Stork 1st Hackintosh - GA-P55M-UD2 & TonyMacX86Basic System

Update: This build has been put into HTPC case. I'm leaving this User Build description here as a reference for anyone with similar components who want to make their system into a Hackintosh.
Components

Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with Firewire 400 (Out of Production) || eBay

Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz (BX80605I5760) || Amazon | Newegg

G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB (2x2GB, F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL) || Amazon | Newegg

Gigabyte GV-N98TSL-1GI GeForce 9800 GT 1GB Silent Cell Video Card (Out of Production) || eBay

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA II Internal Hard Drive || Amazon | Newegg

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB cache SATA II 3.5" Internal Hard Drive || Amazon | Newegg

LG Black 10X BD-ROM/16X DVD-RW SATA Internal Drivel LightScribe (UH10LS20) (Out of Production) || Amazon | Newegg | eBay

Cooler Master Elite 341 m-ATX Mini Tower Case Black - (RC-341C-KKN1-GP) (Out of Production. Recommend the Fractal Design Core 1000) || Amazon | Newegg

Antec BP550 Plus 550W ATX12V V2.2 Modular Power Supply || Amazon | Newegg

Already Owned

Apple Macintosh OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Apple iLife 09 and iWork 09 Family Packs.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack.

Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 for Mac - Silver (920-003472) - Update since the original build. Outstanding keyboard! Amazon || Newegg

HP Z24W 24" S-IPS display with DVI, DisplayPort, VGA and USB 2.0 interfaces. My bad eyes require a crisp, IPS LCD monitor. Got this gem via eBay, new!


Comments:

I came to build a Hackintosh after corresponding with Cave Man on the Plex forum in a thread about Hackintoshs vs. Macs as HTPC. I had a Mac Mini HTPC using Plex as the media center application. I needed to have a desktop computer system to rip my music, movie and TV show CDs/DVDs and convert them to Plex and Apple TV (1G) formats. I lamented that my MacBook Pro was doing all the conversion work while I needed it for other things. The Cave Man recommended I build a Hackintosh similar to his Hackintosh HTPC. He also recommended the Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 MB since it had digital audio and Firewire (FW400) in addition to more USB 2.0 ports than God has geese. Finally, he told me about this forum as the place to learn how to build a Hackintosh w/o having a PhD in computer science. He was right. Great site.

After reading as much as I could stand on the forum and uncrossing my eyes, I decided to go with the Budget Power Build #1 for my first Hackintosh. The only changes was going with the UD2 vs UD4 MB, RAM and the hard drives. I put together the systems from components purchased from Amazon, Newegg and eBay. The Hackintosh configured as above cost $666 USD (September 2010). I'd have to add approximately $500 if I had to had to purchase the components and software that I already had.

Like most of you, I posted my proposed build on the forum asking for comments and advise. I was surprised, when I got a Private Message from Vendetta who volunteer to help me as we had similar components in our systems. Vendetta gave me two good tips.
Thanks to Vendetta, my build went w/o a hitch and I had Hackintosh that ran Windows 7 and Mac OS X w/o any problems.

I'm still running OS X 10.7.4 with it in the HacHTPC configuration with everything working, even sleep/wake-up. I put the system to sleep after using it each time. I have it scheduled to wake up at midnight to perform backups, downloads and file conversions. It then sleeps at 0730 in the morning. This schedule is set in the System Preferences Energy Saver preference pane. Backups are performed by Time Machine. I used TimeMachineEditor to have TM backup up every Monday morning at 1230 AM. The rest of the early morning activities can best be explained by several Plex forum threads: here and here.

Installation Notes for Lion
Since this build is now a HacHTPC, I recommend the reader go to my Batman build for the latest OS X installation information. Batman is a P55M-UD4 / i7-875K / Radeon HD 5770 configuration. Below is more for historical purposes.

The main difference in the MultiBeast configuration is not to use the Boot Option 64-bit Apple Boot Screen. The latest MultiBeast version for Lion have this as the one of the standard load items for EasyBeast and UserDSDT (see p3 of the MultiBeast Features document). If you have a SDD, the Boot Option TRIM Enabler "to add [TRIM] support for non-Apple SSD drives." (See p5 of the MultiBeast Features document.) However, be advised that, if you use the TRIM Enabler,

The original IOAHCIFamily.kext will be backed up to ~/Desktop/IOAHCIFamily-Backup/. Installation will fail if ~/Desktop//IOAHCIFamily-Backup/ already exists.

Click to expand...

• [list:139zj6ma][list:139zj6ma]Note 1: Updated since original post.
  Note 2: the 64bit Apple Screen (GraphicsEnabler=Yes} is now the default per page 3 of the MultiBeast v3.1.0 & v4.2.1 Features document. Choosing it will not load the defaults.

Starting with MultiBeast v4.1.0, the default EasyBeast and UserDSDT settings are for Sandy Bridge motherboard/CPU systems. To make sleep/wake-up work in my system I had to remove the following MultiBeast default kernel flag additions: GenerateCStates=Yes, GeneratePStates=Yes and darkwake=0 kernel flags from the /Extra/org.chameleon.Boot.plist file. Here's is the file contents after editing:

and make sure that your System Preferences / Energy Saver pane has only these boxes checked:

Added to the Original Build
After reading about the potential of the i5-760 to overclock, I decide to modestly overclock (GA-P55M-UD2 MBs have a tendency to fry if overclocked to the max) to 3.2GHz. This required something better than the stock Intel cooler. However, the TonyMacX86 recommend Scythe Mugen Mugen 2 CPU cooler in the Budget Power System 2 configuration wouldn't fit in the Elite 341 case. After reading about coolers at Tom's Hardware, I ordered the Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 unit. This unit uses the same type of mounting to the MB as the stock Intel cooler so I won't have to remove the MB from the computer.

Arctic Cooling Freeze 7, Rev. 2 Cooler || Amazon | Newegg

I recently added another 4GB of RAM as Newegg dropped the price by $15.00 from what I originally paid.
Add'l Memory - G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL || Amazon | Newegg

Found a PCI-e Firewire 1394a/b (FW400/800) card on eBay for $12.00 that I couldn't pass up. Although my MB has FW400 front and rear ports, the card adds two FW800. Since my newer MBPs and external drive enclosures have FW400/800 ports, this will allow more flexibility.
Dynex 2-Port FireWire 800 & 1-Port 400 PCIe DX-PCI2PF || eBay Search for DX-PCI2PF | Another eBay Search | OWC Search

And the beat goes on! I've moved the Mac OS X partition off the 500GB drive to a OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD. Snow Leopard boots faster, and Firefox and other applications open with a "Poof!" I've consolidated Win 7, Ubuntu, Haika (Open Source version of BeOS) and other experiments on a single 500GB hard drive. Don't get the 2VTXE60G model, get 2VTX60G model. E models have capacity issues. See this OCZ post.
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) || Amazon | Newegg

So, stay tuned for further developments. Will I go with a Sandy Bridge MB and CPU or wait for the follow-on Ivy Bridge series in 2012? When I upgrade the MB & CPU, I'll move the GA-P55M-UD2 / i5-760 / CPU cooler / RAM into a HTPC case to replace an older Mac Mini running Plex. I'll have to add graphics card with working HDMI capability as the 9800GT doesn't work with HDMI HDTVs. However, that's the fun of this hobby. Life is good.

Two quick things:

-I am also in that Plex thread, and I used that "other" popular hackintosh site for guidance. I think I just got lucky though... things are a mess over there. How odd that the first pos I read here is from someone I remember from the Plex forums.

-Your build is basically what I want, but I'm getting deja-vu from my first build - everything is in the right price/performance range, but some key part is no longer available. In this case, NewEgg doesn't have the MB in stock, and neither Amazon nor NewEgg have the video card. Those of course being the biggest compatibility items. You must have bought things recently, where did you source your parts from?

Thanks

Grab the mobo while you can....don't fret the video card. Just about any nVidia 9000 series or higher will work.

Glad I could help!

Now you can use also ATI 5750 or 5770. (even in 64bit).

sporkman said:

Two quick things:

-I am also in that Plex thread, and I used that "other" popular hackintosh site for guidance. I think I just got lucky though... things are a mess over there. How odd that the first pos I read here is from someone I remember from the Plex forums.

-Your build is basically what I want, but I'm getting deja-vu from my first build - everything is in the right price/performance range, but some key part is no longer available. In this case, NewEgg doesn't have the MB in stock, and neither Amazon nor NewEgg have the video card. Those of course being the biggest compatibility items. You must have bought things recently, where did you source your parts from?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Hi, sporkman! Sorry I'm just getting back to my build thread - I forgot to subscribe to it.

I ordered my components from Newegg except for the MB & CPU, which I won in an eBay auction, in late September 2010. That's probably the time of the year that models are phased out for the next year's models. You just got to be lucky, sometimes.

I would check out the builds of the moderators - MacMan, tonymacx86 and Lin2Mac - to see what graphics cards their using. However, marosell is getting the TonyMacX86 Wiki populated with neat stuff. Check out:

• Wiki Motherboard Database. [/*:m:3q4tt47b]
• Wiki Graphics Card Database.[/*:m:3q4tt47b]

Be advised that the iBeast-MultiBeast tools use a DSDT.aml file for your MB. As the subtile warning at tonymacx86 DSDT post states, Gigabyte P55 or H55 MBs have the least amount of problems. I am a believer. Mine works like a champ. I'll look to update my components' links over the next couple of days.

Vendetta said:

Glad I could help!

Click to expand...

Vendetta, you did good. Saved me a lot of "I can't get to work..." posts on this forum. You are a good Samaritan.

longtom said:

Now you can use also ATI 5750 or 5770. (even in 64bit).

Click to expand...

Oh, man! What's the make and please provide a link or two.

Now i see once to where your money flows dude

Added OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD to my write-up under Recently Added. I also added a Future Build section.

Stork said:

Added OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD to my write-up under Recently Added. I also add a Future Build section.

Click to expand...

You got it dude...that case i use since january

karacho said:

You got it dude...that case i use since January

Click to expand...

I can't wait to put a system in the Corsair 600T case. DoctorWho put me onto the 600T about the same time you bought your 600T. It's beautiful, if a person is allow to call a case beautiful. (Well, I guess an engineer like myself can. ) But, boy-oh-boy, is it big! It makes my old beige Macs look small.

Where do you "seat" your 600T? Under your desk? Along side the desk? On the desk?

I'm going to try it out as an end table next to my "comfort" chair beside my desk. Be hard to resist putting a magazine or newspaper on the top, though.