[Success] Asus P8Z77-M Pro, i5 3750k, GeForce GTX 670, Wifi

[jsahlen]

CustoMac Pro / Gaming PC – Silverstone FT03, Asus P8Z77-M Pro, i5 3750k, GeForce GTX 670, Wifi

Components

Silverstone FT03 Black Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163176

Asus P8Z77-M Pro Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131833

Intel Core i5-3570k CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Corsair HX650W PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012

Corsair Vengance LP 2x4GB 1600 MHz DD3 SDRAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233327 (i have the black version though)

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Overclocked Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

OCZ Agility 3 240 GB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227727

TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Wireless N Dual Band Wifi Adapter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704133

3x Akasa Apache Black 120mm Case Fan
[AMAZON-UK]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasa-APACHE-Black-Fan-12cm/dp/B003H04XEY/[/AMAZON-UK]


Already Owned

Western Digital Caviar Green 1 TB SATA3 Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136758

Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" IPS Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260020

Apple Wired Keyboard
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB110LL/B/apple-keyboard-with-numeric-keypad

Logitech MX620 Wireless Mouse
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-MX620-Cordless-Laser-Mouse/dp/B000QJ3DZE/

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion @ App Store
http://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512


Comments

Having built a CustoMac Mini based on GA-H61N before, when I wanted to build a gaming PC it seemed natural to have it function as a workhorse Mac as well, so I looked for components that would work well to that purpose. I like the look and the layout of the FT03 case, plus I wanted a system that was as quiet as possible during normal use, and it seemed to be well suited for it. To further keep the noise down, I switched out the included case fans for the Akasa Apache Black ones – one pulling at the bottom and one pushing at the top; also switched out the included Cooler Master fan on the CPU cooler to an Apache.

Before anything else, I installed samisnake's patched BIOS for the Asus P8Z77-M Pro motherboard from http://bios4asus.blogspot.com. Currently running version 1504.

I partitioned my SSD with 60 GB for OS X 10.8 and 180 GB for Windows 7. With the monitor plugged into the GTX 670 (haven't used the HD4000 graphics at all), I started by installing Mountain Lion using the UniBeast USB stick, and everything went smoothly – didn't have to use any special flags to get it running. Ran MultiBeast 5.0 and installed without a DSDT file. Originally I had some problems with kernel panics on boot (due to the Nvidia FakeSMC plugin), and a grey screen after boot (which turned out to be because I had installed the 3rd party USB 3.0 drivers.) For the video card, I didn't install any extra drivers, but I have to boot with GraphicEnabler=No for it to be stable (I get lockups on the login screen with it set to Yes). As far as I can tell, all graphics features are fully working, even playing games, so I'm going to leave it like this.
When OS X was working, I proceeded to install Windows 7, also from a USB stick. No problems there – just had to boot from the UniBeast stick again and reinstall Chimera.

The Intel USB 3.0 ports are working in OS X, but plugging mass storage devices into them don't seem to. I don't have any USB 3.0 devices, so I'm not sure about the speeds. Other than that, everything's working great – power management, sleep, video card power management. The Wifi card worked OOB in OS X, as expected, but needed drivers in W7. Full audio support. I haven't used the Ethernet jack on the motherboard, but it's detected at least.

I have overclocked the CPU slightly, to a turbo clock of 4.2 GHz, detected as 3.5 GHz in BIOS and OS X, but it definitely goes up to the turbo clock during stress.

Overall I'm extremely happy with the build, and am getting very good temperatures – CPU is 30-35 °C in idle and a maximum of 62 °C under load. Haven't measured the video card in OS X, but in Windows it's about 38 °C in idle and 80 °C under full load.


Plans

I want to look more at overclocking, to get a bit more juice out of the CPU, while still keeping the temperatures down. I'll need to learn more first though – my current overlock was done using ASUS' "Auto Tune" feature. I also want to connect the FT03's front panel USB 3.0 ports using the motherboard headers instead of having them connected to back panel USB ports. This would a) free up more ports, and b) look so much neater than having those cables at the top of the case.

I'd also like to get a Bluetooth dongle, so I can use my Magic Trackpad.


Thanks!

Thanks to kduvernay, ZenBR and Mrengles for their P8Z77 inspiration and know-how, samisnake for his/her patched ASUS BIOS, and of course Tony and everyone else at the site.
Please let me know if I missed something or if you have any questions!

GeekBench Score (Intel 32bit)




MultiBeast 5.02 Mountain Lion Edition Settings

​

 

[Keema]

"Before anything else, I installed samisnake's patched BIOS for the Asus P8Z77-M Pro motherboard from http://bios4asus.blogspot.com. Currently running version 1504"


I've read the blog regarding these Rom's/patched bios for several asus models.


It says on the blog that these rom's have been edited to be OSX friendly.


So Im assuming that in order to have a successful installation of OS X on these Asus mobo's the first thing to do is to updrade the bios using their edited patche's/rom's?


@jsahlen


is it 100% working? if its okay to tested the s/pdif out if its working? as well as the on board vga,dvi and hdmi ports..?




thanks
Christian

 

[jsahlen]

is it 100% working? if its okay to tested the s/pdif out if its working? as well as the on board vga,dvi and hdmi ports..?

Well, I don't have anything to connect the s/pdif to, so I'm not sure. But it "lights up" and is shown in System Preferences as "Optical digital-out port". For graphics, I haven't tried without the GeForce card plugged in. Since I need to boot with GraphicsEnabler=No for the GeForce to work, the integrated GPU is never detected as HD4000 (at least I'm presuming that's why), but it is detected as "64 MB of shared system memory", and displays connected to it show up as secondary secondary displays in OS X.

 

[Keema]

@jsahlen,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you think the V Pro is just the same specs wise with the your M Pro board?

and it needs to be updated to that link you have provided in order to have a successful install of OS x?

 

[jsahlen]

@jsahlen,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you think the V Pro is just the same specs wise with the your M Pro board?

and it needs to be updated to that link you have provided in order to have a successful install of OS x?

They seem to be very similar yes. The V Pro seems to use a different LAN chipset, and has Wifi built-in (which I'm not sure if it would work in OS X), but otherwise they seem to differ mostly on slots/ports available. See comparison on Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?CompareItemList=-1%7C13-131-819%5E13-131-819-TS%2C13-131-833%5E13-131-833-TS

I think you could install it with a custom-created DSDT if you wanted, instead, but flashing the BIOS really was incredibly easy. Just put the BIOS file on a USB stick, insert it in the correct port on the motherboard, and push the flash button on the motherboard (check out the links on the BIOS download page to see ASUS' instructions.)

 

[jenya_d11]

The Intel USB 3.0 ports are working in OS X, but plugging mass storage devices into them don't seem to. I don't have any USB 3.0 devices, so I'm not sure about the speeds.

I have USB3.0/2.0 mass storage device external HDD Transcend 640GB and it worked when i plugged it in intel USB 3.0 ports on m/b. The speed is approximate 2 time greater then i use USB 2.0 port! But if i connect to this USB 3.0 ports the only USB 2.0 flash drive it not visible on the system . Only USB 3.0 device in USB 3.0 ports are worked.

I haven't used the Ethernet jack on the motherboard, but it's detected at least.

I used the Ethernet jack on the motherboard and install Lnx2Mac's Realtek RTL81XX Driver from Multibeast fo ML and it worked great! But i noticed that after the system wake up from sleep i loose my ethernet connection and internet Only restart will help me

 

[jenya_d11]

LAN after wake finally earned ! All that is needed to (as it turned out ) is to turning on the "Wake for Ethernet network administrator access" in the "Options" tab of the "Energy Saver" pane in System Preferences.

 

[jsahlen]

LAN after wake finally earned ! All that is needed to (as it turned out ) is to turning on the "Wake for Ethernet network administrator access" in the "Options" tab of the "Energy Saver" pane in System Preferences.

Nice! Good to know.

 

[Asus-Freak]

Nice build, congrats!

 

[Br0wnBear]

Straight up. Diggin the case.