egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - GTX 580

[egotrippin]

egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - 16GB RAM - GTX 580 Classified Hydro Copper

Purchased:

Mac OS X version 10.7.3 Lion
Lion App Store Download

Lian Li X500B
eBay Search for Lian Li X500B

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054OWTJC/

SOLD GIGABYTE GV-R587UD-1GD Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity
eBay Search for gigabyte hd 5870

EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Classified Hydro Copper 3072MB 03G-P3-1593-ARhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130733&Tpk=03G-P3-1593-AR

Intel Core i7-2600k Quad-core 3.4GHz, 8M Cache BX80623I72600K
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EBUXSA/

Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004E0ZKLQ

OCZ 120 GB Vertex 3 MAX IOPS SATA III 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive VTX3MI-25SAT3-120G
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004W7D6RQ/

Corsair Vengeance K60 Performance FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005QUQP80/

Corsair Vengeance M60 Performance FPS Gaming Mouse
[amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B005QUQP76[/amazon]

Acer S273HL bmii 27" Full HD LED Monitor
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00439563A/

RUDE GAMEWARE Fierce Teflon & Steel Mouse Surface
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TT1JDQ/

Already Owned:

Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB SATA II 32 MB Cache Hard Drive WD20EADS
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UE8LRE

Seagate 500GB 16MB 7200 RPM Hard Drive ST3500630AS
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UCAQ1G/

Pioneer BDR-205 12x BD-R/BD-R DL
eBay Search for Pioneer BDR-205

D-Link DWA-131 Wireless-N Nano USB 2.0 Adapter 802.11b/g/n
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002VJL0OI/

Geekbench Score
http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/670845

MultiBeast Configuration for Lion

I used New Optimized Audio Drivers for Onboard Realtek ALC 889 and ALC 892 for my audio and installed using KextBeast

Comments:
I was in the market for a 27" iMac but I also wanted future expandability and high end gaming on the PC side (I dual boot). After adding up the prices of the components I estimated I could build a better performing computer at less than half the price of a similarly configured iMac and a third the price of a similarly configured Mac Pro. I also did a lot of research about various benchmarks of different components and tried to find the greatest performance for the price on the market. There is usually a value threshold where greater expenditure delivers significantly diminishing returns. The parts I chose also have a clean modern aesthetic that, while not quite matching the artisan engineering of Apple, still look very nice. I chose the Gigabyte Radeon HD 5870 because it's the highest gaming oriented graphics card sold by Apple and I wanted everything to be as native and seamless as possible (and I got it for $150 on ebay which was a bargain). I downloaded Lion 10.7.2 from the App Store on another computer and installed it on this computer using unibeast. The whole process was smooth and, with the OCZ Vertex 3, only took a few minutes. The only custom kexts I had to install were Audio and Ethernet. I installed 10.7.3 via Software Update and not the combo installer as recommended. In order for the D-Link DWA-131 Wireless N dongle to work, I found a Belkin packaged wireless driver. If you need it, just let me know. I'm unaware if USB 3.0 is working since I don't use 3.0 yet. I hope to upgrade the graphics card and swap out the monitor for a 27" Cinema Display as soon as my bank account recovers.

EDIT As you can tell by the new graphics card, I've now added water cooling to the system. The GTX 580 Classified Hydro Copper works great using the latest Nvidia Apple drivers that can be downloaded from the Nvidia website. No need for anything special. New pictures and products will be posted soon.

If you have questions feel free to ask.

Note: When playing certain .mkv's with VLC takes 20-50% of the CPU power. On the same computer, when I boot into Windows 7 64-bit, the same .mkv's played by VLC only take 2-3% of the CPU. Some .mkv's are unwatchable under Lion. I haven't investigated this yet. Also, Stanford University Folding @home failed to start. I don't know if either of these have anything to do with the fact that this isn't a real Apple computer. Issue Resolved by either 10.7.4 OS X Update or 2.0.1 VLC Update

Also, immediately after the Chimera Boot Screen, the white Apple Logo screen appears warped like a 4x3 lower resolution startup screen that has been squished and stretched to 16x9 and even then leaves a 1 inch black border. After that screen, a proper Apple startup screen in full resolution appears and completes the boot without issue. This is a minor annoyance and I'm sure there's a fix but I haven't yet researched it.

 

[c0nartiste]

Re: egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - HD 5870

Note: When playing certain .mkv's with VLC takes 20-50% of the CPU power. On the same computer, when I boot into Windows 7 64-bit, the same .mkv's played by VLC only take 2-3% of the CPU. Some .mkv's are unwatchable under Lion. I haven't investigated this yet. Also, Stanford University Folding @home failed to start. I don't know if either of these have anything to do with the fact that this isn't a real Apple computer.

Also, immediately after the Chimera Boot Screen, the white Apple Logo screen appears warped like a 4x3 lower resolution startup screen that has been squished and stretched to 16x9 and even then leaves a 1 inch black border. After that screen, a proper Apple startup screen in full resolution appears and completes the boot without issue. This is a minor annoyance and I'm sure there's a fix but I haven't yet researched it.

I wonder why your getting 20-50% I hope I am not going to get that with my build.

Have you figured out a fix for the warped boot screen?

awesome build apart from that hows it running? what do you use it for? I am making the hackintosh jump on monday ordering parts I'm in the final research stages.

CPU - Intel SandyBridge i7-2600k 3.40Ghz Socket 1155
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Z68 Socket 1155
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1866Mhz Kit
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast TX750 750W
CPU Cooler - Corsair Hydro H80 Liquid Cooling System
BOOT - OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD
HDD - Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB x 2
OPT/D - Pioneer BDR-S06XLB Retail 50GB Internal SATA Blu-Ray Writer
CASE - Corsair Graphite 600t Black
GPU - Gigabyte Radeon 6870 1GB
CAM - Logitech C910 HD Webcam
FIREWIRE - StarTech 2 Port 800 + 1 Port Firewire 400 PCI Card
BLUETOOTH - Belkin Mini Bluetooth Adapter

 

[mmaenpaa]

Re: egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - HD 5870

Note: When playing certain .mkv's with VLC takes 20-50% of the CPU power. On the same computer, when I boot into Windows 7 64-bit, the same .mkv's played by VLC only take 2-3% of the CPU. Some .mkv's are unwatchable under Lion. I haven't investigated this yet. Also, Stanford University Folding @home failed to start. I don't know if either of these have anything to do with the fact that this isn't a real Apple computer.

Which version of folding client did you try with, I use 7.1.38 on Lion.

 

[egotrippin]

Re: egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - HD 5870

Have you figured out a fix for the warped boot screen?

Nope, but I'm pretty sure I can edit a boot file somewhere to manually specify the resolution or it may just be the graphics enabler option I chose from multibeast . I'll put up the results once I fix it.

awesome build apart from that hows it running? what do you use it for? I am making the hackintosh jump on monday ordering parts I'm in the final research stages.

Apart from the few minor issues it's perfect. All other applications run great and you wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't a mac if you didn't know. When comparing sound on Windows vs OS X I think the audio is better in Windows (which is disappointing). I was in the market for a high end sound card and I just bought one of these on a whim. ASUS Xonar ST

Unfortunately this card doesn't work with Apple either (unless somebody knows something I don't). I'll probably end up using it in my desktop until I can find a suitable Apple compatible sound card or an external digital analog converter like the CEntrance DACmini.

I use my computer for a bit of everything but the only things that require high end components are gaming and listening to music. It looks like your components are very similar to mine. The HD 6870 you listed is almost identical in performance to my 5870. Is that corsair liquid cpu cooler more quite than a traditional cpu cooler? My 2600k runs at such a low temp, even when overclocked, that I haven't bothered with an aftermarket cooling solution yet.

 

[OlieL]

Re: egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - HD 5870

What an awesome looking beast! Love that case...

Would love a link to the DWA-131 driver you are using for Lion - I've just bought one of these for the purpose of connecting to my wireless network so I can update to Lion, so the driver would be really useful. Cheers!

Olie.

 

[egotrippin]

Re: egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - HD 5870

What an awesome looking beast! Love that case...

Would love a link to the DWA-131 driver you are using for Lion - I've just bought one of these for the purpose of connecting to my wireless network so I can update to Lion, so the driver would be really useful. Cheers!

Olie.

A beast indeed! Multibeast + Unibeast to be exact. I've actually made some big upgrades like a GTX 580 Classified Hydro Copper and full water cooling (I'm running 4.4ghz on the i7 and my temps stay under 40 Celsius at full load and it's completely silent) and I'll post more on it soon. For now, here's that file you need.

 

[OlieL]

Re: egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - HD 5870

With that spec I think you'll be getting a lot of Beast envy on the board

Did you think about going for higher speed RAM? I am running some G.Skill Ripjaws X PC17000 2133Mhz RAM (there are 2 versions, I think; I've got the slightly higher latency ones - CL11 11-11-11-30 - there's a CL9 version available too) and am scoring 7.9 in the Windows experience RAM test when I boot in PC mode. There were some initial problems running the RAM at that speed with earlier BIOS (was getting a score of 7.5 at 1600Mhz) but once the f11 BIOS came out for my board I've been running XMP 2 ever since. I was amazed at the difference that made... everything felt snappier and it took about 6 seconds off my Windows boot time...

Anyway, thanks very much for the driver, much appreciated - fingers crossed it works.

O.

 

[egotrippin]

Re: egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - HD 5870

Did you think about going for higher speed RAM? I am running some G.Skill Ripjaws X PC17000 2133Mhz RAM

The thought crossed my mind. From all the research I've done I have learned that the ram speed doesn't really matter. I've seen in forums where the math was shown that anything beyond 1600 currently won't make a perceivable difference in any situation. I have heard that lower latency does make a difference. Save your money and put it towards better graphics or something else that will benefit you more.

I sold my RAM on ebay two days ago and bought the exact same kit of ram in black because it matches the rest of my build. I had a rebate on the corsair ram so I think I came out $5 ahead after shipping haha.

I'm only getting 7.8 in the memory test of the Windows Experience Index... which doesn't really matter, but it bothers me... I'm so close to a perfect 7.9 across the board!

 

[egotrippin]

Re: egotrippin's Build - Core i7-2600K - GA-Z68XP-UD4 - HD 5870

Note: When playing certain .mkv's with VLC takes 20-50% of the CPU power. On the same computer, when I boot into Windows 7 64-bit, the same .mkv's played by VLC only take 2-3% of the CPU. Some .mkv's are unwatchable under Lion. I haven't investigated this yet. Also, Stanford University Folding @home failed to start. I don't know if either of these have anything to do with the fact that this isn't a real Apple computer.

Also, immediately after the Chimera Boot Screen, the white Apple Logo screen appears warped like a 4x3 lower resolution startup screen that has been squished and stretched to 16x9 and even then leaves a 1 inch black border. After that screen, a proper Apple startup screen in full resolution appears and completes the boot without issue. This is a minor annoyance and I'm sure there's a fix but I haven't yet researched it.

I wonder why your getting 20-50% I hope I am not going to get that with my build.

Have you figured out a fix for the warped boot screen?

awesome build apart from that hows it running? what do you use it for? I am making the hackintosh jump on monday ordering parts I'm in the final research stages.

CPU - Intel SandyBridge i7-2600k 3.40Ghz Socket 1155
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Z68 Socket 1155
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1866Mhz Kit
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast TX750 750W
CPU Cooler - Corsair Hydro H80 Liquid Cooling System
BOOT - OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD
HDD - Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB x 2
OPT/D - Pioneer BDR-S06XLB Retail 50GB Internal SATA Blu-Ray Writer
CASE - Corsair Graphite 600t Black
GPU - Gigabyte Radeon 6870 1GB
CAM - Logitech C910 HD Webcam
FIREWIRE - StarTech 2 Port 800 + 1 Port Firewire 400 PCI Card
BLUETOOTH - Belkin Mini Bluetooth Adapter

I'm not sure if it was the OS X 10.7.4 Update or the VLC 2.0.1 Update but VLC is playing high def .mkv files now without issue. I stil haven't worried much about the boot screen issue, I think it has something to do with my monitor using HDMI but I'm not going to sweat it.

 

[cmatt]

Hello,

my first post here, finally

so i've had my hackintosh for almost 2 years, but just upgraded to ML now (10.8.4), cause SL was working just fine for me and my Pro Tools 9. But now it was time to move on.
After only few troubles and about 3 new installations i got the system running. I think it was my graphics card, but now its all good, thanks to tonymac and everyone here!


I found this thread, cause i have similar hardware, and of course i had to do a quick geekbench just for fun.

and here's the thing: geek bench score: 5600

now i wouldn't mind so much, but when i saw egotrippin's scores, it did get me wondering if i didn't do something completely wrong??
unfortunately i don't have any bench scores from my snow leopard system

my build:
Board: GA-z68xp-UD4 (rev. 1.0), bios F6
CPU: Core i7-2600K (now OCd to 4.0Ghz, never over 39°C, but that didn't change much anyway)
RAM: DDR3 G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB (2x8), 1.5v, 1600Mhz, 10-10-10-30 // also have 4x4GB corsair vengance, but seemed faulty)
Graphics: EVGA 8400GS Passive
OSX HD: SSD Corsair Force GT, 90GB
quite a few other HDDs, one more corsair SSD for audio samples (240GB), external Audio interface (RME Babyface)...


sleep works great, system didn't crash once (!!) since i got it running properly. only thing is that ALL of my drives (incl. boot drive) are shown as ext. on the desktop.
i did try to use the UEFI bios for the new ML install, but unibeast wouldn't run on that, so i went back to award F6.
another thing that changed since OSX SL: now the boot up is really fast, but the shut down proces takes around 30 sec. not that it bothers me, but before it was the other way around.

well, i'm curious if anybody has any ideas...