Any real benefit to upgrading my Gigabyte Z77X-UP5 TH board... .

[mully]

It is now 10 yo no problems but with this age it can go any time. What is an easy board to configure as I atruggle with bios on this board and never could get it to work right, I boot up from a memory stick that is attached for the 10 years

 

[trs96]

What is an easy board to configure ?

Intel 10th gen H470 or Z490 chipset boards were the last ones Apple supported. If you can find one new or used in good shape that's about as easy as it gets. Gigabyte and Asus branded boards have the most support available here so try to find a guide in User/Golden Builds and match the hardware.

You'll need to learn about OpenCore though to run the latest macOS versions such as Ventura or Sonoma.

Desktop Comet Lake | OpenCore Install Guide

 

[mully]

Thanks for the prompt reply, somehow I knew it would not be a simple fix, but I will give it a go

 

[trs96]

Thanks for the prompt reply, somehow I knew it would not be a simple fix, but I will give it a go

There's still one new Asus Z490 board left on Amazon. It's more expensive and premium but is similar to what you got with your Z77X system ten years ago. A new board gives you the full 3 year warranty from Asus.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086QSD3M4/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

These Gigabyte Z490 models look good too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087GY1TZ3/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CS2CRK1/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[mully]

The Asus looks good, also looking at the MSI Z490 Tomahawk, well have to see of my DDR3 memory will work as I have 32 gig and on a tight budget. Thank you for your sugestions, I need to proceed slowly.

 

[trs96]

also looking at the MSI Z490 Tomahawk

@esafeddie uses this board as a daily driver. Seems very happy with it. Not sure if you can still get them new though.

OpenCore z390 Aorus Pro WIFI?

The MSI Z490 is my newest and now main rig, yes the Ports are slightly over the 15 limit and I should revisit the mapping on it but too lazy to do specially as everything is working like a real Mac including iPhone Camera Handoff in FaceTime.

www.tonymacx86.com

well have to see of my DDR3 memory will work as I have 32 gig and on a tight budget

There are no tenth gen boards I've seen that support DDR3 ram. That's when the transition to DDR4 was fully complete. There were still some H310 boards that could take DDR3 but that was the last chipset. You could possibly sell your CPU motherboard and ram as a package to make some money to offset the new purchases.

DDR4 prices have come way down this year. A 2x16GB kit sells for as low as $55. Not that expensive.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NVQZ9XQ/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[esafeddie]

Not sure if you can still get them new though.

You'll be very lucky to find the Z490 MSI MAG new, but just had a quick flick through Amazon UK and they have a small number of MSI Z490 Gaming Edge and MSI Z490 Tomahawk Boards available, price £109 for the Edge and £452 for the Tomahawk.

I am very pleased with my MSI after years with Gigabyte, it was a leap of faith after changing from my old Gigabyte Z390 to a Gigabyte Z590. The latter was a disaster, this Board should have never been released, very quirky indeed to run as a Hackintosh and when you do get it to run, there was always a new issue even with loads of outside help.

In the end decided to go with an MSI Board and never looked back apart from the cost of the Z590 plus the 11th Gen CPU. I sold the CPU but still have the Board (why I don't know).
This MSI Z490 runs solid in a Muti-booting setup, 3 Apple OSs' plus Win11.