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2019 hackintosh Music production i7 or i9 compatibility Hi sierra 10.13/Mojave 10.14 ?

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Hi everyone, I am looking for building my first Hackintosh for my music production work. As a film composer, I use a lot of virtual plug-ins as Symphonic orchestra sound bank witch are every time more powerful and ask a lot of processor and Ram. My latest Mac is getting mad and I can't work without error of performance running every time I work. So I have to create something powerful to be quiet for a long time.

My master software are : Logic Audio X, Protools 12, Adobe Live 9
Soundcard : Prism Orpheus audio card
SSL Madi express Pcie for audio mady connection to my SSL convertor AlphaLink (with an SSL matrix mixing board)

Before buying all the components, I would like to have some advices of any of you who has builded a Hackingtosh for Music production.

1) witch OS between 10.13 and 10.14 ?

Maybe I am wrong, but I think I will start with the choice of MACOS 10.13 Hi Sierra, as many software are not yet all ready for Mojave.
If someone use already mojave with music software ?

2 ) i7 9700k 8core or i9 9900k 8 core ?
Is those two processors compatible with Mac Os 10.13 ? I think the i7 yes but I am not sure with the i9 ?

So I hesitate between two configurations :

3) My 1st configuration running on Mac OS 10.13 :
_ Intel Core i7-9700K coffee Lake 8 core 3,6Ghz
_ Mother board GIGABYTE Z390 DESIGNARE
_ Graphic card : MSI AMD RX 580 Armour 8 go
_ RAM : CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro 64GB (4 x 16GB)

_ SSD MACOS&SOFTWARE : 1TB Samsung 970 PRO, M.2 (2280) PCIe 3.0 (x4) NVMe SSD
_ Mid Tower : be quiet! Silent Base 601

Or 2nd configuration running on Mac OS 10.14 Mojave :
_ Intel Core i9-9900K coffee Lake 8 core 3,6Ghz
_ Mother board GIGABYTE Z390 DESIGNARE
_ Graphic card : MSI AMD RX 580 Armour 8 go
_ RAM : CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro 64GB (4 x 16GB)

_ SSD MACOS&SOFTWARE : 1TB Samsung 970 PRO, M.2 (2280) PCIe 3.0 (x4) NVMe SSD
_ Mid Tower : be quiet! Silent Base 601



Witch configuration do you think will better work now ? I am not looking for over clock unless necessary for running big music cessions.

4) For the mid tower : is the be quiet! 601 a good choice ? I saw other configuration with Phanteks Evolv X but more expensive.


Thank you all of you for your advices, helps !

Can't wait to have your feedback

Vivian
 
Hi Vivian -

I'm running Pro Tools 12 (but no video) on a much more modest system without breaking a sweat, so either of your configurations should be fine. I'd recommend that whatever you choose, you select a motherboard from the buyer's guide.

Concerning the macOS version, you'll need to stick with 10.13 (High Sierra), since Pro Tools has not been qualified for 10.14 (Mojave). Concerning the case, I'm using the Corsair quiet series, and settled on the "Carbide Series™ 330R Quiet Mid-Tower Case" available for about $120 from the manufacturer.

Concerning CPU cooling, I'd recommend the Noctua NH-D15. It is virtually silent, and every bit as effective as a water cooler.

Good luck.
 
I have the BeQuiet 601 case along with a BeQuet DarkRock 4 Pro, and one of the BeQuiet power supplies.
My setup is indeed very quiet, running at stock speeds.
Overall, I like the case, but the airflow is not stellar, which leads to temps that can be rather high when doing anything that taxes the CPU or GPU for an extended period of time.

If your primary concern is a silent case for your studio environment (as in my case) then I think the 601 is great.
If you want to do overclocking etc.. I think I might look for something that offers better airflow.
 
Hi Vivian.

I'm running Mojave with Logic Pro X, Live 10, Max MSP with no problems, running with RME fireface 800 all plugins and add ons work fine.

I read that upgrading your OSX to a newer OSX can be quite a hassle and mostly means to do the whole process from start, so i went with mojave so I am good to go for some time. I don't use Pro tools on this system. If you choose High Sierra make sure to have a popular build. The upgrading process to Mojave might be easier then starting from scratch again. Depending mostly on your motherboard which is the crucial part of a hackintosh. Buy one which is most used in the community, asus Rog Z370 or Gigabyte Z370. Make sure the board you buy is 9th generation ready, since there are some older bios around from same but older versions of the mainbords which can't run 9th generation.

32GB RAM is already sufficient as your OS wont even or hardly use up till 64GB, even if you have a whole orchestral library loaded, you ram is more used as a buffer which continuously communicates with your data and activities, loading 50gb of libraries won't stay all in your RAM. But there are ways for instance in kontakt to adjust the ram usages. Meaning you might want to optimize your computer and musical applications to make proper use of 64GB of RAM, i'm not sure its by default you will benefit from all 64GB. Suggestion would be better invest in the speed of ram or have all your data in SSD . You can connect up to 5 to 6 sata connections to a good mainboard so you could buy something like 4 or 6 TB of SSD for better work flow. Having all your libraries on SSD will make your workflow run much better. Or have a mix so 48GB RAM and at least 3TB of SSD. Unless money isn't an issue have 64GB and all SSD. Even more so to say: If money isn't issue go for a real mac, even though a hackintosh can run flawlessly but for professional use if something goes wrong there is no ambulant help or repair center. Also musical hardware and software support are less likely to help out if you run a hackintosh or if you don't have time to take care for it. If you are in the middle of a project and something happens it can be quite a drag, Make sure you make recovery with carbon cloner and such. And save the USB clover disk what worked for your system. If you are not prepared you might be days without your system troubleshooting.

Go for a DARK pro cooler und SEASONIC FANLESS PSU to have real quiet machine, all cases are fine, preferred metal houses and have good airflow, take care of the airflow direction of the fans, dont use stock case fans buy noctua ones. . BE quit CPU fans are not so quiet in my opinion. Noctua CPU coolers are sometime a bit big to build in, but are quiet, good for case fans. Have a case with a lot of extra USB ports you have about 4 internal connections on your board for more USB ports. Overclocking might give only a tad extra. If you work with multi-track and orchestration, have a cpu with most cores as possible. But nowadays you can easily have your cpu on boost all the time or a have a safe overclocking setting in your bios, loads of easy tutorials, be carefull with the voltage settings, this is the crucial one which can both overclock greatly and greatly damage your cpu if done wrong. If you want to really overclock you might want to delid your CPU for better results, and have serious cooling, even watercooling, if you plan, let someone do it for you. But for the few percent you get extra in your DAW all that work in my opinion isn't needed. Better have an additional macbook to sync your DAW with or use mid, having two systems running is very useful in a work studio. Like have one for Live for the quick intuitive work and the other Logic for the big DAW work and link them up.


Also have 1 or 2 good 4k monitor(s) to have the mac effect in your work flow. Use native mac magic keyboards, trackpads and mouses. They all work great with hackintosh.
And important buy a "hackintosch" approved COMBO wifi/Bluetooth cards to have all functions like airport, hands off, and etcc., any other hardware might give complications.

Be ready to spent some time on the configuration your hackintosh to install the osx, then after time for the configuration to make it work smooth. Go for the most successful build you find. Most likely only using uni and multi beast won't be enough and you need to organize your efi and kext or copy all your setup from a tread,

Good luck,

best from Berlin
 
Hi Daidana,

Please keep us posted on how your build went and how the setup worked. The components you listed seem to have all the makings of a pro audio dream machine.

Cheers,

synchro
 
Mojave and Pro Tools now work together BTW!
 
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