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VERY, VERY Stable Quad Core Hackintosh?


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Hi all,

 

I was looking at getting a Mac Pro as I do a lot of photoshop work and I am also an app developer.

 

Because of this I need a rock solid machine, however I'm a bit pissed off at Apples lack of care for their pro line, leaving it overpriced and underpowered.

 

So, I'm looking at doing another Hackintosh (did a Asire One a few years back).

 

My requirements are however that it be ROCK SOLID. I.E wont crash if I put it into sleep, wont kernel panic (even once a month), etc.

 

The kind of spec I'm looking for is as follows:

 

CPU: Quad Core (i7) CPU - 2.66Ghz minimum - would like a 2.9

RAM: 8GB RAM (with the option to go up to 16GB) - the more RAM slots, the better

GFX: A 'fairly good' graphics card but I'm not doing rendering/high-end stuff. Just want a fairly decent one that can handle light gaming (Steam). Something like a 512 or 1GB Nvidia would be great.

HDD: N/A (already got an Intel SSD for boot, and a couple of TB drives to use

 

Misc: Must be silent, and I mean - dead silent (like the macs). I really cant stand to have whirring/buzzing sounds going on next to me. I don't want to go down the water cooling route.

 

Just writing this I'm wondering if its worth the extra hassle :wacko:

 

I'm not asking people to spec this out completely for me - but would appreciate any recommendations you do have from your experience!

 

:thanks_speechbubble:

 

Rick

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• Intel Core i7 860 2,8 GHz

• Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 (cheap, but works well) or you may have a look at the GA-P55A-UD6 - both support 16 GB RAM. You may use any of those P55 Boards

• Gigabyte 9800 GT Silent Cell 1 TB - passive - means NO noise

• A good Case - i use a LianLi Alu-Case that looks just as good liked as macpro. It has three very low-noise 12cm coolers inside. They dont build that case anymore (sniff...) but have a look at the others

• Good RAM, I use Corsair 4 x 2 GB at the moment on two machines

• PowerSupply: I use a 500 Watt bequiet Straight Power, low noise, works without problems since 3 years now on two machines - and works well with my latest upgrade to i7 860

• CPU cooler Skythe Kama Cross. Its BIG but great and simple to integrate.

 

This machine is very low noise here (both) and works 100% perfect. I use tonymacosx86 [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] for installation - GREAT! Very easy, very good! Sleep, Restart, Shutdown works 100%, it is my first buid where waking up my sleeping machine with my wireless Logitech USB keyboard works - just like my macs.

 

Stability: I had no kernel panic on both machines since about three month of power-working with the machines (rendering, photoshop, aftereffects and so on...)

 

So this would be my recommondation.

The GA-P55-USB3 has no FireWire - I inserted a small 7.- Euro PCI Card for that...

 

And: My signature is not up-to date, sorry.

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:)

 

Hi,

 

I setup a GA-P55-USB3 with a silent cell and an i5-750, Corsair HX750W PS, 1TB Spinright drive, Optiarc DVD, and a CoolerMaster 690 II case. Started working on it yesterday and have yet to get any Sleep! I can't get the Realtek LAN or the Realtek ALC892 Audio to work.

 

Please help me out a bit here and give me some details regarding how you got [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] to make it work? I'm wondering also, are you running at 10.6.4?

 

Thanks,

 

SXBB

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OK, I got VoodooHDA 2.2 running OK so I'm pretty happy with the sound now. I found another Lan driver at the Realtek website at http://www.realtek.com.tw/DOWNLOADS/downlo...p;GetDown=false. Unfortunately this one also causes frequent failure of my USB controllers to initialize. I haven't been able to find any info of this happening to anyone else so I'm starting to think it's a bad board? Anybody have any ideas?

 

Thanks,

 

 

:)

 

Hi,

 

I setup a GA-P55-USB3 with a silent cell and an i5-750, Corsair HX750W PS, 1TB Spinright drive, Optiarc DVD, and a CoolerMaster 690 II case. Started working on it yesterday and have yet to get any Sleep! I can't get the Realtek LAN or the Realtek ALC892 Audio to work.

 

Please help me out a bit here and give me some details regarding how you got [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] to make it work? I'm wondering also, are you running at 10.6.4?

 

Thanks,

 

SXBB

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I have been running my rig since 10.5.3! now at 10.6.4 with no problems at all!

 

100% Vanilla with 1 kext file (FakeSMC) thats all the patching that needed done apart from the DSDT.

Its as closes to a real mac as you can get, runs better and cooler that my mac pro 3,1!!!!!!

 

If you do it right with DSDT patching you'll have no problems at all! I have had more kernel panics with my real mac pro and macbook pro.

 

I use Logic Pro, Cuebase, all adobe stuff everyday.

 

Hope this helps.

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:)

 

Hi,

 

I setup a GA-P55-USB3 with a silent cell and an i5-750, Corsair HX750W PS, 1TB Spinright drive, Optiarc DVD, and a CoolerMaster 690 II case. Started working on it yesterday and have yet to get any Sleep! I can't get the Realtek LAN or the Realtek ALC892 Audio to work.

 

Please help me out a bit here and give me some details regarding how you got [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] to make it work? I'm wondering also, are you running at 10.6.4?

 

Thanks,

 

SXBB

I dont know about the i5-750 cpu, i use the i7-860, and at the moment i am running 10.6.2. Have you tried just a fresh inbstall with a) boot with [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] nvidia :) install os c) run [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] d) install the correct dsdt from tonys site? should work, worked here without a hassle.

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Logicpro8_user!

 

Sounds Beautiful! Can you post your DSDT? Is your board a rev 1 or a rev 2? I went back to the DSDT on Tonymacosx's site and disabled the built-in LAN card. Added a cheapo PCI LAN card and it recognized it natively. Now I have power management and networking working but I'm back to work on the audio. I'd really like to get the DSDT to get audio working. The thing is, my board is a rev 2 and they've implemented the 892 codec. Newegg still shows it as being alc888 but the manual that came with the board says it's alc892. I'd really appreciate a hand. I've noticed something else strange about my board. I have quick boot disabled. When I was booting with the LAN enabled before it would skip past the Award Bios emblem/initial boot screen. Now that I have the internal LAN disabled I see the Blue Award Bios emblem/initial screen. As I said before, using the Realtek 1000 kext that most others are using causes my UHCI controllers to {censored} out every other boot. It makes me wonder if the board has a defect? I'd love to get my paws on your DSDT!

 

Thanks,

 

SXBB

 

I have been running my rig since 10.5.3! now at 10.6.4 with no problems at all!

 

100% Vanilla with 1 kext file (FakeSMC) thats all the patching that needed done apart from the DSDT.

Its as closes to a real mac as you can get, runs better and cooler that my mac pro 3,1!!!!!!

 

If you do it right with DSDT patching you'll have no problems at all! I have had more kernel panics with my real mac pro and macbook pro.

 

I use Logic Pro, Cuebase, all adobe stuff everyday.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Hey rhalls,

 

Yeah, I've done that about 20 times but no go. Well almost exactly, I've been using [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] supported because the i5 is supported which I thought was correct? I really want to get the 10.6.4 combo update to work so I keep screwing it up with that after my initial boot at 10.6... Then I ran [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] and added the realtek1000 network driver but it didn't get recognized. I've also run the 10.6.2 rollback for applehda and together and seperately all of the legacy HDAEnablers and also both choices for VoodooHDA plus a 3rd VoodooHDA that's not in [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]. I always run the system utils with it to flush and rebuild caches. I'm thinking that the current version of the board has the 892 codec instead of the 888 so the device id is incorrect in the DSDTand that's keeping the HDA from working? I did find a chinese website that had a HDA code segment from an 892 and I tried changeing it in my DSDT but all it did was change the name to 892 in system profiler. I'm really a NOOB and outta my depth but I'm trying... I really would like to determine if the LAN problems and UHCI reset fails I've been having are just from the DSDT not being quite right or if I should RMA the board and start over. I'd have bought the UD4 that Tony reccomended but A) it's no longer availlable and B) I wanted a few PCI slots and it had 1 I believe. I like the features of this board but my head's starting to ache from banging it against the wall!

 

Anyway thanks for responding and thanks again to any others that can help me figure this out,

 

SXBB

 

I dont know about the i5-750 cpu, i use the i7-860, and at the moment i am running 10.6.2. Have you tried just a fresh inbstall with a) boot with [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] nvidia B) install os c) run [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] d) install the correct dsdt from tonys site? should work, worked here without a hassle.
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OK,

 

Making some progress here! I deleted the sections of my DSDT that had anything to do with HDA and removed the legacyhda kext I was trying. Installed the beta VoodooHDA 0.2.2 and it's prefpane that was packaged in the same tarball with it. And it's working pretty well but i haven't tested the spdif yet. Still want to sort out the onboard LAN though but everything is up with just a few kexts.

 

Logicpro8_user!

 

Sounds Beautiful! Can you post your DSDT? Is your board a rev 1 or a rev 2? I went back to the DSDT on Tonymacosx's site and disabled the built-in LAN card. Added a cheapo PCI LAN card and it recognized it natively. Now I have power management and networking working but I'm back to work on the audio. I'd really like to get the DSDT to get audio working. The thing is, my board is a rev 2 and they've implemented the 892 codec. Newegg still shows it as being alc888 but the manual that came with the board says it's alc892. I'd really appreciate a hand. I've noticed something else strange about my board. I have quick boot disabled. When I was booting with the LAN enabled before it would skip past the Award Bios emblem/initial boot screen. Now that I have the internal LAN disabled I see the Blue Award Bios emblem/initial screen. As I said before, using the Realtek 1000 kext that most others are using causes my UHCI controllers to {censored} out every other boot. It makes me wonder if the board has a defect? I'd love to get my paws on your DSDT!

 

Thanks,

 

SXBB

 

 

 

 

Hey rhalls,

 

Yeah, I've done that about 20 times but no go. Well almost exactly, I've been using [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] supported because the i5 is supported which I thought was correct? I really want to get the 10.6.4 combo update to work so I keep screwing it up with that after my initial boot at 10.6... Then I ran [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] and added the realtek1000 network driver but it didn't get recognized. I've also run the 10.6.2 rollback for applehda and together and seperately all of the legacy HDAEnablers and also both choices for VoodooHDA plus a 3rd VoodooHDA that's not in [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]. I always run the system utils with it to flush and rebuild caches. I'm thinking that the current version of the board has the 892 codec instead of the 888 so the device id is incorrect in the DSDTand that's keeping the HDA from working? I did find a chinese website that had a HDA code segment from an 892 and I tried changeing it in my DSDT but all it did was change the name to 892 in system profiler. I'm really a NOOB and outta my depth but I'm trying... I really would like to determine if the LAN problems and UHCI reset fails I've been having are just from the DSDT not being quite right or if I should RMA the board and start over. I'd have bought the UD4 that Tony reccomended but A) it's no longer availlable and :) I wanted a few PCI slots and it had 1 I believe. I like the features of this board but my head's starting to ache from banging it against the wall!

 

Anyway thanks for responding and thanks again to any others that can help me figure this out,

 

SXBB

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• Intel Core i7 860 2,8 GHz

• Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3 (cheap, but works well) or you may have a look at the GA-P55A-UD6 - both support 16 GB RAM. You may use any of those P55 Boards

• Gigabyte 9800 GT Silent Cell 1 TB - passive - means NO noise

• A good Case - i use a LianLi Alu-Case that looks just as good liked as macpro. It has three very low-noise 12cm coolers inside. They dont build that case anymore (sniff...) but have a look at the others

• Good RAM, I use Corsair 4 x 2 GB at the moment on two machines

• PowerSupply: I use a 500 Watt bequiet Straight Power, low noise, works without problems since 3 years now on two machines - and works well with my latest upgrade to i7 860

• CPU cooler Skythe Kama Cross. Its BIG but great and simple to integrate.

 

This machine is very low noise here (both) and works 100% perfect. I use tonymacosx86 [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] for installation - GREAT! Very easy, very good! Sleep, Restart, Shutdown works 100%, it is my first buid where waking up my sleeping machine with my wireless Logitech USB keyboard works - just like my macs.

 

Stability: I had no kernel panic on both machines since about three month of power-working with the machines (rendering, photoshop, aftereffects and so on...)

 

So this would be my recommondation.

The GA-P55-USB3 has no FireWire - I inserted a small 7.- Euro PCI Card for that...

 

And: My signature is not up-to date, sorry.

 

 

rhalls -

 

Thanks for the great info about your setup and your experience so far. I just ordered the same components and hope to duplicate your success.

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Hi all,

...

 

Misc: Must be silent, and I mean - dead silent (like the macs). I really cant stand to have whirring/buzzing sounds going on next to me. I don't want to go down the water cooling route.

...

 

Rick

 

With the exception of the noise requirement the described system is very doable. Dead silent you are not going to get with normal off the self components and having the system at your elbow.

 

neil

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Hi again!

 

Just to mention: I never had the energy and time to make all the Audio Problems vanish that happen with all those different codecs - i just bought some of those Behringer UCA202 USB Audio things, one for each of my machines - and i dont have to worry about the audio....

 

Something to Networking: THat seems to be a bit tricky sometimes, yes. It works 100% with gigabit networking on one of my new machines (the first I built and installed) but not anymore on my second one which runs with a cloned system from the first - odd. Its 100% identical but doesnt work (only 100 MBit, not Gigabit). But mybet thats som other problem.

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Hey rhalls,

 

Thanks for the clarification... For the moment I'm happy with the VoodooHDA and the PCI NIC but I'd love to get the built-in NIC and ALC892 to work. In time someone will come up with something or I'll learn how to tweak it into life myself!

 

Thanks Again,

 

SXBB

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I built a system using the same hardware as rhalls:

 

Gigabyte P55-USB3

Core i7 860

4 GB Crucial RAM

Gigabyte 9800 GT Silent Cell graphcis

650w Antec power supply

 

but I haven't reached the promised land. I can boot into SN 10.6.4, but the first thing I noticed is that it's not coming out of sleep properly. THere could be other bugs too, but I'm focusing on one thing at a time.

 

I followed the directions from Tonymac which included booting with [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] Supported, installing the 10.6.4 upgrade and running [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url] with Easy Beast and System Utilities checked.

 

rhalls , is that the process you used? Did you tweak anything in [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]? Did you do anything in addition to what I did? Audio isn't a top concern since your solution would be fine and I can always work on that if I want, but obviously the sleep is something I'd like to get past. Any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks all!

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  • 2 months later...
Hi all,

 

I was looking at getting a Mac Pro as I do a lot of photoshop work and I am also an app developer.

 

Because of this I need a rock solid machine, however I'm a bit pissed off at Apples lack of care for their pro line, leaving it overpriced and underpowered.

 

So, I'm looking at doing another Hackintosh (did a Asire One a few years back).

 

My requirements are however that it be ROCK SOLID. I.E wont crash if I put it into sleep, wont kernel panic (even once a month), etc.

 

The kind of spec I'm looking for is as follows:

 

CPU: Quad Core (i7) CPU - 2.66Ghz minimum - would like a 2.9

RAM: 8GB RAM (with the option to go up to 16GB) - the more RAM slots, the better

GFX: A 'fairly good' graphics card but I'm not doing rendering/high-end stuff. Just want a fairly decent one that can handle light gaming (Steam). Something like a 512 or 1GB Nvidia would be great.

HDD: N/A (already got an Intel SSD for boot, and a couple of TB drives to use

 

Misc: Must be silent, and I mean - dead silent (like the macs). I really cant stand to have whirring/buzzing sounds going on next to me. I don't want to go down the water cooling route.

 

Just writing this I'm wondering if its worth the extra hassle :)

 

I'm not asking people to spec this out completely for me - but would appreciate any recommendations you do have from your experience!

 

:(

 

Rick

 

 

Try this site for the ultimate kext for realtek NICs and read his "the Perfect Hackintosh for details on settings for BIOS and Energy Saver Preference pane checkboxes to get perfect sleep!

 

http://lnx2mac.blogspot.com/p/realtekrtl81xx-osx-driver.html

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I am running the following hardware and have had NO PROBLEMS, no panics, no issues. Every update since 10.6 works with NO ISSUES.

 

I leave mine on all the time, and just let it sleep. The only time I reboot is for a system update.

 

This system has been up and running since Feb 2010.

 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 - over clocked to 3.33GHz

Memory: 6GB Geil DDR3

Video: Apple Nvidia GT 120 512MB (I use the mini display port for my 27" iMac)

 

 

I get around 11,750 for a geekbench score.

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