[Z77 Build] SkeletalMac MKII - Z77X-UD5H w/Nvidia 560ti 448

[philz]

SkeletalMac MKII​

Components

Silverstone Raven RV-01 case (amazing case, but huge)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163135

Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007R21JK4/

Intel i7 2600K running at 4.5ghz turbo boost
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

Thermalright Archon CPU cooler (with both 140mm fans, this cooler is really tall and wont fit most cases)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004D1VULU/

16Gb's of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 Memory

Zotac Geforce GTX560 ti 448 core special edition (570 with one cuda core disabled, as a result native open CL and better power support in OSX)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500231

Intel 510 120gb SATAIII SSD (more stable than a sandforce)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167042

WD Caviar Black 2TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136792

WD Caviar Green 3TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236108

Sony OptiArc DVD burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118067

Corsair HX850 850watt Professional PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011&Tpk=Corsair%20HX850

ioGear Bluetooth 2.1 Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006P18W58/

Apple Magic Trackpad
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XIJ3MW/

Logitech G700 Wireless Mouse
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VAM32E/

NEC 2490WUXI2 24" Design Caliber hardware programmable LUT table monitors (Most amazing things ever, I've had many monitors but these will be used till they die, which will be a long long time. They are that good.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002527

Ergotron MX Desk Mount (VESA for monitors)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001IWOBGI/


Comments

This is the replacement build for my troubled Z68X board (bad x16 slot). Regardless decided to jump into the deep once again and do bleeding edge build with the Z77X-UD5H. I use it primarily for digital design work. I'm a print and web designer, though as of late also learning solidworks, always do developing of my own RAW photography, and snip together artistic video snippets. Never has a machine done so well at everything! My previous desktop was a previous generation 27" iMac (with 256 SSD), before that was an EP45-UD3P based Catri BIOS hack (was on his development team before things went sideways).

This is an incredibly similar build to SkeletalMac MKI, but this time I gutted the case (literally, took off frivolous plastic panels to dust/modify them…). Took a lot more pictures with my NEX-7 this time too.

System Specifications: (Links Above)

• Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Motherboard[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Intel i7 2600K Turbo at 4.5-4.8 (depending on mood, max I've had stable is 5.2)[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4gb matched kit) 1600mhz RAM[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Zotac Geforce GTX 560 ti 448 core[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Intel 510 120GB SSD (SATAIII+OS Disk)[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• WD Black 2TB (Storage+Recover/Test Partition)[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• WD Green 3TB (Time Machine)[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Silverstone Raven RV01 Full-Tower case[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Cougar something's fans[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Corsair HX850 850watt Professional PSU[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Two NEC 2490WUXI2 24" Monitors on Ergotron MX Desk Mounts[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]

The Internals of the build:

The scale of this case is not a joke by any means. It is full ITX and at that with plenty of room. It also has the motherboard inverted 90°. Your not fighting thermodynamics to cool this beast.

This showed up at my door right when I dismantled everything, perfect timing UPS.

Heatsink mounted. With the Thermalright Archon you do not need to use fans, but it really shines when you do. It is also a "variable pressure" heatsink, allowing you to adjust the pressure on the top casing of you processor. I have it maxed out with very little AS5 thermal paste to get nice temperatures!

The layout of this board is great for those with big coolers, it's a couple of mm's roomier in the right directions compared to the Z68X-UD3H. It's similar to the P67-UD5H board I previously used.

Who doesn't want onboard power switch that lights up? And simple to understand diagnostic codes? or Clear CMOS switch? Even a needless reset switch (not that lazy I can't hold power for 4 seconds)? Better yet a Dual-Bios with a switch to adjust between them. It's the little things on this board that make it worth it over a basic UD3 style board!

With fans mounted its a seriously close fit. Works perfect though, on Z68 that top ram slot's heat spreader was bent (stick was straight) so lost some of it's effectiveness. Not that modern ram gets hot...

Most insane part of my build, I went electrical tape happy on the backside. Makes the cabling rattle/vibration free, and more organized. You are not trying to "shove" the door on to get it to fit. Works wonderfully though.

Not sure many cases can accommodate this cooler, takes up the "view" for sure.

This is the "top" where the cables come out looks incredibly clean when done. The cover still allows for heat to escape.

Slick Lines. Mind you it's plastic trimming but it's really a solid metal case, it's deathly heavy. Not something you'd want to move around.

Cable management in action, everything is guided into a cable whole on the side of the desk, into organizers on the inside, and some out to my monitors on the monitor arms.

Shows the case size in comparison to a normal 3.5" HD. Do notice that it's the 90° rotated setup. So cables etc on top.

Hot swappable HD Bays

The "top" of the case with the cables and lone cougar 120mm fan.

Fan Controller​

Install Notes

This is not a supported build – yet. Lion does instal, it does work, but I haven't tackled audio yet. Once that is working I'll have a quick writeup with multi beast screens and how to get it going on Nvidia and ATI cards. The UEFI settings are critical on this board, and those will be included to.

What is not working/ToDo list on 10.7.3:

• Audio (this is without DSDT and I haven't honestly tried hard on that yet)[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• USB 3 (it's now native to the chipset, thus not working in OSX, However unlike before they do work as USB2 without drivers!)[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]

What could work better:

• Intel NIC (if you have an Apple Base Station it might not always get proper DHCP settings and result in a useless IP address; this is more an issue with my networking environment)[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]
• Speedstepping, it works, but there is room for future issues... (possibly, clarifying this)[/*:m:1f2cv2xp]

I'll post more of how it's done in the work in progress guide I'm running in tandem for the Z77X-UD5H board. I'll add the link once it is up.


Info Screens:

Still working on About This Mac for this build. It benches at 997 on Luxmark though [More Coming Soon]

Bonus Info

Now I admit, quality monitors are out of most peoples budgets... But there are many that will get new screens with a new build. Might I suggest saving money for a nice display (Like NEC's PA series or 90 series monitors?). A nice monitor will last you years. Rather than being a disposable commodity!

The two NEC 2490WUXi2's that I have are amazing screens, very little anti-glare coating (which causes a sparkle effect), best of breed IPS panels, and true 1920x1200 resolution. You'll be amazed what 120 pixels can do! They are the best screens I've seen no questions asked, and they are from 2009! Newer isn't always better and you can even pick them up sometimes off of NEC's refurb store for sub $450 each. That's a steal.

Just food for thought ​

Feel free to ask any questions, here or on the install guide thread. I try to be as helpful as I can! I've had a lot of experience with Hack's that I generally know the answer and/or where to look exactly. Only issue I ever have is with new semi-uncharted tech



Post Last Updated At: 10:30 AM MST 4/15/12

 

[jester969]

You went in with that electrical tape.

Plain vanilla UserDSDT install?

 

[Gordo74]

I think you'd find that the realtek works just fine with the UD5H. Works fine with sleep/wake. No need to waste money and spread bad information about Realtek not working.

 

[philz]

I think you'd find that the realtek works just fine with the UD5H. Works fine with sleep/wake. No need to waste money and spread bad information about Realtek not working.

It sure does not need to be there because it does not exist on the UD5H–the Atheros NIC works fine now with MultiBeast 4.3.2, and Intel most likely too (see below).

It was a stowaway on my post from SkeletalMac MKI(Z68), which at the time I wrote that, the alternative NIC was a stopgap solution till DSDT fixed it properly. Ooops. Not sure how that happened went thru it several times and changed nearly all of it. I see other things too...

You went in with that electrical tape.

Plain vanilla UserDSDT install?

Yeah the electrical tape works well though Better black but couldn't find it offhand, probably in my cycling bag in the garage.

It is plain UserDSDT with Nvidia option, and an attempt at sound. Also IOAHCIBlockStorageInjector does not work for naming the SATA stuff properly. 3rdParty SATA was perfectly fine, TRIM too (though those two are irrelevant to Z77 nonsense).

Intel NIC driver did work, but at least with my network setup it didn't pick the proper IP address at times (mostly after sleep), resulting in useless network. This *Can* happen with some networking equipment and apple routers. Something in the handshaking (My DirecTV box does the same but less often due to it never being "restarted"). So most likely an issue for me alone.

 

[Gordo74]

I think you'd find that the realtek works just fine with the UD5H. Works fine with sleep/wake. No need to waste money and spread bad information about Realtek not working.

It sure does not need to be there because it does not exist on the UD5H–the Atheros NIC works fine now with MultiBeast 4.3.2, and Intel most likely too (see below).

It was a stowaway on my post from SkeletalMac MKI(Z68), which at the time I wrote that, the alternative NIC was a stopgap solution till DSDT fixed it properly. Ooops. Not sure how that happened went thru it several times and changed nearly all of it. I see other things too...

Ah, my fault. I see that it uses Atheros and Intel. However, my point still remains. The Realtek sleep/wake issues are solved via DSDT.

Also, while the tape is a good idea for cable management, I feel sorry for you whenever you're going to want to change a component or add another hard drive.

Instead of being hasty about it, it would have taken 30 seconds to go at the VERY least, find black tape

Do you just have one lone fan in there? There are stats for 4 fans on the controller, but you state in the pictures that you have a "lone 120mm fan"

 

[schubbe226]

Yea, i was waiting for this bulid, love thus motherboard, so much usb3 and msata + firewire for my old ipod is really cool )

 

[c0nartiste]

AWESOME!

 

[Stork]

The two NEC 2490WUXi2's that I have are amazing screens, very little anti-glare coating (which causes a sparkle effect), best of breed IPS panels, and true 1920x1200 resolution. You'll be amazed what 120 pixels can do! They are the best screens I've seen no questions asked, and they are from 2009! Newer isn't always better and you can even pick them up sometimes off of NEC's refurb store for sub $450 each. That's a steal.

I agree 100% with your assessment of the quality of the NEC 2490WUXi2 monitor. I had one on my desk at work before I retired. (I justified it because of my bad eyes. The IT guys were jealous.) I now have a used Apple 24" ACD with the DVI connection (USB & FW hubs, too) and a HP ZR24W 24" IPS monitor which are OK. But, I miss my NEC 2490WUXi2. Think I'll see if I can find a good used one or two. Thanks for reminding me of the NECs.

 

[Cyber66]

Awesome build!
How did you overclock? Did you just over clock CPU or RAM too? Maybe some BIOS screens?

 

[philz]

Instead of being hasty about it, it would have taken 30 seconds to go at the VERY least, find black tape

Do you just have one lone fan in there? There are stats for 4 fans on the controller, but you state in the pictures that you have a "lone 120mm fan"

My cycling toolbox is huge, and far away . I doubt I'll be changing anything back there for a long time. Not really one to change components terribly often.

That "lone" fan is pretty fast with a high CFM, but below the HD's in the black "support" that goes right across the top of the Power Supply, there are two 180mm fans. Works really well as it's quiet, and man do they push air up!

Think I'll see if I can find a good used one or two. Thanks for reminding me of the NECs.

Your Welcome! Keep an eye out at:
http://www.necdisplay.com/category/desk ... urbished=1

Right now they have some of the current PA series monitors, in 27" and 24". They are the ones that have replaced the 2490WUIX2's, they are now all 14-bit LUT and wide-gammut. Though from what I heard the actual clarity the 2490's still win They are more responsive though. The 27" is a beast, would love it, but I have two of the 2490's. Two is just better for some things but one still is nice with how Lion/ML does multi-monitor support >_> Dam canvas texture of doom on secondary displays!

Awesome build!
How did you overclock? Did you just over clock CPU or RAM too? Maybe some BIOS screens?

BIOS Screens and a mini-overclocking guide are in the works, just want to get my settings down "solid" so no issue with future updates. No reason to put out info that will then change with one software update

Though I just over clock the CPU–as mentioned above I had a half seated heat spreader when I was on Z68 so never had to much headway on RAM over clocking. Will try again this time though. Never really notice a day-2-day difference with RAM, it's more how much you have nowadays.