[SUCCESS]: QUIET AUDIO WORKSTATION, 10.8.3, Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H Version 1.1, i5 3570k, 16GB - PRESO

madnugat's PreSonus FireStudio Build: GA-Z77-DS3H - i5-3570K

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Components:

TonyMac Donation - Thanks!

OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.3
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512?mt=12

Case: BitFenix Ghost
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345019

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H[BIOS F9, Version 1.1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128547

Processor: Intel Core i5 i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4Ghz Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

PSU: InWin 550W, Greenme
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGTNBTU/

SSD: SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB SATA 6.0 Gb-s 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SDSSDX-120G-G25
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006EKJCWM/

Firewire: StarTech.com PCI1394MP 4-Port PCI 1394a FireWire Adapter Card, 3 External/1 Internal
http://www.amazon.com//dp/B00006B8EQ/

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568

Bluetooth: Gbu521 Bluetooth 4.0 Micro Adapter Usb
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GFX0PY/


Already Owned:

MOUSE: Logitech Wireless Marathon Mouse M705
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TG75EG/

HDDs: Western Digital Black 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

Western Digital Green 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236070

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148612

SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 245BW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001523

OPTICAL DRIVE: External SAMSUNG DVD Writer Model SE-208
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005KQ0S8S/


Comments

This is my first hackintosh build although I have built PCs from scratch before. All in all it was surprisingly painless - taking about a full day build, troubleshoot a few minor problems and get everything working. Fun!

This build is intended primarily for running Logic Studio and Ableton Live. It also works well as a media center, as Airplay Mirroring works perfectly with the AppleTV 3 (1080p) as long as you designate the machine as a "Mac Mini5,1" in MultiBeast. Just looking at this now, I don't know why I selected 5,1 and not 6,1 - there is likely no difference. I also use an app called "Beamer" to stream media files without taking over the whole computer - works flawlessly.

Thanks to tonymacx86 and to pivko11, nomar1245 and malcolmtexas, whose builds I followed closely.

Notes on Components and Settings:

Case:
- The 2 120mm fans that come with this case are silent.
- Front panel USB2 and 3 ports all work with appropriate headers installed on MOBO.
- Front panel audio "working" - i.e. there is a signal when headphone jack plugged in halfway, however no audio present when plugged in normally. I would chalk this up to the case port itself being defective. Not a big deal as rear audio works.
- Other than this audio issue, I highly recommend this case, it's really easy to build with.

Bios Settings:
- BIOS set to default then the following changes made:

SSD:

Firewire Card:


Bluetooth:

Logitech Mouse:

Graphics:

GEEKBENCH SCORE (32 Bit) = 10473


INSTALL:

Before anything involving the OS, I installed the PSU, and CPU on the MOBO, pluging in a monitor and keyboard and turning the computer on to get into the BIOS. This is a good way to start a build, by troubleshooting with the least amount of involved components. Check the CPU temp in BIOS etc. Reset the BIOS to defaults and enable AHCI (as above). In my case, I had to set the memory to the proper frequency here as well. That said, there were no issues at this point. My MOBO is v1.1 and BIOS version F9.

OSX 10.8.3 downloaded onto my old MacBook Pro through App Store. Begin the installation procedure, but don't finish it. You have to extract the files at this point, in order to put them on a USB flash drive with UniBeast. See here:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-backup-mountain-lion-install-disk/

Then install Unibeast and OS X on min 8GB Thumb Drive - see here - and follow instructions to the letter to install:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/61-unibeast-install-os-x-mountain-lion-any-supported-intel-based-pc.html


INSTALL ISSUE:

At this point, only the SSD had been installed. Other peripherals were added piece by piece after, in order to individually identify any issues.

After installing OSX on the SSD, it hung completely on the first bootup. Slightly worrying, but this was the only issue I had the whole time. I enabled verbose mode at the Chimera Boot Prompt by typing "-v" and saw that the bootup was stalling on the line:

[IOBluetoothHCIController] [start] -- completed.

After searching this on forums with mixed results, I tried adding the argument "-s" at the Chimera Boot Prompt to get into safe mode and the compter booted up into Mountain Lion, albeit with a non-native resolution. At this point I was able to run Multibeast (which I had also put on the USB Key). Configuring Multibeast fixed the problem and I was able to configure the individual components as shown below.

MULTIBEAST SETUP:

I changed very little in Multibeast.
- DSDT is not required with this MOBO.
- ALC888 - enables motherboard audio.
- 10.8.1+ - TRIM Patch - as mentioned, this didn't take at first. Command line adjustments were found elsewhere on tonymac forums.
- FakeSMC and Plugins allow use of utilities like the iStat widget.
- Atheros - Shailua's ALXEtherenet v1.0.2 needed before ethernet worked
- Followed other builds and installed the Chimera v1.11.1 r1394
- Verbose boot - recommended for booting up and trouble shooting at first.
- Mac mini 5,1 (or 6,1 probably) - needed to enable Airplay Mirroring




The following worked with no issues:
Sleep
Restart
On-Board DVI
On-board HDMI
Bluetooth (Added later with dongle)
Ethernet
USB Controller
MOBO Sound (Although front panel has issues).
PCI Ports (Used for Firewire Adaptor)
Wake from sleep by Bluetooth apple keyboard.

Not Tested:
On-Board VGA port
On-Board Surround Sound (not needed).


BUGS/GLITCHES:

Airplay Mirroring
- This works flawlessly in terms of what streams to the AppleTV 3. However, my desktop monitor is 1920x1200 and my TV is 1920x1080. When mirrored the desktop display (not the one attached to the Apple TV) is distorted and has lines across it. "Best for Airplay" is selected. Having no experience with this on a regular Mac, I don't know if this is regular behaviour or not. At any rate, it works great for streaming the monitor to the ATV.
- Related to this, the computer initally had issues displaying any non-native resolution. This was a problem when booting into a game and getting a garbled display, but seems to have mysteriously resolved itself.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I couldn't be happier with this thing! I was initally wondering about getting a better GeekBench Score, but I'm not sure they mean much in terms of actual usage. It's fast, quiet, does everything I want it to and boots up in about 20 seconds from the SSD. Awesome.

Thanks to all for your highly useful build posts.

Very good build description. Is using HD4000 Integrated Graphics meeting your recording exceptions?

Yes, completely. The DAW software I am using does not utilize the graphics processor. There are very few audio plugins that currently make use of the GPU, though I think more will soon. If so I can always just get a card. I may be taking a slight hit, in terms of the HD4000 using a small portion of the system ram, but I can't imagine the demands of rendering the DAW GUI are very high, so this should be negligible.

One small issue. As mentioned in the build description: When I switch to non-native resolutions the screen becomes garbled. Oddly, this is remedied by putting the computer to sleep with the case power button. When it wakes, it renders the non-native resolution properly. It's not a huge issue, but a bit strange. Has anyone had this problem with the GA-Z77-DS3H + HD4000 combination?

madnugat said:

One small issue. As mentioned in the build description: When I switch to non-native resolutions the screen becomes garbled. Oddly, this is remedied by putting the computer to sleep with the case power button. When it wakes, it renders the non-native resolution properly. It's not a huge issue, but a bit strange. Has anyone had this problem with the GA-Z77-DS3H + HD4000 combination?

Click to expand...

hi nice to hear that Ableton and logic pro is just fine on your build. Here is what i found maybe helpful for you. Also let me know after you do this

http://blog.stuffedcow.net/2012/07/intel-hd4000-qeci-acceleration/

also to add up try using DVI port instead of HDMI, i have another board but same processor and also Using HD4000 my problem got resolved just by switching to DVI and now it has better resolution and nice video in all. I guess this would be easiest method if works good for you as b75m is similar to DS3H so i guess it should work 99.9%.

Hi ayushh,

You got a build working - nice to hear, well done


Adrian B