Most Powerful Hackintosh in 2024

[gorg]

Hi all,

After years (since Tiger 10.4.x ! ) of building and using hackintosh systems (mostly for myself) I am thinking of building one (last ?) that can satisfy my desktop needs for the next couple more years, until it's no longer possible. I am not someone that just uses a computer just for FCP video editing, I want an all-rounder, good single- and multi- core performance, enough PCIe slots/lanes for more than just a GPU, 128GB or 256GB RAM. As much as I would love a Mac Studio, it is very hard to find (I do not reside in USA), impossible to upgrade, impossible to repair yourself, impossible to find 2nd hand, and I can't spend 6000 EUR for a good-enough configuration, I'd rather spend half on something I can build and maintain myself. I will probably watercool, I already have a good case, PSU, storage, RAM, GPU, etc.

My current hackintosh is based on X299 (i9-10980XE) HDET but I was wondering if I can build something even better/faster in 2024.

Intel 14900KF and 13900KF do not have enough PCI lanes - in addition to the GPU, I need to connect at least one 16x NVMe RAID card and a 10GBE (or faster) ethernet card. Plus, Intel has been a mess lately with regard to its 13th and 14th generations.

I do not know if anything newer than the Intel X299 chipset and Cascade Lake-X Xeons would be compatible for a hackintosh, e.g. I haven't seen anything with the W790 chipset, nevermind that PC users have been reporting that it underperforms.

I do not know how far could I go with AMD Threadripper/Epyc.

 

Any recommendations or thoughts ?

[MaLd0n]

Good idea is avoid AMD for professional things.

X299 work good but is old.

[gorg]

Ok, didn't do anything the previous year - change the title from 2024 -> 2025 😊

I understand that Hackintosh-ing is coming to an end but I still want to build my last hackintosh for the shake of it. New real Macs (based on Apple Silicon) are still too expensive and 2nd hand real Macs just do not exist besides the default configurations or they are as expensive as the new ones. I gave up with the idea of Intel HEDT or AMD Threadripper, and I am now considering something less exotic and more boring.

Requirements:

R1) PCIe 5.0 technology for fast NVMe.

R2) At least 192GB RAM.

R3) Onboard 10GbE that is compatible with macOS (directly or via patching).

R4) WiFi compatible with macOS without having to sacrifice a PCIe slot. I will rely on wired Ethernet but you never know if WiFi is mandatory for some stupid Apple things, better if it is also there.

R5) At least 6 SATA ports.

R6) Compatibility with Sequoia and Tahoe.

 

Already have:

H1) PC Case (good one).

H2) PSU (great one).

H3) AMD Radeon 6950XT (compatible with macOS via patching).

H4) A couple of Intel X540 and Aquantia PCIe cards but I would rather have something onboard.

H5) A Fenvi FV T919 PCIe card but I would rather have something onboard in case WiFi is needed.

H6) PCIe Gen 3 NVMe and SATA SSD storage but I would like to upgrade to PCIe Gen 5 NVMe technology.

H7) Noctua NH-D15 G2.

H8) USB DAC, I don't need m/b audio.

 

What I am planning to buy:

B1a) Intel Ultra 9 285K or Ultra 7 265K (need to check if the performance boost is significant and to decide whether the price increase can be justified or not), OR

B1b) Intel Core i9-14900KS or i9-14900K (can also be found 2nd hand but I am scared about the degradation issue)

B2) Intel Z890 or Z790 motherboard (which ? ) that fills requirements R1-R6.

B3) DDR5 RAM modules (would love to go to 256GB).

 

Questions:

Q1) Is there a motherboard that meets all R1-R6 requirements ? Chat GPT suggested MSI MEG Z890 ACE. It doesn't seem to have compatible WiFi for Mac. Are you guys using or recommending something else ?

Q2) How compatible are Intel Ultra CPUs with latest macOS ? Are i9-14900K* a better/safer choice ?

 

 

Edited August 10 by gorg

[MaLd0n]

https://olarila.com/topic/42983-the-ultimate-insane-hackintosh-for-macos-26-tahoe/

[gorg]

Thanks MaLd0n, MSI PRO Z890-P WIFI has only 5G LAN, not 10GbE. Also, all Gigabyte Z890 motherboards have at most 4 SATA ports. It is hard to find the ideal motherboard but can't compromise on those.

Edited August 11 by gorg

[Atalantia]

I made for ca $1000 the following:

• i9-13900KF
• ASUS Z790 WIFI
• Crusual DDR5 64GB 5600
• Radeon RX 6600 XT 8GB
• nvme Sams 1TB
• nvme WD 500
• Gigabyte 1000W PSU
• Liquid Cooler

Am I qualified to enter the elite here? 😿

As I understood, the degradation was a problem with certain Motherboards and more specific with certain BIOS'es. The problem was an over-voltage due overclocking. This problem has been solved. At least on my ASUS motherboard.

Edited August 11 by Atalantia

[gorg]

Nice config for the price but not for me. I am coming from X299 so I know that in certain places anything more modern will be a downgrade but I can't justify going for less than 10GbE LAN and less than 6 SATA ports, plus I need PCIe Gen 5 for the NVMes. Thunderbolt 5 would be great but that's always tricky for hackintosh. 

Edited August 11 by gorg

[MaLd0n]

My Samsung 9100 Pro PciE5

[gorg]

@MaLd0n, nice numbers. What about stability, any crashes or issues with PCIe5 Samsung NVMes ?

[MaLd0n]

No problems with this