[Help] Adding Mac Dual Boot to an existing Windows 10 install

I'm working on making my brothers PC a dual booting Win10+hackintosh. He is a music producer and has been using windows for years but wants to become familiar with Macs as well since many of his friends and fellow producers use a Mac. A Dual Booting hackintosh seems like it should be perfect for his situation.

I've never built / setup a Hackintosh before, so I've been doing a lot of reading (Here, ******, InsanelyMac, and CustoMac). To say the least, there's a plethora of information and possible issues / stumbling blocks I've read about.

In order to finish the build, I've ordered a couple components and would really appreciate someone looking over it and letting me know what they think

Full System Specs

Already Owned / In-use

• [CPU] Intel Core i5 3570k
• [GPU] On-board. Intel HD 4000
• [Mobo] ASRock Z77 Extreme4
• [RAM] 2x 8GB Crucial Ballistic RAM
• [HDD] 2TB Seagate (Windows 10 Installed)
• [Keyboard] Logitech Wireless Backlit K800
• [Mouse] Logitech Performance MX

Windows 10 is currently installed and in use.

• Windows 10 Drive: MBR
• Bios: Legacy

Components ordered (amazon, 30d return window)

• HDD2: 2TB Seagate
• Wfi: Netis WF2190 (Website has drivers for up to Mac 10.11)

To be ordered

• Discrete GPU
• Bluetooth Adapter

Mac OS
Seems macOS Sierra may still be a bit too new and I may encounter difficulty with the motherboard or CPU. Unless I'm wrong about that, the OS will be El Capitain. Bit of a shame, because I'd like Sierra for its increased GPU support.

Wifi...
I found this one to be strangely complex. Figured wifi would have been of the easier areas to tackle. If you have better suggestions, please let me know. I selected the Netis (apparently the same as the Alfa) for its seeming compatability with mac and potential for longer range support (PC is on the third floor, router is on the first).

Bluetooth.... Suggestions?
After killing far too much time trying to find a decent wifi adapter, I decided it may be best to turn to the pros first c:

Edited in: Idk if theres a big difference or not much at all (ie:hdmi cables) for bluetooth adapters. If so, something thats Good+ quality with a focus on reliability. The room its in is used for recording sometimes, so there are several different kinds of devices that can connect via bluetooth, one I know that will be used is a gopro.

GPU.... Suggestions?
I was looking to get the GTX 1060 -> Found out it doesn't have drivers for Mac yet.
Did the same with AMD's RX 4XX line -> Seems to be only macSierra atm

The GPU will be powering a 27" monitor and possibly a second smaller monitor in the future. In the future, he plans to do Live Streaming while producing music. Not all too sure how gpu intensive that is but I figure the system should have at least a decent gpu in it.

Alas, I'm not sure what video card would be good to get. Needs to be compatible with windows 10 and mac.
Would the R9 280X be a good card? Natively supported in El Cappacino? I found one

Chaosguard said:

I'm working on making my brothers PC a dual booting Win10+hackintosh. He is a music producer and has been using windows for years but wants to become familiar with Macs as well since many of his friends and fellow producers use a Mac. A Dual Booting hackintosh seems like it should be perfect for his situation.

I've never built / setup a Hackintosh before, so I've been doing a lot of reading (Here, ******, InsanelyMac, and CustoMac). To say the least, there's a plethora of information and possible issues / stumbling blocks I've read about.

In order to finish the build, I've ordered a couple components and would really appreciate someone looking over it and letting me know what they think

Full System Specs

Already Owned / In-use

• [CPU] Intel Core i5 3570k
• [GPU] On-board. Intel HD 4000
• [Mobo] ASRock Z77 Extreme4
• [RAM] 2x 8GB Crucial Ballistic RAM
• [HDD] 2TB Seagate (Windows 10 Installed)

Windows 10 is currently installed and in use.

• Windows 10 Drive: MBR
• Bios: Legacy

Components ordered (amazon, 30d return window)

• HDD2: 2TB Seagate
• Wfi: Netis WF2190 (Website has drivers for up to Mac 10.11)

To be ordered

• Discrete GPU
• Bluetooth Adapter

Mac OS
Seems macOS Sierra may still be a bit too new and I may encounter difficulty with the motherboard or CPU. Unless I'm wrong about that, the OS will be El Capitain. Bit of a shame, because I'd like Sierra for its increased GPU support.

Wifi...
I found this one to be strangely complex. Figured wifi would have been of the easier areas to tackle. If you have better suggestions, please let me know. I selected the Netis (apparently the same as the Alfa) for its seeming compatability with mac and potential for longer range support (PC is on the third floor, router is on the first).

Bluetooth.... Suggestions?
After killing far too much time trying to find a decent wifi adapter, I decided it may be best to turn to the pros first c:

GPU.... Suggestions?
I was looking to get the GTX 1060 -> Found out it doesn't have drivers for Mac yet.
Did the same with AMD's RX 4XX line -> Seems to be only macSierra atm

The GPU will be powering a 27" monitor and possibly a second smaller monitor in the future. In the future, he plans to do Live Streaming while producing music. Not all too sure how gpu intensive that is but I figure the system should have at least a decent gpu in it.

Alas, I'm not sure what video card would be good to get. Needs to be compatible with windows 10 and mac.
Would the R9 280X be a good card? Natively supported in El Cappacino? I found one

Click to expand...

For a music build a discrete GPU is not needed unless he games in Windows.
So far as the OS version goes, your hardware is Sierra capable.
Why do you need BT? Wireless KB/mouse? Use the Logitech K750 - comes in black and white / for Windows or Mac - Mac vewrsion see http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-solar-keyboard-k750-mac?crid=27
Pair it with a Marathon Mouse - http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/marathon-mouse-m705?crid=7# or the M570 trackball - http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-trackball-m570-business?crid=7

Do not want to take the chance of messing up the Win10 drive while experimenting with OS X? Get a hot swap bay and install it in a spare ODD bay - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00856XFUS/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
There are several versions you can use depending on what kind of drives you have the OSs on. I highly recommend them.
They even make one to fit an unused expansion slot if you have no ODD bay - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0080V73RE/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Oi, alright well I already have made Sierra on a usb so that works nicely

Correct, I do indeed not want to windows up at all while doing all this.
Why a hotswap bay? Full tower, 3 blanks, so its not a matter of space. Im just curious how a hotswap bay helps with that.

Bluetooth will be for bluetooth accessories. Idk if theres a big difference or not much at all (like, hdmi cables xD) for bluetooth adapters in quality. Good+ quality if so with a focus on reliability. The room its in is used for recording sometimes, so there are several different kinds of devices that can connect via bluetooth, one I know that will be used is a gopro.

Keyboard and mouse, I forgot to mention. Already have those. Logitech Wireless Backlit K800 Keyboard & Logitech Performance MX Mouse.

As for the discrete graphics upgrade, that isn't purely for adding hackintosh to it, thats part of an overall upgrade for the computer. GPUs can add processing power when idle to CPUs (to some effect, at least with nVidia + windows), which would help a lot with the programs he uses. Factoring for Sierra, Im guessing an AMD would be the best bet. Everything I've read about nVidia with regards to Macs is that they're lagging behind in support whereas AMD is basically natively supported.

Chaosguard said:

Oi, alright well I already have made Sierra on a usb so that works nicely

Correct, I do indeed not want to windows up at all while doing all this.
Why a hotswap bay? Full tower, 3 blanks, so its not a matter of space. Im just curious how a hotswap bay helps with that.

Bluetooth will be for bluetooth accessories. Idk if theres a big difference or not much at all (like, hdmi cables xD) for bluetooth adapters in quality. Good+ quality if so with a focus on reliability. The room its in is used for recording sometimes, so there are several different kinds of devices that can connect via bluetooth, one I know that will be used is a gopro.

Keyboard and mouse, I forgot to mention. Already have those. Logitech Wireless Backlit K800 Keyboard & Logitech Performance MX Mouse.

As for the discrete graphics upgrade, that isn't purely for adding hackintosh to it, thats part of an overall upgrade for the computer. GPUs can add processing power when idle to CPUs (to some effect, at least with nVidia + windows), which would help a lot with the programs he uses. Factoring for Sierra, Im guessing an AMD would be the best bet. Everything I've read about nVidia with regards to Macs is that they're lagging behind in support whereas AMD is basically natively supported.

Click to expand...

The hotswap bay allows you to have only one OS "installed" in the system at one time - booting Win10 and want to switch to OS X? Shutdown, swap drives, boot. No possible way anything you do with OS X can mess up your Win10 drive and vice versa since they are both never connected at once. Only drives connected all of the time are storage.

There are several BT modules recommended in the Buyer's Guide under Accessories - the one that seems most popular is thei one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GFX0PY/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Either AMD or nVidia GPU RAM can be used by some apps.
For right now, AMD is lagging as their latest offerings are basically rebadged older cards and sleep/wake is a problem since El Capitan. One reason they have native support is because the tech is so old. R9 280X for example is a re-branded HD7970.

nVidia, OTOH, works well with the nVidia drivers even if Apple has declined to develop their own drivers to provide native support for the latest nVidia cards. I am using an EVGA GTX980 in one of my builds and it works fine with Sierra.

Oh wow. I stopped following graphics cards and such for awhile. Shame about AMD, but thanks for the heads up.

Items arrived ahead of schedule, so I have everything for the build now but no hot swap bay as of yet. I was reading another post of yours in which you said "Disconnect the Windows drive" and imagine this would give similar protection as using a hotswap bay. Just want to double check before I go about tinkering with this build in the morning. I imagine I'll be at it all day.


Is upgrading a hackintosh from one mac os to the next difficult? Ie: 10.11-> 10.12

Chaosguard said:

Oh wow. I stopped following graphics cards and such for awhile. Shame about AMD, but thanks for the heads up.

Items arrived ahead of schedule, so I have everything for the build now but no hot swap bay as of yet. I was reading another post of yours in which you said "Disconnect the Windows drive" and imagine this would give similar protection as using a hotswap bay. Just want to double check before I go about tinkering with this build in the morning. I imagine I'll be at it all day.


Is upgrading a hackintosh from one mac os to the next difficult? Ie: 10.11-> 10.12

Click to expand...

As easy as installing it from scratch. With Clover boot loader you can update directly just as you can on a real Apple Mac product as long as you do your research for drivers ahead of time - i.e. if 10.11 requires a vendor driver, chance are 10.12 will also, so check the vendor for an updated driver before updating the OS. Saves you some when you finish the update and you don't have a driver for your GTX980 for example.