Link to Project Sandy Bridge system build

[moodogg7]

moodogg7's Project Sandy Bridge Build: GA-Z68XP-UD3 | Core i7-2600K | HD 6850

Core Components

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 HDMI SATAIII USB 3.0.. Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128512

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz... LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)...SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory times 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA Series GV-R685OC-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353

Sony Optiarc 24X DVD Burner, Bulk Package 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118067

Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro PCIe Card - I highly recommend per (powerpcg5's) thread - for native Marvell Yukon NIC kexts from Apple viewtopic.php?f=19&t=48091
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017K6BR8/

Rocketfish™ - Micro Bluetooth USB Adapter
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketf...5&skuId=8820886&st=bluetooth dongle&cp=2&lp=4

OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Lion 10.7.4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706


Extras and Modification Components

Apple Music System Remote Control for iPhone, iPod, DVD PlayerMusic System
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TPFNXS/

Mira Manta: Remote Control any Mac
http://twistedmelon.com/shop/

Internal USB A/F to Mobo Pinout Adapter Cable NEW
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390391114267?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Apple Magic Trackpad
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XIJ3MW/

Broadcom BCM94322MC bcm4322 802.11agn dual band Wireless mini pci-e Card
http://www.ebay.com/itm/130608886272?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
Re-branded to Apple Airport Extreme
http://x86wifi.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-build-your-own-real-airport-card.html
http://prasys.info/2009/12/rebranding-broadcom-802-11abgn-cards-as-airport/

Mini PCI-E to PCI-E Wireless Adapter w/ 3 Antenna WiFi
http://www.ebay.com/itm/320616348203?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Elgato HDHomeRun Network Dual Tuner for HDTV for Mac or PC (10023030)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00518QSRU/

ZALMAN ZM-CS5B Clip Support Kit for CNPS9700/9500/8700/7700/7500/7000C Series/ZM-WB4/WB5 Clip Support for Socket 1155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118053

SYBA Low Profile PCI-Express 1394B/A Firewire Card Model SD-PEX30009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124072


Already Owned

Thermaltake full Armor Tower Case Series
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1277&ID=1404

ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 5QH-00001 Black USB Wired Ergonomic Keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109230

Hard Drives
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136928 - Windows 7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 - times 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822152245

Power Supply CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139016


Comments

Back in January 2012 I was inspired to take the plunge and built my first hack instead of buying a mac Mini
I followed tonymacx86's Building a Sandy Bridge CustoMac: Buyer's Guide below
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/11/ ... uyers.html

Main troubleshooting thread: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=46840

Software
Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AMHWP8/
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A

iBoot + MultiBeast 3 to Install Snow Leopard http://www.tonymacx86.com/downloads

Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 - The apple app store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-lion/id444303913?mt=12

Mountain Lion Mac OS X Lion 10.8.2 - The apple app store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-lion/id444303913?mt=12

MultiBeast 4 Lion Edition, UniBeast 1.2.0 http://www.tonymacx86.com/downloads

MultiBeast 5 Mountain Lion Edition, UniBeast 1.2.0 http://www.tonymacx86.com/downloads

Trim enabler http://www.groths.org/?page_id=322

Multi-beast screenshots

Notice I didn't have to use the Network kexts... Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro PCIe Card took care of it

***Make Sure you delete AppleTyMCEdriver.kext under S/L/E in finder if you want to use Mac Pro 5.1 2010 definition****​

Geek-bench Score​

running at stock speeds


I have been enjoying my fully functional and stable Hackintosh since 01-20-2012... I only had to reinstall OS X Lion 3 times and that was on the first day of the build because I didn't understand fully how to use multi-beast. I recently did a re-install to my SSD. so I could remove all of my tweaks and test settings to streamline my system. I'm thinking the SSD alone allowed my geek-bench scores to go up almost 800 points...I briefly suffered from the dreaded Z68 chip-set (USB sleep and stability issues - not playing nice with the lyn2mac/ realtek gigabit kexts after the machine wakes up from sleep AWWW ) for about two weeks until the DSTD sleep update fixes were released. I also use a NIC card that allows OS to use native network Kexts...I dual boot to windows 7 using a second HDD. Windows boot partition is recognized by chimera... but a rarely need to boot into windows

UPDATE:
Upgraded to 10.7.4.. had to remember to turn off TRIM enabler.. then re-enable it after update was installed,
used mulitbeast 4.5.2 , with updated realtec ALC8xxHDA audio kexts, SSID for icore7 and so on with no major problems.
replaced DSTD.aml with updated DSTD database
Update 09-27-2012 Upgraded to Moutain Lion
http://www.tonymacx86.com/mountain-...ountain-lion-10-8-2-adventure.html#post458333

 

[stargazer72]

Hi,

Very nice build. I am debating whether I should take the plunge and build a hackintosh. Do the USB 3.0 ports work for you at 3.0 speeds?

Thanks,
Zsolt

 

[moodogg7]

the USB 3 should run at said speeds.... but for some reason they do not recover from sleep. and you have to make sure you unplug your usb3 device before allowing your hac to go to sleep... i guess it has something to-do with apple not supporting USB 3 natively yet,,, and the current DSTD just doesn't address this issue...
I also use a separate fire-wire card.. because the on-board ieee1394's do not recover from sleep as well... so it requires a reboot.to use your fire-wire devices.. but its not a real big issue for me

If you are a hardware person.... then I would take on the hacintosh challenge (it will be well worth it).... it has been one of the most rewarding builds since the day I assembled my first gaming rig over 12years ago...

 

[stargazer72]

Thanks for the quick answer. Yes, I am a hardware person, but have not built a rig since I switched to the Mac 10 years ago. I am not sure it's worth going with Ivy Bridge, as it's not a huge improvement, but may bring incompatibility issues. I know I won't be over clocking, as I don't need it.

I'm also a software person, and I think Linux has open source USB 3.0 drivers. So it might be a worthwhile side project to port it over with proper sleep support if Apple does not include USB 3.0 in the next few . releases and in Mountain Lion.

Allrighty. I'll be posting once I pull the trigger. Thanks!

Zsolt

 

[julx86]

I got the exact same processor and mono but on my Hackintosh, sleep still won't work properly when selecting your Multibeast settings (Well, I still use the 3,1 definition, but that won't fix my problem, right?).
Did you have any wake problems on yours, too?
When waking up, there's a 17sec delay for every USB device and Bluetooth. In addition, the sleep and shutdown keyboard shortcuts don't work afterwards.

Just wanted to know whether you had these probe, too, or not.
Thanks

 

[Stork]

The sleep/wake-up delay issue can be reduced if you use the latest DSDT from the DSDT Database. However, the delay problem originates in GA's Z68 mobos implementation of the Intel chipset.

I wake Zorro up by touching the KB's Spacebar as I sit down; take a sip of coffee (or whatever) and click the BT mouse a couple of times. No big deal.

 

[julx86]

Thanks for the reply.

I figured out that the USB keyboard delay problem is the Lnx2Mac's Network driver's fault (at least in my case). With the original Realtek driver, this works.
So the shortcuts work on my BT-KB (but for some reason not on the USB-KB) and USB has no delay after wake except for the BT-dongle (Gembird), which is disabled when waking up. So it still takes some time until BT switches on again and the KB is detected.
Like the USB-dongle, every other USB devices are ejected while the Hackintosh is sleeping. So there's always the message that the disk wasn't ejected properly when it wakes up.

I was searching for this problem a lot but didn't find a working solution as most of the members suggest that it's the DSDT's of the Bios' fault. I use the current DSDT from the database and set my Bios settings correctly (like USBStorage enabled,..).

Someone experienced this (on a Z68 Mobo) and has a solution?
thanks guys

Edit: and, btw, I can't wake the PC using BT-devices. Putting the BT-dongle's IDs into kext file didn't work for me (the option to enable wake up from bt-device is still highlighted). But I guess this wouldn't work nevertheless, because every USB device is ejected when the PC wakes up... :/

And, a quite huge problem:
automatically going to sleep does only work for the monitor for some reason?!

 

[Stork]

Thanks for the reply.

I figured out that the USB keyboard delay problem is the Lnx2Mac's Network driver's fault (at least in my case). With the original Realtek driver, this works.

No, it's not Lnx2Mac's Network driver. We have done extensive testing since that so called solution came out. It's a combination of the GA Z68 mobo design and how Apple OS X treats the back panel USB ports. The best you can hope for is MacMan's latest DSDT in the DSDT Database. Again, it is not Lnx2Mac's Network driver.

My Targus BT dongle works very well with Zorro and wakes up as fast as my Mac's BT.

Being a long time Mac user, I eject and turn off my external drives before sleeping. Then turn them on after the Mac wakes up. Dunno where I read or heard how to do this, but it works. (Probably a discussion in the Dayton (OH) Apple Dayton Users Group years ago.)

So, to summarize, you've got either a BT dongle that is not quite compatible and/or your external peripherals are causing some problems. But, again, Lnx2Mac's Network driver is not the source of your problem.

 

[moodogg7]

I can concur with storks assessment regarding the lyn2mac network kexts...... I have switched back and forth between NIC devises..for stability testing.. I also pointed out that I haven't had any issues since updating the DSTD.. I have taking out the the Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro PCIe Card mulitiple times . After installing the realteck lyn2mac (kexts) drivers with multi-beast to use my on board NIC... it does seem to run correctly.... allowed the machine to sleep and wake up without any issues,,,, since the updated DSTD's address the stability issue.... I still prefer my Presto Gigabit NIC due to the native yukon kexts support... plus you don't have to manually reset your internet connection in the OS (or restart) when internet goes down as it tends to get intermittent at our house due to power surges and such (I.E. having to reset my router at-least once a day)... I do try to turn off my external HDDS (I have two main ones) before i leave my hack long enough to go to sleep.... only to minimize issues... and its still a pain .. a real mac doesn't seem to have difficulty with standby features when external hard-rives are left plugged in and powered on when the i-mac goes to sleep...
but I can safely say that lyn2mac nic kexts are no longer an issue at all for me..... I have more issue with parallels 7 then general mac stability issues

 

[Stork]

Good to hear your network is running OK. Thank you for testing.

I tested with the Sonnet Ethernet card and found it to work flawlessly. However, I went back to the on-board Ethernet connection and Lnx2Mac's driver to make sure Zorro runs as it should using the tonymacx86 software and guides.