Hackintosh - Salvage your HD PCI cards - You Can Do It Too!

[jeremyroberts]

Why Lion 10.7.4 ? A personal choice ?

1. ease of installation
2. compatibility with the world. PT 10.2 HD is compatible
3. i'm using Lion on all of my other machines. I wanted the features. I use iTunes match, iCloud, etc...
4. why not install the latest stable release?
5. see #1 -- with UniBeast, there is no need to install from dvd and then upgrade. If you read the installation guides for 10.6.x (for hackintosh) - it sounds like geeks designed this for themselves. As opposed to UniBeast which is as close to one-click as you're gonna get.

I saw no need to install an OS that is "obsolete". But #1/#5 were the most important factors (in addition to the others).

Why WOULDN'T I want to be in the latest stable OS that's compatible with my software for a new build?

[jihel]

@ Jeremy

Thx for these explanations and your time.

[Philthy]

Great thread, thanks very much.

[fatcode]

Great stuff ! Thanks you very much !

[abomeerza]

Now I moved to Mac, but in the past
I was working on hackintosh
And I was working on HD 5 with magma per64and protools HD 10.2
Mac OS X 10.6.8
and Did not have any problem and the every things is working strongly and efficiently
====
Intel i7 2.93ghz
MB asus 7P55D
16 DDR3 1333
Geforce 8400GS

[studiojimi]

hackintosh has risky support challenges

that's why i chose to buy a westmere 8 core
i didn't think i need a 12

besides i found a killer deal on an 8 core with 18month left of applecare

and he included a ton of plugins...too sweet of a deal for 3K

now if i can find someone to take this P7R4 off my hands

as now i have the P6R4

there are a lot of PT users who now want lap tops instead of towers

if you can find a guy like that... you may find it a blessing.

[jeremyroberts]

Originally Posted by studiojimi

hackintosh has risky support challenges

Jimmy,

What kind of support challenges would you consider "risky"?

I've been a mac customer for 26+ years. We (mac users) have been brainwashed into "mac religion" -- that if the hardware is not mac, it's risky -- and that has been the way it is... but once you understand what really is inside your box, you will realize there are few risks.

Yes, initial installation and configuration can be considered "risky". HOWEVER - using verified configurations and components has turned this into a no-brainer.

If your mac logic board should fail out of warranty, you are looking at a costly repair. If my mobo fails, I can pop another one in ($200 or less)

What is "risky" to me should also be risky to you -- OS upgrades. And I will give the same due diligence that you will before doing any OS updates.

I don't see any risk.

[Drew Mazurek]

He means calling Avid for support I think. Any issue you have can immediately blamed on your computer.

[jeremyroberts]

Originally Posted by dmazurek

He means calling Avid for support I think. Any issue you have can immediately blamed on your computer.

Ah... but I think the last time I called Avid for support was 2005.

Don't know if people realize that once the bootloader does its thing, the machine becomes a Mac in every way. So if I run Digitest, it's the same as running it on a mac, etc...

[TornadoTed]

I have gone ahead and ordered the same parts as in your machine today. I appreciate so much that you have shared this info as my head has been swimming with possible options for months. I have been curious about a Hackintosh but scared off even though I have built several PC's in the past before I got my current Mac. The new multi-beast plus your full parts list really has simplified things so much.

I have a 2006 Mac Pro with HD4 PCIx in a 4 slot Magma chassis which works ok but I do run out of native power. The one option I didn't want to dive into was HDX, the transition over the next 2-3 years looks messy to me and I wanted no part of it. Plugins going/not going to AAX, Pro Tools going to 64Bit etc. Besides that I use 3 interfaces for 48 i/o so I would have needed to go HDX2 because they only have 2 ports per card. That would add another £4k to the cost which is just too much.

I had set my mind on getting a 2nd hand Mac (2009 model) and going to 10.2 and staying there. That still wasn't that cheap a solution, especially as a stop gap. By building a Hackintosh I can get rid of my Magma as HD4 would fit on the Motherboard, by the time I sell that and my Mac I may nearly break even. I will get a more powerful machine and a simpler set up (no Magma), a perfect stop gap machine for 2-3 years until everything settles down and there will be decent 2nd hand deals of HDX on eBay etc.