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I've got a Hackintosh as my main system, I love it. I dual boot macOS (default) and Windows 10 on it. A nice feature is that I can use my Windows installation

I've got a Hackintosh as my main system, I love it. I dual boot macOS (default) and Windows 10 on it. A nice feature is that I can use my Windows installation while I'm using macOS through virtualization (Parallels), yet boot natively to the same Windows installation when I need the full performance. Getting the Hackintosh working properly was hard as hell though, although I kinda enjoyed it since I'm a geek. Now that I've got it working, it works flawlessly. Recommended for people who want to save money/maximize performance and don't mind the grueling effort required.

dfischer 10y ago
Mind sharing your build?
- kristofferR 10y ago
  Gigabyte Z270X Ultra Gaming Intel Core-i5 7600k (4,6Ghz OC) 32GB 3200MHz DDR4 RAM Nvidia Gefore 970 GTX Samsung 960 Evo 500GB NVMe SSD ~10TB HDDs
  - johnbellone 10y ago
    Nice rig, everything work? You have a BT 4.0 for Handoff?
    - kristofferR 10y ago
      Yup, stuff works great now. I just ordered a BT 4.0 USB a couple of days ago actually, looking forward to it arriving.
  - dfischer 10y ago
    What was most frustrating about turning that into a hackintosh?
    - stingraycharles 10y ago
      Another hackingtosh user here. There are various glitches sometimes. For example, my displays down turn on after waking up from sleep. Also, I still haven't upgraded to Sierra, since the process is a bit more delicate than with regular macs. All things considered, it's totally worth it for me.
pmiller2 10y ago
How is it when it comes to OS updates?
- dantiberian 10y ago
  I usually wait a few days and check the forums for minor updates, but haven't had any issues in 2 years. Major updates can be a bit more work, but not too much if you're careful and do your research.
- sotojuan 10y ago
  Usually, you don't update and wait to see what people say and wait until things are supported and tested. That said, missing out on OS X updates isn't a big deal. In fact, a lot of people prefer staying in older versions until forced to.
  - danieldk 10y ago
    It is a big deal when you want fixes for security vulnerabilities. As far as I understand, minor updates can also break a Hackintosh.
    - maksimum 10y ago
      Definitely could happen, but it would have to be a confluence of driver and security updates in one.
- Washuu 10y ago
  Security updates and minor upgrades(Example: 10.12.1 to 10.12.2) are generally fine. I keep a checklist of the things that get nuked on OS upgrades.(Internal audio driver gets nuked; just requires reinstalling it.)
tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago
What were the biggest hurdles in getting it running?
- threeseed 10y ago
  You can read about some of the problems here: http://reddit.com/r/hackintosh http://reddit.com/r/hackintosh
- kristofferR 10y ago
  All the dumb little stuff. For example - I couldn't get my GPU to work so I spent hours troubleshooting it until I discovered a random post on page 45 in thread where someone casually mentioned that his Z170 Gigabyte Motherboard couldn't store NVRAM natively. I have a Z270 Gigabyte MB, so I figured his suggestion would be worth a try. I had to inject a module for my bootloader to add NVRAM support. That should have worked, but I edited my bootloader config.plist file with a text editor so I accidentially corrupted it. Then I had to boot to Windows, find out how to mount my EFI partition, open my bootloader settings file properly and fix the corruption. Another example - This is how you enable proper USB 3.0 support. As you can see it's not that simple. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/ https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-s... Thankfully people are extraordinarily helpful, especially some of the moderators.
x0x0 10y ago
How much effort was required? I'm curious because I've been considering building one for a while, but the reports from idly skimming eg tonymacx86 are all over the place. Some say as long as you buy from their build guide it's very easy, and some people seem to have tons of problems anyway.
- Baeocystin 10y ago
  It's fun if it is the project itself. Don't plan on using it for real work unless you like uncertainty or pain with every update, though. I would never use one outside of a hobby as things currently stand.
  - jawngee 10y ago
    I use mine every day for work. If you build using Clover only, you can upgrade as soon as Nvidia releases new web drivers (for point updates) straight through the App Store. The only issue is SceneKit based apps.
    - edko 10y ago
      Do you know if SceneKit apps also fail if you only use the integrated GPU?
    - Baeocystin 10y ago
      Sounds like things have improved since I last built one. I personally still wouldn't use something with 'works except for...', but I'm glad it's working for you. And I hope the hackintosh community can push Apple to release something more oriented to the tech crowd.
- jawngee 10y ago
  My main desktop is a hackintosh. It took maybe an afternoon to build, and then a few more hours to get running. It's been running solid ever since. Everything works (thunderbolt 3, usb 3, sound, airdrop, iMessage, handoff, etc) except you can't use apps that use SceneKit. So iBooks, Xcode instruments and SceneKit editor don't work. You can get them to work, by using Apple's drivers, but its a pita. Some people claim the new nvidia pascal drivers work for SceneKit, but I've not upgraded to a 1080 yet so I can't confirm. This is my build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gwV6qk https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gwV6qk
copperx 10y ago
Will you be able easily upgrade OS X? for either point updates or major versions? The last time I built a hackintosh (5 years ago), you had to go through kext hell that took about one day of hacking. I just gave up and bought a Mac.
- maksimum 10y ago
  Sometimes it's easy, sometimes Apple breaks drivers. In general I just wait for tonymac to tell me... I really should use his affiliate links or donate. I've upgraded the same 2010 hardware from 10.6 to 10.12. Installed a GTX 1060 and now I have a 4k-capable machine. You couldn't really do that (either install 10.12 or drive 4k) with a 2010 mac mini or imac, but you would have saved yourself the cummulative ~2 weeks of installation I've put into this over the years.
- fatratchet 10y ago
  It's really easy nowadays (if you have the right hardware), you can directly install the official combo update and then it usually only requires one extra reboot to update the graphics driver and possibly repatch sound driver for me, but that whole thing is automated and takes 2 mins extra for every point update every 2 months. I've been running a 4790k + 980Ti since 10.9 came out, always kept it at the newest release and it's given me much less trouble than Windows in that timeframe. As long as you have the typical well supported desktop hardware it works really well (intel + nvidia or select amd cards), only if you want it on a laptop or officially unsupported hardware then it quickly becomes a giant pain.

dfischer 10y ago

Mind sharing your build?

kristofferR 10y ago
Gigabyte Z270X Ultra Gaming Intel Core-i5 7600k (4,6Ghz OC) 32GB 3200MHz DDR4 RAM Nvidia Gefore 970 GTX Samsung 960 Evo 500GB NVMe SSD ~10TB HDDs
- johnbellone 10y ago
  Nice rig, everything work? You have a BT 4.0 for Handoff?
  - kristofferR 10y ago
    Yup, stuff works great now. I just ordered a BT 4.0 USB a couple of days ago actually, looking forward to it arriving.
- dfischer 10y ago
  What was most frustrating about turning that into a hackintosh?
  - stingraycharles 10y ago
    Another hackingtosh user here. There are various glitches sometimes. For example, my displays down turn on after waking up from sleep. Also, I still haven't upgraded to Sierra, since the process is a bit more delicate than with regular macs. All things considered, it's totally worth it for me.

pmiller2 10y ago

How is it when it comes to OS updates?

dantiberian 10y ago
I usually wait a few days and check the forums for minor updates, but haven't had any issues in 2 years. Major updates can be a bit more work, but not too much if you're careful and do your research.
sotojuan 10y ago
Usually, you don't update and wait to see what people say and wait until things are supported and tested. That said, missing out on OS X updates isn't a big deal. In fact, a lot of people prefer staying in older versions until forced to.
- danieldk 10y ago
  It is a big deal when you want fixes for security vulnerabilities. As far as I understand, minor updates can also break a Hackintosh.
  - maksimum 10y ago
    Definitely could happen, but it would have to be a confluence of driver and security updates in one.
Washuu 10y ago
Security updates and minor upgrades(Example: 10.12.1 to 10.12.2) are generally fine. I keep a checklist of the things that get nuked on OS upgrades.(Internal audio driver gets nuked; just requires reinstalling it.)

tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago

What were the biggest hurdles in getting it running?

threeseed 10y ago
You can read about some of the problems here: http://reddit.com/r/hackintosh http://reddit.com/r/hackintosh
kristofferR 10y ago
All the dumb little stuff. For example - I couldn't get my GPU to work so I spent hours troubleshooting it until I discovered a random post on page 45 in thread where someone casually mentioned that his Z170 Gigabyte Motherboard couldn't store NVRAM natively. I have a Z270 Gigabyte MB, so I figured his suggestion would be worth a try. I had to inject a module for my bootloader to add NVRAM support. That should have worked, but I edited my bootloader config.plist file with a text editor so I accidentially corrupted it. Then I had to boot to Windows, find out how to mount my EFI partition, open my bootloader settings file properly and fix the corruption. Another example - This is how you enable proper USB 3.0 support. As you can see it's not that simple. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/ https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-s... Thankfully people are extraordinarily helpful, especially some of the moderators.

x0x0 10y ago

How much effort was required? I'm curious because I've been considering building one for a while, but the reports from idly skimming eg tonymacx86 are all over the place. Some say as long as you buy from their build guide it's very easy, and some people seem to have tons of problems anyway.

Baeocystin 10y ago
It's fun if it is the project itself. Don't plan on using it for real work unless you like uncertainty or pain with every update, though. I would never use one outside of a hobby as things currently stand.
- jawngee 10y ago
  I use mine every day for work. If you build using Clover only, you can upgrade as soon as Nvidia releases new web drivers (for point updates) straight through the App Store. The only issue is SceneKit based apps.
  - edko 10y ago
    Do you know if SceneKit apps also fail if you only use the integrated GPU?
  - Baeocystin 10y ago
    Sounds like things have improved since I last built one. I personally still wouldn't use something with 'works except for...', but I'm glad it's working for you. And I hope the hackintosh community can push Apple to release something more oriented to the tech crowd.
jawngee 10y ago
My main desktop is a hackintosh. It took maybe an afternoon to build, and then a few more hours to get running. It's been running solid ever since. Everything works (thunderbolt 3, usb 3, sound, airdrop, iMessage, handoff, etc) except you can't use apps that use SceneKit. So iBooks, Xcode instruments and SceneKit editor don't work. You can get them to work, by using Apple's drivers, but its a pita. Some people claim the new nvidia pascal drivers work for SceneKit, but I've not upgraded to a 1080 yet so I can't confirm. This is my build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gwV6qk https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gwV6qk

copperx 10y ago

Will you be able easily upgrade OS X? for either point updates or major versions? The last time I built a hackintosh (5 years ago), you had to go through kext hell that took about one day of hacking. I just gave up and bought a Mac.

maksimum 10y ago
Sometimes it's easy, sometimes Apple breaks drivers. In general I just wait for tonymac to tell me... I really should use his affiliate links or donate. I've upgraded the same 2010 hardware from 10.6 to 10.12. Installed a GTX 1060 and now I have a 4k-capable machine. You couldn't really do that (either install 10.12 or drive 4k) with a 2010 mac mini or imac, but you would have saved yourself the cummulative ~2 weeks of installation I've put into this over the years.
fatratchet 10y ago
It's really easy nowadays (if you have the right hardware), you can directly install the official combo update and then it usually only requires one extra reboot to update the graphics driver and possibly repatch sound driver for me, but that whole thing is automated and takes 2 mins extra for every point update every 2 months. I've been running a 4790k + 980Ti since 10.9 came out, always kept it at the newest release and it's given me much less trouble than Windows in that timeframe. As long as you have the typical well supported desktop hardware it works really well (intel + nvidia or select amd cards), only if you want it on a laptop or officially unsupported hardware then it quickly becomes a giant pain.