Final Q's before I start installation. Please help!

[iamfree]

Hey everyone,
I first want to thank Tony and everyone else for sharing their time and expertise on this forum. I am working on building a computer for audio production. I will be running Propellerhead’s Reason 6.5 and maybe Logic Studio. I have done HOURS of research here and I couldn’t have gotten this far without you all. I have never even built a computer so aiming for a Hackintosh inside a G5 mod has been a fun head-first challenge. Even with all my research, I still feel very lost sometimes and a little apprehensive about setting this machine up. Could you all look my specs over and also my questions too and give some advice before I attempt to get my system up and running? I’d deeply appreciate any help. Here are my specs:

Guide: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/04/ ... -x-on.html
Software: Retail Snow Leopard (I don’t plan on upgrading to Lion because I have heard SL is good for DAWs and I won’t have to spend anymore money)
PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series 650TX 650W (I won’t need this much power probably, but it was cheapest and highly rated)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 3.3GHz
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc 24X DVD Burner
GPU: EVGA 512-P3-1311-KR GeForce 210 512MB 32-bit
HDD: (2) Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3
SSD: (2) SAMSUNG 830 64GB
NIC: Rosewill RC-401-EX 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express Network Card
Wireless adapter: Edimax EW-7811Un USB Adapter

One SSD will be for booting and programs and the other SSD will be for samples and instruments and stuff. I want to set up Raid 1 configuration with my 2 HHDs.

Some questions:
1) Any general comments or advice on the G5 Mod or Specs?
2) Regarding my Motherboard, I know the 7 series isn’t fully support or recommended. I bought the GA-Z77-DS3H because of Tony’s “Huge News.” I know this doesn’t need a DSDT and I saw a user use this board successfully with an i5, but I am wondering if I jumped the gun too soon. Will I encounter any problems?
3) How do I set up Raid 1? I’ve done much searching without finding much, most I’ve found is about Raid 0
a. Do I need to set up multibeast on these HDDs?
4) I know my SSDs don’t have a Sandforce controller, but I am hoping the TRIM enabler in Multibeast will keep my SSD’s performing well. Do I need to set up multibeast on my samples SSD too?
a. Should I do TRIM on that one too?

 

[Robbish]

Re: Needing help before taking the plunge. Please and thank you!

Hi iamfree,

looks like a good build spec for a DAW.

MOBO:- When Tonymac tested the Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H with an Intel SandyBridge CPU, he didn't mention Snow Leopard (which has always been a bit of a pain to install on a SandyBridge setup) so i assume he tested that mobo in OS X Lion.

Tonymac has not confirmed whether the latest iBoot (currently version v3.3.0) supports Intel Z77 and H77 so if no support then i would expect this to be addressed with an iBoot update in the near future

TRIM:- you need to enable Trim on ALL your SSD's otherwise you will shorten the life of your SSD.

RAID:- you setup RAID in software within Snow Leopard. It's done in Disk Utilities and you choose one of the three flavours (don't ask me what they mean? i've never tried RAID before);

• Mirrored RAID Set
  Striped RAID Set
  Concatenated Disk Set

 

[iamfree]

Re: Needing help before taking the plunge. Please and thank you!

Hi iamfree,

looks like a good build spec for a DAW.

MOBO:- When Tonymac tested the Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H with an Intel SandyBridge CPU, he didn't mention Snow Leopard (which has always been a bit of a pain to install on a SandyBridge setup) so i assume he tested that mobo in OS X Lion.

Tonymac has not confirmed whether the latest iBoot (currently version v3.3.0) supports Intel Z77 and H77 so if no support then i would expect this to be addressed with an iBoot update in the near future

TRIM:- you need to enable Trim on ALL your SSD's otherwise you will shorten the life of your SSD.

RAID:- you setup RAID in software within Snow Leopard. It's done in Disk Utilities and you choose one of the three flavours (don't ask me what they mean? i've never tried RAID before);

• Mirrored RAID Set
  Striped RAID Set
  Concatenated Disk Set

Robbish, thanks for your thoughts! Fingers crossed on installing SL then. I've seen several successful builds using a z77 board and sandy bridge cpus so I am hoping the current iBoot version does the trick. I need to instal multibeast on all SSDs to enable TRIM, right? And do I need to install multibeast on my HDDs in my RAID configuration too?

Anyone else's thoughts would be very appreciated!

 

[Robbish]

Re: Needing help before taking the plunge. Please and thank you!

I need to instal multibeast on all SSDs to enable TRIM, right? And do I need to install multibeast on my HDDs in my RAID configuration too?

Anyone else's thoughts would be very appreciated!

Hey iamfree,

MultiBeast is an App so you will be able to apply each of it's functions to any OSX drive you desire

 

[iamfree]

Re: Needing help before taking the plunge. Please and thank you!

I need to instal multibeast on all SSDs to enable TRIM, right? And do I need to install multibeast on my HDDs in my RAID configuration too?

Anyone else's thoughts would be very appreciated!

Hey iamfree,

MultiBeast is an App so you will be able to apply each of it's functions to any OSX drive you desire

But if I am just using the HDDs for storage, I don't need any software or multibeast or anything? Thanks Robbish, you are the man!

 

[iamfree]

Should I use the new DSDT for my motherboard even if I am still using a sandy bridge processor and snow leopard?

 

[Unrealized]

Should I use the new DSDT for my motherboard even if I am still using a sandy bridge processor and snow leopard?

Yes. You need it for Speedstep and sound.

 

[iamfree]

Should I use the new DSDT for my motherboard even if I am still using a sandy bridge processor and snow leopard?

Yes. You need it for Speedstep and sound.