- Joined
- Jun 1, 2011
- Messages
- 27
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H Rev 1.0
- CPU
- Intel Core i5 3570k @ 4.4GHz
- Graphics
- MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Hawk
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
blackthund3r's Mid-Range Build: GA-Z77-DS3H - Intel Core i5-3570K Running at 4.4GHz stable - MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti - 16GB 1600MHz RAM - Light Video Editing and Light Gaming Build
Components
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H Rev 1.0 (although Rev 1.1s are compatible now)
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-Z77-DS3H-SKT-1155-Z77-DS3H-Motherboard/dp/B007KZQFOS/[/Amazon-uk]
CPU: i5-3570K Ivy Bridge
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Generation-i5-3570K-3-40GHz-Technology/dp/B007RUZKK6/[/Amazon-uk]
CPU Water Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H60 (2nd Generation / 2013 model with SP120 fan)
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CW-9060007-WW-H60-Performance-All-In-One/dp/B00A0HZMGA[/Amazon-uk]
RAM: Corsair XMS3 1600MHz 2x8GB Pack (Total 16GB)
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMX16GX3M2A1600C11-1600MHz-Memory-Stick/dp/B006ZINK0S[/Amazon-uk]
Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Hawk) - 1GB GDDR5 - Super overclocked
Much cheaper at Novatech: http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/...scards/nvidiagtx560tifermiseries/nov-560.html (this is actually the SKU that sent me the Hawk card although it is not advertised as such and you may actually receive the reference card shown)
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-N560GTX-Ti-Hawk-Graphics-adapter/dp/B004W5XCNQ[/Amazon-uk]
Power Supply: Novatech PowerStation 600W (Semi-Modular)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/nov-psg600.html
Case: Zalman Z9-U3 (Contrary to the online manual this does actually have a 19 pin USB3 header)
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zalman-Z9U3-Tower-Tuning-Compatibility/dp/B0087ZDFH0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356775860&sr=8-1[/Amazon-uk]
Optical Drive: Sony Opticarc AD-7280S-0B OEM Black drive
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-AD-7280S-0B-Internal-Multi-Writer/dp/B0057FRTPW/[/Amazon-uk]
SSD Boot Drive (for OS X): Intel 330 Series 120GB
Novatech Link (Quite a bit cheaper than Amazon): http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/...nal/solidstate/upto128gb/ssdsc2ct120a3k5.html
Amazon Link: [Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Series-120GB-Solid-State/dp/B007P3RMLU/[/Amazon-uk]
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (7200RPM, SATA 3)
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-WD1002FAEX-Caviar-Internal/dp/B0036Q7MV0/[/Amazon-uk]
Wi-Fi Card: TP-Link WDN4800 (works OOTB)
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WDN4800-450Mbps-Wireless-Express-Adapter/dp/B006PMX964/[/Amazon-uk]
Additional PCI NIC: TP-Link TG-3269
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Gigabit-Interface-TG-3269-RTL8169SC/dp/B000FO6QWM/[/Amazon-uk]
Flash Drive (for UniBeast): Novatech 16GB USB3
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-flash/usbmemorystick/nov-ms316g.html
Snow Leopard DVD (to start off!)
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
OS X: Mountain Lion 10.8.2 (from App Store)
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512?mt=12
Mouse: Novatech Mouse (cheap little mouse that works very well)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/peripherals/miceandtrackballs/nov-mouser.html
Keyboard: Logitech K200 Keyboard
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/peripherals/keyboards/920-002784.html
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster S22B150 (22" VGA Monitor)
[Amazon-uk]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-S22B150-21-5-inch-Widescreen/dp/B006Z5GGN4/r[/Amazon-uk]
Comments
Why I built this
Being a teenage nerd it became quite an issue having to negotiate one low-power laptop and a netbook between four people. What I need my computer for is much too complex for what this Pentium machine could handle and I had outgrown it. My YouTube videos aren't too bad but I wanted to be able to properly edit them and render them in HD (preferably in under 6 hours which one of my five minute videos took!!). I also wanted a Mac extremely badly. When I started looking at Macs (and more specifically ones which would suit my needs) it soon dawned on me that an HD4000 machine would not be enough so I'd be forced into an iMac. These start at £1099 in the UK and I would need to upgrade it to around £1500 which was about £600 over my budget so I looked to the hackintosh HCL/CustoMac component lists and my build came to light. I initially was going to get a GT 640 but I invested the extra / left over budget into the GTX 560 Ti, more RAM and an H60. Apart from iMessage, I see no reason now to move to a real Mac, apart from the sleek aesthetics.
Notes for When Assembling the Machine
*On the Zalman Z9 U3 case it is an absolute nightmare to get the top panel off. Make sure you do this before you install the Motherboard or you will be sorry
*The GA-Z77-DS3H's screw holes don't line up with the Zalman case's stand-offs too well so you'll have a few stand-off's space (the motherboard is a bit smaller than full ATX. You'll get more than enough screws in to hold the board securely however, so this is not actually an issue but rather a warning not to be worried)
*When installing the H60 ensure it is either the right way or 180 degrees (180 degrees is easiest as it is too tight to get the CPU block in with the Corsair branding the right way up). I initially installed it at a 90 degree angle and it made zero contact with the CPU. It took me about 18 hours (including an eight hour sleep in between!) to realise there was no contact. My CPU temperatures were over 100 degrees Celsius IDLE. Now that it is upside down as opposed to being on its side I'm getting around 36 degrees Celcius under light use. Extreme load / torture temperatures struggle to break 70 degrees
*The H60's radiator and fan are too long for the back blue fan so I moved it forward about four notches on the top honeycomb. I was only able to get two screws in to hold the fan but it is stable and strongly held in place.
*If you want to eradicate a cable from the PSU feel free to daisy chain all the fan Molex connectors and link them all into one Molex plug from the PSU. With the left over Molex on that same cable use the Intel SSD's included Molex to SATA connector to connect up the optical drive (the fan / front panel Molex is very close to the Optical Drive so this helps with cable management). You can then use just one SATA power from the PSU to connect up the Caviar Black and Intel SSD
*For cable management it is much easier to use the bendy/flexible wire thingies (do they have a name?!) that are supplied to bind cables in product boxes as opposed to the tiny zip ties that come with the Zalman case. This way the cable management is undoable without having to snip cable ties each time; you can simply untwist them!
*The Novatech PSU has both a 4+4 12V connector and an 8 Pin connector attached permanently. Just tie one of them and tuck it away.
*You'll have more luck with a Rev1.1 motherboard as you'll be able to use the 8pin extension cable that comes with the case to plug in the motherboard / CPU. Whilst you can plug in the 4 pin without an extension it is extremely tort. The 20+4pin is also very tort but works fine
*I used a VGA Monitor. Initially I tried using a cheap (£4.47!) DVI-I to VGA cable but the image was stretched right off the side of the screen, so I resorted to the GTX 560 Ti's included DVI-I to D-SUB connector and the monitor's included VGA cable and it works flawlessly now
Installation Procedure
*First I installed all the components and checked it POSTed (first time build and first time POST. Felt damn good about it!)
*Next, enter the BIOS and update it to F9 using a memory key and Q-Flash (download and extract it on another machine)
*Now set the following settings:
=> Load Optimised Defaults
=> SATA Mode: AHCI
=> Intel Virtualisation Technology: Enabled (No harm in having it and as a VMware user this was definitely necessary in my case)
*Once configured, boot iBoot legacy and load up Snow Leopard from the DVD. The graphics will be stretched but it works
*Install Snow Leopard to the SSD as normal (uncheck all the extra stuff. It'll be wiped out soon!)
*Once booted, install the 10.6.8 combo update and reboot. Don't bother with MultiBeast. Just use iBoot Ivy Bridge to boot up each time
*Now fetch Mountain Lion from the App Store. It's only £13.99!
*Use MultiBeast to create the install USB. I had no issues installing over USB 3
*Install Mountain Lion
*Use the following MultiBeast options:
(I also selected the 1080p Graphics option because my display is 1080p, as well as the verbose boot one because I like to see what's going on. The latter is personal preference)
*Reboot and install the CUDA Drivers for OS X. Useful to have, particularly because I use Premiere (I the GPUs file for this to accelerate using the 560 Ti)
*Use ChameleonWizard to generate yourself an SMBIOS. I based mine on the iMac13,1 definition and some random data.
*Once MultiBeast is installed you won't immediately get sound. You have to go to System Preferences and set the Output Device to "Internal Speakers" and the sound will work
Everything works OOTB for me. I have no problems at all. This is a great mid-range build!
Overclocking procedure
NOTE! Only overclock once you know your system is stable - particularly in OS X! Use it for a day or so first and if it is all fine then overclock!
Also ensure you have an adequate cooler for an overclocked chip!
To overclock my machine I pushed the multiplier up to 44 from 34 (to give 4.4 GHz). I changed 'Auto' to 'Manual' for the CPU Voltage and moved it up just one notch (0.010V IIRC). This, so far, has been perfectly adequate and with my H60 (seated properly!!); I have had no issues whatsoever. It is also worth editing you SMBIOS to reflect the new clock speed (ChameleonWizard set mine to 3.8GHz and I manually increased this)
Windows and Data Storage
Windows 8 will happily dual boot with with OS X on the secondary HDD (as 60GB for each OS on the SSD isn't enough), with a little trick to get it installed on the drive:
*First enter the BIOS and head to ATA Configuration
*Find the port with the hackintosh drive attached (in my case an Intel SSD on Port 1) and change it to "Disabled"
*You must leave SATA Mode as AHCI
*Install Windows 8 on the Secondary Drive (i.e. the HDD)
*Let it reboot and configure itself
*Reboot back into the BIOS and re-enable the SSD
*Set the SSD as the Primary boot HDD
*To load Windows 8 choose the "System Reserved" partition as Chimera will chainload the Windows 8 bootloader, which will in turn load Windows 8 up. Choosing the Windows 8 partition directly often yields Windows BCD errors and blue screens
*OS X will still load as normal
*Windows 8 seems to have the OS X / Windows Time Sync issues fixed as it appears to calculate the time in UTC just like OS X. In Windows 7 you'll have to patch the registry to avoid Time Sync issues
Partition Layout
Intel SSD
This just has a 120GB HFS+ partition filling it for OS X Mountain Lion
Caviar Black 1TB
Partition 1: 300MB System Reserved Partition for Windows 8
Partition 2: 150GB NTFS Partition for Windows 8
Partition 3: ~500GB Partition for Data storage (ie my documents, downloads, VMs etc)
The rest is unallocated space for use later (might install Linux or something later. Not sure yet. If necessary I can just extend my Data partition). I might also use it as a Time Machine partition for my OS X Partition
If I notice anything else I'll update the post. Also feel free to post any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
Happy hackintoshing!
P.S. Here are some benchmark results:
CINEBENCH OS X:
Geekbench 2:
