- Joined
- Dec 27, 2015
- Messages
- 53
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R 1.0/F12
- CPU
- Q9650
- Graphics
- GTX 750 Ti
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
Prologue: I need something to run the latest iTunes, for iOS 9.x support, for the latest iPhones (5s, 6, 6s), because that's what my new Honda demands. To run the latest iTunes, need at least ML, ideally El Capitan. To get El Capitan via a legit route, need something that can also run Lion, so I can get it via App Store. Unfortunately for my old MacBook, Lion is the end of the line...
...so I got this old Windoze-PC-turned-Linux box and made it into a Hackintosh.
Lion seems to run OK; I've updated to 10.7.5 without any major problems, though audio is still broken (and, for some reason, it demands a USB mouse even with PS/2 drivers installed and a PS/2 keyboard). My thanks to the whole CustoMac gang at tonymacx86.com! You rock! 
For the record, I used UniBeast 5.2.0 with the Lion app for the install, and MultiBeast 4.7.0 afterward. I've been fiddling with MultiBeast, the Realtek ALC889A kext, and the DSDT without much success.
Right now this beastie's got a Core 2 Duo E7300, GeForce 8400 GS graphics (256 MB), and 4 GB DDR2-800 RAM. With a trip to the App Store, I've also got El Capitan in hand, waiting. To run it, I'm looking to bump the CPU to a Core 2 Quad Q9650 (or Extreme QX9650) and RAM to 8 GB, probably also DDR2-800. (DDR2-1066, while possible, is outrageously expensive, and anything faster is probably vaporware. Ditto for compatible 4 GB sticks at any DDR2 speed--beware the recent market dump of "AMD memory"! That's probably why this box ended up at the local Free Geek.)
As for graphics, I'm conflicted. One idea is to use a graphics card appropriate for this vintage (q.v., a 2010 iMac), which would indicate a Radeon HD 4850 or some such. The other states that, since El Capitan relies so heavily on the GPGPU (or multiple GPGPUs!), I should simply get the most graphics this box will handle; since it has a 16x PCIe slot, that means that (with enough power) I should be able to use almost anything that doesn't require multiple slots and/or SLI--or that will break my budget.
Recommendations?
...so I got this old Windoze-PC-turned-Linux box and made it into a Hackintosh.
Lion seems to run OK; I've updated to 10.7.5 without any major problems, though audio is still broken (and, for some reason, it demands a USB mouse even with PS/2 drivers installed and a PS/2 keyboard). My thanks to the whole CustoMac gang at tonymacx86.com! You rock! For the record, I used UniBeast 5.2.0 with the Lion app for the install, and MultiBeast 4.7.0 afterward. I've been fiddling with MultiBeast, the Realtek ALC889A kext, and the DSDT without much success.
Right now this beastie's got a Core 2 Duo E7300, GeForce 8400 GS graphics (256 MB), and 4 GB DDR2-800 RAM. With a trip to the App Store, I've also got El Capitan in hand, waiting. To run it, I'm looking to bump the CPU to a Core 2 Quad Q9650 (or Extreme QX9650) and RAM to 8 GB, probably also DDR2-800. (DDR2-1066, while possible, is outrageously expensive, and anything faster is probably vaporware. Ditto for compatible 4 GB sticks at any DDR2 speed--beware the recent market dump of "AMD memory"! That's probably why this box ended up at the local Free Geek.)
As for graphics, I'm conflicted. One idea is to use a graphics card appropriate for this vintage (q.v., a 2010 iMac), which would indicate a Radeon HD 4850 or some such. The other states that, since El Capitan relies so heavily on the GPGPU (or multiple GPGPUs!), I should simply get the most graphics this box will handle; since it has a 16x PCIe slot, that means that (with enough power) I should be able to use almost anything that doesn't require multiple slots and/or SLI--or that will break my budget.
Recommendations?
But I do have Angry Birds!