brownin's Build - Core i7-2600K – Z68X-UD3H (U1H) - AMD 6870

Component List

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H ATX DDR3 2133 LGA 1155 Motherboards
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00518M74I/

Intel Core i7 2600K Processor 3.4 Ghz 4 Core LGA 1155
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EBUXSA/

SAPPHIRE AMD Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIE Graphics Card
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005C8RTTU/

Samsung Blu-Ray Combo Internal 12XReadable and DVD-Writable Drive with Lightscribe SH-B123L/BSBP
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XIM3QK/

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz Desktop Memory
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Desktop-Memory-CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10/dp/B006EWUO22/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355698986&sr=8-2&keywords=corsair+ram

Antec 300 Gaming Case
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GQMHBI/

Cooler Master GX Series 650W ATX 12V V2.31 80 PLUS SLI Ready Power Supply RS650-ACAAE3-US
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035WTD2G/

Corsair Force 3 240 GB SATA 3 6.0 Gb-s 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Force-2-5-Inch-Solid-CSSD-F240GB3-BK/dp/B0051A8TG6/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355699250&sr=1-2&keywords=corsair+240gb+ssd

Samsung Desktop Class Spinpoint F3 1 TB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 32 MB Cache 3.5-Inch
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Spinpoint-3-5-Inch-Internal-HD103SJ/dp/B002MQC0P8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355699357&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+1tb

Already Owned

Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 for Mac - Silver
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Solar-Keyboard-K750/dp/B005L38VRU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355699597&sr=1-1&keywords=logitech+k750+mac

Logitech Couch Mouse M515
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Couch-Mouse-M515-Mac/dp/B004HIN7SI/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355699671&sr=1-2&keywords=logitech+m515

Apple 27" LED Cinema Display
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC007LL-27-Inch-Cinema-Display/dp/B0043GCBU4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1355699726&sr=1-1&keywords=apple+27+led+cinema+display




Comments

My old and trusted motherboard decided to die on me, so I went out with the safe, known builds from the CustoMac Builds section that work 100%. Little to my knowledge they would ship me the motherboard with the latest BIOS version on it (U1H), so install needed a bit more research than I had first expected.

After a quick few searches on the forums, I found people using different set ups trying to get the full functionality of this motherboard (or similar models) with the new UEFI bios installed on it. A few people said use a DSDT, others say you don't need to, so I thought the best way would be to keep testing by reinstalling and trying out the different methods until I found a way that worked for me.

Now who wouldn't want to share that and help other users?

So, whats working:

• Audio - Using the Non-DSDT HDA/Enabler (as pictured below) it works flawlessly!
• Sleep/Wake - Sleep and wake work fine, aside from it doesn't naturally sleep. This was an easy fix by installing "PleaseSleep"
• Ethernet - Months of use and not one problem
• Graphics - Works out of the box 100%
• Over-clocking - Using SpeedStep and a patched SSDT, the i7 will go up (when needed) to 4.1GHz.
• USB 3 - I dont have a USB 3 device to test the speeds on, but I have had no issues plugging USB 2 devices in (anything from a wireless headset to a memory stick)

I have been using this machine for nearly everything at one point a Mac is used for (programming, 3D rendering, video and audio editing, photoshop etc.) and it has never let me down! The boot time is fantastic! Literately 4 spins of the...spinning thing...on boot up and I'm in and opening programs, it boots up faster than the Windows partition by miles! All this makes me ask the question, why spend £1000's of your hard earned cash on a real Mac when you could customise your own for a lot less!

Installing

BIOS Set up

Change the hardrive setting from IDE to AHCI (like all other installing methods)

Install Method

Just follow the tonymacx86UniBeast method and everything will turn out fine, once you've installed, combo update the OSX to 10.7.4, don't restart, then open up MultiBeast and check the same boxes I have in the screenshot below.



There is no need for a DSDT, but you still need to select it in MultiBeast.


Any questions, feel free to post below and I'll do my best to answer.

Finally, I'd just like to say a big thank you to Tonymac, his team and the whole community, this would not of been possible without all of you, and for that I am truly grateful!

Nice. Congrats! I love Antec cases. I went with a P280, it's huge, it was on sale, and I love it.

I have one question, why didn't you select 3rdParty SATA and 3rdParty eSATA to get the Marvell controller working? Did you disable the controller in bios?

Hmm... makes me think of another question. Do we need any kext to get the eSata port on this mono to work? It's connected to the Intel controller. Probably not.

Your MultiBeast setup in pretty much the same as mine was when I did a clean install from UniBeast when I experimented with U1h. The only difference is which LAN driver we chose. I haven't come across a thread that definitively shows the pros and cons between the two. I've used both and I can't tell the difference.

Enjoy your new build!

Edit: I should also mention, for the benefit of anyone considering this build, that over overclocking with U1h is broken. The max multiplier you'll get is x41. Anything higher and you get a kernel panic during boot when the AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext does it's thing. At least that was my experience and it was confirmed by another member here too.

Thanks for the feedback.

Had the 300 case for many years now, if I see myself with a bit of spare money, definitely need something larger, cable tidying in the 300 is a bit of an impossibility.

I don't own any eSATA devices so that's the fundamental reason I have not bothered with it. And I dont have enough hard drives to make use of the Marvell Controller.

In terms of LAN controller kext, from what I've read, any heavy internet usage could cause kernel panics, but a few a farm from when using the Lynx2Mac Realtek kext.

Overclocking is something I will look into in the near future when I can afford to get a nice watercooled CPU cooler, something like the Corsair H80. Until then I'm happy with the stock settings, idles at x17, boosts to x35 when needed. Not doing anything too strenuous to the CPU at the moment to really need that extra bit of juice.

brownin said:

I don't own any eSATA devices so that's the fundamental reason I have not bothered with it. And I dont have enough hard drives to make use of the Marvell Controller.

Click to expand...

Makes perfect sense. thx. I do have an eSata drive and all my internal SATA connectors are connected.

brownin said:

In terms of LAN controller kext, from what I've read, any heavy internet usage could cause kernel panics, but a few a farm from when using the Lynx2Mac Realtek kext.

Click to expand...

Interesting... I've used both without issue. Maybe I should test with a large file copy on my gigabit net to see if I can crash Realtek driver. Hmm... something else to play with...

brownin said:

Overclocking is something I will look into in the near future when I can afford to get a nice watercooled CPU cooler, something like the Corsair H80. Until then I'm happy with the stock settings, idles at x17, boosts to x35 when needed. Not doing anything too strenuous to the CPU at the moment to really need that extra bit of juice.

Click to expand...

My Windows 7 rig is water cooled with a Corsair H100 while I use a $40 air cooler in my OS X rig. If I'd do it again I'd just go with air cooling in my Windows rig. Although I control the fan speeds on the water cooler and make them really quiet I still hear the pump, even at it's slowest setting. I'm disappointed with that.

Anyway, you'd probably be able to overclock to 4.1 GHz with your current cooling solution and keep your voltages stock. Try it. It only gets tough when you want to get to really high clocks like 4.5+ GHz and you have to mess with voltages and then monitor temps.

How about posting some Geekbench scores to make me jealous of your i7-2600K.

pixelgazer said:

How about posting some Geekbench scores to make me jealous of your i7-2600K.

Click to expand...

Stock speed, 2 year old RAM (needs an upgrade I think)

Screen Shot 2012-07-11 at 23.04.39.png

0sx86man011 said:

just a small question, did your gpu work oob?

Click to expand...

Yep

GraphicsEnabler=Yes

Hey this build looks great and is exactly what I want to build in order to run a music production CustoMac.

I notice that you didn't include a CPU cooler which is what I have seen on most other user builds, is there a reason for this?
Also, as I am using the CustoMac for sound purposes how does the build fair in noise levels? Theres nothing worse than a whirring desktop when working with your ears!

Hope you can shed some light

Tom

JLYMN_ said:

Hey this build looks great and is exactly what I want to build in order to run a music production CustoMac.

I notice that you didn't include a CPU cooler which is what I have seen on most other user builds, is there a reason for this?
Also, as I am using the CustoMac for sound purposes how does the build fair in noise levels? Theres nothing worse than a whirring desktop when working with your ears!

Hope you can shed some light

Tom

Click to expand...

I dont have a CPU cooler for the main reason...didnt really have the funds for it. And also for the fact I dont really need it seeing on how im not overclocking it at all. If I come into some money I'll go for the Corsair H80 Liquid Cooler.

In terms of noise, I'm using all the fan slots available, but all on the lowest speed. It's audible, but i dont really take notice of it. Could be due to the fact Im so used to it.

If you want quiet case, go for the Fractal Design cases, they're very quiet, sleek and plenty of room for cable management.