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Help chosing MB manufacturer

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Mar 11, 2011
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Motherboard
GA-P55-UD5
CPU
i7 860
Graphics
Nvidia GTX 285
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
Classic Mac
  1. 0
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
We are planing our new Hack and are not quite sure, which mainboard to chose. We are are considering the Asus Maximus V Extreme or the new Gigabyte Z77X-UP7. An alternative would be the GA-Z77X-UP5 TH.

Our current hack is based on a GA-P55-UD5 with a Nvidia GTX 285. It is working fine, except for the sleep mode.

The new system should have:
- OS X 10.8, Mountion Lion
- Stable performance
- Speed step
- Sleep
- Power management
- Nvidia GTX 670 or 680

Here are a few questions we have concerning our hardware selection:

Which oft he two manufacturer (ASUS or Gigabyte) causes less problems in general?
With which do I need to patch less kernel extensions?
Which could cause less problems after a future update from apple? (drawing from past experience :p

I read, that Gigabyte no longer requires dsdt-files. What about Asus? Does Asus require dsdt-files and/or custom bios? If so, from where do I get these? How can I create them myself?

What about switching between the onboard and a dedicated GPU? Does this work in a hack system? Does it make sense? (Office apps = onboard / Aperture = dedicated GPU)

Thank you very much for your help. If you can offer us a further alternative than the two mainboard mentioned above, we would be very happy to consider them too.
 
Which oft he two manufacturer (ASUS or Gigabyte) causes less problems in general?
probably gigabyte, but neither will really cause any major problems

With which do I need to patch less kernel extensions?
both the same

Which could cause less problems after a future update from apple? (drawing from past experience :p
both the same

I read, that Gigabyte no longer requires dsdt-files. What about Asus?
only one asus z77 board i know of that needs a modification (p8z77-i deluxe) and thats for sleep/wake. afaik thats the only one, and the rest dont need any dsdt edits for normal fuctionality.

Does Asus require dsdt-files and/or custom bios? If so, from where do I get these? How can I create them myself?
needs modded bios so it doesnt kp on aicpupm.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/dsdt/43486-asus-1155-patched-bios-repository.html



there are a couple people with the formula, noone ive seen with the extreme.
technically will be pretty much the same deal as the rest of the asus lineup though

either board is high end 1155, so whichever you go for itll be nice.
just make sure your case can fit eatx
 
Move to the correct forum section. tonymacx86 forum index

Desktop Compatibility -> Buying Advice (forum sections)​


Desktop Compatibility == for existing systems

Buying Advice == for yet to be purchased system planning



----------------------------> Forum Rules
<--
 
I would go with the Gigabyte board. Gigabyte is used and recommended by people who put the software tools together for this site. I also would argue that 'patching the bios' is both risky and a lot of work the first time. A patched bios also voids the warranty.
 
I would go with the Gigabyte board. Gigabyte is used and recommended by people who put the software tools together for this site. I also would argue that 'patching the bios' is both risky and a lot of work the first time. A patched bios also voids the warranty.
I don't think so. if you can read, if you can plug in a USB drive, and if you can push a button, you can flash the bios on an Asus board. And it's just as easy to roll back if the board has to go in for warranty. There are plenty of good choices besides Gigabyte now that the UEFI bios has begun to matured, and no reason that a user has to marry a specific manufacturer in able to run OSX.
 
I don't think so. if you can read, if you can plug in a USB drive, and if you can push a button, you can flash the bios on an Asus board. And it's just as easy to roll back if the board has to go in for warranty. There are plenty of good choices besides Gigabyte now that the UEFI bios has begun to matured, and no reason that a user has to marry a specific manufacturer in able to run OSX.

For you and me and other geeks, flashing BIOS is probably relatively easy. But for others who did not even know what a BIOS is or have never gone down this route, it may be scary for them (a flash failure and then the board will have to be sent back).

There is a reason why (specific) Gigabyte boards are recommended here as they are more compatible and usually can work directly without the need to do these things. At least that is what I believe.
 
For you and me and other geeks, flashing BIOS is probably relatively easy. But for others who did not even know what a BIOS is or have never gone down this route, it may be scary for them (a flash failure and then the board will have to be sent back).

There is a reason why (specific) Gigabyte boards are recommended here as they are more compatible and usually can work directly without the need to do these things. At least that is what I believe.
You apparently don't understand the flashback feature on the Asus boards. The Gigabyte boards are no more compatible with OSX then other top manufacturers products. IMO, people have been drinking the "Koolaid" long enough, you'd think Apple secretly helped designed Gig. boards just for Hackers. When you read the post around here you find that we promote noob's to purchase parts they know nothing about, build a box with no experience or understanding of what they're doing, load an OS and go happily on their way. We give no consideration to them screwing up hardware while building, we don't suggest any method of testing the hardware prior to loading the OS, yet you're concerned about bricking a board with a simple bios flash. Asus and MSI are top tier manufacturers, and ASRock, Foxcomn, and others are offering some attractive budget friendly alternatives. Maybe it's time to broaden the scope around here.
 
You apparently don't understand the flashback feature on the Asus boards. The Gigabyte boards are no more compatible with OSX then other top manufacturers products. IMO, people have been drinking the "Koolaid" long enough, you'd think Apple secretly helped designed Gig. boards just for Hackers. When you read the post around here you find that we promote noob's to purchase parts they know nothing about, build a box with no experience or understanding of what they're doing, load an OS and go happily on their way. We give no consideration to them screwing up hardware while building, we don't suggest any method of testing the hardware prior to loading the OS, yet you're concerned about bricking a board with a simple bios flash. Asus and MSI are top tier manufacturers, and ASRock, Foxcomn, and others are offering some attractive budget friendly alternatives. Maybe it's time to broaden the scope around here.

What I understand about BIOS flashing is that there is a chance they may fail (more so when they are done in Windows), and after the failure in most cases the boards would have to be sent back to the supplier or distributor for repair. Are you saying that the BIOS flashing procedure on the Asus motherboards will never fail (if so that would be great)? I understand that on some new Asus motherboards a CPU apparently is not required for BIOS flashing. That is certainly more convenient but it does not say anything about the probability of failure.

Care to explain that "flashback" feature you mentioned?

If other motherboards are as compatible with Gigabyte motherboards, as you say, then I suggest you should ask Tony to expand the Buyer's Guide to include them. Personally I would stay with Gigabyte motherboards for hacktinosh purposes as I have never had a problem with them, and I would continue to recommend Gigabyte motherboards to others wishing to go the hacktinosh route.
 
Care to explain that "flashback" feature you mentioned?

Most ASUS boards have dual bios, where you can switch between them by hitting a button on the motherboard or on the back. They can also load a bios automatically and directly from a usb stick without any intervention, when it's plugged into a special usb port on the back (usually white I think). Presumably one or both of these features is what they are referring to.

If other motherboards are as compatible with Gigabyte motherboards, as you say, then I suggest you should ask Tony to expand the Buyer's Guide to include them. Personally I would stay with Gigabyte motherboards for hacktinosh purposes as I have never had a problem with them, and I would continue to recommend Gigabyte motherboards to others wishing to go the hacktinosh route.

I suspect it more a question of "We only have X amount of time and money" issue. Asus has a lot more motherboards for sale than Gigabyte does and even if you are talking about adding just the comparable motherboards, you are still talking about doubling the amount of money and time expended.

After all, they generally only recommend nVidia/AMD reference card based models for graphics cards, even though there is no functional difference between them and the vast majority of the "custom" graphics cards.
 
I suspect it more a question of "We only have X amount of time and money" issue.

Actually, it is more of a case that Gigabyte boards do not require a modded BIOS to have native power management, and now with the new UEFI BIOS, they do not even require a DSDT.
Ease of install with minimal effort for a "vanilla" installation.
 
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