SOLID BUILD - GA-Z68A-D3H-B3, i5 2400, Sapphire Vapor-X 6850

[General BodyBag]

General BodyBag's Build: GA-Z68A-D3H - i5-2400 - Vapor-X 6850​

Gigabyte mobo - GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502

CPU - Intel Core i5-2400, 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) HD Graphics 2000 (BX80623I52400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074

Graphics - SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100315VXL Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102953

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - F3-12800CL9Q-8GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231325

DVD - Sony Optiarc 24X DVD Burner, Black SATA Model AD-7280S-0B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118067

HD - Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

Power Supply - COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-550-PCAR-E3 550W ATX12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171038

Case - COOLER MASTER Elite 330 Upgraded RC-330U-KKN1 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119243

Comments:
My Confirmed build, using as a design station, running flawlessly for 1 month now. Snow Leopard 10.6.8 only.

Loving the build here. Very solid no kernel panics and nearly a perfect install.
Used iBoot 3.2.0 and MultiBeast 3.9.1,DSDT from DSDT Database.
Boot time from bootloader screen to desktop is about 15 seconds.
Awesome performance in Adobe CS 5.5, and all around stability is equal to a real mac.

For Setup Always set SATA mode to AHCI in bios, use iBoot 3.2.0 to install Snow Leopard, I used retail 10.6.3 USB FlashDrive Install. Have Combo 10.6.7, and 10.6.8 on another flash drive.

After Install finishes stay with iBoot in the drive, then run 10.6.7 Combo Update, but do not run MultiBeast options except System Utilities to rebuild and repair and install Kext Helper and Kext Utility. It will fail, but its ok, just continue on.

I forgot this step in my original guide. Without this step 10.6.8 Update will Kernel Panic every time. Thanks to lintfilms for posting this.

You must remove the ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext, this IOPlatform.kext file is located in /System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/Contents/Plugins folder.
(Right click on IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext > show contents, then continue following the folder tree)
After that its a good idea to run Kext Utility to make sure its good.

After 10.6.7 finishes, restart, before running any other other updates, you should run the SandyBridge helper, then open RealTek Ethernet Driver, MultiBeast and 10.6.8 combo update, in that order. I had problems with MultiBeast crashing if I opened them in any other order.
I make sure that I am on the selection screen for each before I open the next.
Example: I open the RealTek Ethernet and continue all the way to the Selection screen and choose "Release", then open MultiBeast and go all the way to selection screen and choose the options outlined below, then open the 10.6.8 Combo Update.

Run 10.6.8 and when it finishes DO NOT RESTART yet, you need to run the RealTek Ethernet "Release Driver", and after that run MultiBeast with options I have outlined below(Image below)

MultiBeast Install.jpg

For MultiBeast Install Options, For Disk I used the IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector, my internal drives were showing up as removable externals without it.
FAKE SMC Plugins for Mobo and RADEON.
Boot Options, I have 64 Bit Apple Boot Screen (dont forget to enable HPET 64Bit in BIOS beforehand!)
System Definition is set to MacPro 3,1.

All due to tonymacx86, MacMan and the entire hackintosh and tonymacx86 community!

I also have many smaller i3 builds I created for my company's offices, all running great.

I would be more than welcome to furnish any details about this or my other builds, so ask away guys!

 

[chrisbloemker]

yes more details, I'm ordering that same motherboard!
looks nice man. What about the i3 builds can you PM me with details to those? or make a post?

 

[Descendz]

Hi Guys,
i have the same MOBO and same SK VIDEO, I followed all post installation steps suggested by General BodyBang but unfortunately without iBoot on the first reboot after installing Multibeast my video is gray and after few minutes the system turns off. I booted with Verbose and I could see the system initialization stops here:

** Device in slot: SLOT -- 1 **
com_lnx2mac_RealtekRTL81xx: Ethernet address 50:e5:49:3e:16:d5

Before Snow Lopard I upgraded my bios to F10 version. Can you suggest me a right way?

 

[chrisbloemker]

go back to bios f9 and find the correct dsdt. my mobo came withh f10, but just flash back to f9. ohh and make sure you get the correct revision. there is a rev.1.0 and rev 1.3. look at the mobo itself if you don't know. let me know if that helped

 

[Descendz]

Hello Again!!!
I'll try to make an F6 version bios downgrade, I hope to solve my installation problems 'cause otherwise I don't know what else to try ... each suggestion is very welcome. Thanks in advance to those want to help me!!

P.S.
Tony if you're there, knock once!

 

[Descendz]

Hi all,
I write to update the thread: I solved my installation problem by following these post
viewtopic.php?t=35834&p=226093

Rock'n'Roll

 

[mpick92]

How about the SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 6850?
I've been looking at this card and seems to be very compatible OOB.
Can you confirm this - will be running Lion from the start with same mobo.

 

[General BodyBag]

How about the SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 6850?
I've been looking at this card and seems to be very compatible OOB.
Can you confirm this - will be running Lion from the start with same mobo.

I can confirm that the Sapphire Vapor-X 6850 HD works. Only thing I did for graphics support is install 64 bit Apple boot screen/Graphics Enabler yes in Multibeast 3.9.1. Although I'm not using Lion, I don't see why it wouldnt work, if anything it should be supported better under Lion.