100, CPU's for $200 - $300, etc. You can build a really nice machine for under $700 these days and not really have any hassle with installing OSX. Yay progress! :awe:

 

[vailr]

Just checked and this code is still working: don't know when it expires.
"Shop for your Business and Save. Create a new account (also works with an existing account) with neweggbusiness.com and save $50 on your next purchase of $500+, simply apply promo code: XB2BYE201350 at check-out"

 

[CZroe]

Interesting. I'm going to have to look into that. Bigger issue for me even over BIOS (since I haven't really had to mess with the BIOS in ages) is just being able to switch OS's at boot from the BT keyboard. It's a shame- the logitech keyboard has a USB cable that plugs into the computer to keep it charged, but I was hoping they could have also made it function as a standard USB keyboard before OS boot. No such luck of course. I wonder if it's possible to use an older BT dongle that supports BIOS booting for just the keyboard, but a newer 4.0 dongle for everything else after boot up? (For example, pairing my phone, and possibly my Apple trackpad won't work with an older BT dongle).

I'm going to have to do some experimenting.

It had a pairing button on the BT dongle and so it had a way to pair without an OS function.

 

[Zaap]

Interesting note about the VT-d. I'm guessing VT-x is still applicable in VMware?

I like this board a lot. Don't use Wifi or Bluetooth, so I'd probably get the basic version. I've gone through a lot of hardware changes in the last year, totally off-course of what I was planning on. Currently we are using a B75 for my wife's Photoshop rig & nothing else. I quit doing computer work on the side due to my work schedule and also scrapped my other computers. I have do have some Roku 3's on the TV's with the B75 acting as the Plex Server for them, no more HTPC either. Very family-friendly!

Sounds like you have your upgrade roadmap all planned out!
I'm planning to upgrade my sig hack early next year. I keep putting it off because the current rig does everything I need already. I really have no reason to upgrade except I build better systems for others, then I start itching to upgrade my own.

Not sure about VT-x with VMWare, but I kept VT support enabled and all is well.

The GA-H87N Mini-ITX is a solid board for Hackintosh. I left the machine running over 24 hours with multiple yes > /dev/null commands maxing out the CPU. Then I did what our IT at work calls the "s**t-the-bed" test: Applications folder, select all, command O.

The machine didn't even break a sweat. Nice little performer, and rock-stable.

It would be fun to spec out the cheapest possible system based around the H87N mITX.

It had a pairing button on the BT dongle and so it had a way to pair without an OS function.

From what I gather searching the web, that allows the dongle to operate in HID mode which then works in the BIOS.

Reading various sources, a nice solution seems to be an actual Apple BT chip for MacBook. (Very cheap on eBay). Requires some wire splicing- connecting to internal USB header. The tricky part requires a power step down circuit from 5v to 3.3v to power the BT chip. The whole thing can be done for about $20 worth of parts and five minutes of time. I want to give it a try but I'm having a hard time finding the little power converter chip to make it work.

Anyway, supposedly it allows BT keyboard function in the BIOS, as well as work perfectly with BT perifs.

 

[silverpig]

Just built a kickass "Hack Mini" for a friend. It's up and running Mavericks, everything working perfect. This little machine rocks!

*snip*

You say 16 GB but the system info only says 8 GB. Were you just testing with 1 DIMM or does the board not recognize all 16?

 

[Zaap]

Oops. Typo on my list. Its 2x 4GB /8GB.

 

[Kaido]

Sounds like you have your upgrade roadmap all planned out!

...

The machine didn't even break a sweat. Nice little performer, and rock-stable.

Kind of debating between a mini Haswell & a monster 6-core Ivy Bridge-E with 64 gigs of RAM. The 512gb SSD's are getting into the $300-range too! But stuff changes so fast & the GA-H87N seems so well supported (and mega-cheaper) that it's almost a no-brainer. Would like more than 16gb of RAM, but I've been so swamped at work that I haven't really had a chance to get crazy on my video editing stuff lately, so maybe a more mild approach would be better. Although I usually use the Antec VSK-3000/e case these days, so maybe a MicroATX board.

Maybe GA-H87N "Leopard Soup" guide for old times sake?

 

[Zaap]

Kind of debating between a mini Haswell & a monster 6-core Ivy Bridge-E with 64 gigs of RAM.

That's what I love about Hackintosh- choice, choice and more choice.


Just updated my signature system to 10.9.1 straight from the app store. No problem, just had to reinstall the audio kext, as expected.

My machine just feels faster than ever on Mavericks- loving it, except for the loss of color labels, but Path Finder takes care of that, so no biggie.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Contemplating a thin-miniITX rig built into an old Mac LC case. Would like some feedback on component selection. (This probably won't happen until I get my tax refund.) My Amazon cart contains the following:

1x Gigabyte GA-H87TN Thin-Mini ITX Motherboard
1x i3-4130T CPU
2x 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
1x ASUS USB-N10 Wireless-N USB adapter.
1x Silverstone super-low-profile CPU cooler. (23mm tall, max 65w TDP.)

Plus storage devices, of course.

Thanks.

 

[Zaap]

^ Running OSX?

If so, does that CPU have supported graphics?

 

[Dedo]

Some very obsolete questions if I may ... I'm updating my P35-DS3L from Snow to Mountain Lion following mosslack's guide http://bit.ly/1ib7xEv, bought ML from app store :

- I found UniBeast 1.5.2 (could not find the 1.52 mosslack mentioned), worth a try?
- Prepared boot USB stick, but when I boot, hit F12, and select USB-HDD, the boot continues right off my previous Snow install. Any suggestions?

Thanks! ... Dedo

 

[Ichinisan]

Some very obsolete questions if I may ... I'm updating my P35-DS3L from Snow to Mountain Lion following mosslack's guide http://bit.ly/1ib7xEv, bought ML from app store :

- I found UniBeast 1.5.2 (could not find the 1.52 mosslack mentioned), worth a try?
- Prepared boot USB stick, but when I boot, hit F12, and select USB-HDD, the boot continues right off my previous Snow install. Any suggestions?

Thanks! ... Dedo

I'm interested in doing a Hackintosh. Is there some reason we shouldn't use the free Mavericks? Is there a DVD image or do you have to have the App Store to get it?

 

[Tyranicus]

I'm interested in doing a Hackintosh. Is there some reason we shouldn't use the free Mavericks? Is there a DVD image or do you have to have the App Store to get it?

The only way to get it through legitimate channels is through the App Store. The case could be made that pirating a free operating system isn't really piracy though. Sure, it violates the license terms, but so does installing it on a PC in the first place.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

^ Running OSX?

If so, does that CPU have supported graphics?

Yeah, with OS X. Supposedly the graphics are supported - they're the same HD4400 as in the full 4130, just with a lower base clock and - at least according to Intel Ark - no WiDi support (which I don't think OS X supports anyway.)

From browsing the different hackintosh forums, it doesn't look like I'll be the first to use one.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yeah, with OS X. Supposedly the graphics are supported - they're the same HD4400 as in the full 4130, just with a lower base clock and - at least according to Intel Ark - no WiDi support (which I don't think OS X supports anyway.)

From browsing the different hackintosh forums, it doesn't look like I'll be the first to use one.

Well that was a terrible idea.

Returning the 4130T, 4670T is ordered.

 

[darth maul]

I have built three hacks so far, one being a pro book 4530s i7.

My next one will need to be faster then the i7 960 I built over a year ago. I don't want to spend more the $800. Think it can be done? BTW it will be used for FCP 7 or FCP X, most likely X... Anyway I will need a monitor as well in that $800 price, and if working I would like to run mavericks. I might purchase NEAT video plugin to clean up old footage, so would a nvidea card work better for stuff like that or would an ATI card?

Spec out a system you think would work great for FCP, no gaming, oh and how much ram is to little??? 16GB???? 8GB???

 

[Zaap]

Spec out a system you think would work great for FCP, no gaming, oh and how much ram is to little??? 16GB???? 8GB???

I would say start here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/406-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-january-2014.html

There are already some pre-spec'd builds under CustoMac.

Tonymac is consistently the best site on the net for spec'ing a Hackintosh build you can rely on. (It's not for people that want to experiment with hardware that no one else is using to run OSX, but for the tried-and-true, so the chances of even noobs building a reliable system are maximized.)

I would recommend looking at their build/parts lists for the essentials -motherboard, GPU, CPU. You can mix and match parts to build a system that fits your exact needs. Obviously, you can choose non-essential parts from any sources, as well as theirs. (drives, RAM, case, PSU, etc.)

$800 is on the low-end side. It can be done, but you will likely have to compromise on CPU and GPU. Stay with budget-range mATX or ATX motherboards. Consider a cheaper case vs. an expensive one with all the bells and whistles. Better yet, cannibalize parts you already have (drives, PSU, case, etc.)

If you don't plan to overclock, or use onboard graphics, you can save costs by using a non-K version of CPU, or cheaper CPU without OSX-supported onboard graphics. Conversely, you could skip a GPU and use compatible onboard graphics, although YMMV using video editing software.

I've been running Mavericks on my signature system for some time, no problems. I loved Mountain Lion as well, but so far Mavericks (10.9.1) has been just as solid. I use Final Cut Pro 7 just about every day on this machine.

Neat Video lists some known bugs with certain ATI cards in Final Cut (7 and X) and list CUDA enabled for faster processing. To me that says: stick with nVidia. Personally, I recommend nVidia anyway for Hackintosh. I've generally had the most success with them, the easiest setup, and the least hassles.

Amount of RAM? Depends on your needs. From what you list, I personally would try to stick with at least 16GB. Whatever motherboard you choose, I'd choose RAM that matches the board's preferred timings, and stay with quality brands.

Monitor choice is a whole separate decision. You choice of video card and which connections it has -DVI, HDMI, DP, etc... and being careful that needed connections are fully OSx86 compatible, will determine your monitor choice.

 

[darth maul]

Yes, I used Tony's site for the previous builds. But their current customized hacks are way out of my price range. So I am left going to the used market, I think. Would a sandy bridge 2600k (over clocked), matching mother board, etc etc, be a significant upgrade over the i7 960?

 

[TheStu]

Yes, I used Tony's site for the previous builds. But their current customized hacks are way out of my price range. So I am left going to the used market, I think. Would a sandy bridge 2600k (over clocked), matching mother board, etc etc, be a significant upgrade over the i7 960?

No probably not. I have the 2500k, and my friend has the 920 and honestly, they're about equal. I also have a system with an i3-3225... in single or double threaded performance, it's also about equal to the 2500K. I'm going to be picking up an i3-4330 soon, and I expect it to also be roughly on par, but we'll see. I'm mostly interested in checking the GPU improvements over the i3-3225.