Any Successful Hackintosh Builders Here?

[steveroberts]

Friends,

My mid-2011 i7 iMac is near retirement. Thus, I'm looking at replacement possibilities.

I've toyed with the idea of a Hackintosh as the power/price ratio and upgradability is good. I'm not intimidated by purchasing parts and building the physical computer, but, I'm somewhat squeamish about the drivers and setup.

I'm looking to run High Sierra or Mojave, and I do lots of audio and video work, which could be a factor here. Budget is about $1500.

I was hoping to find a local hand-holder to assist with the process (as opposed to the several online resource web communities), but so far, no takers.

If you are a novice (like me) who's had experience, good or bad, I'd be interested in encouragement or discouragement.

Many thanks in advance,

SR

[sekker]

I’m a past builder, and it was fun each time. Took me a weekend to go from parts to booting machine.

But I wonder whether a refurb 2017 5k iMac from our sponsor might be better - a terrific bang/buck.

[clay]

I embarked on a similar quest about 5 years ago. I had a 2013 Mac Pro trashcan. Worked well for me, but I longed for more flexibility with storage and other options. (I, too, do a lot of audio and video work, so mass storage is always a consideration). I researched on TonyMacX86.com and other sites. Felt like I had a solid plan to move forward with. Purchased my parts, and put everything together.

Putting the parts together was pretty straightforward. Getting the OS installed with all the various software "hacks" to get all the hardware working was a challenge. Took several days of trying things, reading forums, etc. Not straightforward at all.

Finally got it working, and it worked pretty well, with the usual caveats (no iMessage, wouldn't reliably sleep/wake, etc). Was a powerful machine, good value compared to the Mac, etc. Worked great for about 6 months, and then started having some random issues. Big hassle as it was my primary work machine. A week of banging head against my desk, etc. Eventually tracing the issues to a bad RAM stick.

I wouldn't rely on a Hack as a main/only machine. Too much of a risk. No real support. You're on your own when any issues arise. "But there are forums for that, just post your questions there and tons of people will help" you might say. But the reality is that each situation is unique (software and hardware) and for those really tough issues you are not likely to get an answer. I am aware that on the software side some things are now a bit easier than when I was doing it, but there are still lots of ways things can present hassles.

Lots of folks will be OK with the tradeoffs, but just be aware of the reality!

I may put together a hobby machine Hack at some point, but I've learned my lesson :-)

[RAMd®d]

but I've learned my lesson


LOL.

I thought about trying my hand, but after doing a modicum of research, I realized the novelty would were off quickly, and some people's definition of 'it's not that bad' did not come even close to mine.

I'm loathe to update a Mac. I don't know that I could bring myself to live through more than one on a Hak.

"It's not that bad."

That's fine. I'll stick with OEM kit.

[bobinmurphy]

I'm started playing with it but haven't achieved any success yet. My goal is to get a Snow Leopard system running since I have some old apps that I occasionally need to run and my old Mac HW is slowly dying. I'm taking a completely different approach though and that may be the source of my problems. What I'd like to do is get it running in a Virtual environment on my NetBSD system using NVMM (which is pretty new but seems very robust). What I keep running into is that many of the on-line guides have links to hacks and tools that are now dead, even on TonyMacX86.

[anonymouse1]

I’ve done it, and ran a Hac for about 4 years as my primary machine.

It’s a time for money trade off. You have to build the machine, trouble shoot it until it boots, then go through steps to install MacOS on it. Then, every time you upgrade to a new version of MacOS, more hassles. Unless you put the stuff that boots you into MacOS on a separate drive, it can be tricky using disk utilities.

It’s definitely doable, and not that hard. But for me, and I did one of the vanilla installations, it was a significant time suck. Compared to my current 2010 Mac Pro, it easily took 3 times as much time and effort in maintenance. Was that worth th $1,000 I saved? At the time, yes. Over time, no.

[Lux Interior]

Yes.

Depending what you mean by successful.

It is not for the squeamish, the lazy, and those who lack attention to detail. It is an effort, a "labor of love" perhaps.

It can be fun. It can be frustration. Often at the same time.

I have built two. One about 7-8 years ago that was used as a dedicated HTPC. The latest I built last year and it is my main Mac. I built that one because I was tired of waiting for Apple to update the iMac to the latest CPUs. They pretty much came out just as I was building my Hack, but I was committed.

If you are going to go this route, I highly recommend that you follow as closely as possible a successful build on tonymac. That way, if you run into trouble, there will likely be some help available.

I followed this build:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/success-gigabyte-designare-z390-thunderbolt-3-i7-9700k-amd-rx-580.267551/ >1200 pages of posts to this thread. The builder responds often and provides a lot of help. Almost too much info. I certainly have not read all of the posts. I think there were 700 pages when I built mine.

I have yet to get bluetooth working, but I haven't really put much effort into it. The only thing I'm missing w/o BT is unlock using Apple watch (and I do miss that!). Strangely, it was working when I had the hack on my workbench, but stopped sometime between there and its final resting place. My wireless mouse & keyboard are Logitech, so I don't need it for that.

Everything else (that I use) works. YMMV.

I have the total price somewhere, but I think it's at home. Pretty sure it was between $2000-$1500.

[JoeH]

Built one a couple years ago, it is still my main system with it connected to my 27" 2009 iMac for display. Getting the main functions to work was relatively easy. But for instance, though there are patches to get sound working on the logic board I chose I punted and added an USB to audio dongle instead.

Another issue is problems with video after waking from full sleep under Sierra. Workaround is to not go into full sleep, or upgrade to High Sierra.

If your goal was to put together a system to support an older OS like Snow Leopard or Mavericks, I would not suggest it. Many of the utilities needed were done by people who have moved on, and as bobinmurphy posted there area lot of dead links and loss of knowledge on the fiddly details involved. But more recent OS versions should be okay.

Would I do it again? Ask me in another 2-3 years when this system is coming up on needing replacement. I had fun, worked through some frustrating bits, and will see how upgrading goes in a few months when I go to High Sierra or Mojave. I would not recommend as an only "Mac", I have my MBP to handle the functions Apple has tied to "genuine" Apple hardware. There are hacks to handle most of those, but get too fiddly for my taste.

[MrNoBody]

Last I built was an i5-3570K 3.4GHz; now retired.
Main Mac is now a heavily upgraded cMP 5,1.
Also use a 13" MBP 2012NR.
(not doing much photo/vid stuff)

[jdc]

I have a 2014 iMac -- Ive struggled with the uprade path as well. Looked at NUCs, looked at mini ATX builds, Ive read many sites, lots of videos.

Ive never built (or really even used) a PC or windows -- but not afraid of the techy part.

But the wierd thing is -- the price is the part that actually keeps killing me.

However I configure it -- Its always over $1000 -- closer to $1300. Basics -- PCIe drive, 32 GB ram, 8 GB VRAM, Tbolt 3, etc.

And I still need a screen. I would want 4K minimum (coming from a 5K iMac) -- and I certainly wouldnt want the chepaest no-name model you can buy. I would want the same color capabilities as an iMac. IPS. 500 nits. Adobe RGB, etc. So at least $400 more.

Problem is... Im right back to a nice 27" iMac price... and I still havnet put it together....