(Success) 1st hackintosh video-editing build / Haswell Core i7-4790 3.6ghz/ Gigabyte H81M-S2H / MSI

[lurok91]

Haswell Core i7-4790 3.6ghz/ Gigabyte H81M-S2H / MSI Geforce GTX 750 TI / Yosemite 10.10.3

Components

Pre-built machine but individual components are:

Gigabyte GA-H81M-S2H LGA1150 Intel H81 DDR3 SATA3 Micro ATX Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OP620A8

MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC 2GB GDDR5 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card (N750TI-2GD5/OC)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I6DLIB8

Intel Core I7 4790 3.6ghz 8mb Cache 4th Gen Haswell
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J56YSLM

2tb Seagate Barracuda Sata 6Gb/s 64mb Cache 7200rpm
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00066IJPQ

Samsung 24x Sata DVD Writer
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WAG0WIM/

Fractal Design Core 1000 Black Mesh Fronted Case with Corsair 600w PSU
http://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-Core-Cases-FD-CA-CORE-1000-USB3-BL/dp/B00CUSUV0O

16gb DDR3 1600mhz RAM


Already Owned

2 x Samsung 2.5-Inch 250GB 850 EVO Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OAJ412U/

Acer K272HLbid, 27" Monitor, 6 ms 100M:1 VA LED DVI HDMI EcoDisplay


Comments

Longtime Mac lover, from the Classic and original Powerbooks through to Mini and Mac Pro (still have an old Core Solo Mini, which is now happily redundant). But in recent years found myself working more with PCs and programs such as 3ds Max. So when came time to invest in new computer, researched this forum and decided to go with Hackintosh. Choice of CPU (i7) was determined by video-editing and graphics design capability rather than gaming, and GPU (750 ti) for low power consumption.

Windows 7 Ultimate side all up and running smoothly on Samsung SSD, and original intention was to install Snow Leopard or Mountain Lion on second SSD. Although both SL and ML installations were successful(ish) using relevant guides, had some minor issues and was unable to utilise 750 ti GPU. Further reading seemed to confirm that Yosemite was a better OS to work with that model graphics card due to newer architecture and drivers.

Installation

Pretty smooth and trouble-free by following the Yosemite installation guide.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...-x-yosemite-any-supported-intel-based-pc.html

I removed the Windows SSD and 750 ti card, set UEFI BIOS to recommended settings:
optimised defaults
vt-d and virtualisation off
IGFX in Peripherals, Initial Display Output (so just using mobo Intel 4600 with HDMI to monitor)

Installed Yosemite

On successful first boot, dragged Multibeast to desktop from install USB and ran recommended settings with following adjustments:
DSDT free
Audio - ALC887 drivers + Optional HDAEnabler -> Audio ID:1
Network - Realtek RTL8111
Customize -> System Definition -> Mac Pro -> Mac Pro 3.1
Customize -> Boot Options -> selected Kext Dev Mode

On successful first boot from Chimera, downloaded Nvidia WebDriver for OS X 10.10.3 (346.01.02f04 pkg)

Inserted 750 ti card and installed Nvidia webdrivers.
Added "nvda_drv=1" to the Kernel Flags in /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist

Rebooted into BIOS and changed IGFX back to PCIe 1 Slot in Peripherals, Initial Display Output. Moved HDMI from mobo output to 750 ti and booted into Yosemite. All working as expected: network, audio, and System Report shows Geforce GTX 750 ti.

Lastly, shutdown and re-attached Windows drive, rebooted, and both Yosemite and Windows 7 easily selectable either from F12 BIOS or Chimera.

Summary

No issues (so far) to report and all in all my dream machine. Much as I love Apple design and quality, this was probably less than half (possibly even a third) the price of a comparably specced Mac.


Geekbench (64-bit)

Single-Core Score
3558

Multi-Core Score
14280

 

[mknrls]

nice i think i might attempt this, like i have the same board haha

 

[Eightarmedpet]

Good to hear this board works. Just bought the same as my first step into the world of Hacks.... never even built a PC before so it should be an interesting foray!