Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i7-2700K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

[Stork]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i7-2700K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

Contents

Components
Comments

The Build
Installation of Mac OS X​

Summary
Benchmarks
Updates​

Components

Intel Core i7-2700K Unlocked Processor capability of HD3000 Intel Integrated Graphics
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005X64OA8/

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 HDMI SATA III USB 3.0 FW 400 ATX Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00518M74I
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD6850 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort Video Card GV-R685OC-1GD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004F6GJAU/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353

G.Skill RipJaws 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004HZG4ZO/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

Two SanDisk Extreme 120GB SATA III 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SDSSDX-120G-G25
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006EKIQYM/

Corsair Enthusiast Series 650-Watt - CMPSU-650TXV2
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LB5AZY/

TP-Link PCI Express Adapter(TL-WDN4800)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GMPZ0A/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704133

Lian Li PC-A05NB Mid Tower Case - Discontinued, but the PC-A05FNB is essentially that same case.
http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-a05n/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MESDTO/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112331

GELID Solutions FN-SX12-10 120mm Silent Case Fans - Replacing the two case fans to achieve a quieter system
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001K6XYWY/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426016


Already Owned

Seagate 1TB Hard Disk Drive
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IZN3YI/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

Dynex Firewire 800/400 PCI-e Card - no longer sold in retail; get new from eBay

IOGEAR 4-Port Dual View Dual-Link DVI KVMP Switch with Audio GCS1644
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GKM9JK/

The following are connected to the IOGear KVM DVI Switch:

Dell UltraSharp U2711 27-inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor - Max Resolution 2560 x 1440 (WQHD)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0039648BO/

HP ZR24W IPS Monitor - out of production; been replaced by the HP ZR2440W
http://www.amazon.com/HP-XW477A8-ABA-Promo-ZR2440W/dp/B005O9RPQE/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176221

Targus ACB10US1 USB Bluetooth Dongle Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002K6RK0/

Apple Wireless Keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005DLDO4U/

Apple Magic Mouse
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TLTGM6/

Apple Magic Trackpad
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003XIJ3MW/

Logitech K750 Solar Mac Keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005L38VRU/​

Comments:

The Build

This is my Son of Zorro and 4th Hackintosh build. I call this build Son of Zorro because it uses the same motherboard and a black case like my Zorro build. Since Zorro is my production computer system (I don't like to do tonymacx86 software testing on it), I've been wanting to build another Z68 motherboard system for testing. Unfortunately, I could not find one that suited my needs and wasn't too expensive. However, in early Spring (2012), I saw an opportunity to inexpensively purchase a a Sandy Bridge Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H motherboard from Amazon for $99.99 USD. Shortly, thereafter, Newegg had a sale on the Intel Core i5-2500K. Likewise, I found the rest of the components on sale all within a couple of weeks of the motherboard and processor. Patience is a virtue.

However, after spending a lot of time using Zorro, which has an i7-2600 processor, I started to look for an i7 to replace the i5-2500K processor because Zorro just seemed "snapper." Although I wasn't using HD 3000 graphics for now, I decided to get an i7 "K" unlocked processor so that I can be more flexible in my future fun & games - a graphics card for multiple monitors. Again, patience is a virtue, and I found an Intel i7-2700K NIB for $230.

Son of Zorro is running Sierra and still runs well...enough so that I use to record my band's lousy practice session using GarageBand and a PreSonus TubePre V2 (Firewire interface). (My band is composed of me, myself and I. )


Installation of OS X

Before installing OS X, I setup the BIOS just like I did for Zorro. But, first, I created the USB installation thumb drive using the tonymacx86 guide UniBeast: Install macOS Sierra on Any Supported Intel-based PC, choosing the Legacy option. I highly recommend that you print out the Guide and my guide, checking off each step. This procedure will ensure you don't make a mistake and/or skip a step.

Now, insert the UniBeast USB 2.0 installation thumb drive into one of the two Rear Panel USB 2 ports in the stack with P/S 2 port.

I booted into the BIOS to change the required BIOS parameters per the tonymacx86 iBoot+MultiBeast Installation Guide. Since I [was] using HD 3000 on-board, Integrated Graphics, I had to set one Advanced BIOS Features parameter - On-Chip Frame Buffer Size. I had greater than or equal to 8GB RAM, so I set it at 480MB+2MB for GTT. If you have 4GB RAM, set it to 384. I also turned off the Full Screen LOGO Show parameter.

While I was on the Advanced BIOS Features page, changed

Hard Disk Priority > to the UniBeast USB installation thumb drive
First Boot Device > USB-HDD​

for the UniBeast installation Procedure. We'll change this back to the after the installing Sierra.

Additionally, since my memory does not have Gigabyte default memory parameter settings, I had to change the XMP Profile from Default to Profile1.

Finally, we need to turn off the USB 3.0 Eltron Chipset (and, thus, the USB 3.0 ports) because there is no support for the chipset in Sierra nor has anyone created a driver/kext for the Eltron Chipset. Unfortunately, if we don't do that, Sierra won't install or run after installation.

Integrated Peripherals >

R_USB30 Controler > Disable
R_USB30 Turbo > Disable
F_USB30 Controler > Disable​

Once the BIOS was setup, I saved my BIOS setup (F10), and let the computer reboot into the UniBeast USB thumb drive. I then followed the tonymacx86 installation guide.

After Sierra was installed and rebooted, I booted into the Sierra installation, and I used the following MultiBeast for Sierra configuration for Son of Zorro with the HD 6850 graphics card.

Quick Start > Legacy Boot Mode
Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > ALC889
Drivers > Disk > 3rd Party SATA
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC Plugins
Drivers > Misc > Fake SMC HWMonitor Application
Drivers > Network > Realtek > RealtekTRL8111 (latest version)
Customize SSDT > Options > Sandy Bridge Core i7 <---You will need this for an i7 K processor​

This yields a Build like this:

​

I then reboot into the BIOS and reset the Boot Priority to the Sierra drive and First Boot Drive parameter to HDD. I saved the BIOS again (F10), removed the UniBeast USB thumb drive and rebooted saving the BIOS setup (F10). The system booted off the SSD and, Clover boot screen, I booted into Sierra. Everything is working including sleep/wake-up.


Summary

Everything seems to work well. I can log into Apple's Mac App Store (MAS), iCloud and iMessage with Mavericks. Sleep/wake-up works as it should since I only use the first 3 boxes checked in the System Preferences Energy Saver pane.

Benchmarks (Sierra 10.12.1)

LuxMark v3.1


Unigine's Heaven v4.0

​

Updates

April 17, 2017. Updated to Sierra 10.12.4. See Post #140.
November 16, 2016. Updated to Sierra by doing a fresh install in "virgin" SSD, then, after running MultiBeast, I used Migration Assistant to bring over applications, user files, etc., (don't check Other Files).

Older Updates
Update: Updated to Yosemite without any problems. See Post #104 for the MultiBeast for Yosemite configure for a new ("fresh") installation of 10.10.4.

Update: Updated to Mavericks 10.9.5 without a problem. See this post for the procedure.

Update: Updated to Mavericks 10.9.2. See post #98 for my procedure.

Update: Updated to Mavericks 10.9.1.

Update: Updated to Mavericks. See my guide here.

Update: I updated the processor to an Intel Core i7-2700. I did so because Zorro has an i7 and it just seemed "snappier." I won't post any Geekbench scores because it doesn't matter to me.

Update: Updated to 10.8.5 successfully. See Post #72 for information.

Update: I bought a Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 inexpensively from eBay, which replaced the 6450 and worked OOB with Lion 10.7.5, but requires AtiConfig=Duckweed in Mountain Lion.

Update: Here are the LuxMark v2 and Unigine Heaven v4.0 graphics benchmarks for the Gigabyte 6850 on OS X 10.7.5.

 

[JGW310]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

Great build congrats!!

I am trying to get my build to work with ML and you said something about Aticonfig=lotus.... What does that mean? Lol sorry for the noob question

 

[loginfailed]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

I didn't use ATICONFIG=XXX on my build when I installed ML. I just installed the 6850 and it worked. I only use the top DVI port. Does Lotus enable other ports or is there another benefit?

Just curious if I should add that to my .plist or just leave it alone. Currently everything works the way it is now.

Thanks.

 

[Stork]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

Apple surprised everybody by not including the AMD/ATI 6000 series desktop graphics cards in the initial releases ofMountain Lion, only the mobility chip definition and the iMac chip definitions which don't work for Hackintoshs. So, us early adapters 6000 series desktop graphics cards ran into a blank white (or black) screen at the initial Mountain Lion installation screen.

AtiConfig=definition is a way to force Chimera to use a specific graphics card definition. However, the MacMan has corrected this problem with Chimera 1.11. Now, most of the 6000 series card owners will not have a problem installing Mountain Lion. See other threads in the Mountain Lion Desktop Support forum section for more information.

 

[Stork]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

Updated to 10.7.5. Here's my procedure:

Backup to backup drive with Carbon Copy Cloner.

Repaired Permissions (Disk Utility or other Mac OS X 3rd party utility such as Onyx)

Downloaded the 10.7.5 Combo Update, run the Combo Updater and rebooted.

In S/L/E, delete the AppleHDA (to be safe).

Run MultiBeast with only selecting the Audio as shown.

Reboot.

Repair Permissions.

Done!

For reference purposes:

 

[Stork]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

I updated my test drive from 10.8.1 to 10.8.2 today. I followed my typical procedure as descried in the previous post. However, unlike a lot of you, I have a very minimal installation without any FakeSMC plugins. So, after checking the contents of FakeSMC to make sure I didn't have oemsmbios.kext in the Plugins folder (I didn't have a Plugin folder), I installed the 10.8.2 Combo Update, and, before rebooting, I ran Multibeast to reinstall the patched AppleHDA (With DSDT > ALC889). I then rebooted. Kernel Panic. UGH!

To make a long story short, I found the oemsmbios.kext in S/L/E, not in the S/L/E/FakeSMC...Plugins. Whoa! Now, how did I get oemsmbios.kext in S/L/E?! Don't know, but will look into it later.

So, to update to 10.8.2, do the following (I like checklists);
Repair Permissions;
Backup your currently working version of Mountain Lion;
Reboot and when you get to Chimera time bar across the screen, hit the SpaceBar;
User the arrow key to select your 10.8.1 installation;
Hit the SpaceBar again to get the "boot:" prompt;
Type in "-x" and hit the Return key;
Boot into 10.8.1 and go to the S/L/E folder;
First, check for oemsmbios.kext in the Extension folder and, found, move it to the Trash;
Second, also check the Contents of the FakeSMC extentions to make use there's not a oemsmbios.kext in the Plugins folder;
Reboot back into 10.8.1 and run the 10.8.2 Combo Update;
After running the Combo, DON'T REBOOT;
Now run MultiBeast and only select the ALC889 With DSDT and Install; and
Reboot.

Enjoy!

I'll update the build description post soon.

 

[Wolfster]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

Thanks for the guide. I have the same motherboard and GPU running ML 10.8.2 - did you get USB 3.0 ports to work on the MOBO? I've never had them running without some problems....would love to use them at usb 3.0 speeds.

 

[Stork]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

I don't know if the USB 3 ports work as I don't have any USB 3 peripherals and do not have plans to get any. However, now that MacMan has acquired a Z68X-UD3H, I've asked to see if he can either validate that they work or what we have to do to get them to work.

IIRC, the USB 3 ports on the Z68X-UD3H will work at USB 2 speeds with the MultiBeast USB 3 kext. But, please confirm that the Z68X-UD3H's chipset is compatible with that kext if you decide to try it.

 

[thegr8john]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

Good morning Stork,

Thanks for the guide and detail description of your hacks.

I have the same CPU, Mobo, and GPU on my hack but I was not able to run dual monitors on the HD6850 or with the HD3000 - actually I was able to use both DVI connectors on the HD6850 but I had to have the HDMI plugged in the video card also.

Were you able to run dual monitors on the HD6850 in the "Son-of-Zorro" build? If so, could you please let me know which connectors you are using? Any AtiConfig or AtiPort fix?

Thanks again for your help.

God bless,
John

 

[Stork]

Stork's Son-of-Zorro Build: Core i5-2500K - GA-Z68X-UD3H - HD 6850

...Were you able to run dual monitors on the HD6850 in the "Son-of-Zorro" build? If so, could you please let me know which connectors you are using? Any AtiConfig or AtiPort fix?...

I haven't tried. Son of Zorro is connected to a KVM DVI/USB2 switch - only one monitor.

Did you use one of the Mac Mini or one of the newer iMac system descriptions? See page 8 of the Multibeast Features document; the default (page 3) is MacPro3,1. I have Zorro using HD3000 also connected to an DVI/USB2 KVM switch but using the motherboard HDMI out for a dedicated 2nd monitor. Zorro's system definition is Mac Mini.