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A Quality CheapoMac build for under 300 USD ~ Free Gigabyte H81M Motherboard

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trs96 said:
If you look at Jeffer's benchmarks for the I3-4340 it's plenty fast. You can't over clock it on a Z87
board but it runs at 3.6GHz, so, fast for single core performance. Install with U.B. and M.Beast will
be very easy. Hope you enjoy your build and sending in all those rebates too. :thumbup:

PS Check the returned UD3H for bent pins before buying that. Otherwise they could blame
you for damages you didn't incur.
Click to expand...

checked the board out, looks good. ended up scoring it for $97 before the $20 rebate! not bad!! thanks for the advice!

now im left confused on what SSD to get. im lost when it comes to trim, when it comes to samsung drives and the "bits" that make the os drive not the best / easiest install. i think i also heard adata/microcenter makes a decent drive.. for a price savings the crucial 240 mSATA looks nice @ $129.99 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BQ8RKT4/)

what do you think? are msata's easy to install osx onto as an os drive?

also for those looking for a deal on a ps. the corsair 430x is 19.99 ar at microcenter! great deal.
 
xjasonx said:
now im left confused on what SSD to get. im lost when it comes to trim, when it comes to samsung drives and the "bits" that make the os drive not the best / easiest install. i think i also heard adata/microcenter makes a decent drive.. for a price savings the crucial 240 msata looks nice @ $129.99

what do you think? are msata's easy to install osx onto as an os drive?
Click to expand...

Technically, this should be in Buying Advice so this will be my last post on this here.
I've bought 4 SSDs over the last 2 years and the Crucial M4 has been the best of the
bunch. So if you can get the newer M500 (it's in the Buyer's Guide) that would be my
1st choice. Otherwise go with the Samsung Evo. As far as mSata I don't believe the
UD3H has an mSata slot onboard. If so they are just as easy to install on as an ssd.

Congrats on your new build !
 
trs96 said:
So if you can get the newer M500 (it's in the Buyer's Guide) that would be my
1st choice.
Click to expand...

ordered the m500! thanks, now im reading about trim, garbage files??, and other stories. you wouldnt happen to have a guide/forum link that explains what i got myself into in regaards to this drive?

thanks again man, cant wait!!
 
My third dual boot Hack based on TRS96's "Quality Cheapo Mac" and Tonymac's "Building a budget Haswell Build". Thanks guys!
Motherboard: GA-H81M-H
CPU: I3-4340
Memory: 8 GB Ballistic (2 GB sticks)
SSD 1: Crucial M500 128 GB with Mavericks installed using sata 0
SSD 2: Samsung Evo 840 128GB with Win 7 Installed using sata 1

Everything installed fine but can't boot without the usb installer stick. Tried everything. Double checked the Bios.
Installed Multibeast DSDT free.
Examined the boot.plist and everything looks good.

TRS96 do you have any Ideas? Thanks.

By the way, this is a great inexpensive computer. Windows runs fast, very snappy.
 
jtsymbo said:
My third dual boot Hack based on TRS96's "Quality Cheapo Mac" and Tonymac's "Building a budget Haswell Build". Thanks guys!
Motherboard: GA-H81M-H
CPU: I3-4340
Memory: 8 GB Ballistic (2 GB sticks)
SSD 1: Crucial M500 128 GB with Mavericks installed using sata 0
SSD 2: Samsung Evo 840 128GB with Win 7 Installed using sata 1

Everything installed fine but can't boot without the usb installer stick. Tried everything. Double checked the Bios.
Installed Multibeast DSDT free.
Examined the boot.plist and everything looks good.

TRS96 do you have any Ideas? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you like your "CheapoMac" It's really some very nice hardware.
You've likely got a problem with your dual boot setup. Did you follow the guide
by Going Bald for dual booting ?http://www.tonymacx86.com/multi-booting/96000-guide-dual-booting-mountain-lion-windows-8-a-10.html

Try posting in the Multibooting section to get some help if the guide doesn't help you fix it.

You can also double your read speeds on the Evo drive by using the Samsung Magician software
Rapid Mode. Here's the link to a PDF on that. Gives you speeds about like a Raid0 setup would.

http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...wnloads/Samsung_SSD_Rapid_Mode_Whitepaper.pdf

Rapid mode only works on Windows 7 or 8 installations to the Evo SSD drive.
 
Misscomp said:
Dear TRS96,

Do you think this board work as a Hackintosh? GIGABYTE GA-H81M-HD3 LGA. It has the same chipset as you described above on sale at MicroCenter. It is on sale at New egg right now. If so do you think the DisplayPort will work on it?
Click to expand...
Can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Just make sure to get at least an I3-4330 cpu to pair
with that board. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116945

The I3-4130 does not have HD 4600 graphics, so the 15 dollars saved on that isn't worth it. You'd
then have to buy a separate graphics card. Many make this mistake and end up having to send
the 4130 back and get the I3-4330 later on.

Let us know how it goes if you build it.
 
Ikyo said:
What special options need to be checked in multibeast? I used the USB3.0 selection and that was about it.
Click to expand...

I'd use the Lnx2Mac driver/kext for ethernet and the realtek audio kext from Multibeast.
Think it is 892 but check the GA website to make sure.

The Realtek audio choice should be ALC887. TRS96
 
A Quality CheapoMac build for 300 USD ~ Free Gigabyte H81M-H Motherboard

Good news on the CheopoMac front. Gigabyte has extended the 10 dollar rebate for the
H81M-H until the 30th of March. So this deal is still live at Microcenter. :clap:

Since this thread has been extremely popular, I'd like to know how many of you tonymacx86
members out there have actually built this system, what your final cost was and how it's
performing for you. Thanks for checking in.

Here's the math for this how low can you go build.

GA-H81M-H + I3-4340 cpu from Microcenter in store. $140 - $145 AR depending on tax rate.

Micro ATX Case + Power supply $60.00
Rosewill FBM-02 + Corsair CX-430 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

4 GB stick of 1600 MHz ram $40.00 - $50.00
http://tinyurl.com/ohn5drf

120 Gb SSD drive for a boot drive $65 - $70
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00BQ4F9ZA/ref=sr_1_3_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1393990986&sr=8-3&keywords=120+GB+ssd&condition=new

So there you have it for around 300 USD you can have a Haswell CustoMac Budget
build to run OS X. No graphics card needed, use the onboard HD 4600.
 
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