New member,1st post; build recommendation not to highest spec

[BrianBoyd]

Welcome to the party. Even though you're a little late. What kind of a hardware budget do you have ? Do you only want to build it yourself or is a pre-built Dell or HP acceptable ?

Thank you for the welcome. I believe better late than never seems approriate.
As a non Apple "mac" only crossed my mind 3 days ago this is all a rapid development.
Given that I have many other activities (I've just come in from feeding a herd of horses (including 5 stallions)) an off-the-shelf hardware solution sounds just fine especially as it would come with a licenced copy of Win 10. (I'm typing this on an HP laptop running Vista !! and have 2 old/ancient Dells).
So, I'll look at the suggested HP/Dell options, it would fulfill 2 needs at once. I'll probably need to return for software setup help as my preferred setup would be OS 10 as primary OS with Win 10 running in Virtualbox as this gives easy file swapping without having to reboot, although I'm open to suggestions.
But first the hardware.

 

[trs96]

An off-the-shelf hardware solution sounds just fine especially as it would come with a licensed copy of Win 10. (I'm typing this on an HP laptop running Vista !! and have 2 old/ancient Dells

There are many older and newer Dells that work great as a hackintosh. I have a 9020 MT with I7-4790 running Catalina and I've installed an RX 570 for video editing. I don't dual boot but that is possible. You could also go with a newer Skylake 7040 or Kaby Lake 7050 system if you want to upgrade past Big Sur later on. If you plan on staying with Mojave or Catalina long term then the 9020 works well. You can buy a refurb for less than $250 on Ebay. You'd need to upgrade the ram and install an SSD of course. You can get a professionally refurbished Core i7 9020 MT on Newegg or Amazon for about $350 or less.
https://www.newegg.com/p/1VK-0001-56SM6
https://www.newegg.com/p/1VK-0001-0Y683
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B6B1V8V/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

The 4K Dell OptiMac - 9020 MT - Core i7-4790 - Radeon RX 570 - LG 4K IPS Monitor

The Dell Optiplex 9020 and LG 4K IPS Monitor ____ Components Dell Optiplex 7020/9020 Mini-Tower (MT) Amazon - Newegg Dell Optiplex 7020/9020 Small Form Factor (SFF) Amazon - Newegg Dell Optiplex 9020 Ultra Small Form Factor (USFF) Amazon - Newegg Dell Optiplex 9020 Motherboard...

www.tonymacx86.com

 

[BrianBoyd]

Do you want the Hackintosh to be really quiet, and what size?

Size doesn't matter, silence is preferred but not critical

 

[trs96]

Here's a UK seller you could buy one from. To run a card like the RX 580 8GB they need a PSU upgrade. A standard ATX 140mm PSU will work where the existing Dell OEM one resides.

Since these are so low cost it's easy to budget in the graphics and PSU upgrade along with a monitor and SSD upgrade.

Dell Optiplex 9020 MT Tower | i7-4th Gen | 500GB HDD | 8GB Ram | Wifi | Win10Pro | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell Optiplex 9020 MT Tower | i7-4th Gen | 500GB HDD | 8GB Ram | Wifi | Win10Pro at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[BrianBoyd]

Here's a UK seller you could buy one from. To run a card like the RX 580 8GB they need a PSU upgrade. A standard ATX 140mm PSU will work where the existing Dell OEM one resides

Thank you for this link, it arrived just after I had gone to bed but have looked at it today - tried to contact vendor without success, seems a good sec for the price. The MT seems to be a bit rare in the UK, there were plenty of SFFs but as those only have a single bay it is not a good option for me.
A quick search for the additional kit gives a rough estimate of £600 to £650 including delivery to France (where I live).
Q: what power rating for the PSU would be optimal ?

 

[BrianBoyd]

Also updating can be quite hard on a Hackintosh, so I would just recommend installing the version of macOS onto the SSD that you want to use for some time, then eventually follow an update guide.

Advice noted, thank you.

 

[BrianBoyd]

Are you comfortable building a Hackintosh (like putting all the parts together), or have a friend who can help you?


Some channels that I personally watch, and taught me how to build my PC/Hackintosh are (most of them are more-PC oriented, but still have a few videos on Hackintoshes, except Bitwit, which has a really good build guide):

I would be wuite comfortable assembling hardware, it's the software tweeks that will require very close attention. However, the idea of taking a 2nd hand Dell is the route that I am going to follow this time, When the 20" iMac fails then may to the time t loook at a new assembly.

 

[BrianBoyd]

From the post by trs96
" Dell Optiplex 9020 MT Tower | i7-4th Gen | 500GB HDD | 8GB Ram | Wifi | Win10Pro "

Done : purchased for £240 (approx $US320), will amass all components in UK then ship to France. Should arrive in about 2 weeks. There are not many MTs available in UK so was quite pleased seller accepted my (lower) offer. The seller is a department of "Macfinder" who are a certified Apple reseller ! Cute?
Q1 : What rating should the CPU be for the suggested graphics card ( RX 580 8GB ) ?
Q2 : How much RAM will I need to run Mojave or Catalina?

 

[BrianBoyd]

Have issues been found with the Crucial MX500 500GB SSD. It seems that the MX500 has greatly improved performance to the MX300 but there is a step change in price between the 500GB & 1TB drives, the 1TB being on your list of recommended components whereas the 500GB is not ?

 

[louiefriesen]

From the post by trs96
" Dell Optiplex 9020 MT Tower | i7-4th Gen | 500GB HDD | 8GB Ram | Wifi | Win10Pro "

Done : purchased for £240 (approx $US320), will amass all components in UK then ship to France. Should arrive in about 2 weeks. There are not many MTs available in UK so was quite pleased seller accepted my (lower) offer. The seller is a department of "Macfinder" who are a certified Apple reseller ! Cute?
Q1 : What rating should the CPU be for the suggested graphics card ( RX 580 8GB ) ?
Q2 : How much RAM will I need to run Mojave or Catalina?

A1: Not sure what you mean by "rating", but most 4th gen i7s can run an RX 580 pretty well. I'm guessing your i7 is a 4770, which is pretty good.

A2: The 8GB is enough, but I would recommend upgrading to 16GB if you can find DDR3 for a good price (personally, I'd buy it used, because it is way cheaper than buying new DDR3. I'd recommend looking on eBay or other used marketplaces). If you want to upgrade your RAM, these are the brands with best compatibility: Corsair, G.Skill, Crucial/Ballistix, Kingston/HyperX.