Hackintosh using 1st gen AppleTV chassis

[rso81]

Hello everyone!

I am failing to find ANYBODY ELSE who has attempted this, but I don't feel it's a dumb idea, so I thought I'd bring it up on this forum....

I want to make a Hackintosh build using the chassis of the 1st gen AppleTV (of which I have), along with Intel's DN2800MT motherboard. I would then use the mSATA slot to add in a 256GB SSD, a half card for wifi + bluetooth, and of course would put in 4GB of ram. Since the PSU circuitry is already pre-installed on this board, this would mean I would use a power brick outside of the chassis (which I am fine with). This is a SLIM mini-ITX board (the height of 2 USB ports, that's it), so I'm confident this will fit into the ATV chassis.

The end result would be:

-No cables or wiring in the chassis (with the exception of a power button, and the IR sensor)
-2x the CPU power of the original Pentium M 1ghz chip found in the AppleTV's original logic board. (probably more than that...the Atom N2800 CPU is dual core, hyper threaded)
-16x the RAM found in the AppleTV's original logic board
-POTENTIALLY less heat, since the PSU is to be in the form of an external power brick

So c'mon! Let me hear some rants! Here are my questions:

1.) CAN IT BE DONE?
2.) The CPU on this board is an Intel Atom N2800, with GMA 3650 graphics....is it possible to run Mountain Lion on this?
3.) What about heat? The original CPU of the AppleTV had a TDP rating of 45w, wheras this Atom CPU is at 6.5w. You think I can get by without a fan? The AppleTV chassis is kinda "enclosed" if you catch my drift.

Let me know!

-Ryan

 

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[Catahula]

Apple broke compatibility with Atom processors with 10.6.7 or 8. Probably no Lion or ML on this without some serious coding, or perhaps as a Virtual machine.

It all depends on what you want to use it for. It might make a good little HTPC box running SL.

 

[rehpotsirhc]

You could run XBMC live on that board for a nice set top box or you could jailbreak the ATV and install XBMC as an app. I would recommend an Intel slim ITX board and a proper i3 processor with HD 3000 graphics for anything running snow leopard, lion or mountain lion though. If you wait a few more weeks the Core i3-3225 with HD 4000 will be out which is also 55W vs the older equivalent's 65W which could make a huge difference when you're dealing with a wimpy power brick as your PSU.

 

[neilhart]

This sounds like an interesting project. You will not find support or discussion of that board in this forum. You should go look at the netbook discussions on Insanely Mac for starters. There has been a lot of work done to support Atom based machines.

However, there are at least 2 low profile Intel motherboads that run current tech and Tony's tools will let you bring up ML. Look at the DH61AG and the DQ77KB. I have the former running in a G4 Cube and the latter is on my list.

good luck

neil

 

[joshfabean]

I was thinking this same thing over the weekend. I have an ATV1 running XBMC and CrystalUbuntu with the CrystalHD card in it. But sometimes using 1channel it crashes on HD files. I tested the same link and everything on my laptop running XBMC and it works just great, so it's a issue with the specs on the ATV. I was thinking the Intel DQ77KB and i3-3225 would work fine in that case.

Let us know if you go any further with this as I'm always looking for a better TV solution!

 

[spence4]

Is the first gen ATV about the same size as the current Mac Mini? If so, I would imagine you could do it without a problem as I think people have taken the slim ITX boards that neilhart mentioned and dropped them in the Mini chassis. If so, I would think the Mini is the way to go as you could make use of its aluminum case as a heatsink of sorts. I think the ATV is plastic which would make for a real toasty CPU. Although, if you can't find an example of it anyway, it would be cool to break new ground. Good luck.

 

[phatintosh]

My plan was to put the whole thing in there with a low-profile fan ... i was going to cut a hole in the top to let the low-pro fan stick through ... i have been too busy to handle these projects so its on the side burner

I would go with the DH61AG as the other is much more difficult to hackintosh on, and its a higher end board so bigger cpu's and hence bigger fans, more cables, etc...

 

[joshfabean]

I put up my Intel DQ77K motherboard just to see if it would fit. Looks like it would fit but it would be super tight. Not sure where the hard drive would go, or a fan.

I think you could boot off a flash drive with the OS on it, that works right? Maybe a low-profile fan will work good enough.



As you can see it fits within the case width-wise.



But on this side with the IO ports you're taking up most of the height of the ATV. So there isn't much room for anything else.

 

[kiwisincebirth]

I put up my Intel DQ77K motherboard just to see if it would fit. Looks like it would fit but it would be super tight. Not sure where the hard drive would go, or a fan.

I think you could boot off a flash drive with the OS on it, that works right? Maybe a low-profile fan will work good enough.

This motherboard supports mSATA, so and SSD can directly be mounted on the motherboard without adding to the height. According to apple the Apple TV MK1 is 28mm thin, which is thinner than the current Mac Mini (but about same width and depth). A conventional heat sink and fan are not going to fit into the case. The following thread deals with modding the Mini, and is probably the best bet for some inspiration

http://www.tonymacx86.com/others/41184-mac-mini-intel-dh61ag.html