First Hackintosh-Advice/Suggestions

[BikeRider]

With Apple not updating the MacMini, I've becoming tired of looking at progress bars and spinning beach balls and decided to build a Hackintosh. Thanks to all the contributors on tonymacx86.com, I'm confident that this first build will be successful. I would appreciate any advice prior to purchasing parts to be sure everything will work together and will not present difficulties with running OS X (probably Sierra initially).

This will be an everyday desktop, replacing my aging 2011 Mini Server, with the main performance requirements driven by photograph/image processing. Other goals are quiet, relatively easy maintenance, stability and ability to upgrade if needed.

Here is what I am considering:

CPU: Intel i7-7700K processor - Not intending to overclock but superior to plain 7700 for not much more money.
Mobo: ASUS PRIME Z270M-Plus - 2 M.2 slots for SSD storage deciding factor
Case: BitFenix MicroATX Tower Case BFC-PHM-300-KKXKK-RP
PSU: Corsair CS Series, CS550M, 550 Watt
Storage: For OS, Samsung 960 EVO - 250GB PCIe NVMe SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)

For data, Samsung 960 EVO - 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD (MZ-V6E1T0BW)​

Memory: 2x16MB-DDR4-2133 - Worth getting faster memory?
Graphics: Integrated graphics should be sufficient, I think (don't game; do very little video editing); can add PCIe card later if needed.
Cooler: Arctic Freezer 33 PENTA - Passive cooling (i.e. silent) at light use
WiFi: TP-Link Archer T9E 802.11AC AC1900

or would PC/Hackintosh - Apple Broadcom Bcm94360cd - 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC + Bluetooth 4.0 be a better option?​

Thanks for any advice, suggestions, etc.

Jim

 

[andwhy81]

With Apple not updating the MacMini, I've becoming tired of looking at progress bars and spinning beach balls and decided to build a Hackintosh. Thanks to all the contributors on tonymacx86.com, I'm confident that this first build will be successful. I would appreciate any advice prior to purchasing parts to be sure everything will work together and will not present difficulties with running OS X (probably Sierra initially).

This will be an everyday desktop, replacing my aging 2011 Mini Server, with the main performance requirements driven by photograph/image processing. Other goals are quiet, relatively easy maintenance, stability and ability to upgrade if needed.

Here is what I am considering:

CPU: Intel i7-7700K processor - Not intending to overclock but superior to plain 7700 for not much more money.
Mobo: ASUS PRIME Z270M-Plus - 2 M.2 slots for SSD storage deciding factor
Case: BitFenix MicroATX Tower Case BFC-PHM-300-KKXKK-RP
PSU: Corsair CS Series, CS550M, 550 Watt
Storage: For OS, Samsung 960 EVO - 250GB PCIe NVMe SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)

For data, Samsung 960 EVO - 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD (MZ-V6E1T0BW)​

Memory: 2x16MB-DDR4-2133 - Worth getting faster memory?
Graphics: Integrated graphics should be sufficient, I think (don't game; do very little video editing); can add PCIe card later if needed.
Cooler: Arctic Freezer 33 PENTA - Passive cooling (i.e. silent) at light use
WiFi: TP-Link Archer T9E 802.11AC AC1900

or would PC/Hackintosh - Apple Broadcom Bcm94360cd - 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC + Bluetooth 4.0 be a better option?​

Thanks for any advice, suggestions, etc.

Jim

How did this build go? I am debate this verses a Coffee Lake Build

 

[BikeRider]

How did this build go? I am debate this verses a Coffee Lake Build

I plan to document my build on tonymac86 but, having just returned from Europe and about to leave for the holidays, realistically it won't happen until shortly after New Year's. Briefly, with some changes (see below) and a variety of 'interesting' experiences along the way, my build using High Sierra is complete, stable and in production sooner than I thought. Lots of data migration remains but I'm re-organizing/cleaning up instead of just plopping 700GB of files on the new system.

Actual build:
CPU: Intel i7-7700K processor
Mobo: ASUS PRIME Z270M-Plus
Case: BitFenix MicroATX Tower Case BFC-PHM-300-KKXKK-RP
PSU: Corsair CS Series, CS550M, 550 Watt
*Storage: For OS, Samsung 960 EVO - 250GB PCIe NVMe SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)
For data, Seagate 2TB BarraCuda SATA III 3.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM006)
Memory: Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200)
*Graphics: EVGA GeForce GT 1030 SC 2GB GDDR5 Graphics Card (02G-P4-6332-KR)
Cooler: Arctic Freezer 33 CO
WiFi: OSXWiFi - Broadcom BCM94360CD - 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC with Bluetooth 4.0

* For data storage, good financial sense (storage per dollar) finally won the day given the cost of a SSD. The option for installing another SSD is there when costs drop. The HDD also made repeated installation and testing much easier than it would have been on an SSD's (and saved unneeded wear on the SSD). All my initial work was done on the HDD. Once a working configuration was established, I migrated the Clover/EFI seamlessly to the SSD (formatted HDR+ to preserve TRIM functionality). With two bootable drives, updates are applied to the HDD version and tested before applying them to the production SSD drive.
* I really wanted to use the integrated graphics just because it seemed silly/wasteful to add a graphics card when there already was one. But I soon found through experience and reading forums that wasn't going to work and that adding a graphics card was the painless and functional way to go.

At this point, everything that should work, works (I had older S/W that I knew wouldn't work with High Sierra). And everything works much, much faster than the ancient Mini. I'm glad I took on this project and am very pleased with the results. I'm happy to share my experience and answer questions (but note I will be unavailable until the middle of next week.)