cusinndzl's Build: Core i5-2500K - P67A-C43 - 16GB RAM - 6870/5450

[cusinndzl]

cusinndzl's Build: Core i5-2500K - P67A-C43 - 6870/5450​

Components

Apple Mac OS X version 10.8.2 Mountain Lion
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512?ls=1&mt=12

MSI P67A-C43 LGA 1155 Intel P67 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P3YDBU/

Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6870 Flex Edition 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 video card
Since it's an older more specialized card it can be harder to find so your best bet is to do your own searching around places like Ebay, and Amazon. It allows you to run three monitors using DVI, DVI, and HDMI. You can get the next graphics card instead if you don't need three monitors or just want to save a little bit of money.

PowerColor AMD Radeon HD 5450 512MB 64-bit GDDR3 video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131339
This card is older but is still available. I can run dual monitors using HDMI, and DVI using this card. It supports hardware acceleration and is perfect if you aren't going to be gaming.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3/3.7GHz 95W Quad Core LGA 1155 desktop processor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KQ5KDY?ie=UTF8

Corsair XMS3 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 memory kit 4x4GB DIMMs
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054KPK9C/

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
You can get something different if you don't like this case. I have moved this build from case to case a few times since it has been built.

OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EZMEZO

Crucial m4 128GB SATA 6Gb/s 2.5-inch solid state drive
http://www.amazon.com//dp/B004W2JKZI/
These things sure have gotten cheaper since I bought mine a couple of years ago. Feel free to get the larger 256GB/512GB model if needed. I had a 64GB SSD before the 128GB one and it was a little too small for me.

2 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7200RPM hard disk drive
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00461G3MS/

Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 5400RPM hard disk drive
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VFJ9MK/


Already Owned

3x HP S2031 20-inch 1600x900 monitor
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003FMUL7M/

Razer Deathadder 3.5G gaming mouse
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Q4U5DK/

Razer BlackWidow gaming keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ZJ1VD8


Comments:

Honestly when I started building this system a couple of years ago I didn't really think about turning it into a Hackintosh. I was just way too exited to have a system that could run more and more games. Earlier this year I started taking a class on iOS development and I decided that I should probably either buy a Mac or build a Hackintosh. As a student I don't have a ton of money so I wanted to use the parts I had whenever I could, and buying a brand new Mac was kind of out of the picture.

I have a more low end system that wasn't compatible with OS X. It has a Core i3-2120 processor which had HD 2000 graphics and I wasn't really feeling like buying a new graphics card right away. So I went ahead and turned my Windows gaming system into a Hackintosh. The parts listed above are all part of that system. After getting OS X working by removing the AMD 6000 series kext from the Mountain Lion installation USB key I was able to install it, and then reinstall that kext to get graphics working again. The motherboard, processor, and everything else worked without any issues.

Initially I wanted to just have my main Windows gaming system and then a lower end Hackintosh just for development. But after having OS X on my main system for a week I decided I was going to keep OS X on my main system and turn that more low end system into my gaming rig. Knowing that I was going to do my video editing on the Hackintosh with the faster 2500K processor and gaming on the plenty fast 2120 made things easier. All I had to do was throw the 6870 into the 2120 powered Windows system and buy a new graphics card for the Hackintosh. I was on a budget so I chose the 5450 knowing it could run two monitors which was what I needed. The 5450 also supports hardware acceleration which is what I needed to run Mountain Lion smoothly.

My system really isn't one that you can easily go out there and buy anymore since the parts are all getting old and are starting to become discontinued. I mainly just posted here to let everyone know that you can turn an older system into a Hackintosh with a little effort. things haven't been perfect with my system but once I got things up and going it has ran smoothly.

A few things to note:

From first boot iCloud and the App Store didn't work. I tried dozens of different things and eventually both worked. If I remember correctly it involved removing the networking adapters and then adding them again making sure that they said Ethernet and not eth0. I'm sure if you do a little bit of searching you'll be able to find that guide.

To get the AMD Radeon HD 5450 working I had to follow method two listed here: http://www.osx86.net/view/3043-ati_radeon_hd5450_with_full_qe-ci_support.html
And then I followed this guide: http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/62363-amd-radeon-hd5450-qe-ci-mountain-lion.html

To get the AMD Radeon HD 6870 to work I had to remove the kext for the AMD 6000 series from the installation USB key and then install. After installing I was able to install that kext again using kext utility. After rebooting graphics worked perfectly with three monitors.

MultiBeast Configuration for Mountain Lion

EDIT: The system is up and running smoothly. I'll update this as needed.

 

[Stork]

Good build description. The P67 series doesn't get a lot of kudo's with the Z68's predominating the hackintoshs here. Enjoy!