[success] Valkerie's GA-Z87N-Wifi / [email protected] / 8GB / GTX 780Ti SC / 10.10 Yosemite

[valkeriefire]

Valkeriefire's Build: GA-Z87N-Wifi / i7-4770K / GTX 780Ti SC

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Components

i7-4770k overclocked to 4.5ghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116901

Gigabyte GA-Z87N-Wifi Rev 2.0 Motherboard - but I'm not using the stock wifi since it isn't OS X compatible
"http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128615

EVGA GTX-780Ti Superclocked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487003

Samsung 840 EVO 500gb- for Windows 8
I strongly recommend NOT buying a Samsung 840 EVO or 840 non-Pro. They had a serious firmware issue that crippled read speeds on data over 1 month old. It has been fixed but not user tested long term. I recommend the Crucial MX100 which I have on my Mac Mini.
Anandtech Documents Bug Here
www.overclock.net thread which discovered it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147249

Bitfenix Prodigy ITX Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345017

Corsair H105 CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181060

Seasonic SS-760XP2 Platinum 760w Modular PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151120&cm_re=ss-760-_-17-151-120-_-Product


Already Owned

Samsung 830 256GB SSD - for OS X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147135

Atheros 9280 Wifi Card from ebay
The stock wifi card that comes with the GA-Z87N-Wifi doesn't work with OS X. I purchased an Atheros 9280 on ebay and have used on multiple Macs. All you have to do is remove the stock card and install the new one. It is super easy.

Samsung 1600mhz 30nm wonder RAM
This RAM is hard to find now, but it OCs like a dream. I run it at 2133mhz 10,10,10,24 1.5v
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096

Comments

This is my 4th Hackintosh. Previously, I ran a 2500k, a 2600k, and a 3770k with SLi Titans. I decided I need a more portable build. SLi water cooled Titans weigh a ton, so this new build is still plenty powerful thanks to the [email protected] and 780Ti SC, and it is easy to move around thanks to the itx board and Prodigy Case.

Today I updated to Yosemite, so I decided I would post my build here to see if it helps anyone with the upgrade.


Install Instructions

Due to the GTX780Ti not being natively supported by OS X, you will need to use the nv_disable=1 flag at the Chimera boot screen when booting from the Yosemite USB Installer. This flag will need to be used for any GTX 780/780Ti/Titan which uses the GK110B core (older 780s and Titans with the GK110A core will work without the flag).

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Once OS X Yosemite is installed, reboot with the USB Installer again, but select your new drive as the boot source still using the nv_disable=1 flag. Run MultiBeast. I used the settings in the following screen shot.

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After running MultiBeast, download the NVIDIA OS X drivers here and install them. Check your settings under System Preferences-NVIDIA Driver Manager and make sure the NVIDIA drivers are selected.

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Then open your chameleon.org.Boot.plist by using Finder "Go To Folder" /extra, then add the following

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>nvda_drv=1</string>

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Once you have installed the NVIDIA drivers and added above flag to your chameleon.org.Boot.plist, you can boot OS X without any trouble. Enjoy.

Overclocking

4770k's are generally not great overclockers compared to the 2600k and 3770k. I highly recommend you go to www.overclock.net and read about overclocking if you want to do it. Here are some great threads on the matter.

Haswell Overclocking Guide

Gigabyte Z87 Guide


My 4770k is a fairly good overclocking CPU. A good way to tell if your CPU is good without doing any testing is to check the resting VID (ie vcore) of the CPU before you apply any overclocking (your motherboard needs to be on stock voltage and clocks to see). If your stock idle voltage is greater than 1.15v, then it will probably be a lousy overclocker. If it is less than 1.0v, it will probably be amazing. Mine is 1.05v and I am able to run 4.5ghz at 1.25v with load line calibration set to turbo/extreme. This is considered above average. I once had 4770k that was 1.2v @ stock, needless to say it was a lousy clocker, it could barely do 4.0ghz. Here is photo that shows how to tell...

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For my overclock, my voltage is set to 1.25v and LLC is set to Turbo. All of my multipliers are set to 45. Everything else is stock as far as the CPU goes. For stability testing I recommend using the methods described in the Haswell OC guide above.

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Benchmarks

Geekbench 32-bit multicore-16668
Luxmark GPU&CPU-2633
Cinebench CPU- 9.73 GPU- 66.82
Heaven Extreme Preset- 1929

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Inside Build Photos

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[valkeriefire]

Finally finished the post. I added benchmarks, photos, and more detailed instructions.

 

[jimpayne2000]

I have the same set up as you, now please excuse me because i'm a complete amateur at this however by a complete miracle and following your great thread have got Yosemite up and running. However when I boot up the cursor will not move and will only work correctly if I press the reset button on the computer and yippy up and running. Any help would be gratefully received. Thank you

 

[Stork]

Valkerie, so, to summarize your MultiBeast choices, you picked:

Quick Start > DSDT Free
Drivers > Audio > RealteK ALCxxx > ALC892
Drivers > Disk > TRIM Enabler > 10.10.0 TRIM Patch
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC Plugins (latest version)
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC HWMonitor Application (latest version)
Drivers > Network > Atheros > AtherosL1cEthernet 1.2.3
Drivers > Network > Intel > AppleIntelE1000e v3.1.0​

The other items in your MultiBeast Build Configuration screen snapshot are due to DSDT Free choice. I point this out because I've seen confusion in other posts in other threads on just what needs to be selected when only shown the Build summary screen snapshot.

Congratulations on installing Yosemite on your Z87N!

 

[telepati]

@Valkerie's did you try any stability test for your overclock settings? if not please could you check with Geekbench Stability test and share result with us. 15 min will be enough! Cause I cant past 5 min test

 

[valkeriefire]

Valkerie, so, to summarize your MultiBeast choices, you picked:

Quick Start > DSDT Free
Drivers > Audio > RealteK ALCxxx > ALC892
Drivers > Disk > TRIM Enabler > 10.10.0 TRIM Patch
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC Plugins (latest version)
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC HWMonitor Application (latest version)
Drivers > Network > Atheros > AtherosL1cEthernet 1.2.3
Drivers > Network > Intel > AppleIntelE1000e v3.1.0​

The other items in your MultiBeast Build Configuration screen snapshot are due to DSDT Free choice. I point this out because I've seen confusion in other posts in other threads on just what needs to be selected when only shown the Build summary screen snapshot.

Congratulations on installing Yosemite on your Z87N!

You are correct Stork, thanks for summarizing it. I actually crashed the OS the first time I installed it because I thought I selected DSDT free, but I actually unselected it by pressing it again. The new MultiBeast is much better than old checkbox version, but it does take some thought to notice the changes.

@Valkerie's did you try any stability test for your overclock settings? if not please could you check with Geekbench Stability test and share result with us. 15 min will be enough! Cause I cant past 5 min test

@Telepati. OC stability testing is VERY subjective. Over at overlock.net, the standard was to pass at least an hour of Prime95, some said 12 hours of Prime95 if you were really serious. Unfortunately the Haswell CPUs perform more irratically than the older ones. You can be stable in 1 application for hours, but another application will cause a crash within moments. Another problem is that Prime95 and Linkpak stress tests will cause a ton of heat even on water cooled systems like mine. Many people are recommending lighter stress testing specific to the applications you use. My build will freeze if it runs Prime95 for a decent amount of time, BUT I can process video files at 4.5ghz and convert them to usable formats indefinitely (which is a much more realistic use of 100% CPU load). In short, you need to find a test that works for you. Just because one test causes a crash doesn't mean another will. I haven't tried the Geekbench stability test but I will later this week when I have time, I will post my results here. Still, if you can use your computer, play games, edit and convert video, and not have a crash, then your rig may be stable, just not for that specific test. My rig has never crashed due to the OC during my normal tasks. I do not consider benchmarks and stress tests to be normal. I personnally use the x264 conversion stress test because it simulates a real video conversion process, not an artificial test that you would never do in real conditions.

Another factor is all stability testing should be done in Windows. OS X doesn't have all the tools you need for easy stability testing. Also the guide here uses Windows apps. This guide is what I use for testing. You can do testing in OS X, but it is harder to find the cause of a crash, at least for me since I am more familiar with Windows.

If you a really serious about OCing a CPU, I would run windows on separate drive, and test there. Post your results on overlock.net to get help.

Goodluck. I will help you as best as I can here, but this is a forum for running OS X (and it is the best place for dealing with that). Overlock.net is exactly what it sounds like, and it is great place for overlocking advice.

 

[bombstyle]

Valkerie, so, to summarize your MultiBeast choices, you picked:

Quick Start > DSDT Free
Drivers > Audio > RealteK ALCxxx > ALC892
Drivers > Disk > TRIM Enabler > 10.10.0 TRIM Patch
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC Plugins (latest version)
Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC HWMonitor Application (latest version)
Drivers > Network > Atheros > AtherosL1cEthernet 1.2.3
Drivers > Network > Intel > AppleIntelE1000e v3.1.0​

The other items in your MultiBeast Build Configuration screen snapshot are due to DSDT Free choice. I point this out because I've seen confusion in other posts in other threads on just what needs to be selected when only shown the Build summary screen snapshot.

Congratulations on installing Yosemite on your Z87N!

I'm having a strange issue with a very similar build (Z87n-wifi). My computer will randomly wake (even if completely powered down) and go into some strange state where nothing can be done. It can only be solved with a force restart. Is this a multibeast setting issue, or perhaps bios? Really confused on this one.

 

[valkeriefire]

I just updated to the F6 bios for the Z87N-Wifi. For some reason this bios render OS X unable to boot successfully. I am not sure what the cause is. I remember I updated before and I had to switch back to the F5 bios to make OS X work again. F6 causes the Chimera boot loader to show the video display a little slower. I boot with the -x -s flags and see the following....



Has anyone else been able to get the F6 bios to work?

 

[Beowulff]

I just got F6 to work.

It took a long time, tweaking BIOS settings, but by loading Optimized defaults, and turning OFF VT-D, it boots Yosemite.

Now, to see if it helps my freeze after sleep issue....

 

[Beowulff]

FWIW, I was never able to get this MoBo to sleep reliably.
It would always corrupt memory after a few (1-30) sleep cycles. I'm reasonably sure it's a firmware issue - setting the BIOS to "Enhanced Stability" helped, and upping the DRAM voltage helped also. But, nothing I tried fixed the problem entirely.

I finally decided to give up, and swap motherboards for a ASRocks Z97M-ITX/ac. I'm going to post about this later.

It sleeps correctly.