- Joined
- May 20, 2017
- Messages
- 40
- Motherboard
- ASUS TUF Z270
- CPU
- Intel i7-6700K
- Graphics
- nVidia GeForce GTX 1070
Stansted's "Glowing" Build
ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 1 - Skylake i7-6700K - Gigabyte GeForce ATX 1070 G1
ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 1 - Skylake i7-6700K - Gigabyte GeForce ATX 1070 G1
Components
ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 1 LGA1151 DDR4 DP HDMI M.2 USB 3.1 Z270 ATX Motherboard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5CPK4E/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132934
Corsair Vengeance RGB (2x8GB) DDR4 3466 (PC4-27700) C16 - Intel 100/200 Series PC memory CMR16GX4M2C3466C16
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZXY4V59/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820236190
Intel Core i7-6700K 4.00 GHz Unlocked Quad Core Skylake Desktop Processor, Socket LGA 1151 [BX80662I76700K]
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012M8LXQW/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117559
Noctua D-Type Premium CPU Cooler, NF-A15 PWM Fans, Retail Cooling NH-D15S
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XUVGLEU/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608072
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming Video/Graphics Cards GV-N1070G1 GAMING-8GD
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H0WU884/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125871
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E250B/AM)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OAJ412U/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W02CZ2241
Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147593
LG Electronics 14x SATA Blu-ray Internal Rewriter without Software, Black (WH14NS40)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007VPGL5U/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136250
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3, 80 Plus Gold 850W, Fully Modular Power Supply 220-G3-0850-X1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY4OJYJ/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438092
Fenvi FV-T919 WiFi/Bluetooth 4 PCIe Card
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MDLG51U/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full Tower Chassis with Side Windows
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K6S1B3Q/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854003
2X WD Gold 2TB Enterprise Class Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM Class SATA 6 Gb/s 128MB - WD2005FBYZ
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IY9UTMM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
SYBA SI-PEX40108 4 Port SATA III PCI-e 2.0 x1 Card
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124093
2x ORICO Tool Free 3.5 inch SATA to 5.25 Stainless Bracket HDD Frame -Black
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0VE-000W-00018
Already Owned
Razer BlackWidow Keyboard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ZJ1VD8/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Razer Naga & Deathadder Chroma Mouse
24" ViewSonic VX2453 Series LED Monitor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004LXK8LI/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116479
Comments
I opted for a Skylake + Z270 set-up for a few reasons. First, Z270 is backwards compatible with Skylake, but also future compatible with Kaby Lake, if I want to go that route. Second, Skylake has better current native support. Third, Skylake will have full support from Microsoft through 2020, and yes, I'm running Windows on this build.
A full tower case was picked to make building easier, especially since this is my first build. For the most part, the case was golden. A few of the standoffs came without proper pre-drilling, and so were useless. You could screw them into the case, but they were otherwise rock solid pieces of metal. (So, e.g., screwing the motherboard into them was impossible, since they were not internally threaded!) Fortunately, Phanteks included extra standoffs. It turns out that I had just enough properly threaded standoffs to make the build work. Aside from and despite that issue, I highly recommend this (very large) case.
A large case is also required in order to accommodate the selected Noctua NH-D15S Cooler. The cooler was selected for its exceptional performance, its low sound profile, and the way it's going to look when lit up in full RGB. I'm still weighing options on thoroughly lighting the cooler up, so that hasn't happened yet. Right now, I'm just running the ugly, though effective, stock Noctua fan. I'll update this post with a pic when that upgrade happens.
The Noctua Cooler wants a seriously rigid and reinforced motherboard. The thing weighs 2.5 pounds, after all. So I've opted for the ASUS TUF line. My first attempt was with an ASUF TUF Z270 Mark 2, but that has been swapped out for an ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 1, which is vastly superior. The build quality of the Mark 1 is far higher than the build quality of the Mark 2 (and my Mark 2 was also defective, which made the decision to convert easier.)
Windows 7 was installed to the Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD. That installation was then cloned to the Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD. (Windows 7 cannot be installed directly to an NVMe M.2 SSD.) For the cloning, I used Samsung's Data Migration Software. This worked flawlessly. Note that I'm not using my M.2 SSD for OS X, so this process avoids having to rely on any further hacking. Basically, keeping OS X and Windows on separate SSD's makes everything easier.
A UniBeast driven USB installation of Sierra was then used to format the Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD and install OS X Sierra on it. (This was followed by a quick MultiBeast setup.) At this point, we have Windows 7 living on the 960 EVO and OS X living on the 850 EVO. For this, I just followed the Installation Guide. I did not set up either LAN or Audio at this point, however, since I was planning the motherboard hot-swap.
On that note, and as mentioned, I actually originally set this build up with an ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 2. But that motherboard is junk. It was advertised as ATX (but isn't) and two of the DIMMs on it were defective, preventing me from using my RAM in dual channel mode. Fortunately, "hot swapping" the ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 2 for the ASUS TUF Z270 Mark 1 (after installation of all software) worked just fine. It is perhaps worth noting that the Noctua Cooler fits in only one orientation on the ASUS TUF Mark 1, due to the extensive thermal shielding on the board, but that orientation is the one most people would default to.
After the motherboard hot swap, I first flashed the BIOS and then proceeded to setting up Audio, LAN, iMessage, FaceTime, iCloud, and so on... I'm not finished yet, but I'm happy enough that I can post the build.
Summary
I haven't yet managed to get a few things to work in Sierra, though I will, in time. I'll list those things that aren't yet working.
I haven't yet figured out how to make the Integrated Graphics (Intel HD 530) work. The HDMI connection from my GTX 1070 works fine, however. This shouldn't be too big of a deal to troubleshoot, but it's not a pressing worry since I don't really plan on using the Integrated Graphics anyway.
For audio, I'm now using external speakers running off the case's front headphone jack. This works, though volume can sometimes be a bit low. (We have the new Realtek S1220A codec on this board. What I did have working before I had external speakers was audio through my HDMI output to my monitor's speakers from my GTX 1070 using VoodooHDA.) I'm also driving headphones (with a mic) through a USB connection (also using the case's front USB port). I don't think I yet have native support set up for the Realtek S1220A codec, but my sound options are good enough that I don't plan to mess with that.
Final Notes
If I were to do this over again, I'd probably opt for closed-loop water cooling. The primary reason for this is that transporting the computer with the Noctua Cooler requires disassembly. If you never plan to transport the computer, the Noctua Cooler is great. But I would not ship or transport this piece of equipment without taking that massive cooler off. Any shipping of this beast will likely destroy it unless that massive Noctua Cooler is pulled off. Since I plan on moving around, I wish I had opted for closed-loop water cooling.
Updates and Edits
Since the build was originally posted, it has been updated with additional storage (namely, the two linked Western Digital 2TB disks). These were basically plug and play. One disk is set for Windows Storage while the other is set for OS X storage. The Windows Storage disk is read/writeable in Windows 7 and readable in OS X. The OS X Storage disk is read/writeable in OS X, but not currently readable in Windows 7 (though I haven't bothered to try to make it so, if that's possible).
The addition of two 2 TB spinning disks overloaded my motherboard's three available SATA ports. We need SATA ports for the Samsung 850 EVO, the two Western Digital spinning disks, and the LG optical drive. Thus the addition of a Hackintosh compatible PCI-E SATA card which is used to drive the LG optical drive.
The two 2 TB drives are installed in the front 5.25" drive bays of the case. (The internal drive cage was removed for better air flow.) I've added links to the Orico brackets I used to install these. Very happy with those!
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