Official CustoMac Mini 2011 Guide and Notes (in progress)

[amoretam]

Hi there people, first time builder here.
I have been trying to read this long thread so I can get the information to choose the hardware I need for a i5 customac mini.

I have not been able to find successful builds from these days and the ones I find contain pieces that are out of stock..

I have read the official Customac Mini 2011 guide but non of those mobo's are available anymore, and if they are available it is hard to decide cause I can't seem to find someone who was totally successful with it, (just partially)

What would be the easiest way for me to decide which hardware to buy from a previously successful build now in june 2012?

sorry if my question is a little dumb, but i am just getting crazy with so much info

THANKS

my rig works great. see my sig for details

hey thanks man, I finally opted for the Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3,

can you tell me what your solution for wireless...? (if using it)

thanks

 

[the_WB]

Is the GA-H61N-USB3 limited to 3.0 GB/S SSD hard drives as I've read? If so, is there a good ssd anyone is using with this build that you would recommend on a budget. 60 GB would suffice, 120 GB for $100 or less preferable. Thanks for any info provided...

I got the Crucial 128GB M4 SSD for $110 on sale at Amazon for this build. I think it goes on sale at Amazon and elsewhere pretty regularly.

I guess I don't understand SSD's.. So a 6 GB/Sec SSD is backwards compatible so to speak with a 3 GB/Sec SATA port? If so, couldn't I get any SSD but with slower Read/Write performance? Thanks...

Yes, the H61N-USB3 has two 3 Gbps SATA ports (three including the eSATA port on the back) and no 6 Gbps ports at all.

As far as I know, all SATA drives are backwards compatible with all SATA ports, but the speed of the connection will be the top speed of the slower device. This means 6 Gbps is possible only when a 6 Gbps drive is connected to a 6 Gbps port. If either the drive or the port has a top speed of 3 Gbps, then the connection will be only 3 Gbps.

Since the H61N motherboard doesn't have 6 Gbps ports, you could save a little money by buying an older 3 Gbps SSD. On the other hand, if you think you might upgrade the motherboard later and will want to reuse the SSD with it, consider a 6 Gbps SSD. It would be fast (certainly faster than a HDD) with the H61N and then even faster with the new motherboard.

I made a similar decision for my RAM. Sandy Bridge is limited to 1333 MHz DDR3, but Ivy Bridge can do 1600 MHz. I decided to spend a few dollars more for 1600 MHz DDR3, because when I upgrade to Ivy Bridge CPU and motherboard, I will be able to keep the RAM and enjoy it at 1600 MHz instead of remaining hamstrung at 1333 MHz. (All DDR3 RAM sticks have timing information in the SPD that allow it to run at slower speeds, for example a 1600 MHz stick can run at 1333 MHz and probably 1066 MHz if needed.)

 

[heddhunter]

As far as I know, all SATA drives are backwards compatible with all SATA ports, but the speed of the connection will be the top speed of the slower device. This means 6 Gbps is possible only when a 6 Gbps drive is connected to a 6 Gbps port. If either the drive or the port has a top speed of 3 Gbps, then the connection will be only 3 Gbps.

This is true. I have OCZ Vertex 3 SSDs in my Macbook and my Hackintosh. My macbook is an older one which only has 3Gbps SATA. Top speed as measured by Disk Speed Test is around 200-250MB/sec. In my hackintosh, I have 6Gbps SATA and the same model OCZ drive reads 400+MB/sec.

 

[yoyo58]

hey thanks man, I finally opted for the Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3,

can you tell me what your solution for wireless...? (if using it)

thanks

you're welcome

this is the recommended bluetooth adapter. you can find it much cheaper than what amazon is currently offering it for.

i still have all wired connections, but i'm considering some wireless peripherals. if so, this is what i'll buy.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E7 ... cx86com-20

 

[SamAxe]

Might I add that recently the price of SSDs has dropped significantly. As a budget conscious chap myself, SSDs are starting to look feasible for me.

 

[jamirou]

Hello!

I updated Lion to 10.7.4 and when i was on the roll i updated H67N-USB-B3 mobo's bios to F9 and installed new DSDT. Im getting almost 10.000 points on geekbench. Cinebench's result also got better.

I have i5 2500K, 8GB 1600MHZ ram and radeon 6850.

NICE!

 

[jfuoco]

I'm having the strangest problem. I updated to 10.7.4, and for the first time started seeing artifacts. Nothing crazy, but definitely noticeable.

Now I am getting no video output to my TV (via HDMI). The strangest part about it is that if I connect the hack (via HDMI) to a different external monitor, I get picture like normal.

I checked the HDMI port on my TV with an xbox 360 and it is working fine.

Any ideas?

 

[nipez]

I built the same system specified in the CustoMac Mini 2011 - except I ended up getting the alternative board, GA-H61N-USB3, and also a i3 2120 processor. Which I found out had HD2000 video. I removed all the files here: /Volumes/Lion/System/Extensions/AppleIntelHD*

and got it to boot just fine with 10.7.4 Lion.

DVI video works fine - anyone know if you can use this with a 2010 27" iMac as an external display via an HDMI to Mini DisplayPort cable?

 

[mikerf12]

I just recently updated to 10.7.4. Everything is working great with the exception of sleep. The display goes to sleep but the comp never does. If I try to manually sleep it, I get stuck trying turn the computer back on. I have followed the guide and the troubleshooting post. I have verified all bios settings are correct. I have the H67N motherboard with F9 bios and DSDT installed. I still have original unibeast thumbdrive with 10.7.2 lion on it. Im thinking the best option for me would be to just to re-install? If so is there a way to slipstream the 10.7.4 update to the flash drive? or should I just install 10.7.2 and update from there. Not re-installing would be prefered if it is even an option at this point.

Just for reference sleep worked fine on 10.7.2 but not since.

 

[z0dac]

===============
              EDIT

I did a fresh install, same method described below, and it worked perfectly running bios F7 with F7 DSDT.
I've done some stress tests and no KP's yet! This little $300 computer is handling Lion better than my MacBook

===============

Hi all, first off here's my build and some installation info:

Build-
Intel Core i3-2105
Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3
CORSAIR 8GB DDR3
2TB hdd, partitioned 30GB of space for Lion
Monitor Connected via HDMI

Bios settings-
version: F7 / F8
graphics: 384
SATA: AHCI
HPET: 64 bit mode

Installation-
10.7.4 direct installation via unibeast thumb drive method, App Store version.
-v GraphicsEnabler=No

So, I installed the F8 bios at first, installed Lion, and the F8 DSDT and could only get it working with GraphicsEnabler=No,
so I went back and installed the F7 bios, then the F7 DSDT, I was able to start without GraphicsEnabler=No, but I got a kernel panic at some point, so I decided to try for F8 again. Same issue, couldn't get it to work without GraphicsEnabler=No, so I again went back to F7, and now I can only get in with GraphicsEnabler=No.

Any ideas why this might be? Am I able to downgrade the bios, or is this my problem?
Does anyone have a possible solution for me? On a side note, I didn't reinstall Lion after bios changes, I simply re-ran multibeast with the correct DSDT.

This isn't my first build, I've got another that I've been running as my main computer for years without issues, so this is sort of frustrating, I've been working on it for the past 4 nights.

Thanks for any help!

Hi tinos,

since I had the same issue before - I think I can help you.
The problem is, that you use the HDMI port for the installation. That doesn't work. If you use the DVI port it will work without GraphicsEnabler=no.

To get the HDMI port working without GraphicsEnabler it is necessary to use the correct DSDT AND - and that is important - set the System Definition to "Mac Mini" in MultiBeast. After that, it will boot properly even with HDMI and without GraphicsEnabler=no.

If you don't have a DVI cable or DVI capable monitor, just use GraphicsEnabler=no to set everything up with MultiBeast. Most people probably use the DVI port and therefore never experience this problem.

Hope this helps...

Somethign else:
I never got sleep mode working on my H61N-USB3 CustoMac mini either. Everything else works properly. I built a second system for a friend a few days ago - same problem with sleep mode.

Greets
z0dac