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dyuhas' Dual-boot Bitfenix Phenom-M (mATX) Build - i7-4770K, GA-Z87MX-D3H, 16GB 2400Mhz Memory, GTX

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Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
51
Motherboard
Prodigy-M
CPU
i7 4770k
Graphics
Gigabyte GTX650Ti 2GB Boost
Mac
  1. Mac Pro
Classic Mac
  1. 0
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
dyuhas' Dual-boot Bitfenix Phenom-M (mATX) WHITE Build: Core i7-4770k - GA-Z87MX-D3H - 16GB 2400Mhz Memory - GTX 770 4GB

IMG_0474.JPG IMG_0479.JPG IMG_0481.JPG

Components

Intel Core i7-4770k Quad-core/8-thread 3.5GHz/3.9GHz Processor
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CO8TBQ0/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116901

Team Xtreem 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3 2400 MT/s CL10 @1.65V TXWD316G2400HC10QDC01
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313449

Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H mATX Motherboard with HDMI, DVI, D-SUB, DisplayPort. Gigabit LAN
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CU4L4XG/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128601

Bitfenix Phenom-M mATX Arctic White Chassis BFC-PHM-300-WWXKK-RP
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/BitFenix-Power-Supply-MicroATX-BFC-PHM-300-WWXKK-RP/dp/B00GVAQ2VE/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345036

Gigabyte GTX 770 GDDR5-4GB Graphics Card GV-N770OC-4GD
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GDDR5-4GB-WINDFORCE-Graphics-GV-N770OC-4GD/dp/B00CU9GOAO/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125462

Silverstone Tek Strider Gold S Series 750W Full Modular Power Supply with 80 Plus Gold ST75F-GS
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-Strider-Modular-ST75F-GS/dp/B00FZHCPR4/

Cooler Master Seidon 120M Liquid CPU Water Cooling System with Copper Heatsink and 120mm Radiator
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Cooling-Heatsink-Radiator/dp/B009SJR3GS/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103179

Samsung 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250BW
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147248

IOGEAR Bluetooth 4.0 USB Micro Adapter GBU521
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-Bluetooth-Micro-Adapter-GBU521/dp/B007GFX0PY/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833139027

BitFenix Spectre Pro 230mm Case Fan BFF-SPRO-23030KK-RP Black
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/BitFenix-Spectre-230mm-BFF-SPRO-23030KK-RP-Black/dp/B008UZ0QVA/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835345032

Microsoft Windows 8.1 System Builder OEM DVD 64-Bit
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Windows-8-1-System-Builder-64-Bit/dp/B00F3ZN2W0/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416776

Apple Mac OS X version 10.9 Mavericks
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/os-x-mavericks/id675248567?mt=12


Already Owned

Logitech K750 Wireless Solar Keyboard
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Solar-Keyboard-K750/dp/B004MF11MU/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126273

Logitech T620 910-003334 Graphite Touch Scroll USB RF Wireless Optical 1000 dpi Mouse
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Touch-Mouse-Surface-Windows/dp/B0093H4VSS/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA30R17U4348

Toshiba 24V4210U 24-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED DVD Combo (Black)
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-24V4210U-24-Inch-1080p-Combo/dp/B0077E48A0/

Logitech HD Webcam C525, Portable HD 720p
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Webcam-Portable-Calling-Autofocus/dp/B004WO8HQ4/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104472


Comments

Well, if you haven't figured it out yet from my other "user build" posts, I like small cases, and I LOVE this motherboard. I always thought the Phenom case looked cool and wanted to see what I white build would look like. As I thought, I love the white. Not that I'm changing my color scheme totally or anything, but it really looks clean and sleek.

I also thought that the Phenom would be something different to build in. Nope. I actually built my first CustoMac in this case when I built the Prodigy-M. It's the EXACT same case. The only difference is the outer shell. The inside is EXACTLY the same, right down to each and every screw. The optical drive bracket is even the same, despite the outer casing not having a cut-out for it. They re-purposed it to hold another 2.5" or 3.5" drive (with adapter).

One thing I didn't do with the Prodigy, though, is use Bitfenix's awesome 230mm bottom fan (sold separately). I purchased one for this build and wow that thing can move some air, and run at a totally silent 900 rpm.

I upgraded the graphics on this one as opposed to the others. I went with the highest GTX 7xx series that OS-X will apparently accept, the GTX 770. I used the Gigabyte (note: it's BIG) due to it using three fans instead of two like what is on the EVGA ACX 770. Also, instead of exhausting the two top 120mm fans, I flipped them to help compliment the downdraft of the graphics card fans. This worked out awesome as you get a great amount of positive pressure with the bottom 230mm fan blowing up and the two top 120mm fans blowing down. That ended up forcing a lot of extra air through the one exhaust fan at the back attached to the radiator of the Seidon 120M cooler.

The build was exactly like any of the other builds with this motherboard. Having some experience now, I just hooked everything up right from the beginning and ran into zero problems.

Here are a few more pics of the inside:

IMG_0486.JPG IMG_0489.JPG IMG_0490.JPG IMG_0492.JPG

Since my first build (read about it here: Build Post), everything was a breeze to install. I just did what I did before:

  1. Set the bios to optimized defaults.
  2. Set XMP memory profile to "Profile 1".
  3. Booted with my UniBeast/Mavericks install flash drive.
  4. Partitioned and formatted the SSD into two partitions (Windows first, OS-X second)
  5. Quit the installer.
  6. Booted with my Windows DVD (well, actually I made a Windows install flash drive as well)
  7. Loaded Windows and installed all the apps I wanted.
  8. Booted with my UniBeast/Mavericks flash drive again, this time just installing Mavericks on the second partition.
  9. Installation was again a breeze, not needing any boot flags at all.
  10. Installed MultiBeast (see below)
  11. Reboot. Done. Perfect.

MultiBeast Settings

Quick Start --> DSDT Free
Drivers --> Audio --> Realtek ALCxxx --> Without DSDT --> ALC892
Disk --> TRIM Enabler --> 10.9.0 TRIM Patch
Misc --> Realtek ALCxxx --> FakeSMC v5.3.820
Network --> Realtek ALCxxx --> Intel - hnak's AppleIntelE1000e v2.5.4d
System --> Patched AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement --> AppleRTC Patch for CMOS Reset
Bootloaders --> Chimera v2.2.1
Customize --> Boot Options --> Basic Boot Options, Generate CPU States, Hibernate Mode - Desktop, Use KernelCache
System Definitions --> Mac Pro --> Mac Pro 3,1
Themes --> tonymacx86 Black
Build --> Install

That's it. After MultiBeast was finished, I ejected my USB drive and rebooted, chose my new Mavericks partition, and everything was fine.

After testing and making sure everything was in good order, I booted back into Windows and through EasyTune (a Gigabyte utility), I overclocked this baby to 4.3Ghz. I then rebooted back into Windows and then into OS-X and ran some stress tests. Temps were peaking at 65-70 (degrees Celsius) for no more than a second and then would drop back into the thirties. Not bad for an all-in-one liquid cooler (actually, if you look at any of my other builds, I LOVE and ALWAYS use this cooler). Here's the Geekbench 64-bit:

Geekbench 3 64-bit.png

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful come from a cheap simple build pretty much straight from the buyers guide? When I saw that, I was just floored. I think some of it is due to the 2400Mhz memory I chose for this build. I know users have built faster systems, but I'm totally happy with numbers like that. So...

Working: Everything that was installed.

Sound: working
Ethernet: working
Sleep/wake: working
USB 3.0: working
Bluetooth: working
Logitech camera/Facetime: Fantastic
Instant Menu/Dual-boot: works like a charm

I hope you liked reading about my build. This site is the best out there, period. Please support it and post any comments or questions. I will try to view this as often as I can, but there may be a slight delay with responses to any questions.
 
Amazing build, Love that case. Will most likely end up using near the same specs for my next build, Thanks!
 
The GPU downvoltage after open/close Photoshop?
 
Great work!

I like the look of this machine very much.

That 230mm fan is a monster but a sensible choice to keep the air moving over the motherboard. Too many people fit water-cooling and forget that they then loose the airflow over the chip-set 'sinks and memory.

Good case; great components; skilled build = 10/10

:)
 
Everybody,

Thanks so much for your comments. I will try and answer the current questions the best I can:

lucalang: Not sure. I do not have Photoshop on this machine.

colinzeal: I only have a bluetooth printer to test, but it works fine. I notice that some people with bluetooth input devices (keyboard/mouse) have problems getting into the bios because the bluetooth isn't enabled until the OS loads. I use a standard RF Wi-Fi keyboard/mouse so I do not have that issue.

UtterDisbelief: Thanks a LOT. I love this case as well. The Spectre Pro 230mm moves (according to Bitfenix) like 156.27 CFM. You would never be able to match that with two 120mm fans (which is the other option for the bottom fans), that's why I chose that route.

Lenk: Yes, I must be lucky, I guess. I have had it running pretty much continuously since I built it. No lock-ups or crashes (in either Windows or OS-X). It may have to do with the specific brand and model of memory I chose.

osxmix: Sorry. I do not have Apple TV, so I can not test that. I did, however, load XBMC on the system, and it runs great. Not sure if that helps you, though.
 
Awesome. I told myself I wouldn't do a mini system anymore 'cause my Lian-Li case makes it a pain with a full-size video card. But a build like this is perfectly practical and performant.
 
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