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kramz - Ruby Build - Sierra, Gigabyte Z170MX Gaming 5, i5-6600K 3.5ghz

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Nov 24, 2016
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Motherboard
GA-Z170MX-GAMING-5
CPU
i5-6600K
Graphics
Sapphire RX 580
Mac
  1. iMac
  2. MacBook Pro
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
  2. iOS
kramz's Ruby Build - Sierra, Gigabyte Z170MX Gaming 5, i5-6600K
Components

Case: Jonsbo UMX3 / Micro-ATX / USB 3.0 / Silver
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0171ZUKCO/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z170MX-Gaming 5 1151 MATX DDR4
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B014SL2XKQ/?tag=tonymacx86-21

CPU: Intel Core i5 6600K 3.50 GHz Quad Core Skylake Desktop Processor
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Skylake-Desktop-Processor-BX80662I56600K

CPU Cooler: Noctua CPU Cooler NH-U9S
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-Premium-Quality-Sockets-NH-U9S

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 2133MHz
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-2133MHz-PC4-17000-Memory

PSU: SeaSonic 650W Power Supply X650 Gold
https://www.amazon.com/SeaSonic-650W-Power-Supply

Graphics card: ASUS STRIX GeForce GTX 960 Overclocked 2 GB
https://www.amazon.com/GeForce-Overclocked-128-bit-DisplayPort-Graphics gtx 960

Monitor: ViewSonic VX2778-SMHD 27" IPS 1440p
https://www.amazon.com/ViewSonic-VX2778-SMHD-Frameless-Monitor

Wireless Card: Fenvi 802.11AC Desktop Wifi Card 802.11 A/B/G/N/AC Bluetooth 4.0 OS
https://www.amazon.co.uk/802-11AC-Desktop-Bluetooth-Yosemite-Hackintosh

Webcam: Logitech HD Laptop Webcam C615 1080p
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Laptop-Webcam

Case fan: Nanoxia Deep Silence 120mm PWM Fan
https://www.amazon.com/Nanoxia-Silence-120mm-Cooling-NDS120PWM-1500


Previously Owned

Crucial MX200 250GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200-250GB-Internal-SSD

Crucial MX200 500GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200-500GB-Internal-SSD

SAMSUNG Spinpoint 1TB 5400 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Hard Drive
https://www.amazon.com/Spinpoint-ST1000LM024-HN-M101MBB-1Tb Internal-Notebook drive

Apple Magic Bluetooth keyboard
Apple Magic Bluetooth mouse




Comments

Have been a mac user for 20 years, first Mac was an SE30 dual floppy. My current everyday Mac has been a 2013 21" iMac, with a MacBook Pro Retina 13 for travel use. The urge to build arose primarily from the “need” for a bigger screen, and the ability to meddle in the innards of my machine.

I'm not a gamer, wanted a low to no noise machine, a small form factor case and a "fast enough" Skylake processor. And that’s what I ended up with. Cost came into the equation with the aim of not exceeding the cost of a new 21 inch iMac.

This is my first ever build, so my thinking was to make the OS instal as easy as possible by using the recommended GA Z170MX gaming 5 motherboard from the custom mac mATX board recommendations, and referred to a successful Sierra build using this same MOBO by UtterDisbelief.

The GA Z170MX gaming 5 motherboard was paired with an i5 6600K (option to OC) although its remains stock standard at this point. On test the Noctua U9S copes well with a mild OC, and I am unlikely to test its limits. The small cooler also made space to work around it in the tight case. Noting in forum posts that the on board graphics with this board were troublesome for some, I decided to get a GA GTX 950 graphics card, but then won a “little used” Asus Strix GTX 960 card on eBay, for the same price as the 950.

My original intent was to use a Bitfenix Phenom case but was not able to source one locally, and settled on an aluminium Jonsbo UMX3 case (sometimes branded Cooltek and Rosewill) complete with a smoked glass side panel. The case sits on my desk alongside the screen and looks quite "apple-ish", with red led lighting to match the boards red led “track” lighting. Hence the name "Ruby" for the build.

I made one newbie error with a 160mm length PSU (mounted in the top front of the Jonsbo case). The PSU length with the tight case size blocks access to sata ports 2 & 3. Fortunately the other 4 ports are in the clear. The PSU is set for fanless action and I have yet to hear the fan running.

One plus with the Aluminum case was being able to mount the SSD’s flush with the aluminum case wall on a 2mm thick thermal conductive polymer pad (easily removed) which means the SSD's run a cool 32°C down from the 43°C+ I was used to seeing in an external TB case on my iMac. The 250GB SSD is the boot SSD with apps, and the 500Gb SSD is for my working files. Write speeds are 460 MBs and read 500 Mbs off internal SATA. Little used files (music, movies, etc) live on the 2.5 HDD. SSD’s on the case wall also left space for fans on the case floor if I feel the need.

The top 140mm and rear 120mm case fan extract air from the case, pulling air through filters in the bottom of the case, and are MOBO controlled. I replaced the original 120mm rear fan with a 120mm Nanoxia (inexpensive low noise/high cfm fan) as the original was noisy on test at higher rpm. So far the fans have been whisper quiet and entirely adequate for tropical temperatures.

The only time I have heard the graphics card fans is during the unigene benchmark test. :)

The Viewsonic 27” 2K screen is crisp and clear.








Installation

The GA Board comes with a "G" connector that configures all the front panel sound and power cables ready to be plugged into the motherboard before plugging into the board. This ensures correct orientation. First, power up had everything working correctly and ready for the software install.

I followed the TonyMacx86 install Sierra guide step by step.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ierra-on-any-supported-intel-based-pc.200564/

The reward was a familiar Mac desktop on the first boot into Mac OS.

Here is my build experience. This was a clean Sierra install. The install was done with my graphics card installed in PCIEx16 slot 1, and with a HDMI connection from the card to my monitor. I did not even attempt or check operation of on-board graphics. I used a USB2 stick in a front case USB2 port for software installation.

My board has GA BIOS F4. BIOS settings were made as per the TonyMac Sierra instal description with an addition setting in the Peripherals panel of the BIOS: Initial Display Output = PCIe 1 Slot

In MultiBeast, specifically for this motherboard, I used the 100 series sound option only, and the Athereos 2200 LAN.

My very first boot into Sierra was not exactly pretty without graphics card drivers, but it was a working macOS desktop. Nor was there HDMI sound to the monitor, although sound was accessible elsewhere in the machine as tested via a set of usb speakers (Logitech) and the front audio port of my case. This was reassuring.

At this point the previously downloaded Nvidia Web Drivers were installed.
Sierra 10.12.2 drivers were downloaded through a link on TonyMacx86.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...for-macos-sierra-10-12-2-367-15-10-25.209714/

To enable the drivers, I edited the Clover config.plist as per the link below.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/new-method-for-enabling-nvidia-web-drivers-in-clover.202341/

The following two utilities were used for the mods below.
• EFI Mounter v3
• Clover Configurator 4.33
Both are available in the community software download section.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/resources/categories/community-software.10/

To enable the card drivers, I mounted the EFI partition with EFI mounter, and copied the config.plist to my desktop to edit. Dragging the plist file to TextEdit (the Apple text editor) opened the file for editing. The piece to edit was at the very end of the file, and amounted to changing one word. Easy. I saved the file, and then copied this to the EFI folder to replace the original.

I had previously downloaded a file HDMIAudio-1.0.dmg referred to at this link.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/clover-hdmi-audio-for-nvidia-amd-cards-easy-way.145399/

While the EFI folder was open I dropped the HDMIAudio.kext from the dmg file into the kexts "other" folder in Clover.
(EFI>Clover>kexts>Other). The decision to use the HDMIAudio-1.0.dmg file was entirely random, but it worked.

A reboot saw full resolution Graphics card operation with HDMI sound through the monitor speakers. Beautiful!!

The very glaringly obvious remaining defects were a reliable sleep action and wake from sleep with sound.

I followed UtterDisbeliefs recommendations for a sleep/awake fix with this same motherboard. This required Rehabman’s CodecCommander kext (I used the same one as UtterDisbelief which was attached to his build description) and a couple of additions to the config.plist via Clover Configurator. I dont know if theres a right/better way, but here is what I did.

Mount EFI partition by double clicking EFI Mounter and selecting the EFI partition to open.

Copy Rehabman’s CodecCommander kext to the Clover “other” Kext folder in the EFI. (EFI>Clover>kexts>Other).

Drag the config.plist file from the EFI folder to make a copy on the desktop. Right or option click the new desktop plist file and select open in Clover Configurator. Tick the “FixShutdown” box in the ACPI tab, and set “darkwake=8” in the Boot Tab, then save.

Using the right click or option click open menu bypasses the OS security check that prevents opening apps from non approved developers. There is no need to change preference settings, and once opened the OS will not block opening the app on subsequent launches. It’s a neat trick to know.

Drag the saved config file from the desktop to the EFI folder so that it replaces the original plist file, and reboot.

Rebooting gave me a beautiful fully functioning Sierra desktop, with working sleep, and wake from sleep with sound.

The Fenvi wireless/Bluetooth card was installed at the very end (due a delay in the post) in the bottom slot of the motherboard (PCIEx4). Rebooting resulted in out of the box Wifi and BT connectivity to my Apple keyboard and mouse. Nice! Also nice was the convenient unused USB2 board header needed by the card close by on the bottom of the motherboard.

What works: Everything I have tried. I am very relieved about this, to say the least.

The USB-C port I am unable to test. Don’t have a device that uses it.
The USB 3.1 port works as a standard USB 3 port at USB 3 speeds. All the USB ports work.
Continuity and handoff with the fenvi card has been confirmed to work with this motherboard in this post.
I have not tested iMessage or Face Time as they are not on my priority list.
I have not had a single freeze or glitch in operation to date.

There are still a few other adjustments like power management I could make, but will take my time to enjoy my new machine.

My only complaint is that I can hear a faint fan noise from the case ...when the motor of the kitchen refrigerator is not running! :)

I hope this will assist someone considering a build with this GA mATX board. I am unable to help with advice on on-board graphics questions as I didn’t do that.

I am very grateful to the absolutely amazing people at TonyMac that made this build so easy, and to UtterDisbelief for his Gigabyte Z170MX-Gaming 5 build description for extra tweaks. Couldn’t have done it without you.

* 2017, Jan 27: Updated to 10.12.3 without incident.

* 2019 Nov: Updated hardware by replacing the nvidia 970 card with the AMD RX 580. This was a no brainer after Invidia stopped updating drivers and was subsequently unable to do system updates without losing the graphics card.
System remains on 10.13.6. Graphics card was a simple swap, unplug the 970, insert the RX 580. Worked OOB.
Temps are all comfortable. Air out of the case is 5°C warmer than ambient, a degree warmer than before. Temps below are at ambient 24°C at normal workloads.
 

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Hi @kramz

Glad you have had such a great success with your build :) Thanks too for the shout-out. Very kind. And you're welcome.

I'm really impressed with what you've done here. That new wireless card is one I've not come across before. Their whole range looks interesting. Your case is a real good looker too. And with that nice monitor and GPU must be an experience way better than a real iMac.

Your build just goes to highlight what a great motherboard the Gaming 5 is for a Hackintosh. Like yours, mine has been very reliable since first boot. I've never had a single panic or crash. Only problems were my own fault.

Well done again :)
 
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I have a very similar build, same motherboard, 6700k processor, 980 ti sc acx 2.0 evga, 850w g2 evga psu, h100i v2 liquid cooling, ddr4 3400, Anywho. I cannot get this computer to wake from sleep for the life of me... it wakes up from sleep but a black screen and can't see anything.. this is my first hackintosh. Everything works except sleep, I'm kinda clueless.
 
I have a very similar build, same motherboard, 6700k processor, 980 ti sc acx 2.0 evga, 850w g2 evga psu, h100i v2 liquid cooling, ddr4 3400, Anywho. I cannot get this computer to wake from sleep for the life of me... it wakes up from sleep but a black screen and can't see anything.. this is my first hackintosh. Everything works except sleep, I'm kinda clueless.

That would be really frustrating. You didn’t indicate if you were using Sierra, or from a clean instal or an upgrade from an earlier version. In the build (read description), I used a specific kext. UtterDisbelief used a different one. His description is worth a read. Is either what you used?

I have a very similar build, same motherboard, 6700k processor, 980 ti sc acx 2.0 evga, 850w g2 evga psu, h100i v2 liquid cooling, ddr4 3400, Anywho. I cannot get this computer to wake from sleep for the life of me... it wakes up from sleep but a black screen and can't see anything.. this is my first hackintosh. Everything works except sleep, I'm kinda clueless.

Apologies. Realize I was thinking about audio with the kexts. Made only two changes to clover plist for the wake sleep issue, darkawake=8 and FixShutdown. Still wouldn’t hurt to know the sytem info however.
 
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Sierra clean install, 10.12.2. I'll try enabling the fix shut down and changing darkwake in settings. see how that plays out.
 
thanks so much for your help now it sleeps and wakes, and audio works as well, only thing is when i wake it up, the front audio ports no longer work for headphones, only works on a full reboot. sometimes i plug headphones directly in front.. any advise on this one?
 
i've tried that, on a fresh reboot it sees my headphones when they get plugged into the front and it switches over but after sleep it does not. hmm
 
i've tried that, on a fresh reboot it sees my headphones when they get plugged into the front and it switches over but after sleep it does not. hmm

I have been using my audio differently, leave my headphones permanently in the audio port with sound prefs set to show in the menubar to switch to monitor speakers. Mostly operate off headphones however and have not noticed this. Will have to test sound outputs some more when time permits :)
 
That new wireless card is one I've not come across before.

I can echo the same sentiments about this card, works beautifully and the wireless range is the best I've come across so far.

@ kramz - Very nice build, enjoy :)
 
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