Cheap Hackinosh in 2020 – $300 Catalina Desktop PC Gigabyte B365M DS3H

With hackintoshing it’s possible to install macOS Catalina or even Mojave on a brand new PC that only costs around $300 – $400 price range. Check it out.

I’m using the following compontents:

Intel i3-8100 CPU — I went with an i3-8100 is because its the cheapest CPU I could get with integrated graphics. The newer i3-9100 will also work with this build, but I was able to get the i3-8100 awhile back for less.  I went with a CPU over something like the i3-9100F because the i3-8100/i3-9100 both have integrated graphics and since I patched my drop files which are available below a graphics card isn’t required. I was using a Cryorig M9, but since it was so loud I’ve since switched back to the Intel stock cooler.

Gigabyte B365M DS3H Motherboard — All this motherboard requires is some BIOS settings to be changed to be able to boot macOS and because I got integrated graphics working over the HDMI/DVI/VGA ports on this motherboard there was no need for a dedicated graphics card allowing me to save $$$ and hover around the $300 price range. USB3 ports are working with a USB-SSDT included in my drop files.

I only got to this $300 price point because I was able to recycle an old case and power supply. If you need a decent budget power supply I recommend the EVGA BQ 600W because the fan is near-silent and doesn’t make the clicking noise most PSU’s make when they switch on. Also check out Amazon’s Best Selling Cases if you don’t already have one.

 Budget Gigabyte B365 Hackintosh

I’ve seen quite a few people struggling to get their B360 and B365 motherboards working so I present you my own cheap hackintosh build with the most popular budget motherboard the Gigabyte B365M DS3H. Everything is working even with just the standard EFI folder the important thing with these motherboards is just setting the correct BIOS settings and having a config.plist that has the display ports patched so that there is no black screen.

EFI Drop Files

• Catalina-EFI-Folder.zip (Placed in the EFI partition of a flash drive and hard drive works for both macOS Catalina and Mojave)
• config-Gigabyte-B365M.plist (Replaces config.plist in EFI folder. Contains a IGFX device patch that enables HDMI, DVI and VGA over integrated graphics instead of blackscreening )
• GB-B365M-D3SH-USBMap.kext (Adds missing ports and enables USB3 speeds in macOS)

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Download a compatible version of macOS from the Mac App Store
   • If you don’t have a Mac to borrow set up a virtual machine
   • Download Catalina 10.15 from the Mac App Store or Download Mojave 10.14 from the Mac App Store
2. Create the macOS flash drive Installer
   • macOS needs to be installed on a 16GB+ flash drive and plugged into a USB 2 port for maximum compatibility.
   • Catalina: How to make a macOS 10.15 Catalina flash drive installer
   •  Mojave: How to make a macOS 10.14 Mojave flash drive installer
3. Adding an EFI Folder:
   1. Download Catalina-EFI-Folder.zip
   2. Mount EFI Partition
   3. Copy+Paste/Move the EFI folder over to the EFI Partition of your flash drive and then open /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Clover/
   4. Modify EFI folder for Gigabyte B365M Support:
      1. Download Gigabyte B365M-DS3H Drop Files.zip
      2. Replace config.plist in /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Clover/ by copy & pasting the one from Gigabyte B365M-DS3H Drop Files
      3. Copy SSDT-USBX.aml to /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched
      4. Copy GB-B365M-D3SH-USBMap.kext to /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other
      5. Move USBInjectAll.kext to /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/kexts/off
   5. Add EmuVariableUEFI.efi for NVRAM support
      • Copy EmuVariableUEFI.efi from:  /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/drivers/off
      • Paste EmuVariableUEFI.efi into:  /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/drivers/UEFI
   6. If using an AMD Navi GPU like the RX 5700 XT add agdpmod=pikera as a bootflag by opening config.plist with Clover Configurator  and adding it under Boot -> Arguments
4. Configure BIOS Settings for Hackintosh Compatibility
5. Walkthrough:  Mac OS Catalina Hackintosh Clover Walkthrough 10.15 Install
6. Post Install 
   1. If you are using a dedicated graphics card you may want to  change AAPL,ig-platform-id to 0300923E  under Devices -> Properties Tab -> PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0) to headless mode so the graphical driver works correctly in certain macOS Apps.
   2. Either install RC scripts in Clover to complete emulated NVRAM support with EmuVariableUEFI.efi or add native NVRAM with an SSDT here.

Restart your computer and spam the DEL key to enter BIOS as the computer boots.

Change the following settings for the install:

These the are the BIOS settings you will need to change after creating the macOS flash drive bootloader and before you begin installing.

1. Save & Exit → Load Optimized Defaults
2. M.I.T. → Advanced Memory Settings  Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P.) : Profile1
3. BIOS → Fast Boot : Disabled
4. BIOS → LAN PXE Boot Option ROM : Disabled
5. BIOS → Storage Boot Option Control : UEFI
6. Peripherals → Trusted Computing → Security Device Support : Disabled
7. Peripherals → Network Stack Configuration → Network Stack : Disabled
8. Peripherals → USB Configuration → Legacy USB Support : Auto
9. Peripherals → USB Configuration → XHCI Hand-off : Enabled
10. Chipset → Vt-d : Disabled
11. Chipset → Wake on LAN Enable : Disabled
12. Chipset → IOAPIC 24-119 Entries : Enabled

Notes

• BIOS settings need to be changed on this motherboard otherwise you’ll get stuck at the Apple logo.
• My config.plist contains a display patch that corrects the bus id for HDMI + DVI + VGA ports over integrated graphics. May also get these ports working on different motherboards if the bus ids happen to be the same.

Other Catalina Builds:

• ASUS PRIME Z390-A Hackintosh Build Guide w/ RX 5700 XT
• GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS Ultra i7-9700k Vega 64 Hackintosh Build Guide