XpsychO Build: Core i7-3770K - GA-Z77X-UD5H - 32GB RAM - GTX 660

XpsychO Build: Core i7-3770K - GA-Z77X-UD5H - 32GB RAM - GTX 660 Codename The Beast​

.:.: COMPONENTS :.:.

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard $179.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007R21JK4

Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz 8 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80637I73770K $324.64
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SZ0EOW

Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ32GX3M4X1600C10) $202.79
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0068ZWZY0

(2) EVGA GeForce GTX660 2048MB GDDR5 192-Bit, Dual DVI-D, HDMI, DP and 3-Way SLI Ready GPU Graphics Cards 02G-P4-2660-KR $439.98
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009F7HFRA

Corsair Hydro Series Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler H100i $109.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZN2NH6

OCZ Technology 256GB Vector Series SATA 6.0 GB/s 2.5-Inch SSD with 100K IOPS - VTR1-25SAT3-256G $229.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A9YQPCY

(3) Seagate Barracuda 7200 3 TB 7200RPM SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST3000DM001 $419.16
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005T3GRLY

Corsair Graphite Series Steel Silver 600T Mid-Towe Computer Case (CC-9011020-WW) $159.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008O0ZKLM

(2) KingWin KF-1000-BK Single bay Internal SATA Tray $35.90
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00126U0VA

OCZ Fatal1ty 750W Modular Gaming 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply817171039 $99.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JZCF2O

Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 for Mac - Silver (920-003472) $59.95
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005L38VRU

Original Receiver for Logitech MX 5000 $19.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009X0LDQI

Logitech V470 Bluetooth Cordless Laser Mouse (Blue) $99.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UY3NR8

(3) Asus VS247H-P 24-Inch Full-HD LED-Lit Monitor $539.97
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BZNDS0


.:.: ALREADY OWNED :.:.

Liteon iHAS324 24X DVD-RW SATA Optical Disk Drive $27.20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002QGDWLK

Lite-On IHES208 8X Internal Blu-Ray Combo Drive (Black) $60.67
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0026IADEC

Apple OS X Mountain Lion @ Mac Apps Store $19.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512?ls=1&mt=12


.:.: COMMENTS :.:.

Total cost to build $3030.18. This is actually my fourth hackintosh build but my 8th hackintosh system. My first few hacks were laptops ranging from Asus G74SX to Samsung 7 series then my builds ranging from intel atom systems to core 2 duos. A lot has changed over a time and my systems continuously change so I wanted to document each system in hopes to help someone else out in the future. I would like to thank the TonyMacx86 Team and everyone else that has contributed to the cause, without your contributions, we would be stuck with paying high prices for a system or resorting to that god awful Windows.

When I built this system, I had one thing in mind, POWER! I didn't want to spend too much right now until the Xeon E5-2600 V2 processor was released, but I wanted it strong enough so I could run everything I wanted and then some without worrying if I will have enough memory, hard drive, or processing power.


.:.: BIOS CHANGES :.:.
Since every build is different, you will need to change these settings to what you need. Here is what I changed from the stock settings.

M.I.T.\Advanced Frequency Settings\Advanced CPU Core Features
CPU Clock Ration - 46 (4.6 Ghz)
Inel(R) Turbo Boost Technology - Disabled
Hyper-Threading Technology - Enabled
CPU Enhanced Halt(C1E) - Disabled
C3/C6 State Support - Disabled
CPU Thermal Monitor - Disabled
CPU EIST Function - Disabled

BIOS Features
Intel Virtualization Technology - Enabled (I will be using Parallels for Virtual Windows 7)

Peripherals
SATA Mode Selection - AHCI
xHCI Mode - Auto (Default is Smart Auto)
XHCI Hand-off - Enabled
EHCI Hand-off - Enabled

Peripherals\Marvell ATA Controller Configuration
GSATA Controller - AHCI

Power Management
Wake on Lan - Disabled


.:.: PRE INSTALLATION :.:.
To create my UniBeast installer, I used my macbook pro since it was sitting right next to me. I used the instructions located "here". Once the UniBeast USB flash drive was created, I wanted to make the installation process a little easier for me so I also downloaded the "Nvidia drivers", "Cuda Drivers", and "Multibeast" and transferred them to the USB drive as well. Since I am running dual graphics cards (For Windows 7 Dual-Boot), a simple GraphicsEnabler=No wouldn't work. I had to remove both cards from my system before starting up.

.:.: INSTALLATION :.:.
Using a USB 2.0 slot on the front of my case, I started up the installation by pressing F12 choosing my newly created UniBeast flash drive. Within seconds, I was in the OS X Installer. I created my partitions and installation location and off it went. a mere 8 minutes for an installation from start to finish was the best thing in the world! My system did not require any extra parameters or flags to be used. This was a simple process compared to some of my past builds.

.:.: POST INSTALLATION :.:.
Now that Mountain Lion is installed, it was time to set up MultiBeast and my graphics Drivers. To do so, I had to remove the security that comes stock on all Mountain Lion installs.


Since the nVidia drivers will not run on the system as default, I had to run the .DMG file, then once the other file is there, right click it and choose Show Package Contents and navigate to Contents / Packages and run the webDriverPayload_iLhsf.pkg directly. Once this was done, I was able to install the Cuda drivers without a problem.


.:.: BENCHMARKS :.:.



This is a work in progress and as I change stuff, I will try to update this page.

this setup looks great! well done...
i was just wondering if you have any issues with the corsair H100i?
is there any software that works on osx?
i am also using parallels, does the stock corsair program works on your parallel emulation?
i am not too sure about the access that the parallels have over the actual BIOS, i don't really know if they also emulate a new bios or somehow it is connected to my Hackintosh actual bios.

please let me know, i am a mm away from buying this cooler!

thanks!

You are better off building your own cooling system, the corsair H100i works fine and keeps my systems cool but there is no working software for it that you can interact with. I recommend installing windows on a second hard drive, configuring everything, then going back into mac. Once it's set, it's set. You could even try installing through a virtual and see how it works. Never know, USB is USB..