It has come to my attention that there are a number of us here running a Hackintosh of some variation successfully with Pro Tools.
Since Apple loves to drop support for older peripherals and protocols quite regularly for the sake of progress, there is some incentive to build a computer with exactly what you need, such as old PCIx slots and FireWire ports, and still be able to run OSX.
With current skepticism for Apple's commitment to the Pro community, I expect we may see more and more people building their own OSX machines. So, why not have a thread celebrating our successful builds, and helping out those who are interested in making their own?
Before we get started, we'll go over a few ground rules:
Since we don't want any heat, nor to break the TOS of this forum, I would like to reiterate that any discussion of illegal acquisition of software is prohibited. OSX costs $30, and is quite readily available through the AppStore and in stores as a pre-compiled USB key for around $60. Buy OSX, be legit.
Let's also remember that these builds are not officially qualified by Apple or Avid, so anything you do is at your own risk. We are here to to help each other with successful setups, but don't expect Avid to chime in if you're having trouble.
I would also like to iterate that we are not here to discuss the legality or ethics of installing OSX on a 3rd party system. In no court in Canada or the US will you be convicted for installing OSX on a 3rd party system. In the case of Psystar vs. Apple, it was not that they were installing OSX, it was that they were installing OSX on their own systems and selling them for profit. As long as you are building a system for your own use you are not breaking any laws.
Please do not respond to this thread if you are here to debate the morality of installing OSX. This thread will continue under the assumption that it is perfectly legal to install OSX on your own custom build until otherwise noted or proven.
Now, installing OSX on a PC is relatively straightforward, but you will need access to a Mac to create the installers you need. It doesn't take long, and you just need a USB drive with 8GB or more.
For great tutorials on how to get OSX going on custom parts, as well as lists of compatible components, I strongly suggest checking out TonyMac's blog here:
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.ca/2011/1...ion-using.html
All the tools you need can also be found there. You'll have to sign up for access to all the files you need, but it's worth the minute or two it takes. Trust me.
If someone has another set of good tutorials they've used, let me know and I'll update this post.
Alright, on to the good stuff!
Let's try to be helpful and consistent, but not take up too much screen real estate. A SANDRA report is not necessary, but if you want to post one, please use an image host, and post it as a screenshot or another external link. Otherwise, just list the main components you're using, along with Pro Tools version, and hardware. If you're using HD, let us know which cards you are using, PCIe or PCIx, etc. Feel free to leave a DVerb test score and/or Geekbench scores as well.
I'll get this party started!
Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 Socket 1155 Intel Z68 Chipset
Intel Core i7-2700K Quad-Core OC' to 4.21GHz
Zalman CNPS10X Quiet CPU Cooler
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile Blue 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1.5V DIMM
Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5
Syba Low Profile PCI-Express 1394b/1394a (2B1A) Card, TI Chipset
2x OCZ Vertex 3 2.5" 120GB SATA3 6GB/s Solid State Drive
2x Western Digital 3.5" Caviar Black 500GB SATAII 7200RPM Hard Disk Drive
Brand new install of OSX 10.7.4 and PT 10.2. Focusrite Saffire 56 in the FW card. Everything runs smooooooooth.
Current (AAX)DVerb score:
515
Current Geekbench Score:
13691
The only thing I ask of Avid here is, can we get a sticky?
