Appleg33k85's Mountain Lion Build - ASRock Z77e-itx, GTX480 + wifi

Appleg33k85's Mountain Lion Build - i5 3570k, ASRock Z77e-itx, GTX480 + wifi



Components

ASRock Z77E-ITX Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157312

Intel Core i5-3570k Unlocked Processor Supporting HD 4000 Intel Integrated Graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

Noctua NH-L12 CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608025

SAMSUNG 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147096

SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC064D/AM 2.5" 64GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147133

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148136

DELL HALF-MINI WIRELESS N CARD DW1515 ATHEROS AR5BHB92

SILVERSTONE ST50F-ES 500W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256061

LIAN LI PC-Q25B Black Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339

ASUS ENGTX480/2DI/1536MD5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121373

Apple OS X Mountain Lion @ Mac Apps Store Apple

Dell 30" U3011 - IPS Monitor


Comments

Background:
This isn't my first Hackintosh build, but its the first one that I have done since my C2Q + 4870 build with 10.5 I believe. I've been wanting to have something with a bit more power than my 13" Macbook Pro was providing for video editing, and had already had most of the components set up for a gaming computer. I decided that I would do a bit of research on the hackintosh scene and see what was new, and just so happened to come back on it when 10.8 was starting to come around as a viable hackintosh alternative.

Choosing the build components:
The components were already chosen, but the reason I had originally chosen them was for a small sleek looking gaming build. I was getting tired of having a massive tower [Silverstone Fortress FT02] and wanted to switch to something along the mITX line of things. Looking around I was able to get an amazing combo deal for the 3570k and ASRock z77e-ITX board from Microcenter, sold off quite a few other components and then finally assembled what I have listed. The other thing that I did not have was the wifi card which took a bit of research / trial and error to find the proper one. The Samsung 830 was originally in my Macbook Pro as the 2nd drive, but when I sold that, it became the boot drive for the 'hack.

Since I didn't originally buy the parts with hackintoshing in mind, I'm glad for the support of the community, and all the information out there to be able to utilize most of what I already had to make an excellent working hack.

Some of the other components such as the Samsung memory were purchased after much research and finding that they overclock extremely well [I'm very much into the overclocking scene], and of course I needed an excellent cooler to keep everything quiet and cool, so the Noctua was a natural fit [had to bend it just a bit to get it to fit properly, that was a bit scary!!].

Build Installation:
As most of it was previously assembled, the biggest thing that I had to do for the 'hack build was to remove the motherboard tray, the heat sink and then install the new wireless card. The Lian Li case makes that fairly simple, just pop out the side panel, unscrew 4 tiny screws holding in the motherboard tray, pull it out, then take off the screws for the cooler.

Next, I installed OS X 10.8 from scratch using tonymac's guide for 10.8 - I booted using PCIRootUID=0, GraphicsEnable=Yes. After reaching the install screen, I formatted the SSD as directed and proceeded to install 10.8 onto the system. It was relatively quick, and once done rebooted, used the same PCIRootUID=0, GraphicsEnable=Yes and was into OS X without a hitch. Once in OS X, I proceeded to use Multibeast to install the following:

EasyBeast
Non-DST HDA Enabler ALC898
USB 3.0 kext

thats it for kext! I'm sure that I could have installed less items than EasyBeast includes, but I wanted to keep everything simple.

What I have working:

Full recognition of CPU @ 4.0GHz
Memory recognition @ 1866MHz
Wifi Internet - recognized as Apple Airport Extreme Wireless N device
Ethernet (see update)
iCloud (see update)
Full Audio support

Benchmarks:




Everything seems to be running great with the benchmarks! Not sure why Cinebench shows 2 cores 4 threads, or if that would effect anything, but it seems to be running fine.

What I haven't tried:
I haven't tried using the HD4000 graphics, or a 2nd monitor [as I don't currently have one at the house to try].

What's left:
Everything else seems to be working just like with any other Mac - all my apps [Photoshop, Office suite, other Misc. apps] seem to be working properly, everything opens quickly and its a breeze. Happy with the build all in all, hopefully I can learn more going forward!

Edit:
Sept 13a - added benchmarks!
Sept 13b - Successful 10.8.1 update!
Sept 13c - Changed to Mac Mini 5,1 and now iCloud works!
Sept 7 - Working Ethernet! Installed BCM57781 from http://www.osx86.net/view/3089-broadcom_netlink_bcm57781.html and the ethernet is recognized. Now I just have to actually look into why iCloud isn't working and everything should be all set!

Nice build. I'm going to have to look into the Lian Li PC-Q25B case for my next build.

Enjoy your hackintosh!

Very nice! I'd like to build the same system as yours. I may have found a solution to the ethernet problem online the other day. Perhaps you can try it out and let me know if it works or not.

http://www.osx86.net/view/3089-broadcom_netlink_bcm57781.html

Tried it, installed the kext, voila! ethernet works perfect. Seems to be a perfect working little machine. Thanks for the link!

applegeek85 said:

Tried it, installed the kext, voila! ethernet works perfect. Seems to be a perfect working little machine. Thanks for the link!

Click to expand...

You welcome. Happy to help.

I have the same mobo you have Z77E-ITX.

I also had the same issue of not being able to access icloud, messages, and the app store. Then I followed these steps:

chance123 said:

you need a new serial number in order for your apple id to run with the new OS..download chameleon wizard and under the SMBios tab, click edit, and then generate a new serial. Re boot and you should be good to go.

Click to expand...

Here is chameleon wizard

http://www.osx86.net/view/2480-chameleon_wizard_4.1.0_[new].html

I downloaded chameleon wizard followed the steps in the quotes above

I choose mac mini 5.1 as my config.

Then I rebooted my minitosh when I logged back in I could access: icloud, messages, and the app store with out getting any error messages

Hopefully this will work for you as well

Did your GTX 480 work OOB? You didn't have to install any sort of kext packages from multibeast for the GPU? Also, have you experienced any of the "fermi freezing" issues? Furthermore, benchmarks?

Just used the "Graphics Enabler=Yes" and everything worked with it - at this time I haven't had any of the fermi freeze issues. I've been meaning to update this thread with some benchies, just have been crazy busy doing custom builds for others so i've had little time with mine - I'll try to run and post some either tonight or tomorrow since I have a day off tomorrow!

akhan1976 - i'll try that tomorrow, see if everything works, thanks for the suggestion!

Added some benchmarks along with some misc. updates - thanks everyone thus far for the helpful info!

Very attractive build! And thanks for sharing the experience!

Does sleep and wake-up work in your current build?

I am also looking into the same build, except with GTX 640 and WIFI card 9380. The former is supposed to be support OOB, probably the latter as well.