First build: Core i7-875k, GA-P55A-UD4P, Nvidia 9800GT 1GB

[NavyDocToBe]

So here goes my first post. I'm a short-time lurker, first time builder. After finding iBoot & Multibeast and researching supported parts, along with tonymacx86's P55 DSDT Database, here is what I put together:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P
Processor: Intel Core i7-875k
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Silent 1156
RAM: G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin SDRAM DDR3 1600 Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ. I used two kits for a total of 8GB RAM.
Video: EVGA 01G-P3-N981-TR GeForce 9800 GT 1GB
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1501FASS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drives: 2x LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98
Power: CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-650HX 650W

Install went extremely smoothly using the iBoot ISO for NVIDIA support. No problems booting with the i7-875k. I partitioned the hard drive with one 1.5TB partition and installed Snow Leopard from my retail disc. Booted again using the iBoot CD and installed the Mac OS X 10.6.4 Combo Updater, then ran MultiBeast 2.0 using the appropriate DSDT file for my motherboard.

Reboot after removing the iBoot CD failed. Got the error0 message. Fixed it manually installing Chameleon to my EFI partition using these directions: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/01/tweaking-your-system-install-chameleon.html. After installing Chameleon manually I had to reapply MultiBeast to fix sound, network, and video.

Bottom line: so far as I can tell, everything is working great now.

Benchmarks:
Geekbench (free 32-bit version): 9304
Xbench: 286.29
Cinebench OpenGL: 7.78 fps
Cinebench CPU: 5.54 pts

So, o' gurus of the Hackintosh, what says you? What kind of tweaks can/should I make? I feel that my Cinebench OpenGL scores are rather poor. Am I seeing the performance that my hardware should support?

Oh yeah... THIS SITE ROCKS!!!

-NavyDocToBe

 

[jimx86]

Hey, NavyDocToBe, welcome to the forums!

Love your build, the P55M-UD4 would have been a bit more compatible, but no worries, as you have everything working!

And about the OpenGL, normally - for the exact same builds of Windows and Mac - OpenGL will be slower in a Mac. Of course, not by that much, but what I think is that under a "hackintosh" so to speak, the OpenGL tests suffer even more. I still have yet to pinpoint why, but a couple of users have the same problem.

And thanks for posting your results! It's a great help!

 

[Lnx2Mac]

Bottom line: so far as I can tell, everything is working great now.

I feel that my Cinebench OpenGL scores are rather poor. Am I seeing the performance that my hardware should support?

With your 9800GT, you should be getting around 30fps Cinebench.

How are you enabling your 9800 ?
GraphicsEnabler, NVEnabler, or DSDT edit ?

 

[NavyDocToBe]

Yep, everything seems to be working just fine. I'll probably still tinker around for a while before considering it to be reliable.

I've searched through the forums, and see that info represented in System Profiler's hardware overview doesn't really have anything to do with actual performance. My processor, RAM type and speed, and system bus speed are all much lower than should be. I've edited the smbios.plist file to adjust some of these values. Is this okay, or are there adjustments I can make somewhere to actually boost performance by letting the OS know exactly what hardware it has available?

 

[NavyDocToBe]

Lnx2Mac,

I have the GraphicsEnabler key set to "Yes" in com.apple.Boot.plist. I used the DSDT file specifically for my mobo from Tonymacx86's site and installed via MultiBeast 2.0, and I just checked my /Extra/Extensions folder and see there is a "NVEnabler 64.kext" file there.

Somewhere along the line I read that if Front Row runs, and if Dashboard displays a splash when adding a new widget, that I have things working properly. Both of these work as such.

What else can I do?

Thanks so much!

 

[Lnx2Mac]

Lnx2Mac,

I have the GraphicsEnabler key set to "Yes" in com.apple.Boot.plist. I used the DSDT file specifically for my mobo from Tonymacx86's site and installed via MultiBeast 2.0, and I just checked my /Extra/Extensions folder and see there is a "NVEnabler 64.kext" file there.

Somewhere along the line I read that if Front Row runs, and if Dashboard displays a splash when adding a new widget, that I have things working properly. Both of these work as such.

What else can I do?

Thanks so much!

Hi NavyDocToBe,
I'd start by removing NVEnabler from /Extra/Extensions, rebuild kext cache and reboot.

If this brings you close to 30fps (mine gets to 27.57fps), you can then choose whether to hack your DSDT or not.

I haven't yet, and as I don't stress much the GPU, I left that in my TODO list.

Good Luck,
Lnx2Mac

PS: Please report back your results

 

[NavyDocToBe]

I removed the "NVEnabler 64.kext" file from the /Extra/Extensions folder, then used MultiBeast 2.0.1 to rebuild the system caches and permissions. I then rebooted. I lost the resolution of my screen, and was unable to go to anything above 1024x768. Cinebench would not run the OpenGL tests. I used MultiBeast 2.0.1 to reinstall the NVEnabler kext, and my resolution came back. Cinebench ran again, but returned the same ~7.5 fps result.

I don't know if this is related, but my Geekbench memory scores seem low to what I've seen other people with:
Integer, Processor integer performance: 7653
Floating Point, Processor floating point performance: 15671
Memory, Memory performance: 3993
Stream, Memory bandwidth performance: 3593

 

[Lnx2Mac]

In that case, try removing GraphicsEnabler from your boot.plist and reboot (no need to rebuild caches).

If you have troubling booting, then pass "GraphicsEnabler=Yes" to the chameleon prompt.

 

[NavyDocToBe]

Hmm, removing GraphicsEnabler from my boot.plist files and rebooting didn't have any effect on my Cinebench OpenGL scores. Still got a 7.74fps.

I put the GraphicsEnabler entry back into the files, rebooted, and tested again. Same fps range.

 

[Lnx2Mac]

NavyDocToBe,
in that case, you might want to do the DSDT graphics injection.

Check out tony's post here: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/01/ ... phics.html