Best parts for stable Pro Tools Hackintosh able to run older and newer versions of OS X and windows

Headcloud · Feb 25, 2021

I am looking to build a hackinTosh to use for recording with ProTools. I want to build one that matches the specs of a real Mac as much as possible, for a decent price. I have valid licenses for ProTools 10.3.10, 11.2, and 12.5. I will likely run OS X 10.8.5, 10.10, windows 7 pro, windows 10 pro, with Mac and windows on separate SSD ‘s, as well as another separate SSD to record audio onto. I am looking at Intel core i9 CPU, 10 Cores at 5.2 GHz, with a minimum of 32 GB of RAM, preferably 64. I need a quiet machine with room in the tower and possibly liquid cooling, and the best possible graphics card that is supported negatively by Apple without any glitches, so likely an ATI. As far as motherboards go, I have used MSI and gigabyte in the past with success. Now that I am not anywhere near somewhere like Micro Center, it’s a bit daunting to have to purchase everything online and not make a mistake. I was wondering if anyone else has built a machine for similar purposes and can recommend Some specific hardware. I’m looking for a machine that I can upgrade in the future that won’t become obsolete in a few years, and I’m not concerned with the lack of official support from Apple as I have never had to call in for tech-support in 25 years of buying real Macs as well.

I currently have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro, quad core i7 @2.4 GHz (3.06 w/turbo boost), with 16GB RAM & 2 Internal Sata SSD’s, a late 2008 MacBook Pro core2duo @ 2.45 GHz, as well as a Power Mac G5 dual 2.0GHz with 8GB RAM, ATI Radeon Pro 9600 256MB, 2 1TB SATA SSD’s, and and HP Probook 6470b, core i5, 16GB RAM, OS X 10.10.5, and Windows 10 Pro x64, and finally an Hp Pavilion elite 9080n, quad core Xeon 2.7GHz, 10GB RAM, OS X 10.6.8, Windows 7 Pro, and Ubuntu Mate (older version).

While I have done everything from build hackinTosh is from scratch, turn laptops that No one said I could into them, and even made one from an AMD Semprom with an ATI Radion graphics card that required immense amounts of patching, taking cheap compact laptops and made them functional max, and even some of those cheap net books that worked completely. There has only been one machine I could not get to work because of the graphics. However it’s been a long time, and this time, I need a machine that is going to function as a solid digital audio workstation. Without a superstore to walk into and products did see in person, and A live person to advise me, I am hoping that someone else has done when I’m trying to do recently and can steer me in the right direction. I apologize if this is posted in the wrong place, as I am new to this forum, or at least the account is new as my old one was forgotten

Jamesbond007 · Feb 25, 2021

Headcloud said:
I am looking to build a hackinTosh to use for recording with ProTools. I want to build one that matches the specs of a real Mac as much as possible, for a decent price. I have valid licenses for ProTools 10.3.10, 11.2, and 12.5. I will likely run OS X 10.8.5, 10.10, windows 7 pro, windows 10 pro, with Mac and windows on separate SSD ‘s, as well as another separate SSD to record audio onto. I am looking at Intel core i9 CPU, 10 Cores at 5.2 GHz, with a minimum of 32 GB of RAM, preferably 64. I need a quiet machine with room in the tower and possibly liquid cooling, and the best possible graphics card that is supported negatively by Apple without any glitches, so likely an ATI. As far as motherboards go, I have used MSI and gigabyte in the past with success. Now that I am not anywhere near somewhere like Micro Center, it’s a bit daunting to have to purchase everything online and not make a mistake. I was wondering if anyone else has built a machine for similar purposes and can recommend Some specific hardware. I’m looking for a machine that I can upgrade in the future that won’t become obsolete in a few years, and I’m not concerned with the lack of official support from Apple as I have never had to call in for tech-support in 25 years of buying real Macs as well.

I currently have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro, quad core i7 @2.4 GHz (3.06 w/turbo boost), with 16GB RAM & 2 Internal Sata SSD’s, a late 2008 MacBook Pro core2duo @ 2.45 GHz, as well as a Power Mac G5 dual 2.0GHz with 8GB RAM, ATI Radeon Pro 9600 256MB, 2 1TB SATA SSD’s, and and HP Probook 6470b, core i5, 16GB RAM, OS X 10.10.5, and Windows 10 Pro x64, and finally an Hp Pavilion elite 9080n, quad core Xeon 2.7GHz, 10GB RAM, OS X 10.6.8, Windows 7 Pro, and Ubuntu Mate (older version).

While I have done everything from build hackinTosh is from scratch, turn laptops that No one said I could into them, and even made one from an AMD Semprom with an ATI Radeon graphics card that required immense amounts of patching, taking cheap compact laptops and made them functional max, and even some of those cheap net books that worked completely. There has only been one machine I could not get to work because of the graphics. However it’s been a long time, and this time, I need a machine that is going to function as a solid digital audio workstation. Without a superstore to walk into and products did see in person, and A live person to advise me, I am hoping that someone else has done when I’m trying to do recently and can steer me in the right direction. I apologize if this is posted in the wrong place, as I am new to this forum, or at least the account is new as my old one was forgotten

You still want to run Mountain Lion (10.8), Yosemite (10.10) and Windows 7?

The current i9 10 core CPU (i9 10900 family) belongs to the 10th generation Intel hardware and there is no support from the older operating systems. You can't run them on such a new system. They are only officially supported on MacOS Catalina / Big Sur and Windows 10. However, I have had confirmation that such systems may be able to run High Sierra and Mojave if a supported GPU like the RX 580 is used.

Your 2012 Macbook Pro is of the generation (Ivy Bridge, 3rd generation) where Mountain Lion is officially supported. Current Intel Macs only support running Catalina and/or Big Sur.

So I think you have to make a decision : Can you make do with newer versions of MacOS like High Sierra and Mojave rather than Mountain Lion and Yosemite?

If you insist on the older operating systems, you can't use the current Intel CPUs and will have to source an older system like those based on Ivy Bridge (3rd generation, Z77 / H77 / B75) or Haswell (4th generation, Z97 / H97 / Z87 / H87) hardware. But then you won't have CPUs with more than 4 cores.

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Best parts for stable Pro Tools Hackintosh able to run older and newer versions of OS X and windows

Headcloud

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