Help me understand... (898/892, BIOS flash, HDMI, etc)

[owh55]

Hi, guys. I've been doing a LOT of reading up before posting here, because I don't want to get flamed for asking questions that have been answered a hundred times. However, I still don't quite get a few things.

I'm contrasting a Gigabyte Z77 board (probably the UD5H) against a similar ASUS board (possibly Sabertooth, possibly a P8). From what I see, you have to flash a modded BIOS to the mobo for sleep/hibernation etc.

1) Can I install and run OSX without the modded BIOS if I'm willing to lose the ability to sleep until I do? I would like to make sure that I successfully tweak everything else to run before I go flashing funny ROMs onto my mobo. That might sound a little anxious on my part, but I don't have the budget to easily replace hardware.

2) How do most people get sound? In Windows and Linux, I've been using HDMI audio out from my graphics card (GTX 460/Fermi). From the discussion about the ALC898 vs 892 and the need for some kind of DSDT(?) hack to make 892 work, it sounds like most people are just using the stereo green line-out? How much work does it take to get HDMI audio out of a PCIe GPU? If I do that work, does 892/898 matter? I usually have onboard sound disabled on my system.

TIA.

 

[Going Bald]

Hi, guys. I've been doing a LOT of reading up before posting here, because I don't want to get flamed for asking questions that have been answered a hundred times. However, I still don't quite get a few things.

I'm contrasting a Gigabyte Z77 board (probably the UD5H) against a similar ASUS board (possibly Sabertooth, possibly a P8). From what I see, you have to flash a modded BIOS to the mobo for sleep/hibernation etc.

1) Can I install and run OSX without the modded BIOS if I'm willing to lose the ability to sleep until I do? I would like to make sure that I successfully tweak everything else to run before I go flashing funny ROMs onto my mobo. That might sound a little anxious on my part, but I don't have the budget to easily replace hardware.

2) How do most people get sound? In Windows and Linux, I've been using HDMI audio out from my graphics card (GTX 460/Fermi). From the discussion about the ALC898 vs 892 and the need for some kind of DSDT(?) hack to make 892 work, it sounds like most people are just using the stereo green line-out? How much work does it take to get HDMI audio out of a PCIe GPU? If I do that work, does 892/898 matter? I usually have onboard sound disabled on my system.

TIA.

1. Considering this - http://www.tonymacx86.com/lion-desk...-gigabytes-z77-h77-b75-motherboards-uefi.html , whether you get a Gigabyte board, an ASUS or an MSI or Asrock, you still need to flash the BIOS. So don't let that deter you from a non-Gigabyte board. But, yes, if you get a non-GA board, you can select the NullCPUPM option in MultiBeast or the patched AppleIntelCPUPowermanagement.kext option in MB. Either way works, but you need to remember to wait to update OS X until a new AICPUPM has been patched and replace the updated one with the updated patched one - if that makes sense to you.

2. I use the S/PDIF optical out, but most use the audio ports on the back plate. If you want to use HDMI audio, it is not that hard to do. There are several excellent guides by toleda that will lead you thru it step by step. See http://www.tonymacx86.com/hdmi-audio/

 

[sonicseamus]

1. Yes. GB is right that you'll probably have to flash (to a newer BIOS version) when you get a Gigabyte board, but you are also correct in that the BIOS that needs to be flashed onto an ASUS board is a non-stock one. However, flashing the BIOS is a pretty safe procedure these days, so I wouldn't get to worried about it.

2. You should be able to get sound from the back ports with a kext from MultiBeast, but HDMI audio will take a little bit more work. You will have to extract a DSDT and apply edits for your graphics card. Toleda lays this procedure out very clearly in the Audio sub-forum, and you should have no problem following his guides. I have done HDMI audio edits myself, and I can tell you that it's a painless procedure. Also, if you run into any hiccups, toleda will respond to your questions in the audio and HDMI audio forums and guide you to a fix.

If your interested in what a DSDT is, it's just a file in your BIOS that the OS references to interact with the hardware. On a hackintosh, one can extract this DSDT and customize it (a "user DSDT") to get certain parts of their system (such as audio) working better.

 

[owh55]

Thanks.

What it really comes down to is that reading the HDMI audio guides causes my head to start swimming a little bit. Does the DSDT involved have to be for my graphics card or my mobo? My card is a Galaxy GTX460 which was listed as being very compatible in the wiki.

I'm used to updating stock firmwares on mobos, and have run rooted Android phones for the past couple of years, so I'm not too timid to flash. I just don't want to brick a $200-250 mobo only days into owning it.

 

[Going Bald]

I just don't want to brick a $200-250 mobo only days into owning it.

That's what is nice about the new mainboards - Dual BIOS. Screw one up? Switch to the other one. MSI boards even have a hardware switch.

 

[samisnake]

the thing you have to remember is that the modded bioses arent that modified at all.
its not as though they are some Frankenstein creation, with no resemblance to stock.

it can seem daunting, but in reality, what you are doing is flashing a bios with a slight fix. there was a time when it was more scary; reading a small 'guide' and doing it yourself with a hex editor and crossing your fingers when it was flashing that you hadnt made a mistake, but these days its not like that.
there are full guides on doing it yourself, or the 'bios repo' with prepatched bioses available for download.

ask most people who have flashed a modded bios whether the experience was as worrying as they thought it was going to be, and i doubt youll find many horror stories, if any.

any gigabyte/asus/msi board you go for will be fine.