BitterMelon's "Chip" build: GA-Z77N-WIFI - i5-3570K - HD 6870

[BitterMelon]

Congratulations, BitterMelon, on your build description becoming a Golden Build!

You took the tonymacx86 CustoMac Mini to the next level using the GA-Z77N-WIFI and the i5-3570K.

Enjoy the Ride!

Wohoo! Thanks a bunch!

 

[Mate94]

Strange...though.

Why on other 7th series Gigabyte motherboards work this and why not on the mITX's? I'm interested in this issue...

 

[Anazlu]

No real problems. Just plan it out before you jam it in there. Figure out what cables go which way and thread them through the correct holes as you move the PSU in. Also, try to "pre bend" them as close to the PSU as possible, this will help you get the last few millimeters. No real violence needed, just a firm hand and some screw tightening.

I picked up the Seasonic Gold X650 at a great price and was able to get it in there. Still I think anybody that wants to save themselves some pain should seriously consider a PSU less than 160mm deep for their Prodigy build. I hear that BitFenix may come up with a bracket to allow a bit more space. That would be nice.

I wouldn't have a problem installing on in my build, there is room for it. The 5.25" tray is still in there too. I just don't need it.

I was planning on venting out the top - which you can't do at all unless you have no drive or a very short optical drive. Saw your endorsement of the Antec 620 and got one of those. Installing that was a real pain because the instructions/parts list didn't match what they sent me. Have a round ring left over that sure looks important but I don't know where it goes. Makes me feel like it's not installed properly. Which could explain why I'm not impressed with the temps compared to my H100 (not near as good) or a stock fan (modestly better). It is quiet. Debating on returning it to Amazon. Hate to have to pull everything out.

Besides the cooler I'm very happy with my new Prodigy build. Came together nicely and looks great.

Congrats on being made Golden.

 

[VideoLasVegas]

We just finished a dual boot Mountain Lion/Windows 7 build with the GA-Z77N-Wifi, i3 3225, 16 gig of ram, One Samsung 1TB HD system drive in 4 partitions and 2-2TB Hitachi drives in a 4TB raid configuration as well as a BlackMagic Intensity Pro card for digitizing and streaming. We replaced the Intel wifi card with the Atheros AR9820. As a hint for anyone building one like this, it is very important when building a dual boot like this that you put Windows on the first partition or it won't install.

The case is a Silverstone SST-SG02-F which is reasonably small, takes a regular ATX power supply and has room for a DVD drive and three 3 1/2 inch hard drives. The system runs incredibly cool with the stock Intel CPU cooler, about 31-40 degrees Celsius.

Wifi worked perfectly with no work required. The only problems i'm having/had are that it didn't want to seem to boot correctly for HDMI (had broken up screen) similar to other posts on this thread and that once i plugged in the Atheros wifi card, i can't seem to get my wired ethernet to work. I tried making the connection inactive as suggested in one of the posts and then making it active and it didn't seem to help. ANY IDEAS ON THIS ARE APPRECIATED.

Making the HDMI connection after boot up as a mirrored monitor or extended desktop works perfectly

 

[Asus-Freak]

Strange...though.

Why on other 7th series Gigabyte motherboards work this and why not on the mITX's? I'm interested in this issue...

Just built a Windoze box with this board, it's as flaky as it is with OSX... It's extremely sensitive to ram, I rotated 4 different 2x4 sets until I got it stable... Back to my previous post, think we need a bios fix.

 

[Fender73]

I'm just waiting for a few more parts for my first hackintosh build ever and right now I'm trying to do as much research now so ill be good to go when I get my hardware.

i was confused as to exactly what you're third step In you're mb settings were, I don't understand opening a terminal bit?

and one last tung is my setup is very similar to yours except I have
A GeForce 660 TI graphics card and ill only be running osx no windows. I'm thinking I'd rather bootcamp later on for gaming. Main reason I'm using a hackintosh is for running pro tools and I don't fell like blowing $3500!!! In the apple store for a similar build lol.

Any ways any tips or advise would be great, I read this entire thread to try and keep my questions minimal.

3. Open upp a Terminal and type the following: (You will be asked for your password.)
Code:
sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/FakeSMC.kext/Contents/PlugIns/OemSMBIOS.kext

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I'm just waiting for a few more parts for my first hackintosh build ever and right now I'm trying to do as much research now so ill be good to go when I get my hardware.

i was confused as to exactly what you're third step In you're mb settings were, I don't understand opening a terminal bit?

and one last tung is my setup is very similar to yours except I have
A GeForce 660 TI graphics card and ill only be running osx no windows. I'm thinking I'd rather bootcamp later on for gaming. Main reason I'm using a hackintosh is for running pro tools and I don't fell like blowing $3500!!! In the apple store for a similar build lol.

Any ways any tips or advise would be great, I read this entire thread to try and keep my questions minimal.

3. Open upp a Terminal and type the following: (You will be asked for your password.)
Code:
sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/FakeSMC.kext/Contents/PlugIns/OemSMBIOS.kext

Hi there.

"Terminal" is an application common to Unix/Linux-type operating systems. It allows command-line execution of system programs and a lot more. Think of it as MS-DOS on steroids! It is used to get system level access to files and settings.

Incidentally you won't be able to use Bootcamp on a Hackintosh. The base system and menu for this are actually a part of a genuine Apple EFI (the Mac replacement for older BIOSes) However we can use Chimera to allow multi-boot. There are many threads about this.

Best of luck with your build!

 

[BitterMelon]

I was planning on venting out the top - which you can't do at all unless you have no drive or a very short optical drive. Saw your endorsement of the Antec 620 and got one of those. Installing that was a real pain because the instructions/parts list didn't match what they sent me. Have a round ring left over that sure looks important but I don't know where it goes. Makes me feel like it's not installed properly. Which could explain why I'm not impressed with the temps compared to my H100 (not near as good) or a stock fan (modestly better). It is quiet. Debating on returning it to Amazon. Hate to have to pull everything out.

Yeah, it took me a while to figure out that ring too. It might not be hugely important, but it helps when mounting it. When you slide and twist the mounting bracket onto the cooler, the ring is supposed to be snapped on from the bottom, locking the bracket onto the cooler. Not an easy maneuver in itself (the bracket keeps sliding off the groves and the ring won't reach), but it makes the rest of the mounting a lot easier. But since the other cooling solutions often seem to be using the same cooler, I assume they have the same problem. It might explain the temps if it didn't get properly mounted.


I'm not surprised that it's worse than the H100, that beast has twice the radiator surface for cooling. Though, it really should be better (or at least quieter) than the stock cooler...

Just built a Windoze box with this board, it's as flaky as it is with OSX... It's extremely sensitive to ram, I rotated 4 different 2x4 sets until I got it stable... Back to my previous post, think we need a bios fix.

They did release an F2 ("Improve system compatibility"), check if you are running that.

i was confused as to exactly what you're third step In you're mb settings were, I don't understand opening a terminal bit?

The Terminal can be found in /Applications/Utilities/

 

[Asus-Freak]

They did release an F2 ("Improve system compatibility")

Yeah 2 days after F1, they'll be an update soon...

 

[caretaker]

I have been trying to use a dsdt for hdmi audio, but it gives me a kernel panic each time, when I use -v it shows an endless loop of "error in processorop". I have an i3-3225 processor on the ga-z77n-wifi board. Has anyone used this method with success? It may be something simple that this newbie cannot figure out, I did fix all errors and warnings in the dsdt.