- Joined
- Dec 11, 2013
- Messages
- 31
- Motherboard
- GA-Z87X-UD5H
- CPU
- Core i7 - 4770k
- Graphics
- Intel HD
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
Monosonico's Pro Tools Studio Build
i7 4770k - GA-Z87X-UD3H - 16GB RAM - GTX 650 1GB**
** Not yet installed
Componentsi7 4770k - GA-Z87X-UD3H - 16GB RAM - GTX 650 1GB**
** Not yet installed
Case: Corsair Carbide Series Black 500R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139009
Motherboard: GA-Z87X-UD5H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128593
CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116901
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233232
Already Owned
SSD: OCZ-VERTEX3 240 GB SATA III
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ11K6674
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM 3.5" Internal (x2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178430
Audio Interface: Symphony I/O 8x8
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Apogee-Symphony-I-O-8x8-Audio-Interface-108595117-i2821731.gc
Keyboard: Apple Wired Keyboard w/ Numeric Pad
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB110LL/B/apple-keyboard-with-numeric-keypad-english-usa
Mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M...e?aid=AIC-WWW-NAUS-K2-BUYNOW-MAGICMOUSE-INDEX
Monitor 1: Acer 27" HDMI LCD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009457
Monitor 2: Sony 32" HDTV - No longer in production
Comments
What Works:
- Audio via Symphony I/O audio interface (This was a headache; See below)
- iMessage, iCloud, etc.
- Ethernet
- Dual monitors
What Doesn't Work:
- USB 3 (Related to audio interface; See below)
- Booting up with dual monitors (goes into boot loop; See below)
- Random freezing every other day, give or take (requires hard restart)
The Long Road to Stabilization
This is my first Hackintosh build ever. Expected a straight-forward process but ended up with a huge headache over the span of 2 weeks. I've built a regular PC before and am pretty software savvy. Not afraid to open up Terminal and run some commands to fix an issue with the help of a guide or two.
The first issue I ran into had a stupidly, simple solution. Our old Mac Pro setup was using VGA to DVi converters on the older monitors we had. For whatever reason my Hackintosh setup did NOT play nicely with them. Could boot into safe mode post-OS installation and run MultiBeast but past that I would just get stuck on the Apple logo.
The solution was to switch to an HDMI cable. I spent days (yes, days) trying different things with the BIOS and MultiBeast and kexts and a million other things. Made me dizzy.
After that I felt pretty confident that everything would be smooth sailing until I realized that the audio was not playing nice. Keep in mind, I never had any need to really setup any Realtek or VooDooHD drivers since I was using an interface but right off the bat (interface drivers/firmware fully up to date), I ran into stuttering, popping, distortion; Everything an audiophile hates.
After weeks (yes, weeks) of pulling out hair and searching through the boards I found someone with the same exact issue using the same MOBO.
Unfortunately the thread that provided the solution was deleted for some unknown reason.
The solution was to DISABLE USB 3 via the BIOS settings.
- Peripherals > xHCI Mode > Disabled (Instead of AUTO).
After that everything has been extremely smooth with the exception of two things:
- Boot loop with dual monitors. If I have both monitors plugged in (both HDMI), upon boot, the GIGABYTE splash screen shows up on both monitors, then I see a little spinning "/" symbol and then it goes black and does it over and over again, never reaching the Chimera loader screen. Unplugging the secondary monitor lets it boot into OS X normally.
- Random freezes! Every few days, sometimes twice a day, the entire system will just freeze without random explanation. Still no solution to this or what exactly is causing this. Still searching the forums.
- Random freezes! Every few days, sometimes twice a day, the entire system will just freeze without random explanation. Still no solution to this or what exactly is causing this. Still searching the forums.
The Setup
A) Initial Bios Configuration
1. Enter the Bios and Press F2 to load the Classic View
2. Press F7 to load optimized default values then proceed to change it.
3.1. Under Peripherals > xHCI Mode, change it to DISABLED
3.2. Under Peripherals > xHCI Hand-OFF, change it to ENABLED
3.3. Under Peripherals > EHCI Hand-OFF, Change it to Enabled
3.4. Under Peripherals > Internal Graphics, Change it to ENABLED.
3.5. Under Peripherals > Init Display First, INTEGRATED
3.6. Under Power Management > Wake on Lan, change it to DISABLED.
4. Save and Exit Bios.
B) Installing Mountain Lion 10.8.5
1. Follow this guide: http://www.tonymacx86.com/61-unibeast-install-os-x-mountain-lion-any-supported-intel-based-pc.html
2. Post-OS installation, hold F12 to boot to USB once again.
You must boot into safe mode to install Multibeast. Do this by typing -x on the Chimera boot screen before booting into your Mountain Lion partition.
3. Once you're in, just go straight for Safari and download Multibeast from tonymacx86.com
Multibeast Config:
Overall, when all was said and done, I'm extremely pleased with my first Hackintosh. Total price of everything (including the audio interface) came out to $4,120~, which still beats the hell out of the top-of-the-line Mac Pro.
Pro Tools runs faster than ever and the Intel HD 4600 handles anything a Pro Tools rig would ever need to throw at it without issue. The most we work with are HD videos.
For you DAW geeks out there, we're running Pro Tools 11 so the 64-bit processing compliments this machine beautifully. I'm running Kontakt 5 with well over 10 instruments loaded in without any stuttering or processing errors.
The process was a huge headache (took me about 4 weeks to get everything running) but it was well worth it.