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Mini Beast: GA-Z97N-WIFI - i7-4770k - GTX 770 (2GB)

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Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 28, 2012
Messages
56
Motherboard
Fractal Node 304
CPU
i7-4770K
Graphics
GTX 770
Mini Beast: GA-Z97N-WIFI - i7-4770k - Gigabyte GTX 770 (2GB)

Fractal-Node-304.png

Components

Gigabyte GA-Z97N-WIFI (rev 1) Motherboard
Amazon

Intel Core i7-4770k Haswell Processor
Amazon
NewEgg

Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 RAM
Amazon
NewEgg

Noctua NH-U12S - CPU Cooler
Amazon
NewEgg

Noctua NF-F12 PWM Cooling Fan
Amazon

QNIX QX2710 LED EVOLUTION II DP MULTI TRUE10 27" QHD 2560x1440 HDMI Monitor
ebay

Logitech K750 Mac Solar Keyboard
Amazon
NewEgg


Already Owned

Antec Neo ECO 620C - Bronze Certified
Amazon

Fractal Node 304 (Black) - Mini ITX Case
Amazon
NewEgg

Crucial M4 256GB SSD
Amazon


Comments

I recently built a Hackintosh, but it ended up being a comedy of errors. The enormous CPU cooler I bought for it (Noctua U12S) wouldn't fit the proper way, b/c the CPU placement on the Z87N board is too close to the PCI slot. (See below)

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252001.jpg


The Z97 has the CPU properly placed, so I can actually fit my enormous cooler on it. :clap:

Process

The first thing I did was create a USB installer with UniBeast. This was definitely the hardest part of my entire install, as it wouldn't run on my 2011 17" MBP, or my wife's 2008 15" MBP, or my 2008 white MacBook - I had to end up using my father-in-law's 13" MBA (2012). No idea why UniBeast only ran on that, but once I found a computer to make the USB installer, it worked like a charm.

The install went swimmingly, after formatting the drive HFS+. I used the following (DSDT Free) settings in MultiBeast:

Screen%2520Shot%25202014-08-19%2520at%25207.12.38%2520PM.png


Thanks to this post by neilhart, I discovered a way to get the Atheros ethernet working. I went into the Multibeast application (right click, show contents) and found the ALXEthernet.pkg file, and installed it. Upon reboot, I had 2 working ethernet ports!

Important to note, is that with the Z87N board, I had to load the 2.4.14 Intel ethernet driver to avoid crashes on large network transfers. I installed it again with this Z97N board, just to be safe.

Photos
Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252003.jpg

CPU and RAM ready to go​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252004.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252005.jpg

Extra Noctua NF-F12 PWM fan to go on the back of the U12S, for a push/pull setup​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252006.jpg

rear of Noctua mounting bracket on mobo​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252008.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252010.jpg

radiator with no fans on yet​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252012.jpg

Plenty of space for the Graphics Card​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252013.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252014.jpg

beast of a CPU cooler!​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252015.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252016.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252017.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252018.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252020.jpg

Cable management to ensure plenty of space for air to flow from the front to the rear of the case​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252021.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252022.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252023.jpg


Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252026.jpg

Plenty of space for the front case fans to move air to the rear​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252028.jpg

I strategically tied all the cables to the top and sides of the case, to make sure there was plenty of space in the middle for air flow​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252030.jpg

All tied to the very top (roof) of the case​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252031.jpg

all closed up​

Hackintosh%2520Rebuild%252033.jpg

Ready for action!​
 
Very nice upgrade Casey ! Gives me some ideas for putting a more powerful build into
my node 304 case. I'm just using it as an HTPC right now with the stock Intel cooler.
Cable mgt. is not easy in that case. Even getting that 1 piece metal case cover on and
off is a major hassle. Must feel great to get it all done and not have to mess with it anymore. :)
 
Very nice upgrade Casey ! Gives me some ideas for putting a more powerful build into
my node 304 case. I'm just using it as an HTPC right now with the stock Intel cooler.
Cable mgt. is not easy in that case. Even getting that 1 piece metal case cover on and
off is a major hassle. Must feel great to get it all done and not have to mess with it anymore. :)
Thanks trs! Yeah, I'm really glad to have everything ready to just "live" in that case now. It will still occasionally need a good dusting (quite dusty in TX), but as far as being done goes, I'm pretty sure I'm there.

Yeah, cable management is a beast to attain in that case. I've seen a couple people in the Overclock forums' official Fractal Node 304 thread who have hidden almost all their wires with the Silverstone PSU's, but I got a deal on this Antec Neo Eco, and it's really quiet, so I have no interest in spending even more money on another PSU.

Anyhow - thanks for the compliments!
 
Great update!

What are your temps like now?

Nitpicky note - The DVI port you are using on the back is actually the secondary DVI port and can cause issues with framebuffers should Apple change them in the future.
The DVI I'm using is only temporary - I'm running HDMI in the walls of the house I'm building (will be done sometime in September, maybe), so I'll be using HDMI to power the QNIX DP Multi 27" 1440p display. Already tested the 30' cable, and I get 2560x1440 @ 60Hz! Amazing!

I have to use that DVI port b/c it's DVI-D - which is the only DVI type this display will take. Again, just temporary anyway.

Temps are even better. Nearing 30 C at idle. Still looks like "PCH Die" temp reading doesn't work. I've read about it not working on the Z87N as well.

Screen%2520Shot%25202014-08-20%2520at%25209.42.19%2520AM.png


Also not too surprising, Cinebench reports a WAY higher score when run in Windows. I've played Watch Dogs and Mass Effect 1 on Ultra settings so far, and they both run flawlessly.

OSX Cinebench Score

Cinebench%2520GPU%2520Results.png


Windows Cinebench Score

Cinebench%2520Windows%2520Score.png


CPU results are about the same, though.
 
Hello there!

I have a very similar build, having the 4790k with a Z97N-Wifi, 16GB of Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer, and GTX760, also in a Node 304. I'm on 10.9.4.

However, I have some problems which have not yet been resolved, with all the help and quirks from the forums.
I thought of asking my questions here, since you don't seem to have reported any problems, besides the ATHEROS LAN not working initially.


  1. Do you have audio via HDMI?
  2. Does your audio work after waking from sleep?
  3. Is your boot time long when you have an USB device plugged in (in my case, a Steelseries XAI mouse), and absurdly short when you unplugg it? (I also have the official Apple wired keyboard, which does not make any changes to boot time)
  4. Does your iMessage work?
  5. I have changed the PCIe half-mini to one which is fully supported, and I don't have Bluetooth working. You don't seem to talk about Wifi or Bluetooth, do you have both functions working?

Thanks for your time, if anyone can chime in, I would love to have a fully working Hackintosh!
 
  1. Do you have audio via HDMI?
  2. Does your audio work after waking from sleep?
  3. Is your boot time long when you have an USB device plugged in (in my case, a Steelseries XAI mouse), and absurdly short when you unplugg it? (I also have the official Apple wired keyboard, which does not make any changes to boot time)
  4. Does your iMessage work?
  5. I have changed the PCIe half-mini to one which is fully supported, and I don't have Bluetooth working. You don't seem to talk about Wifi or Bluetooth, do you have both functions working?
1. Audio via HDMI
I don't have this yet. I'll need to get it working through the video card as soon as I'm running HDMI only (through the walls of the house I'm building), and I'll report back when I figure out how to get it working.

2. Audio after Wake from Sleep
I haven't tried with this Z97 board yet - I generally just turn it off when I'm not using it, and I have it set to go to screensaver rather than sleep. I turned the energy settings to "never" on A/C, and set them to a minute value on UPS power. But I did indeed have this problem with the Z87 board, so I'm guessing it's present here too.

3. Boot Time
Nope - boot time is crazy fast no matter what's plugged in. I did delete GenericUSBXHCI.kext or something from the /System/Library/Extensions, which fixed a lot of USB errors for me. USB2 and 3 ports both still work flawlessly for me.

4. iMessage
Yes, it works... God, I can't remember what I did to make it work. I know deleting GenericUSBXHCI.kext was part of it. I also had to make sure that my first Ethernet device was labeled 'en0', and not any other number like 'en2' or 'en3'. I did that by editing /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist, and there were three separate spaces where the Intel Ethernet was set to en3. (One of them was just the numeral 3, and I deduced that it needed to be 0 by looking at the other Ethernet entry.)

I also opened my 2011 17" MBP that was logged into iMessage and disabled the iMessage login. Not sure if you have another OSX box running iMessage, but go ahead and try logging out there as an extra measure.

5. WiFi
Bluetooth works without a hitch on my build, but WiFi does not work. I haven't tried getting another PCIe half slot card, as I'm only using 1Gbps hardwire with this build. I'm only doing this b/c I have an Ubuntu 14.04 Server NAS with four 2TB WD Reds in RAID5 (5.5TB usable), and I use them as my iPhoto, iTunes, and iMovie library, as well as other general storage. With CAT5e, I see transfers of 110MB/s. :)
 
caseyfriday I enjoyed reading your thread.

As you know I have the same MB and CPU in my project mini-ITX tower and would like to know what you see as temps under full load. For comparison I use Prime95 Torture Test with 8 threads and and after an hour I see 69 to 71 C running at a 23.3 C ambient. And I am slightly OC'd to 4 GHz.

Again, your photos are great and the post very well done.


Good modding,
neil
 
caseyfriday I enjoyed reading your thread.

As you know I have the same MB and CPU in my project mini-ITX tower and would like to know what you see as temps under full load. For comparison I use Prime95 Torture Test with 8 threads and and after an hour I see 69 to 71 C running at a 23.3 C ambient. And I am slightly OC'd to 4 GHz.

Again, your photos are great and the post very well done.


Good modding,
neil
Thanks, Neil! And thanks to your thread, I got everything working. I'll run Prime95 for an hour when I get a chance to test my temps. I'm very curious to see what it's holding at...
 
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