My Hackintosh Build (OpenCore)
Background
I always had a curious interest in hackintosh scene because Apple never created a Mac that was both affordable and expandable. But I was hesitant to build one myself because the process was involving and there was no guarantee that it would work. When Apple announced that it was moving Macs from Intel platform to its own ARM-based design, I knew it was time because this scene was going away. The process went much smoother than I anticipated. The finished product turned out to be very stable and became my daily computer for general tasks like browsing the web and listening to podcasts.
I use OpenCore as the bootloader in my hackintosh and kudos to its developers. This post will not delve into installation details because OpenCore has good instructions.
Hardware Components
The most important factor in building a hackintosh is selecting the right hardware parts. There are multiple guides as well as numerous successful builds out there to provide some guidance. OpenCore also has a guide on choosing hardware parts. I did additional research on critical components (CPU, GPU, motherboard) to see if they had appeared in prior successful builds.
- Intel Core i5-10400 CPU
- Gigabyte Z490M Gaming X motherboard
- Gigabyte Radeon RX480 4GB Gaming GPU
- SanDisk SSD Plus 240GB 2.5″ SSD
- G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 RAM
- Asus USB-BT400 Bluetooth 4.0 USB adapter
- Cooler Master MasterBox NR400 case
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU cooler
- Corsair HX650 PSU
- Apple Wireless Keyboard (4th generation)
- Apple Magic Trackpad
Setup & Benchmarks
My hackintosh is running OpenCore version 0.6.8 and macOS version 10.15.7 (Catalina) as of this writing. Have no problem with updates so far. I maintain a separate Apple ID here to isolate potential issues and conflicts. The machine is emulating a 2020 iMac because of its Z490 parts. Here are some snapshots.
What Works
Hardware
- Audio
- Bluetooth (Asus USB-BT400)
- Ethernet
- Sleep and wake
- USB
Software
- Airplay
- Amphetamine
- Apple Podcasts
- Atom
- DBeaver
- FileZilla
- Firefox
- MacPorts
- Microsoft Excel, Word, and OneDrive
- Slack
- VLC
- Xcode Playground
What Does Not Work (and Other Oddities)
The system fails to recognize Asus USB-BT400 after every macOS update. Unplug and re-plug the Bluetooth adapter while system is up would fix the issue.
What Is Next
Since this a budget build, the machine clearly has rooms to improve. Here is a short list of hardware upgrades under consideration.
- 1 TB SSD
- 32 GB RAM
- i7-10700 or i9-10900 CPU
While this machine will never become my main software development computer for various reasons, I am very interested to see if it can handle day-to-day mobile application development in Xcode and Android Studio. I will also test other development tools when I get a chance.
I will update the macOS on this machine to Big Sur, find out what works (and not), and publish my experience in a separate post.
I have composed this post in Firefox on the hackintosh.