Hackintosh vm - what gpu?


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Hi all,

 

I have a build underway and am consolidating a few machines into one (dual E5 2670's).

I want to use a hackintosh VM as my daily machine.

I've seen Archedraft's guide, but wanted to see what GPU's people are running.

 

My current Mackintosh is using a 650ti, but understand that might struggle with passthrough.

I have 3 monitors that I want to run from the card - any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

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  • 1 month later...

Not an expert but:

 

I have an evga gtx 760 sc. When I passed it through to the vm, it worked no problem instantly. I later used the nvidia web drivers. It seems to work fine. Open GL tests show 50-450fps depending on what test is being run. But I'm also a bit limited by single core speed on my server right now being a bottleneck.

 

From what I gather, really anything that works on a regular mackintosh is "suppose" to work. The Nvidia cards that work with OS X out of the box using built in os x drivers are the easiest to get working with OS X vm's, or so I've read.

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  • 5 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I tried a bunch of video cards with varying degrees of failure before I finally found the Zotac GT 710 2GB. It worked out of the box and was recognized correctly without any drivers/kexts etc.

 

Here's the list of cards I tried and 'discarded' for my OSX build: AMD HD4670, AMD HD7770, Nvidia GTX950, Nvidia 750Ti, AMD RX460.

 

Also, I should say that given enough effort, I probably could have gotten some of those working, because they weren't all complete failures, but I was looking for a card that I could set and forget. I didn't want to deal with OSX upgrades messing up the card etc etc. It's not the most powerful card out there (You won't be doing any current gaming on it), but it does video playback and photoshop etc perfectly :).

Edited by DoeBoye
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On 4/5/2017 at 10:29 AM, jrdnlc said:

 

I used this guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3vwevALaLU

I couldn't get video to work with my GTX 1080 so I had to use my GTX 980

 

 

 

Thank you. I am going to give it a try. Quick question. In running the hackintosh  vm, do I need a dedicated mouse and keyboard? I know I do need the dedicated graphics card. I have a couple gt720 cards.

Edited by hernandito
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Thank you. I am going to give it a try. Quick question. In running the hackintosh  vm, do I need a dedicated mouse and keyboard? I know I do need the dedicated graphics card. I have a couple gt720 cards.


Yes you do unless you plan on just accessing it remotely.
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15 hours ago, jrdnlc said:

 


Yes you do unless you plan on just accessing it remotely.

 

 

Thank you... which is the best way to have an "almost real" experience when using, the pass-hru GPU or the Splashtop streamer? By almost-real, I mean I can use it as I would a  Mac for production work. This would be accessing the VM locally on my network.

 

I know I need to assign enough CPU's and RAM.

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+1 for passthrough!!

 

I have mine setup with passthrough GPU, as well as a passthrough USB controller. It is a completely seamless experience. Other than the fact that there is complete silence when using it (because server is in another room), you wouldn't know it was a VM. I especially like passing through the whole USB controller, because it gives a user the ability to hot plug USB keys/drives/other peripherals like you would in a regular Mac.

Edited by DoeBoye
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9 hours ago, DoeBoye said:

+1 for passthrough!!

 

I have mine setup with passthrough GPU, as well as a passthrough USB controller. It is a completely seamless experience. Other than the fact that there is complete silence when using it (because server is in another room), you wouldn't know it was a VM. I especially like passing through the whole USB controller, because it gives a user the ability to hot plug USB keys/drives/other peripherals like you would in a regular Mac.

 

Nice. A few questions. What do you use for the USB controller? What is make and model? Is it a pci card on the unraid motherboard? If so, do you have to other room to plug key drives, etc? Same question w keyboard and mouse. Is audio through hdmi cable to monitor? My monitor does not have speakers. Is there a USB audio device that would output the audio to speakers and compatible w Mac OS?

 

would a USB hub work in getting a single USB cable from other room to plug everything in by the monitor?

 

lots of questions I know. But I don't want to start buying stuff that will not do the job.

 

many thanks,

 

H.

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8 minutes ago, hernandito said:

 

Nice. A few questions. What do you use for the USB controller? What is make and model? Is it a pci card on the unraid motherboard? If so, do you have to other room to plug key drives, etc? Same question w keyboard and mouse. Is audio through hdmi cable to monitor? My monitor does not have speakers. Is there a USB audio device that would output the audio to speakers and compatible w Mac OS?

 

would a USB hub work in getting a single USB cable from other room to plug everything in by the monitor?

 

lots of questions I know. But I don't want to start buying stuff that will not do the job.

 

many thanks,

 

H.

 

I use this USB card, plug and play in OS X http://www.ebay.com/itm/272407988175?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

They also make a 4 port version if your'e close to your sever.

 

You can get HDMI audio to work with certain GPUs but you can also use a usb audio dongle. One of mine uses one made by Kingwin. If you want to be sure another brand works, then just make sure it say it's OS X compatible. 

 

I extend my usb signal to a remote desktop with a set of usb over cat5/6 extenders, then use a hub which has the wiresless keyboard/mouse plugin and usb audio dongle.

 

I actually do the same with the Hdmi signal.  My servers are in the basement and I have a couple desktops 30-70 feet away on the next floor up. With the extenders, I experience no noticeable lag in usage.

 

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28 minutes ago, 1812 said:

 

I use this USB card, plug and play in OS X http://www.ebay.com/itm/272407988175?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

They also make a 4 port version if your'e close to your sever.

 

You can get HDMI audio to work with certain GPUs but you can also use a usb audio dongle. One of mine uses one made by Kingwin. If you want to be sure another brand works, then just make sure it say it's OS X compatible. 

 

I extend my usb signal to a remote desktop with a set of usb over cat5/6 extenders, then use a hub which has the wiresless keyboard/mouse plugin and usb audio dongle.

 

I actually do the same with the Hdmi signal.  My servers are in the basement and I have a couple desktops 30-70 feet away on the next floor up. With the extenders, I experience no noticeable lag in usage.

 

 

 

Thank you 1812!

 

It all sounds great. My server is not that far for me. I will research around for the USB Audio. The one super bummer is not having a real Mac to do the installation of VMWare Fusion steps. I was toying with the idea of going to an Apple store, and purchasing and returning a Macbook... but I feel weird about it. I wish there was a place where I could download one.

 

I have tried following the original MacOS-unRAID video, but have not had much luck with it. I do have a physical working Yosemite hackintosh. I have tried to upgrade this, and I break the entire thing.

 

Thanks again!

 

H.

 

 

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12 hours ago, hernandito said:

 

Thank you... which is the best way to have an "almost real" experience when using, the pass-hru GPU or the Splashtop streamer? By almost-real, I mean I can use it as I would a  Mac for production work. This would be accessing the VM locally on my network.

 

I know I need to assign enough CPU's and RAM.

 

As others have stated, pass-through is best. I have a few VM's running, one is dedicated to gaming and another one for OSX. Even my kids have their own VM which they access it via the network with a raspberry pi I converted to a thin-client. It's amazing

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On 4/7/2017 at 9:18 PM, hernandito said:

 

Nice. A few questions. What do you use for the USB controller? What is make and model? Is it a pci card on the unraid motherboard? If so, do you have to other room to plug key drives, etc? Same question w keyboard and mouse.

 

I purchased a pci-e USB3.0 controller with a Renesas chipset, but I use it for my Windows VM. For the mac, I'm using a motherboard header cable to 2 port USB something like this. My motherboard has 2 separate USB controllers, so one I use for the UnRaid USB Key, and the other for OSX.

 

On 4/7/2017 at 9:18 PM, hernandito said:

 

If so, do you have to other room to plug key drives, etc? Same question w keyboard and mouse.

 

I run a 50' active USB cable from one of the ports to a USB hub. I use a USB sharing switch and have the logitech dongle plugged into it for keyboard/mouse. The switch is then plugged into the Mac USB hub (as well as the Windows USB Hub coming off the USB 3.0 card). That way, at the touch of a button, I can switch the K/M between my Mac to the Windows VMs.

 

 

On 4/7/2017 at 9:18 PM, hernandito said:

 

Is audio through hdmi cable to monitor? My monitor does not have speakers. Is there a USB audio device that would output the audio to speakers and compatible w Mac OS?

Yes. I tried with literally 5 or 6 different dongles, but audio quality on the Mac was lacking. Not bad, but cracks and pops periodically. Drove me crazy :). My monitor does not have speakers either.

 

I ended up getting an HDMI matrix switch with 4 inputs (2 screens and 2 outputs from each VM), with an RCA output that splits the audio from whatever HDMI cable is currently active, and outputs it to my regular computer speakers. I can output any combination of video feeds to my 2 monitors that way (e.g: Main monitor PC, Secondary monitor PC. Main PC, Secondary Mac Main etc.. etc..). Audio will be output from whatever HDMI feed is on my Main monitor. This works most of the time. Every now and then the Mac forgets it has audio, and I need to reboot, but it is rare...

 

 

On 4/7/2017 at 9:18 PM, hernandito said:

would a USB hub work in getting a single USB cable from other room to plug everything in by the monitor?

Yup. See above! :)

 

I'm thinking of maybe doing a writeup with pics one of these days because it took me awhile to get this setup like I want, and personally, I think it's a pretty slick setup :) and might benefit others who are also looking at replacing their Macs/PCs with passthrough VMs.

 

HTH!

 

 

 

Edited by DoeBoye
  • Upvote 2
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Man, I am loving this... I finally got it all working. It took ages and days until I finally came up with a method of installing after running into issues w/ the install videos. Long story short, I have to source online a vmware sierra image, which I then had to boot with the Sierra install disk as the Primary HD (it had Clover) and the sourced .img file as the secondary.

 

Just like everyone said, it does feel like a real Mac... Passing through my GT 710 GPU. I am using an old kvm switch which shows up as a hub and I pass that for kb and mouse. This way I can simply toggle between my Win desktop and the Mac VM. Waiting for new USB card and USB sound to get it all finalized.

 

Loving my new computer!

 

Thank you all.

 

 

Edited by hernandito
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  • 3 months later...

Glad to see my original post ended up being of some help, although it is my turn to ask for assistance!

 

 

I got by with a Windows 10vm as I had little time to sort out OSX.

Now I've given it a try, but as with my previous hackintosh builds I've run in to issue at the initial boot screen.

I have followed Spaceinvader One's tips - 

 

 

The apple logo get's halfway, then hangs. Text shows on the left around a kernel issue about "don't steal mac".

I know what the OSK key is, but am thinking that I have input it incorrectly.

Any ideas?

 

My hardware is 

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2670 (x2)
Motherboard: Asrock EP2C602-4L/D16
GPU: Radeon 6450

 

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Since 10.12.4 Apple have changed how the OSK key is read. So we cant use the osk key in the xml method.

We need to use the Fake SMC kext in place is this.

so the bottom of the XML should now look like this.

  <qemu:commandline>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='usb-kbd'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
    <qemu:arg value='usb-mouse'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-smbios'/>
    <qemu:arg value='type=2'/>
    <qemu:arg value='-cpu'/>
    <qemu:arg value='Penryn,vendor=GenuineIntel'/>
  </qemu:commandline>

So you will need to use the VMware install method but before converting it install the fake SMC Kext.

Please check this video here 

 

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OK - So I'm 99% of the way there.

I have managed to get into OSX through Unraid on VNC.

Also, I have managed to successfully pass through my GPU with sound (AMD 6450).

 

Where I am struggling slightly is my USB passthrough (done through manual edit and not virtmanager on osx, which doesn't seem to work?).

I have the controller passed through independently in own IOMMU group.

The controller shows up in the about this mac system report, but no devices show up on desktop/finder.

 

Disk utility struggles to load an i get the beach ball.

 

The failure to show mounted devices is also the case when I mount the EFI when i want to use Clover configurator.

 

Any ideas on where I am going wrong?

 

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