No iMac Retina 2016....Hackintosh?

[AnakChan]

I was somewhat disappointed there was not iMac 27" Retina 2016 in the 27th Oct announcement especially when my ageing late 2009 iMac died on me for good a week before then.

Which has kinda lead me to research into the Hackintosh. With Sierra out and with the MBP having ThunderBolt 3, I'm wondering if a full spec-ed Sky Lake 4.0GHz, 4GB GPU, 64GB RAM, 5K display, and full Thunderbolt 3 support is out of reach of a Hackintosh build?

I've searched and gone through the tonymacx86 site and know that the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 TH (claimed to be the 1st Thunderbolt 3 ATX board?) is supported but I keep seeing references of using it in conjunction with the StarTech Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt adapter which makes me wonder if there's full Thunderbolt 3 support or if it's a "crippled" support.

I'm actually in need of a computer "now" but prefer not to make do with the late 2015 iMac 27" Retina only to have it updated in 2017, as such considering a Hackintosh. I only have iOS devices @ home now until I have some kind of PC.

 

[mcnallym]

Been looking at that board myself. Certainly isn't full support as in hot pluggable. Biggest issue up to now is that with no mac having tb3 support ( until the new mbpro launched ) then manufacturers of tb3 peripherals don't advertise mac compatibility.

In general still waiting for tb3 to arrive in the stores to actually buy as opposed to being talked about.

As such difficult to test tb3 on that board fully and need the adaptor with the change of physical interface to connect tb2/tb devices to the port.

Having said that you have pci-e slots aboard so not certain why would need the tb3 available.

 

[AnakChan]

It seems some existing TB3 devices aren't supported by the new MBP TB3. I'd prefer a simpler interface though with just TB3 for display, external storage, and minimise (I know I can't eliminate) the other USB/Firewire ports. That's the goal (or dream) at least.

 

[swordfish5736]

There wasn't anything for apple to update the iMac to at there october event. They added skylake chips last fall in the 2015 models, and the desktop kabylake chips aren't shipping until early 2017.

 

[maflynn]

I made a hackintosh once before, and it was a fun exercise but I found that the amount of work needed and the lack of support was such that it was more hassle then it was worth. Just my $.02

 

[NostromoUK]

Hackintosh is just too flakey esp with Thunderbolt.

Why not get a refurbished/2nd hand top-end iMac now, then sell it and upgrade when Apple deign to release the new ones.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'm interested to know what the OP plans to connect to the Thunderbolt port.

 

[AnakChan]

@maflynn, thanks for the feedback. If I did do this, it'll be my primary machine rather than toy project. Agreed the lack of support could be an issue.

@NostromoUK I've been reading about that e.g. with the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 TH it seems whilst the TB3 display works, it doesn't wake up from sleep. But hoping that's something the hackintosh community can remediate.

@BrianBaughn as per post #3, primarily for display (now that there's a special on the LG 5K's, having 2x27" would be nice), fast external storage, and to minimise the number of different types of connectors and cables I have floating around for USB A, USB B, Mini, Micro, Firewire A/B (this is primarily for my film scanner), etc.

 

[QCassidy352]

There wasn't anything for apple to update the iMac to at there october event. They added skylake chips last fall in the 2015 models, and the desktop kabylake chips aren't shipping until early 2017.

That's true, but they could have done modest price drops and/or upgrades to the standard storage options with new graphics cards. It would have been enough to tide people over until the kaby lake chips become available.