Vanilla OpenCore 0.6.0 + Catalina 10.15.6 on 2012 Custom Build Machine. Ivy Bridge, 16GB DDR3, Nvidia GTX 680.

Hi all,

TL;DR: I've successfully managed to install macOS Catalina (vanilla, directly from the App Store) with OpenCore 0.6.0 on my custom built machine, where the machine was originally built back in 2012. (Photos and specs below.)

I've had Mac OS X running on this machine since Yosemite (10.10) using Chameleon, I then eventually transitioned to using Clover. I was reluctant to try OpenCore due to my unfamiliarity, however after facing issues with Clover, I decided to give OpenCore a go for my first time. Fast-forward to today, I would absolutely recommend everyone to adopt OpenCore and invest your time into reading the documentation. I believe it's a big breakthrough for Hackintoshing. :)

My machine did also previously have Windows 7 Ultimate installed, but I did update to Windows 10 Pro when Microsoft were offering the free update. Currently the machine dual-boots between macOS and Windows; my next step is to setup Boot Camp seeing as OpenCore supports it. :)

Here is a recent photo of my custom built machine (I have made subtle upgrades over the years):

Recent photo captured demonstrating my 2012 custom built machine running, whilst the side panel (with tempered glass) is removed.

As soon as the machine booted into Catalina, I captured a screenshot:

Custom built machine running macOS Catalina, demonstrating the \"About This Mac\" window.

The build specification
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230v2 (Ivy Bridge, Quad-core with HT)
Motherboard: Asus P8H61-M LE (Intel 6 series, Sandy Bridge, UEFI support)
BIOS Revision: 4601
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600MHz Corsair Vengeance
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2GB VRAM
Storage: Kingston 240GB SSD / Samsung 256GB SSD / Western Digital 500GB HDD
Ethernet Card: N/A, using onboard (RealtekRTL8111).
WiFi/BT Card: N/A.
Audio: Onboard.

From testing, everything seems to work including Start/Sleep/Reboot, audio and all USB ports.

I initially struggled to boot into the macOS Installer, where I would become stuck at "EB|#LOG:EXITBS:START". Following other guides and troubleshooters didn't help, until I experimented and made the following changes to config.plist (all need to be true):

Under Booter > Quirks:

• EnableWriteUnprotector: TRUE
• RebuildAppleMemoryMap: TRUE
• SetupVirtualMap: TRUE
• SyncRuntimePermissions: TRUE

Finally to wrap up, this custom build was my primary machine from 2012 up until the end of December 2019 when I had purchased a MacBook Pro, which was essential due to my job change as I needed something portable to carry to multiple sites and back. I would perform all my computer programming + compiling, iOS simulation and testing, Photoshop and even a little experimenting with Logic on this machine under macOS; it has been a true workhorse. :)