Question about Clover versions

[JoeH]

I am in the process of catching up on current methods of doing a hackintosh to upgrade my current one past High Sierra and also assemble a new one running Monterey. My current system has been stable and I have used it for several years, but need to upgrade for software reasons. A couple questions came up that I haven't managed to find answers for.

First, when using Clover is the version needed for a particular macOS version just a minimum, and any higher version can be used? Or are there maximum versions usable for particular versions of macOS.

The second is that I have come across two different distributions of Clover. One is by CloverHacky and the other by mackie100. Is either usable, or are there reasons to use one over the other?

Pointers to existing write-ups about this I may have missed would also be appreciated.

 

[Feartech]

I am in the process of catching up on current methods of doing a hackintosh to upgrade my current one past High Sierra and also assemble a new one running Monterey. My current system has been stable and I have used it for several years, but need to upgrade for software reasons. A couple questions came up that I haven't managed to find answers for.

First, when using Clover is the version needed for a particular macOS version just a minimum, and any higher version can be used? Or are there maximum versions usable for particular versions of macOS.

The second is that I have come across two different distributions of Clover. One is by CloverHacky and the other by mackie100. Is either usable, or are there reasons to use one over the other?

Pointers to existing write-ups about this I may have missed would also be appreciated.

your nvidia is not supported past High Sierra, you would have to use your intel graphics

 

[Edhawk]

It sounds like you want to stay away from OpenCore, which is fine up to a point.

If you want to use Clover, I would recommend CloverhackyColour‘s version.

Mackie100 doesn‘t offer a Clover release. He has created and developed Clover Configurator and OpenCore Configurator. You would use Clover Configurator to edit your Clover config.plist.

mackie100 projects

An easy to use Mac OS X application designed to help you create custom configuration files for the Clover EFI bootloader via a streamlined graphical interface.

mackie100projects.altervista.org

With regards the version of clover to download and use, I would recommend Clover_r5119 or r5120. As these were the last clover releases that didn’t require the user to add any OpenCore features in to the mix.

Release Release v5.0 r5119 · CloverHackyColor/CloverBootloader

Critical bugs elimination MD5 (Clover_r5119.pkg) = fd4facad9128eb9aa17cac898a521469

github.com

I still use Clover_r5119 on an old Sandy Bridge system running Catalina. I won’t be upgrading the system to a newer release of macOS, so this release of Clover is fine for my purposes.

As @Feartech said, your Nvidia GPU is not supported beyond High Sierra so you either need to use the Intel IGPU, or purchase a compatible AMD GPU if you plan to run anything newer than High Sierra on you current or new system.

Have a read of this AMD section of the GPU Buyers Guide to see which cards are supported in the most recent versions of macOS.

AMD GPUs | GPU Buyers Guide

 

[JoeH]

I should have included that I was aware of the limitation on the Nvidia card, I would use the Intel iGPU to upgrade and then install an AMD card. The new build I mentioned will be using a Sapphire RX 6600, hence the minimum of Monterey.

Thanks for clarifying the difference between what CloverHacky and mackie100 are providing. The confusion comes from a search that identified "Clover" on GitHub by mackie100, rechecking it shows a dead link.

I have also been looking at Open Core, a bit of a learning curve involved there. I may still end up using it, but it has been a slog going through the Dortania guide with many side trips to learn about some items where previous knowledge is assumed. Oh well, the consequences of having a stable system and not following new developments for a few years.

P.S. The new build is based on Stork's Thunderball II build using an Asus ProArt Z490, so I at least have his guide and another to work with.