Official CustoMac Mini 2011 Guide and Notes (in progress)

[jasonxoc]

Fixed line over video graphics artifacts on build

I have the exact build in this post with 2 hdmi outputs running 10.7.3.

I had green lines over video and no hdmi audio.

I was able to fix all the problems I had... It may or may not work for you.

First:
I realized that I had HDAEnablers from multi beast in there.

open terminal and do
sudo dmesg |grep HDA
or
ls -la /System/Library/Extensions/HDA*

If you see HDAEnabler in there, you've got enablers somewhere.

sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/HDAEnabler*

Second:
I pulled the dsdt and AppleHDA.kext from Step 6 on this page:
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/09/ ... -3000.html

I was unable to get the tuneup kext working with hdmi audio but this fixed all my problems. It may or may not work for you.

 

[toleda]

Now those final pieces of the puzzle are priceless!

Two clarifications:
1. The XFX 6870 is not the Sapphire 6870 I mentioned. HDMI audio works OOB with the Sapphire. The XFX BIOS is different and requires framebuffer edits for HDMI audio.
2. My EVGA Superclocked 570 HD is shorter than my Sapphire HD 6870 Vapor-X OC.

You methodology is excellent; beware of simple assumptions that compromise the result.

 

[toleda]

Re: Fixed line over video graphics artifacts on build

I was unable to get the tuneup kext working with hdmi audio but this fixed all my problems. It may or may not work for you.

Your suggestion to identify and delete enablers is valuable. Though appropriate at the time, your solution for HD3000 HDMI audio is obsolete and no longer recommended.

For the CustoMac Mini, the dsdt and AppleHDA.kext from http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?p=209915#p209915 is the recommended solution.

Reply if you have problems with this solution.

 

[jwk]

Now those final pieces of the puzzle are priceless!

Two clarifications:
1. The XFX 6870 is not the Sapphire 6870 I mentioned. HDMI audio works OOB with the Sapphire. The XFX BIOS is different and requires framebuffer edits for HDMI audio.
2. My EVGA Superclocked 570 HD is shorter than my Sapphire HD 6870 Vapor-X OC.

You methodology is excellent; beware of simple assumptions that compromise the result.

You are right... I assumed an XFX board stood a good chance of using the same reference BIOS that a Sapphire board- mistake 1. XFX BIOS requires framebuffer edits? How difficult?

Mistake 2 was getting dimensions from Amazon- and I should know better than that... they were probably dimensions for the retail box or maybe just completely wrong.

Okay, I checked your Sapphire Vapor-X HD 6870 board, doesn't seem to be commonly available (anymore?)- the dimensions would have probably fit. How about some alternatives, like:

Sapphire HD6850 1GB #100315L - not a Vapor-X- has 1x HDMI, 2x DVI, 1x DP (Passmark GPU 2753) - Fewer connectors than Vapor-X, similar dimensions, 500w PSU, 1x 6 Pin connector- $150 Amazon

Sapphire Vapor-X HD6850 1GB GDDR - not OC, not 6870, 2x Mini DP, 2x DVI, 1x HDMI
500w PSU, 1x 6 Pin connector- $170 NewEgg

or How About:

EVGA GTX 560 (not Ti) 01G-P3-1460-KR - 2x DVI, 1x Mini HDMI (Passmark GPU 2722) 450w PSU 24A 12v rail, 2x 6 Pin connectors- $184 Amazon

All of the above for application with the CustoMac Mini for the sake of this discussion, so any issues?

and if I were buy a GTX 570 that was mentioned before for my workstation:

EVGA GTX 570 (not Ti) 012-P3-1571-K3 - 550 W PSU 38A +12v rail, 2x 6 Pin connectors

Any problems with these, or do you have alternate manufacturer/ model suggestions? Is there going to be a difference between the BIOS for superclocked vs non-superclocked versions?

Thank you for all the time you've spent on this...

 

[toleda]

You are right... I assumed an XFX board stood a good chance of using the same reference BIOS that a Sapphire board- mistake 1. XFX BIOS requires framebuffer edits? How difficult?

You did it again, the 6850 is different than the 6870. The Sapphire 6870 works OOB (w/HDMI audio) and the 6850 does not. The available Sapphire 6870 looks like a great value at $170.

This link describes the Ati6000Controller edits http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=162&t=32037.

The 560 is a great value at $150 but not at $180 which I see at the moment. Your best choice from a value point of view at this time is the 6870.

There is no difference in the BIOS for OC/SC in the cases where the OC/SC version is the same price as the stock clock, go for the OC/SC.

As far as manufactures go, I have good performance and support from EVGA and Sapphire, no success with Powercolor or Zotac, limited success with XFX and no experience with Gigabyte or Asus.

 

[jwk]

You are right... I assumed an XFX board stood a good chance of using the same reference BIOS that a Sapphire board- mistake 1. XFX BIOS requires framebuffer edits? How difficult?

You did it again, the 6850 is different than the 6870. The Sapphire 6870 works OOB (w/HDMI audio) and the 6850 does not. The available Sapphire 6870 looks like a great value at $170.

This link describes the Ati6000Controller edits http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=162&t=32037.

Sorry... ...but this time I had help...

Regarding performance, consider the information below. The lowest performance solution is the HD3000. Also note the GT 520 offers almost no performance advantage and probably should be ignored. Both the GT 430 (or the new GT 440) and the HD 5570 offer double the performance of HD3000 and are recommended for the CustoMac Mini.

HD 6xxx cards (except HD 6850/6870) should be avoided as they require significant effort to get working in Lion. Regarding VGA, I have no experience and cannot offer any conclusions.

The 560 is a great value at $150 but not at $180 which I see at the moment. Your best choice from a value point of view at this time is the 6870.

Point well taken... but there are always 2 things to consider... value... and worth. Should it turn out to be worth the money to me to get the GTX 560, what would the installation involve?

There is no difference in the BIOS for OC/SC in the cases where the OC/SC version is the same price as the stock clock, go for the OC/SC.

As far as manufactures go, I have good performance and support from EVGA and Sapphire, no success with Powercolor or Zotac, limited success with XFX and no experience with Gigabyte or Asus.

This is all excellent information that I shall keep for reference...

One other question I've been meaning to ask you but forgot... I've seen a few Sapphire HD 5570's around that have a DVI connector, a VGA connector, and a Display Port connector instead of an HDMI connector... do you know if they can these be used interchangeably with the version that has an HDMI connector in a CustoMac mini without any kext changes?

Once again, my highest regards...

 

[toleda]

Point well taken... but there are always 2 things to consider... value... and worth. Should it turn out to be worth the money to me to get the GTX 560, what would the installation involve?

One other question I've been meaning to ask you but forgot... I've seen a few Sapphire HD 5570's around that have a DVI connector, a VGA connector, and a Display Port connector instead of an HDMI connector... do you know if they can these be used interchangeably with the version that has an HDMI connector in a CustoMac mini without any kext changes?

For the 560:
1. edit NVDAGF100Hal.kext - add 560 device_id
2. edit AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext - add 560 device_id
3. edit AppleHDA.kext/HDMI audio - add 560 HDMI device_ids (2)
Note: 1 and 2 and, perhaps 3, go away in the next major release.

For the 5570/DP, I've not looked at the bios for this card but expect the effort to be the same as with HDMI audio. The working frame buffer for HDMI won't work with DP; it is unlikely the kext for HDMI audio and DP audio would be the same. See attachment 9 http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=162&t=32037

 

[bc24]

i noticed that the new release of Multibeast includes boot flags "npci=0x3000" instead of "npci=0x2000". Is this a change that should be made in the org.chameleon.Boot.plist? what makes it better than 0x2000? I searched the forums for "npci=0x3000" and found numerous mentions that people were trying it to get their systems to work, but I didn't find a good explanation of what exactly this flag does.
Thanks!

 

[blob810]

i have installed it with the new multibeast. When reboot i get stuck with still waiting for root device. I Boot with the installation disk and install NullPowerCPUM with multibeast. That worked for me.

edit:
now i delete the kext nullpowercpumanagment, install multibeast again with the selection from the guide and it work for me. And i´m sure the system work smoother with the new bootloader

 

[sergey19687]

All the good times of the day!
After installing the DSDT-GA-H67N-USB3-B3-F7-EHCI-HDMI.aml lost in the sound settings HDMI output and not working headphone output, is only the green line-out, written information about the system- ID of the audio: 889.
I'm using the Intel Core i-3 2105 with the HD-3000 with the connection to the TV instead of monitor.
Perhaps the audio ID should be 389, but how?
Thanks in advance ...