Recommendation for music production 2021

[dsb]

Hi Guys,

Newbie here and to the hackintosh world, been lurking for years and decided to say goodbye to my cMP5.1 cause needing a more powerfull machine. So have just a few questions before starting to make this happen.

Im looking to build a hackintosh that could work on High Sierra and Catalina on 2 different ssd drives (maybe adding Win later on another drive), need to have 2 ethernet ports on the MB, dont need thunderbolt. Looking to use one of the most recent i7 10700K or i9 9900K processors. Already have an RX570 gpu.

If you have any golden build links, components suggestions please let me know! This is for music production with Logic.

 

[etorix]

There are many golden builds for these generations; you only have to buy while supply lasts, especially for higher end motherboards. "New old stock" may soon become an issue…

For the enlightenment of readers who are not familiar with audio production, would you care to explain what "music production with Logic" entails on the hardware side?
I understand this means "Intel CPU", as the software has issues on Ryzen hacks. Are you looking for cores, frequency, high RAM, PCIe lanes for add-on cards?

 

[trs96]

Hi Guys,

Newbie here and to the hackintosh world, been lurking for years and decided to say goodbye to my cMP5.1 cause needing a more powerfull machine. So have just a few questions before starting to make this happen.

Im looking to build a hackintosh that could work on High Sierra and Catalina on 2 different ssd drives (maybe adding Win later on another drive), need to have 2 ethernet ports on the MB, dont need thunderbolt. Looking to use one of the most recent i7 10700K or i9 9900K processors. Already have an RX570 gpu.

If you have any golden build links, components suggestions please let me know! This is for music production with Logic.

You'll get most of what you need with a Z490 Vision G. Add in a 1 or 10Gb ethernet card for the second port.

Also have a look at the Asus Z490 ProArt Creator board:

GIGABYTE Z490 Vision G for $240 at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087GS5Y5C/?tag=tonymacx86com-20 These are similar to the Vision D boards by Gigabyte. CaseySJ has a Golden Build Guide for the Vision D that also applies to the G variant (has no onboard Th.Bolt ports) with a few changes to the EFI. There are only 25 of these...

www.tonymacx86.com

Highlights of the Asus ProArt are dual onboard TH3 ports and a 10 Gb Ethernet card included in the price. Even if you don't need TH3 now it's still good to have to increase resale value later on. If you sell it to another audio pro they will likely use the TH3 ports.

Stork's Thunderball II user build gives detailed instructions on how to install Catalina/Big Sur.
I don't know if anyone that owns one has installed High Sierra on this but you could ask in that thread.

 

[etorix]

In addition to the golden (platinated?) builds for Vision and ProArt boards, there could be solutions with pre-build systems.

At least two users, @LDStudios (here) and @Sylvain83 (Clover EFI, OpenCore EFI), use Dell Precision 5820 with Xeon W-2000 CPUs for music production. This machine has native NVRAM and seems fairly easy to hack. With iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS, which is the perfect fit for C422+Xeon W-2000, all should be fine for High Sierra. It has no Thunderbolt (not an issue), no USB 3 Gen 2, and needs a card for the second Ethernet port (a pity if it's just for 1 GbE, OK if you go 10 GbE) but can be bought new with Dell warranty and support if this is relevant for professional use.

 

[dsb]

There are many golden builds for these generations; you only have to buy while supply lasts, especially for higher end motherboards. "New old stock" may soon become an issue…

For the enlightenment of readers who are not familiar with audio production, would you care to explain what "music production with Logic" entails on the hardware side?
I understand this means "Intel CPU", as the software has issues on Ryzen hacks. Are you looking for cores, frequency, high RAM, PCIe lanes for add-on cards?

For Logic just need to have a CPU with the highest single-core speed i could afford. Got a usb rme audio dac.

Im thinking to get
- i9 9900K (as the next generation is not affordable)
- ASUS Prime Z390 A
- Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 16GB (8Gb x 2)
- Radeon RX570 4gb (already have it)

To have a dual boot system with High Sierra and Catalina do i need to have different BIOS settings or 2 different EFI's are enough to make it work?

Thanks for the suggestions will keep having a look at this, will not make it all of a sudden as this will be my first build!

 

[etorix]

At least with OpenCore you do not even need to have two different EFI: Just use the picker and choose the drive or partition you want to boot from.

 

[Gigamaxx]

For Logic just need to have a CPU with the highest single-core speed i could afford. Got a usb rme audio dac.

Im thinking to get
- i9 9900K (as the next generation is not affordable)
- ASUS Prime Z390 A
- Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 16GB (8Gb x 2)
- Radeon RX570 4gb (already have it)

To have a dual boot system with High Sierra and Catalina do i need to have different BIOS settings or 2 different EFI's are enough to make it work?

Thanks for the suggestions will keep having a look at this, will not make it all of a sudden as this will be my first build!

One EFI will work, whether it’s Clover or Open Core. Once you get the EFI finalized with good serials, UUIDs etc. make copies of it and make extra backup USB EFI boot sticks. If you ever borked your build they will come in handy to recover.

 

[dsb]

Thanks for the input! Im planning to get the parts over the next weeks for my first ever build, what do you guys recommend for MOBO should i get the Gigabyte Z390 UD or ASUS Prime Z390 A? The Asus is almost double the price is it a lot better? Was looking for Gigabyte as saw its more compatible with "hacks". Also what cooler would you recommend for an i9 9900K?

 

[antieatingactivist]

Thanks for the input! Im planning to get the parts over the next weeks for my first ever build, what do you guys recommend for MOBO should i get the Gigabyte Z390 UD or ASUS Prime Z390 A? The Asus is almost double the price is it a lot better? Was looking for Gigabyte as saw its more compatible with "hacks". Also what cooler would you recommend for an i9 9900K?

Gigabyte being more hackintosh compatible is not necessary true anymore (it used to be). both are recommended by the Opencore buyer guide for Z390 based motherboards. Double the price does not mean its double the quality, it just might have more features, maybe fancier heat sinks/beefier VRMs. If you aren't planning on doing any serious overclocking, you shouldn't be concerned. I would look at the feature sets and see if the ASUS board have any features that you don't want to go without. Since you mentioned a cooler, you should save some money on the motherboard and get the biggest Noctua or similar cooler that you can fit in your case because that CPU will need it. NH-D15 is a good one to buy. Im sure you are concerned with noise since you do music production, and under normal use the fans will be basically silent. You can go the AIO liquid cooling route, but I personally would not.

 

[dsb]

Gigabyte being more hackintosh compatible is not necessary true anymore (it used to be). both are recommended by the Opencore buyer guide for Z390 based motherboards. Double the price does not mean its double the quality, it just might have more features, maybe fancier heat sinks/beefier VRMs. If you aren't planning on doing any serious overclocking, you shouldn't be concerned. I would look at the feature sets and see if the ASUS board have any features that you don't want to go without. Since you mentioned a cooler, you should save some money on the motherboard and get the biggest Noctua or similar cooler that you can fit in your case because that CPU will need it. NH-D15 is a good one to buy. Im sure you are concerned with noise since you do music production, and under normal use the fans will be basically silent. You can go the AIO liquid cooling route, but I personally would not.

Will probably get the Gigabyte Z390 UD v2 then and save for a better cooler and yes im not too keen on the liquid cooling too, thanks for the tips!