Lukutus33´s .::Super Silent Mac Mini 2011::. GA-H61N-USB3 - i3-2125 - GT220

Lukutus33´s: Super Silent Mac Mini 2011 100% 10.8.2 - GA-H61N-USB3 - i3-2125 - 8GB RAM - GT220


Components

Case: Lian Li PC-Q07B mini-ITX
[Amazon-de]http://www.amazon.de/Lian-Li-PC-Q07B-mini-ITX-Gehäuse/dp/B0029ILMTE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350175984&sr=8-1[/Amazon-de]


Motherboard: GA-H61N-USB3 80$
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/Gigabyte-GA-H61N-USB3-Sockel1155-Mainboard-mini-ITX/dp/B005N2UDH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176144&sr=1-1[/AMAZON-de]


CPU: Intel i3-2125 145$
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/Intel-i3-2125-Prozessor-L3-Cache-Sockel/dp/B005JBPRVW/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176312&sr=1-1[/AMAZON-de]


RAM: A-DATA Gaming 1600 DDR3-8GB
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/ADATA-RAMKit-2x4GB-DDR3-1600MHz/dp/B004X2UZ8I/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176344&sr=1-1[/AMAZON-de]


CPU-Cooler: Thermaltake Slim X3
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/Thermaltake-CLP0534-THERMALTAKE-Cooler-Slim/dp/B003VITYP0/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176374&sr=1-1[/AMAZON-de]


Power Supply: beQuiet Pure PowerL7 300W
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/dp/B001KN8CVA/[/AMAZON-de]


Graphic Card: Gigabyte GT220 1GB
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/Gigabyte-GV-N220OC-1GI-Grafikkarten-220/dp/B004FO5L9C/ref=sr_1_10?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176422&sr=1-10[/AMAZON-de]


DVD-Drive: Sony Optiarc AD-5280S 35$
http://www.sony-optiarc.eu/products/dvddrivesdesktoppcs/ad5280s.html


SSD: OCZ Agility 3 64GB
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/OCZ-AGT3-25SAT3-60G-Agility-Solid-State/dp/B004Z0S6RU/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176448&sr=1-1[/AMAZON-de]


HDD: Toshiba MK1059GSM 1TB
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/TOSHIBA-TOS-5400RPM-SATA300-12-5MM/dp/B00433AM8K/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176490&sr=1-2[/AMAZON-de]


Keyboard: Apples USB Keyboard
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/Apple-MB110D-Keyboard-deutsches-Tastaturlayout/dp/B005DQ0DFI/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176515&sr=1-1[/AMAZON-de]


Mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/Apple-Magic-schnurlos-bluetooth-10-5-8/dp/B002NX0M8C/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176536&sr=1-1[/AMAZON-de]


Bluetooth: Belkin F8T017
[AMAZON-de]http://www.amazon.de/Belkin-Class-Bluetooth-Hi-Speed-Adapter/dp/B001BRV7JE/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1350176566&sr=1-1[/AMAZON-de]


Operating System : OSX Lion



Comments

I needed a silent working mac where is cheap and runs flawlessly so i cheeked the
Building a Sandy Bridge CustoMac: CustoMac Mini 2011 Guide
and changed some components because i´m from Germany and some of the components are not available.

I´m cruising this forum a few weeks and check if all the components work flawlessly.
The biggest Problem i had is i have 2 LCD-Monitors there only have analog VGA inputs so i can´t use the built in HD3000 graphics card so I chose the "old" GT220 from 2009 because the 2 analog outputs and the flawlessly working with Lion at a cheap price.

I must remove the plastic fan protector from the graphic card otherwise it will not fit in the case because the front USB connector is to big.

Noise-wise, I wanted the mac to be as quiet as possible so i searched for a Case i can use a silent full ATX power supply and i thinks it´s the "little black" of cases :-D

The CPU is i think one of the best quality-price relation.
I use the SSD for the System and the most of the Programs so the 64GB are enough and are cheap
The HDD is for iTunes Library and my picture gallery with 1TB the storage density is very high so the data transfer rates are really good for a 2,5 HDD.
The CPU-Cooler is really cheap and very silent.

WiFi isn´t needed because i often use my NAS with the 1-GBit Ethernet so Wifi is too slow.
P.S. The D-Link DNS-320 Sharecenter Pulse NAS-Server is a very fast and cheap NAS case and it´s supporting AFP mounting
and natively Time-Machine backups.

The Build




Installation process Lion

1. Set up BIOS.
Update and Configure BIOS:
Update your BIOS to F8

Go to BIOS
-Load Optimized Defaults and reboot

Go already in BIOS
Set
-480mb shared video RAM for onboard graphics with 8GB RAM.
-HPET 64 bit mode
-SATA to AHCI mode

Save and Reboot

2. Plug in the Unibeast USB stick
3. Install OS X.
4. Boot with the Stick the installed OS X
5. Download 10.7.5 Combo Update and install it.
6. Boot with the Stick again the installed OS X
7. Download the DSDT and place it on the Desktop
8. Launch Multibeast Select the following options:

9. Reboot and have Fun!

[size=+1]Everything works flawlessly: Sleep, Speedstep, Autosleep,wake from Sleep,Audio,Ethernet[/size]


Installation process Mountain Lion

*** in progress







Update

I updated to 10.8.2

All Working

*Sleep
*Wake from Sleep on Bluetooth
*Autosleep (darkwake=10 was the solution)
*USB 3.0 (works native in 10.8.2)
*HDMI -> Nvidia

Airplay Mirroring does not work because only on i5 and i7

Update2

*created an Fusion Drive with the SSD and HDD (works really nice :-D)
thansk to this Guide Create Fusion Drive


Benchmark

how do you know if Speedstep works?

Awesome

Hi,

Yes Speedstep Works.

..But how can I check if it works?
I've got your same mobo (but with a i3 3225 cpu)

another little question: on wake up, do you experience usb drive eject problem?

You can check this when you install the HWMonitor Tool und the Hardware Plugins from Multibeast.

The USB eject Problem is generally a Problem i avoid this with App jettison available in the AppStore.

I hope this helps

Hi,

I have the same motherboard and it has only 2 SATA ports. Could you please let me know how you managed to connect an optical drive, an SSD and an HDD? Thank you.

Hi i have used a E-Sata to Sata Adapter-Cable and adopt it back in the case for the optical Drive.