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[success] Junip's build : Core i7-3930k - GA-X79-UD5 - 16GB - GTX680

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Oct 28, 2012
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Motherboard
Ivy bridge
CPU
core i7 3930K
Graphics
GTX680
Mac
  1. Mac Pro
Classic Mac
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Mobile Phone
  1. Android
junip's Build: Core i7-3930k - GA-X79-UD5 - GTX680​

Components


Mac OS X version 10.8.2 Mountain Lion
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512?ls=1&mt=12

Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5
[AMAZON-FR]http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B006678HJC/[/AMAZON-FR]

Intel core i7 3930K 3.2Ghz
[AMAZON-FR]http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00681D9ZI/[/AMAZON-FR]

16GB DDR3 1866Mhz, 4 x 4GB Corsair CL9 Vengeance
[AMAZON-FR]http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B004CRSM52/[/AMAZON-FR]

256GB SATA3 SSD Drive, Crucial M4
[AMAZON-FR]http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B004W2JL2A/[/AMAZON-FR]

EVGA GeForce GTX680 2GB SuperClocked
[AMAZON-FR]http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B007Q87KZ2/[/AMAZON-FR]

Logitech MX5500 Revolution, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse
[AMAZON-FR]http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0015IP8HG/[/AMAZON-FR]


Comments

Hi,

First post around here, hope this helps. Another post for a successful Dell Optiplex 990 installation to come...

First of all, this build's goal was not to allow sleep / power management. It's a "powerhouse" build that has to be stable + up & running most of the time.

I consider it very successful. Very stable, with a nice 20k Geekbench (32bits) score.

What works :

Pretty much everything :

- CPU with all six cores enabled (forced as 6-core Xeon, editing /Extra/smbios.plist -- see bellow)
- GTX680, out-of-the-box (see bellow)
- Internal HD Audio (ALC898, needs specific kExt -- see notes)
- SATA3 at 6GB/s
- Bluetooth Keyboard (special keys not recognized, however)
- Firewire (400Mbit/s, the internal VIA 1483 controller is NOT 800Mbit/s capable)
- USB2.0
- USB3.0 (need latest Mountain Lion update)


What works but needs some tweaking :

- Logitech MX 5500 wireless mouse. Used USB Overdrive (very nice utility you can download here) to assign extra mouse buttons to Mac OS shortcuts.

What doesn't work :

- Power management, but minimal ACPI (shutdown, reboot) is okay though
- Sleep (if you really need this, SleepEnabler Kext might save your day if this were to be most needed)

What might work :

- Internal WiFi & BT PCI-E board bundled by Gigabyte with the motherboard

Bluetooth chip is provided by Atheros. It happens to be detected by Mac OS, but is not usable because the OS fails to correctly initialize it. This ends up by your bluetooth devices not being able to pair with the system. However, when initialized by Windows (with the correct drivers installed) you can then use bluetooth natively with Mac OS. Unfortunately, the next cold boot would revert the adapter to its previous catatonic state.

I will use Xcode's hardware I/O tools to determine what special initializations are performed by the Windows driver and try to implement those in a little kExt when my spare time would allow it.


BIOS Configuration :

BIOS Features :
- Limit CPUID Maximum : Disabled
- Execute BIT Disabled : Enabled
- Intel Virtualization Technology : Disabled
- Intel VT-d : Enabled (only if you plan using VMware/Parallels/VirtualBox/...)

Peripherals :
- SATA Mode Selection : AHCI
- Legacy USB Support : Enabled
- EHCI Hand-Off : Disabled

Power Management :
- HPET Support : Enabled
- ACPI Sleep State : S3


Installation :

Used Unibeast with ML 10.8.2 App Store Installer app on a quality 8GB USB2.0 stick (EMTec.)

Boot with those parameters : "PCIRootUID=1 npci=0x3000 GraphicsEnabler=No"

Without "npci=0x3000" the kernel will hang at the PCI Configuration stage. You also have to specify GraphicsEnabler=No to tell Chimaera not to inject configuration for the graphic card since the Kepler based GTX680 is natively supported by 10.8.2.

The internal Ethernet adapter will work in the installer without the need to put 3rd party Kext in the /Extra/ folder of the Unibeast generated installer.

When OSX installation's over, reboot (still using Unibeast's USB as boot device, but this time selecting your newly installed OSX) and DO NOT FORGET to re-enter the same boot parameters.


Post-Installation :

Use Multibeast with the following choices :

- Audio : nothing (specific solution for the Ivy bridge / ALC898 has to be manually installed)
- Graphics : nothing (everything works OOB, with QE/CI enabled)
- Disk : 3rd Party SATA
- Network : hnak's Intel LE1000e
- FakeSMC
- NullCPUPowerManagement (very important in all circumstances as the Core i7-3930k CPU is not known by Mach kernel. Missing this kExt will result in kernel stoping itself at boot upon an unknown CPU error)

VERY IMPORTANT : Before rebooting, update the following files :

File /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist

Replace :
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>

With :
<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>No</string>


Replace :
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>darkwake=0 PCIRootUID=1</string>

With:
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>darkwake=0 PCIRootUID=1 npci=0x3000</string>



File /Extra/smbios.plist

Add :
<key>SMcputype</key>
<string>1281</string>

Note : this last SMcputype parameter is purely cosmetic, and won't allow to remove NullCPUPowerManagement kExt.

Download this DMG : https://dl.dropbox.com/u/88732606/Gigabyte/Gigabyte DSDT.dmg.zip

Manually put the DSDT.aml file related to F12 BIOS version in /Extra/ directory (if your motherboard is not running the F12 BIOS release, use its internal QFLASH utility from boot screen to upgrade or downgrade to F12.)

At least you can reboot without the Unibeast's USB flash drive. I recommend a first time boot with the -v flag in order to check that the MACH kernel does not complain too much.

I noticed that in some cases Multibeast may tell you its installation succeeded, however something really wrong happened resulting in MAC OS X being really messed up. Upon next boot, the kernel will report a number of kext loading failures. So I do recommend to simply never run Multibeast again if your post-installation was successful and to add further kext using Kext Utility or any equivalent tool.


Notes:

Multibeast's TRIM Enabler does not work. So if you whish to take advantage of TRIM for your 3rd party (non-Apple, that is) SSD, you'll have to used the TRIM Enabler utility available here : http://www.groths.org/?page_id=322

For Audio, download http://www.tonymacx86.com/attachmen...applehda-interim_ivy_bridge_lion_applehda.zip and install it using Kext Utility / KextBeast / Kext Wizard / whatever. Warning : line out might be named "Internal Speakers."

OpenCL is not enabled by default, because the GTX680 from Gigabyte has 2GB of RAM (everything with more than 2000MB is disabled, and 2GB is 2048MB.) In order to enable OpenCL, get netkas' patched library here and put it in /System/Library/Extensions/GeForceGLDriver.bundle/Contents/MacOS/ and reboot. You can verify that OpenCL is functional using LuxMark for example.


EDIT: conform to tonymacx86's user builds template
EDIT: added comments about USB3.0 and Bluetooth from the GA-X79-UD5
EDIT: added a note on how to enable OpenCL on the GTX680
EDIT: USB3.0 now works. Added comments on NullCPUPowerManagement kExt importance
 
Congratulations on a successful build. :thumbup: Enjoy it!
 
Congratulations. Easy and clear explanations !
 
What about power supply? Cooling solution? Are you over clocking? If so, could you provide a write up for this? Congrats!
 
What about power supply? Cooling solution? Are you over clocking? If so, could you provide a write up for this? Congrats!
Of course. Sorry for the delay.

Power Supply : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GH6UM0/
Cooler : http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0051U7HMI/

The H80 has since been replaced by the new generation H80i. But if your case has lot of room, especially on the top side, I would rather recommend the H100i.

A few notes :

There is a whole story behind those two items. I haven chosen the Antec High Current Pro 750 because I knew that its non-standard format would perfectly fit inside the Antec P193 case.

However, this wasn't my wisest move. I didn't wrote about it in my post since it was more OSX focused. Not that the HPC750 is not a good product, on the contrary, it delivers stable current and is very well built, but the 12V rails happen to deliver a bit more than 12V. Something like 12.096V, sometimes 12.1V. In most builds this shouldn't be a problem. However in my case, the Corsair H80 pump has been designed to run at exactly 12.0V to achieve 2000RPM. 12.1V makes it pump the liquid coolant a little too fast, near 2100RPM creating cavitation. That produces a very disturbing noise.

I had to solder a diode in the 12V pin of the Molex connector to drop the voltage by 0.6V. Now the H80 runs at 11.5V which is sufficient (1900 - 1950 RPM.)

The system is overclocked.

The CPU runs at 4.2Ghz (100MHz base clock with a 42x multiplier.) The CPU VTT has been auto-adjusted by the BIOS. The RAM runs at 1866MHz, in quad-channel configuration, using its XMP profile. As you can see I didn't changed the base clock of the system, since O/C the RAM gives little benefits and also because the EVGA Super Clocked GTX680 has already been O/C (hence its "Super Clocked" name.) The GPU runs at 1175MHz instead of 1058Mhz under full load.

Since I'm at it, the very last Mountain Lion update added native support for the USB3.0 ports of the GA-X79-UD5.

Hope this helps.
 
@Junip Thanks for the response! Very helpful! I'm thinking of following your build with a slight modification to case, cooling, and power supply. I might actually try to squeeze things into one of the smaller cases with handles on top like the ones that Silverstone and CoolerMaster make.

A couple of small follow-up questions:

1. Are you only using one harddrive, an SSD?

2. What are you using this build for?

3. What are the noise levels coming from it?

4. How has it been not having power management, and how has the build be holding up so far? Kernel panics, etc?

Thanks a ton!
 
@qwerty123

1. I'm actually using three harddrives : MacOS is installed on a 256GB Crucial M4 SSD. I have another 256GB SSD, an OCZ Vertex 4 that I bought about a month after the initial build and use for production tasks and virtual machines. Both are connected to the SATA III ports of the GA-X79-UD5. Storage and backups are on a 1TB Western Digital Black.

2. I'm a musician. I use this build to run Logic Pro and a few other Digital Audio Workstation softwares. The 12 hardware threads provided by the Intel Core i7 3930k perfectly suit my needs, as Audio Unit plugins' threads are well distributed among the cores. One can also note that my Firewire audio interface (M-Audio ProFire 2626) works flawlessly, all analog/digital/MIDI inputs and outputs well recognized. Drivers for some of my hardware synths (Roland Fantom G and Roland V-Synth GT, connected as USB, prodiving specific audio and MIDI inputs and outputs) also works like a charm.

The entire music rig operates on 12 input and 12 ouputs channels at 96kHz, 24bits with an overall latency of 2 to 3ms. Even under heavy DSP and virtual instruments loads, I never experienced crackles. Core Audio in Mac OS X is a real wonder.

3. As you would imagine, as a musician, noise generated by the system is a primary concern. The H80's pump is set at its minimum level, as I've replaced the fans provided by Corsair for the push-pull heatsink configuration by more silent and pressure-optimized ones. Noctua is the way to go. Both of the 140mm fans on top of the Antec P193V3 case are set to the lowest rate too. As the rear fan as been replaced by the H80's heatsink assembly, I moved it to the front and it is also set to minimum. The system is very quiet, not as much as a Mac Book Pro of course, but it is a fair trade-off for the unbelievable power it provides. The CPU is at about 28°C idle (the room is regulated for 19-20°C) and reaches 55°C under full load.

4. Not having power management means that the CPU clock can only go from 12x to 32x (35x with turbo-boost, or 42x in my case,) with no intermediate speedsteps. So far so good. The CPU works so fast at 42x, that when performing tasks asking for moderate power, the clock will constantly go from 12x to 42x for a fraction of seconds when needed to not fall behind. With regards to KP, I never had one in two months. And when I say never, that really means never. I'm so pleased with this. To be honest, this is what is was the more frighten of before building this system, as Intel X79 chipset is quite exotic to Mac OS.
 
I have literally the exact same set up as you, minus different RAM and I'm not loading the keyboard and mouse.

Unfortunately, I can't get to the installer. I've ran "PCIRootUID=1 ncpi=0x3000 GraphicsEnabler=No" and set my bios to the same as yours, as well as run -x but every time I get to the Apple Logo with the spinning wheel the monitor goes black while the computer is still on, and I can't get to the installer. I was wondering if there is anything I may have missed while installing Unibeast or any kexts I need to load before hand. I've tried many things but irritatingly nothing has changed.

I've also run -v; The monitor does the same thing but it always turns off at the Ethernet Address, so I turned off the Onboard LAN, where it now progresses me to Audio, with the end result the same.

This has been a headache for a few days now. I would really appreciate it if you can help me out. Thank you!
 
Hi,

First of all, the boot parameters are mandatory to every single boot. This means that even if you're specifying -v, -x and/or -f, you should always specify PCIRootUID=1 npci=0x3000 GraphicsEnabler=No. Although I will recommend using -x only as a last resort, even when booting the installer.

Is you monitor connected through HDMI or Display Port ? If so, you might want to connect it on the DVI-I output of the GTX680. Mac OS may scramble outputs, and on my setup I had to inverse both DVI-I and DVI-D monitors in OS X display configuration pane, as DVI-D was considered by OS X as the primary display while the BIOS and kernel were displayed on the DVI-I connector which is the right one.

In short : your desktop may simply be displayed on another output than the one you're using to boot.

Another important thing to bear in mind while installing : if you've more than 4GB of RAM installed, you should only keep 4GB max while in the installer.
 
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