Help making a Hackintosh!

[PowerPCFan]

After days of bleeding hands and using the wrong screwdrivers, I finally finished a complete tear down of my Early 2008 Mac Pro (2.8)

There were no parts left inside. Then it hit me. Mac Pro motherboards don’t use standard screw patterns! I am planning on buying a gigabyte micro atx motherboard (Amazon link here)

It uses a Micro ATX screw pattern. Any suggestions on how I can make cutouts for I/O and PCI/graphics card?

Also are there any ways to adapt the screw pattern to work with a micro atx motherboard? I can buy a different form factor mobo if that makes life easier.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Lots of videos on YouTube. It ain't easy!

 

[rm5]

Just gonna tell ya...I've tried making a Hackintosh and have never been successful. Sorry to discourage you, I'm just telling the truth.

 

[russell_314]

Just gonna tell ya...I've tried making a Hackintosh and have never been successful. Sorry to discourage you, I'm just telling the truth.

I thought about doing this long time ago because I was trying to save money. At the current price of the Mac mini one would only do this as a hobbyist project so maybe he wants a challenge.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I ran two consecutive hackintoshes. I'd still be on the last one but it died and I made the move to Apple Silicon. It was never easier to get one running than it was in the last couple of years. I wouldn't want to modify that case, though. That's a different set of skills entirely.

 

[PowerPCFan]

Lots of videos on YouTube. It ain't easy!

Could someone add links?

 

[PowerPCFan]

Just gonna tell ya...I've tried making a Hackintosh and have never been successful. Sorry to discourage you, I'm just telling the truth.

I never like talking to people that lie

You‘re probably right, it does seem hard.

 

[maflynn]

Could someone add links?

Just go here: https://www.tonymacx86.com/

I echo others, its doable, but it can be frustrating. I've done it a couple of times, over the years and I found that you're best bet to keep things running is to never upgrade it. Getting it running with the right boot load, components, i.e., motherboard, cpu, gpu, and of course kexts. It can be at times daunting, at least it was for me.

 

[PowerPCFan]

Just go here: https://www.tonymacx86.com/

I echo others, its doable, but it can be frustrating. I've done it a couple of times, over the years and I found that you're best bet to keep things running is to never upgrade it. Getting it running with the right boot load, components, i.e., motherboard, cpu, gpu, and of course kexts. It can be at times daunting, at least it was for me.

Thanks! I do think I’ll run Linux, Windows, and macOS triple boot.

 

[BrianBaughn]

For the case…just search youtube for "mac pro case hackintosh". I think most of the good conversions were done by people who had an actual workshop and metal working tools.

But for the computer…don't fear it. Just get components that have been tested by others. As was said, the tonymac site is full of successful builds…but stick to recent ones.

The way it works now is you install Opencore to the EFI partition on your system drive and put the needed kexts into that Opencore installation. Your actual macOS system isn't altered at all. A few years back, modifications were done to macOS itself so updates often broke things. Updates are much nicer now and you can see that in the forums at Tonymac. Major upgrades, though, have to be researched for compatibility with your components.

 

[orionquest]

Current Hackintosh user here. I'm on my 2nd or 3rd Hack now. Building a Hack isn't that hard these days. As long as you choose components similar in spec to actual Apple hardware. But people have also used AMD chips as well. Tonymac is a great resource.

Building a custom case or modifying an exsiting case to fit the hardware inside is a whole different game. If you are have bleeding hands from turning some screws, maybe power tools isn't for you. As @BrianBaughn mentioned this is workshop level and proper tools requirement skills.

BTW I have a sixtuple boot system. Mojave all the way up to Ventura, and Windows 10. All internal drives/partitions all working correctly. Updates are not a problem. This is the beauty of Hacks the flexibility to do what you want.

 

[PowerPCFan]

For the case…just search youtube for "mac pro case hackintosh". I think most of the good conversions were done by people who had an actual workshop and metal working tools.

But for the computer…don't fear it. Just get components that have been tested by others. As was said, the tonymac site is full of successful builds…but stick to recent ones.

The way it works now is you install Opencore to the EFI partition on your system drive and put the needed kexts into that Opencore installation. Your actual macOS system isn't altered at all. A few years back, modifications were done to macOS itself so updates often broke things. Updates are much nicer now and you can see that in the forums at Tonymac. Major upgrades, though, have to be researched for compatibility with your components.

Thanks for search query

 

[PowerPCFan]

Current Hackintosh user here. I'm on my 2nd or 3rd Hack now. Building a Hack isn't that hard these days. As long as you choose components similar in spec to actual Apple hardware. But people have also used AMD chips as well. Tonymac is a great resource.

Building a custom case or modifying an exsiting case to fit the hardware inside is a whole different game. If you are have bleeding hands from turning some screws, maybe power tools isn't for you. As @BrianBaughn mentioned this is workshop level and proper tools requirement skills.

BTW I have a sixtuple boot system. Mojave all the way up to Ventura, and Windows 10. All internal drives/partitions all working correctly. Updates are not a problem. This is the beauty of Hacks the flexibility to do what you want.

Cut hands are from sharp edges of the case, not screws.

 

[PowerPCFan]

I’m thinking about the Mountain Mods kit. Did anybody have luck with that?

 

[StoneJack]

After days of bleeding hands and using the wrong screwdrivers, I finally finished a complete tear down of my Early 2008 Mac Pro (2.8)

There were no parts left inside. Then it hit me. Mac Pro motherboards don’t use standard screw patterns! I am planning on buying a gigabyte micro atx motherboard (Amazon link here)

It uses a Micro ATX screw pattern. Any suggestions on how I can make cutouts for I/O and PCI/graphics card?

Also are there any ways to adapt the screw pattern to work with a micro atx motherboard? I can buy a different form factor mobo if that makes life easier.

Building Hacks last 15 years. Some advises:

1. The Mac Pro case is awesome. Keep it and build Hack inside. No problems with screws, manage that. Case is far more beneficial and looks super cool. In addition, it is expensive.
2. Since the case is big, do not use MicroATX. Mini or plain normal ATX mainboard will be good and have tons of expansion.
3. Always use Asus boards. I had very bad luck with super expensive Gigabyte. Asus are reliable, budget friendly, easy to reset, update, Mac friendly.
4. My recommendation: choose Intel i9 and a corresponding Asus board. Maybe Asus Z590 ( i use Z490 P in my latest build, i9 10850, Asus Z490P, Sapphire RX 6600XT, 32GB of RAM, WD SSD M2).
5. Choose WD m2 as a main storage. Samsung has well known bug with very long boot in Hackintosh.
6. Choose AMD graphic card (RX 580 min), 6600XT etc. Sapphire is most Mac friendly, but Asus cards are fine too. I had long working Asus RX580, worked very well.
7. Choose Opencore or Clover for your EFI build. Clover is easier but Opencore is more modern. I am too lazy to build proper USB map, so I leave it as it is. I think, Macs do not have more than 15 USB ports, so there are limits.
8. For Monterey and later installs, Opencore should be 0.8 or higher version. It can updated automatically.
9. Use Clover configurator for EFI Mount utilties for mounting and installing EFI.
10. There are Mac friendly WIFI BT cards, such as Fenvi t919. It gives you native Airdrop, native BT, wifi etc. Easy to use with Apple Airpods, Max, Pro etc.
11. For all audio I use only USB audio cards, such as Focusrite Solo 3 and my table speakers are USB Edifier G2000. Removes all hassles related with audio in Hackintosh.
12. I use Logitech keyboard and mouse with USB receiver. Works very reliably, removes all hassles with USB, which may happen be even on native Macs.

Finally, while Apple's Mx CPUs are awesome, Intel machines are good too and Apple still has MacPro with Intel inside and will keep it for some time. So, Intel hackintosh might be a good idea for your build.

 

[PowerPCFan]

Building Hacks last 15 years. Some advises:

1. The Mac Pro case is awesome. Keep it and build Hack inside. No problems with screws, manage that. Case is far more beneficial and looks super cool. In addition, it is expensive.
2. Since the case is big, do not use MicroATX. Mini or plain normal ATX mainboard will be good and have tons of expansion.
3. Always use Asus boards. I had very bad luck with super expensive Gigabyte. Asus are reliable, budget friendly, easy to reset, update, Mac friendly.
4. My recommendation: choose Intel i9 and a corresponding Asus board. Maybe Asus Z590 ( i use Z490 P in my latest build, i9 10850, Asus Z490P, Sapphire RX 6600XT, 32GB of RAM, WD SSD M2).
5. Choose WD m2 as a main storage. Samsung has well known bug with very long boot in Hackintosh.
6. Choose AMD graphic card (RX 580 min), 6600XT etc. Sapphire is most Mac friendly, but Asus cards are fine too. I had long working Asus RX580, worked very well.
7. Choose Opencore or Clover for your EFI build. Clover is easier but Opencore is more modern. I am too lazy to build proper USB map, so I leave it as it is. I think, Macs do not have more than 15 USB ports, so there are limits.
8. For Monterey and later installs, Opencore should be 0.8 or higher version. It can updated automatically.
9. Use Clover configurator for EFI Mount utilties for mounting and installing EFI.
10. There are Mac friendly WIFI BT cards, such as Fenvi t919. It gives you native Airdrop, native BT, wifi etc. Easy to use with Apple Airpods, Max, Pro etc.
11. For all audio I use only USB audio cards, such as Focusrite Solo 3 and my table speakers are USB Edifier G2000. Removes all hassles related with audio in Hackintosh.
12. I use Logitech keyboard and mouse with USB receiver. Works very reliably, removes all hassles with USB, which may happen be even on native Macs.

Finally, while Apple's Mx CPUs are awesome, Intel machines are good too and Apple still has MacPro with Intel inside and will keep it for some time. So, Intel hackintosh might be a good idea for your build.

Thank you so so so much! I am planning on using a micro atx board but as long as a standard atx would fit, I would prefer that.

I want to use a 13th gen Raptor Lake i5, will that work? If I need a 11th gen or 12th gen, I guess I’ll buy it, but this computer’s primary use will be a Windows gaming PC, so I want power.

I heard on Tony mac x86 that you need a 10th gen, but I really want a 12th gen or 13th gen.

I will dual boot Mac OS Ventura for everyday tasks, and use Windows for gaming (Forza Horizon 5, Minecraft, etc…)

I found a great deal for an overclocked 3060 but I heard that Nvidia cards don’t work with Hackintoshes. What would be the AMD equivalent to a 12gb 3060 priced at around $320??

I have a Bluetooth usb receiver Logitech keyboard.

I was planning on having 3 hard drives - WD Black 512gb m.2 (Win11 boot drive and my favorite games), a WD Blue 1.5tb drive for extra games and storage, partitioned in half ( windows half and osx half), and the original Mac Pro sea gate drive as the Mac OS boot drive. I am realizing that I shouldn’t run Ventura on a drive from 2006, so I’ll get another m.2 if my mobo supports it.

thanks again!!

sent from my iPad 9th gen

-PowerPCFan

edit: my gigabyte mobo I found was very cheap ($120) and I couldn‘t find any good ASUS motherboards for that price. Any recommendations?
Also will an MSI RX 6600 XT work? If it will, do you get the same or better performance than a 12gb overclocked 3060??

 

[someoldguy]

The motherboard standoffs come right off . Grab them with a pair of pliers or Channelocks or Vise Grips and rock them back and forth . Don't twist them , just rock them . You can't adapt the mac screw pattern . I found this out real fast when I did my G5 ( see here https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/some-old-guys-g5.24645/ . You'll have to use PC motherboard standoffs and glue the standoffs in the right position in the case . Use JB Weld as a glue .

You've got to ask yourself a bunch of questions before you start cutting stuff up . The answers you get , and the tools you have to work with , will largely determine the direction the build takes . I've been going through this with a 3.1 case I got a few year's back . My intent is to mod a case that's as close as possible to the original , but fits a mATX motherboard .

Some stuff I found out from doing my G5 :

Finding a junker PC that has a mATX board is real useful as you can use the mobo to locate the standoffs on the case .
If you're lucky , you can cut out the area in the case back that contains the slots and ports and graft that into your case.

Spend some time carefully measuring where the mobo will go . I was able to adapt a LianLi tray and backplane to fit into the back of the G5 Case . For my 3.1 , I'm using a Mt.Mods 4 slot backplane . I don't know if they're still available .
There's not going to be a whole lot of clearance under the fan grill once you cut out the opening for the backplane .

I've got no experience with either the Mt. Mods or Laser Hive backplates . If they maintain the correct geometry between the port opening and slot openings then they might be a quick and dirty way to get the case back done . Remember that unlike the 3.1 , both the port openings and slots on a PC are set back from the rear surface of the case .

Give some thought as to where you'll put storage . There might not be a whole lot of clearance under the mobo so a board that puts a M2 drive underneath could be problematic . Maybe use the optical bay for SATA drives . I'm thinking of using hot swap sockets in place of the existing HDD sockets to enable use of the original HDD trays .

Give a thought as to how the side panel will stay on if you chop up the release mechanism .

If you are going to graft parts together , just know that there will be holes which need to be filled . The perforations on the front and back of Mac cases are, as best as I could find out at the time , non standard spacing .

Think things out before doing anything and it'll work out .

 

[StoneJack]

I want to use a 13th gen Raptor Lake i5, will that work? If I need a 11th gen or 12th gen, I guess I’ll buy it, but this computer’s primary use will be a Windows gaming PC, so I want power.


I will dual boot Mac OS Ventura for everyday tasks, and use Windows for gaming (Forza Horizon 5, Minecraft, etc…)

I found a great deal for an overclocked 3060 but I heard that Nvidia cards don’t work with Hackintoshes. What would be the AMD equivalent to a 12gb 3060 priced at around $320??

I have a Bluetooth usb receiver Logitech keyboard.

I was planning on having 3 hard drives - WD Black 512gb m.2 (Win11 boot drive and my favorite games), a WD Blue 1.5tb drive for extra games and storage, partitioned in half ( windows half and osx half), and the original Mac Pro sea gate drive as the Mac OS boot drive. I am realizing that I shouldn’t run Ventura on a drive from 2006, so I’ll get another m.2 if my mobo supports it.

my gigabyte mobo I found was very cheap ($120) and I couldn‘t find any good ASUS motherboards for that price. Any recommendations?
Also will an MSI RX 6600 XT work? If it will, do you get the same or better performance than a 12gb overclocked 3060??

Hi,
I am not aware of 13th gen Intel Hackintosh but 11 and probably 12th gen Intel Hackintoshes are already made, but they require latest OpenCore or Clover. Again, there are templates ready and you start from there.

Dual boot is doable, just first install Windows, take drive out, install Ventura on other drive, put Windows back and the OpenCore booter should recognize Windows and you will have a picker selection during boot *at least as I understand. I did dual boot only once and don't remember exact details. For me dual boot was cumbersome, so I just installed legit Parallels and use it for my Windows gaming within Mac OS (Age of Empires 2 and 3 DE).

Nvidia will not work on Mac, at least for latest versions of OS. You have to choose AMD graphics.

Not sure about Gigabyte board. Generally if you choose a cheap mobo, you will quality get what you pay for. I choose good mainboard for stability and quality and Z490P is a good balance. You can overclock if you wish.

MSI sounds like a good choice, but run through tonymax website for its reviews under Mac OS. Performance would be good I assume.

 

[PowerPCFan]

Thanks for all the suggestions! It seems that I have a way of securing the motherboard and I think I have my components picked too, but there’s 2 things I’m still worried about:

Does the power supply have enough cooling? Even if it does, where can I put it?

How can I access my motherboard’s ports?? The Mac Pro doesn’t have enough holes for the ports. Should I use a Dremel to cut out a motherboard-shaped hole??

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Have a great day!
-PowerPCFan

 

[PowerPCFan]

MSI sounds like a good choice, but run through tonymax website for its reviews under Mac OS. Performance would be good I assume.

Sounds good

Hi,
I am not aware of 13th gen Intel Hackintosh but 11 and probably 12th gen Intel Hackintoshes are already made, but they require latest OpenCore or Clover. Again, there are templates ready and you start from there.

I would be fine buying a 12th gen i5 12600k instead of the 13th gen 13600k I wanted. I just don’t want to go older than 12th gen.

The motherboard standoffs come right off . Grab them with a pair of pliers or Channelocks or Vise Grips and rock them back and forth . Don't twist them , just rock them . You can't adapt the mac screw pattern . I found this out real fast when I did my G5 ( see here https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/some-old-guys-g5.24645/ . You'll have to use PC motherboard standoffs and glue the standoffs in the right position in the case . Use JB Weld as a glue .

I already have some JB weld from when I broke my PowerBook. I should be able to glue down some standoffs.

Give some thought as to where you'll put storage . There might not be a whole lot of clearance under the mobo so a board that puts a M2 drive underneath could be problematic . Maybe use the optical bay for SATA drives . I'm thinking of using hot swap sockets in place of the existing HDD sockets to enable use of the original HDD trays .

Give a thought as to how the side panel will stay on if you chop up the release mechanism .

One of my goals is to not remove the door mechanism, so that’s hopefully staying in there.

I only need 1 m.2 drive and I know I have at least 1 m.2 port on the top so clearance isn't an issue.

I could put SATA drives in the optical bay but I wanted to reserve that space for other upcoming add-ons so I’m going to reuse those hard drive sleds but instead of the previous Mac Pro ‘quick connect’ drive system I’ll just manually attach the cable and then slide it in.

Sorry for the very long reply!

-PowerPCFan

 

[StoneJack]

Thanks for all the suggestions! It seems that I have a way of securing the motherboard and I think I have my components picked too, but there’s 2 things I’m still worried about:

Does the power supply have enough cooling? Even if it does, where can I put it?

How can I access my motherboard’s ports?? The Mac Pro doesn’t have enough holes for the ports. Should I use a Dremel to cut out a motherboard-shaped hole??

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Have a great day!
-PowerPCFan

I do not know much about Mac Pro's supply should powerful enough by design.
As for ports, depends on your mainboard, maybe cut the back side and use the existing front ports.
YOu can cut cleanly.

 

[PowerPCFan]

I do not know much about Mac Pro's supply should powerful enough by design.
As for ports, depends on your mainboard, maybe cut the back side and use the existing front ports.
YOu can cut cleanly.

I can’t use the original PSU because it died. I think I still have the cable for the front panel ports. Will those ports work with a PC??

 

[someoldguy]

No way the ports will align ; you have to cut . When you decide to cut , make your cuts a bit smaller than you need , and then sneak up to where the openings' perfect . Measure things really carefully as you don't want to screw up your case and have to patch things up . Removing the rear fan grid is probably a good idea . It's held on by really tiny screws so don't lose them .
It's a good thing your power supply is dead as it saves you the trouble of trying to adapt it , if that's at all possible .
Psu's have fan's to assist in cooling . A lot of the builds on TonyMac have the psi installed inside the shell of a gutted Mac Pro psu , enabling the power supply to be concealed by the Apple supplys outer shell . Remember that there's also a fan located between the optical drives and the psi on the stock Mac Pro to keep airflow around the stock psi . Figuring how to get this working in addition to the fan on the new psi should keep things pretty under control , assuming you're using a reasonable size psi , say maybe under 650 watts . Or , you could just stick the new power supply on the case bottom .
When I did my G5 , I had a lot of grief trying to get the front panel ports working and ultimately ended up building my own . This guys solution (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...classic-mac-pro.1501482/page-83#post-26358702 ) looks good to me . When I start on my 3.1 , I'll use his method to replace the existing front panel usb's with usb3's . No need for the connection to a card as there's going to be a usb 3 front panel connection on my new mobo .

 

[StoneJack]

I can’t use the original PSU because it died. I think I still have the cable for the front panel ports. Will those ports work with a PC??

Thats something I don't know as I never worked with MacPro case. It should have Power On, Hard drive access, Reset cables if it is similar to a pc case. Maybe you can use those wires, you should take a photo and let me take a look if they look like standard PC case wires. For power, then you can use any 500-600W supply, probably going to be enough as no one now uses CD drives and usual hard drives and you are going with three m2s.

Found this tutorial

seems to be legit.

He does cut the case. The genius approach is that he cuts off MacPro's back panel, and replaces it with a standard PC case back panel, which fits any PC mainboard nicely. I'd advise to take a good look at the tutorial. You don't have to follow the back panel painting though, imho. Just can use a normal silver paint spray using a good degreaser.