$1000 Hackintosh Gaming Build - GA-Z77-DS3H - MSI GTX 660 Ti Power Edition

[grimAXE]

HackGamer
GA-Z77-DS3H / i5-3570k / MSI GTX 660 Ti Power Edition
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So I was asked by a close friend that he wanted to create a new gaming build, for Guild Wars 2 and the games to come for the next few years. I first asked budget, originally $700 its now at $1000 plus any overhead (sadly our hopes at the $1500 was diminished due to his college's financial aid). So now we are looking at a stable $1000+ gaming build suitable for both gaming on Windows and editing and creation on OS X.

​

So first things first, here's the build as of late (All Components are in amazon)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H (No SLI support)
Gigabyte Intel Z77 LGA 1155 Dual UEFI BIOS ATX Motherboard GA-Z77-DS3H

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K
Intel Core i5-3570K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 4 Core LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570K

CPU Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan (RR-212E-20PK-R2)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB DDR3 1600MHz
Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit for Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD Platforms SDRAM CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9

Graphics: MSI GTX 660 Ti Power Edition (best performing 660 Ti due to enabled over voltage)
MSI GTX 660 Ti Power Edition Graphics Card with Triple Overvoltage and Enhanced PWM Design (N660TI PE 2GD5/OC)

WiFi: Sanoxy Micro Mini USB (was looking for a USB solution, supposedly the driver enables native use of the WiFi Menubar option)SANOXY Micro Mini USB Wireless b/n/g 802.11n Wifi LAN Adapter Windows Vista/xp/7/Mac-Wireless N WiFi 150Mbps Mini USB Network Adapter for Mac OS, Linux and Windows with WiFi Protected Setup (WPS) one click set up

SSD: OCZ Agility 3 Series (120GB SATA III)OCZ Technology 120GB Agility 3 Series SATA 6Gb/s 2.5-Inch Midrange Performance Solid State Drive (SSD) with Max 525MB/s Read and Max 85K IOPS- AGT3-25SAT3-120G

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA III 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive - WD5000AAKX

DVD Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B
Sony AD-7280S-0B 24x SATA Internal DVD+/-RW Drive (Black)

Power Supply: OCZ Z750FTY 750w
New OCZ Technology OCZ750FTY ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply 85% 750 W Glowing Red LED Lights

Case: Raidmax ATX-902WR
Raidmax ATX-902WR Computer Case (subject to change, this is purely because of aesthetics)


Total: $1,064.55 (prices fluctuate from $1-10 daily)

Already Owned: basic keyboard and mouse (temp), 1080p TV, Install app/files for both Mountain Lion and Windows 7
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Questions and Concerns

Will Audio over HDMI work with the 660 ti?
As his display is really a TV and has built in speakers I was wondering if audio will properly come from those speakers.
Thanks to tonymac member slugnet his post confirms that with the adition of another patch along with the Open CL enabler and CUDA drivers that the 660ti works perfectly in OS X (graphics wise). It can also open Final Cut X, which is what concerned me. http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...d5h-i7-3770k-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-660-ti.html

GA-Z77-DS3H USB3 support in OS X?
Also in slugnet's post was enabling support for USB3, using Gigabyte's XHCI function in the UEFI. However he spoke about the UD5H and not the step down the DS3H so I was wondering if the same method would work.

WiFi USB. If not Sanoxy what is the best USB WiFi solution for OS X (that works with Windows too, naturally)
The reason I'm concern is the OS X driver on Sanoxy's website is for Snow Leopard. I'm pretty sure it'll work under ML but it still concerns me. If not this USB then is there any other great alternatives that do work? (Bluetooth is not an issue as he has no accessories)

Any suggestions? Improvements?
I'm looking to build the best gaming rig for the buck thats still within the 1000-1060ish range and works great for OS X and to the extent Windows.


Thanks and please if you have any remarks let me know, I would love to have my questions answered so I can help out my friend with this build.

 

[sonicseamus]

You will have to roll your own DSDT and apply HDMI audio edits to it for HDMI audio to work. It is a mildly involved process, but the many helpful users of this forum will guide you through the process. Toleda has a great tutorial in the HDMI audio subforum.

Why not use a PCI-e wifi solution? The TP-link card mentioned around the forum works natively.

That PSU could be dropped down 100W.

Get Low Profile RAM for that cooler as the Vengeance's massive heatsinks will interfere with its fan.

Other than that it looks pretty good, though I would switch out the SSD for a Samsung 830, Crucial M4, or Sandisk Extreme as OCZ has bad reliability.

Also, I'm not going to argue with your case choice, but at that price level I would go with something from Corsair or Fractal.

I'm not sure about the USB3 on the DS3H.

Best of luck!

 

[Dil83]

I would suggest that you forget the usb wifi and use this card: TP-Link PCI Express Wifi Adapter (TL-WDN4800) Works Natively! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GMPZ0A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

This wifi card is listed in the 2012 CustoMac Buyers Guide here: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac

I can confirm that this card does work perfectly and is plug and play in Mountain Lion and works in Windows as well of course. If you want the 5Ghz band to work, make sure you set your wireless router 5Ghz channel to a channel supported by the card.

I also suggest that you stay away from the OCZ Agility 3/Vertex 3 SSD's because they have terrible performance. Samsung 830 Series SSD's are my personal favorite.

HDMI audio should work just fine as long as you do the DSDT edit that is required for it, and install the patched ALC887 kext from MultiBeast 5.0.2

Check out processor prices here: http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?N=4294966995+4294927834#
You can get the i5 3570K for $189.99 (save $40) or the i7 3770K for $289.99 which is only $60 more than what you were planning to spend.

Also as mentioned by sonicseamus above, the size of the RAM will almost definitely interfere with the processor cooler you have chosen, so you should change that to the low profile version of the same RAM here: http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Profile-PC3-12800-CML8GX3M2A1600C9/dp/B00569K7LM

Good Luck!

Dil83

 

[Einsteiniac]

I can't speak to other brands of SSD's as I haven't really used any but I have recently bought about 40 of the Mushkin Deluxe SATAIII drives and have been extremely pleased with them. Using BlackMagic's speed tool I get about 370 write and ~540 read speeds. I test with the Black Magic tool because it doesn't allow for any compression techniques or anything that most manufacturers use to fudge the speeds of their drives.

Mark

 

[grimAXE]

Alright so I took all your suggestions and played with the around with the parts. I actually got it a few bucks cheaper

New Case: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00243HHNY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

SSD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006EKJCWM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=AKU972B209CV1

RAM: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00569K7LM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

WiFi: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007GMPZ0A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&smid=AAZRLVTNON75Z
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Thinking it over with my coworker he said the case looked kinda cheesy, and pretty huge for what its gonna hold. The new case is cheaper, has handles, mid-tower, and has a side window to show off the components.
With the case being lower in price I took your suggestions I got a Sandisk Extreme, as shown on the TonyMac Guide. Same for WiFi.


All the parts seem to be in place, and sorry for asking but where exactly is the thread for HDMI audio? I'm kinda new to DSDT editing and even though my friend will mostly be in Windows for the gaming I still want him to have a consistent experience.

 

[sonicseamus]

Alright so I took all your suggestions and played with the around with the parts. I actually got it a few bucks cheaper

New Case: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00243HHNY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

SSD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006EKJCWM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=AKU972B209CV1

RAM: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00569K7LM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

WiFi: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007GMPZ0A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&smid=AAZRLVTNON75Z
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Thinking it over with my coworker he said the case looked kinda cheesy, and pretty huge for what its gonna hold. The new case is cheaper, has handles, mid-tower, and has a side window to show off the components.
With the case being lower in price I took your suggestions I got a Sandisk Extreme, as shown on the TonyMac Guide. Same for WiFi.


All the parts seem to be in place, and sorry for asking but where exactly is the thread for HDMI audio? I'm kinda new to DSDT editing and even though my friend will mostly be in Windows for the gaming I still want him to have a consistent experience.

Those all look pretty good!

Here's the HDMI audio forum. http://www.tonymacx86.com/hdmi-audio/ if you have any issues with the guides, just make a post there and toleda will help you out.

 

[grimAXE]

Guys if you can I migrated this post (well, created a new one) over here ——> http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/74674-1000-hackintosh-gamer-ga-z77x-ud5h-msi-gtx-660-oc.html


Basically new major hardware and rearrangement of other components