The Hackintosh Project
One option I hadn’t considered in my last post is the idea of building a Hackintosh – otherwise known as a custom PC running OS X. The idea of having a machine running three operating systems (Windows, Linux, and OS X) has an even greater appeal for me.
I found a wealth of information on building Hackintoshes at TonyMacX86. I followed the custoMac mATX parts list for my build. I’ve also watched more than my fair share of Youtube videos on Hackintosh builds, further buoying my confidence.
For my main system, I’m going with a Core i5-4690K microprocessor, EVGA GT 740 SC video card, 8GB of Crucial Ballistix Tactical RAM and a Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-GAMING 5 motherboard.
I am considering the Thermaltake MicroATX Cube Case (CA-1D5-00S1WN-00) to house all the components.
It seems like a solid case with plenty of room to work with. The full parts list is in the image below, and it’s also available on my Amazon Wish List. I skipped the hard drive on my build list as I have a few spares (including an SSD) that I can put towards the new “beast”.
The total for the whole build is $728, which is $28 over budget. I plan to order the parts over the course of the next few weeks. Of course, thoughts, advice and feedback are welcomed.
-Krishna
Onon E. Mous
May 24, 2015 at 8:27 amIf you do dual-boot, what Linux distro do you plan on using?
Onon E. Mous
May 24, 2015 at 8:27 amSorry, triple boot
Krishna
May 24, 2015 at 8:28 amI’m thinking Ubuntu, but I’ve heard great things about MINT. Whatever gets me up to speed the fastest and works well out of the box. Of course, I’m open to recommendations…
Onon E. Mous
May 24, 2015 at 8:33 amCool, you’re on the right track. While I use Ubuntu, I have heard great things about Mint
Kevin S
May 25, 2015 at 4:52 pmIf you want to triple boot, you should check out Elementary OS: elementaryos.org
(It’s free– If you don’t want to donate before you’ve tried it, you just have to enter “$0”, and then you can download it)
Krishna
May 25, 2015 at 6:29 pmCool. Bookmarked for future reference. Thanks, K3vin!
Kevin S
May 25, 2015 at 4:54 pmAlso, I’ve recently completed (& hackintoshed) a very similar build. Feel free to e-mail me directly with any questions! (I assume you can get my e-mail from the comments back-end)
Krishna
May 25, 2015 at 6:28 pmThanks, K3vin! I will most probably take you up on some help as I progress through the build.
Sebastiaan Stok
May 25, 2015 at 3:45 amThe cooling paste should be already provided with CPU cooler itself, so need to buy this separately.
Krishna
May 25, 2015 at 6:29 pmGood to know. I can save a few bucks then. Thanks, Sebastiaan!
Mike McDonald
May 26, 2015 at 5:52 pmNot wishing to ignite the ongoing Linux vs *BSD wars, but ever looked at a BSD flavor?
Krishna
May 26, 2015 at 7:10 pmhi Mike! I haven’t but I will definitely take a look at BSD now. Thanks!