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Gigabyte H61M-s: A beginner in need of advice

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Joined
Jan 20, 2019
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45
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-H61M-s
CPU
i3-3220
Graphics
GTX 1060
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
Hey there,
Hope you all are doing well. I'd firstly like to thank the community, all the hackers, and developers who have made hackintoshing possible. You guys are a blessing!
So, as you might have guessed by the title, I'm new to Hackintosh and have never built one before. I've a secondary, old PC on which I want to dual boot Windows and Hackintosh (using separate hard drives for both). I want to be able to use FCP X for some basic editing. Here are some of the hardware details:

Intel Core i3 3220
4 GB RAM (665 MHz) ; going to upgrade to 16 GB soon
Motherboard: Gigabyte H61M-s
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 210 (Zotac)
Hard Drive: Western Digital WD10EZRX-00L4HB0 (931 GB / 5400 RPM) ; It's almost full and I'm planning to get a secondary 1 TB HDD for Hackintosh.

I'd appreciate if someone with the same motherboard, or one from the same series, who has been successful in installing Hackintosh, share their experience and tips/methods with me.

I have read several Hackintosh guides and watched its installation videos on YouTube many times and here's what I am planning to do:
1. I'll first remove the GPU (as its really old and low end and might cause problems), and then connect the screen to the onboard Intel GPU. I don't think there are Nvidia drivers available for that GPU for Mac and doubt its compatibility.
2. I'll unplug my previous Windows HDD (so that I don't accidentally format it during Hackintosh installation). I'll then plug in the brand new HDD that am going to buy.
3. I'll be following this guide.
4. If the installation is successful, I'll plug back my previous HDD in, so that I can dual-boot the system. And will try connecting the GPU back to see if it works with Hackintosh.

Now, I have a few queries.
1. What is the latest version of the Hackintosh that I should be able to run flawlessly? Which one would you guys recommend considering the hardware I have? I'd of course prefer Mojave, but doubt its compatibility because its new and has less users (Hackintoshers) and thus, might be less stable compared to the older versions.
2. After connecting my second hard drive with Windows installed, if I want to use Windows, will Clover give me an option to boot into Windows, or will I need to select the boot device manually by pressing F12 on the motherboard splash screen every time? I'll be keeping Windows as my primary OS. If clover allows me to boot to Windows, I'll keep the Hackintosh drive as the first priority in BIOS settings (as Clover bootloader is installed on the Hackintosh drive).
3. I'll be getting a new 1 TB HDD. I know it needs to be formatted to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and Windows will not be able to read or access that drive. But what if I partition that new hard drive, with one partition formatted to the macos extended type, and the other partition to a format supported by Windows? Is it possible? I wish it is because even 500 GB is more than enough for me for Hackintosh, and I want to give the other 500 GB to Windows to store my files (as Windows drive is running out of space, as mentioned earlier). Also, this will allow me to keep my files safe. I won't be storing any crucial data on the Hackintosh partition in case anything goes wrong and I have to reinstall Hackintosh from scratch.

I'd be really grateful if anyone here can help me out, especially the Hackintoshers with the same motherboard or with one from the same series.
Is there anything that I missed, or any extra step that needs to be followed? Also, please correct me if I am wrong anywhere.
I desperately want to be able to run it.
I don't know why, but I am not confident that I'll be able to install and run Hackintosh successfully and flawlessly, mainly because:
1. I've never done it before.
2. The motherboard and processor that I'll be using are outdated and are not present in the recommended hardware list on tonymacx86.
But, I can't give up before trying!
Please let me know if any more information is required. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks :)
 
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(1) Your graphics card is not supported under Mojave due to its lack of Metal support, the new Apple graphics framework. And I don't think you can use CPU integrated graphics either since your motherboard only has a VGA port which Apple dropped support several years ago. You should be able to run High Sierra with your graphics card, however.
 
What is the latest version of the Hackintosh that I should be able to run flawlessly? Which one would you guys recommend considering the hardware I have? I'd of course prefer Mojave, but doubt its compatibility because its new and has less users (Hackintoshers) and thus, might be less stable compared to the older versions.
If you want Mojave from the start, it's perfectly stable to use it right now. All you need to do is install a 40 dollar Nvidia GT 710 in place of your 210. You won't even need to remove the 710 for the install. Make sure to use the HDMI output and not the VGA as jb007 has mentioned, no support for that. Note that you will have to install Mojave for legacy booting as your motherboard has no UEFI update. Stay with the current F2 BIOS. There is an F3a beta but I wouldn't try that.
 
(1) Your graphics card is not supported under Mojave due to its lack of Metal support, the new Apple graphics framework. And I don't think you can use CPU integrated graphics either since your motherboard only has a VGA port which Apple dropped support several years ago. You should be able to run High Sierra with your graphics card, however.
Thanks for the reply. I am okay with High Sierra too. As the hardware on that PC is outdated and isn't that powerful, I can't be having much expectations. It's a secondary PC lying around which hasn't been used much and I am not willing to spend much on its hardware upgradation. And you're right about VGA. Both the GPU and the motherboard have only a VGA port. I have it paired with an old Acer monitor from 2011 which also supports only VGA. As you said I should be able to run High Sierra without having to remove the GPU, I'll then try making a USB drive out of it only and will try installing it within this week and will let you know how things go. I have to buy a new HDD first. And I actually already have a copy of High Sierra installation file in my early 2008 Mac Pro, so I'll try with that.
 
If you want Mojave from the start, it's perfectly stable to use it right now. All you need to do is install a 40 dollar Nvidia GT 710 in place of your 210. You won't even need to remove the 710 for the install. Make sure to use the HDMI output and not the VGA as jb007 has mentioned, no support for that. Note that you will have to install Mojave for legacy booting as your motherboard has no UEFI update. Stay with the current F2 BIOS. There is an F3a beta but I wouldn't try that.
As I have mentioned in the above message, I don't want to spend much on this PC. I am planning to try installing High Sierra with the existing GT 210 as I should be able to run High Sierra with it, according to Jamesbond007.
 
As I have mentioned in the above message, I don't want to spend much on this PC. I am planning to try installing High Sierra with the existing GT 210 as I should be able to run High Sierra with it, according to Jamesbond007.
Sounds good, try out HS with what you've got. Using a 210 for video editing won't be a great experience but it can work with 1080p video files.
 
Mojave will let you download iMovie for no additional cost. It is easy to use and better suited to older hardware as FCPX is really a Pro application that likes more horsepower and modern hardware to get the best out of it.
https://support.apple.com/imovie
But I don't want iMovie. I want FCP X only as I am learning it currently. I know FCP X is hardware intensive, but I think I should be able to run it decently after the scheduled hardware upgrades on that PC. And I'll be using it for some basic editing only on this to-be Hackintosh, so I think it should be okay.
 
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