Hackintosh!

[HappyBlues]

So I have converted to Mac OS X. Yes, I've made a Hackintosh. I'd buy Apple computer if it didn't cost 5 times as much as my pretty powerfull pc system did. No regret there.

And to say - it is just great. I love it. Soundcard has 3 times smaller latency, GuitarRig eats 40% less CPU power... What more could I want?

And it is butter smooth, fast as lightning. Love it.


Welcome to MacWorld, Tomas :)

-- Wed Nov 03, 2010 7:14 am --

There are lot of Mac users here, so I guess they must be hating me for this :-D

[DeanM]

wait, so you installed Mac OS on a PC? is that correct? and it was much more efficient? thats really interesting! i didnt think it was possible to install MAC OS on a pc? can you explain some more please?

[HappyBlues]

Well, as much as Steve Jobbs laughs it, and dislikes it, you actually can install Mac OS on many current PCs with a bit of tweaking to persuade Mac OS it is genuaine Apple hardware. Apart from onboard network card, all my drivers are genuine Apple drivers and system runs buttersmooth. No crashers, no lags.

If you want to find more try googling

tonymacx86
hackintosh hardware list


You may find out your system is supported.

[mety]

Although I have two Macs, I built my own Hackintosh just for the experience.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard works but there were a lot of "workarounds" needed to actually make it work - graphics card, sound card etc...
When I got it up and running it was fine though.

I'd love to get my DIGI 001 working in my "Hack"...

[HappyBlues]

I had it up in few hours after I realized that Snow Leopard installer was crashing because of power saving mode and that I need a special first boot CD because I have Gigabyte board... Once solved it works like a dream.

[Kyle]

To be fair my gigabyte board system with windows has never been able to deep sleep (about 1/5 yrs old now). No biggie, gets PFN list errors if I try it though.

As far as Macs go, hackintosh is the way to go if you want one, MAcs prices are absurd. As long as you buy 'compatible' hardware anyone can make one. I don't see the benefit though, I like my 7 button mouse. My firewire sound card has never had a latency issue either.

[DeanM]

hmm tis an interesting idea! it would prob mean changing software tho? well maybe not.

I was also thinking of upgrading my graphics card from a radeon hd 5770 to two 5770s in crossfire. and i have two 500gig HDs in raid 0 so it acts as one 1TB drive. would there be any compatibility issues when using more complex setups like that? Altho i assume MACs can use these setups too so maybe it shouldn't be a problem. interesting, def something to think about doing later.

Thanks for the info and i will try googling those soon freesun!

[HappyBlues]

I believe there is definitely a problem with RAID setup as Mac OS X expects Apple RAID interface, not the one you might have in gigabyte. But probably someone has worked it out already. And many people use 5770s or two graphics card so should be no biggie. You might stay with the software you have, because most of mainstream products run on Macs like they do on PC, but depending on licenses you have, you may have to some of them again. And should I mention Hackintosh is not exactly legal...

[Kyle]

What the heck are you running you use 2x5770s for. I am still running my almost 2.5 year old 4870 and have never beat it down with any game (albeit I don't play shooters)

[DeanM]

Im not using two 5770s. i said i was thinking of upgrading to two. two 5770s in crossfire were tested and found to match performance of a 5870! which is €340! where as another 5770 i could prob get for 100-140! so was just wondering! wouldnt be planning on doing it anytime soon. heres the link to the shoot outs and bench marks i saw.

http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_ ... 850,2.html

-- Sat Nov 06, 2010 8:57 pm --

And should I mention Hackintosh is not exactly legal...

haha neither is my version of Windows7! or most my software programs! sonar for example! I would love to support the companies and buy software but i'm a student and cant afford to! college is expensive!

[Kyle]

Ah gotcha, I would run 1 card, less heat generation typically, more airflow in the case.

[DeanM]

true. good point. the 5770s are great power consumption wise tho! peak power is 108watts compared to 160 for the 4870. and idle power is only 18watts!! thats amazing! i think the 4870 is 50-60 on idle but im not certain.

my Case has pretty good airflow too. 200mm fan front, top and back and 230mm fan at the side! its the thermaltake element g. so it should have pretty good ventillation as well as the fact that those cards have great power specs meaning less over heating. and have built in fans themselves too. so should be ok but i get your point. would prob have to check temps and all to make sure nothings gettin too hot. especially if i started overclocking etc!

[Kyle]

good to go then, my system is a beast, it has a 800W power supply in it, so while some new cards might drag it down, it is doing fine. Got 2x 3" fans on front, a 5" on top and a 3" in back. I need a new CPU heatsink to clock my quad core to 3ghz each though. (a Q6600 2.4). As I said, about 1.5-2 yrs old nowadays.

[DeanM]

mine has a 750watt psu. it should be enough for two gfx cards i would think. i would like to try overclocking mine but havent had time. plus i would need to read up a fair bit on it. i only know the basics. its 3.4ghz quadcore. amd phenom II x4 965 black edition. i'v heard of people overclocking it to 4.5ghz! i prob wouldnt even bother goin that far tho to be honest!

I'm pretty happy with my system. i got it about 6months ago but bought it used off a guy so got a really good deal on. i was originally lookin for parts and as we bargained it out i ended up takin the whole pc! and got a 24inch hd monitor with it too!

my pc before it is now.....6yrs old! lol with a whopping 512mb DDR ram! lol i was well overdue an upgrade!

[HappyBlues]

If you've got AMD it is possible you could run Mac OS X but only some patched version, probably with updating problems.