Advice for my first hackintosh build

[Cheetah05]

I am looking into getting a small hackintosh build and wanted to know what the state of affairs is.

As I want something small I will be going down the miniITX route. I will be going with Intel (i5/i7) and and it will have an integrated GPU, something like the Intel HD3000.

I know there are things that don't work on specific hackintosh setups but are there things that don't work on ALL hackintosh machines or certain things that don't work on MOST hackintosh machines?

I just want to see if hackintosh is the right move for me?

When looking for a motherboard, are there certain things I should be looking for/certain things to avoid? I know there are various compatibility lists for motherboards but I wanted to know whether I should be looking for certain chipsets/audio/etc...or is it the case that say one audio chipset would work on one motherboard but the same audio chipset may not work on another.

I am looking to get as close to a real mac as possible with as few "hacky" things as possible. I will probably end up buying an apple keyboard and apple mouse.

 

[ijhu]

CustomMac mini what you should be looking at.
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.ca/search/label/CustoMac
viewtopic.php?f=168&t=33412

apple wireless keyboard + mouse, buy a compatible bluetooth dongle. Alternatively you can make 100% OOB unit by buying components on Ebay.

http://tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=14836

 

[Cheetah05]

CustomMac mini what you should be looking at.
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.ca/search/label/CustoMac
viewtopic.php?f=168&t=33412

Is there anything that doesn't work with that hardware? I take it I can choose any CPU?

Will I be able to use the keyboard/mouse to wake the computer?

Are there any speed/boot up differences between a hackintosh and a normal mac?

With hackintosh do you have to be careful about using Software Updates or is it fine to just go ahead and update?

 

[ijhu]

Those basic hackintosh questions, you MUST read and RESEARCH yourself.
Mouse/Keyboard can WAKe the computer. (If using bluetooth then you should build the apple branded one)
Speed different? YES, but how much? It depends on what you are using as a CPU.
Current Macmini = sandy bridge DUAL CORE i5. With hackintosh, you can have DUAL CORE, or QUAD CORE cpu. For example, if you build your Macmini with an i7-2600K, then of course it going to be FAST....Besides, you can add more RAM.

since you are using onboard HD3000 graphic, you must select the correct CPU models that has HD3000.

software update, READ the forum when there is software update available.
You can always clone a working hackintosh as backup.

 

[Cheetah05]

Those basic hackintosh questions, you MUST read and RESEARCH yourself.

What I am getting at is. Is there a check list of things I have to check and if I have all those fully working, I will have a fully working hackintosh? (Or does it not work like that)

Speed different? YES, but how much? It depends on what you are using as a CPU.
Current Macmini = sandy bridge DUAL CORE i5. With hackintosh, you can have DUAL CORE, or QUAD CORE cpu. For example, if you build your Macmini with an i7-2600K, then of course it going to be FAST....Besides, you can add more RAM.

I was referring to what the speed difference is between a hackintosh and a mac of the same spec? (Or was that what you were answering?

 

[ijhu]

If you are comparing Apple to Apple (Hack) based on the same specs...it's hard to say. Besides the compatibility aspect of things, I say the hackintosh has the EDGE as you can ADD more to make it speedier such as RAM, CPU swap, SSD drive.

If you are the type which cannot tolerate a TRUE brand of apple device and expect 100% out of a hack comparing to a TRUE apple brand, then it is NOT your area as hackintosh requires patience and many trials and errors and often frustration.

 

[Cheetah05]

First off, thanks for your replies

If you are the type which cannot tolerate a TRUE brand of apple device and expect 100% out of a hack comparing to a TRUE apple brand, then it is NOT your area as hackintosh requires patience and many trials and errors and often frustration.

I'm more than happy with putting in some time to set it all up/trial to get things working, thats half the fun. What I have in mind is a little adventurous anyways. But I'd rather choose the hardware that I know is going to work one way or another so I don't have to buy things all over again.

Once it is setup, I want to be able to leave it and it not fall apart/break. If that means not updating until I've checked its ok - then so be it....but I don't want things breaking all over the place.

 

[jester969]

First off, thanks for your replies

If you are the type which cannot tolerate a TRUE brand of apple device and expect 100% out of a hack comparing to a TRUE apple brand, then it is NOT your area as hackintosh requires patience and many trials and errors and often frustration.

I'm more than happy with putting in some time to set it all up/trial to get things working, thats half the fun. What I have in mind is a little adventurous anyways. But I'd rather choose the hardware that I know is going to work one way or another so I don't have to buy things all over again.

Once it is setup, I want to be able to leave it and it not fall apart/break. If that means not updating until I've checked its ok - then so be it....but I don't want things breaking all over the place.

Are you like going to throw acid on your stuff?

Is sounds like you just jumped into or fallen into hacks and haven't done your research enough since you are worried about it breaking apart. Dust bunnies?

 

[Cheetah05]

Are you like going to throw acid on your stuff?

Is sounds like you just jumped into or fallen into hacks and haven't done your research enough since you are worried about it breaking apart. Dust bunnies?

Actually to the contrary. I'm quite aware of what's going on with a mackintosh, thats why I am also quite aware, that something may seem to work, but can cause problems which were originally unseen down the line, that's why I wanted to a) a list of things to check with the components so I can see if there are hacks for everything and b) a list of things to check when I have my system running.

 

[Vendetta]

Are you like going to throw acid on your stuff?

Is sounds like you just jumped into or fallen into hacks and haven't done your research enough since you are worried about it breaking apart. Dust bunnies?

Actually to the contrary. I'm quite aware of what's going on with a mackintosh, thats why I am also quite aware, that something may seem to work, but can cause problems which were originally unseen down the line, that's why I wanted to a) a list of things to check with the components so I can see if there are hacks for everything and b) a list of things to check when I have my system running.

Forgive people for telling you to do your research. People that are active on this forum read SO MANY posts everyday from people that don't do research. Most people don't want to take the time to look for their answers, and they would just rather ask someone for the answer.

However, I understand your questions and your trepidation. Before you spend money, you want to be sure of what you are getting into. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have tried had I not had a co-worker years ago that was very confident in Tony's method.

You shouldn't have many problems, and the concern with hackintosh stability is a thing in the past, in my opinion. However, this is provided that you do your research on choosing the correct hardware. If you choose hardware that hasn't been used in the past, it's likely you'll run into problems and you probably won't find much help. The pieces of hardware that you need to be most concerned with are motherboard and gpu. The motherboard for obvious reasons, and because it's one of the most difficult to switch out. Find a motherboard that is very widely used and that you have seen to be working for other people with things such as networking, sleep, audio, etc. If you pick a quality board that is popular and seems to be working quite well for other people, you should have few problems. The GPU can be replaced, but some can be finicky to get working. If you want to use integrated HD3000, make sure your CPU supports it and that you read about other individuals using HD3000 with the motherboard that you are looking to buy. The rest are basic and simple, such as PSU, RAM, DVD, HDD, etc.

While it's true that you can run into some bumps with the install and getting everything exactly as you want it, that's half the fun. If you choose known good hardware, you should be able to set it and forget it. Once you get it working, you should be set. If an update is released, it would be prudent of you to read this website about the update and if there are any known problems. Watch the forum and see if other people with similar setups are running into issues. Above all else, make sure you have at least one clone of your system. Worst case scenario you restore from your clone, re-run Mb, and you're set.

It's true that hackintosh does have some quarks, but with the brilliant community that we're lucky to be a part of, people are breaking down those barriers everyday. I mean just look at people figuring out vanilla wifi and bluetooth solutions, a guy installing OS X on some sort of Samsung tablet, and just recently the announcement of being able to run multiple GPUs in sequence with one another (SLI'ish). Yeah it's not all built in and stock, but if you plan appropriately, you can have a system that far surpasses a real mac in terms of performance, customizability, repairability, etc.

That brings me to my last point. Another benefit of building for yourself is that if something does go wrong (GPU, CPU, PSU, etc. goes bad), you have the ability to fix this yourself, and the longevity of your system is greatly increased.

Best advice I can give is to do your research and save yourself a lot of headache in the end. Don't worry about the side stuff that people are using (RAM, HDD, PSU, etc.), focus on the motherboard and GPU (if you decide you want to use one), and make sure other people have them working well in the configuration you'd like. Then choose quality parts from quality manufacturers, and you should be okay.

Good luck!