Fellow Macworld contributor My Amend Kirk McElhearn these days built a mini Hackintosh, a frequent PC styled like a Mac mini, on which he set up and ran macOS. This is a road I’ve long passed down myself, way again in 2008 when I constructed my Frankenmac. As Kirk changed into making a fairly low-quit Mac clone, and Apple has neglected the high-top Mac Pro for many years, I thought it’d be thrilling to construct a brand new high-cease Frankenmac.
Why build a Hackintosh?
My contemporary device is the past due to the 2014 5K iMac. Simultaneously, as it works properly for maximum obligations, it virtually suffers once I pursue my hobby: Flying the X-Plane flight simulator. Frame costs can range from respectable to sluggish, and the iMac fan ramps up almost as quickly as I release the simulator. In this case, the simulator is what certainly drove my preference to construct a brand new Frankenmac: I wanted a system that could run X-Plane well, without a screaming loud fan, and with a bit of luck, be used as my iMac replacement (as a minimum till the “new new” Mac Pro is released).
The key to this venture became Nvidia’s declaration of Pascal drivers for the Mac. This intended that I ought to put in a main-side video card—one of the GeForce GTX 10 Collection playing cards. These cards will effortlessly outperform (in games, at least) anything in any Mac that Apple presently ships. I received an offer as a good deal element, as did Kirk, but I used the components here.
Motherboard
Like Kirk, I went with Gigabyte for the motherboard; for me, a GA-Z170X-UD3 ($ hundred thirty on Amazon). My motherboard doesn’t have wifi. However, I added it with the Fendi 802.11AC Desktop wifi Card ($70 on Amazon). Hackintosh builders desire this card because it supports Handoff and Continuity without issues.
Processor
I selected an Intel Core i7 6700K four.0GHZ CPU ($three hundred on Amazon). This is largely the quickest computing device-class CPU fully supported in a Hackintosh.
Memory
I ordered 32GB of RAM, given it’s distinctly inexpensive, and I didn’t want to worry about swap files.
Graphics
Kirk used onboard video; however, in my case, that wouldn’t reduce it for X-Plane. I chose the Gigabyte GeForce GTX GV-N1080 ($550 on Amazon). This was my construct’s maximum highly-priced unmarried item, surpassing even the CPU in the fee. But it’s a depraved-speedy card with a purpose to run circles (in gaming) around anything Apple ships.
Networking
I’m using the onboard Ethernet to connect to my domestic community; the wifi card works, but I use it only for Handoff and Continuity, as this computer gadget sits a few toes from my router. Because I wanted room for greater hard drives (so I should deploy an internal Time Machine power at the side of separate drives for Linux and Windows 10), I sold an Antec Performance Series Case P-100, which capabilities seven internal pressure bays, quiet layout, and an affordable $eighty charge tag. Overall—except keyboard, mouse, and reveal—I spent $1,567 on parts. There’s no longer simply a contrast to this gadget in Apple’s lineup, way to the video card.
Building the Hackintosh
Kirk describes the manner nicely, so I’ll add that if you don’t revel in running with small elements in tight, enclosed areas, you likely won’t revel in building a PC. But if you like such matters, constructing a PC is a rewarding revel in that there’s nothing like that first boot to BIOS (a configuration system built into the motherboard) after powering on for the first time.
Installing macOS
Kirk’s summary of the OS install is spot-on: It does not plug and play, but getting macOS going for walks isn’t overly hard, to a point. That factor is “macOS is set up, and it works.” You’ll likely have networking and onboard video, and maybe you’ll get lucky and have sound, too. And if your system is a community server, like Kirk’s, that’s all you need. But, as I looked to make my Hackintosh my everyday Mac, I wished for more. I needed Handoff and Continuity. I needed Apple’s local Messages support. I expected audio to paintings. I wanted to be able to play iTunes-covered films. I needed sleep and wake to images. And the listing goes on.
In the give up, it’s these extra steps to attempt your staying power if you’re building a Hackintosh that you need to be your do the entirety, Mac. Sure, theoretical solutions exist to all those (and other) issues. The venture lies in locating the proper answer for your selected hardware, then hopefully imposing it properly. If you do it properly, you gain functionality. If you do it incorrectly, you probably boot to a black screen and may have to begin all over. That took place in three instances.
Better framerates
While there were (and still are) many demanding situations with my Hackintosh, I did manage to create an exceptional gaming Mac. The system is significantly quieter than my iMac—none of my trying outdrove the fan noise better than the historical past level, unlike my iMac. That may appear minor, but the fan noise is exceptionally stressful. Second, the performance is higher than my iMac’s at night and day. I used the Xonotic first-individual-shooter recreation to check each Mac, using the game’s built-in “the-massive-key bench” benchmark. I set every to run at 2560 x 1440 (thru Retina displays), with the same settings for all portrait gadgets. The iMac’s final rating turned 38.2 frames, consistent with 2d (fps), with a low of 12 fps and a high of 129 fps. The Hackintosh beat those figures, returning ninety-five. Four fps, with a low of 25 and an excessive 688 fps.
