Success: Gigabyte GA-H170-HD3 + Intel Skylake Core i5-6600 in a Corsair Carbide 200R case

[NicoD]

NicoD's Build: Gigabyte GA-H170-HD3 + Intel Skylake Core i5-6600 in a Corsair Carbide 200R case​

Components

MoBo: Gigabyte GA-H170-HD3 ATX Socket 1151 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Skylake Core i5-6600 / 3.3 GHz (Turbo Boost 3.9 GHz) 4 cores Cache Socket, Socket 1151 (BX80662I56600)
CPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
RAM: Crucial 16GBx2 32GB Kit, DDR4 2133 MT/s DIMM 288 (CT2K16G4DFD8213) Memory
HD: A Western Digital 2TB Hard Drive
Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 - 150 Processor Cooler
Power: Corsair CP-9020097-VS550 ATX/EPS 80 PLUS 550W Power Supply (not available in the US)
Case: Corsair Carbide 200R Computer Case
CD/DVD: Sony Optiarc 18X SATA DVD-ROM Drives DDU1681S-0B (Black)
FireWire 400 card: KALEA-INFORMATIQUE © - Carte Controleur PCI vers FireWire 400 IEEE1394a - 3 ports - Chipset TEXAS INSTRUMENTS TI (from a French vendor, not available in the US)


Already Owned

Apple keyboard
Logitech mouse
AOC 2580 x 1440 monitor
Samsung 250 GB SSD
M-Audio FireWire Solo audio interface (hence the FW card)


Comments

The hardware building went like a breeze.

I own a 2 year old Mac Mini (2012 type); I call it a Minus. I'll try to sell it away soon.
I am on a budget. I don't play games and don't do videos so I opted against overclocking.
The only demanding activity I do on my computer is amateur photography RAW post production and panoramas with DxO OpticsPro, Affinity Photo, Hugin and Adobe Bridge. They mainly use the CPU. It is considered a GPU brings a marginal improvement in performances (at least for the type of treatments I do). But they all hog the RAM like nuts. My Mini's 16GB are constantly filled up and I have to regularly launch Dr. Cleaner and even sometimes quit one or the other to relieve the RAM, especially the alpha hog: OS X's kernel_task. That's why I opted against a GPU and for a 2 stick 32GB RAM as a starter with an option for 64GB in the future. Yet, I chose a 550W power unit just in case.
Alas, the motherboard I chose, with a HD 530, can deliver 4K on its DVI and HDMI ports for good… but with OS X it's a no-no: a DP port is required. I was stuck with 1080.
Therefore I had to go for a GPU: a $160 mistake!

The software installation was a little more tricky yet I could overcome the issues with the help of several people on this site. I didn't keep track of the time I spent on it, but I am sure if I counted it as billable hours a $10,000 price tag would be a conservative figure. This is my first home made computer, and, hence, my first hackintosh. I just followed the tonymacx86 installation guide the best I could with some mistakes of course. Next time I'll be more seasoned, but this first time was many times a real pain in the neck.

Thumbs up to tonymax86 for the wonderful things it does and all the folks around for their help!

Installation

MultiBeast options

Quick Start -> UEFI Boot Mode
That was a no-brainer.
Drivers -> Audio
That was a no-brainer too: my mobo has a Realtek® ALC887 codec
Drivers -> Disk
Intel Generic AHCI SATA
Drivers -> Miscellaneous
FakeSMC Plugins
FakeSMC HWMonitor Application
Drivers -> Network
RealtekRTL8111 v2.2.1
Drivers -> USB
3rd Party USB 3.0
Increase Max Port Limit
Bootloaders
Clover v2.3k v3423 UEFI Boot Mode
Customization -> Graphics
HD 530
Customization -> System Definitions
Mac Pro (3,1)
Customization -> SSDT Options
None

What works
Basically everything, not all of them at once though but the couple of idiots (the mouse in particular) that thought it was funny to mess around eventually got wiser.

• The Ethernet connection worked perfectly at once, whether the access to my Mac Mini via the LAN or to Internet.
• The sleep and wake up as well as the shut down work seamlessly and pretty fast.
• The FireWire PCI card worked from day one. My external FW HD, once plugged in, nicely popped up on the desktop and my audio interface started delivering its perfect sound.
• I inserted a CD and it also nicely popped up on the desktop.

I was pretty worried these two would be a pain in the neck to set up but it was just a breeze even before I ran Multibeast.

What doesn't work at all
Nothing that I can think of… or that I found about.

The thing is operational now and .

Nick


Updates
July 22, 2016. Some details changed

 

[Kingmax45]

Are you getting proper graphics acceleration using Intel HD 530, Multibeast Setting.
I am struggling.

 

[NicoD]

Hi all

I had planned to go without a GPU but eventually I had to add one to get 2560 x 1440 px on my monitor.
OS X, AFAIK, allows more than 1080 only on DisplayPort or on its miniDP/Thunderbolt combo port. On DVI and HDMI it allows 1080 only. So beware guys, if like me you want to go without a GPU and yet get 4K make sure your mobo has a DP port. I had to add $160 to my bill and besides the resolution it's completely useless for me.
Apart from that everything works well.

Nick

 

[pastrychef]

The link to the motherboard is for a GA-Z170-HD3.

 

[NicoD]

The link to the motherboard is for a GA-Z170-HD3.

Sorry, mistake corrected.
Nick

 

[TiiDub]

Does HDMI audio work with the onboard HD530?

 

[NicoD]

Does HDMI audio work with the onboard HD530?

I can't help you. I use an external audio interface. I don't even use the built-in audio RCA ports.
Nick

 

[karmic]

Hi, pls show plist for H170-HD3. Thx

 

[NicoD]

Hi, pls show plist for H170-HD3. Thx

I forgot to make a screenshot so I just pasted the todo list I had done before and that's in my post:

MultiBeast options

Quick Start -> UEFI Boot Mode
That was a no-brainer.
Drivers -> Audio
That was a no-brainer too: my mobo has a Realtek® ALC887 codec
Drivers -> Disk
Intel Generic AHCI SATA
Drivers -> Miscellaneous
FakeSMC Plugins
FakeSMC HWMonitor Application
Drivers -> Network
RealtekRTL8111 v2.2.1
Drivers -> USB
3rd Party USB 3.0
Increase Max Port Limit
Bootloaders
Clover v2.3k v3423 UEFI Boot Mode
Customization -> Graphics
HD 530
Customization -> System Definitions
Mac Pro (3,1)
Customization -> SSDT Options
None

Nick

 

[karmic]

I can see EFI > Clover > config.plist, not screenshot from MultiBeast.