Which components for affordable Hackintosh with plenty horsepower?

[McFearless]

Hi everyone,

Me and my friend are planning on building an affordable hackintosh before the end of the year and we were wondering if you could give us some advice on compatibility and the likes so we at least will have the right components for the build. I have never done a build myself, but my friend has some experience with hackintosh plus windows builds.

Since I've been wanting to upgrade from my 2012 13 inch macbook pro for video editing and recording music, I was thinking I would get a desktop computer and use it just for these purposes. But iMacs nowadays are either too expensive or don't have power I would like to see in my machine. Plus, obviously, the modular aspect of a hackintosh is very appealing.

Anyway, we did some online research and came up with a list of the following components:

1 Intel Core i7-8700 Boxed € 412,- €
1 Gigabyte Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming WIFI € 159,-
1 Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4G € 176,95
1 Fractal Design Define S € 69,90
1 Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS2C8G4D240FSB € 134,99
1 Corsair RM650x (2018) € 95,90
1 *Samsung 860 EVO 250GB € 55,39
1 Samsung 860 EVO 500GB € 86,52
*the extra ssd is for a windows install

We created the list based on price, performance, compatibility, and availability (we're in the Netherlands ).

As far as we could figure out we should have the best chance of success with a fresh install of High Sierra (not Mojave), so that's the plan for now.

Please share your thoughts!

Cheers,
McFearless

 

[trs96]

The 1050 Ti is fine if you are staying with High Sierra. Will not currently work in Mojave. If you do a lot of video editing and/or want to edit 4K video then you'd be much better off with a supported AMD card.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersgu...the-ultimate-buyers-guide/#AMD_Graphics_Cards

You can also use any brand of RX560 except for XFX. That's the lowest cost solution that works for fully supported AMD graphics.

 

[SebErr]

Don't forget to get a decent cooler.
With a good air-cooler, which are a bit cheaper than the water coolers, you should be fine.

And maybe consider switching the 860 SSD to a 970 NVME SSD. Here in Germany you can get the 250GB version already for 70€ and they are quite a bit faster than the SATA SSDs.

With this motherboard and your components on High Sierra you shouldn't have any big issues getting everything up and running.

You'll find a good Golden Build with your system's components here:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...0k-ga-aorus-rx580.245362/page-30#post-1828010

Also another thing to consider. The Wifi module on your motherboard won't work out of the box. You will have to replace the wifi module with a compatible Broadcom card.

 

[McFearless]

The 1050 Ti is fine if you are staying with High Sierra. Will not currently work in Mojave. If you do a lot of video editing and/or want to edit 4K video then you'd be much better off with a supported AMD card.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersgu...the-ultimate-buyers-guide/#AMD_Graphics_Cards

You can also use any brand of RX560 except for XFX. That's the lowest cost solution that works for fully supported AMD graphics.

Thanks a bunch for thinking with me on this. I chose the Gigabyte 4G because I used a 2017 macbook pro model for 4k video editing before, and it had a similar video card, which really did the trick well enough. Upgrading would be an extra dent in my budget, and I'm thinking it won't necessary at this time. Also the disclaimer by Tony, saying it may be more complicated to get things running kind of put me off to AMD cards, since I would sooner have things running smoothly. Do you have any experience with the AMD cards?

Since there's no rush, I will look into the options. Thanks so much for the tip, and keep 'em coming if you think of anything else!

Cheers,
McFearless

 

[McFearless]

Don't forget to get a decent cooler.
With a good air-cooler, which are a bit cheaper than the water coolers, you should be fine.

And maybe consider switching the 860 SSD to a 970 NVME SSD. Here in Germany you can get the 250GB version already for 70€ and they are quite a bit faster than the SATA SSDs.

With this motherboard and your components on High Sierra you shouldn't have any big issues getting everything up and running.

You'll find a good Golden Build with your system's components here:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...0k-ga-aorus-rx580.245362/page-30#post-1828010

Also another thing to consider. The Wifi module on your motherboard won't work out of the box. You will have to replace the wifi module with a compatible Broadcom card.

Is a cooler really necessary? Since I'm not planning to overclock and I'm getting the boxed version, wouldn't you say the built-in cooler is sufficient? I'm new to this, so please enlighten me!

Great tip on the 860 vs the 970, I thought I'd save a couple bucks, but I did some looking around and the difference in performance is pretty astounding. I think I'll spring for those faster drives, thanks!

Concerning the wifi module, is there any use in getting a MOBO with onboard wifi if I need to get a Broadcom card (or something similair)?

Cheers,
McFearless

 

[SebErr]

The 8700k doesn’t ship with a cooler so you’ll definitely need one!

On most motherboards with Wifi you can just swap the Intel wifi module with a compatible Broadcom one.
Otherwise you’ll need to get a pcie express card adapter for the m.2 wifi module. That’s the only difference. So if the motherboard let’s you just swap the wifi module it’s a bit easier, but check into it carefully if the motherboard allows it and which broadcom card is compatible.

 

[McFearless]

The 8700k doesn’t ship with a cooler so you’ll definitely need one!

On most motherboards with Wifi you can just swap the Intel wifi module with a compatible Broadcom one.
Otherwise you’ll need to get a pcie express card adapter for the m.2 wifi module. That’s the only difference. So if the motherboard let’s you just swap the wifi module it’s a bit easier, but check into it carefully if the motherboard allows it and which broadcom card is compatible.

Was planning on getting 8700 (no K) so there should be a integrated cooler I think. But for the compatibility of the components, do you foresee any problems with the build? Just wanted to double check before I get to buying. Hope to have things running smoothly before the end of the year.

Also, since I need to get a seperate wifi module, I’m assuming this is also true for bluetooth?

Thanks!

McFearless