Gift Guide: Build A Hackintosh


A new Mac makes a great gift, but if you want to save a little cash this Christmasand give a lucky person an even faster computer than you could buy from Apple, you need to construct a hackintosh. In this gift guide we’re offering up several builds to fit any need.

When building a Hackintosh, you’ll generally choose between three kinds of builds:

  1. A small but powerful entry-level machine, comparable to a Mac mini.
  2. A midrange hackintosh in a reasonably-sized package, comparable to a headless iMac.
  3. A high-end, ultra-powerful hackintosh that can best a Mac Pro at half the price.

In this hackintosh building gift guide, we’re going to look at specific builds for each of these scenarios. Additionally, we’ll provide customisation options so you can upgrade and modify each build as you wish. Building a hackintosh is a sensitive process; if you change components, you may have more trouble getting your build to work.

Pricing is indicative, based on quotes from local suppliers via our favourite hardware shopping comparison site staticICE. Shop around for components, but keep postage in mind: buying from just one or two suppliers can work out cheaper than getting every element separately.

Hack Mini


A Hack Mini should be small but still pack a lot of power. This build comes in under $US500 and offers quite a bit of power for the cost:

  • Case and Power Supply: Aywun MI-008 with 200W power supply ($50)
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI ($120)
  • CPU: Intel Core i3-3225 ($135)
  • RAM: 8GB Corsair 1600Mhz DDR3 ($40)
  • HDD: 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ($85)
  • Wi-Fi Card: TP-Link 802.11n Dual-Band Card ($30)
  • Optical Drive: Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial ATA Internal Drive ($25)
  • Operating System: OS X Mountain Lion ($21)

Upgrade Options

  • Get a bigger hard drive: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM Hard Drive ($175)
  • Get an SSD: 256GB OCZ Vertex Series 4 SSD ($250)
  • Upgrade the processor: Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz ($225)
  • Double your RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz Desktop Memory ($90)

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Mid-Range Hackintosh


If you want a little more power in a small case, here’s a great mid-range build for just a little extra money:

  • Case: BitFenix Prodigy ($87)
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI LGA 1155 Motherboard ($135)
  • CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz ($225)
  • GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 2048MB ($150)
  • HDD: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM Hard Drive ($175)
  • RAM: 8GB Corsair 1600Mhz DDR3 ($40)
  • Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series 650W Modular Power Supply ($170)
  • Wi-Fi Card: TP-Link 802.11n Dual-Band Card ($30)
  • Optical Drive: Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial ATA Internal Drive ($25)
  • Operating System: OS X Mountain Lion ($21)

Upgrade Options

  • Get an SSD: 256GB OCZ Vertex Series 4 SSD ($250)
  • Get a more powerful graphics card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660Ti 2048MB GDDR5 ($360)
  • Get an even more powerful graphics card: EVGA GeForce GTX680 SuperClocked 2048MB ($600)
  • Double your RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz Desktop Memory ($90)
  • Upgrade the processor: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5 GHz CPU ($325)

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Hack Pro


For the most powerful hackintosh, build a Hack Pro. For half the price of the entry-level Mac Pro you can build a faster machine with additional features. Here’s one of the fastest builds you can create, and upgrade options that can make it even faster and more capable:

  • Case: Cooler Master RC-692-KKN2 Case ($110)
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H Motherboard ($100)
  • CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5 GHz CPU ($325)
  • GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 660Ti 2048MB GDDR5 ($360)
  • RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz Desktop Memory ($90)
  • HDD: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM Hard Drive ($175)
  • SSD: 256GB OCZ Vertex Series 4 SSD ($250)
  • Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series 650W Modular Power Supply ($170)
  • FireWire: SYBA FireWire 400/800 Card ($30)
  • Wi-Fi Card: TP-Link 802.11n Dual-Band Card ($30)
  • Optical Drive: Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial ATA Internal Drive ($25)
  • Operating System: OS X Mountain Lion ($21)

Upgrade Options

  • Get a more powerful graphics card: EVGA GeForce GTX680 SuperClocked 2048MB ($600)
  • Get a bigger SSD: Crucial 512 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive ($450)
  • Double your RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz ($180)
  • Add more hard drives: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM Hard Drive ($175/each)

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Once you have the parts, consult our computer building guide to learn how to put them together and our hackintosh guide to learn how to turn that hardware into a Mac. Merry Christmas!


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