Music Production Focused i7 X58 Nvidia Build, Best methods and system specs

[JagfyrS]

The time has come for me to for me to carpe diem and make myself a diesal i7 based HackintoshPro primarily for music creation and post-production. I’m a dedicated Logic 9 user and as a result pretty much all my music making activity takes place with OSX running the show. Before you continue on, gracious fellow hackintosher, I want to apologize in advance for my intense verbosity, but I’m very serious on getting this done right after lurking around the net for info for the past couple months.

 

Up until this point I have been working on a macbook from early 2008. It definitely gets a respectable amount of the job done and is great for playing live, but overall it limits what I am capable of creating musically. A HackPro i7 probably wouldn’t do that to me anytime soon. I’m not new to Hackintoshing and am the proud owner of a highly stable and very useful n270 Atom based netbook. This was easy to do given all the tools out there for installing OSX on a netbook with the Intel GMA950 graphics chipset and n270 processor. If anyone wants to know more about my NetMacBook feel free to respond or message me. BTW Logic9 runs very well on my netbook, however one must be aware of the lack of power such a system physically has so it cannot do anything to crazy.

 

 

For my music based i7 build, I’m most interested in building a system that fulfills these expectations.

 

-Reasonably dependant level of system stability. Would rather go with simpler parameters and hardware than have a total performance oriented computational beast. Obviously I could understand dealing with the occasional problem, but rampant issues would render this hackintosh effort futile in the long run. Plus I run lots of 3^rd party plugins into logic that may cause problems even on a regular mac pro, so I don’t need any issues compounding upon themselves.

 

-At least almost fully functional 64 bit 10.6.2 (or later) installation. I need at least 10.6.2 to run logic pro 9 in 64bit mode, and clearly 64 bit mode has much to offer me. Many of the sampled virtual instruments I use eat up lots of RAM so I need a system that can address beyond 4GB.

 

-A decent graphics card that shouldn’t be outdated for basic tasks anytime soon. However I really need to have very well working dual monitors working for those intense mixing and tracking sessions. Some flexibility in resolution choice would be important.

 

-Some manner of audio solution that at least comes close to native apple hardware audio kexts and drivers. Hence something like the Voodoo HDA may not cut it. Ironically, outbound audio directly out of my system isn’t that important since I plan on using an Apogee Duet to essentially function as my soundcard. However, given the close associations between apple and Apogee hardware, I would not want to deviate too far from the typical apple stuff in order to prevent any problems or extra processing work for the Apogee Duet. The duet is the cornerstone of any audio recording and playback I plan on doing. Fortunately it has Snow Leopard drivers that should theoretically allow for seamless integration into a working 10.6.x installation.

 

Seeing as how apple really only releases all-in-one’s, notebooks, and servers (a mac pro really is built like a server), and they lack any sort of traditional desktop, and this is really the way for me to go. Its also the way to go since the build I have in mind costs possible 45% of an equivalently spec’ed MacPro. Here is what I have come up with:

 

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Motherboard- Seems like the x58 mobo to go with, and has all i/o I should ever need. 6pin Firewire is necessary for my Duet interface and this has it.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128423

 

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06Ghz- Just got reduced in price so now the i7-960 is the ridiculously overpriced next step up the i7 ladder. Only downside to using this CPU over the 930 is that I have not been able to track down many i7-950 DSDT’s, however I can’t see why not this shouldn’t work. 20 bucks for this jump over the 3ghz watermark is well worth it.

 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115211

 

 

PNY GeForce 9800gt GT EE 1GB – I’ve read that this card should work out-of-box with dual monitors, but even if NVenabler is needed this would still be just fine. I don’t need anything serious for a computer that won’t run games or intense video editing, but I still want something decent.

 

http://www.provantage.com/pny-technologies...pb~7PNY90KP.htm

 

 

 

Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 6GB DDR3 1333 – Mushkin has been my RAM goto for a few AMD builds and they have not failed me yet. I do not plan on overclocking yet and even I do I can put these in another build and get some DDR3 1600’s. Variable voltage on these allow flexibility for dealing with potential issues that may come up with an OSX install and picky BIOS specifications. Also gives me some OC headroom if needed.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820226102

 

 

 

Corsair HX Series 850watt PSU – Should be more than plenty for i7 1366 socket and one GPU card. 80 plus Silver certification is a sign of high quality, lower thermal output, and possibly energy bill cost reduction. Modularity works well for me.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139011

 

 

 

Cooler Master 922 HAF ATX mid Tower Case – Offers plenty of space, good ventilation, and won’t put on a laser show on my walls. Not the quietest case for a music build given the mesh like aspect, but the computer will be behind my studio monitors and about 8 feet from my ears so whatever.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811119197

 

 

 

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB x2 – This is a two platter design hard drive meaning the disks run way more efficiently than a 3 or 4 platter type. One disk for OSX, another for raw data, however while I am getting OSX installed I can clone disk one onto disk 2 to essentially save my progress sector by sector.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136533

 

 

 

Sony Optiarc Black Combo drive – Don’t think this matters but a friend told me Sony’s work best with OSX. Who knows if that’s true but this one’s cheap so I’ll take it.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827118039

 

Overall price comes out to about $1250 after I add in a few usb an video cables I will also need. Compare with a $2900 3.2 Ghz Xeon with 3 GB less memory, 1 less HD, and a nice 5770 graphics card that I really don’t need and I think I’ve got a deal. Yeah sure ECC memory blah blah, but I really don’t need server memory in my desktop. Plus I probably got the 2.8 Ghz model beat interms of power-all this without factoring in overclocking.

 

So that’s that for the build. Overall it seems solid to me based on the research I’ve done, however I’ve been doing research solely on the internet which could produce mixed results. I’m definitely open to suggestions regarding the build, especially regarding the Graphics card. Ideally I would want spend less than 120 on a GPU, and stay in NV Geforce 9x00 territory, but if something more stable is out there I’m all for it.

 

I’m looking to pull the trigger on this build in T-minus 5 days or so. So far I have come across a few viable methods for installation. Obviously I want to stay close to native apple specifications so any wacky patched kernals or distros are not cool for me. I have a Snow Leopard Retail disk ready to go as well as a USB drive to restore the disk to in order to speed up (or slightly alter) the installation. So far I’m liking an Empire EFI method, but Kakewalking to victory seems good too. Of course there’s always the [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]-[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] methods, or perhaps a hybrid of the abovementioned MO’s. Which OSX install method would be best in my case? If someone out ther can save me from a days worth of futile experimentation I would be most grateful. I really don't need a personal walkthrough, but just a point in the right direction in the form of a link to a highly informative thread. I’m looking to experiment with Logic 9 on a Hackintosh, not so much the install process.

 

Given the various options available, I would like to find a fully functional solution and then document my progress for the benefit of hackintoshing in general-especially for the musically inclined out there who refuse to give into the inferiority of pro-tools on windows or the steep red-fruit-brand pricing. I have written quite a lot in hopes that other people in situations similar to my own stumble across my post (hopefully soon to be thread) and find some clarity and cohesion.

 

 

If you have stuck with me this far down, thanks very much.

[XLR]

Well, first of all 850W PSU looks like an ardcore overkill, even if you fill the whole PC with RAID hard drives you still won't need more than 550W for this setup.

 

Second, 9800GT looks like another overkill, if you're not going to play high resolution FPS games on it - you won't need anything higher than 9500GT. Passive cards like Zotac 9500GT Zone Edition or Gainward 9500GT work great with dual-display setup out of the box via GraphicsEnabler.

 

Third, my advice is to get a better case like Antec P183 and a proper CPU cooler like Scythe Mugen 2 that can work in passive mode. Also, a pair of 500-800RPM Scythe or Noctua fans would be a good idea to replace the standard Antec ones.

[JagfyrS]

XLR,

 

Thanks for the reply. Your take on the 850 watt PSU is spot on. I was basically thinking about making everything super-kickass that I over estimated on this component. Instead I'm going to go with a 750watt Corsair PSU of the same series. It definitely still is overkill in terms of power output. However other aspects of this PSU really appeal to me such as a big quiet fan, 7 year warranty, modularity and silver efficiency certification. I did a PSU calculation and with all the extraneous fun stuff like a 7.1 sound card, networking pci cards, 3 more hard drives, 6 RAM slots and some mild overclocking, 700 watts is a suggested minimum, so I would be fine with this PSU even with all the hypothetical additions to my system.

 

As far as the 9800GT goes, I do also agree that it basically is overkill, however the main reason I chose it was complete out of box compatibility, at least according to this

 

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.ph...L_10.6.4#NVIDIA

 

I want to aim for a mac-like system to the fullest extent so I would prefer not to use an extraneous kext if possible. It may be a slight bit neurotic, especially since the idea of implementing nv enabler does not intimidate me or anything like that, but something working natively out of box really has a great deal of appeal for me. According to the osx86 wiki, it seems as if there are a few 9800gt cards out there that working OOB, so the apparent safety of going with a 9800 offsets the $35-$40 I would be saving with a 9500gt. However if I were going for the budget build the 9500gt would certainly be a go to GPU as there probably isn't anything cheaper that still holds its own real well for your modern day basic graphical tasks. Fortunately I do have some funds to spend on this build or else I would have gone with a P55 i5 based build (which would still make a kickass music machine).

 

Since you saved me about 30 bucks with the power supply suggestion, I really ought to invest in a real CPU cooler as you also mentioned. The Mugen definitely looks good as does anything in that price range by scyth. I have found that the cheap bearings of stock CPU fans do tend to make noise even at low RPMs, so something legit would be well worth it noise/annoyance wise as well as thermally speaking. I was originally going to wait until I was ready to experiment with overclocking before getting a real cpu cooler but now would be the best time so I don't have to worry about it later.

 

Eventually I would get around to replacing the stock fans in my case, but I'm willing to give them a shot at first. I am a big fan of scythe's slim form factor fans for the tight spots as well as their silent operation. Noctua's are in a league of their own as well. As far as the case goes, I am happy with the cooler master case even though it is more of a gamer case. I don't smoke or burn incense so dust isn't an issue, and the cable management seems quite nice to work with. I do have the funds to spend on a more expensive case, but overall I really don't need the case to do much other than not break. The antec is sleek, elegant and very osx86 in appearance, but I could do without it. Especially since it has the door type front-just makes me angry for some reason. If I had to nominate the most osx86-like case I've come across I would have to say this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811119138

Very Apple-like minimalism on the outside, and mac pro like organization on the inside. Also like a mac product, its way more expensive then what it seems like it should be

 

Overall, thank you very much for your suggestions as I will certainly take some of them up.

[XLR]

Regarding graphics cards, i have great news for you: 99% of all Nvidia cards from 8400 to 9800 work out of the box with the latest Chameleon bootloader.

[JagfyrS]

Regarding graphics cards, i have great news for you: 99% of all Nvidia cards from 8400 to 9800 work out of the box with the latest Chameleon bootloader.

 

 

That is actually very nice to hear, since I was also deliberating over install method. Looks like [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] will certainly factor its way into my method to get Chameleon installed among other things. To get things initially going I will be using [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] along with my retail Snow Leopard disk. If this happens to fail or glitch I will have a kakewalk usb ready to go.

 

It definitely is good to know that I could go cheaper on the graphics card and still work my way to a working system. However, I'm still going to stick with a 9800gt since I realized that my favorite and only computer game I ever play, counterstrike source, is now available on mac and I can pwn some n00bs at the highest framerates while taking a break from those mind and ear numbing mastering sessions.

 

Since last I posted I have also rethought my choice of case and will be going with an Antec 902.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129058

Usually I'm not a fan of the obnoxious cases with transparent side panels and led fans all around, but this i7950 based build of mine is really like the equivalent of a gas guzzling SUV pickup truck and I ought to be reminded when this thing is on. If I can't get sleep working properly then turning it off often will be a necessity. Plus a light show on the wall might go well with some of the trance and house music I sometimes sit down to make. It is also a quality case all round, and is well vouched for given the many reviews as well as for the positive feedback for its predecessor.

 

Also as per your suggestion xlr, I'm going with the Scyth Mugen Cooler rev2.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835185142

Seems excellent especially for the price, and given its near universal compatibility you may have turned me on to something here with regards to my AMD builds as well.

 

I'll give the antec case fans a chance for now, antec really has struck me as a quality brand and are usually my go to for power supplies along with corsair.

 

I will be able to order my components in about two days, and hopefully will have them early next week if newegg and provantage come through like they usually do. Definitely really anxious to get down to it, and I will be reporting on my install method as soon as I can. Getting OSX up and running seems like it will not pose a problem, but implementing the correct DSDT for the i7950 and getting sound and ethernet working may pose issues based on the reading around I have been doing.

[JagfyrS]

And it looks like I will also be going with this graphics card instead of the pny gt9800. <h1 style="display: block; padding: 0px; margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.2; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(67, 70, 73);">SPARKLE SX98GT1024D3GVP GeForce 9800 GT 1GB</h1>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814187086

 

I realized that the store selling the pny 9800gt was selling the card direct from manufacturer and may not get to me for 2 weeks. I definitely do not want to idle on this project so I can get back to the music ASAP. Its also easier ordering all the necessary components from one store. I wonder if the lifetime warranty on this card applies to hackintoshing? Not like they would be able to tell anyway

[XLR]

Kakewalk is definitely a better option than [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] imo. However, i really don't understand why would anyone take a graphics card with non-passive cooling for an audio workstation, this is a mystery.

 

Regarding cases, don't go for specific brands - go for specific models. Most Antec cases are utter garbage including the one you've chosen, except certain models in the Pro range. There are much better alternatives to look at, like the cheap HEC/Compucase 6AG1B or the more expensive Fractal Design Define or LanCool PC-K7.

 

All Antec fans are noisy and deserve a replacement, if Noctua is too much then you can take any of the Scythe 800 RPM models. They're all great.

[JagfyrS]

I just got my Kakewalk USB all set and ready to go and I am loving how this works. It appears to be a simple streamlining of the regular OSX installation with all the crucial drivers, kexts, and configs that will allow my GA-X58a-UD3R to work. Version 2.2 just added support for this board so lets hope that there aren't any major bugs present. BTW, I was able to do it all on an old G5 mac, but i couldn't run the ATI application on the G5 (not that I need to in my case). Kakewalk was going to be my backup, but after how nice this worked out its my go-to, especially since [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] does seem more P55 chipset oriented.

 

Ideally yeah I would prefer a passive card over a fan-cooled one, and it does make more sense for a music specific build. However, I didn't come across a solid card 9500 series or greater that offers two DVI outputs and is fan-cooled. A 9800 by BFG seems to have heating and quality issues. The Gigabyte Silent Cell initially struck me as an awesome choice but overall there seems to be too many issues with dual monitor output and cards that feature VGA and HDMI outputs along with DVI. A primary objective of mine is to get a system that is as mac-like as possible and Dual DVI seems to be crucial as far as mac-like dual monitor functionality goes. Furthermore, I would prefer not to use a foreign kext or patch in order to enable a VGA or HDMI output.

 

As far as the case goes, I really wouldn't rail on antec too much they really do a good job and lots of people would agree especially with regards to their 900 and 1200 series designs. When you spend over $100 on a case, it will almost indefinitely be of good quality. I'm still open minded to a case selection and I have about 1.5 more days to decide before the trigger is pulled, so I may take a second look at the quieter Antec p182 that you mentioned earlier. It has that osx86 look to it along with promises of a quiet system. The fractal design cases seem excellent, and I am willing to shell out extra for a case of that caliber. However I cannot find a store that sells them. I don't believe they are sold or distributed in the USA unfortunately, and overseas shipping for a case would be brutal. Google shopping search gives me nothing, and the Fractal design website directs me to nothing on my continent. We are definitely missing out on this side of the pond.

 

With regards to fans and noise, I really am not out for the quietest system possible despite the fact that I will be working with sound. This build will be located about 8 to 10 feet away from me as I work, and about 15ft and a closed door away from any mics. I actually have a rosewill challenger system with cheap/louder fans and an ATI 5670 located about the same distance away on a lower shelf, and it hasn't bothered me yet. Plus the computer will be located behind my studio monitors so at mastering volume I doubt it will bother me. If I worked exclusively with classical or jazz, then I would definitely go with quiet, but I guess I work with loud music in general. Overall, I really prefer solid compatibility with a GPU card and nice mesh case airflow for the i7-950 over quiet operation. If noise becomes an issue the 800rpm scythes are definitely a go-to item. I used them in an HTPC AMD Sempron build about 2 months ago, and I can't hear them unless I go right up to the case. Great for the movie suspense. The higher RPM models also offer good noise to airflow ratio in my opinion.

 

Thanks again for your help, it really helps to have a 2nd opinion.

[JagfyrS]

Aight, did some reasoning and since this build is meant to last, I'm going with a quieter case. Right now with my current set up noise is not an issue, but down the line if I set up shop somewhere else, it very well may be an issue. The Antec p193 is going to be the case for me. Should shut out noise and provide nice ventilation with built in speed controls for the fans. If the fans prove to be too noisy, they will get upgraded, but that's after giving them a shot.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129062

 

In lieu of getting a case that is relatively thin in width, I have to scrap the idea of the Scythe Mugen, and am going with a lower profile noctua heatsink/fan cooler

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835608016

 

All this calls for more money funding, but I should still be able to pull the trigger either tomorrow or the day after. Definitely looking forward to it.

[XLR]

Why P193 and not P183? P182 would be the best choice if you'll manage find one, it has removable dust filters. And why take NH-U9B SE2 that's significantly worse than Mugen2 in terms of price/performance? Mugen2 fits great even in HEC 6AG1B case, been there done that. And regarding your choice of graphics card, you may have to do some ardcore DSDT edits in order to make it's fan run at any speed lower than maximum.

[JagfyrS]

The p193 beats the 183 in terms of airflow, although they are very similar beyond that. The 193 has a large yet covered 200mm side fan, and 2 top 140mm fans as opposed to the single 120. The intake front fans as well as the side fans have easily removable filters to clean. A bit of extra noise may escape from the 200m fan opening, but it will be worth having a cooler system to push harder. However, given what you mention with the graphics card, I might have all the fan I need inside already so I'll look into the p183 once again. What turned me off about the 183 was lack of airflow, but then again I'm looking to get a quieter than usual build. I will consider the max speed of the graphics card fan and whether or not people seem to complain about that in general. Like I said, passive would be nice, but I have not found a passive nvidia 9x00 series that has two DVI outputs for dual display without patching and extra kexts.

 

I definitely did a decent amount of searching around for info on the Mugen cooler, since believe me I wanted to keep it in the mix. However the Mugen's large size would definitely interfere with the motherboard's closest RAM slot and it was certainly going to be a close call with regards to getting the antec case closed with it inside. The Antec case is only 8.1" wide and the Mugen is slightly over 6" tall, given the antec's removable panel sound isolation layering, room for cables behind the motherboard, and elevation of the motherboard couplings you are looking at a very close call. The Noctua is a safe bet in terms of fit, plus it won't force me to jam in a RAM module since I would like to have 12GB (2GBx6) at some point in the future. True, it is pricier and not as effective as the Mugen, but that it the trade-off with the quieter antex p1x3 case. The HEC case you mention is 8.22 inches wide, so perhaps the Mugen will fit in the p193 or 183, but the size issues with the UD3R are really a hard turnoff to using this cooler. Perhaps if the Mugen were oriented different and the fan placed on another side of the heatsink assembly the RAM slots would be fine, but I hate to be working with too many perhaps variables. With a hackintosh there are enough of those already.

[XLR]

Lack of airflow in P183? You gotta be kidding me! I've built top spec'd quad core machines in P183 with all passive cooling and one single fan only, mounted in the middle hard drive bracket. You may want a P193 only if you're going to overclock the hell out of both of your Xeons AND your Triple SLI setup. X58A-UD3R with Mugen2 filled with RAM to the max, fits perfectly in all the cases i've mentioned in this thread. And as i've said earlier, Mugen is amazingly effective in passive mode so you don't have to install his fan.

 

P.S. I'm talking from personal experience only, not from something i've read on the internet.

 

 

Here's some pics of one of the audio workstations i've built for a client recently:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JagfyrS]

Wow man, that looks a good deal like my build and clears up some confusion for sure. Looks like the Mugen doesn't interfere with RAM unless you buy RAM with ostentatious heatsinks. The Mushkin RAM I will go with is low profile so this will not be an issue. I'm guessing, the few accounts I read of UD3R RAM and Mugen conflict likely had to do with large heatsinks on the RAM.

 

As far as airflow goes I bet you are right given your personal experience. I definitely plan to overclock a bit so I gotta have airflow through my case, but the p193 may be more than I need and more noise than called for. The p183 does seem like the way to go now, especially since I read that the Scythe Mugen should fit inside. The Mugen is 158mm tall and the p183 has 166mm of clearance. Obviously now that I see you have fit the Mugen on a UD3R in the p183, I feel safe going forward. The p193 cannot accommodate a Mugen because the side fan diminishes the max cooler height capacity, even though it is partially located outside the case. Since I do want to go with the affordable and effective mugen the p183 falls in tandem. Depending on how every fits and how it all runs, I'll go ahead with a fan mounted to the mugen. Maybe I will go with a weaker/slim fan on the cooler-its nice to have the option

 

Since I have somewhat of a manic neurotic cooling complex having been working on a macbook (90+ C at load sometimes), I'm going to swap the top and exhaust antec 120mm with Noctua 120mm fans. In the front of the p183, I am going to add a couple of Xigmatek Red 120mm LED's since I want some element of obnoxious lighting in this case and they run at around 20db-not the quietest but then again I can just shut the door on them if need be it. Good value as well.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...3-049-_-Product

 

If they prove to be too noisy down the line, i could always swap them out for some 800rpm scythes without having to do any serious work. Right now obnoxious lights and a tad extra noise is doable.

 

Overall I'm feeling good with this setup and what it has to offer. I will keep you updated on how noisy the GPU card fan is inside the p183, and whether or not it will be a factor for someone who really wants quiet. My current situation does not require near silence so I will be ok with it for the time being. Still will be hunting for any sort of DSDT or patch to see if it can be tamed regardless of whether or not I consider it noisy. Thanks a serious much for your help, it really helps to have a pro opinion on this matter.

[JagfyrS]

It's been over a week since my last post, and its got everything to do with the fact that I've been busy. Quite busy working on my new mac faux that is. Everything arrived 5 days ago and putting it together was definitely a more meticulous endeavor than any other build I've ever done, especially considering I've only built rather basic pc's with only one GPU max. I took a good amount of time to put it all together since I want the hardware to not pose any potential compromise for software that could be difficult to work with.

 

Everything is quality and excellent to build with, and it all works. The antec p183 case is elegant, great to work with and it does have excellent ventilation. At first I didn't like the lack of an open side vent, but air movement from front to back is superb. Cable management is easy and tight without being too difficult. The Scythe Mugen cooler was a {censored} to install but it works very well. Using the prime95 test in Windows 7 x64 (installed on a 3rd hard drive), the CPU never went above 59 C even after about 5 hours of operating at load. Furthermore, I had the CPU base clock at 166mhz over the standard 133 when I did this. At idle in mac osx, I'm usually in the high 30's according to istat pro on the dashboard.

 

I made some last minute changes to the build before I pulled the trigger. Instead of a 1GB Sparkle 9800GT, I purchased a 512MB Sparkle 9800GT. I also scrapped the Xigmatek Red LED fans in lieu of using the case's own fans once the noctua fans took their place.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002FU5RR...ZMQXKE7Y8SX0C3W

 

It is very similar, but I decided on this different card based on trolling old mac pro forums of people wanting to change/upgrade their graphics card and the 512MB 9800GT models seemed more compatible. Besides I won't have any need for the 1GB of GPU RAM over 512MB. The 512MB model unfortunately still has a fan, and when it came I realized it has a particularly funky colored purple and noisy fan.

 

Fortunately, I have found a way to quiet it down to unnoticeable levels unless one is right next to the computer. I used an undervolting fan extension cable that comes standard with the Noctua NF-P12 fan. This cable seems to have a resistor on the hot wire that undervolts whatever is connected on the other end. I plugged the Sparkle GPU fan into the corresponding hot and ground leads (red and black wires respectively) and then plugged the other end into the sys2 3 pin fan input on my motherboard. From what I can tell by touching the fan heatsink during operation in mac OSX, It seems to run just fine. Obviously some better monitoring would be better, but as long as it doesn't smoke up anytime soon, I'll be ok. The case is very well ventilated so a burnout is unlikely to occur.

 

So enough about the hardware. Installing Mac OS 10.6.4 and getting it up to full funtionality wasn't too difficult on my setup. For the OS installation I used [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url], and for the i/o peripherals, DSDT implementation, and general optimization I used [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url]. Originally I was going to use Kakewalk, but neither the USB or CD would boot, given that I kept getting hangs on "Verifying DMI Pool Data". I followed all instructions to the T 3 times total with no luck. I don't know what went wrong, but I tried to make it work to no avail. Certainly my BIOS settings were spot on since [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] went without a hitch. Plus I verified that USB hard drives can boot on my system since I was able to reach the pre-installation environment on my custom made Windoze 7 installer usb drive.

 

Anyways, [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] supported worked perfectly for my setup-I even got an install succeeded at the end followed by an automatic reboot. Out of the box I had Dual monitors working with all resolutions listed by the monitors. My computer was recognized as a 2.02 Ghz 3,1 Mac Pro since at the time the stock power saver settings in my BIOS were in effect and the CPU clock was set to this along with 1066 RAM frequency. I followed the Tonymac instructions and updated my OS to 10.6.4 from a combo update I had previously downloaded and loaded onto a USB drive. Before rebooting I ran [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] and in the process got Chameleon, the UD3R DSDT listed in the tonymac archive, and NV enabler 64 bit going. After all that I felt I really had a new mac, even the DVD drive (Sony Optiarc) opened with the eject button on the mac keyboard. I rebooted and then proceeded to work on LAN and audio.

 

LAN I got working using [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] once again. First off, before I even got onboard sound going, I plugged my Apogee Duet into the firewire port on the back of the computer and it was instantly recognized and selected as the working sound device. I then installed the drivers and Maestro control software and instant sound resulted without getting anything else going. Has to be the easiest OSX86 sound installation ever, and it can be concluded that the Duet runs its own show completely without going through any audio device intermediary before interfacing with the kernel. I would assume all Apogee Hardware is this awesome.

 

I'm not sure what fully ended up working since I applied a Realtek 889 kext/method I found in this post http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=140941 and then rebooted with no sound working. Next I went with the fixes/kexts found in [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] (LegacyHDA, HDAEnabler, and AppleHDA 10.6.2 rollback), rebooted and then I had sound. The sound implementation did resemble what I tried with the first method, as it was targeted specifically toward a 5.1 889 setup, and I seem to have digital 5.1 sound working, but no way to test them. So far so good.

 

Next I overclocked the system a bit to 3.33 Ghz. I upped the base clock to 166, multiplier to 20x, RAM multiplier to 8x, CPU voltage to 1.15V and RAM voltage to 1.65V. I also changed the RAM timings to 7-7-7-20 for each channel. Basically my RAM is tuned up to max specifications that it is supposed to run at and the CPU gets a decent boost. I'm happy with this for now and after applying a i7 plist in [url=&quot;http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/&quot;]#####[/url] I now have a 3.3 Ghz i7 Mac pro 3,1 according to the system. Geekbench recognized all 8 logical CPU threads an i7 offers and scored at 10290-roughly 3 times the raw power as my macbook 4,1 so I'm set for now. However, given the fact that I can increase the CPU multiplier to 24x max over my current 20x, I theoretically have a whole lot of overclocking headroom (upwards of 3.98 Ghz) even with the current 1333mhz RAM I have.

 

What doesn't work (that I know of): USB 3.0 back ports, PS2 (well duh)

 

Overall this has been great and good, but I actually plan on reinstalling everything and refining a method that I can post on here and can be followed by anyone who is uncertain on how to proceed. I cloned (using EaseUS disk copy) my existing OSX drive to an identical hard drive already installed in the chassis. If anything fails horribly on my second attempt I have essentially saved all my current successful progress. My stated goal is to get the basics (OSX 10.6.4, basic hardware recognition, Ethernet, Audio) going in under an hours time and have a consistent way of doing so mapped out. If something goes wrong I could always try even a third time, but not anymore than that before reverting to the current success I'm having now. Check back with yallz soon

[streichholz]

@JagfyrS

 

Nice Project you are working on!

Actually I was planing a CustoMac for the same issue..i need a powerful and stable machine for my music Production with Ableton live. But the thing is i'm a total newbie to osx86.

So i hope you have success in refining a method an post a documentation...

 

Thumbs up!

[JagfyrS]

@streichholz

 

I'm glad to know that you may find my input/guide useful. I actually have finished writing it up after a fresh and clean install of Snow Leopard, and can most likely post it tonight at some point. I will be including the kexts and a DSDT including where I found stuff since I can't take credit for creating the materials. The DSDT I found enabled sleep, speedstep and graphics acceleration with dual monitors, and allowed me to forego having to use NVenabler. It should theoretically work for GA-X58A-UD3R with FB16 Bios, an intel i7-9x0 (LGA 1366 but not extreme edition) CPU, and Nvidia 8400-9800GT as well as some of the 240, 260, 280 cards out there. I would be very surprised if it all doesn't work with the same very satisfying results for a system nearly identical to mine (GA-X58A-UD3R, i7-950, Sparkle 9800GT 512MB.

 

Making a Customac may seem like a highly difficult and potentially risky task since your investment may have the potential to be essentially useless if it doesn't work out. However, after having done this and easily ending up with a fast and stable system, I won't hesitate to do it again. Maybe once apple embraces the upcoming 32nm sandybridge micro-architecture from intel, I'll aim to build a far more energy efficient and cutting edge MacFaux. That probably won't come for a while though, and who knows what interesting implications will come about with the release of 10.7, the lion codename OSX likely to be announced in a few days.

 

As of now I'm running my system at 3.66 GHz with a geekbench scrore of 11920, which basically means I can destroy the current line of quad core xeon macs in terms of raw computational power. I can even put up a fight with the lower end six core Westmere's by the look of it. I have installed Logic 9 and it recognizes all 8 logical cores in the built in CPU monitor. I have put the overclock through 5 hours of Prime 95 torture testing, but since really 24hours is ideal, I cannot conclusively say my Overclock is legit even though I have not experienced any hiccups during regular use in OSX, Ubuntu 10.04 or Windoze 7. At load during prime95 the CPU can get up to about 70 Celsius and it idles in the mid 40's C.

 

At this CPU frequency I have been able to play live along with itunes tracks (for practice) without any artifacts or weirdness at a sample buffer of 32 samples at 44.1khz for a roundtrip latency of about 6ms. At a 96Khz sample rate I have also been able to also use a 32 bit sample buffer for about a 3ms round trip. In both cases I was playing shreddy fast guitar with a channel strip loaded with native Logic 9 plugins like Amp Designer, Pedalboard, Space Designer, EQ, and Compression. Overall I'm very satisfied by this, and glad that I no longer get the unwanted slapback effect when I play fast on a channel strip loaded with plugins. There wasn't anything on the output channel strip. Over the next week or so I will be installing the 3rd party plugins I tend to use, and will report on anything that functions oddly. However I do not anticipate coming up against any problems that I wouldn't have encountered had I decided to get a regular mac.

[XLR]

Nice one! Try changing your SMBIOS.plist from MacPro3.1 to 4.1 and try the new Chameleon RC5, it's amazing.

 

And couple of days ago Mozodojo released a new FakeSMC with plugins that monitors fans and various temperature sensors.

[JagfyrS]

http://www.mediafire.com/?35c5ndh16zntyzk

 

Here's the guide I had mentioned I would be uploading. Feel free to check it out and add your input and criticism so as to make it easier and better for people to use. My goal was to detail a straightforward and accurate approach and to do so I wrote it as I was installing Snow Leopard for the second time as kind of a journal of my progress. After about a week or so I will upload it as a split file to this site itself for safer keeping.

 

@XLR

 

Thanks for sending over the link to the new Chameleon Bootloader, I'll likely check it out tommorow along with the FakeSMC monitoring stuff. I do want to get a read on the GPU since I am undervolting the otherwise annoying purple fan with the ULN cables that noctua packs in with their case fans. To the touch the heatsink on the card is at a healthy temp, but thats hardly a definitive way of determining temperature. Windows 7 says its at about 48-50 C while just running its Aero desktop environment, so it may be safe to assume that Mac OSX's aqua is taxing the card about the same amount if not less. Also with the SMBIOS.plist, is there a performance benefit to changing the model or is it just for identification? Right now my about this mac says I have a Quad Core Intel Xeon and that about it really. On the network I get a picture of a mac pro, but originally my computer wanted to call itself an imac-overall just osx86 weirdness I guess.

[Panos2408]

Hello fellow musician,

 

I just discovered today this option with Osx86. Did everything worked ok with your system? I am planning to update my equipment within 2011. Although an eternal Windows user it's time to move to OSX. So let us know how the machine is performing music production wise. My first attempt will be on my current PC which is just a QX6600 and an ASUS Striker MB but i am looking forward modding a laptop with this for live performances with Ableton Live so stability needs to be at least better than Win XP that i am currently using.

[JagfyrS]

Hello fellow musician,

 

I just discovered today this option with Osx86. Did everything worked ok with your system? I am planning to update my equipment within 2011. Although an eternal Windows user it's time to move to OSX. So let us know how the machine is performing music production wise. My first attempt will be on my current PC which is just a QX6600 and an ASUS Striker MB but i am looking forward modding a laptop with this for live performances with Ableton Live so stability needs to be at least better than Win XP that i am currently using.

 

Panos,

 

Sorry about the delayed reply, I haven't checked around in a few weeks. Overall my system is better than I ever expected. The overall stability with the custom build parts I chose have been great, and the system maintains a good temperature while staying relatively quiet to allow for precise post-production and sound designing work. Scroll up to see what parts I went with and download the guide I put together to see how it came together from a software perspective. My build is only a single case of what will work. I'm sure one could easily put together a highly stable and powerful custo-mac system with much cheaper parts.

 

In your case, it seems as if you may have some luck with your desktop. Check out this thread http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversi...hp/t176475.html

 

I can't really make any other recommendations since I had been researching entirely different parts than your Asus and Core2Quad setup. Just google around, i.e. add "hackintosh" or OSX86 next to your part's model numbers and names. Also check out this, http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page for hard ware compatibility lists (HCL). If you want to go with something new on the cheaper end check out this

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/01/upd...a-p55m-ud2.html

The UD2 mobo really is a great budget minded starting point. TonyMac's blog is also an extremely helpful resource and was central to my success.

 

As far as a laptop goes, that can be tricky for the simple reason that you cannot pick and choose individual mac osx compatible parts. Use the HCL on the osx86 wiki site I listed above for a good starting point. You can also be really successful with certain netbook platforms like the Dell mini10v. I have a hackintosh netbook that I use to run virtual instruments within Logic 9 and mainstage for live performance and jammin/brainstorming. Since it is a low power netbook with an intel atom n270 cpu, I cannot do much with it but it is still useful as a supplement to my macbook in a live situation. If in doubt, you can always consider the indisputable stability of a new macbook or macbook pro. A used or refurbished apple notebook may be a reasonable consideration as well.

 

Since you are migrating from windows, I recommend keeping your windows installation around on a backup drive, or dual-booting windows and osx off of separate hard drives. You may not be able to install all of your plugins and software on mac osx for basic operating system compatibility reasons. Thus it will be good to keep windows handy as you transition.

 

Ableton Live works well on the mac osx platform, and provided you get mac osx working properly you should not have any problems with Live. I actually have Live Lite 8 installed on my computer, but since I use Logic 9, I have not really explored Live well enough to really attest to its overall stability on a Customac/Hackintosh system. From the basic stuff I have messed around with, it does seem fine enough for me.

 

As far as your decision goes to get away from windows and over to macs, you are definitely making the best long term decision. The transition may be difficult since there will be a lot to learn and get used to at first, but you will eventually realize why many in creative arts fields turn to macs. On my part I used to hate dealing with all sorts of driver compatibility issues, extra latency, and buggy crashing software on windows xp. I was only dealing with pro-tools m-powered, sonar and finale, but it was really overwhelming and frustrating. My creativity was constantly deterred by constantly dealing with computer {censored}. When I switched over to macs, I really enjoyed the plug and play functionality of a lot of great hardware out there, and the streamlined ease and integration of the software (Logic and Garageband for me). So totally go for the switch, besides xp is like almost ten years old. XP was ok in its day but with all the new hardware and software to come about since its launch, too many things are not well accounted for by the xp kernel and supporting services.

[SoundForSoul]

I also want to make a rock stable i7 based daw. What would you recommend?

@JagfyrS I'd like to try a similar setup, with gigabyte-x58a-ud3r ver 2 mobo and intel-174-coretm-i7-950-306ghz-socket-1366 processor, Corsair 650w truepower, and maybe the same graphics card as yours, since it runs smoothly. I need dualscreen with QE/CI to work without to much hassle. I have downloaded your guide, hope to get it working;). What ram should i pick from: Mushkin Triple Channel 6GB (3x 2048 MB), 1600MHz and Triple Channel Mushkin 6GB (3 x 2048MB), XP3-15000, DDR3, 1866MHz ?

Should i get the gigabyte-x58a-ud3r ver 2 mobo( I've read that they are quite tricky to get working) or the gigabyte-x58a-ud5 ?

I want the most stable, yet easy to install set up as possible, even though it will be more expensive.

If I would want to pick a hd graphics card, since pro tools 9 requires it, what would you recommend?

@XLR What's the configuration of the daw from those pics ? How is it running as a hackintosh?

 

Thanks in advance!

[XLR]

SoundForSoul,

 

X58A-UD3R Rev2.0 with i7 950 is probably one of the best options at the moment, great board for a protools rig, very stable and easy to install. Rev2.0 isn't tricky to set up, for me it was as easy as the noisy Rev1.0 Regarding Graphics cards, you can take basically anything between Nvidia 8400GS and 470GTX, and here's a huge list of cards that work out of the box via bootloader:

0x10DE0040, "GeForce 6800 Ultra"
0x10DE0041, "GeForce 6800"
0x10DE0042, "GeForce 6800 LE"
0x10DE0043, "GeForce 6800 XE"
0x10DE0044, "GeForce 6800 XT"
0x10DE0045, "GeForce 6800 GT"
0x10DE0046, "GeForce 6800 GT"
0x10DE0047, "GeForce 6800 GS"
0x10DE0048, "GeForce 6800 XT"
0x10DE004E, "Quadro FX 4000"
0x10DE0090, "GeForce 7800 GTX"
0x10DE0091, "GeForce 7800 GTX"
0x10DE0092, "GeForce 7800 GT"
0x10DE0093, "GeForce 7800 GS"
0x10DE0095, "GeForce 7800 SLI"
0x10DE0098, "GeForce Go 7800"
0x10DE0099, "GeForce Go 7800 GTX"
0x10DE009D, "Quadro FX 4500"
0x10DE00C0, "GeForce 6800 GS"
0x10DE00C1, "GeForce 6800"
0x10DE00C2, "GeForce 6800 LE"
0x10DE00C3, "GeForce 6800 XT"
0x10DE00C8, "GeForce Go 6800"
0x10DE00C9, "GeForce Go 6800 Ultra"
0x10DE00CC, "Quadro FX Go1400"
0x10DE00CD, "Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI"
0x10DE00CE, "Quadro FX 1400"
0x10DE0140, "GeForce 6600 GT"
0x10DE0141, "GeForce 6600"
0x10DE0142, "GeForce 6600 LE"
0x10DE0143, "GeForce 6600 VE"
0x10DE0144, "GeForce Go 6600"
0x10DE0145, "GeForce 6610 XL"
0x10DE0146, "GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE"
0x10DE0147, "GeForce 6700 XL"
0x10DE0148, "GeForce Go 6600"
0x10DE0149, "GeForce Go 6600 GT"
0x10DE014C, "Quadro FX 550"
0x10DE014D, "Quadro FX 550"
0x10DE014E, "Quadro FX 540"
0x10DE014F, "GeForce 6200"
0x10DE0160, "GeForce 6500"
0x10DE0161, "GeForce 6200 TurboCache™"
0x10DE0162, "GeForce 6200SE TurboCache™"
0x10DE0163, "GeForce 6200 LE"
0x10DE0164, "GeForce Go 6200"
0x10DE0165, "Quadro NVS 285"
0x10DE0166, "GeForce Go 6400"
0x10DE0167, "GeForce Go 6200"
0x10DE0168, "GeForce Go 6400"
0x10DE0169, "GeForce 6250"
0x10DE016A, "GeForce 7100 GS"
0x10DE0191, "GeForce 8800 GTX"
0x10DE0193, "GeForce 8800 GTS"
0x10DE0194, "GeForce 8800 Ultra"
0x10DE019D, "Quadro FX 5600"
0x10DE019E, "Quadro FX 4600"
0x10DE01D1, "GeForce 7300 LE"
0x10DE01D3, "GeForce 7300 SE"
0x10DE01D6, "GeForce Go 7200"
0x10DE01D7, "GeForce Go 7300"
0x10DE01D8, "GeForce Go 7400"
0x10DE01D9, "GeForce Go 7400 GS"
0x10DE01DA, "Quadro NVS 110M"
0x10DE01DB, "Quadro NVS 120M"
0x10DE01DC, "Quadro FX 350M"
0x10DE01DD, "GeForce 7500 LE"
0x10DE01DE, "Quadro FX 350"
0x10DE01DF, "GeForce 7300 GS"
0x10DE0211, "GeForce 6800"
0x10DE0212, "GeForce 6800 LE"
0x10DE0215, "GeForce 6800 GT"
0x10DE0218, "GeForce 6800 XT"
0x10DE0221, "GeForce 6200"
0x10DE0222, "GeForce 6200 A-LE"
0x10DE0240, "GeForce 6150"
0x10DE0241, "GeForce 6150 LE"
0x10DE0242, "GeForce 6100"
0x10DE0244, "GeForce Go 6150"
0x10DE0247, "GeForce Go 6100"
0x10DE0290, "GeForce 7900 GTX"
0x10DE0291, "GeForce 7900 GT"
0x10DE0292, "GeForce 7900 GS"
0x10DE0298, "GeForce Go 7900 GS"
0x10DE0299, "GeForce Go 7900 GTX"
0x10DE029A, "Quadro FX 2500M"
0x10DE029B, "Quadro FX 1500M"
0x10DE029C, "Quadro FX 5500"
0x10DE029D, "Quadro FX 3500"
0x10DE029E, "Quadro FX 1500"
0x10DE029F, "Quadro FX 4500 X2"
0x10DE0301, "GeForce FX 5800 Ultra"
0x10DE0302, "GeForce FX 5800"
0x10DE0308, "Quadro FX 2000"
0x10DE0309, "Quadro FX 1000"
0x10DE0311, "GeForce FX 5600 Ultra"
0x10DE0312, "GeForce FX 5600"
0x10DE0314, "GeForce FX 5600XT"
0x10DE031A, "GeForce FX Go5600"
0x10DE031B, "GeForce FX Go5650"
0x10DE031C, "Quadro FX Go700"
0x10DE0324, "GeForce FX Go5200"
0x10DE0325, "GeForce FX Go5250"
0x10DE0326, "GeForce FX 5500"
0x10DE0328, "GeForce FX Go5200 32M/64M"
0x10DE032A, "Quadro NVS 55/280 PCI"
0x10DE032B, "Quadro FX 500/600 PCI"
0x10DE032C, "GeForce FX Go53xx Series"
0x10DE032D, "GeForce FX Go5100"
0x10DE0330, "GeForce FX 5900 Ultra"
0x10DE0331, "GeForce FX 5900"
0x10DE0332, "GeForce FX 5900XT"
0x10DE0333, "GeForce FX 5950 Ultra"
0x10DE0334, "GeForce FX 5900ZT"
0x10DE0338, "Quadro FX 3000"
0x10DE033F, "Quadro FX 700"
0x10DE0341, "GeForce FX 5700 Ultra"
0x10DE0342, "GeForce FX 5700"
0x10DE0343, "GeForce FX 5700LE"
0x10DE0344, "GeForce FX 5700VE"
0x10DE0347, "GeForce FX Go5700"
0x10DE0348, "GeForce FX Go5700"
0x10DE034C, "Quadro FX Go1000"
0x10DE034E, "Quadro FX 1100"
0x10DE0391, "GeForce 7600 GT"
0x10DE0392, "GeForce 7600 GS"
0x10DE0393, "GeForce 7300 GT"
0x10DE0394, "GeForce 7600 LE"
0x10DE0395, "GeForce 7300 GT"
0x10DE0397, "GeForce Go 7700"
0x10DE0398, "GeForce Go 7600"
0x10DE0399, "GeForce Go 7600 GT"
0x10DE039A, "Quadro NVS 300M"
0x10DE039B, "GeForce Go 7900 SE"
0x10DE039C, "Quadro FX 550M"
0x10DE039E, "Quadro FX 560"
0x10DE0400, "GeForce 8600 GTS"
0x10DE0401, "GeForce 8600 GT"
0x10DE0402, "GeForce 8600 GT"
0x10DE0403, "GeForce 8600 GS"
0x10DE0404, "GeForce 8400 GS"
0x10DE0405, "GeForce 9500M GS"
0x10DE0407, "GeForce 8600M GT"
0x10DE0408, "GeForce 9650M GS"
0x10DE0409, "GeForce 8700M GT"
0x10DE040A, "Quadro FX 370"
0x10DE040B, "Quadro NVS 320M"
0x10DE040C, "Quadro FX 570M"
0x10DE040D, "Quadro FX 1600M"
0x10DE040E, "Quadro FX 570"
0x10DE040F, "Quadro FX 1700"
0x10DE0420, "GeForce 8400 SE"
0x10DE0421, "GeForce 8500 GT"
0x10DE0422, "GeForce 8400 GS"
0x10DE0423, "GeForce 8300 GS"
0x10DE0424, "GeForce 8400 GS"
0x10DE0425, "GeForce 8600M GS"
0x10DE0426, "GeForce 8400M GT"
0x10DE0427, "GeForce 8400M GS"
0x10DE0428, "GeForce 8400M G"
0x10DE0429, "Quadro NVS 140M"
0x10DE042A, "Quadro NVS 130M"
0x10DE042B, "Quadro NVS 135M"
0x10DE042C, "GeForce 9400 GT"
0x10DE042D, "Quadro FX 360M"
0x10DE042E, "GeForce 9300M G"
0x10DE042F, "Quadro NVS 290"
0x10DE05E0, "GeForce GTX 295"
0x10DE05E1, "GeForce GTX 280"
0x10DE05E2, "GeForce GTX 260"
0x10DE05E3, "GeForce GTX 285"
0x10DE05E6, "GeForce GTX 275"
0x10DE05EA, "GeForce GTX 260"
0x10DE05EB, "GeForce GTX 295"
0x10DE05F9, "Quadro CX"
0x10DE05FD, "Quadro FX 5800"
0x10DE05FE, "Quadro FX 4800"
0x10DE0600, "GeForce 8800 GTS 512"
0x10DE0602, "GeForce 8800 GT"
0x10DE0604, "GeForce 9800 GX2"
0x10DE0605, "GeForce 9800 GT"
0x10DE0606, "GeForce 8800 GS"
0x10DE0607, "GeForce GTS 240"
0x10DE0608, "GeForce 9800M GTX"
0x10DE0609, "GeForce 8800M GTS"
0x10DE060A, "GeForce GTX 280M"
0x10DE060B, "GeForce 9800M GT"
0x10DE060C, "GeForce 8800M GTX"
0x10DE060D, "GeForce 8800 GS"
0x10DE0610, "GeForce 9600 GSO"
0x10DE0611, "GeForce 8800 GT"
0x10DE0612, "GeForce 9800 GTX"
0x10DE0613, "GeForce 9800 GTX+"
0x10DE0614, "GeForce 9800 GT"
0x10DE0615, "GeForce GTS 250"
0x10DE0617, "GeForce 9800M GTX"
0x10DE0618, "GeForce GTX 260M" 
0x10DE061A, "Quadro FX 3700"
0x10DE061C, "Quadro FX 3600M"
0x10DE061D, "Quadro FX 2800M"
0x10DE061F, "Quadro FX 3800M"
0x10DE0622, "GeForce 9600 GT"
0x10DE0623, "GeForce 9600 GS"
0x10DE0625, "GeForce 9600 GSO 512"
0x10DE0626, "GeForce GT 130"
0x10DE0627, "GeForce GT 140"
0x10DE0628, "GeForce 9800M GTS"
0x10DE062A, "GeForce 9700M GTS"
0x10DE062C, "GeForce 9800M GTS"
0x10DE0640, "GeForce 9500 GT"
0x10DE0641, "GeForce 9400 GT"
0x10DE0642, "GeForce 8400 GS"
0x10DE0643, "GeForce 9500 GT"
0x10DE0644, "GeForce 9500 GS"
0x10DE0645, "GeForce 9500 GS"
0x10DE0646, "GeForce GT 120"
0x10DE0647, "GeForce 9600M GT"
0x10DE0648, "GeForce 9600M GS"
0x10DE0649, "GeForce 9600M GT"
0x10DE064A, "GeForce 9700M GT"
0x10DE064B, "GeForce 9500M G"
0x10DE064C, "GeForce 9650M GT"
0x10DE0652, "GeForce GT 130M"
0x10DE0658, "Quadro FX 380"
0x10DE0659, "Quadro FX 580"
0x10DE065A, "Quadro FX 1700M"
0x10DE065B, "GeForce 9400 GT"
0x10DE065C, "Quadro FX 770M"
0x10DE06E0, "GeForce 9300 GE"
0x10DE06E1, "GeForce 9300 GS"
0x10DE06E4, "GeForce 8400 GS"
0x10DE06E5, "GeForce 9300M GS"
0x10DE06E8, "GeForce 9200M GS"
0x10DE06E9, "GeForce 9300M GS"
0x10DE06EA, "Quadro NVS 150M"
0x10DE06EB, "Quadro NVS 160M"
0x10DE06EC, "GeForce G 105M"
0x10DE06EF, "GeForce G 103M"
0x10DE06F8, "Quadro NVS 420"
0x10DE06F9, "Quadro FX 370 LP"
0x10DE06FA, "Quadro NVS 450"
0x10DE06FD, "Quadro NVS 295"
0x10DE087D, "ION 9400M"
0x10DE087E, "ION LE"
0x10DE0A20, "GeForce GT220"
0x10DE0A23, "GeForce 210"
0x10DE0A2A, "GeForce GT 230M"
0x10DE0A34, "GeForce GT 240M"
0x10DE0A60, "GeForce G210"
0x10DE0A62, "GeForce 205"
0x10DE0A63, "GeForce 310"
0x10DE0A65, "GeForce 210"
0x10DE0A66, "GeForce 310"
0x10DE0A74, "GeForce G210M"
0x10DE0A78, "Quadro FX 380 LP"
0x10DE0CA3, "GeForce GT 240"
0x10DE0CA8, "GeForce GTS 260M"
0x10DE0CA9, "GeForce GTS 250M"

Also, you don't have to take a triple-channel kit, those kits are ridiculously overpriced and a total waste of money imho. 3 sticks of 2GB 1333Mhz DDR3 should be more than enough. For a system HD i'd recommend Seagate ST3500418AS or Samsung HD502HJ or any other single-platter drive, and for a data HD i'd take a Hitachi 7k or Samsung F3 series.

[SoundForSoul]

Thanks for such a quick answer! My main daw for the moment is Logic 9. I have several hdd with bootable back-up partitions of my actual rig(GA 965p-ds4). They have worked perfectly for several gigabyte motherboards out of the box ( stick in the new system and worked right away). Is there any chance that it will work for ud3r? Cause that would spare me of the software installation hassle.

Also, i already have a 7300 gs working in dual mode with QE/CI, but I have never manage it to work on a osx version superior to 10.5.2 It either works in single mode, either without QE/CI. But it's no problem if i should buy another graphic card. I'll try with a 8600 gt.

Should I check some recommended ram brands on the gigabyte website, or could you recommend me something that you have already tried it on and it's rock solid?

I will add my RMe Hammerfall 9632 PCI soundcard also. Maybe a Matrox TH2GO also. I want to set up as many monitors as possible. A multiple graphics cards would be ideal, but i have no idea how to set them up and what should I buy...

I will overclock the I7 , also, cooled with megahalems rev b with push&pull Scythe kaze coolers.

I think I'll go and buy the components tomorrow, so any advice is priceless

Cheers!

[XLR]

Is there any chance that it will work for ud3r? Cause that would spare me of the software installation hassle.

Not a good idea, better install a Retail 10.6.3 and then update to 10.6.5 or whatever. Install a new bootloader that generates P and C states, patch your DSDT, and get a working system with minimum kexts.

Also, i already have a 7300 gs working in dual mode with QE/CI, but I have never manage it to work on a osx version superior to 10.5.2 It either works in single mode, either without QE/CI. But it's no problem if i should buy another graphic card. I'll try with a 8600 gt.

For SL you need at least 8400GS, 8600GT is also a great card. Both get recognized automatically via GraphicsEnabler. I highly recommend Gainward silent cards.

Should I check some recommended ram brands on the gigabyte website, or could you recommend me something that you have already tried it on and it's rock solid?

I don't remember what brands of RAM i buy, i usually take the ones i get for the best price, preferably a known brand. Everything that's compatible should work.

I will add my RMe Hammerfall 9632 PCI soundcard also. Maybe a Matrox TH2GO also. I want to set up as many monitors as possible. A multiple graphics cards would be ideal, but i have no idea how to set them up and what should I buy...

Unfortunately 9632 doesn't have 64bit drivers, but it works great in 32bit. Dunno about Matrox or multiple gfx cards, but most gfx cards support at least two monitors.

I will overclock the I7 , also, cooled with megahalems rev b with push&pull Scythe kaze coolers.

Overclocking isn't a good idea for a studio computer, not my cup of tea tbh. If you're looking for stability, keep everything at default frequencies imho.

[SoundForSoul]

Thanks alot!!

What would be your recommendation for a dual graphic display setup? Cheap & tested reliable, easy to get working out of the box graphic cards for running in dual mode in order to get 4 video outputs?

 

Even for a single GPU system, as you're recommending passive cooled Gainward, here's what I have found on local stores @ 70-100 USD:

available in 2-3 days:

Gainward GeForce 8400GS Passive 512MB DDR2 64-bit HDMI

Gainward nVidia GeForce 9500GT, 512 or 1024MB DDR2, PCI-E ,

Gainward nVidia GeForce 210, 512 or 1024MB, DDR2, 128bit, PCI-E

Gainward GeForce GT220 512MB DDR2 128-bit,

Gainward GeForce GT240 512MB DDR3 128-bit HDMI,

Gainward BLISS 9500GT SilentFX 1GB DDR2 128-bit,

 

Available immediately:

Daytona nVidia GeForce Super 9500GT, 512MB, DDR2, 128bit, SLI Should i go with this one, since it's available immediately ?

 

Which one do you recommend most? It wouldn't bother me to be active cooled, also.

 

I have also found this ram : Kingston 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3/1600MHz Non-ECC HyperX KHX1600C9D3K3/6GX - available in 3 days

or 3 pieces of Memorie Kingston 2GB, DDR3, 1600MHz, HyperX KHX1600C9D3/2G-KHX1600C9AD3/2G- available immediately.

Are those the same ? I mean, if i buy 3 pieces sold separately is the same thing as the triplekit? Their codes are similar, except the fact that the triple kit has a " 3k" added.

 

Thank You so so much, waiting for your response in order to place my order.