What ethernet and audio cards work natively with Sierra?

[bkendig]

I have a P7P55D-E Pro Hackintosh running Sierra, but the wired networking is flaky with the 8112L chip on the 8111 driver (see https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...thernet-occasionally-stops-tm-backups.216472/), and I haven't gotten audio working yet. I would like to solve these problems by buying inexpensive Ethernet and sound PCI cards that work out-of-the-box with Sierra (that I don't need to install new drivers for).

What cards should I buy? What network and audio chips does Sierra support natively?

 

[Adrian B]

The best solutions for you are to explore the common supported wifi cards to solve the network issues that you have surrounding this board.
The Sonnet Presto Ethernet card and a few other similar cards can work with macOS and Windows. I believe that they use a version of Intel chipset not common in consumer PC world.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/prestogigpciepro.html
For audio the VIA chipset that was common around the time of p55 hardware has always posed problems. There are no mac and pc options that are shared. Look towards getting a simple USB audio device like the Sabrent model listed in the Buyers guide > Accessories.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/march/2017#Accessories

 

[bkendig]

Thank you for the tips! That USB audio adapter is $8 and the reviews say it works great with a Hackintosh! Done deal.

The Sonnet Presto card appears to only be available in PCI-E, and my PCI-E slot is already taken up by a graphics card. Hmm, I wonder if any USB Ethernet adapters would work on this without needing extra drivers? (I'd have to use a 10/100 Ethernet adapter, because USB3 does not work under Sierra on this board.)

Maybe I'll try this one, which is Mac-compatible (and backwards-compatible with USB2) for $20: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PC0H9IE/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[Adrian B]

Thank you for the tips! That USB audio adapter is $8 and the reviews say it works great with a Hackintosh! Done deal.

The Sonnet Presto card appears to only be available in PCI-E, and my PCI-E slot is already taken up by a graphics card. Hmm, I wonder if any USB Ethernet adapters would work on this without needing extra drivers? (I'd have to use a 10/100 Ethernet adapter, because USB3 does not work under Sierra on this board.)

Maybe I'll try this one, which is Mac-compatible (and backwards-compatible with USB2) for $20: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PC0H9IE/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

I have two of the USB audio adaptors (lots of computers) and it works great, it is even supplied with a short USB cable to give more space around the USB ports.

The USB ethernet option should work fine.

 

[nobodynose]

The Sonnet Presto Ethernet card and a few other similar cards can work with macOS and Windows. I believe that they use a version of Intel chipset not common in consumer PC world.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/prestogigpciepro.html

For the record, the Sonnet Presto uses a Marvell Yukon chipset (not an Intel chipset). It works OOB with macOS because Apple used Marvell Yukon ethernet in many Macs.

 

[bkendig]

Well, the USB Ethernet adapter isn't such a great option because it's very slow on USB2 (I should have known), and this Hackintosh's USB3 ports aren't working properly (they see the adapter connected but it says "network cable is disconnected", even with the GenericUSBXHCI kext in place). Before I look for an inexpensive card that works, I may go back to the drawing board and make sure it's not the Synology NAS that's responsible for dropping connection during my Time Machine backups...

Thank you both for your information!

 

[bkendig]

Followup: I rebooted my NAS, and now my USB Ethernet adapter (the one I linked above; a gigabit adapter on USB2) is sending data to the NAS at a rate of about 25MB/s. I'll take that, definitely; slow and stable is so much preferable to fast and not working. It would be better if I could get USB3 working, but I'm not picky!

$8 for the USB audio adapter and $20 for the USB Ethernet adapter and I'm all set! I wish all problems were this easy to solve!

 

[Gizardry]

I only got some recommendations for Wi-Fi+Audio cards. There is not many native Apple Ethernet card available for hackintosh builds I think.
1. BCM94360CS2 and driver free Audio card(and this one has HD audio you can connect to the front Audio IO)
325RMB about 48 USD

2. BCM94360 and driver free audio card with HD audio plug(this one is a little bit more expensive but more antennas means faster Wi-Fi)
400 RMB around 58 USD

 

[pastrychef]

I only got some recommendations for Wi-Fi+Audio cards. There is not many native Apple Ethernet card available for hackintosh builds I think.
1. BCM94360CS2 and driver free Audio card(and this one has HD audio you can connect to the front Audio IO)
325RMB about 48 USD

2. BCM94360 and driver free audio card with HD audio plug(this one is a little bit more expensive but more antennas means faster Wi-Fi)
400 RMB around 58 USD

These two cards look very interesting. Do you have any links to where they can be purchased? Thanks.

 

[Gizardry]

These two cards look very interesting. Do you have any links to where they can be purchased? Thanks.

Buy these cards only if you can't get the on-board audio card working, other wise, just stick with those m2-pcie cards that can be easily found on ebay.

For the first one, one seller on Aliexpress.com listed it for 75 USD(postage included, and Aliexpress is basically the Taobao focused on international market).

I am not sure with the posting rules here, but search 'hackintosh audio' on aliexpress.com and you will find it.

I think the seller claims he designed the Audio+wifi cards by himself. So in his own store, there are many more similar cards available. The site Taobao is pretty much all in Chinese, they do post to out side Mainland China with the porting service provided by Taobao(so maybe ask for help with some Chines friends).
https://shop71376216.taobao.com/?spm=2013.1.1000126.d21.52mAhT