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[continuing SUCCESS] The Black Veil's Hackintosh i5 2500k/GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3/16Gb RAM

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The Black Veil's Hackintosh: Core i5-2500k - GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 - 16GB RAM - AMD 6850 Radeon 1GB

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Components

Apple OS X Lion @ Mac Apps Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-lion/id444303913?mt=12

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA Series GV-R685OC-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

SONY Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118031

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568

NZXT Phantom 410 CA-PH410-B1 White Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146087

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 850W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139022

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Already Owned

21.5" DELL E2211H
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004M47YEU/

Apple Wireless Keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Wireless-Keyboard-MC184LL-VERSION/dp/B005DLDO4U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344532378&sr=8-1&keywords=apple+wireless+keyboard

Apple Bluetooth Wireless Mighty Mouse
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000B6D39I/

Logitech Cordless Desktop LX 710 Laser
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HCUTU2


Comments:

System runs almost silent after running for a few minutes (initial start up has some fan rattling in a fan I added after the fact), which is a necessity for me.

I built the Hackintosh as my cheaper (and more entertaining and more bang-for-buck, yadayada) alternative to buying a new Apple iMac/Mac Pro so that I could upgrade my music production/editing rig. I run a home recording studio and it's been necessary for a while for me to upgrade the Macbook (circa 2007) that I was using as my main rig. I also wanted to be able to dual-boot Windows 7 and, in off time, play some games.

Install went super smooth, hardware-wise. Everything was relatively simple to get on and working, though I may need to re-seat the CoolerMaster 212+ (after testing, at load I'm hitting 79 C when using IntelBurnTest and when I use Prime95, I see 75C); however, I also have a hot house (generally 79-82 F in mid-Summer), so I'll be waiting to see if cooler ambient temperatures solve that.

The initial installation of OS X Lion (10.7.4) went beautifully smooth. A couple of buddies and I sat around and got the whole system to post followed by a successful install literally in the first run. When we started using MultiBeast to add (install?) kexts, however, things got a bit hairy. Two different times we wound up starting from scratch and running a fresh install of OS X Lion. Ultimately, my room mate solved the issues by hand-placing kexts and then running MultiBeast (it turned out the issue was something along the lines of MultiBeast not actually INSTALLING the kexts we were selecting -- I've yet to find documentation of this, though I haven't been searching actively). Since then, the monster runs like a champ.

I've OC'd the i5 to 4.4 Ghz, for the moment. I may run it hotter in the fall/winter, when the ambient temps aren't through the roof.

OS X and Logic Pro both went on the Crucial M4 and I partitioned the Seagate HDD into two 500 GB sections, one for Macintosh stuff, the other for Windows. I'll be purchasing another M4 in the next few months to move Windows 7 onto that, rather than running it off of the Windows partition of the Seagate, the way it is now.

Firewire and Ethernet both kicked up without too much hassle, and the front panel audio works beautifully in OS X and Windows. The USB 2.0 slots on the front panel are a bit finicky, which may be because I've not got them plugged into the proper USB port on the motherboard, so I've got some work to do there, still, and the 3.0 ports I haven't even messed with yet. However, the fan control works beautifully and I know at least one of the front panel USB 2.0 slots works perfect. Everything on the back panel works gorgeously, as well.

I bought a Targus BlueTooth dongle (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002K6RK0/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M2T1_SC_3p_dp_1) at the behest of a few different sites and it straight up does not work in either OS. I'm not sure if perhaps the dongle I got is just bad or what, but it doesn't work. I've just ordered another that will hopefully give me some kind of play so I can get the Apple Mouse/Keyboard up and running. Until then, I've got the Logitech to fall back on.

Benchmarks:

Geekbench
(32-bit, free) Score: 9852

Cinebench
OpenGL Score: 82.55 fps
CPU Score: 6.55 pts

3DMarks
Score: 24628

Unfortunately, I don't have a screen cap of the MultiBeast log, but I'll be working on that in the near future.

Cost:
~$1100.00

Saved quite a lot on the basis of what I would have spent for a less powerful (albeit, perhaps more reliable? or at least warrantied, :p) Genuine Apple Product.

Edit:

So, I purchased a Belkin USB Bluetooth Adapter (of the very same name) and, right out of the box, it works like a charm. There is a pause before the system recognizes the Apple Wireless Mouse/Keyboard (after booting into OS X; before booting up the keyboard and mouse do not respond), but my Macbook had a slight delay in communication between it and Bluetooth devices, also.

I have yet to check Sleep, but will do so at my earliest possible convenience.
 
Looks like a great build!

I have two of the same model Targus BT USB dongle attached to my two KVM switches. They work w/o any problems, so you probably did have a bad one.
 
Hey, Stork.

Thanks for the response, I've been trying to figure that out for a week, now. I (think I mentioned? that I) went ahead and bought a different dongle (also a cheap-o) to try out, but I may just e-Mail the seller of the Targus and request an RMA/replacement.
 
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