BrazilMac's G5 Hackintosh GA-Z77X-UD5H / i7-3770k @ 4.2GHZ / 32GB RAM / GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660 Ti

BrazilMac's G5 Hackintosh GA-Z77X-UD5H / i7-3770k @ 4.2GHZ / 32GB RAM / MSI N660Ti 2GBD5 OC

BrazilMac's G5 Hackintosh GA-Z77X-UD5H / i7-3770k @ 4.2GHZ / 32GB RAM / MSI N660Ti 2GBD5 OC
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Components

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007R21JK4/

Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80637I73770K
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SZ0EOW/

MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC Graphics Card
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008SBX6GI

Corsair CMPSU-750AX Power Supply
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/BB003PJ6QWE/

2 X Samsung 840 Pro series 2,5" 256 GB
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NB8WRU

Western Digital WD20EZRX 2 TB
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008YAHW6I

Corsair DIMM 32 GB DDR3-1600 Quad-Kit
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068ZWZY0

Sony Optiarc AD-7283S-01
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0057FRTPW

Corsair Hydro Series H60 Cooler
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MYFOE2

TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 WIFI Card
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007GMPZ0A

BELKIN F8T017ng Bluetooth Adapter

G5 Modded Case by David Chugg @ The Laser Hive
http://www.thelaserhive.com


Already Owned

Apple OS X Mountain Lion @ Mac Apps Store
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-mountain-lion/id537386512?ls=1&mt=12

Apple Cinema 30-inch HD Flat-Panel Display
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ILKWM

Apple Cinema 23-inch HD Flat-Panel Display
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ILKNQ

Apple Magic Mouse
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TLTGM6

Apple USB Keyboard
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005DLDTAE


Comments

Well, this is BrazilMac, if you have been around the community since its roots, you will have heard of me. I am a bit old school when it comes to hackintoshes. My first hack was around 2006 when the hack community was at its beginning, managed to install OSX on a laptop and from there went on to create the first patch to install leopard on intel systems.

Back then, for the kind of work I was into, I needed a reliable system so I went and started working with real macs, and abandoned the hobby. Now forward to 2012/13, I took an interest again and noticed that things now are so much more easy, and I decided to build one for my audio/web dev work, and here I am, with my first build since 2007!

I want to give full credit to Slugnet as I followed his guide word by word, which gave me a 100% working system (with the exception of Sleep, no clue why it wont wake up!). However the system runs really smooth, and I decided to write this guide to help out others on their search for the perfect hack.

The basic items I picked for this build were the motherboard and the CPU. The other components I picked in order to get the best performance I could, like the Samsung 840 Drives, they are fast! So let’s start:

The Case



I wanted to have a system similar to a Mac including the appearance. So what I decided to buy a G5 case and work it to fit an ATX motherboard. However I am not that skilled when it comes to cutting things, so I found David’s The Laser Hive website and contacted him to buy a backplate and motherboard tray to install on my G5. I decided to just pay him for the work to cut/install the backplate and tray for me. I sent my G5 case and unfortunately it got damaged on the way there! So David kindly offered to fix or to just throw a G5 case he had laying around and installed all the modifications to it. The final result was a beauty!


The OS X Install

First thing was to update my BIOS. Used the latest version of my mobo’s Bios, the F14:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4139#bios

Then to configure the BIOS, I followed the exact settings described here:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/99-quick-guide-configuring-uefi-gigabyte-s-7-series-lga-1155-boards.html

I disabled the Onboard Graphics port too.

UniBeast

For Unibeast, I created my USB stick exactly as described here:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/61-unibeast-install-os-x-mountain-lion-any-supported-intel-based-pc.html

When installing, I used my Apple display connected to Input 1 of my 660Ti. No problems at all during installation.

MultiBeast

Here is my settings for MultiBeast. As Slugnet did, after each step, reboot, run MultiBeast, apply settings and save.







DVD Drive Configuration

Unlike Slugnet, my DVD drive was working just fine after running the steps with MultiBeast. But to be sure, I still replaced AHCI_3rdParty_SATA.kext using KextBeast. I used the one found here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/mountain-lion-desktop-support/60793-eject-button-ml-3.html

Updating to 10.8.2

I downloaded the Combo Update from Apple, installed it and rebooted. I just had to run MultiBeast again and reinstall the ALC898 Kext and audio was 100% again. I am connecting my Stereo speakers using the green connector. I plan to test a M-Audio Firewire 410 for recording Vocals and Instruments using the firewire interface. I have not done that yet and will update here to let everybody know if it is working.

Network Issues

For some weird reason, my TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 card was giving me a really crappy download/upload speeds when my G5 case was under my desk. I started reading about this card since I was worried if something was wrong with OSX or the card. However, by simply moving the case 20cm from its original location, wifi now works great. I have a 60MB Line here in the UK and with speedtest.net I get around 30MB download via Wifi when testing. Upload is fine too. Ethernet is working, but I do not use it as my Cable modem is located downstairs.

Bluetooth Issues

My original plan was to extract the Bluetooth module from my MacPro 1,1 and mod it to be used with the USB port. But I decided against it and a quick search around the forum was enough to pick the Belkin F8T017ng as my Bluetooth choice. It works out of the box with the Apple Magic Mouse. But I had some mouse lag issues if an external hard drive was connected to the same USB bus. I moved the adaptor to the USB2 port and so far no mouse lag issues.

Graphics Card

Works 100%. I just had to install the CUDA Drivers from Nvidia’s web site and enabling it on Adobe Premiere Pro/After Effects using the trick found on SlugNet’s thread. Here it is:

For After Effects CS6: Contents > raytracer_supported_cards.txt
Add this line to raytracer_supported_cards.txt and save:
GeForce GTX 660 Ti

For After Premiere CS6: Contents > cuda_supported_cards.txt
Add this line to cuda_supported_cards.txt and save:
GeForce GTX 660 Ti

I tried using Final Cut Pro X only once and it froze the system by just scrubbing through a video on the timeline. I am not sure if this has anything to do with the Video Card/App or what. Perhaps someone can advise on this issue.

USB

USB works fine for me. I tested every single port, including a USB3 External Hard Drive and all works just fine. Just the weird Apple Magic mouse lag issue when an external USB drive is connected to the same Bus as the bluetooth card.

Random Weird Freezes

I have experienced a couple of freezes with this system. One when I used the Coverflow feature to see a set of pictures on a folder.That gave me a spinning beach ball and I could only recover if restarting the system. It happened once when I opened a picture with Preview and by trying to resize the image, after entering the new size and hitting ok, I got the spinning beach ball. Also it happened once when dragging an image to Photoshop CS6 icon on the dock and I got the spinning beach ball that could only be recovered if restarting the system. I still need to investigate this, I am not sure what is causing it.

Benchmarks

Booting takes less than 6 seconds, no joke! I managed to get really great scores by Overclocking my CPU to 4.2GHZ. Only thing I did was to increase the Multiplier to 42. I had also to make some adjustments so that memory would run at 1600. I tried upping it to 4.5GHZ since I am using the H60 Cooler, but I got a Kernel Panix on boot. Maybe I had to mess around with Voltage settings and all so I just let it at 4.2GHZ.

For those planning to build a setup like mine, I would highly recommend the Samsung 840 Pro SSDs. They are very fast. I have a 48GB Aperture Library and it loads in less than 2 seconds!

Here are some benchmarks:

GeekBench: 16862
LuxMark GPU: 1032
LuxMark CPU + GPU:1138

Disk Speed Test:



Conclusion

Very satisfied with this build. If I were to buy a Mac Pro with similar performance, I would pay a lot more than I spent with this setup. The G5 Case is also a plus, anyone coming into my office thinks it is a real Mac!!

Please, no case mod discussions in User Builds threads. Please use The Workshop > Case Mods forum sections for how-to's on modding a case. This thread is for the discussion of BrazilMac's Z55X-UD5H based system. TIA.

BrazilMac,
I recommend you open up a thread in the The Workshop > Case Mods > PowerMac G5 forum subsection: http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-g5/. We all would be interested in your experience. (Please edit your original post with the link to the thread should you post a thread.) Again, TIA.

Finally, a heck of build, guy! I'm not far behind you as I have the same kit as you. But, my G5 still works, and I'm reluctant to mod a working computer.

Let me know if you have any luck with the Firewire 410... M-Audio does not support the card anymore, thus no ML drivers. Best of luck!

SpinCykle said:

Let me know if you have any luck with the Firewire 410... M-Audio does not support the card anymore, thus no ML drivers. Best of luck!

Click to expand...

Hello SpinCykle,

I have installed the following driver (even though it doesn't directly list 410 as a supported device):


http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.drivers&f=1229

The Interface is listed under Audio:

FireWire 410 Multichannel:


Input Channels: 4
Manufacturer: M-Audio
Output Channels: 10
Current SampleRate: 44100
Transport: FireWire


I tested playback and it works 100%! I have not tested recording yet, but the 410 Mixer Software on System preferences shows everything ok. I plugged it to the Firewire connector at the back.

Let me know how it works out for you!

From what i've read, recording into a daw is where you will experience issues. Playback for the most part seems to work. It's absurd to think you even need a driver package to run an audio device in OSX anyway. I've held off on doing anything with my FW410 due to lack of support. Many people report unsuccessful tests with the 1.10.5 driver. I've also read changing the sample rate back and forth fixes most of the issues until they pop up again. Good luck. What DAW are you using?

Currently looking at a Focuriste Safire Pro 24 or a Scalet 2i4.....

Hope you guys are posting in the tonymacx86 Forum's Music forum section. Experience with various internal and external audio interfaces would help other users. TIA.

I hasten to inform you that the installation Mountain Lion by these and http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...k-gigabyte-geforce-gtx-660-ti.html#post543566 tutorial (the only difference - is to use the new version MultiBeast) and installing WiFi / Bluetooth card (which includes in the GA-Z77-UD5H-WB version) have determined the existence of the device Bluetooth - screenshots attached! (Sorry for my English)

Unfortunately I dont have a any device to test the Bluetooth card..

I translate for you:

Производитель - неизвестный ------ Manufacturer - unknown
Сигнал Bluetooth - включен -------- Bluetooth Signal - enabled
Состояние (устройства) - подключено ------ Status (Device) - connected

And the "Enable Bluetooth Logo" on the top of the screen makes me happy)) Enjoy and let me know if it works!))

hi, BrazilMac! can i ask how you hooked up the cinema displays

does the belkin bluetooth dongle works in bios and chimeara bootloader? Planning to use with apple wireless keyboard.

tq

Hey BrazilMac,

Very impressive build! I am just getting back into building another Hackintosh and quite a lot has changed. I have the same mobo "GA-Z77X-UD5H" and can install the os just fine using Unibeast. I then go to restart and cannot get my system to boot. It simply just sits at the Apple Logo with the spinning lines (loading). I am assuming that my settings in my BIOS are not correct. I have the latest BIOS F14 and have followed this guide "http://www.tonymacx86.com/99-quick-guide-configuring-uefi-gigabyte-s-7-series-lga-1155-boards.html". I am assuming that I have not done something correctly as I don't normally play around in the BIOS.....do you have any suggestions? Maybe a screenshot? Also, I am using integrated graphics. Could this be the issue?

Thanks