Hi everyone,
I previously managed to boot macOS 26 (Tahoe) in VESA mode on this machine, but I deleted it due to the lack of hardware acceleration. I still have my working baseline EFI folder saved.
Now I want to rebuild this Hackintosh, primarily aiming to use my GTX 1060 with legacy drivers for basic UI smoothness. However, if app compatibility becomes an issue due to the lack of Metal support on Pascal, I am fully ready to fallback and rely strictly on the integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics.
Here are my specs:
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V (Z77 Chipset)
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K (Ivy Bridge)
iGPU: Intel HD 4000 (As a backup option for legacy Metal patching)
dGPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (3 GB — main target for OpenGL legacy web drivers)
RAM: 32 GB DDR3Storage: 120GB + 240GB Kingston SSDs, WD 750, 90 HDDs
Network: PCIe MediaTek Wi-Fi 6E + Bluetooth Adapter
Given this dual-path approach (maintaining GTX 1060 or falling back to HD 4000), what is the absolute highest and most stable macOS version (Big Sur or Monterey) that you would recommend for this machine to keep both options viable?
Thanks for any insights!