TRS96's Prodigy - Super Cool 'N Quiet - CustoMac Mini: Pentium G2020 - H77N-WiFi - Asus GT610 Fanless

[UtterDisbelief]

Good to see such a clean and sensible build

A real Mac Mini (of which I've had many) is a relatively expensive beast when compared with a similar spec PC, so building a similarly powerful CustoMac to show the price difference and add expandability is a great project. Others prove it is so easy just to throw money at a project and get speed you don't actually need.

Thanks for the inspiration

 

[trs96]

Good to see such a clean and sensible build

A real Mac Mini (of which I've had many) is a relatively expensive beast when compared with a similar spec PC, so building a similarly powerful CustoMac to show the price difference and add expandability is a great project. Others prove it is so easy just to throw money at a project and get speed you don't actually need.

Thanks for the inspiration

Being a previous Mac Mini user myself (2005 model) I was well aware of all the problems inherent in the ultra small form factor. It worked fine for email and internet surfing but if I ever tried to edit or encode video in iMovie HD it would overheat, the fan would rev up to max speed and I'd have to shut it down.

The other major downside was the limited upgradability. I upgraded the Ram with some difficulty and attempted the HDD but was not successful so I decided to take the CustoMac approach and build something affordable that I could easily upgrade myself. Am I ever so happy that I did . My Prodigy Mini is much cooler, quieter and more capable of handling hi def video (viewing and encoding) than an entry level Mini with a laptop cpu ever could be.

So many thanks to all the moderators, admins, and other forum members that have made this a possibility for everyone to become satisfied CustoMac owners that never have to wait for the dreaded spinning beach ball anymore

 

[trs96]

+1 TRS. Damn good looking case, though.

Yes Stork, I really love the look of the Arctic White Prodigy. Did I mention that the Apple logo sticker is a super easy, painless mod. You can get them in black, white and many other colors and no tools required, just sticks right on anywhere on the case. I chose the Arctic Blue to go with my Arctic White case. If you want to go retro, you can get this one on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Retro-Macintosh-Apple-Macbook-sticker/dp/B0064OM7LQ/


here's how it looks on the white iPad.

For anyone who's done a prodigy build or is planning one, there is also a side panel window that can be purchased from
Bitfenix via many internet retailers. All of the colors are available with an acrylic window cutout to view the inside of the
case. Not something I'm interested in but some may want that for their case.

http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/prodigy-window-side-panel/


Here are some of the other color choices available for the Prodigy Case. Any Colour you Like !

 

[s1s2]

you can have the HDMI audio too, connect it to a TV, you run voodoo 2.8.2
I tested.

 

[trs96]

you can have the HDMI audio too, connect it to a TV, you run voodoo 2.8.2
I tested.

Are u using HDMI from your I3-2105 integrated HD3000 graphics ?

 

[s1s2]

Are u using HDMI from your I3-2105 integrated HD3000 graphics ?

No, I used HDMI from Asus GT610 fanless to a HD TV

 

[hans123]

I am using the same CPU, G2020, with a GA-B75M-D3H mobo. It runs well, just like yours, without DSDT, sleep works. On OSX10.8.4 with a GT210 video card.
But when I add a kext for Sound (ALC887) the system takes more than a minute to boot to the desktop. The usb mouse and keyboard need an additional 2 minutes to come to life. Then the system runs well again. Adding a kext for Network works without any problems.

I have checked with Toleda (a.o. HDA expert) and he suggests installation problems, not related to HDA/ Sound.

Would you have any thoughts or pointers for me where to look?

Thanks for your reply!

 

[trs96]

I am using the same CPU, G2020, with a GA-B75M-D3H mobo. It runs well, just like yours, without DSDT, sleep works. On OSX10.8.4 with a GT210 video card.
But when I add a kext for Sound (ALC887) the system takes more than a minute to boot to the desktop. The usb mouse and keyboard need an additional 2 minutes to come to life. Then the system runs well again. Adding a kext for Network works without any problems.

I have checked with Toleda (a.o. HDA expert) and he suggests installation problems, not related to HDA/ Sound.

Would you have any thoughts or pointers for me where to look?

Thanks for your reply!

Hans, are you connecting your monitor via HDMI or DVI ? Are you using a TV as a monitor or a PC LCD monitor ?

You might try re-running Multibeast and make sure that you don't select the ALC887 kext from the with DSDT option.

You may have done that by mistake and it could slow down your boot time. See the attachment.

 

[hans123]

I am using a Dell monitor on DVI. I am positive that I selected the ALC887 kext without DSDT. In the meantime I saw other reports on the Internet describing the same situation, but no solution. The best workaround seems to be to just not use the ALC887 sound option and go for an USB soundcard. Currently I'm using the UCA202 from Behringer and it performs very well (good sound, low noise and low latency).

 

[trs96]

I am using a Dell monitor on DVI. I am positive that I selected the ALC887 kext without DSDT. In the meantime I saw other reports on the Internet describing the same situation, but no solution. The best workaround seems to be to just not use the ALC887 sound option and go for an USB soundcard. Currently I'm using the UCA202 from Behringer and it performs very well (good sound, low noise and low latency).

It must be a problem unique to that D3H board. Probably why the D3P version is in the Buyer's guide and that one isn't. The Behringer audio interface looks like a nice plug and play solution for any CustoMac. Thanks for sharing that info, I wasn't aware of that card for an audio recording / editing build. It offers some recording options that many of the lower priced GB boards don't have.