Mac Pro-like Hackintosh Guide, $900 (Lifehacker)

[VirtualRain]

I wondering if anybody's made a small but reasonably-fast hackintosh?

I was considering trying to stuff my hackintosh in something like this Silverstone LC19...

But it's so thin you need Silverstone's special low profile CPU cooler. It's the ideal case for building a mac-mini hack though.

Instead, I think I'm going with this Moneual 312...

It's about as slim and compact as I can go with my Mini-ATX and quad-core setup.

I think if you can get an aftermarket cooler on there (such as a Nexus Low 7000 or Skythe Shurekin low profile) it will not be any noiser than a nice silent PC.

 

[NathanCH]

Yes in the end its about the overall experience you get. However people, especially new potential OS X users, don't factor that in when comparing pricing. On the other hand sometimes Apple push things too far, and the pricing on the new Mac Pros was a slap in the face for a lot of people and will continue to be so I expect.

Indeed. I don't want to make a hackintosh because I'm cheap or anything. I'm very tempted to buy a Mac Pro, and I could afford one, but it doesn't make sense to spend $2750 when I could get similar specs for $1500. I realize there are many advantages to the Mac Pro such as support, a beautiful case, guaranteed excellence and hassle-free OS. But I don't know if those things are worth $1000+

If Apple could get the Mac Pro down to $2000 with upgraded specs I would buy it. I'll wait till the next Mac Pro updates to decide

 

[nanofrog]

Indeed. I don't want to make a hackintosh because I'm cheap or anything. I'm very tempted to buy a Mac Pro, and I could afford one, but it doesn't make sense to spend $2750 when I could get similar specs for $1500. I realize there are many advantages to the Mac Pro such as support, a beautiful case, guaranteed excellence and hassle-free OS. But I don't know if those things are worth $1000+

Support is even arguable these days, as Apple tends to drop support on systems faster than other vendors. Take the '06 & '07 MP's. They came with EFI 32bit, and have never released a 64bit version. This is needed already to support the ability to use recent graphics cards, and will be needed to run newer versions of OS X in the near future (as soon as they dump the 32 bit Kernel option). Snow Leopard can install either, but that won't last long I suspect.

PPC based systems have already been left by the wayside, and they're as recent as 2005.

If Apple could get the Mac Pro down to $2000 with upgraded specs I would buy it. I'll wait till the next Mac Pro updates to decide

Unfortunately, it's not going to happen. Apple's history doesn't show them willing to do this at all with the Mac Pro line.

It's just getting harder to justify purchasing a MP (multiple factors, some listed, not all) for many it seems.

 

[Ploki]

Sound Pressure Level (SPL) meter.

calibrated? distance from source?

im just curious, dont take me wrong..

 

[Tesselator]

I have a db meter I found on the street.

I never used it other than to point it at the stereo speakers and watch the needle move.

I wonder what it's worth?

 

[twoodcc]

well i actually tried to go by this guide, and i got my pc to boot from the bootloader on the thumb drive, but then when it tries to start up snow leopard, i get a kernal panic every time

 

[VirtualRain]

well i actually tried to go by this guide, and i got my pc to boot from the bootloader on the thumb drive, but then when it tries to start up snow leopard, i get a kernal panic every time

Getting a hackintosh to boot takes a DSDT.aml and kext specifically for your hardware (mobo and CPU) as well as just the right BIOS settings, and a bit of black magic.

You are better off trying to find someone who's got a hackintosh exactly like yours and duplicating their efforts rather than following some generic guide (unless your hardware matches his exactly).

 

[nanofrog]

calibrated? distance from source?

im just curious, dont take me wrong..

They aren't calibrated, and give an average value. So to get the RMS value (3dB higher), you multiply by the square root of 2 (approx = 1.414).

Distance = 1 m & height is set to center of DUT.

SPL curves are taken under constant voltage. So if you want to measure a speaker & develop crossovers, sweep with 2.83 Volts. It happens to represent 1 Watt under a nominal 8 ohm load (P = V^2 / Z). If you look at speaker specifications, you might notice 2.83V used in there.

I have a db meter I found on the street.

I never used it other than to point it at the stereo speakers and watch the needle move.

I wonder what it's worth?

~$60USD I think.

 

[twoodcc]

Getting a hackintosh to boot takes a DSDT.aml and kext specifically for your hardware (mobo and CPU) as well as just the right BIOS settings, and a bit of black magic.

You are better off trying to find someone who's got a hackintosh exactly like yours and duplicating their efforts rather than following some generic guide (unless your hardware matches his exactly).

yeah i've searched to see if someone else has done it on my computer, and i've found someone, but just gotta get him to talk

 

[Ploki]

They aren't calibrated, and give an average value. So to get the RMS value (3dB higher), you multiply by the square root of 2 (approx = 1.414).

Distance = 1 m & height is set to center of DUT.

SPL curves are taken under constant voltage. So if you want to measure a speaker & develop crossovers, sweep with 2.83 Volts. It happens to represent 1 Watt under a nominal 8 ohm load (P = V^2 / Z). If you look at speaker specifications, you might notice 2.83V used in there.


~$60USD I think.

Alright!! ill sleep better now thanks!
looking to get one myself.

 

[seer]

Maybe a good case for it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112072

I like that it's black.. the Anti-Mac Pro.

Thats my favourite case in the universe. I bought one for my machine a couple of years back. The motherboard is inverted, PSU and hard drives sit at the bottom .... its genius as there is so much more space and cabling is a dream come true.

Since then 3 other PC/Servers in the house have been rehomed in those cases too, making four of the monsters staring out from under various desks.... one is side by side with my 2009 mac pro now The dimensions are near identical but the Lian li has 7 or 8 USB available USB slots. If I could move the mac pro into the lian li case I would do so in a heartbeat!

 

[Borman]

Strange question, but does qmaster and all of that work fine on (most) hackintoshes? Seems like it would be a nice way to bolster up some compressing power, teaming it with my Mac Pro and all

 

[DetroitRockCity]

so this may be a n00b question, but can Apple decide to break the OS on a hackintosh? That is my only fear. I do not want to invest $900, as I am a student, and have it not work in a few months down the road due to apple finding ways to have the software updates not work.

 

[michael.lauden]

so this may be a n00b question, but can Apple decide to break the OS on a hackintosh? That is my only fear. I do not want to invest $900, as I am a student, and have it not work in a few months down the road due to apple finding ways to have the software updates not work.

yes they can break software update. if you are a student you shouldn't need a Mac Pro anyways

 

[snakesqzns]

so this may be a n00b question, but can Apple decide to break the OS on a hackintosh? That is my only fear. I do not want to invest $900, as I am a student, and have it not work in a few months down the road due to apple finding ways to have the software updates not work.

They could, but a hack would come out soon after.

 

[Zaap]

Strange question, but does qmaster and all of that work fine on (most) hackintoshes? Seems like it would be a nice way to bolster up some compressing power, teaming it with my Mac Pro and all

Works perfectly. I should clarify, on (most) Hackintoshes, with 'most' meaning those built properly, from 100% working hardware, using retail installs= yes. With (most) meaning random PCs that people just try to run OSX on, mystery hardware, patches applied willy-nilly, fingers crossed that it will work = no.

That's one ideal use for a Hackintosh- task builds. Last year I built a "render/edit farm" of 7 'hack-Pros' for a friend who was doing a film on a decent but still shoestring budget- for the same price as two decently spec'd MacPros. (Plus they already had two actual MacPros).

Now, a person may think that much rendering power bought from Apple is equal to the same amount of homebuilt rendering power... except the person would be dead wrong. Even two more MacPros with better stats could not slice time the way 7 somewhat lesser yet still ass-kicking task-built machines could. The machines performed flawlessly, and the project came in on time and even a little under budget since everything took less time than originally expected.

 

[michael.lauden]

They could, but a hack would come out soon after.

and so the cycle begins of patching+repatching every update. it's senseless

 

[Zaap]

meh- software point updates are rarely all that big a deal. If ever there was an update targeted at Hackintoshes, I'd say it's been Snow Leopard- since it resets the BIOS on most PC motherboards. Still, that took, what- three minutes for someone to figure out how to avoid?

 

[dukebound85]

meh- software point updates are rarely all that big a deal. If ever there was an update targeted at Hackintoshes, I'd say it's been Snow Leopard- since it resets the BIOS on most PC motherboards. Still, that took, what- three minutes for someone to figure out how to avoid?

as someone with a hack, i disagree

 

[Tesselator]

as someone with a hack, i disagree

No, he's not saying that the update is no big deal. He's saying that to hack every update is easy and comes soon after the release. And he's right. I've been following the file trail and so for, for the past one year or so, as soon as Apple distributes an update the hack install comes out within 24 hours - that included every beta and official version of SL too.

That's of course if you even need them. Many hacks once installed and set up correctly don't even need the new hack-files, and can just DL the updates directly from Apple's Software Update without a hitch. I don't have a hackintosh (yet) but that's what I'm seeing and reading. With the current prices Apple is asking I will be upgrading to a hackintosh.

 

[nanofrog]

I don't have a hackintosh (yet) but that's what I'm seeing and reading. With the current prices Apple is asking I will be upgrading to a hackintosh.

This is what I've come across as well, and why I'm finally willing to attempt it myself.

 

[JoeG4]

Geez, what a rip. I'd expect a Mac Pro wannabe to have no less than:
* Core i7 with X58 board or Core i5 with P55 board!
* Nice Coolermaster or Lian Li case......

LAME!

 

[Zaap]

as someone with a hack, i disagree

Your mileage may vary. This of course applies to 100% supported hardware, set up from a retail guide, not some 'distro' install. There's really only a dozen or so truly supported motherboards. I think most people with problems are venturing outside of that.

Still the facts stands- currently one can easily run the latest Leopard (10.5.8) and the latest SL (10.6.1).

Of course if a person wants to really not worry about updates at all, there's the EFI-X chip and supported hardware that makes it all pretty much effortless.

 

[HyperX13]

Anyone know if you can run hackintosh out of my HP Workstation XW6600? Is that possible, or do you need specific hardware?

Edit - yes it can work. Found the wiki ---

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Anyone know if you can run hackintosh out of my HP Workstation XW6600? Is that possible, or do you need specific hardware?

Edit - yes it can work. Found the wiki ---

Those are respectable workstations, had an older version about 3 years ago and it was solid... I bet they would make a great Hack Pro!!!!