[GUIDE] MSI H81M Motherboards - Basics of a Computer Build - Budget Hackintosh Builds - UEFI Dualboot - OS X El Capitan WIP*

[Codinger]

 

1st Generation Intel® Core™ Processors based on Nehalem Architecture

• Intel® Core™ i3
• Intel® Core™ i5
• Intel® Core™ i7

*Certain processor models contain Intel® HD Graphics. All processor models will not have graphics acceleration on OS X. 

 

Not true as mentioned here by yourself 

[GhostRaider]

Not true as mentioned here by yourself 

I'm hoping users don't get confused here because I'm referring to desktop processors in this thread. Actually I'm going to write a note there just in case 

[chris1111]

I'm hoping users don't get confused here because I'm referring to desktop processors in this thread. Actually I'm going to write a note there just in case 

No confused thats very clear

MSI H81M Motherboards  

[Codinger]

I'm hoping users don't get confused here because I'm referring to desktop processors in this thread. Actually I'm going to write a note there just in case 

But you can actually get these working on desktops?

[GhostRaider]

But you can actually get these working on desktops?

You won't have graphics acceleration if you use 1st gen Intel core desktop processors. They aren't supported by the Intel graphics kexts. But you can use these processors just fine with a dedicated graphics card.

 

That's what your asking right? 1st gen Intel core laptop processors can enable graphics acceleration.

[Codinger]

You won't have graphics acceleration if you use 1st gen Intel core desktop processors. They aren't supported by the Intel graphics kexts. But you can use these processors just fine with a dedicated graphics card.

 

That's what your asking right? 1st gen Intel core laptop processors can enable graphics acceleration.

Yes

[Leo Lemos]

congratulations on the excellent text / post on the subject, quite explanatory, with enough technical details, simple and uncomplicated causing who read the text and have almost no knowledge of how to understand about it and try to learn more ...: )

 

even to me, I already have some experience in hackintosh area (median), OS / Hardware / Software found interesting, because I learned new things and recalled old commands one day used to create my MELVIN (running crippled the 10.10, because the hardware does not help, but will be updated soon: D).

 

once again, congratulations on your help !!!

 

-----
written in Portuguese and translated on google, sorry for English kind of weird, but not well written domino, but understand the reading ... yeah, I know ... it's weird!

 

= Original text in Portuguese =
parabéns pelo excelente texto/postagem sobre assunto, bastante explicativo, com bastante detalhes técnicos, de forma simples e descomplicada fazendo com quem leia o texto e não possua quase nenhum conhecimento sobre como fazer, entenda sobre o assunto e procure aprender mais...

 

até mesmo para mim, que já tenho uma certa experiência na área de hackintosh (mediano), OS/Hardware/Software achei interessante, pois aprendi coisas novas e relembrei velhos comandos um dia usado para criar o meu MELVIN (rodando meio capenga o 10.10, pois o hardware não ajuda, mas que será atualizado em breve ).

 

mais uma vez, parabéns pela a sua ajuda!!!

[dj_spark]

Hello,

 

I'm trying to follow that guide since a full week and I can't go very far :

when I try to create the usb installer, this is the message I get The action “Run AppleScript” encountered an error. Check the actionʼs properties and try running the workflow again.

The original Clover can launch itself, but any Chris111 installer (special edition, universal) give me the same error. The universal installer even told me that the icon.gif was missing but I found it into the package exactly where it is supposed to be.

I'm trying to create the usb installer into a VM OSX 10.8.5 from original installer. I installed this VM myself (not a pre built one), I also have some original installers for OSX (dvd, usb, dmg) but i can't figured it out.

My setup is MSI H81M-E33 + i5 4690 + 8Gb ram + EVGA GTX 960.

I know a little bit of hackintosh, did some laptops in the past 10.6/7/8 but this is the very 1st time I'm in front of such a wall, if someone could show me the light. Thanks.

[chris1111]

Hello,

 

I'm trying to follow that guide since a full week and I can't go very far :

when I try to create the usb installer, this is the message I get The action “Run AppleScript” encountered an error. Check the actionʼs properties and try running the workflow again.

The original Clover can launch itself, but any Chris111 installer (special edition, universal) give me the same error. The universal installer even told me that the icon.gif was missing but I found it into the package exactly where it is supposed to be.

 

I'm trying to create the usb installer into a VM OSX 10.8.5 from original installer. I installed this VM myself (not a pre built one), I also have some original installers for OSX (dvd, usb, dmg) but i can't figured it out.

 

My setup is MSI H81M-E33 + i5 4690 + 8Gb ram + EVGA GTX 960.

 

I know a little bit of hackintosh, did some laptops in the past 10.6/7/8 but this is the very 1st time I'm in front of such a wall, if someone could show me the light. Thanks.

Installer not working on VM

Sorry

[dj_spark]

It is not what I was expecting as an answer but I'm glad to finally know that I'm not that crazy/useless !   
Nice work you've done with all those installer and YT videos, even if I can't still apply them I appreciate the effort and hard work you have put into these.

Ok, so now I'm on my very own to do everything by myself for that build. 

[GhostRaider]

It is not what I was expecting as an answer but I'm glad to finally know that I'm not that crazy/useless !   

Nice work you've done with all those installer and YT videos, even if I can't still apply them I appreciate the effort and hard work you have put into these.

 

Ok, so now I'm on my very own to do everything by myself for that build. 

 

Hello,

 

I'm trying to follow that guide since a full week and I can't go very far :

when I try to create the usb installer, this is the message I get The action “Run AppleScript” encountered an error. Check the actionʼs properties and try running the workflow again.

The original Clover can launch itself, but any Chris111 installer (special edition, universal) give me the same error. The universal installer even told me that the icon.gif was missing but I found it into the package exactly where it is supposed to be.

 

I'm trying to create the usb installer into a VM OSX 10.8.5 from original installer. I installed this VM myself (not a pre built one), I also have some original installers for OSX (dvd, usb, dmg) but i can't figured it out.

 

My setup is MSI H81M-E33 + i5 4690 + 8Gb ram + EVGA GTX 960.

 

I know a little bit of hackintosh, did some laptops in the past 10.6/7/8 but this is the very 1st time I'm in front of such a wall, if someone could show me the light. Thanks.

...you could always do it manually using Terminal?

 

Plenty of guides out there on the Internet.

 

For example: http://www.redmondpie.com/make-os-x-el-capitan-bootable-usb-flash-drive-heres-how-tutorial/

 

After that you install Clover onto the USB drive. Then configure the USB Clover bootloader to your needs.

[dj_spark]

Thank you for the path, I was already on the hunt to do it the old way.

Edit :
I made a vanilla USB installer manually then I followed the very detailed guide.
2 tries gave me the Bluetooth error so I went with the old method and this one worked right away.

There are 9 minutes left on the installation, I'm using the HD4600 for now, patiently waiting to do the post installation. Many thanks guys !

 

Edit 2:

Nvidia installed like in the guide, didn't do audio because I use a usb sound card,the cpu is ok ootb (checked with Intel Power Gadget), and I'm actually typing from 10.10.4.
This is a test rig, I installed OSX on a usb thumb drive of 30Gb, no dual boot, I simply select the boot disk from the bios loader.

Thanks again to the OP and Chris1111 for spreading the knowledge !

[kopap81]

Hi anyone running El Capitan and having issues with usb?

i have a E33 and all ports shows as usb 3

[vanmoo]

most graphics card in us are, y know  $100+ , in my country all are expensive

[GhostRaider]

Hi anyone running El Capitan and having issues with usb?

i have a E33 and all ports shows as usb 3

You have an H81M-E33? Well you only need to install Rehabman's Generic USB 3.0 kext. This should enable the back USB 3.0 ports. All other ports like front and back 2.0 ports are controlled by Intel and are supported natively.

most graphics card in us are, y know  $100+ , in my country all are expensive

Intel still doesn't provide great graphics support. Who knows how many years it will take for them to get decent performance. Maybe eBay can help? Assuming shipping is free or doesn't cost a lot.

[kopap81]

You have an H81M-E33? Well you only need to install Rehabman's Generic USB 3.0 kext. This should enable the back USB 3.0 ports. All other ports like front and back 2.0 ports are controlled by Intel and are supported natively.

Intel still doesn't provide great graphics support. Who knows how many years it will take for them to get decent performance. Maybe eBay can help? Assuming shipping is free or doesn't cost a lot.

Thanks no need for it i short it out .I had the IOUSBfamily.kext in clover and that was one of the problem.

Still it recognise all the usb as usb3 but running a disk benchmark on usb3 hard disk is working on correct speed 

The usb3 on E33 is Intel not 3party 

[faithie999]

HD4400 with qe/ci and HDMI audio:

 

i have an H81I mini-itx mobo installed in an old Shuttle enclosure.  i'm using an i3-4170 cpu, which has HD4400 graphics.

 

i used RehabMan's FakePCIID kexts to enable full operation of HD4400 and to get HDMI audio working.  i had not been successful with the toleda approach to HDMI audio.

 

refer to RehabMan's github page for links to the FakePCIID kexts and info on how to use them.

 

this approach requires an ssdt which contains the GFX0 device and the B0D3 device.  refer to Rehabman's excellent guide on patching laptop DSDT's (google for it).  don't be put off by "laptop".  the procedure for desktops is the same.

 

for my setup, the ssdt that needs to be patched is ssdt-6.  

 

i changed the name of device GFX0 to IGPU, and the name of device B0D3 to HDAU.

 

i added a method _DSM device HDAU so i could inject "hda-gfx" = "onboard-1" and "layout-id" = 1.  i added a method _DSM to device IGPU so i could inject "hda-gfx" = "onboard-1".

 

then i used kext wizard to install the following RehabMan kexts into system/library/extensions:

 

FakePCIID.kext

FakePCIID_Intel_HD_Graphics.kext (if you already have your HD4x00 gfx working properly i would not install this kext)

FakePCIID_Intel_HDMI_Audio.kext

 

in config.plist/ACPI/SSDT add key DropOem and set to true/

 

place your patched ssdt in efi/clover/ACPI/patched

 

reboot, and hopefully your HDMI sound device will show up in system preferences/sound.

 

again, i have not tried to get AppleHDA sound working.  if you have, this approach might not work.

 

i'm attaching my patched ssdt, which may or may not work in your configuration, but you can see what changes i made and you can apply them to your own extracted ssdt.

 

credit to Rehabman for the kexts and his help to me to get HDMI audio working.

 

ken

 

 

SSDT-6.aml.zip

[faithie999]

i just discovered this.  toleda's previous script didn't enable HDMI audio for me, but this one might work.

 

since my HDMI is working i'm not going to try this so i'm not making an endorsement of it.

 

https://github.com/toleda/audio_CloverHDMI

[PGHammer21B]

 

 

 

Welcome to the MSI H81M Motherboards and Budget Hackintosh Builds Guide!

 

Table of Contents:

• Intro
• The Basics of a Computer
• Budget Hackintosh Build using an MSI H81M Motherboard
• Apple's System Integrity Protection (SIP)
• Motherboard Preparation for OS X (Integrated Graphics)
• Motherboard Preparation for OS X (Dedicated Graphics)
• Part 1 - Install OS X / Prepare UEFI Dual Boot
• Part 2 - Prepare Windows for UEFI Systems
• Part 3 - Install Windows / Add Missing Clover UEFI Entry
• Post Installation
• DSDT Preparation and Patching

In this guide, I will talk about how to configure your MSI H81M motherboard to work with OS X as well as giving you tips on how to build a budget Hackintosh build for your needs using an MSI H81M motherboard. Let's begin!

 

Here are the MSI H81M motherboards that are compatible with this guide:

• H81M-E32
• H81M-E33
• H81M-P33
• H81M-E34
• H81M-E35

These MSI motherboards are also supported in this guide:

• H81I
• H81TI

These MSI motherboards will not be covered because it has no DVI-D or HDMI port (it can work if an external GPU is used):

• H81M-P32

Since we want to run OS X on these motherboards, you will need one of the following processors:

• 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core i3
• 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core i5
• 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core i7

Graphics acceleration is important on OS X. To enable graphics acceleration (QE/CI), you will need one of the following integrated graphics:

• Intel HD Graphics 4400 (Using DVI-D or HDMI port)
• Intel HD Graphics 4600 (Using DVI-D or HDMI port)

Note: VGA ports using Intel HD Graphics 4400/4600 are not compatible on OS X.

 

You can always use a compatible NVIDIA GeForce graphics card on OS X if you need to:

 

NVIDIA GeForce Kepler Architecture

• GeForce GTX 650
• GeForce GTX 650 TI
• GeForce GTX 660
• GeForce GTX 660 TI
• GeForce GTX 670
• GeForce GTX 680
• GeForce GTX 690
• GeForce GT 720*
• GeForce GT 730*

NVIDIA GeForce Maxwell Architecture

• NVIDIA GeForce GT 740*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X / Z*

 

*Requires the installation of NVIDIA's Web Drivers to work properly.

 

These graphics cards are based on NVIDIA's Maxwell and Kepler architecture. While the Kepler graphics card works out of the box (except for GeForce GT 720 and GeForce GT 730), the Maxwell graphics cards are not supported out of the box but can work if you install NVIDIA's Web Drivers. Maxwell graphics cards are currently the newest graphics cards on the market.

 

Note: EVGA branded NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards usually work best on OS X.

 

Currently these are the supported OS X releases for this guide:

• OS X Yosemite
• OS X El Capitan (Fall 2015)

That's basically it! All of these motherboards have the same Ethernet and Audio models which means that the drivers won't change between models.

 

If this guide has helped you, be sure to press the Like button! 

 

Guide Legend:

 

 MSI H81 Builds: A step marked with this means that this step only applies to MSI H81M Builds.

 

 Any Build: A step marked with this means that this step applies to any computer build.

 

 All Other Builds: A step marked with this means that this step does not apply to MSI H81M Builds. 

 

A computer is made up of different components. A computer generally contains:

• Case
• Motherboard
• Power Supply Unit
• Memory (RAM¹)
• CPU²
• Hard Disk or SSD³

Other components include a dedicated GPU⁴, fans, LEDs, coolers, and others but they are not required to make a basic computer to work.

Let’s go over these parts and learn more about them!

 

=====

¹RAM (Random Access Memory)

²CPU (Central Processing Unit)

³SSD (Solid State Disk)

⁴GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)

=====

 

I. Case

 

The case is the skin (or housing) of the computer. It is where all of the computer components are stored. There are three forms of cases which are HTPC⁵, ITX⁶ and ATX⁷. Within these categories there are many different case sizes including:

• HTPC
• Mini-ITX (M-ITX)
• Micro-ATX (M-ATX)
• Mid-ATX (ATX)
• Extended-ATX (E-ATX)
• Extra Large-ATX (XL-ATX)

=====

⁵HTPC (Home Theater Personal Computer) 

⁶ITX (Information Technology eXtended)

⁷ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended)

=====

 

Each case is designed for a specific motherboard size while some are universal. For example, an ATX manufacturer can have a case that supports both ATX and M-ATX.

In terms of features, it can vary depending on the manufacturer. Some features include:

• USB ports
• Headphone jack
• Microphone jack
• Fans
• Drive bays
• Expansion slots

The USB ports are used to connect USB devices such as flash drives, external disks, etc. The headphone jack can be used to listen to audio using headphones. The microphone jack allows you to connect a microphone. The fans are used to cool down or lower the temperature of your computer. Some cases include fans while other people choose to buy their own fans. That is up to you to decide. The drive bays are where the DVD Drive, or hard drive or SSD are mounted. The expansion slots are used for PCI⁸ devices like a graphics card, wireless card or audio card.

 

Does a case affect compatibility with OS X?

 

The answer is no. You can buy whichever case you want as long as the motherboard and other hardware components you buy fit in that case.

 

=====

⁸PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)

=====

 

II. Motherboard

 

The motherboard is the body (or logic board) of the computer. This is where all of the computer components are connected together to work. The motherboard can be overwhelming to look at because of all the connectors, ports, slots, and other little circuitry that it contains. Once you explore where everything is on the motherboard, it won’t be scary to look at anymore (assuming that you got scared). Did I mention that there is a lot of information to cover here?

 

A motherboard can contain these ports:

• USB⁹ ports
• VGA¹⁰ video port
• DVI¹¹ video port
• HDMI¹² video/audio port
• LAN¹³ (Ethernet) port
• Line In (Audio in) audio port
• Line Out (Audio out) audio port
• Microphone port
• PS/2¹⁴ port

I don’t think I need to explain what these ports are for. They are straightforward. If there is a port that is not mentioned here, check the motherboard manufacturer’s manual for more information.

 

=====

⁹USB (Universal Serial Bus)

¹⁰VGA (Video Graphics Array)

¹¹DVI (Digital Visual Interface)

¹²HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface)

¹³LAN (Local Area Network)

¹⁴PS/2 (Keyboard and Mouse)

=====

 

As seen on the top picture, this is what a typical motherboard with a variety of ports looks like. Remember that all motherboards are different so some of the ports shown here may or may not be represented in this picture.

 

A motherboard can contain these slots:

• PCI-E (PCI Express)
• CPU
• Memory (RAM)

The PCI-E slots can come in different sizes such as PCI-E 1x (1 pin) or PCI-E 16x (16 pin). This determines the size of the PCI-E card that can fit into these slots. A PCI-E card can be a wireless card, an audio card, a graphics card, or other cards.

 

The CPU slot is where the CPU is held. One thing to note here is that each motherboard can fit a certain CPU. You must buy the correct processor for the motherboard or else it won’t work. Intel® and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are both processor manufacturers that create processors for computers. Usually the box on the motherboard will say which processor manufacturer the motherboard uses. Even though you may already know which manufacturer it uses, you must also know which processor models are compatible. You can determine this by reading which socket it uses. For example, a motherboard whose CPU socket is an LGA 1150 is compatible with 4th Generation Intel® processors. Again, if you are not sure, read the specifications of the motherboard and you can find out what processors are compatible once you know the socket. 

 

The memory (RAM) slot is where you are able to insert the memory sticks.

 

A motherboard may contain these connectors:

• Main power connector
• 12V power connector
• SATA III 6Gb/s connector
• SATA II 3Gb/s connector
• USB connectors
• CPU fan connector
• System fan connector
• Front panel audio connector
• System panel connector
• Chassis intrusion connector
• TPM module connector
• Serial port connector

The main power connector is where the power supply is connected. In most cases it would be a 24-pin connector.

 

The 12V power connector is where the power supply is connected. This connector is known as the 12V rail, which is usually important for dedicated graphics cards. It is important because of the Amps¹⁵ that it provides to the motherboard.

 

SATA¹⁶ II 3 Gb/s and SATA III 6 Gb/s connectors are used to connect hard drives and solid state disks. These connectors have a maximum speed of 3 Gb/s or 6Gb/s. Note that a 3 Gb/s hard drive connected to a 6 Gb/s connector does not give speeds up to 6 Gb/s. The hard drive must already support that speed.

 

USB connectors are used connect the USB ports on the case to the motherboard.

 

The CPU fan connector is used to connect a CPU fan to the CPU.

 

The system fan connector is used to connect extra fans such as case fans.

 

=====

¹⁵Amps (Amperage): A measurement of electrical current flowing around.

¹⁶ SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)

=====

 

The front panel audio connector is used to connect the audio ports on the case to the motherboard.

 

The system panel connector is used to connect the buttons and LEDs on the case to the motherboard.

 

The chassis intrusion connector is used to connect the chassis sensor on the case to the motherboard. If the case is opened and the computer is on, an error message will appear on the screen and an alarm will go off. The alarm can only be heard if you have a motherboard speaker¹⁷ installed.

 

The TPM¹⁸ module connector is used to connect a hardware based security microcontroller that stores keys, passwords and encrypts data. Most users don’t need to worry about this connector.

 

The serial port connector is used to connect a serial port to the motherboard. Some motherboards still come with a serial port while others have removed it but is added it as a connector of someone requires it.

 

=====

¹⁷Some motherboards come with a speaker while others don’t. They could also be included in the case. The speaker is used to hear POST errors and alarms. If you have noticed on some computers, there is a beep that comes from the case when something wrong happens. This speaker is optional and can be purchased online if you need it.

 

¹⁸TPM (Trusted Platform Model)

=====

 

Does a Motherboard affect compatibility with OS X?

 

The answer is yes. There are some motherboards that can’t enable sleep or some motherboards contain Ethernet and audio ports that are not usable on OS X. Check with the Hackintosh community to see whether the motherboard you’re thinking of buying or already bought is fully compatible. If a variant of a compatible motherboard works with OS X, then it is more likely that the motherboard will be compatible as well. Variants do not change dramatically, so the difference may only be in more or less ports or an extra PCI-E slot.

 

III. Power Supply Unit

 

The power supply is the blood (or electricity) of the computer. This component is very important for your computer because if a bad power supply unit is connected to your computer, then it can damage the motherboard and other computer parts. When considering in buying a power supply unit, you must think of these things:

• Brand
• Wattage
• 12V Rail Amps
• Power cables

Do not buy a cheap or unbranded power supply! It is highly important that you buy a brand name power supply unit like Cooler Master®, Antec®, Corsair®, EVGA®, Thermaltake® or any other highly rated power supply. Read the reviews before buying!

 

 

Wattage is the amount of power. Think about it this way. If you are going to build a computer with only integrated graphics then the recommended amount that you should be looking for in a power supply unit is 300-450 Watts. PSUs¹⁹ at these levels have adequate 12V Rail Amps in case you want to connect other PCI-E cards, or more storage devices other than a dedicated graphics card. However, if you are planning to add a dedicated graphics card (only 1 GPU), you must purchase a power supply unit with 500 Watts or higher. Second, the 12V Rail Amps must provide at least 20 Amps or higher. These specifications are displayed in the box or in the PSU itself. If a special graphics card requires more Watts or more than 20 Amps on the 12V Rail to work, then you must have a PSU that supplies the recommended Watts and Amps levels listed for that graphics card.

 

Here is another alternative way to tackle wattage. There are power supply unit wattage calculators on the Internet that calculate the total amount of wattage that your computer build might use. You can check them out to get an idea of what power supply unit you should be looking for!

 

Some power supply units contain multiple +12V rail lines with a certain amount of Amps for each. Which one is better? This does not matter on low wattage power supplies but in general, multiple +12V rail lines are recommended for high wattage power supplies. Think of it this way. Suppose that there are 2 +12V rails that support up to 20 Amps each. Each rail has a sensor. If the sensor detects that one of the rail’s Amps is higher than 20 Amps, it will immediately cause the PSU to turn off. Suppose that there is a single +12V rail line that supports up to 40 Amps. The sensor will only shut down the PSU if the Amps exceed over 40 Amps. What does this mean? It basically means that a multiple rail power supply unit will detect a problem much quicker, and will save itself from being damaged. A single rail power supply unit may already be encountering a problem but it does not save itself after the Amps exceed 40 Amps. So the main difference is that a multiple +12V rail PSU contains extra protection than a single +12V rail PSU.

 

 

=====

¹⁹PSU (Power Supply Unit)

=====

 

Regardless of what power supply unit you chose, most power supply units contain these protections:

• Under Voltage Protection (UVP)
• Over Voltage Protection (OVP)
• Over Current Protection (OCP)
• Over Temperature Protection (OTP)
• Over Power Protection (OPP)
• Over Load Protection (OLP)
• Short Circuit Protection (SCP)
• No-Load Operation (NLO)

You can find more information about these protections on the Internet. I believe these are straightforward to understand.

 

Each power supply contains a set of power cables that power up your hardware components. This picture shows the common power cables that are included in a power supply:

 

 

The motherboard’s instruction manual should tell you what power cables it needs from the power supply unit. The PSU manual will also give you a description of these cables.

 

Most motherboards use a big 24-pin power cable. This power cable can also be known as the ATX main power cable

 

The power cable that is called “P4 MB” is also known as the +12V rail power cable. These are usually 4-pin cables. This power cable can also be known as the ATX 12V power cable.

 

Sometimes there might be an 8-pin EPS +12V rail power cable instead of a “P4 MB”. Some 8-pin EPS +12V cables can be broken apart to become 2 separate 4-pin “P4 MB” power cables. Some motherboards use an 8-pin EPS +12V power cable instead of the 4-pin “P4 MB”.

 

PCI-E power cables are usually used for dedicated graphics cards that need extra power.

 

The 4-pin Molex power cable is used for old DVD drives, fans, or other devices that use a Molex power connector. The floppy power cable is used for floppy drives, but can be modified to work for a SATA or Molex device using an adapter.

 

Remember, check the motherboard and computer component’s manual to know exactly what power cable it needs. If you are still unsure how a power supply works or what each power cable is used for, the Internet can help you as there are many resources out there that explain this in detail.

 

Does a Power supply unit affect compatibility with OS X?

 

The answer is no. Just make sure you pick the right power supply unit that works best with your computer components.

 

IV. Memory (RAM)

 

Memory works together with the brain (or CPU). It is also a part of the computer. Memory is used to store large amounts of information from the hard disk onto memory for quick access.

 

More memory allows more applications to run. It also allows more information to be stored so that the CPU doesn’t have to go read it from the hard disk.

 

Most desktop motherboards accept a 240-pin RAM stick. Always read the motherboard’s manual just to be sure. If you go on the Internet to find RAM, you’ll always deal with:

• RAM size
• Speed

RAM sticks come in sizes such as 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB. The maximum amount of RAM that can be used on your motherboard should be listed in the manual. For example, if a motherboard can only use up to 16GB of RAM and you end up having a total of 32GB, your motherboard will never use more than 16GB of RAM.

 

One thing I would like to point out is the dual channel memory feature on most motherboards. Suppose that you would like to add 8GB of RAM to your motherboard. Suppose that your motherboard only accepts 2 RAM sticks. You have two choices here. You can either buy 1 8GB RAM stick or buy 2x (two) 4GB RAM sticks. In order to activate the dual channel memory feature, you must install 2 RAM sticks of the same size. You gain a little bit of performance if you do this. If only 1 RAM stick is installed, it will work in single channel mode.

 

 

When shopping for RAM, you will see things like DDR3²⁰ or DD3L²¹ SDRAM, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz and other numbers. Stick to the basics! First, check what RAM type your motherboard accepts. Most motherboards use DDR3 while higher end motherboards can use DDR4. Regardless of the type, they will be SDRAM²². Sometimes you will see something that looks like PC3-12800 or PC3-10600, or something similar. That is just the module name so don’t worry too much about that. What’s more important is the speed. The most common RAM speeds used are 1333 MHz and 1600 MHz. Check your motherboard’s manual or specification sheet to check what is the maximum speed that it can use on those RAM sticks. In general, faster RAM sticks bring faster performance. 

 

*If you want to save a bit more money on RAM, consider buying used RAM. RAM usually lasts a very long time. RAM is never touched once its on the motherboard so most used ones look brand new.

 

 

=====

²⁰DDR3 (Double Data Rate Type 3)

²¹DDR3L:  Same performance as DDR3 but uses less voltage. L stands for “Low Voltage”.

²²SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory)

=====

 

Does Memory (RAM) affect compatibility with OS X?

 

The answer is no, but at least have 2GB or higher available for OS X. It doesn’t matter what brand you buy as long as it does the job.

 

V. CPU

 

The CPU is the brain (or processor) of the computer. It performs all of the instructions you ask it to do. The faster the processor, the faster the applications will run and encoding and decoding media speeds will increase. Since this guide involves building a Hackintosh, I will only talk about compatible Intel® processors.

 

On a Hackintosh, you are recommended to use a processor based on the Intel® Core™ series. This includes:

• 1st Generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, i7 based on Westmere Architecture
• 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, i7 based on Sandy Bridge Architecture
• 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, i7 based on Ivy Bridge Architecture
• 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, i7 based on Haswell Architecture
• 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, i7 based on Broadwell Architecture

You also have to decide if you are going to use the IGPU included in these processors. If you are going to use the IGPU, you must find a processor that includes a compatible IGPU that OS X can detect such as:

• Intel® HD Graphics (Westmere – Arrandale Laptops only)
• Intel® HD Graphics 3000 (Sandy Bridge)
• Intel® HD Graphics 4000 (Ivy Bridge)
• Intel® HD Graphics 4400/4600 (Haswell)

There may be more IGPU models compatible but you will need to check with the Hackintosh community to be sure.

 

If you are not planning to use the IGPU, then you can buy whichever processor listed here that fits your needs.

 

Each processor has its own clock speed. Some processors have Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 that increase clock performance when it is needed.

 

 

So which processor do you buy? First you must know which generation and architecture your motherboard supports. If you know the CPU socket type of the motherboard, then it will be easy to see which processors it supports.

 

For example, the MSI® H81M-E34 motherboard has the LGA 1150 socket. It is compatible with a 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, i7 Haswell processor.

 

For MSI® H81M family motherboards, CPU compatibility information is listed on their support page.

 

Once you know what generation and architecture your processor supports, should you buy the Intel® Core™ i3, i5, or i7? That is up to you to decide. Your decision will be based on:

• Price
• Speed
• IGPU compatibility
• Usage

These are basically the differences between Intel® Core™ i3, i5, and i7:

 

 

The more cores that a CPU has, the more things it can do at once. Hyper-Threading schedules processing tasks, which can be seen during video editing and 3D rendering. For example, you are editing a video frame but the processor already knows what the next frame will be so has it prepared for you already. The CPU will not stay there doing nothing. The last difference is Turbo Boost, which is similar to overclocking a CPU, where the clock speed and frequencies are increased for a short amount of time, but it is done safely so there is no risk of overheating.

 

Does the CPU affect compatibility with OS X?

 

The answer is yes. As long as the processor is an Intel® Core™ i3, i5, or i7, it will work. However, if you want to use an IGPU, certain Intel® Core™ models have a compatible IGPU that OS X can recognize. Check with the Hackintosh community for more information about using the IGPU.

 

VI. Hard Disk / SSD

 

Both the hard disk and SSD are known as storage devices. They allow you to store your personal files, backups, and contains the operating system. These are the general differences of the two:

 

 

SSDs are faster than traditional hard disks but are more expensive and still provide less storage space. Most SSDs use the SATA III 6 Gb/s connector.

 

 

Hard disk are slower compared to SSDs but the main benefit is that you can get more storage space for less money. Different Hard disk manufacturers create different hard disk models where they vary in:

• Speed
• Cache
• SATA connector

Hard disk speed can either be 5400 RPM²³ or 7200 RPM. A faster RPM means faster access to files.

 

=====

²³RPM (Revolutions per Minute)

=====

 

Cache is used to store temporary data to access faster. The size can range from 16MB, 32MB, and 64MB. More cache means more temporary data can be stored.

 

Some hard disks are made for SATA II 3 Gb/s or SATA III 6 Gb/s speeds. SATA III hard disks are faster than SATA II hard disks. A SATA III hard disk should be connected to the SATA III connector while a SATA II hard disk should be connected to a SATA II connector.

 

Does a hard disk / ssd affect compatibility with OS X?

 

The answer is no. Any hard disk or SSD will work.

 

VII. Graphics Cards

 

So what are graphics cards? Should you run to the store and buy a graphics card? Well, it depends on what you are going to do with your computer.

 

In general, graphics cards are similar to integrated graphics processing units, or IGPUs. These IGPUs are integrated with the processor. If you read the specifications of a computer or an Intel processor, sometimes you'll see that it mentions Intel HD Graphics or Intel Iris Graphics. But what does this all mean? 

 

IGPUs are graphics processors. The operating system uses graphics drivers to communicate what is going on with your computer and outputting this information to your computer screen with the help of a graphics processing unit. Without this, you won't see anything. Sounds simple right? Then another question arises. Why do people buy these expensive graphics cards? Let me explain.

 

When you are playing a game, or a video, or editing photos and movies, you are using the graphics processing unit, or GPU. Each GPU has a clock speed which is the amount of time it takes to process data. A lower clock speed is slower to process data and a higher clock speed is faster in processing data. 

 

Next is the amount of memory that the GPU has. Some GPUs have DDR RAM or a newer form of graphics memory called GDDR RAM. DDR RAM is the same RAM type used by a computer, for example DDR3. GDDR RAM on the other hand is specifically designed for graphics. If a GPU uses GDDR RAM, then performance will be faster than GPUs with DDR RAM. What is this memory used for?

 

 

The memory on a GPU is used as a place to store working graphics information like screen resolution, game textures, images, and videos. A frame buffer is used to switch graphics information back and forth. For example, a higher screen resolution requires more pixels, and requires the frame buffer to use more memory to output that information on your screen. Another example, when playing a game, the game has textures that are handled by the frame buffer and are stored in memory so that you can see the virtual world. This is where things get interesting.

 

What happens if you run out of memory on the GPU? Good question, and the answer is basically called lag, or framerate drops. I hope you have noticed that the clock speed and memory on a GPU work together to help the frame buffer output an image on your computer screen. When the GPU runs out of memory, it has to rely on your computer's main memory instead. Basically, textures, or other information has to be swapped, or moved, to your computer's main memory, and new information has to be sent to the GPU's memory. When it needs old information, the GPU has to talk to your computer's main memory and then transfer this information back to the GPU. All this information switching causes framerate drops or lag. What if your computer starts running out of memory because of your GPU? You guessed it, the computer starts slowing down even more because now the computer has to store important information to the hard drive or SSD.  

 

This is the main reason why IGPUs cannot handle games properly. For example, they lag on graphic intensive games because they don't have enough dedicated memory. They have to share your computer's main memory which causes swapping of information back and forth.

 

The only time you will suffer from lag is if you are a user who likes to play the latest games, or use a 4K monitor, or edit large amounts of videos, anything graphics intensive. If you are more of a basic user, who likes to play casual games like The Sims, or watch YouTube videos or playing a DVD movie, then you might not need a high performance GPU. An IGPU will be more than enough for a basic user so you don't need to spend money.

 

However, for those that need more power, a graphics card provides a powerful GPU. So what should you look for when buying a graphics card? You should mostly focus on clock speed, memory type, and the amount of memory that the graphics card provides. So think of it this way:

 

Higher Clock Speed + Large amount of GDDR5 memory = High performance

 

You will notice that high end graphics cards have large amounts of graphics memory and high clock speeds. The higher it is, the more expensive graphics cards get. Again, you don't have to buy an expensive graphics card. Buy a graphics card that fits your needs. There are reviewers on the Internet that review graphics card performance and you can determine which graphics card to buy looking at this information. 

 

 

And of course, you have to see if this graphics card works on OS X! For the most part, these are the compatible NVIDIA graphics cards that will work on OS X:

 

NVIDIA GeForce Kepler Architecture

• GeForce GTX 650
• GeForce GTX 650 TI
• GeForce GTX 660
• GeForce GTX 660 TI
• GeForce GTX 670
• GeForce GTX 680
• GeForce GTX 690
• GeForce GT 720*
• GeForce GT 730*

NVIDIA GeForce Maxwell Architecture

• NVIDIA GeForce GT 740*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980*
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X / Z*

*Requires the installation of NVIDIA's Web Drivers to work properly. Don't worry its easy! 

 

Note: Some of these NVIDIA graphics cards have variant models. Variant models are special versions of the base model which may include higher clock speeds, coolers, more memory size, and so on. Pick one that's right for you.

 

 

*This is clearly a real Mac and not a Hackintosh. Can't you see the Apple logo? 

 

Anyways, can we beat Apple's most cheapest Mac, the Mac Mini? Of course! The question is, how?

 

Well let's think about the parts we need:

• Case
• MSI H81M Motherboard
• 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 Processor
• Memory (RAM)
• Power Supply Unit
• Hard Disk / SSD
• NVIDIA GeForce compatible graphics card (Optional)

Some of those parts listed above can be swapped for a cheaper or expensive model. That is up to you to decide. You may be wondering what parts I bought for my budget Hackintosh build. Here are the parts that I'm using for my build:

• Sentey Cyberia GS 6007 Mid-ATX case
• MSI H81M-E34 Motherboard
• 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core i3 4330
• 8GB of G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
• Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM SATA III Hard Disk 
• Cooler Master Elite V2 550 Watt Power Supply Unit
• EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750TI Superclocked

For less than $500, I have built a Hackintosh that kills the Mac Mini in performance and price. If I didn't buy the graphics card, then it would cost less than $500. So let's go over the details.

 

1. Case ($34 US)

 

The case that I bought was the Sentey Cyberia GS 6007 Mid-ATX case. In general, all you need to know is that you should buy a case that fits the MSI H81M motherboard that you choose and that it fits your needs. Some cases have USB 2.0 ports, others have USB 3.0 ports, some include extra fans and so on. Some cases look prettier than others. 

 

You are free to buy whichever case you want as long as it fits the motherboard. It can be a cheap or it can be an expensive case!

 

2. MSI H81M Motherboard ($54 US) 

I went with the MSI H81M-E34 motherboard. It had all of the video and audio ports that I needed and a lot of USB 3.0 ports. It includes a PCI-E 16x slot for a graphics card and 2 PCI 1x slots for things like wireless networking and bluetooth!

 

Compare the specifications for each MSI H81M motherboard and find the one that works best for you.

 

3. Processor ($134 US)

 

 

The processor I bought was the 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core i3 4330. It also includes the Intel HD Graphics 4600 IGPU so it is natively supported on OS X. 

 

Here's how it works:

 

Option 1) If you want to have a native experience on OS X using integrated graphics, then it would be best to buy an 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core processor with Intel HD Graphics 4600.

 

Option 2) If you are in a tight budget and still want to use integrated graphics, then you would need to buy a 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core processor with Intel HD Graphics 4400. Basically what will happen is that in Clover Bootloader, we will fake the ID of the Intel HD Graphics 4400 and change it to the Intel HD Graphics 4600 ID. OS X will think that you are using the Intel HD Graphics 4600 but instead it will enable the Intel HD Graphics 4400.

 

Remember that Intel HD Graphics 4600 is slightly faster than Intel HD Graphics 4400.

 

Option 3) If you do not care about integrated graphics and want to use a dedicated graphics card, then it doesn't matter what 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core processor you buy.

 

 NOTE: I would like to point out that you should check the MSI H81M motherboard website that corresponds to your motherboard model to make sure that the processor you want is supported. Some motherboards may not support Haswell Refresh CPUs out of the box. If the motherboard was made during mid/late 2014 or 2015, then it should support Haswell Refresh CPUs out of the box.

 

Choose the processor that works best for your needs, performance, and price.

 

4. Memory (RAM) ($49 US)

 

I bought 8GB of G.SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz for my Hackintosh.

 

There isn't anything special about RAM so buy the amount of memory that you need. Remember to not exceed the amount of RAM that the motherboard can support. Also, remember that OS X needs at least 2GB of RAM to work.

 

5. Hard Disk / SSD ($50 US)

 

I bought a Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM SATA III Hard Disk. 

 

Again there isn't anything special about storage. Remember that SATA III allows speeds up to 6 Gb/s and SATA II allows 3 Gb/s. You are free to choose the storage amount or storage type that you need.

 

6. Power Supply Unit ($39 US)

I bought the Cooler Master Elite V2 550 Watt power supply unit. The reason why I bought this wattage amount was because of the EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750TI Superclocked graphics card. This graphics card requires a minimum of 20 Amps on the +12V rail.

 

If your are only using integrated graphics, then a minimum of 300 Watt or higher is recommended. However, if you are planning to upgrade to a dedicated graphics card in the future, might as well invest in a 500 Watt or higher power supply unit.

 

 Note: Never buy an unbranded power supply unit. Always buy a brand name power supply unit such as Cooler Master, Corsair, EVGA, or any other highly rated power supply. Buying a cheap power supply might also destroy other computer parts.

 

Buy a trusted power supply unit that gives enough wattage for your Hackintosh. 

 

7. Dedicated Graphics Card ($130 US) (Optional)

 

 

I ended up buying an EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750TI Superclocked graphics card because I wanted to play modern games with good performance on my Hackintosh. Again, you can pick a graphics card that is right for you. Make sure that it is compatible with either the native NVIDIA kexts from Apple or NVIDIA's Web Drivers.

 

This part is optional and is not required for making OS X work on an MSI H81M motherboard. More info on NVIDIA cards soon. Currently I'm giving priority to integrated graphics.

 

So in total, I have spent $490 US dollars for my Hackintosh build! If I did not buy the dedicated graphics card, then the total spent would have been $360! Depending on your choices, you can either save even more money or go big and buy high end parts. That is up to you to decide. Either way you save money because compared to real Macs, Hackintoshes are upgradable!

 

Note: You will need to have access to OS X to do this. You can use another computer running OS X or an OS X virtual machine.

 

I. Create an OS X USB Installer with Clover UEFI (OS X 10.10 Yosemite) (  Any Build )

Before you begin, you will need to create an OS X USB installer with Clover UEFI.

 

1) The easiest way that you can create an OS X USB installer with Clover UEFI is by using Chris111's Clover 2.3K Special Edition Installer (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/403-clover-v23k-special-edition/).

 

2) Make sure your USB drive has at least 8GB of free storage. Open Disk Utility and format the USB Drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using the GUID partition scheme.

 

3) Download the OS X Yosemite Installer from the App Store and make sure it is saved in the Applications folder.

 

4) Open Clover 2.3K Special Edition Installer. Click Yes to continue.

Click continue and continue.

 

5) You need to change the Install destination to your USB drive by clicking on Change Install Location.

 6) Click on Customize and select these options:

• Installer OS X Yosemite
• Install for UEFI Booting only
• Install Clover in the ESP

Leave everything else unchecked and click Install to start the installation.

 

7) The Installer will detect your OS X Install app in the Applications folder and create a USB installer out of it. It will also install Clover Boatloader UEFI files so that you can boot to it using the USB stick. The installer can take up to 25 minutes to create the USB installer so do not quit the installer until it is finished.

 

I. Create an OS X USB Installer with Clover UEFI (OS X 10.11 El Capitan) (  Any Build )

 

Before you begin, you will need to create an OS X USB installer with Clover UEFI.

 

1) The easiest way that you can create an OS X USB installer with Clover UEFI is by using Chris111's Clover 2.3K Special Edition V2 Installer (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/471-clover-v23k-special-edition-v2/).

 

2) Make sure your USB drive has at least 8GB of free storage. Open Disk Utility and format the USB Drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using the GUID partition scheme.

 

3) Download the OS X Yosemite Installer from the App Store and make sure it is saved in the Applications folder.

 

4) Open Clover 2.3K Special Edition V2 Installer. Click Yes to continue.

Click continue and continue.

 

5) You need to change the Install destination to your USB drive by clicking on Change Install Location.

 6) Click on Customize and select these options:

• Installer OS X El Capitan
• Install for UEFI Booting only
• Install Clover in the ESP

Leave everything else unchecked and click Install to start the installation.

 

7) The Installer will detect your OS X Install app in the Applications folder and create a USB installer out of it. It will also install Clover Boatloader UEFI files so that you can boot to it using the USB stick. The installer can take up to 25 minutes to create the USB installer so do not quit the installer until it is finished.

 

II. OSX USB Installer with Clover UEFI Configuration (  Any Build)

 

The Clover Bootloader files will be stored in the EFI partition of the USB drive. EFI partitions are basically partitions that contain boot loader files. EFI partitions are usually hidden and must be mounted. You will encounter this frequently. We will need to use Clover Configurator to modify the Clover Bootloader settings and mount these EFI partitions. 

 

Download Clover Configurator (http://www.hackintoshosx.com/files/file/49-clover-configurator/). Then open Clover Configurator.

 

 

8) You will probably see a message to mount EFI partition. Click on Mount EFI Partition. You will see the Mount Partition screen. On the bottom right, click on Mount EFI Partition.

 

 

 

9) You will probably see a window saying that there are multiple EFI partitions found and you must choose the disk where the EFI partition is stored.

 

 

 

Usually disk0 is the main hard disk on the computer and disk1, disk2, etc are attached drives. Since we are dealing with the USB EFI partition, then the partition we need to load is disk1s1. Highlight it and click OK.

 

10) We are going to create a Clover config.plist file. So go to the menubar and select File > New. A warning may pop up if you have not mounted the USB EFI partition. 

 

10.1) ACPI Section

 

Let's look at the ACPI section. It's all blank. It looks scary too. In general, I like to enable the basic options. We are only configuring the USB Clover config.plist.

We just want Clover to enable power management when installing OS X so that the computer doesn't overheat.

 

Enable (click on checkbox)

• Generate PStates
• Generate CStates
• Halt Enabler

By enabling PStates, we are telling Clover to generate CPU operational states. In other words, its the CPU frequencies. By enabling CStates, we are telling Clover to generate CPU idle states. In other words, these CPU states are active when the CPU is doing nothing or when sleeping.

 

Well that's good enough, let's move onto the Boot section.

 

10.2) Boot Section

Yes, there are many options here. These are the essential options I believe are important to know:

• nv_disable = 1
• kext-dev-mode = 1
• rootless = 0
• Default Boot Volume
• Legacy

nv_disable = 1

 

If you are booting with a dedicated NVIDIA graphics card, you must enable this option or else you will never see the installation screen. This only applies to graphics cards that are not supported out of the box by Apple. For those who are booting with integrated graphics, then this option is useless.

 

kext-dev-mode = 1

 

If you are using non Apple kexts, then this has to be enabled.

 

rootless = 0

 

This was originally used in OS X El Capitan but no longer has a function. You can enable this if you want but makes no difference.

 

Default Boot Volume

 

You can leave this blank if you want. I ended up putting "LastBootedVolume" as the default boot volume. This basically highlights the last booted volume you chose in the Clover boot menu.

 

Legacy

 

I selected "PBR". 

 

There are other options there such as remove timeout or custom logo, but that is up to you if you want to play around with those settings. As for the other arguments available, you may have to enable them in the case where you computer does not boot. For example, some users need to enable NCPI=0x2000 because its stops booting at [PCI Configuration Begin] as seen in verbose mode. You will have to research on that on your own since I personally have not needed to enable those options.

 

We will be skipping Devices section and Disabled Drivers section.

 

10.3) GUI Section

 

Now let's look at the GUI section.

Everything can be left alone. The only change that you may want to do is set the Theme to "embedded". This will cause Clover to use the embedded theme in the Clover boot menu. And because it looks nice!

 

10.4) Graphics Section

 

Let's move to the Graphics section.

This section is important if you are going to boot using Intel® HD Graphics 4400 or Intel® HD Graphics 4600. If so, then you must focus on these two options:

 

Enable (click on checkbox)

• Inject Intel

Set

• ig-platform-id 

Inject Intel basically tells Clover that you are going to boot with integrated graphics. ig-platform-id is used to specify which Intel® IGPU you are going to use. For desktops, the value set in ig-platform-id is 0x0D220003. If you are using Intel® HD Graphics 4400, you will need to do and extra step and download Fake PCIID and FakePCIID_HD4600_HD4400 kexts. Place these kexts in Clover's kext folder that corresponds to the OS X version that you are going to boot.

 

10.5) Kernel and Kext Patches

 

The next section is Kernel and Kext Patches.

By default, AppleRTC is checked. This prevents the complementary metal oxide semiconductor memory chip (CMOS) from being reset. There isn't a good reason why to uncheck it.

 

If you are using an Intel® Haswell processor, you must enable KernelPm. 

 

If you are using an Intel® Pentium or Intel® Celeron processor, you must set FakeCPUID. OS X will refuse to boot without a value here since it doesn't know how to deal with an incompatible processor. More information on this later on.

 

10.6) RT Variables Section

 

Let's move to RT Variables section.

If you are using OS X Yosemite or lower, you don't have to worry about this section.

 

If you are using OS X El Capitan or higher, you need to set BooterConfig to 0x28 and CsrActiveConfig 0x67. More information on this in Apple's System Integrity Protection (SIP) section.

 

10.7) SMBIOS Section

 

Let's move to SMBIOS section.

This section allows you to set the Mac that you will be emulating. For computer builds with Intel® Haswell processors, the iMac 14,1 or iMac 14,2 is recommended. To generate an SMBIOS, click on the wand button on the right. From there choose the Mac that you will be emulating and then select the Mac model from the dropdown menu on the top.

 

10.8) System Parameters

 

The next section is System Parameters.

This section is important. You must enable these options:

 

Enable (click on checkbox)

• Inject System ID

Set

• Inject Kexts

If you set Inject Kexts set to Detect, Clover will search the Clover's kext folder to see if there are any kexts to load. If there are, it will load them during boot. If you set Inject Kexts set to Yes, Clover will force load the kexts in Clover's kext folder. Useful if for some reason Clover does not load or detect a kext if Detect option is used.

 

10.9) Install Drivers

 

The last section that is very important to look at is the Install Drivers section.

 MSI H81M Builds: In the Drivers UEFI 64 BIT area, you must enable the drivers listed below:

• OsxAptioFix2Drv
• VBoxHfs

In the Extra Drivers section, you must enable:

• OsxFatBinaryDrv UEFI

 All Other Builds: You will need to research on what drivers you need to enable on Clover Configurator, if any.

 

The target partition can be set at the top right corner. Make sure that it says "EFI" and that this EFI partition that it is referring to is the one inside your USB drive. You may need to press the refresh button to see this partition as an option.

 

Once you are ready to save the Clover config.plist file, go to the menubar and press File > Save. Then you need to save this config.pst file in the Clover folder that is located inside your USB EFI partition. 

 

11) You can now close Clover Configurator.

 

 

**********************The content below is outdated. Do not follow. Skip to Prepare MSI H81M Bios if you are using an MSI H81M build.*********************************************************************************

 

10) The EFI partition of the USB drive is now mounted. Open Finder and click on the mounted EFI partition. Notice the icon that the mounted partition has. An EFI partition that is inside a hard disk has the icon of a hard disk. An EFI partition that is inside a USB drive will have the icon of a removable disk.

 11) Go to EFI > CLOVER folder. You will see the Clover boot files.

 

12) Leave this Finder window open since you will need to go here again soon. Download my MSI H81M Motherboards Pack from the InsanelyMac Downloads section (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/412-msi-h81m-motherboards-pack/) and extract it and open it.

 

13) You will see this:

We will need to replace some files inside the CLOVER folder inside the EFI partition in order to be able to boot successfully to the OS X installer. At the same time, we'll enable graphics acceleration!

 

14) Inside the pack, go to Clover UEFI Files and then open the OS X folder that corresponds to the OS X version that you will be using on your Hackintosh. You should then see something like this:

You will see 4 folders which are Intel HD Graphics 4400, Intel HD Graphics 4600, NVIDIA Graphics, and NVIDIA Graphics Disabled folders. You will need to choose which folder corresponds to your integrated graphics. If you are going to use Intel HD Graphics 4400, then open the Intel HD Graphics 4400 folder. If you are going to use Intel HD Graphics 4600, then open the Intel HD Graphics 4600 folder.

 

Note: If you decided that you will not be using integrated graphics and want to boot using dedicated graphics without acceleration, then you must open the NVIDIA Graphics Disabled folder. Now skip to step 16.

 

15) Inside one of these folders you will see these files:

 

The config.plist file contains Clover Bootloader settings that enables MSI H81M motherboards to boot to OS X with integrated graphics enabled. The Mac that we will be mimicking is the iMac 14,2 since this model supports both integrated and dedicated graphics. In order to enable the Intel HD Graphics 4600, I needed to enable "Inject Intel" and adding the ig-platform-id 0x0D22003. For Intel HD Graphics 4400, it is the same but the difference is that we needed to fake the ID of the Intel HD Graphics 4400 so that OS X thinks its the Intel HD Graphics 4600. The platform id used here enables both DVI-D and HDMI ports. This currently works for OS X Yosemite. This whole thing basically means that you will never need to modify the actual Intel HD Graphics kext files! Anyways, this has been done for you. 

 

The drivers64UEFI contains drivers for Clover Bootloader. In order to boot MSI H81M motherboards, the OsxAptioFixDrv-64.efi file was needed to fix Clover Bootloader from freezing at "Root UUID Is: ######-######-#######-######-#######". This has been done for you.

 

The kexts folder contains the essential FakeSMC kext. Without it, there's no Hackintosh. I also included the ethernet kext in there so that you can connect to the Internet after installing OS X since Clover Bootloader isn't installed in the hard disk yet. There is also a USB 3.0 kext in there so that you can use the USB 3.0 ports on the motherboard during or after OS X installation if needed. For Intel HD Graphics 4400 builds, there are 2 extra kexts that will fake the id of the Intel HD Graphics 4400 so that OS X thinks it is the Intel HD Graphics 4600. Basically what this folder does is when Clover Bootloader starts, it will load these kexts files inside this folder. All of this has been done for you. 

 

16) All you need to do is copy those three items config.plist, drivers64UEFI, and kexts inside the pack to the EFI > CLOVER folder that you opened earlier. When asked to replace, select Apply to All and then click on Replace.

 

 

The USB installer is now ready! You can safely un-mount the EFI and OS X USB parititons.

 

II. Prepare the MSI H81M BIOS (   MSI H81M Builds )

 

Note: ​If you have decided that you will not be using integrated graphics and want to currently boot OS X using dedicated graphics without acceleration then ignore this part. 

 

1) Connect the monitor to either the DVI-D or HDMI port.

 

2) On the MSI BIOS logo screen keep pressing F11.

 

3) A window will appear. Select "Enter Setup" and press Enter.

 

4) You will see something like this:

 

 

5) Click on Settings > Advanced > Integrated Graphics Configuration

 

6) Set Initiated Graphics Adapter to IGD.

 

 

Note: If you only have integrated graphics on your MSI H81M motherboard, then this option would probably have been set by default. If you installed an NVIDIA dedicated graphics card, then you most likely connected your monitor to the dedicated graphics video output. MSI H81M motherboards automatically detect on first boot whether you have integrated graphics or dedicated graphics. For dedicated graphics users, you will need to change the option from "PEG" to IGD". When you save and restart, disconnect the monitor from the dedicated graphics card to the DVI-D or HDMI port on the motherboard.

 

7) Save settings and restart.

 

 

I have thoroughly tested this and I have determined the best way for users with dedicated graphics to run OS X.

 

The easiest way to do this is to disable your NVIDIA Graphics card from the MSI BIOS Settings and using integrated graphics. No matter what 4th Generation (Haswell) Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor you use or buy, it will include Intel HD Graphics 4400 or Intel HD Graphics 4600.

 

There is no reason why you can't temporarily use the integrated graphics. Read the Note below for more information.

 

1) Follow the steps in the Motherboard Preparation for OS X (Integrated Graphics). 

 

2) Remember that once you set Initiate Graphics Adapter from "PEG" to "IGD", the motherboard will disable your dedicated graphics card and you will need to connect your monitor to the DVI-D or HDMI port on your motherboard.

 

3) Follow the steps in the Install OS X / Prepare UEFI Dual Boot section. Follow Part 2 and Part 3 if needed.

 

4) We will be fixing the NVIDIA dedicated graphics card in the Post Installation section.

 

Note: If for some reason you cannot use integrated graphics at all, (i.e. Intel HD Graphics 4400 not working, only VGA output in motherboard, being lazy), then do not change Initiate Graphics Adapter in the UEFI BIOS. Leave it as PEG. Luckly for you, I have already added nvdisable=1 to the Clover plist files so it will not load native NVIDIA graphics by default. OS X will use the software rendering engine to display the desktop so expect lags and graphical bugs. In short, follow the steps in the Motherboard Preparation for OS X (Integrated Graphics). There will be some notes in some steps for you to read if you decide to use dedicated graphics.

 

In this section, we will install OS X! Sorry for the lack of screenshots here since there is no way to show this clearly.

 

We want our Hackintosh to be a UEFI only system since having a Hybrid GPT/MBR partition isn't the best solution.

 

1) Insert the OS X Yosemite USB installer and keep pressing "F11". A window will appear. Select the name of your USB drive with the "UEFI" words next to it and press "Enter"

 

2) Clover Bootloader should now appear. Notice that it is using the native resolution of your monitor! Select the Install OS X Yosemite option, then press the Spacebar, and select the option to boot in verbose mode. This is useful to see if there are any errors.

 

3) If all goes well, the OS X Welcome screen will appear. Notice that graphics acceleration is already working! Select your language and click the arrow below to continue.

 

4) The menu bar should now appear at the top. Go to the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility. 

 

5) Click on the Hard Drive / SSD that you will be formatting. Then go to the Partition tab. Here's how it works:

• If you only want OS X on your hackintosh, then create only 1 partition formatting it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• If you will be dual booting other operating systems, then create 2 partitions. One of the partitions will be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and the other partition will be formatted as Free Space.

After you have decided what you will be doing, click on Options, select GUID Partition Table and click OK. Then click on Apply to format the disk.

 

6) Once the disk has been formatted, you can close Disk Utility. Continue with the OS X Installer. When it is time to select the disk that you will install OS X on, select the partition where OS X will be installed and continue..

 

7) OS X should now be installing!

 

8) Your Hackintosh will reboot once the installation has finished. After reboot, keep pressing F11 and a window will appear. Select your OS X Yosemite USB installer with the words UEFI in it. When Clover Bootloader appears, select your OS X partition, press the Spacebar, and select the option to boot in verbose mode.

 

9) If successful, you should see the OS X initial setup screen in full native resolution and graphics acceleration! Go through the initial setup.

 

10) Once you're in the desktop, download Clover Bootloader (http://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot/), Clover Configurator (http://www.hackintoshosx.com/files/file/49-clover-configurator/), and my MSI H81M Motherboards Pack from the InsanelyMac Downloads section (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/412-msi-h81m-motherboards-pack/).

 

11) Open the Clover Bootloader installer. You should see this:

Click continue and continue.

 

12) You need to change the Install destination to your Hard Drive / SSD by clicking on Change Install Location.

 

 13) Click on Customize and select these options:

• Install for UEFI Booting only
• Install Clover in the ESP

 Leave everything else unchecked and click Install to start the installation.

 

14) Once the installer finishes, close it and open Clover Configurator.

 

15) You will probably see a message to mount EFI partition. Click on Mount EFI Partition. You will see the Mount Partition screen. On the bottom right, click on Mount EFI Partition. 

 

 

 

16) You will probably see a window saying that there are multiple EFI partitions because you forgot to remove the OS X Yosemite USB installer from the USB port. You must choose the disk where the EFI partition is stored.

 

 

We want to boot OS X from our Hard Drive so in this case disk0 is the main hard disk on the computer. Highlight it and click OK. You can close Clover Configurator.

 

17) The EFI partition of the Hard Drive is now mounted. Open Finder and click on the mounted EFI partition. Notice the icon that the mounted partition has. An EFI partition that is inside a hard disk has the icon of a hard disk. An EFI partition that is inside a USB drive will have the icon of a removable disk. 

18) Go to EFI > CLOVER folder. You will see the Clover boot files. Leave this Finder window open. We will need to replace some files inside the CLOVER folder inside the EFI partition in order to be able to boot OS X successfully.

19) Extract my MSI H81M Motherboards Pack if you haven't done so and open it. You will see this:

20) Inside the pack, go to Clover UEFI Files and then open the OS X folder that corresponds to the OS X version that you will be using on your Hackintosh. You should then see something like this: 

You will see 3 folders which are Intel HD Graphics 4400, Intel HD Graphics 4600, and NVIDIA Graphics folders. You will need to choose which folder corresponds to your graphics. If you are using Intel HD Graphics 4400, then open the Intel HD Graphics 4400 folder. If you are using Intel HD Graphics 4600, then open the Intel HD Graphics 4600 folder. Ignore the NVIDIA Graphics folder.

 

21) Inside one of those folders there will be three items, config.plist, drivers64UEFI and kexts. All you need to do is copy those three items inside the pack to the EFI > CLOVER folder that you opened earlier. When asked to replace, select Apply to All and then click on Replace.

 

 

22) Unmount the EFI partition and restart your Hackintosh. If successful, then your Hackintosh should boot straight into Clover Bootloader! 

 

 

23) Here are your options:

• If you are only going to use OS X, then you are done! You can now go to the Post Installation section to finish configuring OS X.
• If you are going to Dual Boot Windows, go to Part 2 - Prepare Windows for UEFI Systems.

 

Note: You will need to have access to Windows to do this. You can use another computer running Windows or a Windows virtual machine.

 

Since our Hackintosh is going to be a pure UEFI system, then we need the Windows installer to work in UEFI mode. Download Rufus by going to this link: (https://rufus.akeo.ie). You do not need to install it, so just download Rufus Portable. 

 

1) Insert the USB drive that you will use to create the Windows USB installer.

 

2) Double-click on the Rufus Portable icon and when the User Account Control window pops up, just click on Yes.

 

3) You should see something like this:

 

 

Click on the disc icon. A Windows Explorer window will pop up and you will need to locate the Windows ISO image file. Click Open.

 

4) Click on the Partition Scheme and Target System Type and change it to "GPT Partition Scheme for UEFI computer". This is how it should look like:

 

 

5) Once you're ready, press Start. This will take a while. Once it is done, you are ready to install Windows. You can now proceed to Part 3 - Install Windows / Add Missing Clover UEFI Entry section.

 

 

In this section, we will install Windows! Sorry for the lack of screenshots here since there is no way to show this clearly.

 

If you have setup OS X correctly, we know that Clover UEFI and OS X works with no problem! But we're going to run into a problem. You will see why.

 

1) Insert the Windows USB installer and keep pressing "F11". A window will appear. Select the name of the Windows USB drive with the "UEFI" words next to it and press "Enter".

 

2) Go through the process. When you are asked for which type of installation do you want, select "Custom: Install Windows Only (Advanced)".

 

3) You will see various partitions on your Hard Drive / SSD. You want to install Windows on the Free Space partition you created earlier. So format this partition to the size you want. A window will pop up saying that It it needs to create other partitions for system files.. Just click OK and you will need to select the partition you formatted again. Once you are ready, press Next to install Windows.

 

4) When the Hackintosh reboots by itself, you will notice that Windows will automatically boot which means that Clover UEFI Bootloader is no longer detected on MSI H81M Motherboards. Unfortunately, MSI H81M Motherboards do not have the option to select which Bootloader in BIOS Setup. However, thanks to one of our InsanelyMac members fusion71au, we can easily solve this problem on Windows!   

 

5) Go through the Windows initial setup process and once you reach the desktop, you will need to download EasyUEFI (http://www.easyuefi.com/index-us.html). EasyUEFI is also included in my MSI H81M Motherboards Pack. This application will allow us to edit UEFI boot entries. We need to add the Clover UEFI boot entry so that we can boot from Clover UEFI again.

 

6) Install EasyUEFI and open it. You will see something like this:

 

 

7) Disk0 is usually the internal Hard Drive / SSD. In the Boot order section, we can see that only Windows Boot Manager is detected. There is no mention of Clover UEFI anywhere. To solve this problem, click on the Add button (the second button you see on the right).

 

8) You will see something like this:

 

 

We will add the missing Clover UEFI entry. On the Type box, select Linux or Other OS. On the description box, type "UEFI: Clover Bootloader".

 

9) Select the EFI partition on the Hard Disk / SSD.  Next, click Browse.

 

 

10) Go to EFI > CLOVER > and select CLOVERX64.efi. Click OK.

 

 

 

11) Once you see that the File path box contains the location of CLOVERX64.efi, click OK.

 

 

12) You should now see UEFI: Clover Bootloader in the boot order section!

 

 

13) So all we have to do now is reboot the Hackintosh. When you see the MSI BIOS logo keep pressing F11. A window will pop up and you will notice that the entry "UEFI: Clover Bootloader" is now available! We are not done yet because we want our Hackintosh to boot to Clover Bootloader everytime we turn it on. So go to Enter Setup.

 

14) Go to Settings > Boot. You should see this:

 

 

 

Click on the UEFI Hard Disk Drive BBS Properties option near the bottom. 

 

15) You will see two entries now, Boot Option #1 and Boot Option #2.

 

 

We need to change Boot Option #1 to be UEFI: Clover Bootloader. So click on entry #1 and select UEFI: Clover Bootloader.

 

16) You should now see this:

 

 

Clover Bootloader is now in the 1st boot entry which means that Clover will be your default bootloader! Save changes and exit. 

 

17) That's it, you now have a Dual Boot UEFI Hackintosh System! Remember that in order boot to Windows, in Clover you must select the Microsoft EFI option instead. 

 

18) You can now go to the Post Installation section to finish configuring OS X!

 

 

So let's see what we have done so far:

• Clover Bootloader is already installed to the Hard Drive / SSD.
• The Intel HD Graphics 4400/4600 works with QE/CI.
• Ethernet and USB 3.0 ports work.

What's left? Here are the things we need to do:

• Install the NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers (Dedicated Graphics builds only)
• Audio
• Create an SSDT for power management (Optional)
• Enable Ethernet AirDrop
• Fix 3rd Party USB 2.0/3.0 Ports
• DSDT?
• Sleep?

I. Install NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers (Dedicated Graphics Builds Only)

 

 MSI H81M Builds: Since I have added the iMac 14,2 SMBIOS to Clover for you in when you dragged those MSI H81M Clover UEFI files to your EFI partition on your Hard Disk / SSD, you will not encounter any problem when running NVIDIA Web Drivers Installer.

 

All Builds: If you are using another SMBIOS other than iMac 14,2, then you will need to be using either MacPro 3,1, MacPro 4,1, or MacPro5,1. If you use NVIDIA WebDriver Updater (more info below), any SMBIOS will work.

 

1) Download the appropriate drivers for your NVIDIA Graphics card. These are the models that work with these drivers:

• NVIDIA GeForce GT 720
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 730
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 740 SC / FTW
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 / SC / FTW / TI / TI SC / TI OC
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 / SC / OC
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 / SC / OC / FTW / TI / TI SC 
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 / SC / FTW
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 SC / FTW
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 SC / OC / FTW
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SC / OC / FTW
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X / Z

OS X Yosemite 10.10.0: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/343.01.01f03/WebDriver-343.01.01f03.pkg

 

OS X Yosemite 10.10.1: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/343.02.01f01/WebDriver-343.02.01f01.pkg

 

OS X Yosemite 10.10.2: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/343.02.02f04/WebDriver-343.02.02f04.pkg

 

OS X Yosemite 10.10.3: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.01.02f04/WebDriver-346.01.02f04.pkg

 

OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 (Driver Update 1): http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.01.03f01/WebDriver-346.01.03f01.pkg

 

OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 (Driver Update 2): http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.02.02f02/WebDriver-346.02.02f02.pkg

 

OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 (Driver Update 3): http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.02.02f03/WebDriver-346.02.02f03.pkg

 

OS X Yosemite 10.10.5: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.02.03f01/WebDriver-346.02.03f01.pkg

 

OS X El Capitan 10.11: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.03.02f01/WebDriver-346.03.02f01.pkg

 

OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 (Driver Update 1): http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.03.03f01/WebDriver-346.03.03f01.pkg

 

OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 (Driver Update 2): http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.03.03f02/WebDriver-346.03.03f02.pkg

 

OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 (Driver Update 1): http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.03.04f01/WebDriver-346.03.04f01.pkg

 

OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 (Driver Update 2): http://us.download.nvidia.com/Mac/Quadro_Certified/346.03.04f02/WebDriver-346.03.04f02.pkg

 

Alternatively, you can always get the latest NVIDIA Web Driver graphics by using Micky1979's NVIDIA WebDriver Updater (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/474-nvidia®-webdriver-updaterapp/). This application will automatically patch the NVIDIA Web Drivers package installer so that it installs on any SMBIOS.

 

When you start NVIDIA WebDriver Updater, you will be greeted with a prompt to install a helper. It is not necessary to install the helper if you are only interested in downloading the latest NVIDIA Web Drivers for your graphics card. However, if you are using an unsupported SMBIOS, then you will need to install it. For more information on using Micky1979's NVIDIA WebDriver Updater, be sure to visit the support thread here (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/308517-nvidia-web-driver-updater-update-12082015/).

 

When you run NVIDIA WebDriver Updater, you will see this:

Clicking on the Check NVIDIA Update button checks to see if there is a new NVIDIA graphics driver update. If so, the version displayed in the NVIDIA Version Available should be higher than the NVIDIA Driver Version Installed (if there is an existing NVIDA driver installed).

Pressing the Start Download button immediately downloads the latest NVIDIA Web Drivers installer and patches it to run on any SMBIOS. Once it finishes downloading, you can copy the installer package to the desktop or immediately run the installer.

Note: When running the installer, you may get an incompatibility error if you have not downloaded security updates for that particular OS X version.

 

1) All Builds: Open the NVIDIA Web Drivers installer package for your OS X version. You should see something like this:

 2) All Builds: Accept the agreement license and then make sure you're installing it to the correct partition. Click Install.

 3) All Builds: When the installer finishes, you should see this:

 DO NOT RESTART YOUR COMPUTER!

 

4)   MSI H81M Builds: Download my MSI H81M Motherboards pack (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/412-msi-h81m-motherboards-pack/) if you don't have it.

 

5)   MSI H81M Builds: Extract it and go to Clover UEFI > OS X Yosemite > NVIDIA Graphics Post Installation. 

 

You should see a config.plist file

 

6)   MSI H81M Builds: Copy this config file to the EFI/CLOVER folder in the EFI partition on your Hard Disk / SSD. You may need to mount this partition using Clover Configurator if you don't see it.

 

7)   MSI H81M Builds: Replace the config.plist file if asked. 

 

8) All Builds: Go to System Preferences > NVIDIA Driver Manager. You should see this: 

You may need to click on the lock to make changes.

 

9) All Builds: You need to select NVIDIA Web Driver.

You will be asked to restart your computer. Before you do that, make sure that you have nv_drv=1 flag checked (enabled) and nv_disable=1 flag unchecked (disabled) in Clover or else the newly installed NVIDIA Web drivers will not start.  Once you are ready, press Restart to restart the computer. 

 

10)   MSI H81M Builds: On the MSI BIOS logo screen keep pressing F11. A window will appear. Select "Enter Setup" and press Enter.

 

11)  MSI H81M Builds: Go to Settings > Advanced > Integrated Graphics Configuration. You should see this: 

 

 

12)   MSI H81M Builds: Click on Initiate Graphics Adapter and set it to PEG. This will cause the motherboard to enable the PCI-E graphics card and disable integrated graphics.

 

 

13)   MSI H81M Builds: Save and restart. Remember to connect your monitor to the DVI-D or HDMI port on the graphics card.

 

14) All Builds: That's it! You should now see the desktop and your NVIDIA Graphics card should now be working!

 

 

 II. Audio (Realtek ALC887)

 

You may have noticed that the audio ports are not working on your Hackintosh. This is normal because we have not fixed this yet. So let's fix this now!

 

1) We will be using Toleda's CloverALC patcher to achieve native audio. Click on the link to download it (https://github.com/toleda/audio_CloverALC/raw/master/audio_cloverALC-100.command.zip). Move the ZIP file to your desktop and extract it there.

 

2) Mount the EFI partition (the one on your Hard Drive / SSD) using Clover Configurator. Then close Clover Configurator.

 

3) Double click on the "audio_cloverALC-100_v1.0.4d.command" file. You should see this:

You will be asked to enter your password. Enter your password and press Enter.

 

4) Here are the questions that the script will ask you:

 

Confirm Realtek ALC887 (y/n): y (Type 'y' and press Enter) (You are confirming that you have ALC887)

 

ALC887 v_0x100302 (Current)

 

Clover Audio ID Injection (y/n): y (Type 'y' and press Enter) (You are confirming that you will use Clover's Audio ID Injection)

 

Use Audio ID: 1 (y/n): y (Type 'y' and press Enter) (If for some reason it shows another Audio ID, type 'n' and enter '1' and press Enter)

 

5) The script will download the ALC887 kext and put it in the EFI/CLOVER/kexts/10.x folders automatically. It will also add kext patches to your config.plist file and set Audio ID to 1 automatically. 

Once the script finishes, you need to restart your Hackintosh.

 

6) That's it, audio should now be working! To confirm, you can go to System Preferences > Sound and test the ports in the Output and Input tabs.

III. Create an SSDT for Power Management (Optional)

 

SSDTs are used to enable various CPU frequencies when running OS X. Basically this means that the CPU will not run at high frequencies all the time when there isn't anything to do and will try to run at lower frequencies to avoid overheating. When the CPU has something to do, it will pick an appropriate frequency to run at.

 

Open Clover Configurator and mount your EFI partition. Then go to the File menu and click Open. Go to EFI/CLOVER/ and click on Config.plist and click Open.

 

In the ACPI section, you will notice that "Generate PStates" and "Generate CStates" and "Enable C6" are checked. 

 

You already have power management enabled using Clover. If you feel that your Hackintosh is fast and its running just fine without an SSDT, then it isn't necessary to make an SSDT.

If you still want to make an SSDT, here's how you do it:

 

1) Open Terminal and copy this command. Then press Enter. (You will need an Internet connection to do this!)

curl -o [color=#a71d5d]~[/color]/ssdtPRGen.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Piker-Alpha/ssdtPRGen.sh/master/ssdtPRGen.sh

 

We will be using Piker-Alpha's SSDT generator.

 

2) Copy this command in Terminal and press Enter.

chmod +x [color=#a71d5d]~[/color]/ssdtPRGen.sh

3) Finally, copy this command in Terminal and press Enter.

[color=#a71d5d]~[/color]/ssdtPRGen.sh

This will run the SSDT generator and create an SSDT based on the processor your Hackintosh is using automatically.

 

4) You should now see something like this:

When asked if you want to copy the SSDT to /Extra/ssdt.aml, type 'n'. When asked if you want to open the ssdt.dsl, type 'n'. We will drag the generated SSDT manually.

 

5) Open Finder and go to /Users/USERNAME GOES HERE/Library/ssdtPRGen/. You may need to go to the Go menu and select "Go to Folder" and type in the address with your username if this folder is hidden.

 

6) Once you are in the folder, scroll down until you see the "SSDT.aml file. Copy that and paste it in the desktop.

7) Mount the EFI partition using Clover Configurator. Then go to EFI > CLOVER > ACPI > patched. Inside the "patched" folder drag the SSDT that you copied earlier and put it in there.

8) Go back to Clover Configurator and go to the File menu and click Open. Go to EFI/CLOVER/ and click on Config.plist and click Open.

 

9) We will need to modify the config.plist file. In the ACPI section, uncheck "Generate PStates", "Generate CStates", and "EnableC6".

 

10) Check the "Drop OEM" option since we will be using a custom SSDT. You should now have something like this:

11) Save the config.plist file and that's it! The next time you restart, your Hackintosh will now be using the custom SSDT!

 

Note: If you want to verify that the CPU is using different frequencies during usage, you can download and install Intel Power Gadget. If you see that the frequency graph moves up and down when you're using your Hackintosh, then it means that the CPU is using different frequencies!

 

IV. Enable Ethernet AirDrop

 

If there is no wireless and bluetooth adapter installed on the Hackintosh, then AirDrop will not be available. To enable AirDrop using an Ethernet connection, open Terminal and copy and paste this command:

defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 1

Press Enter. That's it! Now, restart your Hackintosh and you will now be able to AirDrop with other computers using OS X!

 

Note: On a real Mac, you may have to press "Search for an older Mac" button in AirDrop to see your Hackintosh.

 

Note 2: On a real Mac, you may not be able to send files to your Hackintosh if your Hackintosh only supports ethernet AirDrop. To fix this issue, you would need to enable ethernet AirDrop on your real Mac using the command above in Terminal.

 

V. Fix 3rd Party USB 2.0/3.0 Ports

 

As you know, various motherboards have a different number of USB ports. Some motherboards have USB ports that are controlled by an Intel controller, which OS X supports natively. Other motherboards on the other hand have a combination. Half of the USB ports would be controlled by an Intel controller while the rest would be controlled by a 3rd party USB controller such as ASMedia, NEC/Renesas, or VIA. OS X does not enable 3rd party USB ports which means that a patched or a generic kext will be used to enable them.

 

For motherboards that use a 3rd party USB controller, you need to download the appropriate kext below.

 

--- OS X Yosemite (10.10.x)

 

For Hackintoshes that are running OS X Yosemite, it is recommended to use Patched AppleUSBXHCI kext. Download this kext here from the InsanelyMac Downloads section here (http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/150-patched-appleusbxhci/).

 

This kext must replace an existing kext in /System/Library/Extensions directory. This cannot be installed in Clover's kext folder.

 

Go to /System/Library/Extensions and find IOUSBFamily.kext. Right click on it and select Show Package Contents. Go to Contents/PlugIns folder and rename "AppleUSBXHCI.kext" to "AppleUSBXHCI.kext.backup". We are basically making a backup of the native kext. Once you have renamed the native kext, drag the patched AppleUSBXHCI into the same folder.

 

You may see a warning that a kext was installed incorrectly. Well no doubt about that. Anyways we are now ready to rebuild kext permissions and cache. Open your favorite kext installer, like Kext Utility, and rebuild kext permissions and cache.

 

Reboot and OS X will now enable you to use your 3rd party USB ports!

 

--- OS X El Capitan (10.10.2+)

 

In OS X El Capitan, support for 3rd party USB ports was not available until now! However, your Hackintosh will need to be running OS X El Capitan 10.10.2 or higher for this to work. Thanks to RehabMan, 3rd party VIA and ASMedia USB controllers are now supported.

 

The kext that enables these 3rd party USB ports is called GenericUSBXHCI. You can download the latest kext here (https://bitbucket.org/RehabMan/os-x-generic-usb3/downloads).

 

GenericUSBXHCI.kext is an independent kext. This means that you can install this in your /System/Library/Extensions folder or in Clover's kexts folder. You can install this kext using a kext installer like Kext Utility, or simply dragging the kext to Clover's 10.11 kext folder. Your choice!

 

Reboot and OS X will now enable you to use your 3rd party VIA or ASMedia ports!

 

VI. DSDT?

 

Currently, MSI H81M motherboards don't need an DSDT to run OS X! 

 

VII. Sleep?

 

Currently, MSI H81M motherboards can sleep on OS X! You don't need to do anything as long as you follow this guide!

 

 

 

Thanks - I've been having issues installing anything newer than Lion on my re-boarded desktop (MSI H81M-E33); it's been driving me buggy!

 

The E33 has a choice of D-sub or HDMI; I use HDMI (QuickSync), but my default in Windows 10 (already installed) is discrete nVidia.  CPU is G3258 Haswell, thus HD4400 IGD - identical to the i3.

 

I can disable the discrete nV and go IGD-only; I left myself that out mainly because the nV GTX550Ti is carryover (from the ASUS P5-G41 the MSI board replaced).  First, I'll try the IGD-only method with my existing El Cap USB stick (especially since, according to this, I won't need a DSDT if I do things right.  Can I simply disable discrete in CB4?

 

Read our Rules: # All posts must be clearly written and easy to read. For example, if you have long blocks of text, enclose it in BBCode; if you have code, use a code box, etc. Limit "empty lines" as much as possible, use punctuation where you can and be concise. Posts may be edited for this reasons by InsanelyMac staff at their discretion.

Edited February 17, 2016 by Allan
Spoiler added

[GhostRaider]

Thanks - I've been having issues installing anything newer than Lion on my re-boarded desktop (MSI H81M-E33); it's been driving me buggy!

 

The E33 has a choice of D-sub or HDMI; I use HDMI (QuickSync), but my default in Windows 10 (already installed) is discrete nVidia. CPU is G3258 Haswell, thus HD4400 IGD - identical to the i3.

 

I can disable the discrete nV and go IGD-only; I left myself that out mainly because the nV GTX550Ti is carryover (from the ASUS P5-G41 the MSI board replaced). First, I'll try the IGD-only method with my existing El Cap USB stick (especially since, according to this, I won't need a DSDT if I do things right. Can I simply disable discrete in CB4?

You did not have to quote the whole post btw. Anyways you don't have to switch to the igpu. You can have your monitor connected to the Nvidia card as long as you disable it via clover (nv_disable=1) This will allow you to run OS X without graphics acceleration which is enough to be able to install OS X. You have to keep disabling it until you install the Nvidia drivers.

[RandyRaji]

Does anyone else have any problems when using in onboard hdmi video output? The problem I have is that when I change to a different input on my tv and then back to the OS X input. More often than not, the screen goes black and after about 10 seconds it reboots. Not alway, but normally. I haven't done ssdt optional setting yet and I've meant to do more testing to see what happens before adding the packaged kexts. I have a h81m-e33 board on the latest bios and have restored defaults and changed to igp. The only other issue I have noticed on previous installs is that from time to time, the compressor on a beer fridge I have plugged into the same power source as the telly, clicks on and causes the TV to show a sort of high definition white noise on the screen. Hope someone can help. Many thanks, Rob.

[DaNoob]

Hi Ghost Raider, thanks for giving me the confidence to at least try this project.

I went for a super compact Hackintosh, while still on a budget. I tried to get as OS X friendly components as possible, and matching the ones you used in the guide.

Thermaltake Core v1
Intel i3-4330
Gigabyte GTX 660 Ti 2 GB
MSI H81i

A 128 GB SSD, and a 2 TB 7200 harddisk + 600Watt powersupply and 8 GB RAM.

Your guide said that the MSI H81i motherboards where also included in this guide. Is there any specific settings for the MSI H81i or should I just do exactly as you did with your MSI H81M-34?

Besides this, regarding the Clover Bootloader, I would be able to install Mac OS X purely on the SSD and Windows on the 2 TB harddrive?

[GhostRaider]

Hi Ghost Raider, thanks for giving me the confidence to at least try this project.

 

I went for a super compact Hackintosh, while still on a budget. I tried to get as OS X friendly components as possible, and matching the ones you used in the guide.

 

Thermaltake Core v1

Intel i3-4330

Gigabyte GTX 660 Ti 2 GB

MSI H81i

 

A 128 GB SSD, and a 2 TB 7200 harddisk + 600Watt powersupply and 8 GB RAM.

 

Your guide said that the MSI H81i motherboards where also included in this guide. Is there any specific settings for the MSI H81i or should I just do exactly as you did with your MSI H81M-34?

 

Besides this, regarding the Clover Bootloader, I would be able to install Mac OS X purely on the SSD and Windows on the 2 TB harddrive?

 

 

There are many ways to install OS X on any motherboard. In terms of installing OS X on this particular motherboard, you should follow the steps in the "motherboard preparation (integrated graphics)". The important thing here is to be able to boot the usb installer. Remember that you will be disabling nvidia graphics card, so if you have the monitor connected to it, it will work but there will be no acceleration until you install the web drivers. Else if you use the HD4600, then graphics acceleration will work. Again it doesn't matter at this point.

 

And yes OS X and Windows can be installed on separate drives. Clover has to be installed in the drive where OS X is installed. It should pick up Windows regardless of what drive it is installed on.

[RandyRaji]

Hi. I've gone a bit more testing to try and figure out why my hack turns off when I go to another source on my TV and then back to HDMI. I've found that if I untick 'Intel Inject' in clover configurator, although I don't get full graphics support, if I change source and back then it's fine. I've also tried a nVidia GeForce 210 I had knocking about and installed the web drivers and again this seems fine. I'd really like to get the Intel HD4400 on my H81M-E33 working properly. I've found out exactly when it reboots itself too if that helps. I must have the TV on the HDMI source when the computer is turned on. But I think that is more down to the BIOS, even though I have IGP selected. But once it's booted up into Yosemite 10.10.5 everything looks fine. I have it set at 1600x900 and have it scaled a bit to fit my screen. Every single time I can change the TV source to my Sky box and then back, but only once. When I change it back to the computer, the screen resizes, but then fits ok. But if I do the same thing again, when I go back to the computer source, it reboots. I've also tried it with the display set at 1080 and non-scaled and I get exactly the same thing. Is it something to do with the kexts used for the HD4400 or something to do with the spoofed ID for the graphics?!?

 

Hope someone can help.

[Moosehead1]

Huge Success with my new Hackintosh.

 

HD Graphics 4400 works with QE/CI, ALC887 Audio working, Has SMBIOS of iMac 14,2.

 

A big thanks to you GhostRaider for this comprehensive guide.