12 replies to this topic

[cpukid]

Hey guys,

I'd like to share my Mufasa build with everyone! While this isn't the most powerful SR-2 build out there, I think a lot of people would enjoy seeing the machine, regardless!

This machine consists of:

• 2 x 6-core Xeon x5650 processors
• EVGA SR-2 Motherboard
• 48GB G.Skill Ripjaw memory
• 1 x GTX 690 GPU
• Thermaltake Grand 1200W power supply
• Corsair Force GT 120Gb SSD
• WD 1TB Red HDD
• Ethernet PCI card
• FireWire 400/800 PCI card
• 2 x Thermaltake Frio CPU coolers
• Lian-Li PC-A76X Case (Not the exact case, but closest match since Amazon stopped carrying the case I used)

Now, here are some pictures:


The parts have arrived! This is always the most exciting part of building a new system!



The SR-2 really is a beautiful board. The PCI slots offer tons of expansion, there's a good number of SATA ports, etc. I only wish there was a higher memory limit (48GB is the max), and the rear I/O could have used a few more options, such as FireWire. The color scheme looks really nice, as well.




I built this system live via my website, so of course, there were a whole bunch of live fails I ended up needing to change the backplate that came on the SR-2 to allow the Frio coolers to fit. Aside from that, the case simply didn't have all that great of cable management. I decided not to go with liquid cooling, as these air coolers were very highly rated, as well as budget constraints (this was a pricey build as it was). Liquid cooling may make its way to this build in the future, though.

I decided to go with a GTX 690 for this build. Although OS X doesn't take full advantage of this dual GPU card, there was going to be some work done on the Windows side of things, which would be able to utilize the GPU more than OS X. With that said, the card would still be able to perform quite well within OS X, plus I got a pretty sweet deal off eBay for a next to brand-new card.




After some hard work out of the case, the system seems to be performing great! The machine posts just fine, OS X can be installed, etc. The Frio coolers blend right in with the black and red color scheme of the board, and even offer a nice white accent with the actual fan. I also felt that blue memory would be a nice accent to an otherwise black and red machine. Once I got the blue memory in there, there were times I liked it, and other times I didn't. More on the memory in a bit.





Well, remember that memory I was just talking about? After putting the machine in the case and tidying up the wires, I boot the machine on, boot into OS X, and what do you know; only 32GB of memory is being recognized. I booted into Windows, and the same thing was happening. This isn't good. Time to do some diagnostics.



After booting it up a few times out of the case, it seemed to boot just fine every single time. This led me to believe that it had something to do with the case. After removing all un-necessary motherboard mounts, the system now boots up just fine! **If you get anything from this post, it's this sentence; always, always remove un-needed motherboard mounts.** After removing the mounts, the system then booted up great within the case!

I also decided to go with different memory, which is where the aforementioned G.Skill Ripjaw memory comes into place. This is pretty close to the completed built, but some tests were still being run:



Once all of the kinks were out of the way, I was left with a pretty awesome looking & performing hackintosh! I always loved the look of the Windows CPU meter gadget when under a full load, but with all of these threads, it's better than seeing a real rainbow!




I have some additional videos on my YouTube channel regarding this machine if you want to see some more of Mufasa! I have videos of a tour of the hardware, as well as the benchmarks right below:

• A Tour of Mufasa (12-Core Hackintosh)

• Mufasa Benchmarks! (12-core Xeon Hackintosh)


Thanks for reading, and be sure to let me know if you have any questions!

[theconnactic]

Awesome!

P.S.: check this thread for further enhancement of your machine's performance: http://forums.macrum...d.php?t=1333421

[PunkNugget]

Great job on the build !!! I'm glad you took up my challenge and entered. Now that you have some pull on YouTube, you can tell everyone about your SWEET build and SPREAD THE WORD about what we're doing here. We gave away prizes last year to the winners and want more to enter. This will only help your cause to win !!!

YOU GOT MY VOTE !!!

Now all you have to do is contact RampageDev (link below):

http://rampagedev.wo...hnical-support/

You'll find his email. Get in touch with him and he'll streamline your files and it'll help Mac OS X run a lot faster. Oh, when you get a chance, PM me your email. I got a few other things I wanted to mention... Later and glad you're aboard MacMod of the Month. Hope you win !!! Later...

 theconnactic, on 18 March 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Awesome!

P.S.: check this thread for further enhancement of your machine's performance: http://forums.macrum...d.php?t=1333421

Hey cpukid, I would do that last. FIRST you need to make sure you have all your files straight, THEN go and read (what I call) "Tutor's Way" LAST. Trust me, I went back and forth on all this stuff with Tutor and he's great at what he does. But he (just like me), needs a guy like Rampage to find out all the clutter first on your system. Once that's cleaned up, then you'll be good to go with Underclocking (if that's the route you want to go). That's why I said to PM me your email so I can help you so you don't have to go through MONTHS of trouble like I did with my system...

[theconnactic]

I second what's written above

[Alessandro17]

Impressive! You get my vote.

[SS01]

Wow! You've got my vote too. Did your GTX 690 work out-of-box with OS X? As far as I knew this card didn't work at all with hackintoshes.

[cpukid]

 SS01, on 18 March 2013 - 04:06 PM, said:

Wow! You've got my vote too. Did your GTX 690 work out-of-box with OS X? As far as I knew this card didn't work at all with hackintoshes.

Thanks for the vote! Yes, the GTX 690 worked right out of the box! Keep in mind that you need GE=No, and it's also worth mentioning that OS X won't take full advantage of this card, as it has dual GPU's, which OS X doesn't support.

 PunkNugget, on 18 March 2013 - 01:56 AM, said:

Great job on the build !!! I'm glad you took up my challenge and entered. Now that you have some pull on YouTube, you can tell everyone about your SWEET build and SPREAD THE WORD about what we're doing here. We gave away prizes last year to the winners and want more to enter. This will only help your cause to win !!!

YOU GOT MY VOTE !!!

Now all you have to do is contact RampageDev (link below):

http://rampagedev.wo...hnical-support/

You'll find his email. Get in touch with him and he'll streamline your files and it'll help Mac OS X run a lot faster. Oh, when you get a chance, PM me your email. I got a few other things I wanted to mention... Later and glad you're aboard MacMod of the Month. Hope you win !!! Later...



Hey cpukid, I would do that last. FIRST you need to make sure you have all your files straight, THEN go and read (what I call) "Tutor's Way" LAST. Trust me, I went back and forth on all this stuff with Tutor and he's great at what he does. But he (just like me), needs a guy like Rampage to find out all the clutter first on your system. Once that's cleaned up, then you'll be good to go with Underclocking (if that's the route you want to go). That's why I said to PM me your email so I can help you so you don't have to go through MONTHS of trouble like I did with my system...

Thanks for the great information guys, I'll look into this! Thanks for the votes, as well

[BALDY_MAN]

got my vote

[.:sinaglahi:.]

damn... you're the man!

u got my vote!

[maximus]

Awesome machine.

[cpukid]

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

[Derty]

woowwww!!!!!!!

tecnology is beautiful, gorgeous, lovely........

[Insidious]

Just one word : amazing !