It was on the tip of everyone's tounge.
Tyler and I just gave it a name.
After running my Mac Pro for 4 years, I felt it was time to move on.
Being stuck with EFI 32 and no way to upgrade the system, I was itching for a new rig.
But buying the next-gen Mac Pro releasing Q1 2010 would cost me like 3200$ where I would get the same specs as a cheap PC. I also feared to be stuck yet again with a non-upgradeable machine.
So I took the plunge:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz 2575kr
ATI Radeon 4890 1800kr
Gigabyte EX58-UD5 2295kr
Corsair 850w 1517kr
1TB Seagate Barracuda 793kr
Fractal Design Define R2, Silver 795kr
Corsair Dominator DHX+ DDR3 1600MHz 6GB 2048kr
Samsung 22x DVD RW 282kr
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm, 4x 492kr
Corsair H50 Hydro Series CPU Cooler 714kr
Akasa Intern Memory Card Reader 3.5 95kr
Deltaco Bluetooth Adapter Mini 219kr
Total of 13 525 Swedish KR
In dollar = $ 1323 without the Swedish Taxes.
(Shipping not included in price)
$1323 for a watercooled Quad i7, overclocked at 3.6 GHz
with a built in Memory Card Reader, and more USB and Audio ports then the Mac Pro.
But, the big question:
Is it stable?
After installation it works just like my Mac Pro.
(and I've been one of those who would say Hackintosh is crap and will crash all the time...)
The bluetooth and memory card reader works perfectly. Sleep works.
Sound, internet works.
The Water cooling is efficient, but the fans are not as silent as my Mac Pro. However, they are not noisy.
I've been running WoW for days and I'm getting sweet framerates.
No apps have crashed. System has had Kernel Panics, but they were because of a Logitech App. I had copied the app straight off my Mac Pro, so maybe some support file did not follow. When I reinstalled the app, I have had no more crashes.
So, 0 crasches, no hangups, everything just works.
I would not be able to tell the difference to a real Mac unless this Hackintosh wouldn't run so damn fast.
Xbench score: (My Mac Pro 2x 2.66GHz 8GB Ram got 5100)
(stock settings @ 2.66GHz, overclock will come later)
The Fractal Design case looks great. I'd take the Mac Pro case anyday, but I can't be arsed to mod it to fit the components.
The case is great in terms of cable management, and it looks really simple and stylish, for a PC case.
The concept of Hackintosh is to modify software, like drivers, usually only with a device-id, to work with OSX. Many people thinks a Hackintosh needs to run a hacked version of OSX. This rig is running Retail Snow Leopard, aka bought in a Apple Store.
Many of you are already running "hacked drivers" to get 3D accelleration on your 4890 cards.
My setup consists of 10 extra kexts.
A link to my installation guide can be found three posts down.
This is how it looks while booting:
ah, yes, some bios jibberish, not really clean, but the bootloader gets better
This is the bootloader from which you choose OS to boot. Only the default is visible, and its recognized as OSX. If I would press an arrow key, it would show me my Windows disk too. So it kinda works like Boot Camp.
It can also be themed to look the way you want. Boot camp themes are available.
Next up is the boot screen. On a Mac you would see the grey apple.
I made my own picture from a wallpaper I found at deviantart.
Aaaand, we're at the desktop.
Here you can see Time Machine backing up, and also the Memory Card from my D90 inserted in the card reader.
My current desktop
Upgrades and updates?
As for upgrades, you're in heaven. Not only is more hardware supported in the Hackintosh scene, but more hardware will be.
When gulftown comes out in 2010, I can just buy one and slap it right in there. The socket match. But for 2009 Mac Pro users, even though the socket matches, they are stuck with their Nehalems because the Xeon Gulftown has some kind of tiny difference I don't remember right now.
About updates, some people fear Apple will shut out Hackintosh. That's a fantasy. They can't shut out Hackintosh because the hardware is basically the same.
There was an update where support for Intel Atom was dropped, but this was rather a disposal of unused code.
Some kexts require updates after an update. Since 10.6.0, only 1 kext has been in need of an update. Of course, if you are using the 4890, you need the QECI packages.
So, as for building a Hackintosh,
Was it hard?
Actually, this is the first computer I've ever built.
Building a computer is pretty straightforward, I've had IKEA furnitures that have been way harder to put together.
There are basically only two big factors when building a Hackintosh, Motherboard and GPU. If you match up those to a guide or a method, you're good to go.
The best motherboard is the one I'm using, the Gigabyte EX58.
It takes a bit of reading and troubleshooting should you encount any problems. If you need a computer now, asap, working, and with warranty and support, then I do not recommend this for you. However, if you would like a computer that can beat the top speced Mac Pro, for about a third the price, and you got some free time, this is great.
Laws?
There are no laws against Hackintosh. There is an agreement (EULA) that has not been proven to have any power anyway.
In Sweden american laws (or EULA's) do not apply, so everything I have described here has been 100% legal for me anyway.
Keep your legal theories to yourselves, I don't want this to be a thread about that stuff. I will ask a mod to remove the posts if that happens.
Update 1
Cindori delivers!
Tyler and I just gave it a name.
After running my Mac Pro for 4 years, I felt it was time to move on.
Being stuck with EFI 32 and no way to upgrade the system, I was itching for a new rig.
But buying the next-gen Mac Pro releasing Q1 2010 would cost me like 3200$ where I would get the same specs as a cheap PC. I also feared to be stuck yet again with a non-upgradeable machine.
So I took the plunge:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz 2575kr
ATI Radeon 4890 1800kr
Gigabyte EX58-UD5 2295kr
Corsair 850w 1517kr
1TB Seagate Barracuda 793kr
Fractal Design Define R2, Silver 795kr
Corsair Dominator DHX+ DDR3 1600MHz 6GB 2048kr
Samsung 22x DVD RW 282kr
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm, 4x 492kr
Corsair H50 Hydro Series CPU Cooler 714kr
Akasa Intern Memory Card Reader 3.5 95kr
Deltaco Bluetooth Adapter Mini 219kr
Total of 13 525 Swedish KR
In dollar = $ 1323 without the Swedish Taxes.
(Shipping not included in price)
$1323 for a watercooled Quad i7, overclocked at 3.6 GHz
with a built in Memory Card Reader, and more USB and Audio ports then the Mac Pro.
But, the big question:
Is it stable?
After installation it works just like my Mac Pro.
(and I've been one of those who would say Hackintosh is crap and will crash all the time...)
The bluetooth and memory card reader works perfectly. Sleep works.
Sound, internet works.
The Water cooling is efficient, but the fans are not as silent as my Mac Pro. However, they are not noisy.
I've been running WoW for days and I'm getting sweet framerates.
No apps have crashed. System has had Kernel Panics, but they were because of a Logitech App. I had copied the app straight off my Mac Pro, so maybe some support file did not follow. When I reinstalled the app, I have had no more crashes.
So, 0 crasches, no hangups, everything just works.
I would not be able to tell the difference to a real Mac unless this Hackintosh wouldn't run so damn fast.
Xbench score: (My Mac Pro 2x 2.66GHz 8GB Ram got 5100)
(stock settings @ 2.66GHz, overclock will come later)
The Fractal Design case looks great. I'd take the Mac Pro case anyday, but I can't be arsed to mod it to fit the components.
The case is great in terms of cable management, and it looks really simple and stylish, for a PC case.
The concept of Hackintosh is to modify software, like drivers, usually only with a device-id, to work with OSX. Many people thinks a Hackintosh needs to run a hacked version of OSX. This rig is running Retail Snow Leopard, aka bought in a Apple Store.
Many of you are already running "hacked drivers" to get 3D accelleration on your 4890 cards.
My setup consists of 10 extra kexts.
A link to my installation guide can be found three posts down.
This is how it looks while booting:
ah, yes, some bios jibberish, not really clean, but the bootloader gets better
This is the bootloader from which you choose OS to boot. Only the default is visible, and its recognized as OSX. If I would press an arrow key, it would show me my Windows disk too. So it kinda works like Boot Camp.
It can also be themed to look the way you want. Boot camp themes are available.
Next up is the boot screen. On a Mac you would see the grey apple.
I made my own picture from a wallpaper I found at deviantart.
Aaaand, we're at the desktop.
Here you can see Time Machine backing up, and also the Memory Card from my D90 inserted in the card reader.
My current desktop
Upgrades and updates?
As for upgrades, you're in heaven. Not only is more hardware supported in the Hackintosh scene, but more hardware will be.
When gulftown comes out in 2010, I can just buy one and slap it right in there. The socket match. But for 2009 Mac Pro users, even though the socket matches, they are stuck with their Nehalems because the Xeon Gulftown has some kind of tiny difference I don't remember right now.
About updates, some people fear Apple will shut out Hackintosh. That's a fantasy. They can't shut out Hackintosh because the hardware is basically the same.
There was an update where support for Intel Atom was dropped, but this was rather a disposal of unused code.
Some kexts require updates after an update. Since 10.6.0, only 1 kext has been in need of an update. Of course, if you are using the 4890, you need the QECI packages.
So, as for building a Hackintosh,
Was it hard?
Actually, this is the first computer I've ever built.
Building a computer is pretty straightforward, I've had IKEA furnitures that have been way harder to put together.
There are basically only two big factors when building a Hackintosh, Motherboard and GPU. If you match up those to a guide or a method, you're good to go.
The best motherboard is the one I'm using, the Gigabyte EX58.
It takes a bit of reading and troubleshooting should you encount any problems. If you need a computer now, asap, working, and with warranty and support, then I do not recommend this for you. However, if you would like a computer that can beat the top speced Mac Pro, for about a third the price, and you got some free time, this is great.
Laws?
There are no laws against Hackintosh. There is an agreement (EULA) that has not been proven to have any power anyway.
In Sweden american laws (or EULA's) do not apply, so everything I have described here has been 100% legal for me anyway.
Keep your legal theories to yourselves, I don't want this to be a thread about that stuff. I will ask a mod to remove the posts if that happens.
Update 1
Cindori delivers!
