The Hackintosh Thread

[Zaap]

yupp, my google-fu brought me there, so i'm reading it right now.

re: logic, the truth is that the person who will be using Logic is not really a sound eng/musician/ other professional, but an amateur, so its really a matter of saving some dough.

he called me 2 days ago saying he got quoted £1600 for (who know what piece of junk entry-level mac), while a 4670k system w/ samsung evo, etc.. runs at £750 (plus another hundred for the i/o audio card).

I highly recommend checking out use BoomR and his recording studio builds on tonymacx86.

Example: http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...core-i7-3770k-ga-z77x-up5-th-32gb-hd4000.html

Some truly awesome stuff. He seems to be the go-to expert on building Hackintoshes for professional recording. Important are things for Pro Audio (beyond just building a stable Hack with known-working hardware) are recording-specific hardware like I/O interfaces, Firewire/Thunderbolt, etc. if needed.

I would mainly recommend search through the hardware guides and "The Build" section of the TM forums to identify the perfect parts list for your needs, then check BoomR and other recording gurus' threads on the site for recording-specific considerations.

A great production rig with insane stats for a fraction of the cost of Apple hardware is totally do-able with a Hackintosh, but a bit of research first is definitely key.

 

[Kaido]

The only potential problem with a Z87 + i7-4790K motherboard + CPU combo would be: if the board's bios is too outdated, it may not work with more recent CPU's such as the 4790K. In that case, a bios update using an older processor would be required to solve the problem.
One example:
GA-Z87X-UD5H requires bios version F9 or later:
http://www.gigabyte.my/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=4483

Actually, I'm not aware of any OSX compatibility differences between Z87 vs. Z97 chipset boards.
And: AFAIK, all Intel 9 series board bioses are also 4790K compatible out of box.

The June 2014 Tonymac build guide had this note in it:

For early adopters, we've listed the following brand new 9 Series motherboards. These Socket 1150 motherboards are similar to 8 Series and fit the same 4th generation Core i CPUs. However, OS support is limited and workarounds for onboard audio and Intel HD 4600 graphics are necessary. For now we are recommending 8 Series motherboards for new users.

I don't know exactly what the limitations are other than A/V. Also, excellent point on BIOS compatibility with the new CPU chips! Pitfalls are everywhere :awe:

 

[Kaido]

I highly recommend checking out use BoomR and his recording studio builds on tonymacx86.

Example: http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...core-i7-3770k-ga-z77x-up5-th-32gb-hd4000.html

Wow, awesome resource, thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[Zaap]

The June 2014 Tonymac build guide had this note in it:



I don't know exactly what the limitations are other than A/V. Also, excellent point on BIOS compatibility with the new CPU chips! Pitfalls are everywhere :awe:

The price of actually keeping up, hardware wise.

Can one even buy a system from Apple with the latest generation Intel hardware? (I have no idea, don't keep up with Apple's -lackluster IMO- hardware and they seem to hide the actual specs as much as they can).

 

[Noo]

Everything is working wonderfully, just wanted to share.

 

[smackababy]

Ugh, actually started looking into building a Hackintosh and it seems the Series 9 boards aren't fully supported and require more than I am willing to do. That is a huge deal, except the series 8 boards cost $50+ more for less features, if you can even find them still on sale.

 

[terpsy]

How did you get the Radeon 7XXX to work?

Willl it let you play WoW and such ?

 

[vailr]

Ugh, actually started looking into building a Hackintosh and it seems the Series 9 boards aren't fully supported and require more than I am willing to do. That is a huge deal, except the series 8 boards cost $50+ more for less features, if you can even find them still on sale.

I can recommend this Gigabyte Z87-UD5H board, which (after $30 rebate) is now priced $10 less than the newer Z97-UD5H board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128593
Everything works under both OSX 10.9 & Windows 7/8.1 (triple-boot, each on separate HD's), including LAN, audio, USB 3.0, etc.
Although: if I were buying today, I'd just go with the updated Z97-UD5H board.
What makes you say that "the Series 9 boards aren't fully supported", anyway?

 

[Noo]

How did you get the Radeon 7XXX to work?

Willl it let you play WoW and such ?

It's an XFX Radeon 7870, works out of the box with mavericks 10.9.3 & 10.9.4

 

[terpsy]

Old Age crept in.

I was thinking about the R9 270 and R9 280 Series.......

Sorry for the confusion, do you think they will keep 7870 functionality in
10.10?

Also, do you play WoW with that in your Hackintosh? How does it perform?

Thanks!

 

[Wreckem]

Ugh, actually started looking into building a Hackintosh and it seems the Series 9 boards aren't fully supported and require more than I am willing to do. That is a huge deal, except the series 8 boards cost $50+ more for less features, if you can even find them still on sale.

This happens everytime a new intel chipset comes out. Its not supported that well until Apple is actually shipping computers with similar components. The issue here is, will Apple be releasing a iMac with Haswell refresh or will they be holding out for Broadwell before they refresh. OSX will only natively support Series 9 if and when Apple launches an iMac with haswell refresh. So sit tight until Oct/Nov.

 

[Noo]

I don't play wow, and building a Mac for gaming is :/

 

[terpsy]

Not building it for gaming, but would like to know how it responds, as gaming on the mackintosh is a STRESS test in itself.

 

[smackababy]

This happens everytime a new intel chipset comes out. Its not supported that well until Apple is actually shipping computers with similar components. The issue here is, will Apple be releasing a iMac with Haswell refresh or will they be holding out for Broadwell before they refresh. OSX will only natively support Series 9 if and when Apple launches an iMac with haswell refresh. So sit tight until Oct/Nov.

I know. It is just silly how quickly stock dries up for old gen MBs. =(

Was going to build the GF one with an mini-ITX board. Sadly, the only place I could even find the 8 series board was at a Microcenter and it was like $50 more than the 9 series.

 

[vailr]

@smackababy: Least expensive Gigabyte socket 1150 Intel 8 series miniITX board on Newegg: $100
GIGABYTE GA-B85N LGA 1150 Intel B85 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128735

 

[ultimatebob]

Has anyone here successfully built a VMWare VM running Mac OS X 10.9 on VMWare Player or VMWare ESXi? I've tried building one using a USB thumb drive with the TonyMacX86 software, but it gets stuck at the Mac OS X boot screen and never makes it past that point.

Amusingly, I had the exact same results using that same thumb drive on a Lenovo Edge 71, meaning that I successfully virtualized the problem

 

[Kaido]

I'll see about doing a 2014/2015 thread next month when I get a break at work, this thread is sorely in need of an update! (if there's still any interest in this project)

I just updated my old UD3P to Mavericks (ATI 6870 GPU). Basic procedure:

1. Unibeast it up (10.9.4)
2. Multibeast = DSDT-Free + NullCPU
3. DPCI Manager (have to generate an EFI string to fix the App Store, super easy en0 patch)

Haven't had much luck with sound, but haven't dug into it too deeply. I typically use those $10 Syba USB sound cards = native support & better quality than onboard analog audio. The UD3P works surprisingly well under Mavericks, still super zippy! Tonymac has made this entirely too easy

I did test a couple other, more modern boards, but I get hung up after it tries to initialize Bluetooth, so whatever happens after that loads makes it get stuck (tried an X58 & Z97 board). I'll have to mess around with that some more over my break in October. The UD3P was cake, but that was always super-compatible. A family member has it these days, but it was fun to work on for awhile - spent a lot of good times on that machine!

 

[Kaido]

Has anyone here successfully built a VMWare VM running Mac OS X 10.9 on VMWare Player or VMWare ESXi? I've tried building one using a USB thumb drive with the TonyMacX86 software, but it gets stuck at the Mac OS X boot screen and never makes it past that point.

Amusingly, I had the exact same results using that same thumb drive on a Lenovo Edge 71, meaning that I successfully virtualized the problem

That's actually how my buddy builds his, since he didn't have a Mac to start with (and lives far away) - he did it in a virtual machine running on a Windows host (I want to say myHack, I'll have to ask him) & then created his Unibeast Mavericks stick from there, pretty slick. You still don't get graphics, but at least you can do the basic work, apparently. I'll have to check that out sometime!

 

[vailr]

I'll see about doing a 2014/2015 thread next month when I get a break at work, this thread is sorely in need of an update! (if there's still any interest in this project)

How about an updated Hackintosh install thread dedicated to OSX 10.10 Yosemite? tonymac.com doesn't allow any Yosemite discussion yet, until the official Apple release occurs.

 

[paperfist]

When you build a hackintosh these days is it still possible your system will be null after an OS update?

 

[Kaido]

How about an updated Hackintosh install thread dedicated to OSX 10.10 Yosemite? tonymac.com doesn't allow any Yosemite discussion yet, until the official Apple release occurs.

Better to wait (for legal reasons), unfortunately.

 

[Kaido]

When you build a hackintosh these days is it still possible your system will be null after an OS update?

Yup, depending on how the update affects the system. What kind of error message are you getting exactly?

 

[purbeast0]

just updated my hp probook 4540s last night from 10.8.5 to the latest mavericks 10.9.5.

after a little hiccup and a kernel panic, which was caused by a kext that has just been around since my dell inspiron hackintosh and system restores from the initial osx installation on there, i have it up and running.

it's pretty crazy how effortless this stuff is now a days.

i only upgraded too because i want to keep up to date with ios development, and as usual, apple requires newer stuff to develop for it. i couldn't get xcode 6 on mountain lion, and you need xcode 6 for ios8 sdk.

but now i'm good to go!

 

[paperfist]

Yup, depending on how the update affects the system. What kind of error message are you getting exactly?

I don't actually have one yet

Since my GPU just died I was thinking of doing a new build, one that could also run the Mac OS and from looking into a long time ago I was just wondering if you still run into problems when Apple releases OS updates.

 

[darth maul]

I came in later in Mavericks releases, but I think I did two or three updates from the app store with out issue, from what I remember.

Might have had to redo audio one time??? AND that is simple. Even more simple when I don't care about on board audio that much, since I run a Tascam US-1800 audio interface.

Yes sometimes things can break, but almost with out exception the guys over at TonyMacx86.com have a fix in the works ASAP. So just don't except the download or update when it asks if you would like it, till Tony and crew give it a go. IF using something other then tonymacx86.com you are kinda on your own, not that it can't be done other ways. But I will say this tony and crew are as fast or faster getting fixes in then anyone else. Just make sure you buy your parts thru their links if you are so inclined in helping them out, they get a percentage if they get credit for you buying through their links. Amazon and Newegg are the two choices they offer. I sometimes have forgot to use their links or used a part not on their list, but its good to spread the wealth to guys that work on this as a ???hobby???. I doubt they make much money off this project.