SDTrex First Build: Core-i5-3520k - GA-B75M-D3P - 32GB RAM

[sdtrex]

SDTrex First Build: Core-i5-3520k - GA-B75M-D3P - 32GB RAM (Updated to Sierra, Jan 2017)
​

Components

Intel Core i5-3570K
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SZ0E1K/

Motherboard: GA-B75M-D3P
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007R21JJ0/

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL10Q-32GBZL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231507

Corsair Carbide 300R Case
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006I2H0YS/

SanDisk Extreme SATA 6Gb/s 120GB SSD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006EKJCWM/

Corsair 430 Watt
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W2T2TM/

Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512?ls=1&mt=12


Already Owned

Dell USB Keyboard
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&sku=310-7995

Dell USB Mouse - (DELL USB OPTICAL MOUSE M-UVDEL1, no link available)

Dell 17" Monitor (temporary)
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/E173FP/En/specs.htm


Comments:

I really have no idea what I'm doing. But someone out there might be in the same place and benefit from this.
No wifi for me, I'm using the on-board internet.

1. Choice of parts:

The build comes straight from the TonyMacx86 website, this is the new budget build (thanks Tony et al!) http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/search/label/CustoMac. The only changes: more memory and no wifi card.


2. Assembly problems

I have never built a computer before. A 1967 Firebird, yes, but never a computer. There are no real instructions, so there were some things that took me a while to figure out, including how the power supply plug can be split in half if you pull out a pin - and once you do that, it fits in the power outlet by the motherboard. That was a pain. (Thank you David!)

The Corsair 300 box says it is "2.5 SSD" ready, but there were no brackets or anything that it would fit into. It was ready for a 3.5", but not a 2.5". So the drive is just lying there until I get some sort of bracket. Probably never.

UPDATE 8/24/2012: a 2.5" drive can be screwed into the 3.5" brackets if you remove one of the "tool-less" 3.5 pins, and screw in from the bottom - there are four holes in the bottom of the bracket for this. I didn't notice previously.

There's no need for thermal compound - there's a fan included with the CPU, and it has compound on it already.


3. Headaches getting this to run:

Tip: The USB Unibeast/Mulitibeast only ran when there was only one stick of memory in and the USB stick was plugged into the port adjacent to the ethernet port.

Unibeast worked with some hardware tweaks (removing stuff sequentially). But Multibeast initially would not work. I could not get the operating system to boot again - it would crash, or it would freeze. Plenty of different errors, including freezing at a "swapon SUCCEED", or something like that.

I could not figure out any way to "undo" the install, so I had to repartition the drive and reinstall the OS, about 30 minutes per try. It was a miserable day. Someone out there (everyone out there?) probably has a better way.


4. Finally, I found the posts by Slacker775 and Moarfish and Nobby, and following them, finished the install with Multibeast 4.6.1, using some settings from each of them:

UserDSDT Install
3rdParty SATA
FakeSMC
JMicron36xATA
PC Rood IT = Fix
Audio - Realtek ALC887/***b
Patched Apple HDA v100302 Current
Realtech Gigabit Ethernet​

After MultiBeast, I ran Chimera 1.11.1.



5. I never did get around to updating my bios - I have F3, and there's an F5 available.


6. After doing that, there were three boot drives visible:

UEFI: SanDisk SDSSDX120GG25
UEFI: USB USB Hard Drive (Installation partition?)
PO: SanDisk SDSSDX120GG25​

The "PO SanDisk" one worked.


7. Adding USB 3.0 was a deal-breaker. It would not boot after that.

8. Sober second thoughts

It's possible that this was working all along - but that my reboot was calling the wrong drive first (see the three drives listed under #6). I assumed that the two SanDisks were the same thing - but maybe they weren't and maybe I was trying to boot from the wrong one.

If I really wanted to understand this - I'd do it again a couple times to try and isolate what went wrong - and what went right.

But it's working now! I'll just leave my head in the sand and keep my fingers crossed.


Trex

*** UPDATE JANUARY 26 2017 ***
After a couple years overseas, I'm trying to get Sierra installed. It was a complete disaster until I updated the Bios to the latest version (F7). After that, it went very smoothly.

1. I installed a new 500GB SSD from Western Digital
2. Update to F7.
3. Same old tricks as before: only 1 stick of memory, only one hard drive, and plug the USB into the USB outlet next to ethernet.
4. On boot set Bios to same settings specified by Moarfish.
5. I had some trouble with my Corsair power supply, the one that came in my case. I replaced it with an EVEA supernova 750watt.
6. Everything is working great so far. I haven't tried sound or iMessage yet.

 

[MonkeyDLuffy]

*SUCCESS.... Sort of - Moutain Lion Budget Build on GA-B75M-D3P

quick question, you did not check NullCPU on the list? I have kernel panic with that vanilla kext.

Also, I never had problems with the 1 memory stick thing like you did. Even with the old multibeast.

Thanks

 

[sdtrex]

*SUCCESS.... Sort of - Moutain Lion Budget Build on GA-B75M-D3P

I did not check the NullCPU. I'm actually not sure what that is. Like I said in the post - I have no idea what I'm doing and just kept trying stuff until it worked.

My latest move is that I have two cloned boot drives - so I try everything on one of them first to make sure it works before I apply to both....

Is your system up and working?

 

[MonkeyDLuffy]

*SUCCESS.... Sort of - Moutain Lion Budget Build on GA-B75M-D3P

I haven't put into much time at the moment. But I will soon compile a DSDT that would make HDMI over audio.

But yeah, the system is OK I guess. Not yet on its maximum capability.

 

[sdtrex]

Please let me know if you get that HDMI DSDT working. My sound experience hasn't been great yet - experimenting a little tonight.

 

[sdtrex]

Quick update - through this whole process I have not really known what I was doing. But I have learned ALOT. So if you have my components, follow MOARFISH's build instructions EXACTLY and it will work like a charm. I had some quirks and problems with my build over the last week, and finally just tried again following Moarfish' instructions - and it was super easy.

Why didn't I do this before? Two reasons:
1) I'm not that smart.
2) I didn't really understand the directions, as this was my first build.

Good luck everyone! And kudos and praise to Moarfish for doing a great job!

 

[Byron_MAC]

How did you get this working?

I have the same MB and processor but I don't know what to select in terms of drivers....
when i select the DSDT and install it, it says its installed correctly.
When it goes to reboot, it gets stuck on the apple logo.

any help would be appreciated...

 

[thierry37]

Hi Trex,
I don't know if you still around....?
For what are you using this build? (with 32GB of Ram)
I'm curious to know if it's all recognized on your board and if it's really used in your case?

 

[pvdw]

@Byron_MAC, you could do with booting using the -v switch. This would show all the messages and help diagnose the problem. Following moarfish's method has my D3P board failing to boot due to a problem with the ethernet driver/port. I can get in with -x -v and will try the other Realtek driver.