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neilhart's Q4 - a Z170 project for OS X

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neilhart's Q4 - a Z170 mini-ITX project for OS X

I purchased an Intel Skylake i5-6500 CPU as I needed to be working on this system. The i7-6700T is on order and will arrive sometime…

So using the lead that ammulder has provided: see post # 2 http://www.tonymacx86.com/desktop-compatibility/176407-testing-thread-skylake-platform-os-x.html

I have the ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming up and running.

Window 10 Enterprise Eval - Using Win 10 I am able to confirm that all of the major functions of the system are functional. I have Win 10 installed on a small SSD which I can move into the system with ease when I need/want.

OS X - I have El Capitan 10.11.1 installed on two partitions of a Samsung SM951 AHCI m.2 card and boot UEFI mode from the /EFI partition using Clover v 3292.

HD530-7MB.jpg


While I am booting and running OS X El Capitan, it is far from a useable system.

I have a USB to PS2 adapter attached for a keyboard. I do not have a PS2 mouse solution.

So to have control of the system, I am using screen sharing. I am doing this with an Intel Pro 1000 quad port Ethernet card installed in the one PCIe slot. This works fairly well and is repeatable.

The means that I am using the on board Intel HD Graphics 530, in the non-accelerated mode, as I have not found a way to run accelerated.

There are many issues - sound almost works, Quick time and VLC video do not work however videos over Chrome and/or Safari do play but with out sound. The system hangs at boot if I use a FakeSMC that has the Hardware Monitor sensors included.

Using the “KILL A WATT” meter, the system idles at 31 watts and under Prime95 torture test runs at 83 watts. Again this is with the i5-6500 CPU.

Anyway I now have two bootable partitions, so I can continue to experiment with less risk of locking myself out.



Good modding,
neil

Good to hear these updates. Meanwhile we have more kexts to work with, or another update, I keep gaming csgo and crysis 3. :D keep up neil!
 
neilhart's Q4 - a Z170 mini-ITX project for OS X

burpethead: You have an ASRock mobo, and it looks like you could pop in the Broadcom card natively? I just wanted to confirm this was true. If not, what adapter would I need to accomplish this?

neilhart: is it possible to swap out the network card for another?
 
neilhart's Q4 - a Z170 mini-ITX project for OS X

The i7-6700T arrived.

CPU-i7-6700T.jpg


In Win 10 running Intel Power Gadget the idle is 800 MHz jumping up to 2800 MHz and under some loads it Turbos to 3400 MHz, all at low power consumption.

I am still un-happy with El Capitan, at least my cobbled installation. Plenty of opportunity to get things running correctly…

Good modding,
neil
 
neilhart's Q4 - a Z170 mini-ITX project for OS X

Hi fminus,

Sorry for not posting that information earlier.

The WiFi card I used was a Broadcom BCM94331CD from eBay in USA for $15.

The adapter I used was "Mini PCI-E Adapter for BCM94360CD/BCM94331CD Upgrade to Version 3.0" for $10 on eBay from China. Took 3.5 weeks to arrive to USA... long wait. I am holding the adapter in the attached picture next to the hanging Broadcom card.

If you have the budget you can get the card + a much nicer adapter as a package from osxwifi:
http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadc...ackintosh-laptop-with-full-size-minipcie-card

Yes you do need an adapter to Mini PCI-Express for the Broadcom card. It is a large adapter and thus why vertical PCI-Express is needed - it is a full-size adapter, but most normal horizontal Mini PCI-Express slots only fit a half size card. A vertical slot allows us the room for the adapter. You can see the adapter pictured in my original post back on page 1.

The adapter is the "Mini PCI-E Adapter for BCM94360CD/BCM94331CD Upgrade to Version 3.0" from eBay in China for $10. You specifically need the version 3.0 adapter card because it added support for USB-Bluetooth on the adapter board which is what the Broadcom card uses for Bluetooth. Also, your motherboard's Mini-PCI Express slot needs to support USB-Bluetooth (older ones don't). So basically planet's need to align for the Blueooth to work plug-and-play. If your motherboard does not support Mini-PCI Express USB-Blueooth, you will need to use an extra internal USB cable provided with the card. You additionally may need another USB adapter for that cable depending on your internal hookup situation. Luckily, my ASRock board supports Mini PCI-Express USB-Bluetooth, so I do not need to use the extra cable for Bluetooth - and Broadcom card is plug-and-play via adapter.

When I researched a few months ago there were no M.2 WiFi cards that were native. I read someone got one working with kext hacks. Perhaps that will change soon anyway.

OK Thanks!

- Marcus
 

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neilhart's Q4 - a Z170 project for OS X

A catch-up post - What has been going on?

I was not happy with the progress (or lack of progress) that I was having with the ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming Mini-ITX motherboard.

See this thread (post # 130 on page 13 and post # 193 on page 20 ) for some flavor and detail.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/desktop-compatibility/176407-testing-thread-skylake-platform-os-x.html

So I took the scale and measured the MakerBeam frame work that I have made up for he Mini-ITX to see if I could fit the Gigabyte Z170-HD3 (ATX form factor) into it. Yes… and here it is.

m1.jpg

And here with an added mounting rail on the right side.
m2.jpg

The motherboard just fits without much space to spare. The problem then is to re-fit the PSU and drive carrier to allow for a double width GPU and a Ethernet card.
m3.jpg


m4.jpg

This is my solution. I had to revert to a home made up low profile CPU cooler.
m5.jpg


m6.jpg


m7.jpg

The space between the fan frame on the CPU cooler and the bottom of the PSU is about 4mm.
m8.jpg

It will be interesting to see how the cooling works later as the side panels are made up and placed.

I will post photos the system with cables in place soon.

In summary, I and running OS X 10.11.1 with a Samsung SM951 250GB system drive and a 1 TB data and backup drive. There are a goodly number Skylake/OS X issues but the basic operation is there and stable.

Also now there is the problem with the name of this thread..! I made an edit to the thread title and removed the "Min-ITX".

Good modding,
neil
 
A minor update:

I have modded the PSU cables to length as seen here with the system running.

F1.jpg


F2.jpg


F3.jpg


Thinking about a front panel. There are 4 USB3.0 ports and 4 USB2.0 ports that could be brought out to a front panel (or top panel).

More to follow.

Good modding,
neil
 
Final update as I see this case as being done.

The project should be viewed as a “MakerBeam Case Project”. The MakerBeam parts that I used are from a “x000FX303 New - MakerBeam Regular Starter Kit Black anodized including beams, brackets, nuts and bolts”, sourced from Amazon.

I did purchase the corner pieces separately, also from Amazon.

I paneled the top, bottom and left side in eighth inch Black ABS. For the front, right side and rear, I used eighth inch clear polycarbonate. These panels I purchased from Tap Plastics in the SF Bay Area where they cut the pieces to my specs. The cost of the plastic was about twenty-five USD.

A1.jpg


A2.jpg


A3.jpg


A4.jpg


The nearly final system as it stands today.

B1.jpg


B2.jpg


B3.jpg


B4.jpg


Always looking for something unique, I cast about for a “power on” switch and could not locate the touch sensor that I had left over from last year, but did come up with some small momentary mechanical switches.

This is a new concept (at least for me), a push from the front for power on and a push from the rear for reset. The push button is a long light pipe for both power (blue LED) and hard drive activity (white LED) into the same light pipe. The result is a blue power light that flickers bright white when there is HDD activity.

The actuator light pipe only moves about a 1/16” but has good tactile feed back.

Comments welcome.

Good modding,
neil
 
Another beautiful job! Sorry to read the problems you were having with the ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming Mini-ITX motherboard. Does it remain problematical or are there workarounds, now? I am trying to build a mini pc, getting bits together to build the case, and had hoped to use ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming motherboard. Is there a more compatible mini-ITX board, do you know? That one seemed to tick most of the checkboxes for me, for a gaming build at least!
 
Another beautiful job! Sorry to read the problems you were having with the ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming Mini-ITX motherboard. Does it remain problematical or are there workarounds, now? I am trying to build a mini pc, getting bits together to build the case, and had hoped to use ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming motherboard. Is there a more compatible mini-ITX board, do you know? That one seemed to tick most of the checkboxes for me, for a gaming build at least!

I have now sorted out the Asus Z170I Pro Gaming motherboard and have it dual booting OS X 10.11.2 and Windows 10. This is with a MSI GTX 760 ITX GPU. Also booting from a Samsung SM951 AHCI 256 GB (M.2 socket is on the back side of the motherboard). The WiFi/BT module is problematic and I will probably spend additional $$ at some point to purchase a compatible unit.

I am building a small custom case for this system and will share photos when I complete the project.

Good modding,
neil
 
That's good to hear, thanks. It appears to have "SupremeFX 8-Channel Audio" with Realtek ALC1150, were you able to get sound working natively?

I love small builds, very much look forward to seeing what you come up with! :)
 
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