What have you done/plan to do with retired hackintosh hardware?

[MacMan]

I converted my X79 and X99 systems into ESXi servers.

But I still have too many old hacks.

 

[pastrychef]

Last night, I measured power consumption on my Optiplex 3050 SFF with an i5-6600 and then with an i5-6400T. I used my Kill-A-Watt clone.

32GB DDR4.
No dGPU installed.
BCM94352 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card installed in PCI-e x1 slot.
One NVMe SSD.
One 2.5" SSD.

Here's what I found:

i5-6600 idles at ~20W and maxed out at ~77W when running Geekbench 5. Max CPU temp was ~48C.
Geekbench single core score ~935 and multi-core score ~3360

i5-6400T idles at ~15W and maxed out at ~42W when running Geekbench 5. Max CPU temp was ~40C.
Geekbench single core score ~730 and multi-core score ~2340




For comparison, my HP ProDesk SFF with i9-9900.

32GB DDR4.
RX 560 installed.
BCM94360 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card installed.
One NVMe SSD.
Two 2.5" SSD.
One 3.5" SSD.

Idles at ~30W and maxed out at ~180W. Max CPU temp was ~72C.
Geekbench single core score ~1350 and multi-core score ~7870.



Since my intention is to repurpose the Optiplex 3050 as a Proxmox server what will be running 24/7 and I don't intend to run anything extremely intensive on it, just some low load services, the i5-6400T is clearly the best choice.

Obviously, the HP ProDesk is a far superior performer but look at how much power it draws and how much heat it will put out. This is why, for 24/7 operation and low load services, Raspberry Pis are so attractive. I don't think I've ever seen mine pull more than about 8W and it's passively cooled. Unfortunately, I've started to run out of RAM on my Pi and it's been using a lot of swap memory (I hate swap memory). So, I will test and see how viable the Optiplex will do as a replacement.

 

[Middleman]

Before I sold an old Z77X-UP5-TH I’d used as a hackintosh for about 7 years to a good friend who was also a Mac enthusiast. Other than that I generally do not like to throw away old machines, but only use them until they are generally not feasible. Aside from my regular PCs I have a small handful of older laptops which I use for retro computing such as a Sony Vaio on Win2000, a Fujitsu Lifebook P1500 on WinXP and a Toshiba Tecra 500CDT on Win95. I also have an older ‘06 white MacBook of which I still use repurposed for office printing chores such as address labels. I make sure no system is ever wasted.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Before I sold an old Z77X-UP5-TH I’d used as a hackintosh for about 7 years to a good friend who was also a Mac enthusiast. Other than that I generally do not like to throw away old machines, but only use them until they are generally not feasible. Aside from my regular PCs I have a small handful of older laptops which I use for retro computing such as a Sony Vaio on Win2000, a Fujitsu Lifebook P1500 on WinXP and a Toshiba Tecra 500CDT on Win95. I also have an older ‘06 white MacBook of which I still use repurposed for office printing chores such as address labels. I make sure no system is ever wasted.

We might be going off-topic here ... But, laptop-wise, I've never tried to Hack one, although I did contemplate it many years ago... I have an old Toshiba running Windows XP. It's rock solid and reliable (XP was the best in my view) and I use it to clone drives or copy GB's of data from one drive to another using external caddies. Just set it up and leave it running. Never overheats, never fails unless I miscalculate and the destination drive doesn't have enough space. Battery is useless of course but still keeps time. Bonus is, it even copies HFS+ with an old driver installed. So it's more of a Hacker's Tool than a computer now.

 

[wstrohm]

None of my Hacks are retired, yet. "Mini-ITX 2" is sitting unused in next-door neighbor's house since he died unexpectedly in April. He used it mostly to play video games like "Rise of the Tomb Raider." Since I had given it to him with "no strings attached," not sure I'll ever see it again. His wife is not into computers at all... not sure how to ask if she wants me to take it back.

[Edit 12/24/22: "Mini-ITX 2" is back in house (because his wife gave it back to me). Now running Monterey 12.6.2.]

 

[guindillas]

I gave away my Gigabyte Z390 build to a friend with Monterey and Batocera installed.

I'm having difficulty parting with my Asus Z370 build because, in my eyes, it was perfect in so many ways. Unfortunately, age and progress caught up to it...

I still have my HP ProDesk 400 G6 on my desk but I haven't booted it up in weeks because my Mac Studio does everything I got it for so much better.

I trashed my Optiplex 3050 tower because felt it was pretty worthless. I still have my Optiplex 3050 SFF that I plan to play around with Proxmox on. I would've liked to do it on a Raspberry Pi, but due to supply chain issues they have been difficult to find and scalpers are selling them for ~$200 now. That's more than these Optiplexes are worth.

I still have my Latitude 3450 laptop and it runs perfectly, but feels very sluggish now with Monterey installed... I guess that's one of the pitfalls of getting accustomed to the extreme snappiness of a modern system...

I never heard about Batocera, super cool!

I reinstall windows 10 on my old system, and sell it cheap to a friend, that told me he doesn't like macOS. A lot of people react like that, they don't wanna learn another system apart from windows. So sadly the i3770K is hackintosh dead.

 

[trs96]

I reinstall windows 10 on my old system, and sell it cheap to a friend, that told me he doesn't like macOS.

That's the best thing to do. Never sell a hack with macOS installed to anyone. Friend or not. It's illegal to sell a PC with macOS installed. There have been court cases where Apple has won. When you are selling Apple's macOS software bundled with a PC it's a case of selling something you don't have the rights to. There are laws against that.

A lot of people react like that, they don't wanna learn another system apart from windows. So sadly the i7-3770K is hackintosh dead.

If someone wants to try to create a hack for a PC they buy, give them the URL of this site. Then they could go through the steps to create a hack for themselves if they choose to. No one should own a hackintosh if they know nothing about how to maintain one. It's completely different than running Windows 10/11 on a PC. Much more to learn and know about. Giving them a working hackintosh for free isn't illegal but it would still likely be nothing but headaches for them to manage it on their own. Not a good idea.

 

[Anazlu]

I've got 3 Dell 9020s and one 7020 on the shelf. The two best 9020s still have 500GB SSDs in them booting Catalina - just in case. Eventually they'll be given to family or friends with Windows installed.
Every previous hack I've owned or built is still in service with nieces & nephews running Windows. Going all the way back to a Q6600 HP model.
My latest version of hacking has been turning 2014 Minis into decent computers again by adding NVMe drives to the Fusion interface. Picked up a Late 2014 Mini w/ i7, 16GB RAM and 1TB HDD for $250. Now it's got a 1TB NVMe drive and runs very well. All it takes is a $14 adaptor board purchased thru Amazon. This old Mini is basically just an external drive for my Mac Studio.
I was completely unaware this was possible until a couple of weeks ago when I did the same with my old base model i5 2014 Mini. My sister-in-law is using that one now. I could never have given her a Hackintosh to use. I doubt she could have made it through a weekend without borking something.

 

[trs96]

Eventually they'll be given to family or friends with Windows installed.
Every previous hack I've owned or built is still in service with nieces & nephews running Windows.

Did you know that you can easily install Chrome OS flex on the 7020/9020 ? It's fully supported through 2026. Give it to someone that needs better security and fewer problems with updates. Those that bank and shop online frequently. Way fewer headaches than running Windows and constantly dealing with the many problems that take time to fix. People that constantly get malware infections because they download and install software that they shouldn't are much happier running Chrome OS.

Redirecting

chromeenterprise.google

 

[Ledfoot]

I gave away my Gigabyte Z390 build to a friend with Monterey and Batocera installed.

I'm having difficulty parting with my Asus Z370 build because, in my eyes, it was perfect in so many ways. Unfortunately, age and progress caught up to it...

I still have my HP ProDesk 400 G6 on my desk but I haven't booted it up in weeks because my Mac Studio does everything I got it for so much better.

I trashed my Optiplex 3050 tower because felt it was pretty worthless. I still have my Optiplex 3050 SFF that I plan to play around with Proxmox on. I would've liked to do it on a Raspberry Pi, but due to supply chain issues they have been difficult to find and scalpers are selling them for ~$200 now. That's more than these Optiplexes are worth.

I still have my Latitude 3450 laptop and it runs perfectly, but feels very sluggish now with Monterey installed... I guess that's one of the pitfalls of getting accustomed to the extreme snappiness of a modern system...

What specs did you end up getting on your mac studio?