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Thierry's First Build: “Mac Midi” GA-B75M-D3H / i3-3225 / 8GB / HD 4000 / Temjin TJ08-E

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Joined
Aug 18, 2011
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395
Motherboard
GA-Z97N-Wifi
CPU
i5-4590S
Graphics
HD4600
Mac
  1. MacBook Air
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS

Thierry's First Build:
"Mac Midi" GA-B75M-D3H / i3-3225 / 8GB / HD 4000 dual displays / SSD / Temjin TJ08-E


ScreenShot462.jpg


Components


Apple OS X Mountain Lion Mac Apps Store
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H, mATX, USB3 (rev 1.0 and Bios F11)
Amazon Cheapest, easiest MB
Intel Core i3-3225 3.3 GHz, HD4000 Amazon Cheaper proc with HD4000
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz Amazon
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB Amazon Cheaper than Crucial M4 or Samsung 840 at that time
be quiet! BQT E9 Straight Power (400W) Amazon Chosen for the silence
Silverstone Temjin TJ08-E mATX MidTower Amazon Chosen for the silence (recommended by SilentPCreview)
Cheaper than a Mac Mini (if I had to upgrade SSD, RAM.)
Dell UltraSharp 2007FP 20” display Already owned
Samsung SyncMaster 930er 19” display "
Samsung HDD 1TB 7200rpm "
Apple full keyboard / Logitech mouse M500 / Logitech webcam C270 "



What's working and not working

Working
: All !? Almost all.
HD4000 on dual screens (DVI + HDMI adapter), Ethernet, USB2.0, USB3.0 , Sound, TRIM on SSD, iCloud, MacAppstore, manual sleep (and wake up)

Limitations:


  • [*=left]cannot mute from the keyboard button, but it is known on this board. Still possible to lower the sound level to its minimum (which is as low as mute, anyway)
    [*=left]cannot plug a USB 2.0 drive (flashdrive, HDD) to the USB 3.0 ports. This is a current limitation on our hackintoshes. I discovered this limitation when I first tested my hack, and after 6 months of intensive reading on the forum. A good advice: read also the others part of the forum, during your search phase, not only the “Buying Advice”. (great information in this thread "USB3 not working")
    [*=left]to run the 180mm front fan at 600/1200rpm with the dedicated switch, you must plug it to the PSU with adapter. Not to the mother board, which delivers less. But I kept mine at 500rpm for silence.

Not working:
iMessage, but there is a fix. I don't use iMessage on my mac so I did not try the fix with Chameleon.

Future ideas


  • [*=1|left][DONE]Buying some speakers (After having all included in my previous iMac, I completely forgot that I needed to order some speakers to get sound:D).
    [*=1|left][DONE] - Testing the USB 3.0 ports with a USB 3.0 drive
    [*=1|left][Confirmed] Testing the dual monitor on the HD4000, with my new cable HDMI/DVI
    [*=1|left][DONE] Improving the soundproofing, because I could still hear the HDD running/vibrating. I suspended the HDD in the 5.25" location and removed the HDD cage. (details in this message)
    [*=1|left][Changed] Moving the SSD to the back plate, to have better cable management It was not an easy task to "fold" the cables. I just left the SSD at the bottom. (details here)
    [*=1|left]Installing a new, more silent HDD, for storage and TimeMachine
    [*=1|left][DONE] Fusion Drive after 5 months of good working hackintosh, it was time. I succeeded after the second try. (details here)
    [*=1|left]Changing the CPU cooler for a more silent one. (currently using the stock CPU cooler) but I'm not sure if this would make a real difference.


Comments:

Background
This is the second time in my life that I build a computer. First one was a barebone Shuttle, back in 2003. I wanted a small computer, different from others. It was running a Pentium 4 with a heatsink directly cooled by the rear fan. Great little thing (and so loud when getting hot!)

dscn0812.jpg
In 2007 I switched to Mac and could never go back to Windows. I was using an iMac 20” and later a MacbookPro 15”. When I needed to get a new Mac, at the end of 2011, it would not be another iMac. Possibly a Mac Mini, for the small size, the silence and the sufficient power, according to my needs (all was still enough on my iMac C2Duo 2.4GHz).

Then I remembered about the Hackintosh community, the builders, etc., which were a great alternative. Would I be able to build one by myself? (Without too much headache?). Definetely, YES!

I started to read all what I could in this very active forum. December 2011, the MBPro was sold. May 2012, the iMac also. I ended with no Mac at all, in our home. It was a strange feeling. Back to the old heavy Dell Precision 4300.

I survived during the last 6 months and after many changes in my building list, I am proudly writing from my new “Mac Midi”. Nothing would have been possible without the TonyMac’s team and community. Without all of you, I would be running an slow Mac Mini. Thanks so much!!

Choosing components (a long but very instructive journey!)
Goals:

- No hassle to build and to run
- Quiet
- And quiet.


6-9 June 2012: I was going for a small silent Customac Mini 2011 = mini ITX board GA-H61N-USB3 with i3-2125 and small case (Element Q or JCP or maybe SG06)
http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-ad...ustomac-mini-silent-dual-monitor-austria.html Thanks Gordo, Mate94 and others for your help at that time.

Then I realized the new Ivy Bridge processors were coming, soon to be announced at the WWDC. I was thinking of less burden and just get the new Mac Mini. Too bad, there was no launch in June. (or "to good" in the end, since it pushed me to build a hack)

But then, why not using the new processor, for more power in the same range of price?
So I delayed my purchase and was again looking at the suitable components.

Some were using the newest boards but with older Sandy Bridge processor. It was a possibility for me. "Luckily", I was short on budget in July and was waiting to order my parts.

On 21st July, the new TonyMac website was launched and soon the new CustoMac list was online. I started to think about mATX format, to have a cheaper build and more possibilities in future. (Adding HD, GPU, more RAM, etc) Still with the i3-2125 at that time.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/60375-hackmini-budget-mini-itx-micro-atx-gain-loss.html Thanks Mieze, Koalaman and others for your suggestions.

I was going for GA-B75M-D3H, i3-2125 with GT430 for dual monitor, in a silent Temjin TJ08B-E.
I needed a PSU. Thanks Mate94, the Be Quiet! Straight Power E9-400W is really good quality!
http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/65758-last-bit-my-build-silent-budget-psu.html

Another short break in my journey, when the Mrs decided that we should save some money. :)
(She was right, as always.)

21st August, the new i3-3225 was announced. There was no reason to go with the core i3 HD3000. Another waiting.

25th September, it was the final line. Was the GA-B75M enough good for me. Why so few builds were in the forum? Why we could see more Z77 (Gigabyte and Asus)?
I got my answers: because B75M had less problems to install, so people were posting less in the forum.
So, it would finally be a B75M in my rig.

4 months later, I can confirm I made all the right choices for my needs. I am very happy with the mATX size, where I can fit more HDDs. It's not the size of a Mac Mini, but it still ok.

Building
Final choice was made and the order was sent to Amazon. Now that I received all the parts, I have to fit all these:
parts.jpg

Into that black box:
empty.jpg

Very nice PSU. Awful lot of cables, when I am only using one SSD and one HDD. But who knows later.

PSU.jpg

The SSD went at the bottom of the case. And the HDD in the frame. (I did not take out the frame, maybe later I'll have to add another HDD.) You can see the big front fan (180mm)

drives and fan.jpg

After a short time, I was able to put all inside and connect all cables.
It was easy to put the motherboard on the removable plate, then put all back in.
I had to try different position for the drives, to minimize the cable length and optimize the airflow. I only run one front fan.

Little reminder for the "beginners" like me: don't forget to place the rear I/O motherboard plate, before screwing the motherboard inside. :p You'll save some time. (Yes, the I/O plate is put from inside to outside. Silly me.)

All is fitting well inside the Temjin. There are many pass-through holes and cable tie bridges, which helped for the cable management.

The only thing I don't like so far, is the power cable, lying down in the bottom. I could not find any other way to put on the sides or the rear. I think it won't be a problem for the airflow (and for the components I have in this rig)

February 2013, I found this great topic about the Temjin TJ08-E, with a lots of good ideas for the cable management.
I plan to move the SSD on the back panel and the HDD to the 5.25" casing. (Done in March, as you can see below)

Temjin TJ08-E Thierry.jpg


Installing OSX
UniBeast on the USB flashdrive
Pretty simple, just follow the guide from TonyMac. (I like to have it printed, easier to follow)
Don’t forget to also copy the MultiBeast on the drive (in case of bad luck and if you don’t get Ethernet working after installation)
As said in the guide, it takes some time to install and you don’t see much progress on the bar. (about 20min)

Bios setup
Update to the latest version (for me it was F4 => F11)
Very simple if you follow the instructions from Gigabyte:
Download the latest BIOS version, unzip and run the .exe from a PC. (or just unzip from a Mac).
Plug this USB flash drive to a USB 2.0 port (It did not work on my USB 3.0, as I had a USB 2 flashdrive)
Run Q-Flash from the BIOS setting (hit F8)

Now it’s time to configure your BIOS.
You can follow the Quick Guide from LostSwede and also the very good thread from Moarfish.
- Load the optimized settings (F7)
- If using XMP RAM like me, choose the Profile1, to have it running at 1600MHz (in the MIT/Advance Memory Setting)
- If using the Integrated Graphics like me (the HD4000), choose IGFX for the Initial Display First
- and leave the default 64MB for Internal Graphics Memory Size
- In Peripherals, xHCI mode is set to Auto.
- SATA Mode is AHCI
- xHCI and EHCI Hand-off are Enabled
- Serial port and Parallel port are Disabled
- High Precision Event Timer is Enabled
- No change were necessary on the rest​

Make sure the Boot Option #1 is the USB (then later, you will change back to P0= “your SSD”)

Installing OS X Mountain Lion, by using UniBeast ML 1.5.3
Back to the UniBeast guide that you printed, just continue at the step 3. No surprise again here, if you can follow the instructions, you end up with a working OS X ML, after less than 20min (installing on a SSD drive)

Only a small surprise in my case, when I rebooted for first time, it could only see the USB drive. Impossible to choose the SSD. I thought my SSD was dead.
Luckily, after a quick check inside the casing, it was just a loose cable. (turn off the computer before checking inside, of course !)

Configuring with MultiBeast ML 5.1.3
After the first reboot into Mountain Lion, you get the Apple set up, then you arrive on your fresh new desktop.
You can copy the MultiBeast to your desktop and run it.
I used the typical configuration for our B75M from Moarfish build.

Edit: with the latest MultiBeast, there is not anymore this Realtek Gigabit Ethernet. I think it's managed by default. I did not reapply MB after the first install, so I can't really tell at this point.

Screen Shot 2012-11-07 at 12.56.02 AM.png

Screen Shot 2012-11-07 at 2.14.41 AM.png
Screen Shot 2013-02-02 at 12.52.15 AM.png




Few hiccups:
1. At initial installation, I was not able to boot directly on the SSD. Impossible to choose the P0:Sandisk for the Boot Option #1.
After looking all around in the BIOS, I found that I could define the order in the Hard Drive BBS Priorities.

2. After the first few hours of playing with my new rig, and starting to install from my previous Time Machine backup, I got a crash. Rebooting the machine was just stuck at the Apple logo with turning wheel. Doing a boot with flag – v was giving more information: AppleRTL8169Ethernet : phyWaitForAutoNegotiation TIMEOUT
I got some help in the forum, read about this issue, but could not solve it. I tried all the possible flags and was always arriving to same time out.
As the rig was still fresh and not much installed, nor configured, I decided to re-install (instead of going into Single Mode user, with some command line, etc. I am not expert)

3. 15min later, OS X ML was installed again. I made the mistake of rebooting before applying all the config in MultiBeast. Big big mistake! The computer was again crashing.
Nevermind, it would be another 15min to run UniBeast and ML.
Here I got bad luck again. The computer would not boot on the USB drive. It was recognized in the BIOS, but I was just getting a “Boot1 = error”.
Reading all around the forum, the only reason for this boot error was a “non compatible” USB flash drive. How possible?? I already used mine 4 times to install ML.
I had to wait the next day, to get UniBeast on a new USB drive. (remember, I don’t have anymore Mac at home, so I had to get it from my friend’s macbookpro)
Back home with the new USB drive and all went like a charm. Just rebooted, all Mountain Lion was still installed. I ran the MultiBeast, with all correct selections this time, and all went well this time.


EDIT:

9th Nov.: adding ideas for the noise HDD and the CPU cooler

11th Nov.: trying with USB powered speakers.
It's not good. There is an electronic noise loop from the computer, when scrolling, viewing pictures in iPhoto, etc.
I returned it to the shop and bought "normal" speakers, with the usual small power supply.

15th Nov.: Confirmation from my tests and from others builds with GA-B75M, it's not possible to use a USB 2.0 drive on a USB 3.0 port.
But it's possible on a USB3 hub, that is plugged on the USB3 ports.
For now, I have the front USB on the motherboard USB2.

2nd Feb 2013: adding the Geekbench score (8224).
I got the HDMI adapter and I am currently on dual display, with the HD4000. Working great.
My problem with front fan is still not solved, even with the replacement. I still have to check, but enough cooling until now.
And, by doing the tests, I "removed" the vibration problem. So, I don't hear anymore the HDD. Cool.
I'm not yet in need to do a FusionDrive, for my daily usage. We'll see a bit later. (Especially when I am afraid to redo a complete install.) It's working great for the last 3 months, i'll leave it like that.

26th Feb. 2013:
Cleaning a bit the topic, to try to make it easier to read.
The front fan problem is solved, it just need to be connected to the PSU with adapter, to get 12V.
I have again the problem of vibration from the HDD or the fan. I will try to supsend the HDD, to supress the possible vibrations.

25th March 2013:
I added the info about my suspended HDDs. It solves all the vibration issues and I got better airflow by removing the HDD cage. (details here)
I created a Fusion Drive and it is very good. I succeeded on the second try. (Had some issue with the HD4000 at first try) Details here.
 

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Nice build! I have exactly the same setup (GA-B75M-D3H/i3-3225). USB3 is working allright after 10.8.2 update, however I was unable to boot the UniBeast stick when installing if it was plugged into a USB3 connector - seems to be a bios issue. Also, HDMI video worked for me out of the box, however I am still struggling to make audio via HDMI work - tried numerous DSDT patches already, but still no luck yet.

As for making your rig a bit less noisy - I noticed that you have your HDD in the 3.5" bay. I have mine installed in the 5" (CD/DVD drive) bay using rubber bands - they make a great suspension, isolating any HDD vibration from the case. I also dumped the stock CPU cooler in favor of Titan TTC-NK95TZ/NPW, it has a noiseless suspended 10cm fan, so my system is quite silent.
 
USB3 is working allright after 10.8.2 update, however I was unable to boot the UniBeast stick when installing if it was plugged into a USB3 connector - seems to be a bios issue.

Do you mean USB3 is working with a USB3 drive?

I was directly installing 10.8.2.

Just like you, my UniBeast USB2 would not boot on the USB3 ports. I had to juggle with the 4 USB in the back. (because at that time, I did not know if the mouse and keyboard would also make a problem on USB3 connector)

In the end, I used the adaptor for motherboard and my front USB ports are going to the USB2 on motherboard.
(I don't own yet any USB3 flashdrive or HD)


As for making your rig a bit less noisy - I noticed that you have your HDD in the 3.5" bay. I have mine installed in the 5" (CD/DVD drive) bay using rubber bands - they make a great suspension, isolating any HDD vibration from the case. I also dumped the stock CPU cooler in favor of Titan TTC-NK95TZ/NPW, it has a noiseless suspended 10cm fan, so my system is quite silent.

Thanks for the tips!
At first start up, I was surprised to hear the stock processor fan.
But then, it was forgotten, when you see the noise from the HDD.
I'll try what you suggest, to reduce some noise.
I also have to search for a more silent CPU cooler.

(Added to my list of future projects, thanks!)
 
Do you mean USB3 is working with a USB3 drive?

I was directly installing 10.8.2.

Just like you, my UniBeast USB2 would not boot on the USB3 ports. I had to juggle with the 4 USB in the back. (because at that time, I did not know if the mouse and keyboard would also make a problem on USB3 connector)

In the end, I used the adaptor for motherboard and my front USB ports are going to the USB2 on motherboard.
(I don't own yet any USB3 flashdrive or HD)

In theory, a USB2 device should work fine in USB3 port. However, when I plugged by UniBeast flash stick into the usb3 port, I was able to see it in the boot devices list and even boot it, however it failed to load the OS installer. After installing 10.8.2 I was able to use any USB2 media plugged into the USB3 port.


Thanks for the tips!
At first start up, I was surprised to hear the stock processor fan.
But then, it was forgotten, when you see the noise from the HDD.
I'll try what you suggest, to reduce some noise.
I also have to search for a more silent CPU cooler.

(Added to my list of future projects, thanks!)

No probs. I'm very sensitive to HDD/Fans noise, since I have my two PCs on 24/7 and I hate it when I hear them periodically waking from sleep at night, so I did whatever I could to make them less noisy - I use suspended case and CPU heatsink fans and have the HDDs mounted on rubber bands, so that the case doesn't amplify the vibrations. I have also modded the PSU on my HTPC rig - it has quite a noisy fan with no temperature-controlled RPM regulator, so it always runs on max speed making a lot of noise. I added a LM317 voltage regulator to make it run slower and put a thick rubber gasket between the PSU fan and the PSU case, so that the noise coming from the fan vibration isn't amplified by the PSU and the PC case, so now that all the noisy components are suspended/isolated from the case it is quite silent.
 
Gordo74 recommended to me the Gelid case fan below. I've since purchased a dozen of them :eek: over time (whenever Newegg has a 10-15% off on case fans deal). :clap: They're great! :thumbup: I use them on either side of Thunderball's Thermaltake Water2.0 Performer processor cooler radiator.

GELID Solutions FN-SX12-10 120mm Silent Case Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426016
 
Gordo74 recommended to me the Gelid case fan below. I've since purchased a dozen of them :eek: over time (whenever Newegg has a 10-15% off on case fans deal). :clap: They're great! :thumbup: I use them on either side of Thunderball's Thermaltake Water2.0 Performer processor cooler radiator.

Well most, if not all 12cm fans are pretty silent and provide a good airflow even at low RPMs. Also all good 10-12cm fans are packaged with rubber fan mounts that are much better than conventional screws since they absorb any vibration from the fan so that the case doesn't amplify the noise from the fan vibration.
 
Thanks Stork for the recommendation. It's quite difficult to choose some silent fan, because there are always a big list of the good ones.
I'll have a look if these Gelid are available around here in Austria or Germany.

I think it will be the next job (I mean, "hardware" job). Because I can definitely hear the CPU fan... :(
 
Yes. A great source of info.
I choose my current case after reading the reviews in SPCR.

I missed this last update about the fans. Good to know!
And for the small cost (the Gelid you pointed out, and other silent fans) there is no reason to keep the stock models.

(I'm on my way to buy speakers :) first time in last 10 years. )
 
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