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Gigabyte GA-EP45-Extreme & Q9650 watercooled Hackintosh


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Hi folks,

 

I recently ordered some of the essential parts of my new desktop Hackintosh:

 

Gigabyte GA-EP45-Extreme

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650

4x1GB OCZ DDR2 PC9200 Reaper Edition

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512 MB

 

I think i'll get an Antec P190 case for it.

This should provide enough space in prevision to fit a watercooling system in the near future :)

 

I noticed in the CPU compatibility list that the GA-EP45-Extreme will need a BIOS update to support the Q9650.

As my actual CPU is not supported too, I ordered the cheapest CPU supported by the motherboard (Celeron E1200 for 30 euros) in prevision to flash the BIOS to F5 or F6 beta BIOS.

 

I should have it running before October 2008

This should be much fun, I'll post my reviews soon so stay tuned ;)

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Just ordered the Antec P190, and a WD 300GB 10000 rpm SATA-II Velociraptor tonight :P

 

The rest should ship a bit later, because of the OCZ PC9200 being out of stock until September 22th...

I've already received the Celeron E1200 today though :D

 

Now everything is on its way home !

 

PS: Good news, I saw a new F7 BIOS was released on the 2008/09/10 which should improve RAM overclocking performance :)

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Hey !

 

I received it on friday and built it this week end :)

 

file0173vh3.jpg

 

F7 BIOS Flash ok

I installed XP 32 Bit (had to make a Intel Matrix ICH10R AHCI floppy disk) for first hardware tests and temperature monitoring: stays around 43°C idle

 

then:

Debian testing quick netinstall

I formatted 2 partitions to FAT32, then changed type to HFS+

 

then:

Added PC EFI V8 in GRUB menu.lst

 

Then 10.5.4 retail install booting from a 2 partitions external USB disk:

1 with syslinux+DFE 146 Boot (with a dsmos.kext initrd.img)

1 with the 10.5.4 DVD image restored on it

(inspired from Stickpin method)

 

file0175zm8.jpg

 

It made an install error at the end, but it was ok B)

 

QE/CI ok with a G92 based gfx string with aqua-mac method

Reboot/Halt ok with Psystar kext fix and stock AppleACPIPlatform

PS2 ok with new AppleACPIPS2Nub from Chun-Nan

 

Did not deeply check the dual RTL8168/8111C... but it seems well recognized with R1000.kext

(Since I had to use a PCI RTL8139 for Debian install, I stayed with it)

Sound in/out seems working with Taruga ALC885/ALC888A kext + HDAEnabler (not really tested yet)

 

Now i'll have to experiment more on stability/temperature monitoring, before I receive the Swiftech loop...

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LSPCIDRV output

 

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:2e20] (rev 02)

00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:2e21] (rev 02)

00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a37]

00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a38]

00:1a.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a39]

00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a3c]

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a3e]

00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a40]

00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a48]

00:1c.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a4a]

00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a34]

00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a35]

00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a36]

00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a3a]

00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge [8086:244e] (rev 90)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a16]

00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a22]

00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:3a30]

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation Unknown device [10de:0612] (rev a2)

03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 02)

04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 02)

05:02.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ [10ec:8139] (rev 10)

05:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link) [104c:8024]

05:07.0 IDE interface [0101]: Integrated Technology Express, Inc. Unknown device [1283:8213]

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IDE not working because of the ITE 8213 IDE controller.

This one is unsupported AFAIK...

I'll have to buy a SATA DVD drive, but I could go without it using my installation method :)

 

05:07.0 IDE interface [0101]: Integrated Technology Express, Inc. Unknown device [1283:8213]

 

Nice build you should add your board to this list:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=127264

 

Hello MaaseyRacer :)

 

I prefer this one don't you ?

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.ph...10.5.2#Gigabyte

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I do think the wiki is doing well, and does well. However, I have found that the Wiki is out of date, and does not show what is currently available for sale. Most of the boards featured on the Wiki are not even available for purchase on newegg. I think a seasonal sticky would work well for this forums interest. It is an optional thing. No pressure or anything. :blink:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've noticed there is a new F8 BIOS:

 

F8 2008/09/30

1. Fixed Vista S3 resume sometimes failed

 

I'll try it soon to see if it affects OS X sleep or whatever :D

 

EDIT: This F8 BIOS was a no go, it could even not pass BIOS POST !

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Thanks for the info DJSpike, I have the same board.

 

Leopard 10.5.2 iATKOS v2.0i / Windows XP sp2

EP45 Extreme

Gforce 8800GTS (ACER X203W 1344x840 & SCEPTRE X75-NAGA 1152x864)

Intel Core Duo Processor E8400

GSKILL F2-8800CL5D (8 gigs installed)

 

 

I haven't made any changes to the board yet. No time.

 

Also I still cant get the audio to work yet. Maybe it is because you flashed your bios? But I'm in no rush to get it working yet. I've been using an old pair of Logitech headphones.

Leopard is very stable on here as long as I don't put the computer to sleep.

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Thanks for the info DJSpike, I have the same board.

 

Also I still cant get the audio to work yet. Maybe it is because you flashed your bios? But I'm in no rush to get it working yet. I've been using an old pair of Logitech headphones.

Leopard is very stable on here as long as I don't put the computer to sleep.

 

Hi shadow 999,

 

Audio needs a patched AppleHDA.kext for ALC885/ALC889A + HDAEnabler.kext

I don't think it's BIOS related, but i can't say since I haven't tried before F7 BIOS...

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  • 9 months later...

Hello DJSpike,

 

I have the same Mobo as you. but seem I have problem with installing iAtokis 10.5.7

 

after installation is finish and booting to OSX then it's came up with the "waiting for root device"

 

my spec Q9550+4gb ram+EP45-EXTREME(F4)+GTX285 1gb+Seagate 1TB(on native ide mode)+HP 24x dvd-rw(sata).

 

so Are there any sugguestion for me please?

 

regards,

 

P.

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  • 4 months later...

Hello DJ Spike

 

I have also the same Board & CPU - all runs very well except Sound. Would you please give me your patched Apple HDA.kext I use passive watercooling from Zalman RESERATOR 1 V2. Unfortunately i can't go over 3.5 Ghz. I think you made several special entrys in Bios to get 4.0 Ghz stable. Are you that nice to give me the settings to get 4.0 Ghz?

 

Thanks

 

Andi

 

a.buhlinger@vtxmail.ch

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Hi buli,

 

1) About audio, they are many methods, which can be different from 10.5 to 10.6

what build do you use ? did you try open-source VoodooHDA ?

 

VoodooHDA works on this board, it's easier, and won't require any custom DSDT, many topics already cover it.

 

Patching AppleHDA is way more complicated (DSDT, pin configs, plist editing...), and can be broken from build to build... but it works too.

 

The method I used is detailed on this topic:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/lofiversi...hp/t127227.html

 

Please note I don't distribute AppleHDA kexts.

 

2) overclocking

 

Stability will depend on RAM specifications, and appropriate voltages/temperature and the cooling system.

If you want to overclock your hardware, you have do it on your own trial and error procedure, and see what's good/reasonable for YOUR setup.

 

Thinking my BIOS settings will be ok for you would be a mistake

 

Keep in mind if your Q9650 is on air cooling, it should still run fine at 3.60 Ghz next summer.

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Hi Zaap,

 

Nice! Amazes me that this thread is from 2008 originally. That's still a system in line with or better spec'd than most current Mac models but the i5 and i7s.

 

I'm thinking of upgrading it soon with a SSD.

I could extend the watercooling loop to the GPU, but I prefer not to, for the moment.

a PCI-E SATA RAID controller would be fine too, but these are quite expensive

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  • 4 years later...
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