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The goto Hackintosh for Mixing & Producing!

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theodorey

theodorey

Joined
Mar 26, 2019
Messages
19
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 Designare
CPU
i7 8700
Graphics
RX 580
Hey guys,

Sorry for the misleading title, I'm all too new in the Hackintosh world, thus I have no pretension to write a guide for your goto mixing station.
But who knows ?
With the help of all the passionate people in this forum and my skills at making a decent google search; this thread might become a decent guide!
So I will apologise for the clickbait title and hopefully we can start building this thing.

In all honesty, I've just came across the Hackintosh world and in all humility I don't really know how it works, so I might be completely in over my head when I think I can figure this out. But I'm quite handy and this wouldn't be my first experience in building a rig of upgrading/customising a computer.
Though I'm quite comfortable in a Mac OS environment, I can't really say the same thing about the windows structure. I've always been on a Mac, and as of my line of work, it is quite rare to stumble upon windows operated workstation in recording studios.
So my question is: when building a Hackintosh, how often will I encounter the windows environment? (For software installation, rig setup, blablabla...)
And one follow up question to that: apparently there's a lot of time to spend on the rig to set it up, but is there any difficulty in installing softwares and plugins and libraries and yadiyadiyada...? Or is it just like the mac OS I know?

Why do I want to build this?
Money. I'd like to tell you that I do it for the passion of building something from scratch (which amuses me) or that I do it to boycott apple products becoming more expensive and less performant (which i might be doing?). But the bottom line problem is money: I can't afford a 3k Apple rig.
So wait, you're telling me that there is a way to get performance at a lower price AND that it can be on a Mac OS ? Sign me in.

The thing is, I don't know how any of this works. I've already tried to install a windows OS on a macbook with the help of Bootcamp and it worked out fine. I doubt that it's this easy on a full customed rig though... So this is why I'm writhing this thread, to try and lure you into helping me build this money saving tool.

What I'd like my computer to have.
Well now that I've written a fairly boring introduction, I guess we can dive right in the heart of the issue.
I've looked at the buyer's guide and after looking at an endless list of different motherboards with each one having a sexier name than the other, I came to the realisation that I had no idea what to pick. Pretty much the same story with the rest of the components.
So perhaps I'm going to leave YOU take decisions for my computer's metabolism. (I don't want to trust myself and end up with a glorified toaster you see).
But good news! To help you help me, I have a pretty clear idea of what I want this computer to be able to do or not do.

  • The price is an important thing for you to know I guess: I can spend no more than 1500 euros on this (minus screen, kb, mouse), so even if it's 10 euros more than the agreed price, I'll go back and change a component for a cheaper one. This might a bit exaggerated but a budget is a budget you know?
  • i9 or i7 ? I don't think that the price/performance ratio is worth it. I might want to stick with a really good i7.
  • I don't need an excessive amount of RAM, I know 16gb works fine, I've had VERY FEW RAM related problems and I can't remember the last time I had a shortage of it. 32 GB sounds dope though, I can't argue with that. But I have to put boundaries for myself. If I ever need more, I'll just buy two more sticks.
  • I want something only apple has, and that's Thunderbolt 2 or 3 protocole. So many things in the music industry uses this system that it would make no sense for me not to have the latest protocole available. Or USB-C, I just need something that fits with the global actual standard. I've seen a few motherboards fitted with some thunderbolt ports but I'm not sure how compatible they are with a Hackintosh.
  • With no server rooms or closet available in my studio, this computer will be in the control room with me, so I need it to be silent. Maybe silent is not the proper word... I need it to be inaudible.
  • For storage, nothing too fancy. I'll be content with a 256gb or 512gb SSD (if i can afford the bigger one I'll take it), and a 2TB HD.
  • I guess we'll see for power after the rest of the components get clearer.
  • Graphic card wise, I don't need 4k video processing, or 80 fps. I just want to be able to plug two HD screens to it.
  • Don't need a wifi card, I'll go with a cable.
  • Don't need a sound card, got this.
So yeah. I think that's it....
Nothing too fancy right? Sometimes, easy works. I just want a reliable, stable computer to work on.

First of all, I want to thank everyone in advance for helping me build this. You're doing this on your free time, benevolently and I greatly appreciate it.

If you have any questions or remarks or advices, please feel free to ask or tell.

Cheers,
Theo
 
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I just updated my build with a Gigabyte board with built in Thunderbolt for my studio. It's not impossible, per say, but it isn't as simple as just picking a MOBO and expecting TB to work, like say USB 3.0. There are two approaches to selecting a MOBO for TB to work: you can buy a Gigabyte board that has a USB Type-C header capable of being flashed/updated in Windows for Thunderbolt (worked fine for me), or pick from a myriad of boards that have a Thunderbolt header and buy a Thunderbolt PCIe expansion card, which you may also have to flash (not sure). It is also possible that there are new boards out there that are already Thunderbolt ready and don't have to be flashed, like the Z370 chipset boards, but I'm not sure.

Obviously I can only speak on the first approach, and it has worked great for me. My install is as stable as anything, and TB works great. Keep in mind I did have to boot into Windows to flash the MOBO for Thunderbolt during the install process (cannot be done from OSx). I bought a refurbished GA-Z170-Gaming 7 as it had been proven to work in High Sierra in this guide here, even though it's two generations old and only supports up to 7th gen CPUs:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...aming-7-gtx-1050-ti-thunderbolt-guide.223186/

You can see my lengthy update and specs on page 9. I also have a Firewire PCEi card in there for working with my old Saffire Pro that is the basis of my live Ableton rig, that particular one works OOTB and only costs $40, highly recommended.

Also be aware that you are not able to hot-swap Thunderbolt devices in Hackintosh. I use an Apogee Element 88 as my studio interface, and the Element software works perfectly with it, but if it were to come unplugged during a session for any reason, I'd have to reboot. I don't know why it would be coming unplugged, and a reboot only costs 40 seconds, but just FYI.

OTHERWISE, you will find your experience to be exactly like using a "real" Mac. Logic, Maintsage, Ableton, and Pro Tools all work fine, downloading plugins is the same, etc. I am able to easily switch between my live Ableton rig MacBook pro and the Hackintosh, trading files and sessions around.

As for your build specs, 16GB Ram should be plenty, most of those applications are much more CPU intensive unless you're loading huge sample libraries for every session (samples go into RAM, usually). I'd invest in the CPU over RAM or GPU if you're just doing audio work.

If you aren't going to do any dual booting/gaming, I highly recommend getting a low-cost supported AMD card vs an Nvidia due to the whole VRAM mess with Sierra and above. Smaller/cheaper cards usually run quieter, too. You'll be hard pressed to find a Thunderbolt/USB Type-C board with an on-board iGPU capable of smoothly running two monitors, most won't even have two HDMI outs.

My case gets kind of noisy with all of the fans running, but it has the option to turn them down/off if I'm recording in the control room for some reason. I've never had an issue with things overheating, and then I turn them back on when it's time to edit/mix. I suppose if you wanted to go really quiet water-cooling might be an option, but that's gonna be expensive to do right.

If you'd like to do more research, search for "Hackintosh UAD Apollo Thunderbolt". That seems to be the most popular TB interface folks are using out there. I think that's kind of silly, since the big selling point of the UAD Apollo's is the onboard DSP processing. If you build a Hackintosh with an i7 6th gen or above you'd never need any interface to handle extra processing, your CPU will be crushing anything Logic or Pro Tools can throw at it. Your money is better spent on high quality preamps or more inputs, IMHO.

Hope this helps!
 
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Music Production Hackintosh
GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 |  i7 7700K |  GTX 970
This definitely helps ! It answers both of the questions that worried me, I know feel much more confident that I can build this thing.
Thank you very much for the extensive answer.

I wonder what would be the best thing to invest in? A MOBO that handles TB or a dedicated TB PCIe card for it?
I guess I know the answer to that question... It would make sense to me to choose the dedicated PCIe card over the MOBO with a TB slot. If computers work anything like audio, I bet that a dedicated TB card will handle the protocole better than the MOBO as it is fully designed to handle that particular thing. Opposed to an added MOBO element.

BUT, I do have a tight budget and I'm not sure a dedicated TB PCIe card will fit in it. BUT, I may be wrong and maybe someone will recommend it over a simple plug on a MOBO. (If you think of any component that would work for this rig, please feel free to share.)

I'm not really worried about loosing the hot-swap feature, it's quite natural for me to power on the interfaces before the computers.
I'm not planning on establishing a dual-boot rig, I want it to be as "light" as possible and will only be working on the Apple OS.

Thx again [I]btmohler1234[/I]!

PS: How long have you been using a Hackintosh? How has been your overall experience with it in the studio?
 
Since this is your first build, my intuition says that the less additional parts you use, the less trouble you will have. Not only for the physical build, but also Hackintoshes tend to get more unruly the more stuff you plug in, especially during the install processes before you can get Multibeast up and running (verbose boot is your friend in the beginning!).

OSx is designed around Apple's handpicked hardware (one specific component for a function), and the more you push the limits outside whatever they intended, the more work you usually have to do. Usually. I think some of the folks around here live for the challenge of getting things to work that shouldn't, and thank god for them! Personally I'm just trying to get the most stable machine I can to record and produce music for my clients.

From what research I've done there is no performance difference between the dedicated card vs. the on-board port.

It seems like it would be a lot more cost effective and simple to grab a MOBO that already has a USB Type-C/TB port. The only reason to go for the card is if you need multiple TB ports or the display output. The card is an additional $60-70 on top of the MOBO cost. This guy even mixed brands and it seemed to work, but notice all the issues folks are having getting it in the correct PCIe slot etc:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...gigabyte-g1-gaming-ga-z170mx-gaming-5.215533/

It is unclear if when he booted into Windows he had to flash the card, or if those were Windows only drivers...a few comments later someone mentioned having to flash the card so IDK. I know you don't want to dual boot, but you may not have a choice in the beginning (do some more research first). It would probably be possible to build a Windows install USB from someone's Windows machine, install that on your OSx harddrive first, flash the card during Window's trial period, and then wipe the card completely and reformatting for your OSx install using the Install OSx USB.

I've run my studio with a Hackintosh for seven years now and only ONCE did it go down, and it was my fault for reasons that aren't worth going into here (tried to install incompatible hardware and corrupted my OSx drive). In that time my friends' actual Apple devices have had many more countless problems that could only be fixed by having Apple do the work, compared to when I screwed stuff up I could fix it on my own. My experience has been once you get a stable install going, you're good to go, as long as you keep a careful eye on OSx updates and don't do them until the true heroes around this forum have worked out the kinks.

I hope I have been helpful! I usually lurk around here but jumped at the chance to help a fellow musician/producer!
 
Music Production Hackintosh
GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 |  i7 7700K |  GTX 970
btmohler1234 said:
Since this is your first build, my intuition says that the less additional parts you use, the less trouble you will have.
Click to expand...
I think you are absolutely right, I'd rather start simple, get acquainted to this new system, and maybe, when I feel comfortable, try to spice things up.

Thank you for all the research you did on the thunderbolt issue. I'm just gonna go easy and start with a equipped MOBO. I'll check the link you just forwarded me and keep you posted on what I pick.
It is indeed a good idea to check for some refurbished board, I'll look into it.
 
Ok, so, after a few days scavenging the tonymacx86 website for parts it finally came down to those components:

  • MOBO: Gigabyte Z290 Designare
  • CPU: Intel Core i7 8700
  • Graphic Card : Sapphire Radeon RX 580 Pulse OC
  • RAM: Crucial 16 Go (2x8 Go) DDR4 2400 MHz CL17 SR SO-DIMM
  • SSD: Crucial MX500 - 500Go
  • HD: Seagate BarraCuda 2To
  • Power block: Corsair RM650i - 650W-
  • Case: Be Quiet Pure Base 600 Silver
All these components reunited, amount to approximately 1450 euros (components prices depending on websites), this was pretty much the budget I intended to spare for the computer. :clap:

I do have one small problem though, I'm not sure everything here is compatible?
I might have wandered on other websites to explore different parts, thus I'm unsure all those components are Hackintosh ready. Can anyone confirm this ?
Does anyone know of a website where I can check compatibility? Or does anyone know if there is components that won't work?

Of course, If you have any advices or further recommendations to modify this rig, please feel free to share, as I'm no expert and this is just but 1st draft.

PS: Should I consider buying a CPU cooler? I wonder if it would help reduce the overall noise of the computer?
 
Hey again - the best thing you can do is look for [success] builds on the forum with your MOBO and CPU so you can know how to adjust your BIOS and what options to select on Multibeast. I don't know why it wouldn't be compatible, but it helps to have a guide to follow along. Your RAM, HD/SSD, GPU, and PSU all look good to me.

You DEFINITELY should get a CPU cooler, the stock ones are no good and with the CPU being the most expensive component of your build, you need to protect it. However if you won't be OC'ing, which you definitely won't need with that CPU and Pro Tools/Logic, you can just get a solid low cost air cooler. The Cooler Master 212 EVO is a pretty standard choice, mine is still going strong after 7 years so for $30 it was a great investment. There are a few other choices in that price range if you really want to dig into it but my 212 is nice and quiet and well respected.

Also I might recommend this RAM over the one you had selected, a bit cheaper and a better clock rate:
Ballistix Sport 16 GB 2666 mhz: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XJ68LK5/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
 
Music Production Hackintosh
GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 |  i7 7700K |  GTX 970
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