# Ye Old Hackintosh vs Mac Tower Debate



## XiphiasAudio (May 31, 2016)

Greetings and Salutations fellow audio professionals.

My dilemma is that my iMac 2011 is graphically spazzing and wearing out. Since it can't be fixed without downgrading, crossgrading and being a bit of a tosspot, SO I've decided to upgrade my complete rig from scratch.

I'm wanting to build a top tier Hackintosh for around $3k AUD (which is quite doable).

I've been looking around the forums and I haven't found anything solid on whether some of the modern rigs are doing quite well with runnings Logic etc etc.... whether you've had any major issues and whether you can fix even minor ones. Eg: Not being able to use more than one Hard Drive etc.. etc....

Would love to hear some pros/cons to using a Hackintosh for running beast plugins.

Cheers,
Rowan


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## Prockamanisc (May 31, 2016)

I dealt with this issue a little over a year ago. Lots of conversaions and back-and-forths. I had it all spec'd out, but eventually decided to buy a souped-up Mac Mini and run Cubase on and build a PC Slave. It was definitely the right avenue. 

Dealing with constant breakdowns in your software and not being certain if you can upgrade are very risky when you have to work fast. There's no room for those kinds of errors.


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## XiphiasAudio (May 31, 2016)

Prockamanisc said:


> I dealt with this issue a little over a year ago. Lots of conversaions and back-and-forths. I had it all spec'd out, but eventually decided to buy a souped-up Mac Mini and run Cubase on and build a PC Slave. It was definitely the right avenue.
> 
> Dealing with constant breakdowns in your software and not being certain if you can upgrade are very risky when you have to work fast. There's no room for those kinds of errors.



And that's what I'm afraid of....

Still can't justify the $10k of buying a mac pro that 100% cannot be upgraded/modified.


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## Prockamanisc (May 31, 2016)

1) How hard are you going to run this thing? If it's not too intense, you could just get a Mac Pro. If you're like me and need 8TB of SSD, then I needed to build my own slave. My slave is completely maxed out to an almost unimaginable level and it cost the same as a _baseline_ Mac Pro. If I built it today it would be cheaper because prices came down.

2) What kinds of stuff will you use it for? (VSTs, plugins, audio, mixing, etc). If VSTs, then build a slave and get a Mini (or a laptop, if that suits your workflow). If it's just mixing, then get a Pro.

3) What's your DAW? I'm guessing it's Logic. If it's something else, you can give some serious consideration as to whether or not you actually _need_ a Mac. I thought about it long and hard. The truth is, I just like Macs.

4) Are you good with computers? Like, if this thing breaks down (no...._when_ this thing breaks down) can you fix it yourself? I didn't have the patience. I'd rather think about music, not troubleshooting...even though that's inevitably part of the game.

5) Is your interface compatible with PCs? Mine is an Apollo thunderbolt and it is not compatible.


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## Prockamanisc (May 31, 2016)

XiphiasAudio said:


> 10k of buying a mac pro that 100% cannot be upgraded/modified


I would get the cheaper option, which starts at $3K (US Dollar), upgrade to the 6-core processor (an extra $500). Then I would purchase my own RAM and SSD and install it, since it can be upgraded to 128GB RAM, and add in an extra 512GB M.2 drive for my project drive, or use the original 256GB as the OS drive (or vice versa, if you have a lot of programs to install). It's not insanely expensive, it's just not a lot of added value for a 2-3x jump in price over the Mac Mini or any other decent computer.

RAM:
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mem...&gclid=CKWjhILihc0CFVE0aQodvVAOtw#1866-memory

SSD:
Samsung 950 Pro


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## XiphiasAudio (May 31, 2016)

Prockamanisc said:


> 1) How hard are you going to run this thing? If it's not too intense, you could just get a Mac Pro. If you're like me and need 8TB of SSD, then I needed to build my own slave. My slave is completely maxed out to an almost unimaginable level and it cost the same as a _baseline_ Mac Pro. If I built it today it would be cheaper because prices came down.
> 
> 2) What kinds of stuff will you use it for? (VSTs, plugins, audio, mixing, etc). If VSTs, then build a slave and get a Mini (or a laptop, if that suits your workflow). If it's just mixing, then get a Pro.
> 
> ...



1. Running it exponentially hard. I'm future proofing. At the moment just running Logic with Hollywood orchestra but have plans to get LASS + Berlin strings, VSL etc... when I can afford/research it.

2. As above, I'm basically doing FULL orchestral mockups and want to get professional sounds out of my rig. Running it pretty hard.

3. I'm too far into Logic to start learning Cubase + DP, I'd just rather the mac. It's intuitive and comes with everything I need mixing wise etc... and I have spent the last 5 years learning and would hate to start again from scratch honestly.

4. I am pretty good with computers, I've researched a bunch on setting up a hackintosh and I think I could quite easily get it working but I'm just not sure that no matter how nerdy one may be, if a patch isn't out for your bug, you're screwed.

5. Yup. Runs firewire though but I have the adaptor.

I've heard that you can get a Mac Pro tower (pre trash can) and you can customize it a lot easier and even get yourself with 6-8 cores? Have you heard much on that topic? That would be an option and I'm 100% sure that I would be getting a PC slave in the future as well just for added processing power running VE Pro.

Just trying to weigh my options.

You mentioned being able to customize the trash can yourself? Is that easy to do? I've heard RAM is easy enough but everything else is just touchy as anything.


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## Prockamanisc (May 31, 2016)

1/2) Future-proofing, to me, means both a Mac and a Slave. You simply won't be able to afford a Mac that will do what you want it to do (and also they don't exist, even at their highest specs). Good thing is, you don't have to buy them both at once. For serious work a Slave would be great. Beware, though, that it took me almost a year to get my slave and my template totally up and running (because I'm methodical, slow, dumb, and constantly got busy with gigs). I got a quad-core Mac Mini 2012 for about $800 or so, then installed RAM and dual SSDs for an extra thousand (it would be much less than that now, since that was almost 2 years ago). It works very well, and I can run it reasonably hard. Now that I have a Slave I'm basically invincible. There's absolutely no strain on the Mini, partly because I use UAD plugins, which processes on its own device (I have a total of 16 cores of processing in my studio). When I can afford it, I'm going to upgrade to a Mac Pro, but there's really no need as of yet, the Mini is doing great things.

3) Totally understood. I've learned 7 DAWs in the past 5 years, and thinking about learning a new one makes me anxious.

4) Even still, I feel very good that I didn't go with the Hackintosh option. Being able to turn stuff on and have it work is kind of, pretty, extremely important.

A Mac Tower could be a good idea to hold you over for a few years. I would do this strategy: 1) get a placeholder Mac, 2) build a slave when that gets overworked, 3) replace the placeholder when you can afford it, or when it gets old (and hope that you can afford it). The key thing that I can say outright: Slaves are great, because we can make them very powerful for very cheap. Also, consider getting a laptop, since that would have pragmatic use after it's use as a studio computer is finished.

It's very easy to replace the RAM and the SSDs (of which you can have 2 in there), but upgrading the processor is much harder, although still possible.


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## Ashermusic (Jun 1, 2016)

From what I have seen with my Logic Pro clients, Hackintoshes work fine....until they don't. Then it is a world of hurt.


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## garyhiebner (Jun 1, 2016)

I had a Hackintosh working great until it didn't and yeah it completely halted me for a week sorting it out. The idea is great that you can build an awesome PC and run Mac OS X on it, but very scary when it breaks.


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## JohnG (Jun 1, 2016)

Hackintosh = nothing but problems

Refurbished genuine Mac = works


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## NYC Composer (Jun 1, 2016)

Those 12 core 3.46 ghz 2009 and up Mac Pro cheese graters start around $2000 or so on eBay, have 4 internal drive slots (SATA 2 unfortunately), can expand to 128 gig of RAM, 4 pcie slots- only limitations are lack of Thunderbolt and SATA 2 drive slots. Everyone who goes that route seems deliriously happy.

I'm still happy-ish with my 2008 8 core and souped up Mini slave, but it's tempting.


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## JohnG (Jun 1, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> Everyone who goes that route seems deliriously happy.



not sure about the "delirious" part but yes -- happy as Larry (as the saying goes)


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## dgburns (Jun 1, 2016)

rant on-

I want Apple to get off their high horse and build us the machine we all want.The trash can is capable but oh so uncool.Gimme slots and internal expandability already.So uncool that such a currently high on the hog company will be so yesterday's news tomorrow if they don't smarten up.

remember Atari ? Apple will go the same way.We'll be left with Microsoft.

rant off-


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## XiphiasAudio (Jun 1, 2016)

I'm extremely tempted to upgrade a 2009 cheese grater and get myself a 6-8 or even 12 core.

Does it run El Capitan/Yosemite? (Currently on Yosemite but wouldn't mind having a look at El Capitan)


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## chimuelo (Jun 1, 2016)

Xeons with big cache make Macs at 3.5 as fast as a 4.4ghz slave.
Guys always whine about Apple prices but those CPUs were 16-1800 USD in the retail channels.


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## NYC Composer (Jun 1, 2016)

XiphiasAudio said:


> I'm extremely tempted to upgrade a 2009 cheese grater and get myself a 6-8 or even 12 core.
> 
> Does it run El Capitan/Yosemite? (Currently on Yosemite but wouldn't mind having a look at El Capitan)


According to Other World Computing (who sell the bessties) it is El Capitan-ready.

Pardon the OT, but I just had yet another experience with OWC which affirmed my belief that they're one of the best companies in the world. 3 A.M. online chat with them last night about a very old OWC drive whose brick power supply had gone bad, and they found the part for me in a few minutes and sent me a link. 5 minutes later, I had the part ordered. Simply outstanding service.

(Is there really a saying "happy as Larry"? Ewwww. Anyway, would you settle for "very" happy?)


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## XiphiasAudio (Jun 1, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> According to Other World Computing (who sell the bessties) it is El Capitan-ready.
> 
> Pardon the OT, but I just had yet another experience with OWC which affirmed my belief that they're one of the best companies in the world. 3 A.M. online chat with them last night about a very old OWC drive whose brick power supply had gone bad, and they found the part for me in a few minutes and sent me a link. 5 minutes later, I had the part ordered. Simply outstanding service.
> 
> (Is there really a saying "happy as Larry"? Ewwww. Anyway, would you settle for "very" happy?)



https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Apple-Systems/Used/Mac-Pro

Never knew this ^ existed.... Is this in American dollars?

12 core 32 gig ram 3.33ghz beast of a mac for $2.5k USD? A lot better than the stupid Trash cans!


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## JohnG (Jun 2, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> (Is there really a saying "happy as Larry"?



Yes. A bit antique, but it's a UK-ism.


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## jason.d (Jun 2, 2016)

I had a hackintosh once. It was pretty fun and all but drivers were ALWAYS an issue. There will always be something that doesn't work.

Sometimes certain apps would crash or just not work, making me question the entire integrity of the machine. Anytime I had an error, I always asked myself "is this happening because it's not a real Mac" that question alone drove me crazy day by day and I eventually decided to pony up the cash and buy a Mac Pro (tower style)


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## dnegovan (Jun 3, 2016)

I currently run a hackintosh and I love it even though I have had some pretty big headaches. It's a personal choice. There were times where I cursed myself for building it to save a few bucks, and others where I couldn't imagine having it any other way because of the flexibility and cost savings. I built it to run Mavericks and haven't found any reason to update to a newer OS, but when I do I'll expect to spend a bunch of time fiddling with it and that's ok with me. It's a known quantity and I think the pros have outweighed the cons so far. Definitely requires some patience and a clone or clones of your working OS drive are clutch. I also keep an extra motherboard around just because I had one die in the middle of a project once.


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## JohnG (Jun 3, 2016)

@dnegovan -- good for you but personally I'd rather shoot myself.


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## mat1 (Jun 11, 2016)

Running a 5960x hackintosh here. Generally happy but didn't manage to get sleep or USB3 working correctly, it can be done but I don't want to mess with it. This was the drawback going with an untested setup at the time. Everything else is the same.

All in I paid £2000. In hindsight I should have gone with a cheaper system that worked 100% with a cheaper processor. 

It benchmarks the same as the 12core dustbins for £5000 and higher than the £3500 12core cheesegraters.


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## wolf (Jun 11, 2016)

one of my machines is a Hackintosh and it has been running great since early 2012. I had a guy build it for me who runs a small shop on the side. His support is great and he has helped me with every system update and anything else that came up - like getting sleep mode and USB3 to work. He's still at it; works out of LA. PM me for his contact info. he's in LA. (and I'm not affiliated; just a happy customer)


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## samphony (Jun 11, 2016)

Sorry


XiphiasAudio said:


> https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Apple-Systems/Used/Mac-Pro
> 
> Never knew this ^ existed.... Is this in American dollars?
> 
> 12 core 32 gig ram 3.33ghz beast of a mac for $2.5k USD? A lot better than the stupid Trash cans!


to say this but the trashcan was a great upgrade for me. It's still like I said it when I had my cheese crater. mac pros are the best macs I have had. No issues since 9 years.


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## rgames (Jun 11, 2016)

One thing to keep in mind is that DAW performance tends to be related more to clock speed than number of cores. The reason the high-core-count Xeons tend not to do well as DAWs is becsuse those chips have significantly lower clock speeds.

All those cores are great for rendering video but the drop in clock speed is a bummer for DAW use.

I'd make sure you take a look at some DAW-specific benchmarks before drawing any conclusions.

rgames


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## 100khz (Jun 12, 2016)

as a hachintosh users, things which caused problem to me are - graphics drivers, trim support for drives, bluetooth for mouse etc, sleep and wake issues, usb 3 port drivers. Now if you are able to resolve these issues, on OS upgrades some of them may pop up again, inevitably. If you are new to hachintosh world, you can become frustrated. But on the other hand, its fun doing this too. I have a very stable hachintosh which always fails on some known aspects of os updates and makes me spend from few hours to 2 days resolving the issue, writing at forums, reading etc. Verdict - buy real mac machine or make a hachintosh stable and then do not upgrade it frequently. Stay with it and if you wish to update or upgrade, have good amount of time and patience handy.

One minor advantage with mac OS based slave is the OS portability. Timemachine or clone transfer of data to new/different/upgraded mac machine is breeze and you save hours of effort reinstalling stuff on new/different PC system.


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## dgburns (Jun 12, 2016)

I have alot of geek respect for those of you that have functional hackintoshs.I so want to try going down the route,but to be honest,I have a hard enough time just keeping mac /daw / plugs / my brain on top of the mac ecosystem as it is.

guess I'm just chicken,or know my limits.

Sure I'll turn off SIP,boot into single user mode,hack Logic Pro deeply,run terminal code,run macros and applescript.But going offroad down the Kext road on a non mac.(chicken clucking sounds coming from my mouth,and I'm doing the chicken dance)

but smarting a bit from yooz guyz who saved money on the 'puter.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jun 12, 2016)

> One thing to keep in mind is that DAW performance tends to be related more to clock speed than number of cores



That may be true on Windows, Richard, but I'm pretty sure that the load gets distributed among the cores on Mac OS X (depending on the DAW's software engineering). Without going into details, you can set up Logic Pro X differently to spread the load among the cores - as opposed to spiking a single core. And Vienna Ensemble Pro has always been great at distributing the load.

I'm certainly open to being proven wrong, but my whole understanding of how this works would be undermined if I am!


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## rgames (Jun 13, 2016)

As I said, make sure you look at the benchmarks that are specific to what you're doing. It might be slightly different on Mac but in my experience it's still clock speed that matters most. PCs distribute the load evenly as well.

Here's an example: my i5 2500k and i7 4930k are both clocked at 4.4 GHz and both stream the same number of voices. Both make use of all cores (4 for the i5 2500k and 6 for the i7 4930k) and neither is anywhere close to max CPU.

I just got an i7 6700k, four cores but I can clock it at 4.6 GHz. I'm still running the benchmarks but so far it's giving at least 20% - 40% more voices than the 2500k or 4930k.

So a 50% increase in number of cores produces no effect but a 4.5% increase in clock speed makes a huge difference. There are certainly other factors but that's a pretty hard trend to explain away.

rgames


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## XiphiasAudio (Jun 14, 2016)

rgames said:


> As I said, make sure you look at the benchmarks that are specific to what you're doing. It might be slightly different on Mac but in my experience it's still clock speed that matters most. PCs distribute the load evenly as well.
> 
> Here's an example: my i5 2500k and i7 4930k are both clocked at 4.4 GHz and both stream the same number of voices. Both make use of all cores (4 for the i5 2500k and 6 for the i7 4930k) and neither is anywhere close to max CPU.
> 
> ...



That's fascinating actually. Any chance you can/ already have done something like this: 

Would be interested in seeing the difference between a highly overclocked i7 vs a dual quad core low-end customized mac pro.


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## XiphiasAudio (Jun 14, 2016)

Alright. Well I've gone and bought myself TWO dual quad core 2.8ghz 2008 Mac Pro's which I will upgrade the CPU in one to the dual 3.2ghz X5482's. Max out the Ram on both (either 32gb or 64 not sure just yet depending on research) and FINALLY get myself VE Pro.

Also going to keep my iMac 2011 running Yosemite but I'll revert it back to Mavericks and get them all running Mavericks.

Excluding VE Pro, this build will cost me.... Around about $1700 AUD for 2x Maxed out 2008 Mac Pros + 2 LCD Screens. ALL FROM GUMTREE!! (Aussie equivalent of Craigslist)

Is there any major difference between the 2008 Mac Pro model and the 2010? Just that I've noticed that you can deck them out a lot better with bigger CPU etc...

Hopefully will be happy with this. Would love to hear your opinion whether I've done the right thing.

Does anyone know of a keyboard switcher where I can plug into all three computers and switch to whichever one I want to use? Or is that a custom sort of thing that I'd have to engineer myself?
Thanks a bunch guys for your help 

Cheers!
Row


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## zolhof (Jun 14, 2016)

XiphiasAudio said:


> Does anyone know of a keyboard switcher where I can plug into all three computers and switch to whichever one I want to use? Or is that a custom sort of thing that I'd have to engineer myself?



Remote desktop is your friend.


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## rgames (Jun 14, 2016)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> I'm certainly open to being proven wrong, but my whole understanding of how this works would be undermined if I am!


Here's some more info hot off the benchmark: I underclocked the 6700k CPU to see the effect of speed for a four-core processor. At lower latencies (256 and below), LASS and Samplemodeling give about 3x more voices at 4.6 GHz than at 3.0 GHz (typical Xeon speed). PLAY gave about 1.5x more voices at 4.6 GHz than at 3.0 GHz. Omnisphere gives about 13x more voices at 4.6 GHz than at 3.0 GHz.

At high latencies (512-1024 combined sound card + VE Pro) the differences are much smaller: 1.5x - 1.9x for all of them. Still, that's almost a factor of two difference...

In fact, I couldn't get LASS or Samplemodeling to play anything without pops at a buffer of 96+96 (sound card + VE Pro) at 3.0 GHz. At 4.6 GHz, though, LASS gave 526 voices and Samplemodeling squeaked out 31. So, technically, LASS and Samplemodeling gave infinitely more voices at 4.6 GHz than at 3.0 GHz.

How many more cores would you need to add to get 13x more voices in Omnisphere or 2x more voices in LASS? I don't think you can get there. But, to be clear, I've not seen any data on it.

rgames


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jun 14, 2016)

As zolhof says, it's built into Mac OS X. Shift/Command K from the Finder (as long as Screen Sharing is enabled on your slave computers in the Sharing control panel). 
You can use one Desktop for each computer and go to each one with a command (I use a Magic Trackpad for that).

The slave computers won't be as responsive as the main one, but it's perfectly usable if they're sample slaves.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jun 14, 2016)

Richard, you'd expect 4.6 vs. 3GHz to make a difference. But with Macs it's the processor generations and number of cores that you have to evaluate, because the clock speeds are that radically difference between models.

You could easily make a single core spike audibly in previous versions of Logic, and then with trickery you could route things to distribute the load across cores and not have a problem. VE Pro has always done that automatically.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jun 14, 2016)

And I agree 100% about only looking at relevant specs.


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## XiphiasAudio (Jun 15, 2016)

zolhof said:


> Remote desktop is your friend.



Remote desktop from how I've used it in the past has always been sluggish and annoying. I'll look into it though. Any good recommendations?


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## zolhof (Jun 15, 2016)

XiphiasAudio said:


> Remote desktop from how I've used it in the past has always been sluggish and annoying. I'll look into it though. Any good recommendations?



Sorry to hear about that, I personally never had any issues. ShareMouse works great: http://www.keyboard-and-mouse-sharing.com


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## ricren (Jun 15, 2016)

Hackintosh here. I7 4790K / 32Ram / 4xSSD.

One year old build. Everything’s working, not a single problem. It’s also dual boot: Windows 10 with Digital Performer installed on both OS so I can compare performance. On MacOS DP works much better. On the other hand Pro Tools 12.5 is working better on W10.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Jun 16, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> Those 12 core 3.46 ghz 2009 and up Mac Pro cheese graters start around $2000 or so on eBay, have 4 internal drive slots (SATA 2 unfortunately), can expand to 128 gig of RAM, 4 pcie slots- only limitations are lack of Thunderbolt and SATA 2 drive slots. Everyone who goes that route seems deliriously happy.
> 
> I'm still happy-ish with my 2008 8 core and souped up Mini slave, but it's tempting.


I notice you have shared the specs. Just to add to this, you can buy SATA3 cards and put up to 3 of them in a Mac Pro 2009-2010 machine, So this would give you a number of SSDs you can put in the ODD bay and then you can get splitters for the SATA power connecters. 

There are so many options with the Tower Mac Pros. I dropped £2K on a 12-Core 2012 with a AMD 5770, 12GB of RAM and quickly moved that to 32GB with AMD 7950 Sapphire and now on 64GB.

I now have a 64GB, triple SSD and 4 HDD Mac Pro with 12 Cores and I can even take my CPUs to 3.46GHz (E5690).
I also have a Z97 ASUS with i7 4770 32GB of RAM dual SSD and a 4TB drive WD Black for my other samples. As a slave running on VEP 5. A slave is certainly a must from my perspective. That way you can have a fully kitted out Mac Pro and you can focus on the Slave for the customisations and future tech upgrades like TB3, PCIe versions, nVMe.. etc. I still have plenty of room in the slave for more SSDs and could put a couple more in the Pro also.

You decide.. :D


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## composerguy78 (Jun 17, 2016)

I have been using a hackintosh for the past three years and it has been really great. However, when it comes to upgrade and achieve full functionality - like sleeping, iMessage etc to work, it is tricky. There will be lots of downtime and stress. Also, in my experience the community is dwindling. These days when I post on tonymac86.com I barely get any replies. I used to get a ton, perhaps the community has moved elsewhere but I dont' really understand the other forums to be honest. 

In essence, I recommend that anyone going the hackintosh route these days be somebody that is passionate about computing, not somebody looking to save a ton on their next machine. 

Are you excited about the thought of building a machine, are you excited to learn how to tweak it and look for drivers etc and hack the machine to get it work? If that terrifies you then I recommend avoiding it. If you are up for the challenge then consider it, if you geniunely excited then go for it. But read up - you can't just buy a Dell and make it run OS X, but I expect you know that. 

That's my two cents. It's also a note to self as, I am still on the fence about the next machine, I'm not sure I will go the hack route again, but I just might.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Jun 17, 2016)

composerguy78 said:


> I have been using a hackintosh for the past three years and it has been really great. However, when it comes to upgrade and achieve full functionality - like sleeping, iMessage etc to work, it is tricky. There will be lots of downtime and stress. Also, in my experience the community is dwindling. These days when I post on tonymac86.com I barely get any replies. I used to get a ton, perhaps the community has moved elsewhere but I dont' really understand the other forums to be honest.
> 
> In essence, I recommend that anyone going the hackintosh route these days be somebody that is passionate about computing, not somebody looking to save a ton on their next machine.
> 
> ...




I think this is very good advice Composerguy78. I have built 4 Hackintoshes and it was then that I moved to my Mac Pro. I also had a 2011 MBP that I got from University while studying Music for Media. Your points are solid and precise, because I am passionate about computing and I had a person who was not, who needed me to hold his hand all the way through. So yes, knowing the hardware and the problem solving skills are something you definitely need. And getting a hack to save money does not make sense either. Since you could pay out more trying to get your hack working from those who charge for their help.

I started on Hacks and soon realised that for professional workflow and peace of mind, getting the real deal would be a better option long term. Hence the move to Master and Slave. This allows me to run the best of both worlds. And some applications work better on OS X, where as others do on Windows.


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## composerguy78 (Jun 17, 2016)

Thanks very much Shad0wLandsUK! I appreciate it. I'm nuts about computers and although I'm very techy, I really find the world of hacking a hackintosh really challenging sometimes. I get the basics of it no problem but then in just a few missteps I feel like I know nothing!

I have spent so much time dealing with the hackintosh that I wonder if it has really made financial sense when considering how many man hours (just me) I have spent tinkering with it!


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Jun 17, 2016)

composerguy78 said:


> Thanks very much Shad0wLandsUK! I appreciate it. I'm nuts about computers and although I'm very techy, I really find the world of hacking a hackintosh really challenging sometimes. I get the basics of it no problem but then in just a few missteps I feel like I know nothing!
> 
> I have spent so much time dealing with the hackintosh that I wonder if it has really made financial sense when considering how many man hours (just me) I have spent tinkering with it!



Yeah I know just what you mean. I was part of the community for about 4 years and I have to say that I learned a huge amount. Fortunately I was friends with a couple of guys who were well versed in it all. One was a PHP developer as well, so he knew his stuff and still does. Also for me the time was not wasted at all, since I work in IT and the experience has hugely helped me. Gives me plenty for my CV


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## JaikumarS (Sep 12, 2017)

Prockamanisc said:


> 1) How hard are you going to run this thing? If it's not too intense, you could just get a Mac Pro. If you're like me and need 8TB of SSD, then I needed to build my own slave. My slave is completely maxed out to an almost unimaginable level and it cost the same as a _baseline_ Mac Pro. If I built it today it would be cheaper because prices came down.
> 
> 2) What kinds of stuff will you use it for? (VSTs, plugins, audio, mixing, etc). If VSTs, then build a slave and get a Mini (or a laptop, if that suits your workflow). If it's just mixing, then get a Pro.
> 
> ...




Hello there...
Have you had any issues while using Cubase 9 on a Mac Pro - Sierra? Does anyone have the benchmark for Realtime performance of Cubase Pro 9 on a Mac Pro - 8 core, 64GB RAM, Intel Xeon E5 3.0 GHz ?

I've seen on YouTube that the Composers Daniel James, Ashton Gleckman and Trevor Morris are using Cubase on a Mac Pro. I've been a Mac user for the past 10 years and all my Virtual Instruments and Plugins are Mac based and do not want to move to PC.

So planning to use Mac Pro as my master and a 12 core 128 GB RAM PC for VEPro 6.

Existing -
Macbook Pro 2010 - Video Slave
Mac mini 2012 - Print Rig - PT 10.3HD



Thanks
_JS


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Sep 14, 2017)

composerguy78 said:


> Thanks very much Shad0wLandsUK! I appreciate it. I'm nuts about computers and although I'm very techy, I really find the world of hacking a hackintosh really challenging sometimes. I get the basics of it no problem but then in just a few missteps I feel like I know nothing!
> 
> I have spent so much time dealing with the hackintosh that I wonder if it has really made financial sense when considering how many man hours (just me) I have spent tinkering with it!


Turned my i7 4770K, 32GB RAM and ASUS Maximus Formula VI back into a Hackintosh :D

Wanted to test the performance of Cubase Pro 9 and see if the results they are claim are really true.
I will be posting more here with some links soon, when I have fully tested it all out.

Going to be performing the tests on:

MacBook Pro Early 2011 8GB RAM - macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and Windows 10 Creators Update
Mac Pro 2012 64GB RAM - macOS Sierra 10.12.6, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 Creators Update
Hackintosh i7 32GB RAM - macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and Windows 10 Creators Update (Clover build with full
system made compatible on macOS)


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## garyhiebner (Sep 15, 2017)

I'm thinking of building up a Hackintosh Desktop next. I currently got an HP Probbok running as a Hackintosh, and so far not too bad.

I was wanting to build a PC Slave to go with my Macbook pro, but I think I'm going to try the Hackintosh route, and if doesnt go according to plan. I can still turn it into a PC Slave. But the goals is to have a single machine running Logic and VEP on the same machine. The nice thing about hackintosh is you not confirmed by Apples build which are less user friendly.


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