Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The Hackintosh Thread
- Thread starter lowendlinux
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
Me neither. It also doesn't make me want to buy any other Gigabyte products in the future.
I have updated to each new release of macOS within a day or two of release since going hackintosh. Sleep used to require a bit of tweaking to work right again after updates with my old Z170 motherboard but my z370 motherboard hasn't required any tweaking at all. It has just been update and go.
Like navaira, my experiences with High Sierra has also been very positive. The only major hiccup has been the Nvidia web drivers. They have not been working well since three releases ago. I threw in the towel and switched to a Vega 56 and everything has been smooth sailing since.
Like navaira, my experiences with High Sierra has also been very positive. The only major hiccup has been the Nvidia web drivers. They have not been working well since three releases ago. I threw in the towel and switched to a Vega 56 and everything has been smooth sailing since.
Hi Pastrychef,
My cMP just dead (power ON, fan spin, no screen with Mac EFI 7950, no “don”, can’t PRAM reset...). Rather than diagnosis and fix it, I plan to switch to Hackintosh. If I understand correctly, I can setup the Hackintosh, and simply transfer my existing working High Sierra SSD to there then boot. No need to reinstall every again, right?
I have a few question want to ask after studying on tonymacx86. Since I know that you switched from cMP to HS with greate success. I hope you don’t mind to provide me some extra guidance. I wish to ask at here rather than PM, so all others can benefit from the discussion. And I would like to thank for providing such a good guide to me. I plan to follow your guide.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...wi-fi-ac-build-w-i7-8700k-amd-vega-56.239969/
Before we go deeper. The very first question I want to ask is if your build can take a 32cm long graphic card? (Update: found the answer. This case can take up to 34cm card, good for my 1080Ti)
My PNY XLR8 1080Ti is pretty long. And I don’t want to go for another GPU at this moment yet. (I know about the recent web driver issue. But it seems Nvidia fixed that in the latest release).
If this doesn’t work, then I need to get another case, or even another mother board. Million thanks in advance!
Last edited:
Nice post. (Not for the cMP death) I'm also interested about this task.
I wish you good luck.
Sure! I would be happy to help in any way I can.
The case is just a case... You can choose whatever design you like. I just chose this one because I liked how compact the size is and I liked how the internal layout is kind of similar to how my old MacPro5,1 was. There are also a good number of users who have modded old PowerMac and Mac Pro cases for use with PC motherboards.
Yes, when I transitioned from my MacPro5,1 to hackintosh, I just transplanted my old SSUBX (using M.2 adaptor). The key is to adding the "EFI folder" to the EFI partition of the main system drive. This EFI folder contains all that is required to make macOS believe the PC is a Mac.
There are other methods to hackintoshing, but I like this the most because, in my opinion, it is (1) the most simple, (2) it does not modify anything in the main system drive at all, and (3) I can easily transplant the drive back to a real Mac without any problems.
If you use my ROG Strix Z370-G guide, I provide working EFI folders that really makes the transition a breeze.
Please feel free to ask any questions and I will try my best to help.
Thanks for your support. I am looking for a case that can accommodate 3x 3.5 HDD and 3x 2.5 SSD. That’s exactly the same as yours. So, it sounds easy for me to follow your build.
Ah, yes, I use a 3x3.5 to 2x5.25 hot swap cage for my 3.5" drives. I love it. It's even more convenient than the Mac Pro's drive bays. For my 2.5" drives, I use a 2x2.5" to 3.5 hot swap cage that is mounted inside the case.
The Silverstone TJ08-E case would have allowed both of these to be accessible externally, but it wasn't available when I put my build together.
h9826790, do you have any FW external peripherals? I still have an external drive and audio recording device (for lack of a better word) so I use a SYBA 1394B/A Firewire Card (SD-PEX30009) in my hackintoshes.
Do you have the need for wireless? The Fenvi FV-T919 Wireless/BT PCIe card works OOB, but harder to find now than a Mac SE. pastrychef can help you if you need a similar combo WiFi/BT card. Or (plug intended) you can find a compatible BT USB dongle and separate WiFI PCIe card in the tonymacx86's Buyer's Guide, Accessories section.
Finally, pastrychef and I like mATX motherboards simply because we don't use multiple graphics cards or other PCIe cards which allows for nice "mid size tower" computer cases. If you want use any from your Mac, then you might consider using a ATX size motherboard which gives you more PCIe slots. I needed an ATX motherboard so I'm using the ASUS MAXIMUS HERO X (Z370) motherboard which with I'm very pleased.
Speaking of cases, I have several Lian-Li PC-A05FN Mid Tower cases. I highly recommend them.
Do you have the need for wireless? The Fenvi FV-T919 Wireless/BT PCIe card works OOB, but harder to find now than a Mac SE. pastrychef can help you if you need a similar combo WiFi/BT card. Or (plug intended) you can find a compatible BT USB dongle and separate WiFI PCIe card in the tonymacx86's Buyer's Guide, Accessories section.
Finally, pastrychef and I like mATX motherboards simply because we don't use multiple graphics cards or other PCIe cards which allows for nice "mid size tower" computer cases. If you want use any from your Mac, then you might consider using a ATX size motherboard which gives you more PCIe slots. I needed an ATX motherboard so I'm using the ASUS MAXIMUS HERO X (Z370) motherboard which with I'm very pleased.
Speaking of cases, I have several Lian-Li PC-A05FN Mid Tower cases. I highly recommend them.
Last edited:
As an aside while I like the look of Lian Li cases they tend to be louder than I like..
If you want quiet go with Bequiet I also use their fans, power supplies, and heat sinks
If you want quiet go with Bequiet I also use their fans, power supplies, and heat sinks
Thanks for all the suggestions. I also realise that I am now spending most of the time to pick a case.
I am OK to go for a bigger case. It’s under the desk anyway. As long as the height is below 60cm, then it will be fine. Bigger case can provide better cooling and quieter in general, isn’t it?
Thanks for suggesting the Lian Li case. I don’t need extreme quiet computer. I think few Noctua fans should be good enough to keep the computer cool and quiet. I don’t need any case that similar to cMP, but coincidentally I am looking into this one.
http://www.lian-li.com/pc-v1000l/
It looks like can fit under my desk, easy to slide in / out, has lots of HDD bay (I like it), definitely big enough for my GPU, and not making by glass (I don’t want any window that can see the messy cables inside the computer. And I have no plan to use any LED inside the case as well). However, seems no way to buy it (the silver one).
I don’t need WiFi, and I have a working USB Bluetooth dongle (for Magic Mouse). So, as long as the Ethernet is working, I am good to go. I have the WiFi ac / BT 4.0 card in my 5,1. I can install that into the Hackintosh later. Definitely not rush on this. I prefer to have two ethernet port, but can live with one. May be add a low cost 10Gbps card later.
All my external peripherals are USB 2.0 / 3.0. And I tried to keep everything internal in my cMP. So, very easy to transfer now.
For PCIe card, since the computer now have USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 natively. All I need is just one double wide slot for my graphic card. I used dual GPU back in the HD7950 days. I like the performance, but don’t like the extra limitation (e.g. ineffective using all VRAM, only useful for compute in macOS, or much more driver issues in Windows gaming, etc). Therefore, I will go for single powerful GPU in the foreseeable future. And I think when my 1080Ti is not good enough, there should be another better single GPU option by that time.
CPU cooling, air cool is my choice at the moment. If I want small computer, I will go water cool, but for big tower, I think air cool is better choice. Less chance to have big issue. I don’t need OC, but I know I will do that for fun. And I believe this cooler should be good enough to keep the 8700k below 80C (I already get use to the high temperature in Mac
)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L7UZMAK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1Z5H6ZGWCMTNX&psc=1
I have no plan to delid the CPU, but I think I will do that some time later. I love this kind of DIY stuff, just couldn’t resist. But at the beginning, I will keep it native to avoid unnecessary failure which is actually introduced by myself.
Memory, thinking about 4x8 or 4x16. I am now running 48GB RAM. Going backward seems strange. But I did monitor my usage. My usage usually right at 24GB, the remaining memory is just cache. For 64GB, I may setup some RAM drive, but 32GB should be perfectly fine for me. Even though money is not a big issue for me, but I still don’t want to spend too much unnecessarily.
Storage, using my own 2TB MX500, 1TB 840 Evo, 120GB DGM, 4TB WD Red, 6TB WD Red, and 8TB WD Red. No PCIe SSD yet, may be later.
Graphic card, my current PNY XLR8 1080Ti. Proved very stable in both MacOS and Windows.
PSU, anything 800W or above should be overkill already. So, follow the golden build is the safest bet for me. Or actually it doesn’t really matter? Most PSU can work as expected (including fan control in macOS)?
Thermal paste, I still have some AS5 on hand, may be just use that. At least I know how to handle it correctly and effectively. Not the best, but nothing wrong either.
And the rest I can think about is plenty of cables. Do they often come with the case / PSU? Or I have to prepare that by myself?
I am OK to go for a bigger case. It’s under the desk anyway. As long as the height is below 60cm, then it will be fine. Bigger case can provide better cooling and quieter in general, isn’t it?
Thanks for suggesting the Lian Li case. I don’t need extreme quiet computer. I think few Noctua fans should be good enough to keep the computer cool and quiet. I don’t need any case that similar to cMP, but coincidentally I am looking into this one.
http://www.lian-li.com/pc-v1000l/
It looks like can fit under my desk, easy to slide in / out, has lots of HDD bay (I like it), definitely big enough for my GPU, and not making by glass (I don’t want any window that can see the messy cables inside the computer. And I have no plan to use any LED inside the case as well). However, seems no way to buy it (the silver one).
I don’t need WiFi, and I have a working USB Bluetooth dongle (for Magic Mouse). So, as long as the Ethernet is working, I am good to go. I have the WiFi ac / BT 4.0 card in my 5,1. I can install that into the Hackintosh later. Definitely not rush on this. I prefer to have two ethernet port, but can live with one. May be add a low cost 10Gbps card later.
All my external peripherals are USB 2.0 / 3.0. And I tried to keep everything internal in my cMP. So, very easy to transfer now.
For PCIe card, since the computer now have USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 natively. All I need is just one double wide slot for my graphic card. I used dual GPU back in the HD7950 days. I like the performance, but don’t like the extra limitation (e.g. ineffective using all VRAM, only useful for compute in macOS, or much more driver issues in Windows gaming, etc). Therefore, I will go for single powerful GPU in the foreseeable future. And I think when my 1080Ti is not good enough, there should be another better single GPU option by that time.
CPU cooling, air cool is my choice at the moment. If I want small computer, I will go water cool, but for big tower, I think air cool is better choice. Less chance to have big issue. I don’t need OC, but I know I will do that for fun. And I believe this cooler should be good enough to keep the 8700k below 80C (I already get use to the high temperature in Mac
)https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L7UZMAK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1Z5H6ZGWCMTNX&psc=1
I have no plan to delid the CPU, but I think I will do that some time later. I love this kind of DIY stuff, just couldn’t resist. But at the beginning, I will keep it native to avoid unnecessary failure which is actually introduced by myself.
Memory, thinking about 4x8 or 4x16. I am now running 48GB RAM. Going backward seems strange. But I did monitor my usage. My usage usually right at 24GB, the remaining memory is just cache. For 64GB, I may setup some RAM drive, but 32GB should be perfectly fine for me. Even though money is not a big issue for me, but I still don’t want to spend too much unnecessarily.
Storage, using my own 2TB MX500, 1TB 840 Evo, 120GB DGM, 4TB WD Red, 6TB WD Red, and 8TB WD Red. No PCIe SSD yet, may be later.
Graphic card, my current PNY XLR8 1080Ti. Proved very stable in both MacOS and Windows.
PSU, anything 800W or above should be overkill already. So, follow the golden build is the safest bet for me. Or actually it doesn’t really matter? Most PSU can work as expected (including fan control in macOS)?
Thermal paste, I still have some AS5 on hand, may be just use that. At least I know how to handle it correctly and effectively. Not the best, but nothing wrong either.
And the rest I can think about is plenty of cables. Do they often come with the case / PSU? Or I have to prepare that by myself?
Thanks for all the suggestions. I also realise that I am now spending most of the time to pick a case.
I am OK to go for a bigger case. It’s under the desk anyway. As long as the height is below 60cm, then it will be fine. Bigger case can provide better cooling and quieter in general, isn’t it?
Thanks for suggesting the Lian Li case. I don’t need extreme quiet computer. I think few Noctua fans should be good enough to keep the computer cool and quiet. I don’t need any case that similar to cMP, but coincidentally I am looking into this one.
http://www.lian-li.com/pc-v1000l/
It looks like can fit under my desk, easy to slide in / out, has lots of HDD bay (I like it), definitely big enough for my GPU, and not making by glass (I don’t want any window that can see the messy cables inside the computer. And I have no plan to use any LED inside the case as well). However, seems no way to buy it (the silver one).
I don’t need WiFi, and I have a working USB Bluetooth dongle (for Magic Mouse). So, as long as the Ethernet is working, I am good to go. I have the WiFi ac / BT 4.0 card in my 5,1. I can install that into the Hackintosh later. Definitely not rush on this. I prefer to have two ethernet port, but can live with one. May be add a low cost 10Gbps card later.
All my external peripherals are USB 2.0 / 3.0. And I tried to keep everything internal in my cMP. So, very easy to transfer now.
For PCIe card, since the computer now have USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 natively. All I need is just one double wide slot for my graphic card. I used dual GPU back in the HD7950 days. I like the performance, but don’t like the extra limitation (e.g. ineffective using all VRAM, only useful for compute in macOS, or much more driver issues in Windows gaming, etc). Therefore, I will go for single powerful GPU in the foreseeable future. And I think when my 1080Ti is not good enough, there should be another better single GPU option by that time.
CPU cooling, air cool is my choice at the moment. If I want small computer, I will go water cool, but for big tower, I think air cool is better choice. Less chance to have big issue. I don’t need OC, but I know I will do that for fun. And I believe this cooler should be good enough to keep the 8700k below 80C (I already get use to the high temperature in Mac
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L7UZMAK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1Z5H6ZGWCMTNX&psc=1
I have no plan to delid the CPU, but I think I will do that some time later. I love this kind of DIY stuff, just couldn’t resist. But at the beginning, I will keep it native to avoid unnecessary failure which is actually introduced by myself.
Memory, thinking about 4x8 or 4x16. I am now running 48GB RAM. Going backward seems strange. But I did monitor my usage. My usage usually right at 24GB, the remaining memory is just cache. For 64GB, I may setup some RAM drive, but 32GB should be perfectly fine for me. Even though money is not a big issue for me, but I still don’t want to spend too much unnecessarily.
Storage, using my own 2TB MX500, 1TB 840 Evo, 120GB DGM, 4TB WD Red, 6TB WD Red, and 8TB WD Red. No PCIe SSD yet, may be later.
Graphic card, my current PNY XLR8 1080Ti. Proved very stable in both MacOS and Windows.
PSU, anything 800W or above should be overkill already. So, follow the golden build is the safest bet for me. Or actually it doesn’t really matter? Most PSU can work as expected (including fan control in macOS)?
Thermal paste, I still have some AS5 on hand, may be just use that. At least I know how to handle it correctly and effectively. Not the best, but nothing wrong either.
And the rest I can think about is plenty of cables. Do they often come with the case / PSU? Or I have to prepare that by myself?
For Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, I highly recommend getting an adaptor and using an Apple Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card in place of the original card that comes with the motherboard. When used in this slot, the Bluetooth works much better. For example, in my previous build, I used a PCI-e adaptor with an Apple branded card, but when waking from sleep or when first powering up, there is a very slight delay before my Magic Mouse became active. When using an Apple branded card in the motherboard M.2 slot, there's no delay. Magic Mouse is active immediately.
If you intend to use an mATX motherboard, be sure to choose the NH-D15S rather than the NH-D15. The NH-D15S gives better RAM clearance and does not block the first PCI-e slot.
The Noctua heatsink and fan are so effective that I don't think I would ever go for water cooling. I don't need to worry about leaks or maintenance.
If you decide to just use two sticks of RAM for now, you may have to disregard the manual's recommendation and install them in the alternate two slots.
If/when you decide to use NVMe SSDs, on most Z370 motherboards I've seen, there are two M.2 slots for them. You can use Carbon Copy Cloner or whichever cloning app/method you prefer and clone your system to the new SSD. When done, just copy your working EFI folder from the EFI partition of the source drive to the EFI partition of the destination drive and you are done.
Yes, 800W is overkill. I did a build for a friend using a 550W power supply and everything runs fine. I just happened to come across a great deal on the 850W at the time and went with it.
You can use the thermal paste that's included with the Noctua heatsink. It is a very highly rated compound and probably better than Arctic Silver 5.
The motherboard comes with some SATA cables (I think maybe 4?). My power supply came with more power cables than I will ever need. Not sure if they are all the same...
Thanks for picking up my protential error. NH-D15S on the to-buy list now. And if the heat sink come with thermal paste, that will be even better. I am out of PC for at least 10 years, really need some time to pick up the difference between mATX and ATX etc.
I’ve read that in the guide, but this m.2 to WiFi card adaptor is really new for me, time to study now.
And if I don’t need onboard WiFi, may be I can go for this mother board, therefore I can have two Ethernet ports? (This MB also on the TonyMacX86 buying list).
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075KFX62...RsUUQ&slotNum=89&ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20
But only one of the port is the Intel Ethernet port, the other one is for gaming network, not sure if I can use it in macOS.
Just realise the 8700k only has two memory channel, so may be 2x 16GB is the optimum memory Config for me at this moment. And yes, thanks the friendly reminder about I may have to go for the “non standard” slots.
mATX is a bit smaller physically than ATX. mATX has fewer PCI-e slots than ATX but it makes more sense to me than ATX for consumer level motherboards because of the limited number of PCI-e lanes. For example, on my Z370-G motherboard, nothing is "shared". I've seen some instances on ATX motherboards where SATA ports would be disabled if one of the M.2 SSDs slots are used. So, I see no point in going for the larger motherboard in the consumer level.
Using an Apple Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card in an M.2 slot is pretty simple. The adaptor is just to work around Apple's proprietary connector.
Personally, I think having the M.2 slot for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth is more valuable than an extra ethernet port. If/when you need an extra ethernet port, it's easy to add one via PCI-e. As stated earlier, adding Wi-Fi/Bluetooth via PCI-e doesn't work as well as when using M.2. The Wi-Fi/Bluetooth is important if you use feature such as Handoff, AirDrop, AirPlay, etc.
I believe there are drivers available for the Killer E2500 NICs.
I will install that Wifi card, just thinking if no need onboard Wifi, then other one has two Ethernet port fit me better. But you are very right, add a 1Gbps network card is sooooo simple, no need to affect my MB decision.
And thanks for telling me the info about mATX, I haven’t dig deep enough to know about the shared PCIe lane yet.
I expect I just need single powerful GPU, may be an extra network card later. So, two good PCIe slots should be good enough for short future (Assume the case can take all my HDD and SSD, so no need to install the Tempo SSD card for extra SATA ports). May be at most something like USB 4 card in the future. But that will be quite a few years away. For Hackintosh, may be that’s the time for new MB / CPU as well, no need to force myself using PCIe card to catch up the standard.
Yes. This is very true. When I upgraded from my Z170 build to Z370, I was able to reuse everything and only replaced the motherboard and CPU. This kept costs very low. Also, the USB 3.1 gen 2 that's built-in to my motherboard is working.
I don't think you will have any problems fitting all your drives.
in 8 years of doing hackintoshes, I have never understood the attraction to them. I have never had one, through P45 chipset, up to Z97, ever go smoothly. The guys on tonymac swear by them but even following their instructions to the letter there are always hiccups. Ive had far less problems over the years with Intel, Asus, and Supermicro boards. Hell, the Intel DQ77MK board was possibly the easiest hackintosh I ever built... 25 minutes from booting off installer USB to booting successfully on its own with literally everything working 100%. best hack board ever. Gigabyte sucks balls.
[doublepost=1526689270][/doublepost]
if you have the time to really dig into them, a lot of manufacturers provide block diagrams in their manuals which can give you more insight into the design of the board and how the PCIe lanes are allocated. Depending on your use case, some designs can give you a lot of slots to work with if the cards you use are limited bandwidth. for example, in my system using an Intel DZ77RE-75K, most of the lanes are allocated to the thunderbolt and graphics controllers. But, they employed an onboard PCIe switch which enables use of both thunderbolt and pcie simultaneously. Since all im running are audio DSP cards with limited bandwidth utilization (powercore and UAD-2s), the use of the PCIe switch isnt a problem.
I considered upgrading to a newer system than my current 3770k/dz77re-75k setup, but all I found were systems that compromised in some way or another. but researching those block diagrams can be especially useful if you're in a situation where you need to ensure your peripherals are going to be running at their best. the nice thing is, there's a million designs out there with pc makers. unfortunately some (such as MSI) dont provide block diagrams at all so it leaves you guessing.
In case anyone is wondering about stability and sleep/wake working properly...
Glad to see people are still going this route. My X99 has been rock solid - even FIXED some issues with newer NVIDIA drivers, etc. Just wish High Sierra didn't cripple my GTX 1080 in macOS...
10.13.4 has been rock solid for me so far X99, no need for NVME tinker and clover has more thing under the hood and less relevant on extra kexts
[doublepost=1527560458][/doublepost]
I had the same thing happen to me today
. It was scary, but I managed to fix it by reseating the CPU tray and reseting my original GT120 in the first and second PCIe slot. Maybe it was just luck, but now mine is up and running again. I really hope this helps