- Joined
- Nov 23, 2011
- Messages
- 9
- Motherboard
- GA-B75M-D3P
- CPU
- Xeon E3 1230v2
- Graphics
- GeForce GTX 980 Ti
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
This is the third Hackintosh I've built so far. My target this time was to build a media player for the living room. As software I am using Plex Home Theater controlled only via the TV Remote over CEC. I selected the cheapest Intel CPU that brings a HD4600 with it… and that’s the i3-4330.
Part List:
The Fractal Design Define R4 is quite massive for a small HTPC. I selected it because I want to integrate my complete media library (currently 5x4 TB, which rules out a lot of MATX cases) later. It offers fan control for up to 3 fans (non-proprietary like in Corsair cases) and at lowest fan settings it is almost completely silent. There are two slots for a SSD behind the mainboard tray, that can only be used before you install the mainboard. You have to have a straight SATA Power connector because of the limited space.
I wouldn’t buy the PSU again, the cables are quite short and I had a hard time connecting the mainboard to the PSU.
With the components described above the system uses 21 Watts when playing videos on the big screen and about 15 Watts when idle.
BIOS Settings (F8 BIOS):
I prepared a USB-Stick with OSX Mavericks and UniBeast and created 2 Partitions on the SSD: 60 GB FAT32 for Windows (just in case) and 60 GB HFS+ for OSX.
Installation itself worked like a charm. After reboot, I installed the following drivers via MultiBeast:
For the NIC, I used Miezes great Kext from http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/287161-new-driver-for-realtek-rtl8111/ because of the higher throughput, less problems with sleep and WoL works OOB.
To enable HDMI Audio just follow the toledas great guide at https://github.com/toleda/audio_hdmi_8series. It’s mainly a SSDT you have to use and two patches for AppleHDA.kext and the AppleIntelFramebufferAzul.kext.
Afterwards I installed PLEX Home Theater from http://plex.tv and added it to my startup objects.
When I reboot the computer, it boots directly into Mavericks, log’s in my user and starts PLEX Home Theater. I made some adjustments to the libCEC settings in Plex:
When I power on the TV and switch the input to HDMI 2, I already see the PLEX Interface and can control it directly with the TV Remote.
Working: EVERYTHING
Not checked: USB 3, because I don’t have any USB 3 devices.
In the future I want to install all my media drives and run PLEX Media Server on the rig. The Intel Boxed Cooler is clearly audible when standing next to the computer. I will replace it by a Noctua cooler later.
Part List:
- CPU: Intel Core i3-4330
- Mainboard: GigaByte GA-B85M-D3H
- Graphics: IGFX HD4600
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB (2x4 GB)
- Storage: 120 GB Samsung 840 SSD
- Case: Fractal Design Define R4
- Power Supply: Corsair CX750M
- HDMI: Pulse-Eight USB-CEC Adapter
The Fractal Design Define R4 is quite massive for a small HTPC. I selected it because I want to integrate my complete media library (currently 5x4 TB, which rules out a lot of MATX cases) later. It offers fan control for up to 3 fans (non-proprietary like in Corsair cases) and at lowest fan settings it is almost completely silent. There are two slots for a SSD behind the mainboard tray, that can only be used before you install the mainboard. You have to have a straight SATA Power connector because of the limited space.
I wouldn’t buy the PSU again, the cables are quite short and I had a hard time connecting the mainboard to the PSU.
With the components described above the system uses 21 Watts when playing videos on the big screen and about 15 Watts when idle.
BIOS Settings (F8 BIOS):
- Load Optimized Defaults
- M.I.T. > Advanced Frequency Settings > Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.) > Enabled
- BIOS Features > Intel Virtualization Technology > Disabled
- Peripherals > Initial Display Support > IGFX
- Peripherals > XHCI Mode > Disabled (can be set to Auto after Installation)
- Peripherals > Intel Processor Graphics > 64M
- Peripherals > Intel Processor Graphics Memory Allocation > MAX
- Peripherals > XHCI Hand-off > Enabled
- Peripherals > SATA Configuration > SATA Mode Selection > AHCI
- Power Management > RC6(Render Standby> Enabled
I prepared a USB-Stick with OSX Mavericks and UniBeast and created 2 Partitions on the SSD: 60 GB FAT32 for Windows (just in case) and 60 GB HFS+ for OSX.
Installation itself worked like a charm. After reboot, I installed the following drivers via MultiBeast:
For the NIC, I used Miezes great Kext from http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/287161-new-driver-for-realtek-rtl8111/ because of the higher throughput, less problems with sleep and WoL works OOB.
To enable HDMI Audio just follow the toledas great guide at https://github.com/toleda/audio_hdmi_8series. It’s mainly a SSDT you have to use and two patches for AppleHDA.kext and the AppleIntelFramebufferAzul.kext.
Afterwards I installed PLEX Home Theater from http://plex.tv and added it to my startup objects.
When I reboot the computer, it boots directly into Mavericks, log’s in my user and starts PLEX Home Theater. I made some adjustments to the libCEC settings in Plex:
- ignore when the TV is off, because I don’t want the system to go to sleep at all
- don’t use the language settings of the TV
- HDMI Port 2, because it’s connected to HDMI Port 2 on my TV
When I power on the TV and switch the input to HDMI 2, I already see the PLEX Interface and can control it directly with the TV Remote.
Working: EVERYTHING
Not checked: USB 3, because I don’t have any USB 3 devices.
In the future I want to install all my media drives and run PLEX Media Server on the rig. The Intel Boxed Cooler is clearly audible when standing next to the computer. I will replace it by a Noctua cooler later.
