Seven year old hackintosh - update or scrap?

[LeoBlac]

Hello all,

first: I don't know if this is the right place to post this. If not, please say so, point me where to put it and I'll move the post.

In 2016 I have built myself a hackintosh as my personal music workstation. The machine is completely offline, "locked" to the software versions used back then and was running smoothly ever since. So I kind of stopped thinking about hackintosh installations and how to handle that stuff... mea culpa... But as things go software gets upgraded, support gets cancelled, new versions, new tools and plugins etc. I think you know what I'm on about.

So my first big question is: Can I update my hackintosh to the current version of MacOS? And should I?
If yes: how would I do it the best way? (if there are good posts in this forum, please point me to them, I am not opposed to a good read ;-) )

Main parts of the build are:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4000 1151 Box
RAM: not sure, it is listed in the order as "D432GB 2133-15 SR K4 CRU"
SSD: 500GB 520/540 850 EVOBasic SA3 SAM (two of those)
OS currently running is El Capitan.

If you need Info on case, fans, CPU cooler, power supply etc or the specific RAM let me know.

My second question (that kinda also decides whether going through the trouble of updating the machine is worth it):
Can I actually go online with that hackintosh without risking trouble? I actually want to keep it as offline as possible but a lot of pro audio software nowadays requires online activation. So I'd need to be able to go online for at least a few hours once in a while.

I really hope you can help me, cause the alternative is scrapping the installation and switching to Windows for my workstation. I'd like to not do that if possible..

Thank you all and cheers!
Leo

 

[pastrychef]

Can I update my hackintosh to the current version of MacOS? And should I?

Yes, your hardware should have no problems running Ventura.

Should you? That's up to you... Does your software require that you update to a newer version of macOS? Do you want some of the new features, security updates, etc of a newer version of macOS?

Can I actually go online with that hackintosh without risking trouble?

Of course. Most people would never even consider hackintoshing if they couldn't go online with it.

how would I do it the best way?

I suggest creating a new EFI using the latest version of OpenCore. Then upgrade as you would on a real Mac.

Search Google for "OpenCore Install Guide".

 

[Jamesbond007]

Yes, your hardware should have no problems running Ventura.

Should you? That's up to you... Does your software require that you update to a newer version of macOS? Do you want some of the new features, security updates, etc of a newer version of macOS?

The OP is using a Skylake CPU with HD 530. I believe Apple dropped support for Skylake and its iGPU in Ventura. Only Kaby Lake (7th generation) and later up to 10th generation is supported. The Dortania guide said as much.

Are you certain a Skylake system with iGPU can run Ventura with graphics acceleration?

 

[LeoBlac]

Skylake system with iGPU

is the iGPU the problem here? Or the skylake itself? if iGPU then I should still have some cheap R7 graphics card lying around that I used during the original installation due to a problem with the iGPU drivers but I removed it afterwards because it had some driver issues itself that needed fixing.. and I did not have the energy for that since iGPU worked fine when the system was set up..
Would that be a workaround? just using a dedicated GPU?

 

[pastrychef]

The OP is using a Skylake CPU with UHD 530. I believe Apple dropped support for Skylake and its iGPU in Ventura. Only Kaby Lake (7th generation) and later up to 10th generation is supported. The Dortania guide said as much.

Are you certain a Skylake system with iGPU can run Ventura with graphics acceleration?

HD 530 can be spoofed to HD 630 pretty easily with the only caveat being no support for HEVC hardware encode/decode. I've done it myself.

 

[Feartech]

The OP is using a Skylake CPU with UHD 530. I believe Apple dropped support for Skylake and its iGPU in Ventura. Only Kaby Lake (7th generation) and later up to 10th generation is supported. The Dortania guide said as much.

Are you certain a Skylake system with iGPU can run Ventura with graphics acceleration?

yes, works for my laptop after a bit of spoofing

 

[Jamesbond007]

HD 530 can be spoofed to HD 630 pretty easily with the only caveat being no support for HEVC hardware encode/decode. I've done it myself.

I see. So Skylake and its associated iGPU can actually run Ventura (by using a newer SMBIOS) with graphics acceleration with only one lost function.

 

[pastrychef]

I see. So Skylake and its associated iGPU can actually run Ventura (by using a newer SMBIOS) with graphics acceleration with only one lost function.

Correct.