eRz's Build: i5-4430 - GA-H87N-WIFI - 16Gb RAM - 760 GTX

Components

Fractal Design Node 304 Mini-ITX Hybrid Computer Case FD-CA-NODE-304-BL
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009LHF4FO/

Gigabyte GA-H87N-WIFI LGA 1150 Intel H87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard Mini
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D94X4DO/

Intel Core i5-4430 Quad-Core Desktop Processor 3.0 GHz 6 MB Cache LGA 1150
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CO8T9VC/

Noctua Low-Profile Quiet CPU Cooler for Intel 115x Based Retail Cooling NH-L9I
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009VCAJ7W/

Crucial Ballistix Elite 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1866 MT/s (PC3-14900) CL9
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006YG9D0M/

MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 OC 2GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card N760 TF 2GD5/OC
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DIH8OW8/

Intel 530 240GB 2.5-Inch Internal Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTPYSEM/

Seagate Barracuda 3 TB HDD SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 7200 RPM
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005T3GRLY/

Atheros AR9280 AR5BHB92 half size mini PCI-E Wireless Wlan Karte 2.4GHz -5GHz
on eBay

Already Owned

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004[/noparse][/code]

Comments

I want to share with you a build that could interest those are looking for a compact and silent build to play under OS X. The main goal when i start my quest for an OOB-working-kext-less-reliable-build was to put everything in a tiny and looking great case that could fill an empty space under TV either on a desk.


About components

This case is great for holding GPU up to 300mm length and to hold 6 3,5 HDD. A versatile, well build, case for a decent price. What you need more ? Nothing. Check around the Internet, this case is a way better than recommended cheap-look BitFenix case. With this board you have 4 SATA, up to 16Gb ram, built-in WIFI, Haswell support and flawless compatibility with OSX.

An alt choice could be a GA-Z87N-WIFI but choose this one only if you plan to overclock. This is not a big i5 CPU but it's 84W TDP, 1150, affordable, and enought for most games and applications. Save money. If you plan to overclock choose a K computer and review the cooling for more air (EVO 212 and many tower designed aircooler will fit up to 150mm). Many "big" cooler works and will let you add a GPU just keep in mind the mother board is 17*17cm only and a too large cooler will obstruct PCIe or memory banks. Yeah it's a low profil cooler. The main point is this cooling delivers +13% performance than Intel stock cooling and provides silence ! I chose this cooling because it fully fit the motherboard without obstruction and i can even play hungry games without noise. The other advantage is to left empty space above CPU to keep a good airflow.

I got a rebate on RAM it so it worth the price, you can choose any 16Gb kit in DDR3 at least 1600Mhz. This one has aggressive timing and give you more power than painting your car in red. Get the best offer and save money ! The MSI 760 GTX is A good card considering its price tag. You will get silent gaming as Twin Frozr system has proven their benefits. It works OOB with GraphicsEnabler=No and delivers great performance. You can upgrade this up to 300mm. You have to ban triple slot card. The VX550 came from a previous computer. You can even choose a modular PSU. The only limitation will be the size (16mm max to hold the case). Modular PSUs can block some GPU because of their layout. You have enough space in case to fill every SATA port or add a SATA PCI-e card to turn it into a NAS or a Steam box. ( D4600 will achieve Steam's local game streaming ).

I bought SSD and HDD at their best price. 128GB is a minimum requirement for a system disk. The motherboard has built-in WIFI. I read some motherboard can work OOB but i preferred to avoid any risks and i chose to replace it. It works OOB ! Not so much extras to add, the case will be full and you can add an Apple keyboard, a mouse, a good screen...

SSD mount trick


Installation Notes

There is no particular instructions for installation, just follow the Tonymacx86's 10.9 Installation Guide.

UEFI settings
1. To access UEFI Setup, press and hold Delete on a USB Keyboard while the system is booting up
2. Set to Optimized Defaults.
3. Disable VT-d
4. Set X.M.P. Memory Profile to Profile1 (1600Mhz)
5. Save and exit.

Update to 10.9.2

Follow the guide, use MultiBeast to install ALC892 + Trim if needed. Reboot. Repair. Enjoy.

MultiBeast Settings

Post installation is very easy, as this board doesn't require a DSDT. Use the following settings or download the .mb file then reboot following a successful installation.


Geekbench

Runs tryout 32 bits.


Unigine Heaven

Quality is set to Ultra in 1680*1050 (system resolution).

With Extreme Tessellation


With Normal Tessellation


Cinebench R15



Wifi performance benchmark with MBP 2011 late.




GA-H87N-WIFI's antenna works really great don't forget to plug it !

Q&A and additional notes

- 2014/03/07 : Got a problem this morning. Build was stuck in hibernation mode and i was unable to wake it up. Had to reboot (then repair permissions).
- 2014/03/11 : Added Cinebench score.

Air Cooler Options

I'm curious how the cpu cooler fits with the motherboard. I've been searching for an air cooler that fits and is in any way better than the stock intel cooler, in noise or performance, or ideally, both. 99% of them overlap the PCIe slot. I figured I was stuck with the stock cooler or water to be able to OC. Thanks, and nice setup.

Edit: Just re-read your setup. Apparently everything fit. I'll open my search up to 95mm coolers. Thanks.

boro057 said:

I'm curious how the cpu cooler fits with the motherboard. I've been searching for an air cooler that fits and is in any way better than the stock intel cooler, in noise or performance, or ideally, both. 99% of them overlap the PCIe slot. I figured I was stuck with the stock cooler or water to be able to OC. Thanks, and nice setup.

Edit: Just re-read your setup. Apparently everything fit. I'll open my search up to 95mm coolers. Thanks.

Click to expand...

The first pic show the current mainboard with the aircooler. I guessed same as you when i was looking for parts and i found few ressources about it. I confirm the Noctua fits perfectly (like the Intel one) with better performance and loise noise. The setup is 100% silent.

I'm currently enjoying it. Wish you the best with your next build : )

Question: How do you disable the Vt-d? I have a GA-Z87N-WIFI i3 4330 8GB that I cannot get to launch. On the BIOS Vt-d is greyed out. What do I change to get that option available?

Click to expand...

You press the F2 key when the machine first starts to enter the bios. Then you switch to 'advances' f7 I think. Then you want to look for cpu features. Just turn off Virtualization. You can enable it later if you find you need to run virtual machines.

vt-d is a advanced feature for intel cpu's that allows a type 1 hypervisor to associate a PCI-E device directly to a virtualized computer. Not really a thing the average computer user will need since it's not supported in the current consumer hypervisors.

Having wrestled with the install all day yesterday, I read somewhere else in the forums to use the upper hdmi port on the ga-z87n-wifi motherboard instead of the lower one. Fixed everything. I left the Vt-d greyed out, it still says enabled, and it all still worked ok. Ultimately, I didn't change anything from the default bios settings. Using the lower hdmi port, I had to try all kinds of boot flags and the install screens kept freezing. With the upper port, no boot flags, everything was high res, and loaded fine. Some people say not to use the usb 3.0 ports during install, so I used a usb hub to get the flash drive, keyboard, and mouse to all get in on the 2.0 side. The 3.0 might work for you. Hopefully, maybe some of that helped.

Edit: Now that I think about it, in the bios under initial display output, I switched it to IGFX, since I don't have a video card yet. Not sure if that makes a difference. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I left everything else default.

Brodancha said:

Question: How do you disable the Vt-d? I have a GA-Z87N-WIFI i3 4330 8GB that I cannot get to launch. On the BIOS Vt-d is greyed out. What do I change to get that option available?

Click to expand...

Yeah VT-D is set to disable.

boro057 said:

Having wrestled with the install all day yesterday, I read somewhere else in the forums to use the upper hdmi port on the ga-z87n-wifi motherboard instead of the lower one. Fixed everything. I left the Vt-d greyed out, it still says enabled, and it all still worked ok. Ultimately, I didn't change anything from the default bios settings. Using the lower hdmi port, I had to try all kinds of boot flags and the install screens kept freezing. With the upper port, no boot flags, everything was high res, and loaded fine. Some people say not to use the usb 3.0 ports during install, so I used a usb hub to get the flash drive, keyboard, and mouse to all get in on the 2.0 side. The 3.0 might work for you. Hopefully, maybe some of that helped.

Edit: Now that I think about it, in the bios under initial display output, I switched it to IGFX, since I don't have a video card yet. Not sure if that makes a difference. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure I left everything else default.

Click to expand...

Which rev is your mainboard ?

Rev. 2.0

erz said:

GA-H87N-WIFI's antenna works really great don't forget to plug it !

Click to expand...

Nice build!

I have a few questions..

1. Were there any problems with placing the GPU on the motherboard? On your picture it looks like the PCI-express port is very close to the CPU-cooler.

2. You're choosing the H87 chipset, which at maximum can handle 1600mhz memory, and you bought 1800mhz? Sorry if I'm mistaken.

-Gudui

The H87N motherboard has only 1600 & 1333 memory on it's Memory Support List. See http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4601#memory support list