Good Hackintosh Guide

[theattrox]

I recently bought a new 27" iMac i7 3.4ghz, 16gb (corsair ram), 6970m 2gb, 256 SSD for almost $3,000. I really wanted a macpro but I'm becoming very impatient. I'm late but I started reading up on people building there own "Hackintosh." I built a pc in 2005, so putting a computer together shouldn't be too difficult for me to figure out again but does anyone know the main cons of having apples osx on a DIY build?

If it's stable and not too hard to set up, does anyone know of any good recent guides using the latest parts available? Or should I just settle with the imac? Help would be much appreciated.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

I recently bought a new 27" iMac i7 3.4ghz, 16gb (corsair ram), 6970m 2gb, 256 SSD for almost $3,000. I really wanted a macpro but I'm becoming very impatient. I'm late but I started reading up on people building there own "Hackintosh." I built a pc in 2005, so putting a computer together shouldn't be too difficult for me to figure out again but does anyone know the main cons of having apples osx on a DIY build?

If it's stable and not too hard to set up, does anyone know of any good recent guides using the latest parts available? Or should I just settle with the imac? Help would be much appreciated.

Money in your pocket. Loss of "ooh, shiny"

If you want to build obnoxious, like Apple, you can! There are a couple of things to note about this build though:

1. Corsair is good stuff. So we'll keep the 16 GB Corsair RAM, and use a Corsair power supply too!
2. 256 GB SSDs really are above the price/performance curve. Smart people buy 120/128 GB SSDs, use as OS drives, and buy cheap magnetic storage (read: hard drive) for their "stuff"
3. You will not need that beefy of a graphics card if you're not gaming. Given that you bought a Mac, are you gaming?
4. You will not need the 2600K if you're not overclocking - are you overclocking? There's a $230 Xeon that ditches the unlocked multiplier, Xeon E3-1230/1235. Both of those processors will dance around the iMac [no joke].
5. The Apple keyboard and mouse are only in there to be obnoxious. If you want an obnoxious keyboard, get the Microsoft Arc keyboard - it's a pretty blatant ripoff, is MORE comfortable than Apple's rectangle, and is $40. The Apple mouse is uncomfortable, and the opposite of ergonomic unless you've got the hands of a woman. Buy a nice chunky Logitech.
6. Likewise, the 30" HP monitor is obnoxious. The HP ZR24w is just as good a buy, and is easier on the wallet. The 27" iMac does have a nice display, so the 30" HP would be a step above, and the ZR24w would be a step down.
7. To each his own

LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner(Slot-load) SATA Model DC-8A2SH - OEM
Item #: N82E16827106358
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$48.99

SILVERSTONE Fortress Series FT03S Silver Aluminum / Steel MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811163177
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$169.99

HP ZR30w Black 30" S-IPS Panel Height &Swivel Adjustable Widescreen LCD Monitor w/USB Ports
Item #: N82E16824176177
Return Policy: Monitor Standard Return Policy
-$200.00 Instant
$1,399.99
$1,199.99

Apple MC184LL/B White Bluetooth Wireless Mini Keyboard
Item #: N82E16823101013
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$69.99

Apple MB829LL/A White Bluetooth Laser Multi-Touch Magic Mouse
Item #: N82E16826101010
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
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$69.99

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler
Item #: N82E16835608014
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
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$69.95

Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820148443
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$14.00 Instant
$405.99
$391.99

XFX HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #: N82E16814150549
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 (CMPSU-650HX) 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular ...
Item #: N82E16817139012
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$20.00 Instant
-$25.00 Combo
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$419.98
$374.98

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131759
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
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CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9
Item #: N82E16820233143
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
-$5.00 Instant
-$20.00 Combo
$299.98
$274.98
Subtotal: $2,670.85

EDIT: Doh. Setting it up is a little involved. tonymacx86.com - it's rewarding though, you get more performance/$, less $ spent. Again, this build really is obnoxious. The case is pricey, but silent and very cool running. If you're serious and you aren't gaming or overclocking, you could tweak this build and shave $1000 off it.

It's a lot harder to recommend a Hackintosh vs. iMac rather than Hackintosh vs. Mac Pro. The iMac is nice - especially the 27". Too bad I can't stand OS X, damn near smashed a MacBook in half.

 

[alent1234]

the OP bought a Mac with a radeon 6970 and you are telling him to buy a 6950?

the reason for no new mac pro's yet is that intel still hasn't released new xeon cpu's. Q4 is the current schedule

 

[Kaido]

I recently bought a new 27" iMac i7 3.4ghz, 16gb (corsair ram), 6970m 2gb, 256 SSD for almost $3,000. I really wanted a macpro but I'm becoming very impatient. I'm late but I started reading up on people building there own "Hackintosh." I built a pc in 2005, so putting a computer together shouldn't be too difficult for me to figure out again but does anyone know the main cons of having apples osx on a DIY build?

If it's stable and not too hard to set up, does anyone know of any good recent guides using the latest parts available? Or should I just settle with the imac? Help would be much appreciated.

The biggest drawback of Hackintosh is updates. Keeping up-to-date with System Updates can be a real pain if you don't stay on top of the latest information; updating can sometimes make your system unbootable or cause you to lose features like sound, networking, or graphics. If you plan on never updating, then you can build a pretty reliable rig that will last forever. My wife is a photographer and her system is still on 10.5.6 Leopard (pre-Snow) - it never gets updated, but it also never crashes. For her, it's a tool, not something to tinker with.

Staying up with the latest point releases from Apple takes a little more work. You can take a slightly more generic approach like Tonymac or Kakewalk, but results aren't always guaranteed. The most success you will have is if you do the research yourself and understand what's going on. And that can involve quite a bit of research! My advice is, if you want an up-to-date Hackintosh, then be prepared to make it into a small hobby. If you enjoy it, then great, if not, then either a real Mac or a Hackintosh that never gets updated may be a better choice for you.

Right now, I'd say Tonymac is the best place to look for information. He runs a very well-organized site and has a friendly community without a lot of clutter. He also releases updates on a regular basis, which is really nice. Currently, I'd recommend a Gigabyte Sandy Bridge-based motherboard due to the support and features. Gigabyte is usually a pretty safe bet for Hackintosh motherboards in general.

A couple of questions for you:

1. Do you have a budget in mind?
2. What pieces do you need - tower, keyboard/mouse, LCD?
3. What do you want to use the machine for? HD video editing, gaming, surfing...?

 

[Sephire]

Hackintosh, not for the impatient 'puter nerd.

 

[Zaap]

Or should I just settle with the imac?

"Settle" for the iMac.

I'm no big fan of AIO computers, but the 27" iMac is one hell of a computer. Why spend a whole lot of jack to build a Hackintosh also? The main point of building a Hack is to SAVE spending $3,000+ on the top Apple gear.

And I have to also use the word 'obnoxious' if one spends just as much money on a Hackintosh as they could for a MacPro. I say this as a huge Hackintosh fan; it just doesn't make sense.

If you want a decent budget build to go with the iMac, IE: a modestly spec'd PC that gets you extras like a tower config, open drive bays, slots, good bang-for-buck CPU/GPU/RAM without the MP pricetag, then I say go for it, just research the needed parts. (As mentioned, Tonymac is a good place to look, and also the latest Kakewalk list of compatible motherboards.)

 

[theattrox]

To answer most of your questions, I'm a professional photographer so I need a reliable computer. I want a good graphics card because I do heavy gaming on the side and every now and then I tend to edit high res video shot from the 5d Mark 2.

I already have a Dell U2410, a mouse, and I would be ordering apples keyboard only because I got really used to the key placement layout. What I don't like about the imac is the glossy display, I've only had this for about a week and I get a headache within 30 minutes of using it. What I also don't like is that it's using laptop parts such as the graphics card and an outdated SSD. I don't really mind but for the money I paid for it makes me think twice.

 

[alent1234]

get a MBP. the resolution is less, but the GPU in there is better than what Dell is shipping with the XPS

 

[theattrox]

The MBP uses older parts and cost more than an imac, right?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

the OP bought a Mac with a radeon 6970 and you are telling him to buy a 6950?

the reason for no new mac pro's yet is that intel still hasn't released new xeon cpu's. Q4 is the current schedule

The OP bought an iMac with a Radeon 6970M. A 6950 is a step up, not down.

If it wasn't clear, I was being entirely sarcastic. It is rather difficult to top the iMac, if that's the kind of the thing you're after. The 27" is :awe::wub::thumbsup:

OP - what are you using it for? Maybe then you can get a more practical Hackintosh recommendation?

 

[Kaido]

Time or money? What do you have more of?

That's mostly what it boils down to. You can build a reliable Hackintosh, but it does require some time investment into researching drivers, hardware, installation procedures, etc. My Hackintoshes are reliable to the point where I no longer own an Apple computer (at least until they release a Macbook Air with 8 gigs of RAM! lol). But, I have spent a significant amount of time digging around to learn how things work and tinkering with my own systems.

So it's not really a quick-fix type of thing if you want a long-term solution (updates, patches, quirks, etc.). You can follow someone else's guide, but you're at a disadvantage whenever an update comes along if they don't update their original guide. So it's a time investment - if you're willing to dig in & tinker, you can build a pretty nice system and save some cash.

Personally I prefer Nvidia cards. I've had better experience with them in my Hackintoshes, although ATI is making some strides. Video cards is one of the most difficult areas of the game because it can be hit-or-miss even between versions of the same GPU from the same vendor. There's a thread starting on the GTX5xx cards over on Tonymac:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=28020

If you want a monster board, the eVGA SR-2 ($580) has pretty good support: (dual 6-core Xeon support, unofficial 96GB RAM support, etc.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188070

Otherwise at this point, I'd just go with a Sandy Bridge board. You can OC the crud out of them and they're pretty cheap - the i7-2600K is only $315 for a Quad 3.46GHz with Hyperthreading & 3.8GHz Turbo Boost.

For SSD's, I'd definitely recommend the OWC Mercury line, in particular their new Pro 6G line: (right side)

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_6G/

If you want crazy-fast speed, you can RAID them up. Barefeats got 8 of them up to nearly 3,000 MB/s:

http://www.barefeats.com/ssd6g05.html

Although I've gotten 5,000 MB/s on my DDR3 RAMdisk using this software: (useful for current photo/video projects, especially if you get that board with 96 gigs of RAM and can do a nice, large 60-gig RAMdisk or something)

http://eshensh.net/rdu/%E7%B6%B2%E7%AB%99/English.html

So...lots of options to play with. Think about where you want to spend your time - it can take awhile to get a Hackintosh perfected, and then the updates come & ruin everything, so it depends on if you want to treat it as a production machine or as a regular computer, if that makes sense.

 

[alent1234]

The MBP uses older parts and cost more than an imac, right?

Smaller screen means less horsepower needed to run games. Otherwise they are i7's and radeon gpu's. Just like the iMac the $2000 or $2200 mark is the sweet spot

 

[Young Grasshopper]

get an mac pro. i tried coverting my dell studio xps 435 into a hackintosh and was not able to get it working using tonymac method. i then started researching what i needed to get it working and gave up. not only is it a ton of research but if you run OS updates they have the potential to make your machine unbootable. i really wanted a mac but didnt want to spend alot of time in the 'hackintosh' community just so i could keep my machine running with updates.

 

[Kaido]

get an mac pro. i tried coverting my dell studio xps 435 into a hackintosh and was not able to get it working using tonymac method. i then started researching what i needed to get it working and gave up. not only is it a ton of research but if you run OS updates they have the potential to make your machine unbootable. i really wanted a mac but didnt want to spend alot of time in the 'hackintosh' community just so i could keep my machine running with updates.

See the last post here: (re: XPS 435)

http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12530

iBoot didn't work for cokeburglar, but a combination of EmpireEFI & Nawcom worked for his 435T.