Page 2 – The Best Micro ATX, mATX, or mini-ITX Motherboards for Making a Hackintosh
Micro ATX, or mATX, Motherboards
If you prefer a smaller form factor, the mATX size is a good compromise between compactness and expandability. I recommend the Gigabyte GA-Z170MX motherboard for this configuration. It supports Intel’s sixth and seventh generation Core processors, and has several PCI-Express expansion slots. There are six SATA 6Gb/s connectors, three SATA Express connectors, and two M.2 Socket 3 SATA connectors. It also has an Intel gigabyte Ethernet port and a Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201 Wi-Fi chip built-in.
The audio chipset is Realtek ALC1150, supporting up to 7.1-channel surround sound. The Gigabyte GA-Z170MX also provides support for plenty of USB 3.0, USB 2.0, and even USB-C ports. The onboard video chipset, Intel’s HD graphics, offers an HDMI and a DisplayPort connector. Everything is supported under macOS Sierra, but you may have to install special drivers for some devices (like the Wi-Fi chipset) when creating a Hackintosh.
Another excellent mATX motherboard for a Hackintosh project is the ASRock Z170M OC Formula. It supports both sixth- and seventh-generation Intel Core processors in a Socket 1151 configuration. The system board allows for plenty of memory expansion, has three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 ports, and supports SATA 3.0, SATA Express, and Ultra M.2 SATA drives and SSDs.
This mobo provides a total of 12 USB ports, split amongst USB 3.1 (one Type-A and one USB-C), six USB 3.0, and six USB 2.0 connectors. Realtek ALC1150 audio gives you up to 7.1-channel surround sound, and Intel gigabit Ethernet is built-in with both HDMI and DisplayPort connectivity. Everything works beautifully with macOS Sierra.
The mini-ITX Motherboard
If you would like to build around the mini-ITX form factor, you should check out Gigabyte’s GA-H170-Gaming 3 rig. Its LGA1151 socket supports sixth-generation Intel Core processors, and it has four DDR4 memory sockets. This system board supports several PCI-Express slots, along with two PCI-Express M.2 connectors for NVMe and SATA SSD support. It also has SATA Express connectors and SATA 6Gb/s support.
It has the Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2201 LAN chip with gigabyte Ethernet support. The integrated Intel HD graphics chipset has D-Sub, DVI-D, and HDMI ports. Alas, no DisplayPort on this model, but the HDMI port should support your 4K display. The Realtek ALC1150 chipset supports up to 7.1-channel surround sound. Once again, everything on this motherboard works well in macOS Sierra. This is a terrific mobo for creating a Hackintosh.
Choose Your Motherboard and Start Building
With these choices in mind, you’ve got an excellent starting point for building your very own Hackintosh. Stay tuned for future installments in this series, as we explore the best hardware to use in turning non-Apple hardware into a beast worthy of the power of macOS Sierra.
Great job Jeff! You helped me to choose hardware for my first ever hackintosh build. I went with the ASRock z170, GeForce GTX 1050ti and the i7 processor. I haven’t started the build yet. I am waiting for a coupe of components still. Anyway I am exited. Do you know if I have to change a lot in the Bios of ASRock z170 motherboard to be able to get it to work?
@John and @Rick: Mini PCI/E cards are fairly easy to come by for Hackintosh setups. Cards that use the M.2 slots on many modern mobos, no so much so. I’m still working on that, and it’s going to make for an interesting Wi-Fi article a few episodes down the road =)
I’ll do some more digging, emlitu, but Thunderbolt 3 support is slim for Hackintosh. If I find anything, I’ll let you know 🙂
Thank you for a great article. Would it be possible to select a motherboard that supports Thunderbolt 3. I know you mentioned the ones that support USB 3.1 but that does not mean they are TB3 as well.
Thanks so much.
Nice job Rick! The titan is a beast. Does the fan kick up running it?
@John – Yes, I did end up buying the Mini PCI/E cards off of eBay that had the proper Broadcom chipsets. In my Mac Pro 5.1 I have TP-Link AC Wifi card. Also working on flashing a Titan X 12 gig card to go into it.
With regard to the wifi/Bluetooth, I bet you can buy the part from eBay straight from an iMac. I bought such a part and upgraded my 5,1 cheese grater Mac Pro to the latest Bluetooth and 802.11ac
Fantastic article Jeff. Have you come across any motherboards that support Xeons?
Thanks, Rick! I’ll definitely consider that kind of a table 🙂 I agree, after graphics, Wi-FI and Bluetooth are the biggest challenges. Very little support out there, especially if you want to use an M.2 card for your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Great article Jeff. You covered all of the main pain points about making MacOS work on other than Apple hardware. The Network, WiFi, and Sound hardware are the biggest headaches in choosing a motherboard. I would love it if you expanded the information into a table showing what hardware drivers to use for each, and if the built in WiFi / Bluetooth on these boards work. When I did my last two Hacks, that was the most interesting part to get working.
Love the series so far and want to see where you go with video cards.
–Rick–