Haswell Mini ITX Motherboard with DisplayPort ?

[Sylvio84]

Please Help : Haswell Mini ITX Motherboard with DisplayPort ?

Hi,

I look for a motherboard with maximum OSX 10.8.5 (or 10.9) native compatibility (easy to install / maximum hardware support) having these requirements :
- haswell support / 1150 socket
- mini-ITX format
- Displayport (for high res monitor : 2560x1440px)
- Not to much expensive (150€ without tax max)

I don't need anything else.

I found these one but I don't know if it is easy to install :
- MSI H87I / MSI Z87I
- ASRock Z87E-ITX
- ASUS Z87I-PRO
- Zotac H87ITX-A-E

My project is to order the hardware in 2-3 weeks and build 2 mini-hackintosh by the end of october.
These hackintosh will be use with 16Gb RAM + core i3 haswell CPU + SSD for profesionnal use (webdesign / developpment).

Thanks a lot for your advices !

FYI : Last year I make this build

 

[Going Bald]

Hi,

I look for a motherboard with maximum OSX 10.8.5 (or 10.9) native compatibility (easy to install / maximum hardware support) having these requirements :
- haswell support / 1150 socket
- mini-ITX format
- Displayport (for high res monitor : 2560x1440px)
- Not to much expensive (150€ without tax max)

I don't need anything else.

I found these one but I don't know if it is easy to install :
- MSI H87I
- MSI Z87I
- ASRock Z87E-ITX
- ASUS Z87I-PRO

My project is to order the hardware in 2-3 weeks and build 2 mini-hackintosh by the end of october.
These hackintosh will be use with 16Gb RAM + core i3 haswell CPU + SSD for profesionnal use (webdesign / developpment).

Thanks a lot for your advices !

If it is as easy as the P8Z77-I, the Asus Z87I-Pro is probably the best bet from your list.

 

[Sylvio84]

Need Help : Haswell Mini ITX Motherboard with DisplayPort ?

Up,

Does some expert can advice me about which of these MB have the best OSX 10.9 (or 10.8.5) compatibility :
- MSI H87I / MSI Z87I
- Zotac H87ITX-A-E
- ASRock Z87E-ITX
- ASUS Z87I-PRO

I prefer the 2 first because they are cheaper. I don't need wifi or bluetouth to work.

Thank you a lot. I will make 2 new mini-hackintosh build very soon and need to order components next week.

 

[Mate94]

The ASUS one or the Gigabyte H87N without WiFi/BT module. The rest are not advisable.

 

[Sylvio84]

Thanks a lot for your advice.

I also found this post about AsRock one and minihack's build on this forum about Zotac one, interesting but quite complex.
For these 2 build, the BIOS was changed. I could do that but I'm looking for the simpliest solution.

No Gigabyte miniITX motherboards has DisplayPort unfortunately.
Only 4 new thin-miniITX Gigabyte MB (only published on their website : GA-H87TN, etc) will have but it use SO-DIMM socket which limit total memory to 8GB and these builds need 16GB.

 

[Going Bald]

Thanks a lot for your advice.

I also found this post about AsRock one and minihack's build on this forum about Zotac one, interesting but quite complex.
For these 2 build, the BIOS was changed. I could do that but I'm looking for the simpliest solution.

No Gigabyte miniITX motherboards has DisplayPort unfortunately.
Only 4 new thin-miniITX Gigabyte MB (only published on their website : GA-H87TN, etc) will have but it use SO-DIMM socket which limit total memory to 8GB and these builds need 16GB.

So go with the Asus Z87I - MSR in BIOS is unlocked and need not be patched/flashed for native power management. toleda has his working.

 

[minihack]

Hi Sylvio,

I replied on my thread too, but thought also worth mentioning again here as it may help others.

Once bios is flashed on the Zotac it will install Mavericks and 10.8.5 no problem. On my thread is the unlocked bios as well as detailed instructions on how to flash it (not hard). Usual fixes from Toleda work for audio with HDMI/DP. Everything on the board works fine aside from the combined BT/wifi which I see you don't need and of course can be fixed by an easy cheap swap anyway. It also has mSATA socket (in addition to the mini PCI-e wifi socket) which I consider to be a great bonus.

In reality the install process is not complex and of course I am happy to share my EXTRA folder if it helps.

I mention on my thread a concern with a particular screen, but I am 95% certain that this is not a problem specific to the Zotac board.

Good luck with your build.

 

[Sylvio84]

Thanks a lot for your answers.

I think I will order each board tomorow and use one for each build.
Zotac is 40€ cheaper. Asus don't need bios flashing & seems to works fine.

These build will have dual OS : win7 & OSX 10.9 and will be mainly used with windows because currently their user are under windows PC. But maybe, the user will switch to OSX... My PC run an old GA-H55-UD2H, maybe I will try to install OSX on it too.

Here is the components, I will use for these 2 new Builds :
MB : Zotac H87-ITX WiFi A Series / ASUS Z87I-PRO C2
CPU : Intel Core i3-4340
RAM : Crucial Ballistix Sport XT, 2 x 8 Go, PC3-14900
SSD : SanDisk SSD Ultra Plus 256 Go
Case : COOLTEK CoolCube
PSU : SFX - Be Quiet ! System Power 7 300 W
Total price without tax : 508€ (zotac) / 548€ (asus)

 

[Sylvio84]

Here some news about my 2 builds :

Both have SanDisk 256GB SSD & Core i3 haswell CPU & 16GB RAM & nothing more (except case & PSU).

First build with Zotac H87-ITX WiFi A Series MB :
I flash the bios with minihack one.
Then Install Mavericks (Unibeast 3.01 usb key) and Multibeast 6 with :
- DSDT Free
- Audio : ALC 892 (without DSDT)
- Network : Realtek RTL81xx
- Disk : Trim enabled
EDIT (Yosemite) => Misc : NullCPUPowerManagement

Audio, Network works fine. Bluetouth too.

Then I manage to install dual boot with windows7 and last Chimera release.

2nd build with Asus Z87I-Pro
I spent a lot of time one it, not to install Mavericks (easy) but to have dual boot on 2x120GB partition on the SSD.

step 1 : installing both systems....
It was a mess to install win7 & Mavericks because OS X don't like windows partition schema & Windows don't like OS X partitions schema in GPT mode :
- when I create the 2 partitions (first in MS DOS, second in HFS+) with OS X boot installer, windows reject his partition saying disk is not GPT or Bios don't have controller or things like that...
- when I create the 2 partitions with windows by leaving empty OS X patition or create it without formatting it : OS X Installer Disk utilities always freeze by creating the HFS+ partition.
For both, I try all I can, installing each systems several times (maybe 10 time each...) with different orders, different methods (ex: leaving space free for the other system). Nothing work at all.
Then I make the 2 partitions with gparted, in this case Windows & OS X finaly accept their partitions...

step 2 : install a bootloader
So I manage after 24h to install both OS. But they are in GPT/UEFI mode & trying installing Chameleon/Chimera did nothing. System always boot to Windows... Why... I do some search and understand how EFI works...

I try several & several things like EasyBCD, Clover, etc. Many Clover install settings....

step 3 : boot on Clover bootloader (in UEFI mode)
I finaly manage to boot Clover by modifiying BCD under windows command (bcdedit or something like that) in order CLOVERX64.efi was launch instead of Windows Boot Manager boot file...

step 4 : boot on Mavericks with Clover bootloader.... FAILED
But impossible to boot on OS X despite it boot fine from OS X installer USB Key (having Chameleon).

I have "appleacpiplatformexpert start failed" & "panic [...] unable to find driver for this plateform: \"ACPI\"."\n".@SourceCache/xnu/xnu-2422.1.72/iokit/Kernel/IOPlateformExpert.cpp:1541"

I reinstall a clean Mavericks and don't install anything with Multibeast (don't lauch it).
Mavericks boot fine with Unibeast Install USB Key.
but still the same Kernel Panic using Clover...

I did several search on the net & find nothing revelant except some messages of "Going Bald" in this topic (starting at first message of page 3).

Folowing kduvernay message I try Clover r2165 but same problems.

Then all works fine with Mavericks but it seems very difficult to have dual boot on this MB because of UEFI.

Here are the Multibeast options I use (tested with Clover but always the same KP) :
- DSDT Free
- Audio : ALC1150 without DSDT
- Network : Intel
- Disk : Trim Enabled.
I try installing Fake SMC, NullCPU but it doesn't resolve my Clover problem.
Then I thing I will remove OS X and use only Windows on this PC.
I mainly want one of the 2 PC with OS X.


I notice a strange problem on both build :
When I boot to Windows I often have Keyboard & Mouse or system freeze, don't know if system is freezed or if only these USB device have problems. Unplugged/plugged it don't resolve the problem, I must reboot, wait, disconnect power 15s, start. It seems this problem come more frequently after a quick reboot from OS X but sometime I wait 10s and have this problem. I don't have install all windows drivers & update the maybe it is the cause.

 

[AkumaX]

Here some news about my 2 builds :

Both have SanDisk 256GB SSD & Core i3 haswell CPU & 16GB RAM & nothing more (except case & PSU).

First build with Zotac H87-ITX WiFi A Series MB :
I flash the bios with minihack one.
Then Install Mavericks (Unibeast 3.01 usb key) and Multibeast 6 with :
- DSDT Free
- Audio : ALC 892 (without DSDT)
- Network : Realtek RTL81xx
- Disk : Trim enabled

Audio, Network works fine. Bluetouth too.

Then I manage to install dual boot with windows7 and last Chimera release.

2nd build with Asus Z87I-Pro
I spent a lot of time one it, not to install Mavericks (easy) but to have dual boot on 2x120GB partition on the SSD.

step 1 : installing both systems....
It was a mess to install win7 & Mavericks because OS X don't like windows partition schema & Windows don't like OS X partitions schema in GPT mode :
- when I create the 2 partitions (first in MS DOS, second in HFS+) with OS X boot installer, windows reject his partition saying disk is not GPT or Bios don't have controller or things like that...
- when I create the 2 partitions with windows by leaving empty OS X patition or create it without formatting it : OS X Installer Disk utilities always freeze by creating the HFS+ partition.
For both, I try all I can, installing each systems several times (maybe 10 time each...) with different orders, different methods (ex: leaving space free for the other system). Nothing work at all.
Then I make the 2 partitions with gparted, in this case Windows & OS X finaly accept their partitions...

step 2 : install a bootloader
So I manage after 24h to install both OS. But they are in GPT/UEFI mode & trying installing Chameleon/Chimera did nothing. System always boot to Windows... Why... I do some search and understand how EFI works...

I try several & several things like EasyBCD, Clover, etc. Many Clover install settings....

step 3 : boot on Clover bootloader (in UEFI mode)
I finaly manage to boot Clover by modifiying BCD under windows command (bcdedit or something like that) in order CLOVERX64.efi was launch instead of Windows Boot Manager boot file...

step 4 : boot on Mavericks with Clover bootloader.... FAILED
But impossible to boot on OS X despite it boot fine from OS X installer USB Key (having Chameleon).

I have "appleacpiplatformexpert start failed" & "panic [...] unable to find driver for this plateform: \"ACPI\"."\n".@SourceCache/xnu/xnu-2422.1.72/iokit/Kernel/IOPlateformExpert.cpp:1541"

I reinstall a clean Mavericks and don't install anything with Multibeast (don't lauch it).
Mavericks boot fine with Unibeast Install USB Key.
but still the same Kernel Panic using Clover...

I did several search on the net & find nothing revelant except some messages of "Going Bald" in this topic (starting at first message of page 3).

Folowing kduvernay message I try Clover r2165 but same problems.

Then all works fine with Mavericks but it seems very difficult to have dual boot on this MB because of UEFI.

Here are the Multibeast options I use (tested with Clover but always the same KP) :
- DSDT Free
- Audio : ALC1150 without DSDT
- Network : Intel
- Disk : Trim Enabled.
I try installing Fake SMC, NullCPU but it doesn't resolve my Clover problem.
Then I thing I will remove OS X and use only Windows on this PC.
I mainly want one of the 2 PC with OS X.


I notice a strange problem on both build :
When I boot to Windows I often have Keyboard & Mouse or system freeze, don't know if system is freezed or if only these USB device have problems. Unplugged/plugged it don't resolve the problem, I must reboot, wait, disconnect power 15s, start. It seems this problem come more frequently after a quick reboot from OS X but sometime I wait 10s and have this problem. I don't have install all windows drivers & update the maybe it is the cause.

where did you get the minihack bios for the Zotac Z87? i only found it for the Z77...