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Please give input on my build meant for pro audio usage

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gbevin

gbevin

Joined
Feb 26, 2011
Messages
27
Motherboard
Asus Maximus VI Extreme
CPU
Intel Core i7 3.5GHz
Graphics
GeForce GTX 780
Mac
  1. iMac
  2. MacBook Pro
  3. Mac mini
  4. Mac Pro
Classic Mac
  1. 0
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
  2. iOS
Hi everyone,

This is the first time I'm attempting to build a hackintosh. The main reason being that I want a rack-mount Mac with high CPU and RAM speed and no noise. I don't need powerful graphics, but do require FW800 and preferably optical audio out. This will be used for live music performance and studio use. Maybe important to note is that I'm not especially trying to save money, I essentially want a headless rack-mounted top-line iMac.

I've based much of my build on the following case since it seems perfect for mounting into my mobile rack:
X-Case RM 204 Short

I already searched a few days on these forums and around to web for Hackintosh compatibility, but I would appreciate it if some of you could review it.


Thanks for the help!

Geert

Update: I had to replace the fans inside the X-Case with silent ones, they claim that theirs are silent but that's far from the truth. I got
 
While it seems possible to get the Asus Rampage III Gene on-board Intel Gigabit LAN and SupremeFX X-Fi (with VoodooHDA) to work, I'm wondering if I shouldn't opt for a better supported system that might be more stable.

Thinking of replace the mobo, CPU and RAM by this:


Seems that the Gigabyte on-board LAN and audio is fully supported, as well as the FW400 port.

Any thoughts?
 
You can't go wrong with Gigabyte motherboards, that's for sure.
What's the reasoning from going from the 1136 chipset to the 1156?

The 1156 chipset has reached the end of it's life, being replaced by the current 1155 chipset series. The 1136 has a couple of advantages being that the motherboard can support more ram, should you choose to add it later. I hear this is a good thing for DAW's etc...

Also, the 1136 is set to be replaced by 2011 later in the year so it might be possible to pick up some cheap(ish) 6 core cpu's for 1366 later on.

You can grab quite cheap compatible (Texas Instruments) Firewire cards so that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

If pro audio is your plan you're not going to cut it with onboard audio (imho). You'll need a firewire based interface of some description. Again if you're willing to wait, brands like Apogee and Avid are soon to be releasing 'Thunderbolt' based interfaces so maybe the price on current firewire based ones will fall.

Depends on how long / if you're willing to wait I spose.
 
Thanks a lot for the input, I already have a collection of pro FireWire audio interfaces, hence the FireWire card :)

The reasoning for going to the Gigabyte 1156 instead is to make sure that everything is supported and working well as a Hackintosh. Stability is probably more important than speed for me. Can't have things crash when I'm on stage. When I read the forum I see some people struggling with the Asus Rampage III and I wonder if it's maybe too much of a risk to take.

Having on-board FireWire that works Gigabyte is also a nice advantage. You're right about the on-board audio, still having digital audio out has sometimes been a workable work-around when I had to use several audio applications on the same computer, but routed elsewhere.

Thanks!
 
Any more thoughts?
 
I am not sure if there is already a dsdt file for the asus rampage gene iii.
but here is mine.

my hackintosh runs pretty stable.

greetinx
 

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  • dsdt.aml
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z0lu said:
I am not sure if there is already a dsdt file for the asus rampage gene iii.
but here is mine.

my hackintosh runs pretty stable.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the input.

I have some questions if you don't mine:

  • Is on-board Firewire and audio working?[/*:m:2cum4xp5]
  • Is sleep working?[/*:m:2cum4xp5]

When you say 'pretty' stable, does that mean that you do get weird crashes at times?

Thanks!
 
gbevin said:
z0lu said:
I am not sure if there is already a dsdt file for the asus rampage gene iii.
but here is mine.

my hackintosh runs pretty stable.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the input.

I have some questions if you don't mine:

  • Is on-board Firewire and audio working?[/*:m:20fgvfu6]
  • Is sleep working?[/*:m:20fgvfu6]

When you say 'pretty' stable, does that mean that you do get weird crashes at times?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

onboard firewire is recognized, and shown in the system profiler, but when I attach my Isight firewire cam the system freezes.

Interesting, after posting all the errors, now I can add the cam and fiwi harddrives without any problems! - tried multiple times!

audio is not shown in the system profiler - but works!!!

sleep and resume works, but restart and shutdown doesn´t ;)

restart and shutdown are working now with "openhaltrestart.kext"

no "weird crashes" during normal usage.
I use vmware - and the onboard nic supports the promiscuous mode

Still searching for the last "issues" to solve, to get the perfect machine.
also "strange": the hackintosh only boots proper with the system definition of the MacPro 3,1 - not 4,1 and not 5,1 - any ideas why?
 
z0lu, what BIOS version is your DSDT from?

To the OP...I have a RIIIG board in my hack and it is running smoothly once I got everything figured out (my dvd drive was the issue)...figuring everything out took me a couple of days, but I am really happy with my system now, and I LOVE the six DIMM slots and the fact that I'll be able to snag a current six core chip for cheap when the new ones come out...

If you need any pointers or things, shoot me a pm.
 
Thanks for the help both of you! I think I'll be going for the Rampage III after all then :)

Putting in the order now!
 
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