[Success] GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 - Core i5-2500k - Gigabyte HD6670

[JD McCutchen]

JD McCutchen's Build: GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 - i5-2500k - HD6670 - 8GB RAM

Mac OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD256Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDAzOA - $69.00

Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Z68 mATX Intel Motherboard (F8 Bios)
http://www.microcenter.com - $114.99 (currently out of stock)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZBHMN8/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128495&Tpk=GA-Z68MA

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Processor Model (BX80623I52500K)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589 - $179.99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EBUXHQ/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD6670 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.1 x16 Video Card (GV-R667OC-1GD)
http://www.microcenter.com - $84.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004XVLT1Q/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125375&Tpk=GV-R667OC-1GI

Corsair 4GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 CL9 (CMX4GX3M1A1333C) (2qty)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0345246 - ($23.99/ea) $47.98
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ZDJ42O/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233132

Sony AD-7260S 24X SATA Internal DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0342674 - $34.99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00264GING?ie=UTF8

OCZ Technology ModXStream Pro 500 Watt ATX EPS12V Modular Power Supply
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0301545 - $79.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EZMEZO/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016

IOGear Bluetooth 2.0 USB Micro Adapter
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0287920 - $14.99
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018O9JIG/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833139019

Purchased items - $626.92
Black Friday Discount - $65.00
CPU w/ Motherboard Combo Discount - $60.00
Mail in rebates - $63.00
Total of Purchased Items - $438.92 ($188 Total Savings)

Micro Center is less than an hour away from me, so if something goes awry, it is easier to drive an hour rather than trying to send items via UPS.

Already Owned
HP a6200n Tower - To be gutted for the build.

HP 2509p Black 25" Swivel & Pivot Adjustable Full HD WideScreen LCD Monitor w/Speakers 300 cd/m2 1000:1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007617%2050001186%20600030656&IsNodeId=1&name=25%22

Seagate Barracuda 360GB - Drive from the original HP Tower

Other Misc - Keyboard, Mouse


Comments:

This build was created as 1) I had an extra case. 2) I'm looking at an iPhone 4s or waiting for the 5 and looking for the connectivity of the devices with each other.

The only component from the HP case that is not functioning (or plugged in) is the HP Pocket Media Drive Bay as I never had a drive to use. All USB ports and audio ports are plugged into the motherboard and are functioning.

The first item of business was using the Hackintosh Netbook to create the UniBeast All-In-One Bootable USB Drive, which worked first time following the directions listed.

The tower was then gutted to make room for all the new components. The modular power supply helps in keeping the case interior looking clean. For the time being, the stock CPU cooler was used.

The first attempt at the install yielded nothing. After some reading up on the 6670 card, the install continued with the use of "GraphicsEnabler=NO"

After the install, the auto update was run taking Lion from 10.7 to 10.7.2. After which the other updates were run to update iTunes, etc. BEFORE rebooting, the permissions were restored. The system was then rebooted, at this point it still required the "GE=NO".

Now MultiBeast was run, using the DSDT for the motherboard. After which came the final test, the reboot. Once again it required the "GE=NO". After reading some more and testing all the buffers, "AtiConfig=Pithecia" and 3 ports were added to the boot list.

It now boots all without a glitch!

Geekbench Score:

• 32 Score - 8950
  64 Score - 9819

Edits:

• None

 

[ar13]

Do you have dual Monitors? Does GeekBench,DVD works without crashing?

I have another Hack with a 6670 , and if use Framebuffer Pithecia , DVD, GeekBench and the most important Software for me ''Ableton Live'' works without crashing in my DVI monitor , but just on that monitor..... if i use FB Ipomoea , the same is true ,but in my HDMI Monitor, i Can not use both monitors, unless i use NO Frame Buffer at all... i can use Dual monitors BUT...... Now DVD, GeekBench and Ableton live, crashes!!!!!

 

[JD McCutchen]

Single monitor connected HDMI to HDMI. Geekbench works in both 32 and 64 bit, scores posted at the bottom of the above post. And I have played several DVD's to make sure that worked, and it does. The audio doesn't compare surround sound, but then again this computer wasn't built for that purpose.

Also note the model number of the 6670 card I am running (GV-R667OC-1GD). After reading through the a 6670 post about the cards trials and tribulations, depending on who makes it and the model number, people were getting different results with different cards. There was even a user that went through all the buffers and none worked on his card.

 

[nickselvaggio71]

First thanks for the info!

I swung by microcenter and picked up the Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3, the same video card, CPU and RAM.

I created my boot USB and when I have the video card installed I get nothing. When I remove the card and use onboard vid I get to the USB boot and then the
apple screen and then spinning gear. It spins about 12X and then the gear freezes. I run in -V mode and then it looks ilke the system stops at the realtek part.

Any insight?

Thanks!

 

[JD McCutchen]

You will need to use the "GraphicsEnabler=NO" when performing the install with the card attached. This will be needed until you can modify the "org.chameleon.Boot.plist" at the end of the install with the following two items added: GraphicsEnabler & AtiConfig.

I did the install and then performed all the updates to all programs before running the MultiBeast to configure the system. Before rebooting after upgrading to 10.7.2, I used the Disk Utility to "Repair Disk Permissions". I have attached some screen shots of what I think I used with MultiBeast. I had installed from scratch about 6 or 7 times and don't remember the exact items I used (next time I will write them down).

The time consuming part came after the MultiBeast, running through all of the Buffers one by one to find that magical one that worked best. Using "AtiConfig=??" and changing the name during each boot. If it boots, typing "ioreg | grep ATY" at the terminal to see this result:

Last login: Sat Dec 10 21:55:33 on ttys000
jeremys-mac-pro:~ jeremymccutchen$ ioreg | grep ATY
    | |   |   | +-o ATY,Pithecia@0  <class AtiFbStub, id 0x1000002fd, registere$
    | |   |   | +-o ATY,Pithecia@1  <class AtiFbStub, id 0x1000002fe, registere$
    | |   |   | +-o ATY,Pithecia@2  <class AtiFbStub, id 0x1000002ff, registere$
jeremys-mac-pro:~ jeremymccutchen$

Out of the list: Pithecia, Bulrushes, Cattail, Hydrilla, Duckweed, Fanwort, Elodea, Kuzu, Gibba, Lotus, Ipomoea, Muskgrass & Juncus, only 4 had promising results. Pithecia gave the best Geekbench results and was the only one that showed 3 ports. Out of the other 3, two of them showed 4 ports and one showed two ports.

Then you can modify the boot.plist file with the approprate buffer. If you have the same model card, hopefully Pithecia works right away for you.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>Kernel</key>
	<string>mach_kernel</string>
	<key>Kernel Flags</key>
	<string>npci=0x2000 darkwake=0</string>
	<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
	<string>Yes</string>
	<key>AtiConfig</key>
	<string>Pithecia</string>
	<key>AtiPorts</key>
	<string>3</string>
	<key>Timeout</key>
	<string>2</string>
	<key>Legacy Logo</key>
	<string>Yes</string>
	<key>EthernetBuiltIn</key>
	<string>Yes</string>
</dict>
</plist>

MultiBeast 1.pngMultiBeast 2.png

 

[nickselvaggio71]

Forgive my ignorance and thank you. How do is turn that to no?

Thank you.

 

[JD McCutchen]

Forgive my ignorance and thank you. How do is turn that to no?

Thank you.

When the loader screen initially appears, hit the down arrow key. Then all you have to do is start typing "GrahpicsEnabler=NO" (without the quotes) and then hit "Enter". It will hold the "NO" until the next reboot.

 

[nickselvaggio71]

Thank you! Will
Try when I get home frOm
Work

 

[nickselvaggio71]

Once again, thank you so much. I am so lost.

I did the GraphicsEnabler=NO.

Do I keep my VGA plugged into the 6670 or plug it into the onboard VGA?

No I did get past the spinning gear and it looks like it rebooted. Except now the screen is just grey white. It seems to hang.

I have the same MB, CPU, GPU and ram that you purchased.

My question is, can I run just the onboard video from the MB? I am happy just running HDMI out of the MB and connecting it to my LCD. I don't game. Would I need to keep the 6670 in the mix or can I just ditch it?

I thank you so much.

How would i go about setting things up? Do you have a link I can follow step by step. The video makes it look easy, but I am not having that great of luck so far.

 

[JD McCutchen]

Just a couple of items before you ditch the video card.

1) Bios settings: AHCI mode on, Hard Drive Boot Priority, and 64 bit mode selected?
1a) You will need to hit ESC to get to the boot menu to boot to the USB
1b) 1TB or less hard drive or partition to install to
2) http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/04/ ... ch-results (Other than this install being snow leopard, you should see the same/similar items show up on the screen)
3) If you got through the above and it installed and rebooted, you will still need to use the GraphicsEnabler=NO

If you have the same gear, it is more than likely ONE tiny little thing that is missing along the way during the install. Between the netbook and the pc, I probably installed a total of 30 times until I got them both up and running.