Questions on building a Haswell Hackintosh

[celliott]

I built a Hack a couple of years ago (Sandy bridge) but mainly just for fun and sold it to a friend running windows a few weeks later. I am seriously looking at a new build and going to a new Haswell build. However a couple of the cheaper boards I have been looking at seem to have a number of problems even though they are on the TonyMac86 build list. They are supposed to be golden builds.

Specifically the GA-Z87X-D3H and the GA-Z87X-UD3H, both boards that fit my budget. The D3H appears to only be able to use two of the four memory slots. There are a few other reported instabilities. What has been the experience of those who have built a Haswell Hack?

I am also concerned that as soon as hardware moves on there appears to be little support for previous hardware when OS upgrades.

Just looking for some input. I would like to build a Hack that will last for awhile and won't be orphaned too quickly when it comes to assistance.

[sekker]

I wouldn't bother with Haswell for a desktop hackintosh. The difference between Haswell and Ivy Bridge is very minor - GPU and lower power consumption.

The former is made irrelevant by using a full Apple-compatible graphics card, the latter is less important on a desktop machine.

And all of the software patches are set for Ivy Bridge.

[celliott]

Is it still easy to get build assistance on the Ivy Bridge platform? I looked over the the forums on TonyMac and seemed to be a lot of unanswered questions and people left hanging as more focus seemed to shift to the new hardware.

[sekker]

I think you are safe using their recommended hardware builds.

[deckeda]

celliot, sekker is here for you. What is he, chopped liver?!









sekker?




sekker ????

[celliott]

Thanks for the responses. Sekker, if I go through with the build I hope it's OK to look you up. Thanks.

[sekker]

Sure thing.

The MRF community has plenty of experience in hackintoshing.

Honestly, as you are not a novice, it should be really straightforward:

1) Be sure to get hardware that's been shown to be viable for your hackintosh application.

2) Don't get too frustrated by something stupid.

3) Be sure you have plenty of time to build it.

4) Once built, be careful about OS updates (i.e. be sure to have a bootable backup drive).

When it comes to CPUs, the best bang-for-the-buck is the last-gen model. In this case, the new Haswell models are not faster in core processing power - the advances are in on-board graphics and power efficiency. If I were to build a new hackintosh, I'd visit tonymac to pick out a nice quad i7 processor, add a discrete graphics card, and pick out case, power supply, etc. Should be fun to personalize. If you are not into that, I recommend getting an Apple-made Mac. Or be willing to accept some compromise by converting a box like a Dell XPS8600 (which is what I did this summer/fall).

[ADent]

My SandyBridge machine hasn't had any problems with upgrades. Haven't gained or lost support for any of the hardware over the years.

I had 10.6.8 and upgraded to Mavericks - skipped 10.7 & 10.8.

I would pick something that works well and a lot of people use.

[MrNoBody]

to expand on ADent's advice...

An Ivy Bridge setup will serve you just as well vs a Haswell.
Keep in mind, new IB "LGA1155" motherboards will become scarce as the 1156 Haswell offerings expand.

• MoBo: A Gigabyte GA-Z77 Series
  
• CPU: An Intel "IB" Quad Core
  Here's the models (not all are Quad) with HD4000:
  Core i3-3225
  Core i3-3245
  Core i5-3475S
  Core i5-3570K
  Core i7-3770
  Core i7-3770x
  
• Graphics: If not Intel HD4000 or better, a nVida GT 640* 128-bit minimum. I'd avoid cards with VGA D-Sub port unless you really need it.
  *DDR5 if possible but the 2GB DDR3 boards are snappy.
  Stay with a better brand like ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, PNY or nVidia OEM (most nViDIA OEM cards are sold as refurbished; they're typically just unused returns from PC mfrs.).
  

I run an i5-3570K on a GA-Z77-DS3H (v.0 F9) w/ GT 640-2GB.
DS3H PROS: USB-3, all chipset functions are supported as Apple OEM (Gb-eNet, Audio, SATA). Has an mSATA-II socket. 4x 8GB DDR3 max. All Solid-State Caps.

DS3H CONS: NO o/b Thunderbolt or FW. Only 2 of the 5 SATA ports are 6Gb and NO eSATA; Either cheaply solved with a $20 or less SATA-III PCI-e card.
Only certain FW800 cards will work due to BIOS conflict, well documented @ TonyMac and InsanelyMac forums.