Mac-Mini-Killer (Monterey / Ventura)

Hackintosh setup based on i7-8700K | Gigabyte Z370N | RX560 | 32GB RAM

About this guide

This is a beginner guide to make a Hackintosh based on GIGABYTE Z370N WIFI motherboard. If you are only interested in installing Monterey on your Hackintosh and you have the same Motherboard, go directly to Installation

Current guide optimised for:

• macOS Monterey 12.5 (Installed from here https://apps.apple.com/es/app/macos-monterey/id1576738294?mt=12)
• F14 BIOS for z370n
• AMD RX560/RX570/RX580/RX5900 graphics

How to ask for help

If you have troubles during migrating to my EFI and settings, please attach «problem reporting» files to your post. The easiest way is to install and run this script.

My Hackintosh components

Intel Core i7-8700K.

GIGABYTE Z370N WIFI.

ASUS ROG-STRIX-RX560-O4G

G.Skill Trident Z Neo - DDR4, 32 GB (2 x 16 GB).

Crucial P2 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD. I'm using this disk with a Bootloader partition with Clover and the other partition is the MacOS Monterey OS.

Noctua NH-L9I. Great low profile cooler that fits my SFF case.

Noctua NF-A4x20. The Flex PSU with this fan does not make any noise.

WiFi adapter from MacBook Air (BCM94360CS2). Before that, I've tried BCM943602BAED and BCM94352Z. Both of this cards require some kexts to work in macOS, and they will not let your BT keyboard work in BIOS and Clover.

Mini ITX Small Aluminum Case from AliExpress + PCI-e express cable.

Server Flex 500W PSU from AliExpress

BIOS settings for installation and boot (eGPU)

Actually, Hackintosh should boot even with default BIOS settings until Catalina. But for Monterey, I needed to make some additional changes:

• Load optimised defaults
• MIT > Enhanced Multi-Core Performance > Enabled
• MIT > FCLK Frequency for Early Power On > Normal (800Mhz)
• MIT > Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P.) > Disabled
• MIT > System Memory Multiplier > 26.66 (use plus and minus keys to update)
• MIT > Memory Ref Clock > 133
• MIT > Memory Boot Mode > Enable Fast Boot
• MIT > Memory Enhancement Settings > Enhanced Performance
• SmartFan > Fan Control Mode > PWM
• BIOS > FastBoot > DISABLED
• BIOS > CSM Support > DISABLED
• BIOS > Windows 8/10 Features > Windows 8/10 WHQL
• BIOS > Secure Boot > DISABLED
• Peripherals > Initial Display Output > PCIe 1 Slot
• Peripherals > Above 4G Decoding > ENABLED
• Peripherals > Re-Size Bar > DISABLED
• Peripherals > Intel PTT > DISABLED
• Peripherals > SGX > DISABLED
• Peripherals > Trusted Computing > DISABLED
• Peripherals > SATA and RST Configuration > SATA Mode Selection > AHCI
• Peripherals > SATA and RST Configuration > Aggressive LPM Support > DISABLED
• Peripherals > SATA and RST Configuration > Sata N (all ports) > Hot Plug > DISABLED
• Peripherals > USB Config > Legacy > DISABLED
• Peripherals > USB Config > XHCI Handoff > ENABLED
• Peripherals > USB Config > Port 60/64 emulation > DISABLED
• Chipset > VT-d > DISABLED
• Chipset > Wake On Lan > DISABLED (remind to disable it on adapters too)
• Power > Platform Power Management > ENABLED (enable child items PEG, PCH and DMI ASPM)
• Power > AC BACK > Always Off
• Power > ErP > ENABLED
• Power > Soft-Off by PWR-BTTN > Delay 4 Sec.
• Power > Power Loading > DISABLED
• Power > CEC 2019 Ready > DISABLED
• Save and restart

Fast boot, Vt-d are important to be DISABLED.

Config.plist

Use ProperTree to edit the config.plist file and change PlatformInfo values to your own machine:

• MLB, SystemSerialNumber and SystemUUID can be generated by GenSMBIOS utility;
• Before use a generated SystemSerialNumber, check it on Apple Database (If it is valid, generate another and repeat if necessary until find an invalid and unused one);
• ROM is the Mac address of the en0 network adapter (on Gigabyte z370N WIFI 1.0 is the Intel i219v gigabit port). Use the Network Settings > Advanced > Hardware panel to copy the Mac address (only numbers and letters, without the : chars);
• Inside the config.plist search and replace AAAAAAAAAAAA with your generated SystemSerialNumber value, BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB with MLB value, CCCCCC-CCCC-CCCC-CCCC-CCCCCCCCCCCC with SystemUUID value and DDDDDDDD with ROM value:

  <key>PlatformInfo</key>
  <dict>
  <key>Automatic</key>
  <true/>
  <key>CustomMemory</key>
  <false/>
  <key>Generic</key>
  <dict>
      <key>MaxBIOSVersion</key>
      <false/>
      <key>AdviseFeatures</key>
      <false/>
      <key>SystemMemoryStatus</key>
      <string>Auto</string>
      <key>MLB</key>
      <string>BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB</string>
      <key>ProcessorType</key>
      <integer>0</integer>
      <key>ROM</key>
      <data>DDDDDDDD</data>
      <key>SpoofVendor</key>
      <true/>
      <key>SystemProductName</key>
      <string>MacPro7,1</string>
      <key>SystemSerialNumber</key>
      <string>AAAAAAAAAAAA</string>
      <key>SystemUUID</key>
      <string>CCCCCC-CCCC-CCCC-CCCC-CCCCCCCCCCCC</string>
  </dict>
  <key>UpdateDataHub</key>
  <true/>
  <key>UpdateNVRAM</key>
  <true/>
  <key>UpdateSMBIOS</key>
  <true/>
  <key>UpdateSMBIOSMode</key>
  <string>Create</string>
  <key>UseRawUuidEncoding</key>
  <false/>
  </dict>

MacOS 12 Monterey Upgrade

• Can be direct downloaded from Apple using App Store on a regular MacOS computer;
• Make a USB install disk (the example below uses a USB device named USB and makes Monterey installation disk):

  sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/USB

• Use git repo to download the EFI folder

git clone git@github.com/kn0wm4d/Mac-Mini-Killer.git

• Mount the EFI partition of the USB disk using Clover Configurator and copy the EFI folder inside /Volumes/EFI
• Boot the target machine with USB disk you just made.
• Press Space in the bootloader
• Select Modified GRUB Shell, and disable CFG Lock first with command below:

  setup_var_3 0x5A4 0x00

  Please note that hardcoded value is for F14 BIOS version of the Gigabyte z370N WIFI 1.0 motherboard, if you use another BIOS version or another motherboard, UPGRADE THE BIOS FIRST:

• Use Clear NVRAM and reboot to make a clean install
• Use Disk Utility to erase a APFS GUI volume and install MacOS
• Finish normal MacOS setup

ePGU settings for AMD RX560/570/580

ASUS ROG STRIX RX560 working great with WhateverGreen.kext. iGPU for hardware acceleration working great too. I applied a few patches in config.plist and turned iGPU on in BIOS.

Sound

Works great with AppleALC.kext and some necessary tweaks in config.plist.

Networking

Left LAN port works smoothly with IntelMausiEthernet.kext. For right LAN you will need SmallTree-Intel-211-AT-PCIe-GBE.kext.

BT and WiFi work without any kexts. All related futures work too: unlock with Apple Watch, Connectivity, Hands-off, Airdrop, iMessege etc. Bluetooth keyboard and touchpad work in Clover, BIOS and during FileVault login.

Here are the BCM94360CS2 WiFi/BT drivers for Windows.

Sleep

Sleep and wake work with darkwake=2. Here is my actual pmset info:

To see your pmset parametrs:

pmset -g

If you want to restore the default factory settings:

sudo pmset -a restoredefaults

To match my config you need to:

sudo pmset standby 0

sudo pmset womp 0

sudo pmset proximitywake 0

sudo pmset powernap 0

sudo pmset disksleep 0

sudo pmset sleep 10

sudo pmset autopoweroff 0

USB Ports

The included USBMap.kext with USB mapping is for the Gigabyte z370N WiFi 1.0 and MacPro7,1 SMBIOS only with some USB 3 ports, one USB type C and one internal Bluetooth USB port enabled.

Keep in mind that you have to choose what ports to enable, because MacOS has a 15 logical ports limit and each port has 2 logical ports (one physical port has one USB 2 and one USB 3 personality, and USB Type C has different ports for each side... so 2 logical ports per physical port) and you have to reserve a port for Bluetooth card.

List of the 15 ports ENABLED:

List of ports DISABLED:

Thermals

CPU is delidded and undervolted to 1.135V. I used 3D printed tool and Thermal Grizzly liquid metal.

The result is excellent: 34–37°C in idle and 66–69°C in the Blender Benchmark or Prime95 (24°C ambient). Before it easily hit 90+°C with my cooler.

What Works

Everything: WiFi, BT, LAN, Audio, iMessage, Wake & Sleep, Universal Clipboard, USB 3, USB-C, DP-audio, Hands-off, AirDrop, Hardware Acceleration, Shutdown, Unlock with Apple Watch, you name it.

What Doesn't Work

• SoundflowerBed is needed to regulate sound with function keys in some monitors that play sound through HDMI. Headset not affected.
• PowerNap is turned off, so no apps update during sleep. Maybe it works, I just not tested it.
• If I enable XMP profile in BIOS for automatic RAM overclock or overclock RAM manually, I have a warning «Disk not ejected properly». after waking from sleep. You need to reconnect external drives to make it work again. It can be critical for people who use external drives on a daily basis. There is three solution for that:
  • Prevent sleep with free Amphetamine app. I like it because it let monitor fall asleep and/or enable screensaver. It’s crucial if you want your Hackintosh to lock automatically.
  • Disable XMP. Fixes the problem entirely, but harms general performance.
  • Use Jettison app that unmount drives before sleep. I don’t test it personally.