Experienced users, just how stable is OSX86 on appropriate HW?

[joshier]

Just how is osx86 with the most compatible hardware off of shop shelves?

 

Are we talking, mostly all works but some major glitches such as audio clipping, video play not up to quality, generally a bit buggy all-round? Or are we talking almost indistinguishable from a real apple computer?

 

Appreciate your help.

 

 

Thanks.

[broken]

Generally speaking, unless the user rebooted the PC and watched it POST, they probably wouldn't know it wasn't actual Apple hardware.

 

 

Stick the machine in a cabinet and they would pretty much be none the wiser.

[CharredPC]

"Appropriate hardware" is the key term here. I've seen OSX 'run' on an AMD desktop, and it was about as stable as Windows ME, not to mention most things not working due to lack of drivers. But on my Acer laptop, it's as smooth and stable as any Macbook Pro.

 

If you really do your research and buy proven hardware, you won't be able to tell the difference. Most of the folk with problems are people who happen to own Random Computer X and decide to try forcing OSX on it. At one point I put an Apple Display, Apple keyboard and Apple mouse on an OSX86 desktop and hid the tower. Fooled absolutely everyone, and got compliments for being a "Mac guy"

[tazevedo317]

my computers been rock solid for almost 2 years now, ive hit a few bumps in the road but pretty much recovered from pretty much any problem this thing has thrown at me, none of my friends could ever tell its not a real mac. i do tell them though cause i like them knowing i built my own computer. but overall if done correctly. its 100% stable.

[Zaap]

Like others here, I've been using a Hackintosh as my primary machine since I first joined up here. (May '08).

 

Every day I'm glad I gave it a shot. Like others, my Hacks have been rock-solid from the start. I've always made sure to select compatible parts and follow great guides, and that of course is the key to success.

 

For comparison, I use a legit MacPro (Xeon 771 based) all day at work and my P45-based Hack at home, and frankly, I like using the Hack better. Because it has a better video card and more RAM, it's actually snappier. Each is rock-stable and it's the exact same OSX user-experience. (I should be getting upgraded to an i7 MacPro at work early next year so we'll see how that compares).

 

For me, using a Mac has never been about fawning over the hardware. I couldn't care less what the machine itself looks like (provided it's not completely abysmal) so long as I have the features I need and can run OSX and get my work done with it. So far, so good.

[ErikTande]

This thread makes me really hopeful, thanks for the reviews guys.

[voxelized]

An i7 Gigabyte UD5 setup is rock solid. Zero crashes. There are quirks with the networking (i.e FlexLM doesn't generate a hostid), but everything is stable.

 

As for laptops - it's hit and miss. Because you thrown in non-standard kexts and aren't using MacBook-like hardware, it's truly "hacky"

[Pennan]

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 atm but thinking of upgrading.

 

A new Q1 mac pro would be sweet but at an insane price.

 

I can sell my MP 1,1 2.66GHz and buy a i7 920 for the same money. Basically a free trade. I'm seeing the 920 rigs getting 12 000 in Xbench vs my MP's 5500. Is it worth it? I would go for a Gigabyte EX58 UD5 rig. Can it really compare to my MP in stability?

 

Thanks!

[LogicalUser]

Part of the question is... stable doing what?

 

If you work relies on expensive & specialized PCI-E sound cards for example, your needs are more demanding than average, and may require more care in choosing components to get full compatibility. Similar deal with video capture/editing rigs where one needs a plethora of Firewire 800 ports.

 

With that said... totally out of my area of expertise, but the kind of few situations where one could in theory find stability or incompatibility issues.

 

If however, your not running specialized hardware add-ons things get much easier.

[Pennan]

Thanks for your reply!

 

no I don't use sound cards, raid cards, firewire ports at all!

 

Mainly I game WoW, write documents, program in Xcode, Photoshop and that's about it.

But If my hackintosh would to crasch during some important image editing or document unsaved... I would wish I had gone for the Mac Pro.

 

But it seems that once you get the kexts for all devices installed, there is no more trouble?

 

Also, wireless cards, which one should I get?

[Zaap]

You shouldn't have any problem with any of those apps. Personally, I haven't found an application that doesn't run fine on a Hack.

 

As for PCIe video cards, I've built systems for a small business using Blackmagic Decklink PCIe cards for Final Cut editing. Over a year and those machines are still going strong, no problems. My own machine is running a Firewave firewire surround unit for 5.1 audio- not a hint of problems. If the hardware is made for Mac, then for the most it seems to run on a Hackintosh as well.

 

The only thing I'm wary about in that instance, is exotic RAID controllers and such.

 

It's really more a testament to OSX than the hardware (although quality hardware sure helps.) It's just a remarkably resiliant OS. It really doesn't crash much. When it does crash, there's usually a pretty clear reason. (IE: a missing or incorrect kext) etc. etc. When everything is in place on reliable hardware, I trust OSX running on a PC more than I trust Windows or Linux (for the desktop) that the hardware is presumably made to run.

 

The only time to get 'wary' is when it's time to update, but take a few precautions (heck, get an EFI-X if you don't want to think about it any more than a real Mac) and even that goes pretty seamless. I just always install updates on a test partition first, before messing with my main install. That process has carried me through every update since 10.5.2 with zero down time on my main systems due to updates.

 

There are a ton of working wireless cards. I've used this one, for great draft N performance. It comes with OSX drivers. (Realtek). The only 'downside' is that it doesn't recognize OOB as an airport extreme card, as some wireless cards with the right chipset do.