The Hackintosh Thread

[bradl]

What's the verdict nowadays on Chimera vs Clover? Is one significantly better than the other? I have a stable vanilla TonyMac Mountain Lion box that I cobbled together from spare parts and it's served me well. I plan on doing a clean install once El Capitan is released and the community has worked through the kinks. I'm wondering if I should consider different bootloaders?

That's pretty much what I started out with when I built the CustoMac mini when Mountain Lion came out.. only added a cheap discrete video card because the HD3000 on the Core i3-2105 was just horrid. I had no problem with Chimera.. however, since I went true Mac, I'm not sure about Clover except for the fact that it excels with UEFI. I know there's a good few page thread on it at the tonymacx86 forums. quick google search comes back with some good info.

BL.

 

[xheathen]

In response to the Clover v. Chimera question - from what I'm still seeing the Chimera "golden builds" seem to have less overall problems. Clover users seem to have to trouble shoot a few more things.

As a general question - has anyone updated from Mt. Lion to Yosemite? I've been hesitant to do the update in case I've got a ton of troubleshooting. Seems hit or miss in terms of people have problems. Everything works flawlessly right now down to bluetooth, wifi, sleep mode, you name it. I was worried about mucking it up

 

[lowendlinux]

Please report the post that starts this thread so the moderation team can consider it. OllyW is currently on vacation.

I've reported it.

 

[lowendlinux]

In response to the Clover v. Chimera question - from what I'm still seeing the Chimera "golden builds" seem to have less overall problems. Clover users seem to have to trouble shoot a few more things.

As a general question - has anyone updated from Mt. Lion to Yosemite? I've been hesitant to do the update in case I've got a ton of troubleshooting. Seems hit or miss in terms of people have problems. Everything works flawlessly right now down to bluetooth, wifi, sleep mode, you name it. I was worried about mucking it up

Clover fixes things on the fly and can be used to EFI boot so it'll be more dependable I've been futzing with it on a laptop and it's different. The second thing to remember is clover is also a philosophical difference between the community and tonymac. Tonymac has a bad habit of not crediting people and he famously disallows moding and hosting of his stuff which is bad juju. The hackintosh community is/seems a lot like the Open source and Linux community the hacker ethos is strong.

I updated from 10.9.5 to 10.10.4 last week and everything went well, I didn't clean install so that might have helped.

 

[nigelbb]

I have an HP Z600
2@x5675
GTX 760
32GB DDR3 1600 RDIMMS 4@8GB
SSD on an X2 marvel PCI-e to SATA controller
10.10.4

It meets all the qualifications of "working". To install I needed an installer that used clover because if I didn't my USB Port would disappear as soon as OS was loaded. I need voodoo for audio and it's not needed to be reinstalled during upgrades. Initially it too a lot of futzing to get it to work right since then it's been easy sailing.

Can you expand on the futzing that was necessary to get the Z600 running properly & what is isn't working perfectly? The Z600 is a very decent quality workstation & used on eBay they are a fraction of the price of a similarly specified cMP. I had been contemplating buying one to run Windows just for editing 4K video in Adobe Premiere but if it could run OS X instead with the option of FCP-X then I would be delighted.

 

[lowendlinux]

Can you expand on the futzing that was necessary to get the Z600 running properly & what is isn't working perfectly? The Z600 is a very decent quality workstation & used on eBay they are a fraction of the price of a similarly specified cMP. I had been contemplating buying one to run Windows just for editing 4K video in Adobe Premiere but if it could run OS X instead I would be delighted.

You can't use the standard Unibeast/multibeast install like most can I had to use MacPwn which uses clover to boot. Once I got it booted I used multibeast to install the boot loader and needed kexts. The problem is it took me hours to figure this out once I did it was smooth sailing that's what I mean by futzing. There is nothing that doesn't work and the only manually installed kext is voodoo everything else works OOTB. The first install took 6 plus hours my update to 10.10.4 took about a half hour because I upgraded from 10.9.5 and didn't clean install. I bought mine as a lease return from as my employer was turning them in so I paid a bit more than ebay but I got to choose the one I wanted.

My general thoughts are it's a really nice computer, quieter than the cMP as well as smaller and thiner but it only has 6 DIMM slots, 2 HD bays, and one 6 pin PCI power. I've gotten around the HD issue by using 2.5" drives and the power by using an optical bay power supply.

The computer spends the most time in Linux because I work on a Mac all day and like the change of pace but I also like to work from home at times and it allows both so I'm happy.

 

[MacUser2525]

You can't use the standard Unibeast/multibeast install like most can I had to use MacPwn which uses clover to boot. Once I got it booted I used multibeast to install the boot loader and needed kexts. The problem is it took me hours to figure this out once I did it was smooth sailing that's what I mean by futzing. There is nothing that doesn't work and the only manually installed kext is voodoo everything else works OOTB. The first install took 6 plus hours my update to 10.10.4 took about a half hour because I upgraded from 10.9.5 and didn't clean install. I bought mine as a lease return from as my employer was turning them in so I paid a bit more than ebay but I got to choose the one I wanted.

My general thoughts are it's a really nice computer, quieter than the cMP as well as smaller and thiner but it only has 6 DIMM slots, 2 HD bays, and one 6 pin PCI power. I've gotten around the HD issue by using 2.5" drives and the power by using an optical bay power supply.

The computer spends the most time in Linux because I work on a Mac all day and like the change of pace but I also like to work from home at times and it allows both so I'm happy.

I have z800 first install took about a week to get running as I was not using the correct files. You need to roll back some .kext to the 10.9.1 versions for it to boot properly every time without them I was getting a 1 in 4 boot to OS X. Once that was done it has booted 100% of the time unless I have made stupid change testing something out.

Damn nice machine that in the end has cost me nothing to at this point double the performance of the MP3,1 it replaced. As I was going to sell that off but ended up trading my nephew for his Mini then sold that instead. It has the 12 ram slots and four bays as you may already know if you have looked into these family machines. My daily driver an i5 4570 based machine with z87x-ud3 board in it a nice power efficient machine that replaced a MP5,1 single core which I sold off last year when the prices for them were still retard high made about ~$1000 to get 50% better performance that needs nothing but Fakesmc and Clover EFI to boot. That can actually be flashed with the Ozmosis so it is as close as possible to a real mac but that was unable to do Raid0 for my SSDs that contain my install so gave up on that.

All in all my experience in the last 7+ years of Hackintosh use have been very positive with nothing really nasty to speak of OS wise happening as I do my research and make sure that I select the right hardware so it will work properly. And that is the important thing doing this making sure you get the right hardware so you do not have compatibility problems.

Now if anyone is thinking of doing a z800 reading this they should be aware that at this point in time looks like 10.9.5 is the limit on it for the OS. I do not particularly care as I cannot stand the flat cartoon look of the newer OSs Apple has put out. If I wanted to run something with junk for graphics based on tablet or cell phone I would be using them for my computing needs. Anyways my 2 cents on the subject.

 

[Cindori]

Asus X99-S
Intel Haswell-E 5960x
32GB Kingston DDR4 3000Mhz
Nvidia Gigabyte GTX 980 G1
Kraken X61 Water Cooler - NZXT S340

OS X Yosemite 10.10 with Clover

Overall I don't recommend the 5960x since it requires Mavericks system kexts and kernel patch to work on Yosemite.
If I could redo the build I would have gone with 16GB RAM and 5930x.
Full price for build excluding SSD's and VAT was $2500.
Now that was in September 2014, prices have dropped considerably since.

 

[lowendlinux]

We got denied a sticky because "There isn't enough interest in hackintosh's to justify a sticky thread for it." so keep posting folks maybe we can reach the "interest" threshold.

 

[bladerunner2000]

If I could redo the build I would have gone with 16GB RAM and 5930x.

Why 16gb RAM?

 

[Cindori]

Why 16gb RAM?

Because 32GB is overkill for me, whenever I've done some serious work (Xcode+PS+Unity+Many chrome tabs+iTunes) I'm rarely pushing more than ~12GB used RAM anyway.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Oh a Hackintosh thread I have hackintoshed ALOT of computers for Me and friends (i have hackintoshed everything from a 2.4Ghz Northwood Pentium 4 to a Core i7 3770K over clocked to 4.5Ghz) My current main machine is a MSI GE 70-2OE gaming laptop I hackintoshed with Clover and Yosemite everything works on it apart from battery and backlight adjustment (I haven't bothered with the battery since this machine is docked to my desk) (iMessage worked OOB surprising but it can be a bit touchy at times) it even sleeps and this is without a DSDT

 

[bladerunner2000]

Because 32GB is overkill for me, whenever I've done some serious work (Xcode+PS+Unity+Many chrome tabs+iTunes) I'm rarely pushing more than ~12GB used RAM anyway.

Ah, I see. I got 32gb only because the RAM sticks I bought we're the last two pairs and discounted. Only issue now is that while they work fine in Windows, I'm having some issues with all 4 dimm slots taken up with my HyperX Fury White RAM (2 dimms and everything is gravy). I've done another install of OS X with different kexts from Multibeast and things look good so far with all 4 dimms. I'm actually gonna try another install as I installed NullCPUPowerManagement on top of DSTD (NCPM isn't needed on a Haswell build, which I have).

The whole installation process of the Hackintosh has been pretty finnicky... but it's been pretty fun too seeing the amazing results. Future builds should be pretty simple for me now, so it's been totally worth it.

 

[neomorpheus]

We got denied a sticky because "There isn't enough interest in hackintosh's to justify a sticky thread for it." so keep posting folks maybe we can reach the "interest" threshold.

Why I'm not surprised of that?

Anyways, this is a good thread.

I currently have a cMP 4.1 with a Xeon W3540 and I'm debating in either upgrade to X5690 and other things and be at the mercy of MVC crazy prices or sell it and build a modern system with a X99 mobo.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

There are two EVGA Classified SR-2 dual socket motherboards on eBay right now. One includes x5680 CPUs and the other x5690 CPUs. One is liquid cooled to 4.4ghz. Both include lots of memory. These are the kind of motherboard Apple should have included from 2010-2012. They should be highly compatible with OS X.

 

[DJenkins]

The SR-2 was problematic for me and some others I found - flakey BIOS that would reset all the time. I do know of some people who used them with success though.

Traded it in for the setup in my sig and has been flawless ever since, with pretty heavy work in AE, Cinema 4D, Octane Render etc.

People pushing the limits in overclocking those dual CPU machines was really cool! Unfortunately it's been pretty quiet on the dual cpu front since sandy bridge etc but I know PunkNugget is having another crack at it as we speak.

 

[Asgorath]

I'm currently using a Hackintosh with a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H and Core i7-4770K, which is basically like a Late 2013 iMac. I switched to this from a 2010 Mac Pro, and the increase in CPU performance was very noticeable for me. If you're going down the Hackintosh route, I don't know why you'd want to stick with older technology -- if you really want a dual CPU system, you should just build something like a nMP with a X79 chipset. In my experience it's always best to build a system that is as close to an official Mac product as possible, especially when it comes to the CPU and chipset. For me, a modern "iMac" with a discrete GPU (I'm currently using a GTX 980) was a good upgrade from my older cMP.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

The SR-2 was problematic for me and some others I found - flakey BIOS that would reset all the time. I do know of some people who used them with success though.

Traded it in for the setup in my sig and has been flawless ever since, with pretty heavy work in AE, Cinema 4D, Octane Render etc.

People pushing the limits in overclocking those dual CPU machines was really cool! Unfortunately it's been pretty quiet on the dual cpu front since sandy bridge etc but I know PunkNugget is having another crack at it as we speak.

Shame it is flaky in OSX but if ever get bored of my cMP I can take all the internal components and stick them on a SR-2 and have a multi core PC with true SLI support for such a little cost. I just need the mobo and case and psu. I would oc it to 4.4ghz and hit some 45,000 geekbenches.

 

[bladerunner2000]

Shame it is flaky in OSX but if ever get bored of my cMP I can take all the internal components and stick them on a SR-2 and have a multi core PC with true SLI support for such a little cost. I just need the mobo and case and psu. I would oc it to 4.4ghz and hit some 45,000 geekbenches.

Dear god... that's 50% faster than the top of the line Mac Pro and that costs $7,000 lol.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Haha so true

Dear god... that's 50% faster than the top of the line Mac Pro and that costs $7,000 lol.

Haha so true

 

[DJenkins]

Shame it is flaky in OSX but if ever get bored of my cMP I can take all the internal components and stick them on a SR-2 and have a multi core PC with true SLI support for such a little cost. I just need the mobo and case and psu. I would oc it to 4.4ghz and hit some 45,000 geekbenches.

The problems with the board were in the BIOS so would have the same problems in Windows too.
Just thought I would mention it in case you are buying a second hand one I would test it first - reboot a bunch of times and make sure your settings stick before laying down the cash.

45,000 is quite ambitious for a 12 core! You'd be looking at about 37,000 - judging by braindeadmac's score

 

[lowendlinux]

I think 4.4 on both processors is a little high guys are getting 4.4 stable on single boards and it's pretty futzy. I don't think 4.4 stable on a dual board is realistic and to top it Sr2's are going for big money on ebay last time I looked functional boards were going for ~$700 that's to rich for my blood. When you start talking $500-$700 on boards you have almost infinite options.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

The problems with the board were in the BIOS so would have the same problems in Windows too.
Just thought I would mention it in case you are buying a second hand one I would test it first - reboot a bunch of times and make sure your settings stick before laying down the cash.

45,000 is quite ambitious for a 12 core! You'd be looking at about 37,000 - judging by braindeadmac's score

By the time I would even need it the price would be much cheaper than currently. I would buy it from old inventory stock if possible, not used. There's more YouTube videos of that board than I imagined.

 

[dfritchie]

I'm thinking about this and started doing some checking around and came up with this. Looks to be a good machine to me, now I just need the money to start the build.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hYWDvK
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hYWDvK/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake NiC L31 71.0 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($173.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($99.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($107.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($37.24 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Cobra Cobra Type-M Wired Optical Mouse ($11.37 @ Amazon)

Total: $1318.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-20 20:53 EDT-0400

All spec's are subject to change at this point.

 

[bladerunner2000]

I'm thinking about this and started doing some checking around and came up with this. Looks to be a good machine to me, now I just need the money to start the build.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hYWDvK
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hYWDvK/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake NiC L31 71.0 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($173.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($99.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($107.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($37.24 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Cobra Cobra Type-M Wired Optical Mouse ($11.37 @ Amazon)

Total: $1318.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-20 20:53 EDT-0400

All spec's are subject to change at this point.

You'll need a better cooler for overclocking that CPU. Otherwise, not much point in spending the extra money for K version of it.