This article is currently an experimental machine translation and may contain errors. If anything is unclear, please refer to the original Chinese version. I am continuously working to improve the translation.
0x00 Preface
Last year, Apple released the MacBook powered by the M1 chip, followed by the new Mac mini and iMac, all switching to the ARM-based M1. With the introduction of M1 Pro and M1 Max, it’s now clear that M1 chips are fully capable of replacing Intel x86 processors.
The trend suggests that M1 will eventually take over completely from Intel CPUs, making Hackintosh technically nearly impossible. At the same time, the cost advantage of Hackintosh has also diminished significantly. It’s likely that in just a few years, the “Hackintosh” era will fade into history.
So, while we still can, I decided to join the party and experience Hackintosh during its final glory.
0x01 Hackintosh Hardware
This build was a random junk-picking experiment born out of boredom — a true “garbage-tier” setup.
The CPU is a Shenzhen-market modded version, the RAM is山寨 (cloned and modified), and even the motherboard BIOS has been tampered with.
Total cost: 882.4 RMB
| Component | Model | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte H110M-DS2V | 125 | Xianyu |
| CPU | QNCT | 450 | Taobao |
| Memory | 8GB DDR3 1600 Laptop SODIMM ×2 | 137.6 | Taobao |
| Case | P6 Case | 27.9 | Pinduoduo |
| GPU | UHD 630 (integrated) | 0 | - |
| Cooler | Cooler Master Low-Profile | 22.9 | Taobao |
| SSD | Lenovo ST600 120GB SATA3 | 66 | Taobao |
| PSU | Antec BP450PS Pro 450W | 53 | Xianyu |
0x02 Creating the Boot Drive & EFI
Official OpenCore Guide: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/
Chinese version maintained by Guoguang: https://apple.sqlsec.com/
These two guides are extremely thorough. Compared to downloading a pre-made EFI, building your own EFI helps you truly understand why things work, not just how.
0x03 Results
Zero results other than creating the boot drive.
I did get a general understanding of how to build an EFI and even tried making one myself.
The issue? The boot process randomly freezes after just a few seconds, and not at the same point each time. No helpful results from searching online.
At first, I thought it might be macOS being incompatible with my AMD-style QNCT CPU or the laptop DDR3 memory on an H110 board — so much so that I even considered running it inside a PVE layer.
But then I found a nearly identical build online with a working EFI:
ASUS H110M + Intel QNCT + UHD 630 Hackintosh EFI Share
I dropped it into my setup and — boom — perfect boot. Umm… Here’s a mirrored copy: https://pan.lyc8503.net/Public/%E5%9B%BA%E4%BB%B6/Hackintosh/EFI_OK.zip
With this EFI, DVI video and audio output work fine, sleep/wake functions properly, CPU scaling is correct, integrated GPU is fully functional, Gigabit Ethernet works, and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth are supported (though I didn’t install those). For a desktop build, this is essentially perfect.
I then tried using the Kexts, ACPI files, and other components from this working EFI to build my own config.plist from scratch — but it still randomly freezes during boot.
The issue must lie somewhere in the config.plist configuration, likely due to my modded CPU and the fact that my BIOS is a modified mobile version. I’m not even sure if this system should be treated as a desktop or mobile platform. Too many variables, and honestly, I don’t feel like reinventing the wheel to debug every possibility.
Here’s my current work-in-progress EFI: https://pan.lyc8503.net/Public/%E5%9B%BA%E4%BB%B6/Hackintosh/MyEFI_WIP.zip
Leaving it here just as a record of this experimental attempt.
0x04 Screenshot
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This article is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
Author: lyc8503, Article link: https://blog.lyc8503.net/en/post/hackintosh-1/
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Feel free to comment in English below o/