Fighting Saint's Build & Install Steps GA-X58A-UD3R i7 930

[Wrp453]

Amazing Guide. I want to share my success story in case this may help any one else.

My Build:
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Rev. 2
i7 950 3.1 GHz
12GB 1600Mhz Corsair HX3X12G1600C9
EVGA 470GTX
Kingston 128GB SSD
650W Power Supply
Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1 hyper 212
Antec 902 case


For Graphics, the Nvidia 470 GTX didn't work straight out of the box, so I ordered a 9500GT for $70 and used it as the primary card until I installed the TonyMac Nvidia update and CUDA driver 3.2.17. This is AFTER I upgraded from retail version Snow Leopard 10.6.3 to 10.6.5 and ran MultiBeast. Bingo it worked, but I haven't really tested out yet. One thing to note, rendering times in AE is the same with both cards and there's about $200 difference

So here's the real booger. It seems that Windows runs more efficiently in all except for one category when I compare GeekBench scores (I'm using dual booted Windows and Mac OS X on same drive); despite having a much lower overall score. Here's the results. Anyone has any ideas for why this may be happening? Sortdemands me wonder why were jumping through flaming hoops and prancing in tutus just so that we can run a video editing Hackintosh doesn't it?

Here are the scores, including the differences in how the OS sees the hardware:

Geekbench for Mac:
Score: 9417
Integer: 7891
Floating Point: 15573
Memory: 4204
Stream: 3647

Memory: 12.0 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Bus: 536 MHz
L1 Instruction Cache: 32KB
L1: Data Cache: 32KB
L2 Cache: 256KB
L3 Cache: 8.00MB
BIOS: apple inc multi beast.tonymacx86.com

Geekbench for Windows 7:
Score: 8320
Integer: 9710
Floating Point: 10113
Memory: 4614
Stream: 4596

Memory: 12.0 GB 400 MHz 
Bus: 133 MHz
L1 Instruction Cache: 64KB
L1: Data Cache: 64KB
L2 Cache: 8.00MB
L3 Cache: 0
BIOS: Award Software International inc FA

I hope I don't get hung for being a naysayer, but I might just keep my PC windows if there's a way to improve performance in Floating Point. Does somebody know a way for me to stay Mac and not go back?

 

[iKikas]

Hi The Fighting Saint,

Thanks for your outstanding guide, i installed SL on my new i7 two days ago and follow TonyMac's Guide too. I have i7 950 and GTX460 SE but the same MB.

I forgot to do the "Optimized Defaults" on BIOS, its important?

When you find a BT device, let me know, i am searching for one too before i buy the Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard.

Do you think its safe to upload to 10.6.6?

Thanks again.

Regards from Portugal

 

[The Fighting Saint]

Hi The Fighting Saint,

Thanks for your outstanding guide, i installed SL on my new i7 two days ago and follow TonyMac's Guide too. I have i7 950 and GTX460 SE but the same MB.

I forgot to do the "Optimized Defaults" on BIOS, its important?

When you find a BT device, let me know, i am searching for one too before i buy the Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard.

Do you think its safe to upload to 10.6.6?

Thanks again.

Regards from Portugal

You're welcome. I haven't looked for a bluetooth dongle yet but I will definitely update my guide when I do so.

As for updating to 10.6.6 it sounds like most everyone who has updated has had success. From this forum it states that Tony recommends the combo update but I know a lot of members have used the software update. I'm not familiar to why the combo update would be better than the software update but if Tony recommends it then I will use that method.

I'm planning on updating next week to 10.6.6. I will also update to the latest BIOS and use the latest Multibeast and update for those changes, too.

 

[iKikas]

You're welcome. I haven't looked for a bluetooth dongle yet but I will definitely update my guide when I do so.

As for updating to 10.6.6 it sounds like most everyone who has updated has had success. From this forum it states that Tony recommends the combo update but I know a lot of members have used the software update. I'm not familiar to why the combo update would be better than the software update but if Tony recommends it then I will use that method.

I'm planning on updating next week to 10.6.6. I will also update to the latest BIOS and use the latest Multibeast and update for those changes, too.

Hi,

Thanks for your quick reply and for updating the guide as soon as you find a BT dongle.

About the update, i will check that link, thanks.

I am using the latest BIOS already, FE i think. The multibeast i used the 3.0 i think, should i update with the latest? Should i do "Optimized Defaults" in BIOS? Because i forgot to do before :/

Thanks again.

 

[The Fighting Saint]

I am using the latest BIOS already, FE i think. The multibeast i used the 3.0 i think, should i update with the latest? Should i do "Optimized Defaults" in BIOS? Because i forgot to do before :/

Thanks again.

You only need to make changes to your BIOS when you update your BIOS because it will reset everything. You don't have to to use the latest Multibeast as long as everything is working. I just want to update since Tony and MacMan changed some of the files since the version I used (2.6.1). I asked the same question last month because I was confused and Tony gave me the answer here.

 

[humbu55]

Hi and big thx for your install steps
I used new MultiBeast 303 I think so not quite the same.. but it mostly work
I hate to be daft.. but.. think there is something I am missing ??
followed all list and worked (sound and network)thx again.. but..
don't think it has all my video card can not got more than 1024 x 768 ??
it says..
ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series:
Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x68b8
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B7710C-176
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.318
Displays:
Display:
Resolution: 1024 x 768
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Display Connector:
all the rest ok I think = Hardware Overview:
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.80 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MultiBeast.tonymacx86.com

I guess I need some type of driver.. kext??
sys is =
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard. bios FE
Intel Core i7 930 2.80Ghz DO Stepping (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) Processor
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 FLEX 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

sorry to be such noob

 

[The Fighting Saint]

Hi and big thx for your install steps
I used new MultiBeast 303 I think so not quite the same.. but it mostly work
I hate to be daft.. but.. think there is something I am missing ??
followed all list and worked (sound and network)thx again.. but..
don't think it has all my video card can not got more than 1024 x 768 ??
it says..
ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series:
Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x68b8
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B7710C-176
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.318
Displays:
Display:
Resolution: 1024 x 768
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Display Connector:
all the rest ok I think = Hardware Overview:
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.80 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MultiBeast.tonymacx86.com

I guess I need some type of driver.. kext??
sys is =
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard. bios FE
Intel Core i7 930 2.80Ghz DO Stepping (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) Processor
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 FLEX 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

sorry to be such noob

I looked your video card up and it looks to be a reference card (2-DVI, 1-HDMI, 1-display port) so it should work. Is this what your card has for outputs?

What did you select in Multibeast for graphics?

 

[humbu55]

hi.. and big thx for the help..
this is getting silly :? late last night.. was reading mac forum, and, unknown to me, you can put ATI Radeon HD 5770 in a mac pro.. so I got the SnowLeopardGraphicsUpdate1.0 and put in on.. reboot get the gray start screen then it went blank.. so I tried changed DVI and got a pic.. all the times before was getting pic from SLDVI not DLDVI
but now DLDVI and computer had all the video card gig ram and so on..
so I had video, sound and network.. all good working on MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.4 and RealtekRTL81xx-0_0_67+ and MultiBeast only ticked on from the pics you have up..
so last night all good I had a Mac Pro 3.1 6 gig ram or something like that
so.. this morning I backed it up.. using SuperDuper! done this before always been ok
think it had finished (back up works but is same as the main.. not last nights one) but screen went blank before I got back to it.. no pic..
anyway video card working ok but only have a iMac and 4 gig ram and no sound
going to mess with it today..

but was wondering if I should tell it in MultiBeast that it's a mac pro there is a setting in there somewhere
back to the

 

[humbu55]

So..
redone twice to make sure I was not losing it.. :?
if I have SnowLeopard start idisc then MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.4 using MultiBeast (Fighting Saint's Build) and RealtekRTL81xx-0_0_67+ and then SnowLeopardGraphicsUpdate1.0
I have MacPro..
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.80 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 6 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series:
Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 1024 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)

but if I update using all the same but MacOSXUpdCombo10.6.6 (not SnowLeopardGraphicsUpdate1.0)
I get iMac with only 4gig ram and no sound.. I must be doing something wrong..

update
All seems ok.. MacPro all working all ram video good and sound..
but..
if I add 2nd h'drive it turns to iMac only 4 gig ram and no sound
I can have macpro on both h'drives (both seem ok work ok.. one laptop type and one normal)as long as there is only one pluged in..
so I guess there is some setting I am missing..
as I was hopping to have..
1 SSD and 1 TB drive
so close..

 

[MACTAC]

Hi
I have a very similar build, but my BIOS is Fb. I'm reluctant to upgrade the bios. If i get the proper DSDT for this BIOS, is there any reason why the selections in MultiBeast wouldn't be the same.
Thanks!