Before we begin, we need to chat about the law and EULAs. Installing OS X on non-Apple hardware, while probably not technically illegal, does violate Apple’s End User License Agreement (EULA). Will Apple hunt you down and kidnap your pets until you remove OS X from your Hackintosh? It’s unlikely.
Apple isn’t too concerned with the little guy tinkering with his computer, and will have a pretty challenging time tracking you down if you go out and purchase a legal copy of OS X for your project. On the other hand, if you want to base a business around building Hackintoshes, expect a visit from Apple’s crack team of lawyers.
With that out of the way, let’s start building. We’ll give you specific instructions for the DFI board we used; if you’re using a different (but compatible) motherboard, you’ll need to adapt our instructions for your hardware.
The EFI-X dongle is the secret sauce that makes OS X think your awesome PC is a craptacular, but Apple-approved Mac. Think of the EFI-X module as Clark Kent’s glasses—when they’re on, no one has a clue that he’s Superman. Installation is simple, you just need to plug the EFI-X into a vacant USB header on your motherboard. The dongle comes with an extension cable if you have trouble squeezing the device in between the other components on your rig. Make sure to avoid plugging the dongle into the FireWire header—that would torch your $250 device.
Next up, we need to adjust BIOS settings to work with the EFI-X device and the OS X installer. Rather than list a series of options and the correct settings, we’re going to just show the appropriate BIOS screens, with everything set to the correct settings, and we’ll note anything you need to tweak on sub-screens. But, before you can do that, you’ll need to enter the BIOS by mashing the Del key as your PC boots.
Enter the Standard CMOS Features screen. Navigate to Halt On, press Enter, and select All, But Keyboard. Press Enter to accept your bold new setting and then Esc to return to the Main BIOS screen.
Navigate to the Integrated Peripherals option, and then to the OnChip IDE Device screen. For SATA Mode, choose IDE. The EFI-X doesn’t support RAID. AHCI should be turned off during the install process. You can turn it back on after you’ve finished the install. Press Enter to save your settings.
Next, navigate to LEGACY Mode Support, select Enabled and press Enter to save your setting. For the Onboard JMB363 option, select Native IDE and press Enter.
Press Esc to return to the Integrated Peripherals main screen.
While still in the Integrated Peripherals screen, navigate to the USB Device Setting page and hit Enter. Make sure the controllers and functions are all enabled. Navigate to USB Mass Storage Device Boot Settings.
You should see the EFiX Booting Device 1.0 option. Select it and press Enter. Select the HDD Mode option and press Enter to save your setting.
From the main BIOS screen navigate to the Advanced BIOS Settings option and press Enter. Select Hard Disk Boot Priority. Move the USB-HDD0 : EFiX Booting Device to the top of the list by selecting it and pressing the plus (+) button until it’s on the top of the heap. Smack Esc to return to the Advanced BIOS Settings main screen.
Navigate to the First Boot Device. Select CDROM from the list of boot devices. Press Enter to save your setting. Change the Second Boot Device to Hard Disk using the same method. Press Esc to return to the glory of the main BIOS screen.
Navigate to the Power Management Setup screen. Go to ACPI Function, select Enabled and press Enter to save your choice.
Navigate to ACPI Suspend Type, Select S3(STR), and press Enter. Press Esc to return to the main BIOS screen.
Navigate to Save & Exit Setup and press Enter. The machine will now reboot with all your new BIOS settings. It’s almost go-time with your Hackintosh.
When your machine reboots, you should see “EFIX V1 Loading Please Wait” on the screen. If you don’t see this text on your screen, you’ve totally screwed up. Don’t go blaming us—just reboot, begin mashing the Del key to enter the BIOS, and double-check your settings.
If you do see the “EFIX V1 Loading…” text, way to go. The EFI-X Bootloader screen will appear. You will be presented with what looks like trash cans from the future. Don’t be alarmed if the trash cans have an X or Window icon on them. Even if you haven’t installed an OS on your drives yet, the EFI-X recognizes the format of the SATA drives attached to the rig. You may see two Windows choices; don’t worry. Once you reformat one of the drives to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), it’ll have X on it. For now, just ignore those glowing trash cans with company logos and choose the trash can with DVD on it to access your OS X install disc. Press Enter.
Comments are closed on this article
neal123
January 04, 2012 at 11:31am
Sometimes I sound like I’m arguing, when I’m actually not. I just have a way of putting my posts stronger than intended.It’s easier to keep out of the conversation and not take the chance of being misunderstood.
bolod
December 27, 2011 at 12:07am
The post is pretty interesting. I really never thought I could have a good read by this time until I found out this site. I am grateful for the information given. Thank you for being so generous enough to have shared your knowledge with us.
bolod
December 26, 2011 at 2:49am
Hey buddy,this is one of the best posts that I’ve ever seen; you may include some more ideas in the sametheme. I’m still waiting for some interesting thoughts from your side in your next post.
nandu312
June 02, 2010 at 11:42am
instead of core 2 duo, could one can have this setup in core 2 quad ? and what about i7 core processors?
P.S. will nvidia geforce 9400 GT work too ?
TheViper
January 12, 2010 at 9:00am
I successfully built a Hackintosh for my daughter in college who is a Communications major for LESS money then what was quoted in this article. It all comes down to taking your time and knowing how and where to shop for your parts! (Which by the way, in case you were wondering, all the components are NEW)
Thanks MAX PC. She now can have her Video Production team over to her dorm when needed to work on projects with Final Cut instead of being subjected to 1.5 hours of time blocked off at 10:00 pm or later in a Mac lab.
aka-none
January 06, 2010 at 8:41pm
I compared my mac pro (before I bought it) dual quad xeon E5440, and it was $50 more to by the apple machine. Xeons are not free dude.
So what do I get with the apple? NO incompatibilities with cards, drivers, or software. I got tired of the few hundred I saved in building my own windows machines in exchange for always having to putz with it every-time someone came out with a driver upgrade.
JohnMD1022
November 13, 2009 at 12:15pm
It turns out to be all phony. $10 worth of hardware coupled with unauhtorized use and sale of Open Source software.
Here's the lowdown:
http://tinyurl.com/lh7mem
TheViper
November 04, 2009 at 9:05am
Has anyone built a Hackintosh using a Core 2 Quad Processor? If so, are there any "glitches" or certain things to look for on the install of the software?
cretony38
September 25, 2009 at 10:48am
and 8 gig thumb drive will work for booting from a targeted disk for this install. So if I build a Hackintosh can I run it with parrellels and boot from XP Win7 and OSX?
gendoikari1
August 22, 2009 at 1:40pm
I think you can put OSX on an AMD rig, but not with vanilla OSX. You have to download a modified installer (the only name I remember is iDeneb), and run that instead the OSX install disc. An added bonus is that the EFI-X dongle thing is not needed if you use the modified installer.
gendoikari1
August 22, 2009 at 1:46pm
And also, the Apple Tax is evident when my Alienware Aurora costs the same as a stock Mac Pro, yet manages to kick its ass (except RAM).
Mine:
Phenom II x4 925@2.8 GHz
NVidia GeForce GTX 295
750 GB HDD
4GB DDR2-800
$2500
Mac Pro:
Intel Xeon @2.66 GHz
NVidia GeForce GT 120 (I believe a GeForce 9500)
640 GB HDD
3GB DDR3-1066
$2500
boarder428
August 22, 2009 at 8:33am
These Hackintoshes are interesting, I've been thinking about building one for a while but still researching. Building your own pc is a very exciting and fun hobby in my opinion! Currently all my pc's dual boot with some version of windows and Linux. Learning multiple os's is fun and I think it's time to give Leopard a try. I was wondering what the install order would be to tri-boot W7, Leopard, and Ubuntu since installing Ubuntu changes boot loader to "Grub"! Can grub boot Leopard as well? Of course Windows is always first but which would be second in the line up Leopard or Ubuntu?
Second off, I don't quite understand the efi dongle thing, as "nate5532 - Hack Mack" states you don't need the dongle. I thought the dongle was necessary for hardware communication? If I read his post correctly he's just installing the os's on seperate HD's and choosing which drive to boot to thru the Bios?
Anybody have any Input on this?
azkoncept6
July 24, 2009 at 7:22pm
Now if only maxPC can write an article on hackintoshing a netbook... Imagine that!
fuzz_64
July 19, 2009 at 6:34pm
It's a very interesting concept but would Apple try to sue users who have OSX on a regular PC since the OS is licensed for Mac computers only?
It's kinda like how Apple is now blocking Palm Pre's from using iTunes to sync since they are not ipods.
Grim_Reaper
June 27, 2009 at 2:33pm
I have successfully installed OSX86 on various PC desktop and laptop makes, models, and configurations including Uno SSE2, SSE3 and Duo Intel processorized ones. One nice thing about converting a PC into a Hackintosh/Frankenmac is that, for equivalent hardware, the PC runs the MacOS and compatible software faster than a real Mac. Some are more OSX and Mac software compatible than others due to the motherboard and other hardware they use. Drivers are a big problem and they usually get broken with each iteration of the MacOS. When a Hackintosh/Frankenmac is running well with the desired software, it is wise to leave it alone and be happy that it does what you want with little or no problems and not update to the newest MacOS iteration. Most people aren't able to get a Hackintosh/Frankenmac working because they're consumers, not creators, and should buy a Mac, even a used one, which runs the Mac software needed such as Final Cut Express or Pro, or similar software which has no PC equivalent.
Gutter96
June 15, 2009 at 3:01pm
As an owner of an EFI-X rig. I will say this. My machine is FASTER than a Mac with similar specs, easier to upgrade than a Mac & cost WAY less than a similar equipped Mac. Apple won't "brick" these units because they don't care. They are still selling you a copy of OS X. Plus the install base for this device is for people who like to tinker with hardware, not every Tom, Dick & Harry on the block. Most people just buy an Apple Mac because they want the warm, fuzzy feeling of Justin Long's Kool-Aid going down their throats. They are either too lazy, or too stupid to learn how to use Windows properly. I currently run OS X and Vista on my EFI-X rig, and I really like being able to choose my OS without having to pay the "Mac Tax". Oh, and another thing. To they guy who said "just buy a low end Mac for $699 or a nice new Mac laptop for $999", show me where to buy a dual core, Intel Mac running Leopard with descrete graphics, 4GB RAM & a 22" LCD for that price... Just food for thought.
nekollx
June 15, 2009 at 3:06pm
or just point them further down thsi blog where i speck out a IMac and Mac Pro Tower with comparible specs and show the apple tax is nite black text.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Comb0Breaker
June 11, 2009 at 12:25pm
Not all PC manufactures are cheaper than the Apple models. A few months ago there was an article here on how Lenovo was the first "real" PC manufacture to ship the new Intel Xenon processors, but they Lenovo are pricy. a 2.66Ghz D20 is more than the Apple MacPro base model.
ujx385
June 10, 2009 at 6:09am
Ok guys by my math this rig is aproching 900 bucks. Why not just but a low end mac for 600 or a nifty bottom of the line mac laptop for 999.
nekollx
June 10, 2009 at 9:23am
Read down, i posted the specks for Apple of a simerally specked Imac and Mac Pro Tower.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Stinky Fartface
June 09, 2009 at 2:14pm
$235 seems a lot to risk on a device that could potentially be broken with a firmware update. What assurance is there that the EFIX cannot be bricked by Apple?
nekollx
June 09, 2009 at 2:24pm
To be faira firmare update could brick that $250 video card, that $100 HDD or the $240 CPU chip.
Theirs always the risk of a firmware brick.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
ween23
June 09, 2009 at 1:06pm
i dont care about macs. i dont know if any PC geeks will ever bild one. EFI-X dongle is $235.. i would use it to up grad to a better Video card.
majorsuave
June 09, 2009 at 12:19pm
I might be interested in acquiring a Mac PC without OS X installed. I could then use the good looking hardware to run Win XP and Linux as dual boot system.
I see no reason at all to install OS X on an otherwise perfectly fine PC. I rather have choice when it comes to third party apps and parts.
And then there`s games.
k11k
June 09, 2009 at 11:07am
With the price of the parts provided, its a lost cause. I just built a medium powered PC/MAC that does what?, NOTHING. Atleast with PC it can still play games. Why not try and give us a way to truly build a low cost MAC, oh wait its called LINUX.
nate5532
June 09, 2009 at 1:26pm
Low cost mac? Get a dell mini 10 laptop for $400 new. 100% osx compatible out of the box. see http://www.osx86project.org/ and look for a guide.
nekollx
June 09, 2009 at 11:29am
Just did a quick check for a comparable iMac (will do the pro tower next)
20 inch iMac (smalest one you can get new right now)
2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
$1,199.00
edit: add a addition 175 to upgrade fro ma 320 GB hd to a 1 TB drive.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
nekollx
June 09, 2009 at 11:40am
pro tower
One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (i7)
3GB (3x1GB)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
One 18x SuperDrive
1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s x2
no dispaly
no wifi
$2,899.00
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
nate5532
June 09, 2009 at 10:13am
A few things about this article
I built a hack-mac over a year ago and for $700 I had components that rivaled the $2500 mac pro. Overall, installation went smoothy. I used a kernal patches and such instead of a retail copy (which is on my list of things to buy, it is well worth the $$). I just wanted to test it before I dropped the coin on the software. Dual boot with windows was a pain in my ass, but it works. Install windows first, it is a partition hog. I reccomend using 2 hard drives. The EFI-X thing is cool, but only if you are rich or not computer savvy. I don't have a fancy dual boot interface come up when I boot, I just hit F12 and select the drive of the OS I want to load.
This article is inaccurate about one thing tho. AMD chips are well capable of running OSX with the right software, please refer to www.osx86project.org/ - they include wiki's of what hardware is compatible. A little research can save you headaches and $$ in the long run. It is not, however, compatible with a retail install to my knowledge.
Also on osx86's wiki, there are a couple of laptops (the dell mini 10 comes to mind) that the hardware is 100% compatible with osx, making the install a snap, and they start at $400! Not much more money than the EFI-X, lol. Another option is to purchase a preinstalled desktop box starting at $599 at http://store.psystar.com/featured/open3-osx.html.
Happy Hacking!!!
ericmckenna
June 09, 2009 at 6:14am
Since it's unlikely that someone would only need to buy the dongle, Whats the final cost of the components?
horzo
June 09, 2009 at 8:37am
I come up with about $900 assuming 2GB RAM and using some slightly different (but compatible) components than suggested here. In other words, it would be cheaper to buy a Mac Mini if all you wanted was a cheap OS X box to play around with.
This method just gives you much better hardware for less than Apple would charge.
randall-stross
June 09, 2009 at 5:56am
Great article. I always wanted to build my own mac...
Randall Stross
http://enhilex.com
gxc90
June 12, 2009 at 8:59am
I was wondering if there is a spec sheet for the "Hackintosh" PC using AMD processors (Athlon x2, Athlon II x2, Phenom, Phenom II). and if this USB device is available in Canada?
nekollx
June 12, 2009 at 9:07am
READ T?HE FUCKING ARTICLE
Appel is run on intel, the X chip has a list of compatible hardware.
How hard is it for you to grasp "no you cant make a hackitosh with amd" unles you want to go the old "i can't patch" route
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Tclynch
June 09, 2009 at 2:56am
Wow, let me know where your buying your Macs as everywhere I look they're WAY overpriced.
arkweld
June 09, 2009 at 10:00am
but you know what else is?
Almost every gaming system reviewed by MPC or put out by Voodoo, Alienware etc.
$8000 for a BFG gaming rig? Who the hell buys that stuff? Any gamer who uses a PC should be building his own machine.
At least when you buy a Mac you are getting custom hardware. Most "gaming" PCs use off-the-shelf parts and cases that have just been painted a better color.
fuzz_64
July 19, 2009 at 6:43pm
Ummmm.. FYI I pulled the RAM and hard drive out of a Macbook and used it in a clients Lenovo laptop.. there's nothing custom about it except the motherboard.
mesiah
June 09, 2009 at 9:15pm
lmao custom hardware. Just because apple designed their own cases you call that custom hardware? Take a look inside. Its the same crap that everyone else puts in their machines. We arent in the days of motorola processors anymore. It's all Intel and nvidia under the hood of that expensive mac. Its no more custom than an HP or a dell.
Khaled
June 09, 2009 at 2:08am
I dunno, ever since Apple switched to intel I don't see the "price difference" between Macs and PCs.
When I bought my T7400 based macbook pro over 2 years ago I went online and compared it to similarly specced windows-based notebooks (notice SIMILARLY SPEC not comparing a pentium dual core to core 2 duo, a T7000 to T9000 etc so those MS laptop hunters ad are just fooling the consumers) when I compared the MBP to similar machines by ASUS and SONY I actually found that the MacBook Pro cost the same and sometimes less!
Now it's been 2 years and I never needed to format this machine to "speed it up" in fact with every mac osx update (including a full OS upgrade) it got improved (software improvements of course, software update actually improve it).
The price argument is false (assuming you are comparing brand new machines of course) since 2007.
Excellent guide by the way, I might get me one of those chips because I don't want a Mac Pro Xeon machine
foamcup
June 09, 2009 at 6:23am
Nobody has to format a machine to 'speed it up'. All those people who format and re-install once a month are idiots. My mom has been running the same XP install for 7 years and it runs fine.
DOOMHAMMA
June 09, 2009 at 4:29am
Your data is 2 years old and you are not a market analyst. Congratulations on irrelevancy.
Excellent article anyway, even here the price problem exists in the do-it-yourself mac. As you have to drop $235 on a device that makes it all happen.
zippzom
June 09, 2009 at 4:19am
But its on the lower end (macbook) that macs are far more expensive. The Macbook pro and Mac Pro are relatively decent deals, but the Imac and the Macbooks are ripoffs. Try configuring a 13" laptop on the dell website, and even with discrete graphics and a 15" screen it'll still be cheaper.
nekollx
June 09, 2009 at 10:15am
Actually the Mac Pro tower is a rip off as well, 2 GB of ram from Apple is more then a Netbook! but go to say MacGurus or Newegg and its half that. Wich is still twice the PC component.
Wish i had this article a year ago, could have saved the company a bundle for our office mac.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
nekollx
June 09, 2009 at 11:05am
Ten grand for a 2x3 ghz intela quad xeon, 8 gb of ram, and 3 HDDs? Somehow i don't think Dell is Quite that bad.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
nekollx
June 11, 2009 at 5:25pm
Dell Precision T3500:
Dell Precision T3500, CMT, Standard Power Supply T3500 1 [224-4422] 1Operating System:
Genuine Windows Vista® Business Bonus 64 -Windows XP Professional downgrade XP6VBDP 1 [310-9161][468-1225] 11Energy Efficiency Option:
No Energy Star NOESTAR 1 [330-3201] 25Processor:
Quad Core Intel® Xeon® W3540 2.93GHz, 8M L3, 4.8GT/s Turbo W3540 1 [317-0126] 2chassis configuration:
Mini-Tower Chassis Configuration MT 1 [311-7463] 15Memory:
6GB, 1066MHz, DDR3 SDRAM, ECC (3 DIMMS) 6G3E663 1 [317-0110] 3Hardware Support Services:
3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service Q3YOS 1 [992-9102][993-3200][993-9038][993-9047] 29Graphics:
256MB NVIDIA® Quadro® NVS 295, DUAL MON, 2 DP NVS295 1 [320-7899] 6Graphics Cables:
1 DisplayPort to DVI (Single Link) Adapter DVIS 1 [330-4085] 26Hard Drive Configuration:
C2 All SATA drives, No RAID for 3 Hard Drive SATA3 1 [341-8995] 9Hard Drive Controller:
Integrated Intel chipset SATA 3.0Gb/s controller NSASCTL 1 [341-9289] 24Boot Hard Drive:
300GB SATA, 10K RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache™ 300S102 1 [341-8836] 82nd Hard Drive:
500GB SATA 3Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™ 500GSA 1 [341-8581] 233rd Hard Drive:
500GB SATA 3Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™ 500STA 1 [341-8581] 54CD-ROM, DVD and Read-Write Devices:
16X DVD-ROM with Cyberlink Power DVD™ DVD16 1 [313-7458][420-9179] 16Monitor:
No Monitor NMN 1 [320-3316] 5Floppy Drive and Media Card Reader Options:
No Floppy Drive and No Media Card Reader NFD 1 [341-5255] 10Resource DVD:
No Resource DVD NORCD 1 [330-4024] 27Shipping Packaging Options:
Shipping Material for System SHIP 1 [330-3209] 40Speakers:
No Speaker option NSPKR 1 [313-2663] 18Keyboard:
Dell QuietKey Keyboard QUSB 1 [330-3203] 4Mouse:
Dell USB 2 Button Optical Mouse USBO 1 [330-3945] 12Documentation:
Documentation, English, with 125V Power Cord DOCENG 1 [330-3156][330-3157] 21$3,090
When we got the compariable Mac early 2008 it cost roughly twice that.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
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