Looking to Hackintosh--MSI H81M-E34 mobo, Intel i3-4130 CPU

[jr--sweet]

MSI H81M-E34 mobo, Intel i3-4130 CPU--any chance?

Hi all!

I recently completed my first ever PC build, which was a small victory in and of itself! I put together a pretty decent but good-price-for-performance machine, as my 08 macbook finally kicked the bucket in the past month and I needed/will use this desktop . Windows 7 is alright, but I really find myself missing OSX.

In fact, one of the main reasons (and it seems silly) I don't think I can stick with Windows in the long run is the terrible job Windows seems to have with displaying Japanese fonts, and text in general. It's verging on nitpicking, but I'm going back to school soon and I'm majoring in the language, so I need to be able to read and write on my PC with ease--Windows 7 makes it hard to read kanji, and input is really counter-intuitive compared to OSX.

Anyway, full specs:

CPU: Intel i3-4130 3.4 GHz
Mobo: MSI H81M-E34
RAM: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2x4) DDR3-1600
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB (plan to upgrade and add a SSD when I can afford!)
PSU: Cooler Master Elite Power 400W

As far as the initial install, I have access to my dad's comp. (older 07 imac) if I need to buy an upgrade, but I also have the original 10.6 install disc that came with my macbook, way back from 2008. I'd appreciate any help and recommendations, and even just a quick "can/can't." I know Gigabyte is the standard for mobos, from my research, but is it possible with my specs?

Thanks all!

 

[jr--sweet]

Bump for help, any one ever have luck with MSI or the H81 chipset?

 

[Adrian B]

Welcome to the forum,

The MSI boards are in need of more work to get running, although yours has I believe ALC887 audio codec and Realtec ethernet - so far so good.

You need to use a genuine retail version of Snow Leopard, the grey disks that Apple supplied with hardware only worked on that hardware. You can buy a copy from Apple directly - see our buyers guide for the link in the Operating systems section:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/420-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-april-2014.html#oses

You are going to need to patch the BIOS of your MSI H81 board before you start in order that you can install OS X on your hardware.
http://biosrepo.wordpress.com
http://www.tonymacx86.com/bios-uefi/47397-msi-asrock-foxconn-1155-patched-bios-thread.html

As you are probably reasonably new I recommend spending plenty time reading some of the threads and exploring the site. There is a great deal of information that can be found here. Make sure that you can use a digital HDMI/DVI type connection to your monitor from your motherboard.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/basics/104542-im-new-everything-where-do-i-start.html

Good luck

Adrian B

 

[jr--sweet]

Welcome to the forum,

The MSI boards are in need of more work to get running, although yours has I believe ALC887 audio codec and Realtec ethernet - so far so good.

You need to use a genuine retail version of Snow Leopard, the grey disks that Apple supplied with hardware only worked on that hardware. You can buy a copy from Apple directly - see our buyers guide for the link in the Operating systems section:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/420-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-april-2014.html#oses

You are going to need to patch the BIOS of your MSI H81 board before you start in order that you can install OS X on your hardware.
http://biosrepo.wordpress.com
http://www.tonymacx86.com/bios-uefi/47397-msi-asrock-foxconn-1155-patched-bios-thread.html

As you are probably reasonably new I recommend spending plenty time reading some of the threads and exploring the site. There is a great deal of information that can be found here. Make sure that you can use a digital HDMI/DVI type connection to your monitor from your motherboard.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/basics/104542-im-new-everything-where-do-i-start.html

Good luck

Adrian B

Adrian,

Thanks so much for the help! I believe you're right about the codecs for audio and Ethernet--here's a snap from the MSI page for my particular motherboard:


Regarding the OS: Would it be worth it to purchase a copy of OSX 10.7 or higher and boot from a USB drive as instructed in the forms, just to save myself the time and additional upgrades in the future?

Thank you for the help again, and the heads up about patching the BIOS--I'll have to continue reading and looking around. Thank you!

 

[Adrian B]

Adrian,

Thanks so much for the help! I believe you're right about the codecs for audio and Ethernet--here's a snap from the MSI page for my particular motherboard:
View attachment 91251

Regarding the OS: Would it be worth it to purchase a copy of OSX 10.7 or higher and boot from a USB drive as instructed in the forms, just to save myself the time and additional upgrades in the future?

Technically your hardware will run on Mountain Lion 10.8.5, but you will probably need to add a GPU. We are working on HD 4400 graphics right now - things are close to going for final testing, so a real ease is imminent (next couple of weeks hopefully all going well). Mavericks will be the best option for you. You can use Snow Leopard retail and iBoot has well (available from the downloads section). iBoot acts like a life support system between Snow Leopard, designed to run on older hardware and the newest Haswell spec stuff that you own. Using this you can install 10.6.3 and update to 10.6.8 which allows access to the App store, you log in and down load Mavericks using your Apple ID. The next step is creating the installer on a USB stick that allows you to install on the PC hardware. Its a well trodden path that many people use as they have either never used OS X or have older hardware that is not able to run Mavericks, they therefor need to take a slightly longer road to allow them the opportunity to use OS X.

Thank you for the help again, and the heads up about patching the BIOS--I'll have to continue reading and looking around. Thank you!

Its best to have a good overview of what you will need to do to complete your installation. I do not think that anyone has done a MSI H81 guide yet. If you wish to do one when you are up and running then it would help those coming along after you.

Adrian B

 

[Ural]

This one should be rather easy to hackintosh, but you should get a graphic card for this one like GT 640 to start with. I have good experience with the cheaper MSI motherboards I have installed OSX on H61M P33 (LGA 1155 socket) with no problems at all except sleep but I don't mind that. Good luck.

 

[jr--sweet]

This one should be rather easy to hackintosh, but you should get a graphic card for this one like GT 640 to start with. I have good experience with the cheaper MSI motherboards I have installed OSX on H61M P33 (LGA 1155 socket) with no problems at all except sleep but I don't mind that. Good luck.

Ural,

Thanks so much for your reply! I'm feeling a little better now that I know someone else has overall good experiences with MSI mobos Do you mind if I ask for an overview of how you got your builds running? If it's lengthy, feel free to PM me--I don't wanna clog up the boards or take the spotlight away from other users in need, heh. Also, when you say you have issues with sleep, is that like the computer doesn't wake up from sleep properly or crashes? Sorry for the laundry list of questions, but any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Adrian,

Thank you again for the resources and information to get me started! Also, thank you (and Ural) for the GPU recommendations. I'll have to save up a bit, haha, but I'm not too far off! Can't wait to get back on OSX take care!

 

[Adrian B]

Ural,

Adrian,

Thank you again for the resources and information to get me started! Also, thank you (and Ural) for the GPU recommendations. I'll have to save up a bit, haha, but I'm not too far off! Can't wait to get back on OSX take care!

No problems - it will give you some time to plan your build installation properly. If you get stuck on the installation then you can create a new post if you cannot find the answer by using the search facility.

Adrian B

 

[RCUELLO]

I have the same motherboard and CPU. So far, the installer reboots after apple logo

 

[Adrian B]

I have the same motherboard and CPU. So far, the installer reboots after apple logo

Rcuello, welcome to the forum!

Please note that it is considered rude in forums to hijack someone else's thread. Now I am sure that that was not your intention, but the best thing to do is to fill out your profile with motherboard, CPU and graphics details. Start a new thread of your own and you will get some assistance. You should detail UEFI/BIOS settings and the process that you are using.

Good luck

Adrian B