# Hackintosh build advice



## SomeGuy (Feb 24, 2020)

Looking into building a Hackintosh and plan on following this build: https://morgonaut.cloud/hackintosh/14-core-imacpro-killer-ultimate-hackintosh-build-2019-update/

*Main Components list*:
Intel Core i9-9900k
Gigabyte Z390 Designare
Sapphire PULSE RX 570 GPU (card I already have and hoping it will work?)

Currently running a 2009 Mac Pro 5,1 2 x 3.33 GHz 6-core intel Xeon, 64GB Ram w/ FireWire Apollo & UAD PCI cards. Unfortunately there is no budget to update to a new mac pro, so I’m looking to a Hackintosh as a sort of “bridge computer” that can run my current Firewire interface / PCI cards, but hopefully allow for expandability into Thunderbolt sometime in the future.

*Questions: *
- Will this system support 32GB Chips / Max 128GB? Intel and motherboard say they support it, but they all have caveats that I dont understand so unsure.
- What type of RAM chips / speed are recommended? Does it matter?
- Will I be able to run a Pre-Catalina Mac OS? Maybe even as far back as 10.12 or 10.13?
- How involved is it to update your OS on a Hackintosh? I'm not the type who needs to run the latest OS and will only update when software requires it, but updates are always an eventuality.
- I need FireWire for the time being. Any issues running a FireWire PCI card or should I get Thunderbolt adapters - TB3 to TB2, TB2 to FW?
- Case: Any recommendations on a good / quiet case?

Do you foresee any issues with this build or have any advice? This will be my first Hackintosh and I’m a bit concerned about stability, but I’ve heard many success stories so perhaps this isn’t a worry anymore? Budget wise this is really my only option so I’m really hoping it will work!


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## Thundercat (Feb 24, 2020)

Hi, I applaud your bravery! By your questions - please don’t take offense - you are not ready to build a hackintosh. There is much, much more to know. I have been researching for a couple weeks and I’m blown away at the depth of it all - and I’ve built a few computers myself.

I think you need to spend a lot more time digging into sites like hackintosh.com, insanelymac, and others. 

And yes, it can be a huge problem updating your OS if you haven’t hackintoshed it the right way...


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## Sarah Mancuso (Feb 24, 2020)

If the motherboard supports it, I wouldn't expect 32gb ram chips to be an issue. It's often recommended to start with just one stick of ram when installing the OS and put the rest of the ram in afterwards, though.

You can run older OS versions just fine. I'm not sure what the oldest OS version you can use with an i9-9900k is, but I'm fairly certain you should be able to do 10.12 or 10.13. My build is using 10.14.

The complexity of OS updates depends mainly on how "vanilla" your hackintosh install is. The r/hackintosh subreddit has a vanilla guide that's pretty informative. Different hackintosh communities have different schools of thought, but I strongly recommend leaving your System folder unmodified if at all possible, and not using tools like MultiBeast.

To do a system update, I generally just need to get the latest versions of Clover and any kext files that I've installed in the EFI partition, then run the system update normally. (I do this pretty rarely, though!) If you've modified the System folder or used patching tools like MultiBeast, it gets much more confusing to update and harder to troubleshoot problems because it's impossible to know exactly what's been changed.

If you're trying to get on the absolute latest as soon as it comes out, you might run into issues with kexts not having been updated for it yet, so it's worth staying a bit behind and occasionally checking a forum or reddit to see if anyone is having trouble with the new OS. Personally, even when I was using an iMac I preferred staying a bit behind and only updating occasionally, since I'm always hesitant to risk introducing new problems on a stable machine.

This should go without saying for any computer, but make sure you back up! Having a functioning bootable backup will take a lot of the stress and uncertainty away from dealing with updates. I use Carbon Copy Cloner for this.

For hackintoshes, you'll also want to keep a bootable USB stick handy with Clover and your kexts in a known-working configuration, so in case you mess anything up there you still have something you can bootload from.

Here's the build guide I loosely followed for mine:








Glasgood's macOS Mojave [SUCCESS][GUIDE] for Aorus Z390 Pro


GLASGOOD'S MOJAVE HACKINTOSH GUIDE For latest EFI for macOS Catalina and discussions, visit @AudioGod's ==> Aorus Pro Z390 Patched DSDT mini guide GIGABYTE AORUS PRO Z390 CREDITS & THANKS @MaLd0n His help with EFI configuration and DSDT CLOVER TEAM Slice, Kabyl, usr-sse2, jadran, Blackosx,...



www.insanelymac.com




I used an i9-9900k instead of the i7 used in their build, and it worked out perfectly.


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## Salorom (Feb 24, 2020)

I built mine in 2014 as a 2009 Mac Pro replacement. It went through several major OS updates and is rock solid. My next rig will definitely also be a Hackintosh.

While there are a few things to learn before you get to it, I would hardly suggest not to take the plunge. If you know how to build a computer and go with parts that work together, if you’re indeed ready to tinker a bit, then go for it.

The info is all over the place, I do second checking insanelymac. Best of luck!


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## Thundercat (Feb 24, 2020)

Please don't take my post as discouragement - only as a caution to get some learnin' in first. As Sarah said, there IS a lot to know, so go for it. Might not take more than a few hours of research, but I'm a few hours in and still trying to figure out what's the best route. I hear there's downsides to clover, that the other methods might be better in some situations, etc.

Thanks Sarah and Salarom for your input. Sarah, I'll be checking your build link. Thanks.


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## jcrosby (Feb 24, 2020)

Thundercat said:


> Hi, I applaud your bravery! By your questions - please don’t take offense - you are not ready to build a hackintosh. There is much, much more to know. I have been researching for a couple weeks and I’m blown away at the depth of it all - and I’ve built a few computers myself.
> 
> I think you need to spend a lot more time digging into sites like hackintosh.com, insanelymac, and others.
> 
> And yes, it can be a huge problem updating your OS if you haven’t hackintoshed it the right way...



Nonsense. It's not easy at first, but this belief that a hackintosh can break at any moment is silly. Most of the time someone's system breaks is because they didn't take the time to set it up correctly the first time. I learned this the first time around and resolved the issue in a weekend. Now the machine runs both the latest Mojave and High Sierra just fine. It's also as stable as my old MP. I leave it on for a week at a time during some projcts, solid as a rock..

The one caveat that is true is that if you're going to start with an older OS, then move to Mojave you'll have to do some research as Apple did change things in 10.14.4 and beyond to prepare for Catalina, and it did break a number systems, (but nothing that isn't fixable).

The same rule for hackintosh applies to any machine, always keep a working clone and install updates to the clone. Doing it any other way is just asking for torture if you're new to a hack... This gives you a fall back you can work form until you make any tweaks needed.

Since 10.14.4 and beyond did change some things my advice would be to either build it as Mojave, or build a working Mojave drive first, then pick up a spare drive and copy the EFI and install 10.13 on that. I'm running both with the same EFI folder. (But keep my drives separate because it's a bullet proof way to ensure avoiding headaches. No necessary, but recommended...) 

Also, until you know you've got identical working EFIs for both OS's I'd suggest pulling the other OS drive when tweaking the non-working one. If you change anything in the EFI on one but not the other there's always the chance you might have issues booting. (This is what hung me up the first time.) Once I had an EFI that worked for both I moved the other drive back in and the issue went away... Anyway after its working you should be able to dual boot from the same drive, I just prefer to keep them isolated..

I'd also recommend sticking with 10.13 as your oldest OS unless you rely on something very legacy that won't run after 10.12. You may very well have to build two different EFIs in order to run both, whereas having one EFI that works in 10.13 and 10.14 is a lot easier to keep track of...


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## Thundercat (Feb 24, 2020)

jcrosby said:


> Nonsense. It's not easy at first, but this belief that a hackintosh can break at any moment is silly. Most of the time someone's system breaks is because they didn't take the time to set it up correctly the first time. I learned this the first time around and resolved the issue in a weekend. Now the machine runs both the latest Mojave and High Sierra just fine.
> 
> The one caveat that is true is that if you're going to start with an older OS, then move to Mojave you'll have to do some research as Apple did change things in 10.14.4 and beyond to prepare for Catalina, and it did break a number systems, (but nothing that isn't fixable).
> 
> ...


OK, you clearly have not done a lot of digging...a LOT of people have a LOT of problems with Hackintoshs.

It is not "nonsense", but good try.

I can accept that you personally have not had a lot of trouble with yours. And that you know how to do it in such a way as to avoid problems.

But speaking as a computer trainer and tech for 30 years who's built tons of systems and troubleshot a ton, I can say, no, hackintosh are not "easy" systems to build.

And I would say that to anyone building one - especially someone who is asking the kinds of questions the OP is asking - questions that are easily answered with a little research. MANY folks have upgrade problems. MANY folks have a lot of trouble configuring them correctly. MANY folks have stability issues.

In any case, my point is not to argue with anyone here, but simply to say caveat emptor.

I think if you follow someone's exact working build, like Sarah's, or someone else's exact guide, then it can work out.

I would like for this forum to be a place where people respect others' opinions, even if they are contrary to what we believe. Saying "nonsense" is utter nonsense.

Mike


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## jcrosby (Feb 24, 2020)

Thundercat said:


> OK, you clearly have not done a lot of digging...a LOT of people have a LOT of problems with Hackintoshs.
> 
> It is not "nonsense", but good try.
> 
> ...


I'm just saying that reading without actually doing isn't going to get you anywhere... Yes you do want to make sure you pick a hardware profile that works, this is where you need to focus your research. However once you know you have a configuration many others are running you just need to get your hands dirty and jump in.

Why do I know this? because I did the same thing. I overanalyzed everything to death, and came to conclusion I was just putting off the inevitable. Once the machine was built it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I told myself it would be. Sure I made some mistakes, but you just have to jump in and start figuring them out...

As I said I did run into issues early on. that's when I had to move on to the asking for help phase... It was great going through that as I learned a lot about what makes a hackintosh a hackintosh than I thought I understood before, but didn't... It isn't painless, but it isn't worth giving yourself anxiety over either... If your config is known to work you'll get through it, it will just take patience, and most likely asking a bunch of questions...

The place you will want to spend time reading before doing anything is with an OS update. There've been some hiccups with Mojave so reading before updating is advised... If you plan on starting on 10.14.6, and sticking with Mojave, once it runs you'll be fine. (But always clone before updating anything just to be safe.) It's stable as a legit mac once everything is working...

If you use bluetooth you'll want to do some reading here. There aren't too many cards that work OOTB and they can be a bit pricey.

The biggest pieces of advice I'd offer are:

Clone before any OS updates, (*including* *dot updates*.)
Keep organized backups of your EFIs until you have one that works.
Always use a clone for updates so you always have a working system if something goes wrong.
Buy an extra cloning drive - one you leave alone except for backing up the current system, and a spare for installing updates.


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## robgb (Feb 24, 2020)

My son and I built a hackintosh several years ago. It wasn't hard at all.


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## Thundercat (Feb 24, 2020)

jcrosby said:


> I'm just saying that reading without actually doing isn't going to get you anywhere... Yes you do want to make sure you pick a hardware profile that works, this is where you need to focus your research. However once you know you have a configuration many others are running you just need to get your hands dirty and jump in.
> 
> Why do I know this? because I did the same thing. I overanalyzed everything to death, and came to conclusion I was just putting off the inevitable. Once the machine was built it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I told myself it would be. Sure I made some mistakes, but you just have to jump in and start figuring them out...
> 
> ...


Yes fair enough. I am not suggesting this is terribly "hard" - only that you need to do a certain amount of research first. I personally have been on several sites in the last two weeks, each of which claims to have the best way to do it, and warning about other methods. And I've seen lots of posts of successful builds too.

I think if you find a successful guide and follow it, you can get there. But with the built in issues that whoever made that guide will share, such as having hardware upgrade problems, or iMessage not working right, etc. Or if you're lucky, everything working.

In any case I'm not sure how this became about me - I'm just suggesting do your research. It's not like building a regular PC. Plan on spending time in forums troubleshooting, and as you even said, you spent an entire weekend fixing an issue. That's a lot of hours.

I'm all for doing a hackintosh. I am planning one soon. So thanks for the encouragement for me and everyone else.

Mike


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## Thundercat (Feb 24, 2020)

and one more thing - you guys who have built these things - your posts reek of expertise that took you a lot of hours to get. Even understanding what an EFI is, kexts, UEFI vs traditional bios chips - you took the time to learn this stuff. Kudos, but don't minimize this for newbies. And the paint by number approach is great, until it breaks, and then suddenly you actually have to know what it all means....just sayin'.


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## Thundercat (Feb 24, 2020)

By the way - legit question - is it crazy to plan for a 128GB RAM build or are the RAM prices still crazy expensive? I can't seem to find decent prices on RAM at the mo...


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## MarcelM (Feb 24, 2020)

iam in a hurry right now, but it will be very easy to build and get running.
iam gonna post two links (in german, but still...) which will get you a 100% running hackintosh.









Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE: fertiger Clover-EFI-Ordner zum Download - Hackintosh-Forum - Deine Anlaufstelle für Hackintosh & mehr...


Für Hackintosh-Konfigurationen mit Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE mit Intel Core i9, i7, i5 oder i3 und Radeon-RX-GPU (RX 580, Vega 56, Vega 64, RX 5700 XT, Radeon VII etc.) oder auch für den Betrieb ohne externe GPU (nur iGPU) habe ich Clover-EFI-Ordner…




www.hackintosh-forum.de












Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE: OpenCore-EFI-Ordner und Anleitung - Hackintosh-Forum - Deine Anlaufstelle für Hackintosh & mehr...


Für Hackintosh-Konfigurationen mit Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE mit Intel Core i9, i7, i5 oder i3 und Radeon-RX-GPU (RX 580, Vega 56, Vega 64, RX 5700 XT, Radeon VII etc.) oder auch für den Betrieb ohne externe GPU (nur iGPU) habe ich drei OpenCore-EFI-Ordner…




www.hackintosh-forum.de





since you are a beginner id start with clover as a bootloader, but opencore is the future and you might jump into that one already.

your rx 570 btw runs out of the box (HS-Catalina) and is a very good choice actually.

good luck


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## jcrosby (Feb 25, 2020)

Thundercat said:


> Yes fair enough. I am not suggesting this is terribly "hard" - only that you need to do a certain amount of research first. I personally have been on several sites in the last two weeks, each of which claims to have the best way to do it, and warning about other methods. And I've seen lots of posts of successful builds too.
> 
> I think if you find a successful guide and follow it, you can get there. But with the built in issues that whoever made that guide will share, such as having hardware upgrade problems, or iMessage not working right, etc. Or if you're lucky, everything working.
> 
> ...


This is a quirk of the hackintosh scene, sites cross-competing. Wasn't so much of that early on... Try and read past that... imessage and facetime is a universal fix... If you set things up correctly it'll work. Posted a vide below about how you solve that.

I'm also not intending to make it _about you_ at all... Just trying to help you get past the jitters... And encourage the OP to jump in since he has a really solid build chosen. (Same one I run, same one a ton of composers do too.)

Z390 Designare, 9900k or HK, Sappire Radeon Pulse 560 or 570. These are basically considered parts for a golden build. Other things to consider are RAM and drive choice... Samsung 970 is solid. (The "plus model" had issues early on. I believe this has been fixed but might want to look into that...) I also have a Sandisk SATA III SSD as my boot drive, and I have various spare EVO SATA SSDs which have all worked OOTB... No issues there either. PM if you want a full list of model names.

RAM can occasionally have compatibility issues so two tested brands known to work flawlessly are G Skill and Kingston. (There are others, but always best to go with something tested and known to be working.)

That's really all you ned to worry about in terms of parts... The rest comes down to budget, and case, PSU, and cooling preferences, etc...

Facetime/imessage:


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## Selfinflicted (Feb 25, 2020)

I have a lot of computers - currently running three rigs with three computers each in my studio. Of those, 5 were hacks - i just switched one back to Windows. 4 real deal macs. I started running hackintoshes about 7 years ago. There are definite Do's and Don't's when it comes to building and running hack.

Do plan on doing some research, but don't go down the rabbit hole (which is easy to do if you aren't a super technical person). If you've never built a PC before, you might want to allow yourself some time. You just have to learn to be disciplined, methodical. Keep good notes, be patient. Do one thing at a time. When I build my first I had build a few PCs. I did 1 week of research, a few hours per evening, ordered my parts, and was able to get the system built and installed in a day. I have since run into builds that were a bit more adventurous and have had to re-think parts or start over on the installation. Again - stick on the path of existing builds and that can be avoided.

I started on Tonymacx86.com - admittedly haven't spent a huge amount of time on other sites, simply because they're stuff has always worked for me and I've been able to find a build I was looking for. You can read up on the basic concept of how a hackintosh works and what the software they provide does, and how.

The big issue is selecting the right components. The thing about using a Mac vs a PC is there aren't really any compatibility issues. It all just works out the box - parts are standardized, software manufactures know what the hardware is. With a hack, you want to research to see a) what parts someone used to get a working systems and b) what procedure they used to get said system up and running. Historically, the video card has been the biggest issue for getting a working system going. Gigabyte and Asus motherboards will be the most common and easiest to get running, but people use others as well. But, I would suggest doing a search for successful builds using a desired OS. Then look search of specifics like processor type. Your motherboard will then need to be compatible with the processor and whatever other features you had in mind - large amounts of RAM..... the joys of thunderbolt, etc.

Here is an example of some guides for existing builds. (look for ones that say [Success].....). You can also just do a search on their site:



https://www.tonymacx86.com/forums/mojave-desktop-guides.195/



Re cloning drives - Use actual cloning software such as Carbon Copy Cloner. Time Machine will not do all that you need it to do. That can be ok for incremental backups once you have a working system and a true full clone, but as it is not a true Mac, Time Machine won't keep all the info you need.

Here is a place that can get you started re info -


https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/im-new-to-everything-where-do-i-start.104542/



You'll want to understand the concept of a bootloader - Clover is the easiest to use today. Relatively painless and the most intuitive you'll find, probably. Someone mentioned EFI - this is where the software for booting and interfacing the hardware with the OS resides. The most important think to know about that is that it is hidden, so you have to use software to manually mount it to be able to copy it or install things to it.

Again - just read up, stay on the path, allow yourself sometime, and you should be fine.

I generally stay at least 1 or 2 OS versions behind - I do that on Macs, but hackintoshes especially. First of all, it takes a while for people to share the necessary software once Apple comes out with updates. you want someone really good and knowledgeable to do the grunt work of actulally hacking solutions and sharing them. Then let other guinea pigs jump in a work out the kinks and post about it. Most music software manufactures are not right on top of things anyway, so this is usually fine.

As reference, I'm updating a bunch of machines to 10.13 currently. I had been running 10.10 on most for several years and just waited until I had time in my schedule to update the whole studio at once (remember, 5 computers - mostly different builds). Technology changes -since Clover became much more commonplace, it has gotten a lot easier to update OS. I was on a different bootloader before and it was not as easy to upgrade. Switching over to clover was simple on some builds - not as simple on others. But, on the whole - I'd say things have gotten easier and cleaner in regards to hacking in the last several years.

That said - things do change. You sometimes have to go out and buy new parts due compatibility issues that come up with later versions of MacOS (... remember, Apple retires support for their own products, too). That might trigger having to purchase another part that otherwise still works. Things can cascade. So, sometimes it might be easier to just start over. Really depends.

When you do your research - see if you can find someone with other hardware you want to use, like a particular audio interface, or at least the type of connection you want to use for your audio interface. I was usually able to fine someone doing music stuff with the processor I wanted to use and then followed their build.


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## Thundercat (Feb 25, 2020)

jcrosby said:


> This is a quirk of the hackintosh scene, sites cross-competing. Wasn't so much of that early on... Try and read past that... imessage and facetime is a universal fix... If you set things up correctly it'll work. Posted a vide below about how you solve that.
> 
> I'm also not intending to make it _about you_ at all... Just trying to help you get past the jitters... And encourage the OP to jump in since he has a really solid build chosen. (Same one I run, same one a ton of composers do too.)
> 
> ...



Most excellent! I appreciate your expertise and kindness. That really helped a lot.

Am I crazy for wanting 128GB RAM? I couldn’t find any Kingston 32GB single modules; they all cane in kits of 8 or 16. I’d like to have four 32GB RAM modules.

Thank you again.


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## Thundercat (Feb 25, 2020)

Thank you as well to SelfInflicted - really good info and advice!!


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## Selfinflicted (Feb 25, 2020)

Tonymac has a buying guide section. They list components that are know to work, most of which does out of the box. 

Again, just look up successful builds and stay on the path. Read through the whole process a few times and the general introduction. Explore their menus and maybe do a search for anything you want to understand better.

Again, biggest issue has been video cards, using a reliable USB stick to do the install, and then really following instructions to the T. I've never had an issue with memory or drives. Try to buy a recent processor and motherboard, that way they'll last you.

This lady has some great info too - explains concepts simply. Alerts you to major issues, etc









Morgonaut


Hackintosh Tutorials, macOS Tutorials, Tech Reviews, Unboxing Business contact email (companies only!): see below...




www.youtube.com


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## Dewdman42 (Feb 25, 2020)

I like the configuration you are choosing. If I were you would pay to join this patreon site. Margonaught has completely worked out the details of this configuration, exact parts to get, any necessary hacks needed to work 100%, etc.. I think it would be well worth subscribing at least for a few months. IN the future you will be one of the first to hear directly from Terese about OS updates on this hackintosh build, etc. (By the way Terese is still recommending that you do not go past Mojave on this hackintosh build).









Morgonaut | creating Video Tutorials & Reviews & Providing Support | Patreon


Become a patron of Morgonaut today: Get access to exclusive content and experiences on the world’s largest membership platform for artists and creators.




www.patreon.com


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## Simon Ravn (Feb 25, 2020)

I am also interested in this. But waiting for a "golden build" based on X299 chipset/mobo + Skylake-X CPU since I won't do this if I can only get 128GB of RAM... And it seems this might be some time off, it is still in the experimental state.


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## Dewdman42 (Feb 25, 2020)

I also personally think that the next version of OSX, or perhaps the version after that, is going to majorly break down a lot of Hackintosh builds because of what Apple is changing in the KEXT driver area. OSX is going to change *A LOT* within 1-2 years because of that and its yet to be seen how well Hackintosh will be able to adapt. Not to mention rumors about ARM.

In my opinion, only build a hackintosh now if you are ok with either A) staying on Mojave indefinitely, B) switching to windows or C) selling the machine to get something new eventually.


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## Thundercat (Feb 25, 2020)

Dewdman42 said:


> I also personally think that the next version of OSX, or perhaps the version after that, is going to majorly break down a lot of Hackintosh builds because of what Apple is changing in the KEXT driver area. OSX is going to change *A LOT* within 1-2 years because of that and its yet to be seen how well Hackintosh will be able to adapt. Not to mention rumors about ARM.
> 
> In my opinion, only build a hackintosh now if you are ok with either A) staying on Mojave indefinitely, B) switching to windows or C) selling the machine to get something new eventually.


Makes sense. But don’t you think people will still Find.A.Way?


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## Dewdman42 (Feb 25, 2020)

well people will try and maybe they will or maybe it will take a long time or maybe they won't. Apple is making this big change for security reasons and it is destined to really clamp down on KEXT hacking. it may turn out that hackintoshes will be severely limited and or require a much larger hack then before in order to work. Its truly going to be a very very big fundamental change in OSX, specifically in an area where Hackintoshes already have some challenges that over years they cleverly figured out work arounds, but Apple is going to be making it much much more difficult to do that. It is an unknown. that is all I'm saying. Maybe it will be fine. But be prepared, this is the first time I have heard of a change this big in OSX that could really effect hackintosh users in a seriously big way. An awful lot of work that has been done in the past for hackintosh will likely be thrown out the window with this change, etc. We won't know for sure until it hits, and even if clever people find work arounds, it could take a long time until its fully working and even longer until its EASY to setup working.

Just saying..beware. be prepared to stay on Mojave a long time. Be prepared to have to switch to windows or sell the machine. These are all possibilities with at least 50% probability in my view. Time will tell...


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## Sarah Mancuso (Feb 25, 2020)

Dewdman42 said:


> Just saying..beware. be prepared to stay on Mojave a long time. Be prepared to have to switch to windows or sell the machine. These are all possibilities with at least 50% probability in my view. Time will tell...


It's true that things will be probably changing a bit in the coming years, but people are running Catalina successfully without issues, so we already know Mojave isn't the end


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## Dewdman42 (Feb 25, 2020)

Catalina will not be the problem. I only mentioned Mojave, because even though some people might be doing it, several people I trust in the hackintosh community still say to stay away from Catalina for now. It will probably work eventually though it's true. However, its the next OS or the one after that, which everyone in hackintosh land should be very afraid of.

good luck.


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## composerguy78 (Feb 26, 2020)

My suggestion as an ex-hackintosh user/builder is to go into tonymac86.com and have a read those troubleshooting replies. Not the questions, but mainly the replies. Does those answers make sense to you? Really? Can you explain them to someone else? Because I honestly had to research every single one and it was hard and very very time consuming. If you can and it is easy for then fine, go ahead. The hardware part was easy, anyone can do that, but fixing boot and graphics issues and then posting online not getting replies back was a nightmare. I since have switched to windows and love it. If this is a machine for work that you will be depending on then unless you have a degree in computer science, I would recommend reconsidering your choice.


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## Salorom (Feb 26, 2020)

Apple has never cared much about hackintoshes.

icloud works, caching server works, imsgs works. They could lock down those remote services instantly.

The only thing we need to worry about is Apple profits dropping, because that's when they *might* start looking in our direction.

The hackintosh community basically means free beta testing for Apple’s dev work.

I’m only concerned with a potential switch to Arm for all devices in a few years. It’s definitely coming for Mac Books. But my feeling is non of Apple’s plan remotely incorporate the tiny hackintosh dent to their sales.


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## Salorom (Feb 26, 2020)

Dewdman42 said:


> well people will try and maybe they will or maybe it will take a long time or maybe they won't. Apple is making this big change for security reasons and it is destined to really clamp down on KEXT hacking. it may turn out that hackintoshes will be severely limited and or require a much larger hack then before in order to work. Its truly going to be a very very big fundamental change in OSX, specifically in an area where Hackintoshes already have some challenges that over years they cleverly figured out work arounds, but Apple is going to be making it much much more difficult to do that. It is an unknown. that is all I'm saying. Maybe it will be fine. But be prepared, this is the first time I have heard of a change this big in OSX that could really effect hackintosh users in a seriously big way. An awful lot of work that has been done in the past for hackintosh will likely be thrown out the window with this change, etc. We won't know for sure until it hits, and even if clever people find work arounds, it could take a long time until its fully working and even longer until its EASY to setup working.
> 
> Just saying..beware. be prepared to stay on Mojave a long time. Be prepared to have to switch to windows or sell the machine. These are all possibilities with at least 50% probability in my view. Time will tell...


I don’t think Apple could—nor actually would try and prevent kext hacking. iOS has been jailbroken for pretty much as long as it exists, and we’re talking closed system and software. They did try to stop it for security reasons, not because of a potential threat to their sales (you have to buy an iPhone in order to jailbreak it).


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## Thundercat (Feb 26, 2020)

composerguy78 said:


> My suggestion as an ex-hackintosh user/builder is to go into tonymac86.com and have a read those troubleshooting replies. Not the questions, but mainly the replies. Does those answers make sense to you? Really? Can you explain them to someone else? Because I honestly had to research every single one and it was hard and very very time consuming. If you can and it is easy for then fine, go ahead. The hardware part was easy, anyone can do that, but fixing boot and graphics issues and then posting online not getting replies back was a nightmare. I since have switched to windows and love it. If this is a machine for work that you will be depending on then unless you have a degree in computer science, I would recommend reconsidering your choice.


That’s all I was trying to say to the OP - just do your research and make sure you know what you’re getting into first before dropping a wad of $$$ and many hours...I know successful builds are possible tho...


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## Dewdman42 (Feb 26, 2020)

Salorom said:


> I don’t think Apple could—nor actually would try and prevent kext hacking. iOS has been jailbroken for pretty much as long as it exists, and we’re talking closed system and software. They did try to stop it for security reasons, not because of a potential threat to their sales (you have to buy an iPhone in order to jailbreak it).



but that is announced already that it will be happening. They are essentially going to eliminate kext so that they much more tightly control what can function as a driver. At the very least there is going to be a HUGE hiccup in the way many hackintosh are hacked which will take time to work out. At worst It will become so constrained and difficult that very few people mess around with it anymore


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## Sarah Mancuso (Feb 26, 2020)

Are they eliminating kexts entirely, though, or just stopping third parties from installing them? If the OS is still using kexts at all, the bootloader can still inject custom ones from EFI.

edit: I posted below with the answer to this. Long story short, "kexts won't work and hackintosh is over" is nonsense.


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## Salorom (Feb 26, 2020)

Dewdman42 said:


> but that is announced already that it will be happening. They are essentially going to eliminate kext so that they much more tightly control what can function as a driver. At the very least there is going to be a HUGE hiccup in the way many hackintosh are hacked which will take time to work out. At worst It will become so constrained and difficult that very few people mess around with it anymore


Then again, I think this move has nothing to do with a bunch of computer savvy geeks going their own hackintosh way. I’m willing to bet Apple simply don’t care. Every macOS update comes with changes. Be they small or big, they’re always going to be dealt with eventually, and this one will be no exception.

Proprietary hardware? Now that’s a concern. But until the whole of the Apple computer line comes with an Arm CPU and/or a T2 chip, I see no reason to avoid building a hackintosh.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 26, 2020)

Salorom said:


> Apple has never cared much about hackintoshes



Presumably they know that apart from the engineering man-hours to lock them out being better spent elsewhere, only habitual Mac users build hackintoshes in the first place.


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## Technostica (Feb 26, 2020)

Thundercat said:


> Am I crazy for wanting 128GB RAM? I couldn’t find any Kingston 32GB single modules; they all cane in kits of 8 or 16. I’d like to have four 32GB RAM modules.


Does it have to be Kingston?
RAM support is usually dictated by the motherboard and its BIOS and is not related to the O/S.
I test RAM by booting from a USB stick which runs MemTest+.


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## Dewdman42 (Feb 26, 2020)

Salorom said:


> Then again, I think this move has nothing to do with a bunch of computer savvy geeks going their own hackintosh way. I’m willing to bet Apple simply don’t care. Every macOS update comes with changes. Be they small or big, they’re always going to be dealt with eventually, and this one will be no exception.
> 
> Proprietary hardware? Now that’s a concern. But until the whole of the Apple computer line comes with an Arm CPU and/or a T2 chip, I see no reason to avoid building a hackintosh.



general security is the reasin being given. Not just because of hackintosh. But it will effect hackintosh for sure.

Apple is re-engineering the entire driver mechanism so that drivers run in user space and have to funnel through an Apple system of some kind that is a lot more secure. More secure means can’t be hacked, easily.

If you want to find out more there are ramblings all over the internet which are a lot more technical then most people in this forum would be interested in reading. What I can say is that it’s a massive change and it’s likely to impact hackintosh. If you don’t believe me then go ahead and build one.


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## Olfirf (Feb 26, 2020)

Like most threads here, this seems to be so much about who is right ... I am not interested in that kind of talk, but since the OP asked for 128gb ram: yes it works. I have i9-9900k hackintosh with 4 32gb modules running.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 26, 2020)

Technostica said:


> Does it have to be Kingston?
> RAM support is usually dictated by the motherboard and its BIOS and is not related to the O/S.
> I test RAM by booting from a USB stick which runs MemTest+.



Out of curiosity, how long does it take to test 128GB of RAM nowadays?

It used to be way too slow to be practical, but that was in the 32-bit days (4GB max). I haven't thought about it since then, touch wood.


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## gsilbers (Feb 26, 2020)

I tried a few times and failed. Mainly because I didn’t have the correct hardware. There are recommended system builds that will help.

But doing so much troubleshooting a read lots of things here and there about many things.

One thing that happens a lot is that one thing might not work. Like you might be concern about FireWire and make it work to later found out that iMessage, camera or wireless doesn’t work.
Or you might get usb2 but usb3 doesn’t work.
Random things like that.
There is always something. 

Then it’s the updates. Apps now are going through strict Catalina verification processes so there might be a time that developers will say no backwards compatible. 
And your system might work for a while, you might update to a new OS X and make it work but maybe again, some of your components don’t work. Or if you upgrade cpu , pcie cards or FireWire it might not work.

Apple has been a little quiet on hackintoshes but after the latest pro model some are speculating Apple breaking compatitbiloty.

There are some guys who sell already built system and even some that maintain it to make sure it runs fine for a while. Some eBay stores or locally.


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## Technostica (Feb 26, 2020)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Out of curiosity, how long does it take to test 128GB of RAM nowadays?


It depends how many loops of the test you want to run. 
I recently tested 64GB that I picked up as a customer return and left it over night. 
So for 128GB you may be looking at 24 hours. 
I tend to do this for any system as it's a good test to run before you even consider installing an OS. 

I can't see why a hackintosh should be any more fussy about RAM than any other system!


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## Sarah Mancuso (Feb 26, 2020)

Okay, answering my own question here: As best as I can tell, Apple will still be using kexts internally, just not supporting their installation for third-party drivers anymore. With that in mind, *this change means absolutely nothing* for Hackintosh users who have kexts injected via the bootloader, it just codifies what proponents of the "vanilla install" method have been recommending for years as best practice.


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## Dewdman42 (Feb 26, 2020)

no, that is not correct. Apple is trying to move KEXT's into user space instead of Kernel space. Then all KEXT's, if they still exist in the future, will be required to use an API that funnels through an Apple-controlled system that runs in kernel space. This is where they will have the ability to tightly control what drivers can run on your system, through that system that runs in kernel space that they control. That brings security. Security means they can also stop you from running hacked drivers if they want. Will they? We don't know its yet to be seen.

You are correct though that if you have a system that can run 100% vanilla, then they have no way to know because in that case you don't need any hacked KEXT.


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## Sarah Mancuso (Feb 26, 2020)

Injecting kexts via the bootloader tricks the OS into thinking they’re built-in ones. This isn’t changing. Even iOS still uses kexts for Apple’s own drivers. Unless macOS takes a completely different route, requiring Apple to create new drivers for every piece of Apple hardware they want to maintain support for, kexts aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Vanilla simply means the OS itself is unmodified, with kexts injected from the EFI partition, rather than going in the System folder. There is no such thing as a hackintosh with no custom kexts.


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## Dewdman42 (Feb 26, 2020)

yes it will be changing. Kernel mode injection will not be supported in the future. Apple wants user mode drivers that funnel through their own framework and only THEIR framework will be running in kernel mode. Kernel mode is where the injections you mention take place, but in the future all drivers on the system will not be kernel mode, they will be simple user mode processes that funnel through a kernel mode system provided by Apple with much tighter security and control. Maybe eventually someone will figure out a way to hack that, but the whole point of it is security and I don't expect it to be easy

The cheese grater, for example, is no longer supported in Catalina. You can get it installed but even then, its not a completely vanilla install, there is a small hack that fully enables everything to work...I can't remember the component specifically, but in this case, that particular component no longer can find the driver it needs, because Apple stopped providing it with OSX in Catalina. So DosDude has provided a hack that will get around this problem and everything works. Ok that's all fine, but in the future when drivers are no longer able to run directly in kernel mode, then it will be yet to be seen whether this kind of hack will continue to work. Will Apple's new driver security block it? (shrug) we won't know until it comes, but Apple is definitely changing this part of the architecture signficantly, and specifically to prevent the drivers from being hacked...for security reasons...but that also happens to effect any less-then-100%-vanilla hackintosh builds...Including the cheese grater!


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## Thundercat (Feb 28, 2020)

Hackintosh builders be like Jim Carrey on Quantum Physics


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## chris massa (Mar 5, 2020)

I found this Youtube channel to be quite understandable in building one.


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## stigc56 (Mar 6, 2020)

Well here in Denmark we have Marius! Take a look at this:
https://www.marius.pro/mainframe-ai-3-0I consider this. The price is around 7000 dollars.


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## Dewdman42 (Mar 20, 2020)

Latest mackintosh from Terese...


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## jcrosby (Mar 20, 2020)

Dewdman42 said:


> Latest mackintosh from Terese...



Assuming that's a Ryzen build. Ryzens appear to have serious Thunderbolt audio issues according to PPC's video below... Just something for people to consider who are thinking of a Ryzen hack for audio (Also quite a hilarious video! Something we could all probably use ATM!)


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## Dewdman42 (Mar 20, 2020)

she'll be providing more details in upcoming videos. I don't think she would endorse it with TB problems, but let's see what happens.


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## jcrosby (Mar 20, 2020)

Dewdman42 said:


> she'll be providing more details in upcoming videos. I don't think she would endorse it with TB problems, but let's see what happens.


I'm sure she wouldn't. But If you watch Pauls video, (and his follow up), the snag is specifically with audio. Basically TB3 may work with non-audio tasks, so if builder doesn't test their machine with a TB3 specced audio interface they wouldn't aware there are TB3 audio compatibility issues.
The follow up video's here where he goes into further detail...

*EDIT:* One other thing I forgot that he mentions: According to him Logic has an incredibly low track count. (At least on his particular Ryzen build). 20 some odd tracks vs the 155 or so the 9900k does in the Logic Benchmark... Basically if no one's using Logic, and TB3 audio as benchmarks they wouldn't be aware of any issues...


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## tcb (Mar 21, 2020)

- Will this system support 32GB Chips / Max 128GB? Intel and motherboard say they support it, but they all have caveats that I dont understand so unsure.
Yes.4*32 RAM is ok.
- What type of RAM chips / speed are recommended? Does it matter?
No matter.Size is the most important.
- Will I be able to run a Pre-Catalina Mac OS? Maybe even as far back as 10.12 or 10.13?
I recommend 10.14.Some instruments and plugins still don't compatible with 10.15.
- How involved is it to update your OS on a Hackintosh? I'm not the type who needs to run the latest OS and will only update when software requires it, but updates are always an eventuality.
Usually 10.14.1 to 10.14.x is easy.10.13 to 10.14 is harder.
- I need FireWire for the time being. Any issues running a FireWire PCI card or should I get Thunderbolt adapters - TB3 to TB2, TB2 to FW?
Sorry I don‘t know.
- Case: Any recommendations on a good / quiet case?
If you have ready EFIs,install a hackintosh is the same easy as a windows.You can serch an EFI and buy the same hardwares with it.http://bbs.pcbeta.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1833928&highlight=z390%2B9900k
（Here is a similar build up from a Chinese forum.He is a Mix engineer too)


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