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How to build a gaming Hackingtosh?

N

nazar7700

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 2, 2014
3
0
So I will be transferring to a university to major in computer science. I have been thinking about building my own computer to gain a better understanding and experience with computers. What I would like to know is where I would go to in order to research building a Hackintosh computer that can run high performance games? I will be studying computer science as I've said, so I would like to have OSX for when I will be programming. I know that Macs can run windows operating systems so I simply need some ideas of the right hardware and software that would be compatible with this kind of computer. Let's pretend money and time isn't an issue because I'm in no rush to build it. Thanks :D
 
first of all, go over to tonymacx86 and get familiar with the tools and procedures for building a hackintosh.
then, check the buyer's guides at the same site to find out what hardware works best for a hackintosh . . . . in general, they seem to be recommending gigabyte MB's lately.
then, buy, build, and enjoy!
I just finished my first hackintosh a couple of weeks ago- gigabyte z87x-ud7 th MB (thunderbolt 2!), 2x nvidia 780's, 4770k cpu, 16 GB ram, corsair carbide 540 case, corsair h100 cpu cooler, 2 ssd's in raid for the windows boot drive, 1 500 gb ssd for the OS X boot . . . .
haven't even messed with the voltages much, but it's running at 4.4 Ghz with no issues. nice and quiet, too!
 
If money is no issue, just get a Mac Mini and an ITX or micro-ATX PC for gaming. Maybe the BitFenix Prodigy.

Haswell refresh due soon, e.g. 4790K (successor to 4770K).

If you insist on a Hackintosh...personally I wouldn't like to rely on such a machine. Sure, it'll be stable for years to come...but then there comes a day when you need to hand in your dissertation when it is destined to become unstable.:p
 
I'm not sure exactly what you would learn by building a Hackintosh nowadays, as the tonymacx86 people have it pretty much systematized nowadays.

They definitely are much easier to build and maintain than they used to be, but I'm not sure I would have a Hackintosh as my only computer or primary computer. Disclaimer -- I never used that advice, and never ran into any problems when I ran my MSI Wind under Leopard, back when updating OSX was a right pain in the arse. But I would find it hard to recommend to anybody else.
 
Wardenski said:
If money is no issue, just get a Mac Mini and an ITX or micro-ATX PC for gaming. Maybe the BitFenix Prodigy.

Haswell refresh due soon, e.g. 4790K (successor to 4770K).

If you insist on a Hackintosh...personally I wouldn't like to rely on such a machine. Sure, it'll be stable for years to come...but then there comes a day when you need to hand in your dissertation when it is destined to become unstable.:p
Click to expand...

The whole point of this is to gain experience and understanding with computers. I realize I can just buy one, but want to be able to build one and be able to use in with for both programming and say I want to be able to run games from my Steam library for example.

----------
elvisizer said:
first of all, go over to tonymacx86 and get familiar with the tools and procedures for building a hackintosh.
then, check the buyer's guides at the same site to find out what hardware works best for a hackintosh . . . . in general, they seem to be recommending gigabyte MB's lately.
then, buy, build, and enjoy!
I just finished my first hackintosh a couple of weeks ago- gigabyte z87x-ud7 th MB (thunderbolt 2!), 2x nvidia 780's, 4770k cpu, 16 GB ram, corsair carbide 540 case, corsair h100 cpu cooler, 2 ssd's in raid for the windows boot drive, 1 500 gb ssd for the OS X boot . . . .
haven't even messed with the voltages much, but it's running at 4.4 Ghz with no issues. nice and quiet, too!
Click to expand...

Thanks This is pretty much exactly what I was looking for.
 
As elvisizer said, head over to tonymax86, great resource info there.

Most important part is going to be getting he motherboard right, as in compatible. For your farming purposes, it comes down to how much you want to spend on the GPUs.

And enjoy building the machine, that is where the fun is at. If you really want to experience something uniquely try building a watercooling PC.
 
MH01 said:
As elvisizer said, head over to tonymax86, great resource info there.

Most important part is going to be getting he motherboard right, as in compatible. For your farming purposes, it comes down to how much you want to spend on the GPUs.

And enjoy building the machine, that is where the fun is at. If you really want to experience something uniquely try building a watercooling PC.
Click to expand...

This is my first time hearing about a water cooling PC. I looked it up and it seems really cool actually. Performance wise though, how well does it compare to a regular fan based computer cooling system?
 
I think the combination of a Mini for your programming work and a Windows PC for gaming will give you the lease trouble. I currently have this setup but will be replacing it with a nMP because I need more than 32GB RAM so it's time to consolidate.

Even though I am doing this the PC will be a better games machine. But the idea of running OSX on a hackintosh is not for me. I choose Mac because it is stable, to then throw this away by loading OS X onto unsupported hardware seems like a bad idea.
 
nazar7700 said:
This is my first time hearing about a water cooling PC. I looked it up and it seems really cool actually. Performance wise though, how well does it compare to a regular fan based computer cooling system?
Click to expand...

It's quieter and also really efficient cooling. You can overclock your CPU and GPU way beyond what you can achieve on air.

It also allows you to be creative and you can make some awesome custom machines .

For some inspiration

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?233842-Liquid-Cooling-Case-Gallery
 
Last edited:
Agree with what others have said. Poke around on TonyMacx86.

I've built 6 Hackintoshes over the years and it gets better every time. MAKE SURE you follow a golden build over there and buy the EXACT same components. That is what makes your project a success or not.

In my case, my machine runs 100% perfectly. Bluetooth 4, sleep, speedstep on the 4930k CPU, etc, etc. Runs flawlessly and without a single issue. One must be careful with Hack's in terms of updates. The key is to be patient and let others inform you about doing the updates and which are safe/not, etc.

I just built a HackPro 2 weeks ago and it benchmarks right along with an actual Mac Pro 6 core (Geek over 25k) but is WAY better for gaming since you get GPU choices.

In my case I'm running a 780ti, but you could also throw in dual R9 280x's and have basically what the Mac Pro uses for GPU's and go for max OpenCL numbers if that's your thing.

The one other *major* benefit for me is that for a desktop computer, I still love a tower.

I've got 4 3.5" drives inside, 3 SSD's inside, a Blu-Ray burner and media card reader inside, etc.

This is all coming from a rMBP with a LaCie 10big, external disc drive, etc etc. The rats nest of cables and external Thunderbolt boxes is just simply not for me.

Mac Pro is a gorgeous machine. Shame they can't offer a 30% larger version that somehow has some internal storage/expansion options for those that don't need it to be so small. The Mac Pro "XL" perhaps. Haha.
 
As long as you get one of the supported motherboards, it's very easy nowadays. Good comments posted above.
 
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