- Joined
- Jan 25, 2013
- Messages
- 33
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H
- CPU
- i7-3770K
- Graphics
- GT 640
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
chrismartino's iHack > Core i7-3770K | GA-Z77-DS3H | 16GB RAM | GT 640
Components
Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H (Rev 1.1)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007R21JWC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128547
Intel Core i7-3770K
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007SZ0EOW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501
Corsair 16GB XMS3 DDR3 SDRAM / CMX16GX3M2A1600C11
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B006ZINK0S
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145357
Gigabyte GeForce GT 640 / GV-N640OC-2GI
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008J1O968
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125433
SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD / SDSSDX-120G-G25
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B006EKJCWM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AT0F10730
Western Digital Black 500GB / WD5003AZEX
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B008968L6M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345
Seagate Barracuda 1TB / ST1000DM003
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005T3GRNW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
Sony Optiarc SATA Internal DVD+/-RW Drive / AD-7280S-0B
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0057FRTPW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118073
Syba Low Profile 1394b/1394a Card / SD-PEX30009
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002S53IG8
Corsair CX600 600W ATX
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0092ML0OC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028
Corsair Vengeance C70 Arctic White
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007RESFHM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139014
Apple Mac OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512
Already Owned
Dell 2001FP Display
http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraSharp-2001FP-20-1-inch-Monitor/dp/B000BMBUAQ
Dell SE198WFP Display
http://www.amazon.com/SE198WFP-Inch-Flat-Panel-Monitor/dp/B001OFTXW6
Logitech Wireless Performance Mouse MX
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Performance-Mouse-Mac/dp/B002HWRJBM
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-A11-00337-Natural-Keyboard-Elite/dp/B0000642RX
Drobo 4-Bay USB 2.0/FireWire 800
http://www.amazon.com/Drobo-Beyond-FireWire-Storage-Backup/dp/B001CZ9ZEE
Comments
I was looking for something to replacing my aging 6-year-old desktop system, which coincidentally was the first PC I didn't build myself. I knew I wanted a Mac (or something that ran Mac OS X) as I prefer the OS and the ability to get my hands dirty with the CLI, if needed (I'm a unix sysadmin by day). I was also looking for something to be my photography workhorse (I'm a photographer by night). The system would need to be stable, be able to run the Adobe suite of products and other various photography related applications. I also wanted it to connect to my Drobo via FireWire because I find it's USB connection to be extremely flaky (at least it was on my Windows PC).
The build was relatively straight forward. I went from components to working system in about two and half hours. My initial build didn't include the SSD, but that was a relatively easy fix with SuperDuper! once the SSD arrived. One thing many of the guides say is to use the onboard video for the installation, and then install the GPU after everything is set up. I didn't follow that advice and installed the GPU and went ahead with the installation, using UniBeast of course, and everything went smoothly and without a problem. I also opted not to use the USB 3.0 ports on the front of my case, and instead have them connected to the USB 2.0 header on my motherboard (using the USB 3 -> USB 2 adapter that came with my case).
The only problem I had was the dreaded "Boot 0" problem, as my first installation was on the WD 500GB HDD. It was easy to fix by booting UniBeast and then performing the steps here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/25-boot0-error-official-guide.html.
The system has been incredibly stable for the past week since being built. I only experienced one freeze, and that was before running MultiBeast on the system and installing the necessary kexts.
I've opted to run my iHack as an iMac13,1 (Late 2012), as I believe it offers the best compromise between features (AirPlay Mirror) and performance. As is, this build gets about a 12,300 on Geekbench: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1650387.
MultiBeast Settings
Other
For fun, I made a (not so good) time lapse of the build:
[video=youtube;mS4cUg88o8Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS4cUg88o8Y[/video]
Other photos can be found in my album: http://www.tonymacx86.com/members/chrismartino/albums/ihack-build/
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