dyuhas' Dual-boot mATX Build: Core i7-4770k - GA-Z87MX-D3H - 16GB RAM - GTX 650Ti Boost 1GB

[dyuhas]

dyuhas' Dual-boot mATX Build: Core i7-4770k - GA-Z87MX-D3H - 16GB RAM - GTX 650Ti Boost 1GB

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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

Crucial Ballistix Tactical Low Profile 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3-1600 1.35V Memory Modules BLT2C8G3D1608ET3LX0
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A14ZTRO/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148657

Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H mATX Motherboard with HDMI, DVI, and Display Port
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CU4L4XG/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128601

EVGA NVidia GeForce GTX 650Ti BOOST 1GB Graphics Card 01G-P4-3656-KR
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CBQNFO4/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130915

Bitfenix Prodigy-M Micro-ATX Midnight Black Steel/Plastic Mini Tower Computer Case BFC-PRM-300-KKXSK-RP
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G489XDW/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345030

Silverstone Tek Strider Series 650W 80+ Gold PFC Power Supply w/ Full Modular Cables ST65F-G
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009FU2A2M/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256086

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

Pioneer 15x SATA Internal BD/DVD/CD Burner with 4 MB Buffer BDR-208DBK
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A4ZXE40/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129074

Samsung 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250BW
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/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/dp/B007GFX0PY/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833139027

TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Dual Band Wireless N900 PCI Express Adapter
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GMPZ0A/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704133

SanDisk Extreme 16 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive SDCZ80-016G-X46
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007YXA5S8/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0BD-000B-00027&Tpk=SDCZ80-016G-X46

Microsoft Windows 8.1 System Builder OEM DVD 64-Bit
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3ZN2W0/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416778

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


Already Owned

Logitech K360 920-004088 Glossy Black USB RF Wireless Mini Keyboard
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007PJ4PN2/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126278

Logitech M510 910-001822X Gray/Black Tilt Wheel USB RF Wireless Laser Mouse
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003NR57BY/
Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104704

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

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


Comments

This build was following multiple guides on this site.

The first inspiration was tonymacx86's mATX Haswell build in Golden builds (http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...ell-matx-ga-z87mx-d3h-i7-4770k-hd-4600-a.html).

To achieve that end, I wanted to follow the UniBeast Mavericks install guide (http://www.tonymacx86.com/374-unibeast-install-os-x-mavericks-any-supported-intel-based-pc.html) but didn't have a working mac to download Mavericks from. I started a thread in a different section and was referred to the iBoot (Haswell)/Snow Leopard install guide (http://www.tonymacx86.com/snow-leop...os-x-10-6-snow-leopard-haswell-based-pcs.html) to get a working mac to purchase and download Mountain Lion or Mavericks and go from there.

So I purchased the Snow Leopard DVD, downloaded iBoot, and actually got to a desktop. But for the life of me, I could not make any network adapters work no matter what I did. After beating my head against the wall for 2 days straight, I had an idea. I remembered something I saw while on apple.com trying any way I could to purchase Mountain Lion or Mavericks. It said "if you are having trouble connecting to the internet, see a local Apple Store for help."

IMPORTANT: For everyone posting questions about what to do if you don't have access to a mac, READ CAREFULLY! THIS SECTION IS FOR YOU.

So off I went to the Apple store, not knowing what to expect. I walked in and said to an employee "I need to download Mountain Lion or Mavericks and my internet is broke". To my absolute amazement he handed me a 16GB USB flash drive (which I promptly purchased), a Mac Book Pro, and said "knock youself out." Are you serious? It was really this easy all along?

So I sat down and pulled up this site, formatted the USB drive, downloaded both Mavericks and UniBeast, followed the instructions (to the letter), and done! I finally had my Mavericks install disk. I should note that I had to create my Apple ID in the process of the Mavericks download.

I wanted to relate this story because there seem to be a lot of people in the dark about what to do if they don't have access to OS-X. I really hope this helps, as I can only praise my experience at my local Apple store. Everyone was super nice and really laid back.

After getting my USB install disk, I went back to my machine to install both Windows 8.1 and Mavericks. I wanted to dual-boot off of one drive, even though two drives is normally the preferred method. I followed "Going Bald's" guide for dual-booting (http://www.tonymacx86.com/multi-booting/96000-guide-dual-booting-mountain-lion-windows-8-a.html), again to the letter, and eventually ran into zero problems, if it weren't for my hard drive. Per the guide, I was going to install Windows 8.1 first, then Mavericks. Here's what I did:

1. Upon booting, press the delete key to access the UEFI bios
2. Set to Optimized Defaults
3. I changed my X.M.P. Profile for my memory to "Profile 1"
4. Save and reboot
5. When you see the logo screen again, press F12 to access the boot menu
6. Choose your USB install disk, making sure you DO NOT choose the UFEI version
7. Once you reach the UniBeast install screen, instead of going through a bunch of boot parameters, I just used "-x" and continued.

The Apple install screen is where the problems began. Again, read carefully, as I may have found an answer to a LOT of partitioning/formatting failure threads/posts.

At the install screen, I opened disk utilities and attempted to partition (2 partitions) and format my drive.

1. Select the drive in the left hand window
2. Select the partition tab at the top
3. Using the drop down menu, change the "partition layout" to "two partitions"
4. Press the "options" button" right under the partition layout
5. Choose "GUID Partition Table"
6. Click Apply (or OK, I can't remember)
7. Click on the top partition in the layout
8. Give it a name for your Windows partition
9. Click the "format" drop-down right under "name" and choose FAT-32
10. Click the second (lower) partition in the layout
11. Also give it a name for your OS-X partition
12. Under "format" choose "Mac OS Extended (journaled)"
13. Click "Apply" and "Partition"

Now, it partitioned the drive, formatted the FAT-32 partition, then failed with the OS Extended partition. No matter what I did, I could not get the OS-X partition to format without failure. I finally gave up and thought "The Windows partition is ready, I'll just install Windows and then come back to this later." I figured that in the worst case scenario, I would have Windows loaded and have to save OS-X for a future build.

So I went ahead and installed Windows, which installed fine, no problems. As soon as I get to a desktop in Windows, the first things I install are drivers and utility software. In this case, The Samsung SSD utility (Samsung Magician - awesome SSD utility by the way). As soon as I started Magician, what do you know? The SSD needed a firmware update. Magician quickly updated the firmware, and I had a sneaky feeling that may have solved the format problem in OS-X disk utility. Sure enough it did. The partition formatted no problem.

After installing Windows (and updating the firmware on the SSD), I booted with the UniBeast USB drive again. Wow, no problems at all. So there it is, partition/formatting problems for and SSD could very easily be related to the firmware that shipped with the drive.

Now, a question immediately came to me. A lot of members of this site are looking to build a customac running OS-X, period. Yes, a lot of them are planning dual-boots, but a lot are not. If I didn't load Windows, along with Samsung's utility software (which is only written for Windows), how would I possibly know that the firmware of the drive was the culprit in the formatting problem? I seriously tried everything I could think of (or search for) with no luck. I just think that's a shame.

Anyway, upon the first reboot, again, I just used "-x" to be done with it. And again, no problems. I really hope this experience can help solve some of the problems posted here on this site. I COMPLETELY know how frustrating it can be sometimes. But ... DO NOT GIVE UP!

MultiBeast Settings



I used the latest version of MultiBeast, which was re-written from the ground up (great job by the way). Here are my settings for the above screenshots:

1. At the top, you will see multiple clickable areas (Quickstart - Drivers - Bootloaders - Customize - Build). Click Quickstart, then in the right column, choose "DSDT Free".
2. At the top again, click on "Drivers".
3. Going down the list on the left, I chose these settings:

Audio: Realtek ALCxxx-Without DSDT-ALC892.
Disk: 3rd Party SATA (it will be chosen for you, leave it as is).
Graphics: don't click anything.
Misc: FakeSMC v5.3.820 (again, will be chosen and grayed out).
Network: Intel - hnak's AppleIntelE1000e v2.5.4d.
System: AppleRTC Patch for CMOS Reset.

4. Click on "Bootloaders". Chemera v2.2.1 will be chosen for you. That's perfect.
5. At the top, click "Customize".

Boot Options: Basic Boot Options, Generate CPU States, Hibernate Mode - Desktop, Use KernelCache should all be chosen by default. Because this is a dual-boot machine, I wanted to add Instant Menu to be able to choose the OS upon startup.
SSDT Options: None of the options in here apply to a Haswell system.
System Definitions: Mac Pro 3,1 will be chosen. Leave it for now.

6. At the top, click "Build", then "Install"

That's it. After installation is complete, I removed my USB drive and rebooted. All was good from there.

Working: Everything





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

Benchmarks

Purchased and downloaded Geekbench 3. Ran the 64-bit benchmarks.



I have wanted to post something like this for a VERY long time. 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.

 

[SDBT]

Fantastic Post - and really nice looking build. I wonder if you have any ideas that may help me. I am using the GA Z87MX D3H with the i7 4770K and integrated HD 4600 graphics. I follow the standard instructions to install Mavericks and all goes well until the Chimera Boot screen. The machine gets to the Apple boot streen, but hangs before getting to the installer.

I have tried booting in Safe mode (-x), tried PCIRootUID=0, tried verbose startup, and the result is always that the system hangs.

The only other hadrware I am using in the wireless card, corsair memory and Sandisk Extreme SSD suggested in the Buyers Guide.

Any ideas?


Thank you so much!

 

[dyuhas]

Sounds like you have my same (or very similar) setup. First, pull your wireless card and make sure that your on-board ethernet is enabled in the bios. Also, do you plan on using a discrete graphics card when you're done installing?

Also, I have since re-installed Mavericks on my machine, testing different configurations upon install. One problem that I ran into was my network. Tell me how your network is set up. Mine is a cable modem connected to a wireless (and wired) router.

 

[SDBT]

Yes - very similar. Thanks for the suggestion. I took out the TPL wireless card, went into BIOS loaded optimized defaults, looked at NIC - could not see much to edit. Tried again. Same result, it goes to the Chimera boot screen, then to the Apple boot screen, and then hangs before getting to the installer.

Once the basic build is stable, I would like to install a Gigabyte or Asus GTX 670, and another Sandisk SSD so I can also boot into Windows...

Network set up sounds similar to yours - cable modem (xfinity) to Asus router, there is D-Link 8 port Gigabit switch in the mix and another Asus router acting as an Access point. At the moment nothing is connected to the new machine...

 

[dyuhas]

OK, you said you did a "-v" boot. What exactly is it getting hung up on? If you have a GTX video card you could use, it is oddly easier to boot and install with it installed than it is to use internal graphics.

Also, just for kicks, go back into the bios and change XHCI to "Auto" instead of "Smart Auto". Let me know how it goes and we'll go from there.

I should say at this point to just consistently use "-x" for booting until you can install MultiBeast. I know you mentioned that you already did, but just keep doing it from now on. It can only help.

 

[SDBT]

Hi there - I just ordered a Gigabyte GTX 670 should gt it Wednesday.

Here is the text from where it falls over:



Creating RAM Disk for /Library/Keychains
Initialized /dev/rdisk12 as a 1025 KB case-insensitive HFS Plus volume
hfs: mounted untitled on device disk12
using 64-bit bootcache playlist
BootCacheControl: Unable to open /var/db/BootCache.playlist: 2 No such file or directory
Previous Shutdown Cause: 5
SMC::smcInitHelper ERROR: MM10 regMap == NULL – fall bacl to old SMC mode
Hmm.. mismatch sizes: 3100 vs 20
ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin::start – waitForService(resourceMatching(AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement )
WARNING: IOPlatformPluginUtil : getCPUIDInfo: this is an unknown CPU model 0x3c
-- power management may be incomplete or unsupported
DSMOS has arrived
[IOBluetoothHCIController][start] – completed

Does this shed light on the problem?

Thank you

 

[dyuhas]

Why yes, yes it does. Now, despite it talking about Bluetooth, it's actually a graphics problem. Why it has to be so cryptic I do not know. I can give you a couple bootcode lines to enter, but if they don't work, you may have to wait until Wednesday. I'm almost positive you would not be stopping there if you had your GTX 670 installed and your monitor hooked up to it. Try these:

-v -x GraphicsEnabler=No (all on the same line just like it's typed)

If that doesn't work, just wait until your GTX 670 arrives and I'll be here. We'll take it from there. Or who knows, you may get lucky and the above might just do the trick. If not, I'll talk to ya Wednesday.

 

[SDBT]

Thanks for the suggestion. It got stuck in the same place. I will try again on Wednesday. With boot flags -v -x

 

[SDBT]

The GTX 670 arrived, was installed, and as you said things went better. I now get to the installer and it asks me to pick a drive for the install! Only issue is it does not show any drives to choose...it does not seem to be seeing the Sandisk SSD.


1) I will look for the drive in the BIOS and check the SATA cable - if those are ok is there anything else I should look for?


2) Also noticed that the GPU blocks the slot where TPL wireless card would eventually go. Did you just put it in another slot?

 

[dyuhas]

At the install screen, did you go under "disk utility" and partition/format the drive? The installer will not see any drive that hasn't been set up. If "disk utility" isn't seeing the drive at all, then there's definitely something up with the hardware.

Also, I forgot to ask before, which version of UniBeast are you using? And which OS-X are you installing (Mountain Lion or Mavericks)?

As for the WiFi card, yes, just put it into any available PCIe slot. It doesn't have to be the small PCIe x1 slot. That's the beauty of PCIe. Whether it's x16, x8, x4, or x1, they work with all cards (as long as the card is the same size or smaller than the slot).

The main thing to check in the bios is that it didn't set the SATA interface to IDE mode. It absolutely needs to be AHCI. This board should have it set to AHCI by default, but just make sure.

Let me know how it goes.