Ryzen 7 Hackintosh

[WanderingMendicant]

Hi All,

I found this forum while doing research on the several mini ITX AM4 motherboards. I've been using a MacBook Pro for my audio recording and various computing needs over the past few years, but it just doesn't have the cpu/core strength for Pro Tools at this point. So I've decided to build a mini ITX Ryzen Hackintosh. Parts are still arriving, but I wanted to list the build and ask a couple questions. Here's the PC Part Picker:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/FFcbPs

• AMD Ryzen 1700x
• Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4
• ASRock AB350 Mini ITX
• G.Skill Trident Z 16GB DDR4-3200
• Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2
• Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD
• Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Low Profile
• Cooler Master Elite 110
• Silverstone 500W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX

I know the PSU is a bit of overkill, but I wanted modular and also the option to flip it without overly straining the PSU. That's actually my primary question. I've read that Cooler Master recommends inverting the power supply to use its intake fan to pull out hot air from the MB to the exterior, while the 120mm case fan is used as an intake. Meanwhile I will be able to rotate the L9x65 90 degrees (in both cases, fan will be vertically-oriented.. just rotating sideways). Case has not yet arrived, but I'm just wondering if others with the Cooler Master Elite have arrived at a consensus with regards to the most effective use of the 120mm case fan and PSU for intake/exhaust.

I'm also having second thoughts about my CPU choice; maybe I should have gone for the lower wattage 1700 instead of the 1700x. I don't really plan to OC, though, so let's see how hot it gets with the Noctua.

All parts should arrive by Friday and I'll post pictures of the build process. My first time building a PC since.. the 90's? Guess it's a lot easier now. I remember setting jumpers and actually reading manuals.. pre Google and YouTube days!

Thanks.

 

[Ibraah3m]

This looks great! Good luck with the build

If you chose the modular PSU for tidy cables the Corsair SF450 would be a great option, it is SFX form factor vs the SFX-L of the silverstone, leaving you with a few milimeters of extra space.

 

[neilhart]

Hi All,

I found this forum while doing research on the several mini ITX AM4 motherboards. I've been using a MacBook Pro for my audio recording and various computing needs over the past few years, but it just doesn't have the cpu/core strength for Pro Tools at this point. So I've decided to build a mini ITX Ryzen Hackintosh. Parts are still arriving, but I wanted to list the build and ask a couple questions. Here's the PC Part Picker:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/FFcbPs

• AMD Ryzen 1700x
• Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4
• ASRock AB350 Mini ITX
• G.Skill Trident Z 16GB DDR4-3200
• Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2
• Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD
• Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Low Profile
• Cooler Master Elite 110
• Silverstone 500W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX

I know the PSU is a bit of overkill, but I wanted modular and also the option to flip it without overly straining the PSU. That's actually my primary question. I've read that Cooler Master recommends inverting the power supply to use its intake fan to pull out hot air from the MB to the exterior, while the 120mm case fan is used as an intake. Meanwhile I will be able to rotate the L9x65 90 degrees (in both cases, fan will be vertically-oriented.. just rotating sideways). Case has not yet arrived, but I'm just wondering if others with the Cooler Master Elite have arrived at a consensus with regards to the most effective use of the 120mm case fan and PSU for intake/exhaust.

I'm also having second thoughts about my CPU choice; maybe I should have gone for the lower wattage 1700 instead of the 1700x. I don't really plan to OC, though, so let's see how hot it gets with the Noctua.

All parts should arrive by Friday and I'll post pictures of the build process. My first time building a PC since.. the 90's? Guess it's a lot easier now. I remember setting jumpers and actually reading manuals.. pre Google and YouTube days!

Thanks.

I am curious why you say "Hackintosh"? Have you built an AMD hackintosh before? I am doing about the same thing and just got my Ryzen 7 1700x bench top bring-up system to power up. I found that SUSE Linux (actually the current opensuse) will boot and install with not much effort. I did this to confirm that my hardware works. Installing macOS is more of an operation.

Neil

 

[WanderingMendicant]

This looks great! Good luck with the build

If you chose the modular PSU for tidy cables the Corsair SF450 would be a great option, it is SFX form factor vs the SFX-L of the silverstone, leaving you with a few milimeters of extra space.

Thanks! PSU already arrived.. I wanted the 120mm size fan on a SFF PSU for the extra cooling power. Will let you know what sort of temps I hit when I build it over the weekend.

I am curious why you say "Hackintosh"? Have you built an AMD hackintosh before? I am doing about the same thing and just got my Ryzen 7 1700x bench top bring-up system to power up. I found that SUSE Linux (actually the current opensuse) will boot and install with not much effort. I did this to confirm that my hardware works. Installing macOS is more of an operation.

Neil

I've installed OS X on a number of Windows machines before... this will be the first time I try it on an AMD. If you check out the InsanelyMac forum, there's a lot of AMD Ryzen support over there. I plan to use their kernel/kext research and will let you know how easily it works out. I don't believe any of them have done it on a Mini ITX board, but in theory it shouldn't add any difficulties. Famous last words, though!

 

[msystems]

If you want to share your boot loader and kext configuration when you get it running, that would be cool as well in addition to the hardware-type posts.

When people post hackintosh builds, I wish they share this part too. It's really a significant part of the build.

Anyway I think you can do it. Having a Mac already is hugely helpful with making the install USB.

 

[WanderingMendicant]

If you want to share your boot loader and kext configuration when you get it running, that would be cool as well in addition to the hardware-type posts.

When people post hackintosh builds, I wish they share this part too. It's really a significant part of the build.

Anyway I think you can do it. Having a Mac already is hugely helpful with making the install USB.

For sure, if I get it working I'll do a walkthrough for Mini ITX AM4 Hackintosh. Looks like the USPS sent my CPU to the wrong place so it's delayed a couple days -.- I also didn't buy the 2nd SSD yet and there are often issues with installing OS X on an NVME... but let's see.

 

[WanderingMendicant]

Got the build up and running in 45 minutes! Will upload pics after I add a second SSD later this week and try to install OS X.

 

[msystems]

Easy part done then haha

 

[Boil]

Got the build up and running in 45 minutes! Will upload pics after I add a second SSD later this week and try to install OS X.

Easy part done then haha

Yeah, threw me at first, because I saw the first sentence & my brain stopped me there...

I was all excited that getting macOS up & running on a Ryzen-based Hackintosh was so quick & easy...

And then my brain processed the second sentence...

 

[WanderingMendicant]

Fingers crossed!

 

[WanderingMendicant]

Won't be fully functional until I get my second internal SSD and still have to work out a few kinks (*cough* nVidia driver *cough*) but got it up and running within an hour! Not bad!

 

[Boil]

Won't be fully functional until I get my second internal SSD and still have to work out a few kinks (*cough* nVidia driver *cough*) but got it up and running within an hour! Not bad!

When can we expect the video tutorial on getting macOS up & running on Ryzen...?!?

 

[WanderingMendicant]

When can we expect the video tutorial on getting macOS up & running on Ryzen...?!?

Once my other hard drive arrives and I get a stable boot with everything working, I'll post a walkthrough. I mostly used resources/tutorials on InsanelyMac and AMD-OSX. Here's a good starting point:

https://forum.amd-osx.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1693

 

[Phuncz]

Interesting. I was expecting it to be difficult or problematic under the new platform, considering how finnicky unofficial macOS is on the Intel platform where it's designed for. Is it still a pain with (small) OS updates that you risk breaking the system ?

 

[WanderingMendicant]

Interesting. I was expecting it to be difficult or problematic under the new platform, considering how finnicky unofficial macOS is on the Intel platform where it's designed for. Is it still a pain with (small) OS updates that you risk breaking the system ?

Quite honestly I thought it would be tougher as well, but there's a great wealth and depth of resources out there. I didn't have to write much code at all. There are definitely update issues.. once I get everything running on 12.6, I won't update until a couple months after 13.x is out and modded. I don't see the point in minor OS updates anyway.

 

[WanderingMendicant]

And there was much rejoicing!

 

[WanderingMendicant]

Hi All,

Just wanted to give you a brief walkthrough of my installation of OS X Sierra (10.12.6) on my brand new Mini ITX build. I’m just putting this in my personal build thread, but if it’s useful to put this info somewhere else, let me know. Here’s my hardware:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/FFcbPs

• AMD Ryzen 1700x
• Noctua NH-L9x65 SE-AM4
• ASRock AB350 Mini ITX
• G.Skill Trident Z 16GB DDR4-3200
• Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2
• Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD
• Zotac GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Low Profile
• Cooler Master Elite 110
• Silverstone 500W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX

You will also need a USB storage device (at least 8 GB) and it helps to have a running OS X machine.

First I installed Windows 10 on the m.2 SSD using an image from Microsoft. Next, I followed the instructions over on AMD-OSX:

https://forum.amd-osx.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1693

Note that you can make the bootable OS X USB installer with TransMac on Windows or using Disk Utility or Terminal on OS X.

The latest download (4.5.0) from AMD-OSX did NOT include Clover or Enoch inside of the PostInstall folder as pictured in the walkthrough, so I downloaded Clover separately and threw it in this folder.

My BIOS didn’t need much adjustment. Upon choosing the USB device as my bootable device, I entered the input (as per instructions):

-v npci=0x2000 nv_disable=1

Note that OS X does not have native drivers for NVMe devices, so the OS X Disk Utility only recognized my 850 EVO 500GB SSD (SATA). I formatted this as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), GUID Partition Map, with the name ‘macOS’ and the installation took about 30 minutes. Thus I have Windows 10 on the m.2 SSD and OS X on the 2.5" SSD. I don't recommend partitioning a single HD and installing double operating systems.

Boot again through the USB device and choose AMDSierra as your boot option (NOT macOS). This takes you back to the installation screen, but instead of installing, open up Terminal and issue:

sh /Volumes/SierraAMD/PostInstall/post.sh

You will get your Kernel cache ID and a little note from Shaneee letting you know that you can reboot at this point. Please note that you SHOULD NOT do the remaining steps in the linked walkthrough (copying kernel/kexts in Terminal).

Reboot again through the USB device, but this time select the volume you installed OS X on (I called mine macOS). Run the Kext Utility (download linked in walkthrough.

I personally used Clover as my boot loader. So next I ran the Clover package that I had previously placed in my PostInstall folder. If you forgot to do that, it doesn’t really matter. Just throw the necessary files/programs on a USB drive and drag them onto your computer or download if you’re connected to internet.

I followed the following instructions for Clover:

https://forum.amd-osx.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1613

Using ‘UEFI’ instructions in the first video. The only difference is that I DID retroactively check EmuVariableUefi-64. For my GPU/motherboard combination, not checking this box resulted in OS X recognizing my GPU but NOT recognizing the 4GB of RAM.

I used the second video to properly configure my Clover boot loader and used almost identical settings as I have an nVidia card. Note that in the first tutorial, the link to the nVidia drivers do NOT include the correct drivers for 10.12.6. You can find those drivers here:

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/120845/en-us

That’s about it. The intel wifi board on my ASRock is not OS X compatible so I haven’t messed around with it… I’ll just use ethernet anyway. I’m in the midst of installing my Apogee Duet 2 DAW and Pro Tools and will report back with the success on using the Hackintosh for its intended purpose of audio recording/mixing/production.

All in all the process was much simpler than I had anticipated and only required a few deviations from the walkthroughs on AMD-OSX. Shaneee and vitorlage have made OS X installation on Ryzen machines a breeze.

Cheers,

- Amory

 

[Phuncz]

Thanks for posting the write-up, it's really appreciated that you took the time to do this.

 

[trinilopez99]

Thank you for posting your hardware and process! Love the small form factor solution for this build, thank you.

 

[msystems]

Very nice, looks like compatibility is really good so far. Good write up. Helps to know a SSD is needed.