Building a PC

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Yes! Mine got more into the aesthetics and case issues though.

Mine is somewhat outdated now, but basically an Intel chipset and Nvidia graphics card. I’d like to replace the card, but not sure what would be a good replacement heat-wise.

So basically:

  1. Long-term it may not work well, but that’s a pretty long time top worry about. I have a feeling a ‘current’ machine will be pretty feeble by the time Apple stops releasing macOS releases for x86 boxes.
  2. AMD is definitely a recipe for increased difficulty. I’m using Clover on mine currently, which is the older boot loader. If I had to rebuild it I’d probably give OpenCore a try, but I also like that Clover has a Theme so it looks like an original B&W Mac briefly on boot.
  3. Quite reasonable. Multiboot should work, in the long run, on a Hackintosh. Some weirdness setting it up, partially because neither OS really likes the idea of sharing. I only run macOS on mine, though.
  4. Cost is understandable: I want to upgrade my living room entertainment rig and considered a SteamOS box, but that’s on minimal support these days and the cost savings to use the ‘leftover’ part I have would have been negligible. A lot of savings to me is finding deals, which is weird with stuff like video cards. AMD processors open up some options, but video cards are still weird right now.

I’ve had ups and downs with software. It works currently. I started from a ‘known good’ recommended list as much as possible. I had a few stretches and, yes, every major upgrade has a small but noticeable risk of going weird if Apple changed something odd. Recent macOS major releases (the annual ‘named’ releases) have had a lot of this, like the move to APFS, the ‘hybrid’ volume arrangement, etc.

Also, I’m totally hoping I can afford a MacBook when they ship with ARM. I’ll shut down the “Daily driver” ancient Mac Mini I’m using and maybe my wife’s even-more-ancient MacBook in return for one newer laptop.

Edit: A few things I do have issues with, although in many cases I haven’t spent much time looking for fixes:

  • Some video won’t play due to Apple thinking the stream is unprotected.
  • Bluetooth can be a little wacky at times.
  • Sleep is erratic, but I only live this box on to game really…
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