Hi there. Thanks a lot for this great topic! I'm about to jump into my first Hackintosh, I'm very excited but a bit worried also
Here is my
presentation topic for my more general questions and motivations about switching to Hackintosh
It seems that I have all the hardware prerequisites to have a working Hackintosh with Thunderbolt (Z490 vision D, 10700K, 650W power unit, Nvidia GT730). I now have some specific questions :
- Is the F20 BIOS now considered to be stable and fully working, and, if so, with which version of macOS should I use ? I plan to use Big Sur and stick with it for years, good choice (also in order to keep my GT730 and not buy an expensive ATI card just to add a third screen ...)? I know it is mainly a software compatibility question about macOS version choice, but I'm looking mainly for stability (the software I use should run fine on Big Sur, excepting for the 32 bits VST I think)
BIOS F20 most likely prevents
USB devices from connecting to the two Thunderbolt ports. Thunderbolt devices will work fine. I think Big Sur is a good choice because subsequent versions of macOS are (a) becoming more restrictive with security and (b) causing problems with some of the devices and drivers we use. For example, Intel Bluetooth driver (IntelBluetoothFirmware.kext) does not work in Monterey, but works fine in Big Sur.
- About the F20 BIOS, I saw the TB/USB hotplug issue, but I have to be sure that my Thunderbolt ports will be fully working in order to use my Universal Audio Apollos interfaces
It may be necessary to set
Thunderbolt --> Thunderbolt Boot Support in BIOS Setup to
Boot Once in order to connect the UAD Apollo.
- I checked about the Intel Optane drive, it seems that I haven't installed it under Windows but my SATA mode is set to "Intel Optane ..." in the BIOS, so I'm a bit confused. I switched to AHCI, and nothing broke, Windows still booting. But I don't use SATA, my Windows installation is on a 970 EVO NVMe drive, so : no impact at all for me isn't it ?
If you do not have any Optane drives in the system then it's best to change SATA ports to
AHCI right away. This applies only to SATA drives, but not to PCIe NVMe SSDs.
- I'm a bit worried about to screw my current Windows installation during macOS installation, and, after that, while running macOS, to have my NTFS data accessible (but as a data drive, TRIM shouldn't be an issue right? No problem of temperature with my 790 EVO ?). So is it safe to let my Windows NVMe drive plugged during installation and using OpenCore for dual boot setup? Or is it safer to take out the drive, install macOS and get the drive back, using the BIOS to load startup drive for Windows or MacOS ?
If Windows NVMe SSD is already installed, it is best to move it to the M.2 slot closest to the CPU. Then install the macOS NVMe SSD into any of the other slots. It's ok to keep the Windows NVMe SSD in the system when installing macOS, but just be extra careful not to accidentally format and install macOS on that disk!
- Regarding the choice of the NVMe SSD, after reading this, I think I will pick a WD_BLACK SN850 1TB, good choice, or you have better recommendation in order to avoid all TRIM and temperature issues? Maybe it would be better to have a smaller NVMe SSD just for macOS and a SATA SSD drive for data?
Although WD Black SN850 is a good choice, it is
overkill because it supports PCIe 4.0, which only turns on if you install a Rocket Lake CPU (11th generation) -- and only if you install the NVMe SSD into the slot closest to the CPU (where Windows should be installed). The WD
SN750 would be a better choice.
- I have to make the installation drive under Windows, and this guide states to use gibMacOS. It seems that there is a working Windows.bat script to download and prepare the drive with gibMacOS. I also found this topic to make an online OpenCore USB installer under Windows. Which one is best for me currently ?
It's okay to use gibMacOS or similar utility on Windows to create the macOS installer.
- Will I be able to use both onboard HDMI and DP Port for two extended screen setup?
You can use the on-board HDMI and DP ports, but only if you select
config-Intel-iGPU.plist as the starting point.