A bit of advice before I install please! :)

[jamesbuigues]

So I have a Dell Optiplex 7010 with i5-3470 and intel graphics 2500, i run it off VGA. I know mac os doesn't like VGA but its the only display port the PC has without buying a graphic card, which I cant justify buying.
Can I pull it off with my build? anyone got any advice before I install? Thanks

 

[UtterDisbelief]

So I have a Dell Optiplex 7010 with i5-3470 and intel graphics 2500, i run it off VGA. I know mac os doesn't like VGA but its the only display port the PC has without buying a graphic card, which I cant justify buying.
Can I pull it off with my build? anyone got any advice before I install? Thanks

Hi there.

Official line is "No". However, depending on which version of macOS you are planning on using, you should be able to do it. My earlier builds all used VGA because that was all I had to hand.

If I was going to try today I would disconnect my present HDD/SSD so that it isn't affected by the build and then use a different drive to install macOS on. That way if things do go belly-up, all is not lost!

Basically the worst thing that will happen is that you get no display output. Without a discrete GPU, all output is via the motherboard from your CPU - and because the motherboard BIOS is in charge it should route ok to VGA. Don't expect extreme resolutions. Max 1920x1080 etc.

Good luck!

 

[jamesbuigues]

Hi there.

Official line is "No". However, depending on which version of macOS you are planning on using, you should be able to do it. My earlier builds all used VGA because that was all I had to hand.

If I was going to try today I would disconnect my present HDD/SSD so that it isn't affected by the build and then use a different drive to install macOS on. That way if things do go belly-up, all is not lost!

Basically the worst thing that will happen is that you get no display output. Without a discrete GPU, all output is via the motherboard from your CPU - and because the motherboard BIOS is in charge it should route ok to VGA. Don't expect extreme resolutions. Max 1920x1080 etc.

Good luck!

Thank you! Yeah that was my plan to install on a spare HDD, spares me faffing with my SSD but from everything i've read, 2500 isnt supported on the later builds of mac os, and a big no to VGA. What mac os would you suggest to try and install? I'm new to hackintosh, but should learn quickly

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Well, I understand that. The HD2500 is patchy at best but see this thread - here - it gives hope with Mojave, which I didn't expect in all honesty. What's more @RehabMan confirms it - here- and that's a great recommendation.

Maybe tricky though... But that's part of the fun experimenting with Hackintoshes. If you want a serious, professional, reliable daily workhorse, perhaps not recommended. That's what Golden Builds are about.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Having only a VGA monitor and having only a VGA output on your computer are 2 quite different things.

If you have a monitor that has only VGA input available, it is quite possible to get output from a digital connection from your graphics card provided it has a DVI-I or DisplayPort output (not sure about HDMI as I have never tried that). Just use an appropriate adapter. I used a DVI-to-VGA adapter on an old GTX 760 graphics card to my monitor's VGA input on my main system in the past and it worked with El Capitan / Sierra / High Sierra.

Recently I purchased a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter (something like this) for use with my RX 580 to my monitor's VGA input (there are other inputs on my monitor but they are already occupied) and it works great with my main system on Sierra and High Sierra. Using it even solved a problem when I would sometimes get a garbled screen when attempting to boot into Sierra using a DVI connection.

If, however, it is your computer that only has a VGA output, then you are probably in a difficult position since you said you can't justify getting a discrete graphics card at this point. Is your integrated graphics supported on MacOS (I don't think HD2500 is supported, but things may be different on Mojave.)? MacOS removed support for VGA a long time ago, and you will have problems getting a screen output when you attempt to install MacOS, or it may even fail to install.

In such a case I say don't get your hopes up. You can go ahead and try, but you may not be able to get it to work especially since you want to install the latest Mojave. Perhaps it is better to wait until you can spare some money to get a supported graphics card.