Correct Parts to Build Hackintosh macOS High Sierra with Coffee Lake Processors
What Parts for Hackintosh High sierra Should You Buy ?
If you trying to build your very own Custom Mac or Hackintosh High Sierra with Coffee Lake Processors, but you are not clear on correct parts to build hackintosh computer, then read this blog post on guide for buying parts to build Hackintosh Computer using Coffee Lake Processors.
So the first question that comes to mind is which Coffee Lake Processor is good for building Hackintosh?
It really does not matter on what Coffee Lake Processor will be good for Hackintosh macOS High Sierra, as all the Coffee Lake Processors including i3, i5 and i7 should work perfectly well on Hacktionsh. These processors work without any problem and have support for Wake and Sleep on Coffee Lakes’s Integrated Ultra HD 630 Graphics.
Since all of these processors work well with Hackintosh, you want to know what you should buy for your custom build. So this is what I will tell you, it totally depends on what you need this Hackintosh for. If you are a Professional Gamer, Vlogger, Programmer or you just want to build a Hackintosh for hobby, it all comes down to your budget.
So let me break it down for you to choose the right Coffee Lake processor for Hackintosh.
| Use of the Hackintosh | Coffee Lake Processor For Hackintosh |
| Web and Media Browsing | i3-8100 |
| Professional Photo Editing and using applications like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Corel Draw etc | i5-8600K |
| Video Editing, Professional Vlogging, Gaming, Software Development and Designing, Web Development and Design, Intensive Graphic Design and using applications like Final Cut Pro, Xcode, Visual Studio etc. | i7-8700K |
If you want to explore the full potential of the processor you can also overclock the i5-8600k or i7-8700k @4.9Ghz for more resource intensive programming use. It is not necessary to overclock your processor but most Hackintoshers prefer it.
If you are trying to make a decision between i3-8350K 4.0GHz and i5-8400 2.8GHz, then let me inform you macOS High Sierra is going to work much better on i5-8400 due to the increased number of cores it has. But if you just want to build the hackintosh for gaming, then i3-8350K 4.0GHz will perform better.
I don’t recommend you to buy the recently launched CPU’s by Intel in April 2018. The reason for this is, they are providing and a clock bump of 0.1-02 GHZ for an extra cost of $30-50, hence it’s not worth it. Also important to know, you cannot overclock these CPU’s, therefore forget it.
Check out the new CPU’s on Amazon (i3-8300 3.7GHz, i5-8500 3.0GHz, i5-8600 3.1GHz)
So here is my take, Out of the box Coffee Lake Processors i5 and i7 would work on your Hackintosh running macOS High Sierra but if you decided to save some extra dollars and bought an i3, you would need to perform some modification to frame buffer acceleration. I would not recommend you this as it is pretty time consuming and confusing. Try to save some dollars or Ram and SSD and chip in more into your Processor. Note, in case you still want to go with i3, you would need to do the frame buffer modification. Once you have done the modifications, the processor should perform as i5 and i7.
The UHD 630 iGPU is a pretty good option for those who do not want to use an external Graphic card for their Hackintosh build. If you want to do this, you would need to tweak some change to the SMBIOS to iMac 18, 1 in your config.plist file. This will help you to avoid any graphical glitches on high resolution displays.
What Motherboard Features you should consider to Build Hackintosh macOS High Sierra with Coffee Lake Processors
Here are some of my recommendation for you to consider before your buy a Motherboard for Coffee Lake processor. You should consider buying a motherboard that has a DisplayPort as you may have decided to buy an external Graphic card and use it as your primary output for display, but you never know when the Card fails or you need to return or exchange it. During that time you would want to use the DisplayPort on you Motherboard and get the max resolution on your screen. Having a motherboard with no display port or HDMI 2.0 port will prevent you from getting max resolution and you will be stuck at 1080p60 on HDMI 1.4 port.
The Audio Chipset recommended for ultimate sound quality is ALC1220/S220 over ALC892/ALC887 which you would usually find on a cheap motherboard. The ALC892/ALC887 does not sound crystal clear and the maximum volume also is not loud on the Hackintosh. Users who like to use their headphones instead of Desktop Speakers would be disappointed that the even the maximum volume does not provide enough punch.
WLAN Slot – The most important part of owning a hackintosh is being able to use the WiFi and Bluetooth to connect to your apple devices like iPhone, iPad etc. Make sure the Motherboard has PCIE slot for WiFi Card. So, please do not compromise on buying a good Quality WiFi + Bluetooth Card. Here are top recommended WiFi and Bluetooth Cards for Hackintosh.
Unlocked DVMT – Avoid buying a Motherboard whose DVMT is locked. Usually MSI Z370 motherboards come with locked DVMT and the Pre-allocated Memory cannot be set more than 64 MB, therefore avoid buying MSI motherboards and go for Gigabyte or ASUS. Go ahead with MSI motherboards if you find any whose DVMT can be unlocked.
List of Parts you can buy in order to successfully build Hackintosh macOS High Sierra with Coffee Lake Processors.
As I mentioned earlier, It depends on your budget and purpose to build custom Hackintosh computer. Having said that, I have categorized the list of Parts to buy for Hackintosh based on the type of Custom Mac Computer you want to build.
As the name says, Custom Hackintosh Mini is a bare-bone Custom Hackintosh. The size of Hackintosh Mini Case is approximately the size of a shoe box. The Case contains Z370 mini-iTX motherboard and Coffee Lake Processor, but there is no graphic card. The case has efficient power supply unit. Hackintosh mini comes with limited parts, power and cost.
Note: Due to the little size of the Hackintosh Mini Case mentioned below, over clockable “K” Processors are not recommended.
Hackintosh Compatible Parts for Custom Mac Mini
| All Links Guarantee Lowest Price on Amazon | |
| Motherboards | |
| Gigabyte H370N WIFI mini-ITX | |
| ASUS ROG Strix H370-I Gaming mini-ITX | |
| CPU Coolers | |
| Thermaltake Slim X3 Low Profile (Air) | |
| RAM | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (8GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (16GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (32GB) | |
| CPU’s | |
| Intel Core i3-8100 | |
| Intel Core i5-8400 | |
| Drives | |
| Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 250GB SSD) |
| Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 500GB (SSD) |
| Seagate Barracuda 1TB (HDD) | SanDisk 250GB (SSD) |
| Cases | |
| Apex MI-008 with 250w Power Supply | Cooler Master Elite 110 |
| Power Supply | |
| 500W Power Supply | |
The Custom Hackintosh Mini Deluxe is a no-trade off as it comes with a Z370 mini-ITX motherboard and an over-clocked Intel Quad Core Coffee Lake Processor. Using BitFenix Phenom, would be an exceptional choice for Case while building this Hackintosh Mini Deluxe System, as it’s not precisely little. It’s about the space available in this case for adding various hard drives, and a full size Graphic Card. The Z370 motherboard is additionally equipped for overclocking in the event that you utilize a “K” CPU, and there is even space for a water cooler for the CPU.
Note: The included Intel m.2 card comes with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth yet just the Bluetooth features are accessible under Mac Operating System.
Hackintosh Compatible Parts for Custom Mac Mini Deluxe
| All Links Guarantee Lowest Price on Amazon | |
| Motherboards | |
| ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-I GAMING mini-ITX | |
| Gigabyte Z370N WIFI mini-ITX | |
| CPU Coolers | |
| Thermaltake Slim X3 Low Profile (Air) | Corsair H60 (Water) |
| RAM | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (8GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (16GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (32GB) | |
| CPU’s | |
| Intel Core i7-8700K | |
| Intel Core i5-8600K | |
| Intel Core i3-8350K | |
| Drives | |
| Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 250GB SSD) |
| Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 500GB (SSD) |
| Seagate Barracuda 1TB (HDD) | SanDisk 250GB (SSD) |
| Cases | |
| BitFenix Phenom (White) | BitFenix Phenom (Black) |
| Power Supply | |
| 500W Power Supply | Corsair CS 550 Watt |
| Graphic Cards | |
| Complete List of Nvidia Graphic Cards to Buy For Building Hackintosh Computer | |
| Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB | |
Hackintosh mATX Computer is a mid-sized custom Mac build with a Intel Hexacore or Quad core Processors.Iit has the capability to expand or install max amount of RAM. If you are not making use of the PCIE slot, it is recommend to use the PCIE WiFi and Bluetooth Card.
Note: Please note the “K’ Processors do not come together with CPU Coolers. you need to buy CPU Coolers separately.
Hackintosh Compatible Parts for Custom Mac mATX
| All Links Guarantee Lowest Price on Amazon | |
| Motherboards | |
| Gigabyte H370M DS3H mATX | |
| Gigabyte Z370M-DS3H mATX | |
| ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-G GAMING (WI-FI AC) mATX | |
| CPU Coolers | |
| Thermaltake Slim X3 Low Profile (Air) | Corsair H60 (Water) |
| RAM | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (8GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (16GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (32GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (64GB) | |
| CPU’s | |
| Intel Core i7-8700K | |
| Intel Core i5-8600K | |
| Intel Core i3-8350K | |
| Drives | |
| Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 250GB SSD) |
| Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 500GB (SSD) |
| Seagate Barracuda 1TB (HDD) | SanDisk 250GB (SSD) |
| Cases | |
| BitFenix Phenom (White) | BitFenix Phenom (Black) |
| Power Supply | |
| 500W Power Supply | Corsair CS 550 Watt |
| Graphic Cards | |
| Complete List of Nvidia Graphic Cards to Buy For Building Hackintosh Computer | |
| Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB | |
| WiFi Cards | |
| TP-Link Archer T9E 802.11AC AC1900 | |
The Hackintosh Budget ATX Computer is a budget friendly Computer. It is build for those who have a limited budget, but are looking for some solid punch out their Custom Budget Mac.
Hackintosh Budget Desktop Computer contains ATX motherboard, Intel Coffee Lake Processor and budget friendly GPU. If you are not using the available PCIe slot, we recommend you to use the WIFI mentioned below.
Hackintosh Compatible Parts for Budget Custom Mac ATX
| All Links Guarantee Lowest Price on Amazon | |
| Motherboards | |
| GIGABYTE H370 HD3 ATX | |
| GIGABYTE Z370P D3 ATX | |
| CPU Coolers | |
| Thermaltake Slim X3 Low Profile (Air) | Corsair H60 (Water) |
| RAM | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (8GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (16GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (32GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (64GB) | |
| CPU’s | |
| Intel Core i3-8100 | |
| Drives | |
| Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 250GB SSD) |
| Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 500GB (SSD) |
| Seagate Barracuda 1TB (HDD) | SanDisk 250GB (SSD) |
| Cases | |
| Corsair Carbide 300R (Black) | Corsair Carbide 200R (Black) |
| Power Supply | |
| 500W Power Supply | Corsair CS 550 Watt |
| Graphic Cards | |
| Complete List of Nvidia Graphic Cards to Buy For Building Hackintosh Computer | |
| Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB | |
| WiFi Cards | |
| TP-Link Archer T9E 802.11AC AC1900 | |
As the name says, Custom Hackintosh Pro is a full sized Custom Hackintosh. The Case contains Z370 ATX motherboard, Coffee Lake Processor and full sized graphic card. The case has efficient power supply unit space. Hackintosh Pro comes with full parts, power and high cost.
Hackintosh Compatible Parts for Custom Mac mATX
| All Links Guarantee Lowest Price on Amazon | |
| Motherboards | |
| Gigabyte Z370 AORUS GAMING WIFI ATX | |
| ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero ATX | |
| ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING ATX | |
| CPU Coolers | |
| Thermaltake Slim X3 Low Profile (Air) | Corsair H60 (Water) |
| RAM | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (8GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (16GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (32GB) | |
| Ballistix Budget DDR4 (64GB) | |
| CPU’s | |
| Intel Core i7-8700K | |
| Intel Core i5-8600K | |
| Drives | |
| Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 250GB SSD) |
| Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (SSD) | Crucial MX500 500GB (SSD) |
| Seagate Barracuda 1TB (HDD) | SanDisk 250GB (SSD) |
| Cases | |
| Corsair Carbide 300R (Black) | Corsair Carbide 200R (Black) |
| Power Supply | |
| Corsair RM 650x Watt | EVGA 650 Watt |
| Graphic Cards | |
| Complete List of Nvidia Graphic Cards to Buy For Building Hackintosh Computer | |
| Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB | |
| WiFi Cards | |
| TP-Link Archer T9E 802.11AC AC1900 | |
Also Read My Posts on Troubleshooting Hackintosh Issues
