OSX InsanelySlow; cause: UNKNOWN

[LmnLm3]

Just built my very first hac pro, used retail+[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]

(and this is my first post - maybe I should go to the "hello" thread...I'll do that next...)

 

My iHac Pro:

Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3

Intel i5 2500K

(2x4GB) Kingston HyperX

(ATI) HIS RadeonHD4650 (I added it to the wiki)

WD Caviar Green 1TB

 

With these specs, is my hdd holding me back? Does OSX not have instructions to spool the Caviar Green up to 7200rpm? Or do I have some other problem? It takes about 90-100 seconds to boot (not including POST) and I just checked the -v and found that while my 4650 gives me proper resolution, acceleration, and even temp to show on iStat, every shutdown is an evil grey error.

 

I can live with the funky hard shutdowns and complaints on boot about it not shutting down properly. But I feel a general *slowness* about my whole computer, as if I have a dual G4 or G5 under my desk...

 

Any idea what to check? As I said, I'm brand new to all of this! (I've used OSX plenty in the past, have some Linux (cli) experience, and have built windows PCs for a few years now)

[Davirus]

Is this your first time installing mac os on a PC? Usually after the first install the system make a whole indexing process of all your computer which normally use a lot of performance and resources of your computer (mostly from the CPU).

 

If the spotlight is doing nothing (there should be a blinking dot in the loupe in the right corner) then it is a good idea to open the "Activity Monitor" (in the utility folder) to see what is using your resources.

[LmnLm3]

This is my first time using Apple software on PC hardware (but I have installed many many other OS's on PCs before)

(and I only had to install 2 times and restore from time machine 2 times! Go me!)

 

As far as indexing, I never see the CPU go over like 10% (I got DesktopMonitor from the App Store) and when I [windows]+space I can grab apps and files at seemingly normal speeds.

 

I did just change the HPET to 64 bit - did I need to do that *before* the install?....

 

It just feels like the OS is not optimized for my hardware (obviously!) I have felt this in some Linux'es I have used before, and it just felt...off...

 

Could the extra kexts bring my speed down, or would that be only during boot?

 

Still thinking it might have something to do with OSX not having instructions for Green (variable RPM) drives - AND I don't think my i5 is having any turbo boost! 3.3GHz all the time should be ok, though, right..?

[LmnLm3]

Perhaps it is mainly Safari... I'll do some more testing - it seems a few apps, though, even the monitor and terminal (which I used for 4 instances of yes > /dev/null to test the temp and access to cores) have some lag when I click on the application menu to go to preferences or whatever.

 

This is where I have most of my slowness, it seems. This, and application launching.

 

The launching seems that it might be HDD related (as I said, it's a WDC Green, I might clone the drive to a blue or black, or spinpoint, whatever) can't think of anything else.

 

As for the menu stuff and in app lag, it feels like my ram is slow (it's at 1333, rated to 1600) or like I have no cache on my cpu...

 

Any further suggestions?

[Noam AA]

if it's a green drive you might have high increasing of LCC (Load Cycle Count)

you can check with any S.M.A.R.T utility (just locate the LCC attribute, write down the number, exit and reenter the app after few minutes. if the number increases in more then 1-3 per hour, you have this problem)

in my case the utility from WD called wdidle3.exe solved the problem (which BTW, if exist will kill your hard-disk in few months)

 

you can also test your hack with some bench software, it will be the easiest way to find if your pc run like it should

try geek bench, and xbench (with xbench you can check your hard-drive speed),

you can also bench your GPU to see if it any good with cinebench

 

note, i have a little old PC. p5k-se with q6600 with 220GT graphics.

if i use model identifier mac pro4,1 or 5,1 - my graphics become very low in benches. also low performance making the hole system to be unresponsive

but those weren't happened when i tried friends farm card 460GTX (tried with both model identifiers, and got pretty good results about everything)

 

try different model identifiers to see if it will do any good to the performance

and check the LCC, if you have the problem use the utility from WD to fix it

[themacmeister]

Any idea what to check? As I said, I'm brand new to all of this! (I've used OSX plenty in the past, have some Linux (cli) experience, and have built windows PCs for a few years now)

 

You will need to use BridgeHelper to get a Sandy Bridge compatible kernel (and a Sandy Bridge compatible boot loader certainly wouldn't hurt).

 

With the correct bootloader (I am using the latest non-packaged Chameleon -- had to install it manually). It does video injection, and correctly identifies FSB, CPU speed, as well as installed RAM and RAM speed. Correction: RAM amount incorrect, fixed speed/amount with custom SMBios.plist. This is only cosmetic.

 

I have since updated to legacy-kernel 10.7 & 10.8, which is fully Sandy Bridge compatible, so this may not be your issue. I assume you are running AHCI for your hard drives, and have an ICHx (Intel) driver installed for your chipset.

 

I needed to try quite a few until I found one that supported Intel 5 Series SATA, but I did find one - installer pkg too!

 

If you know the exact hardware and embedded controllers on your motherboard, starting up with -v can show you exactly where this slowness is coming from. A helpful first tip is to move AppleGenericATA.kext (or whatever the plugin is called) from inside IOATAFamily.kext to a safe place outside the System directory. I am using a single AHCI injector, and my system is running as well as possible. You can search in the forum for H57 Express Inspiron 580, and you will see how close I am to a perfect Hackintosh without DSDT, on a relatively stock Dell computer.

 

All I can do is wish you the best of luck (I am using a Caviar Green 1TB, so that isn't your problem). I assume you have created a custom DSDT, but you might want to try someone else's, who may have tweaked and fixed some settings inside before compiling. Make sure the motherboard model exactly matches yours, and backup your existing DSDT file.

 

PS. Using a single disk, and formatting as GUID is a MUST!!! I had MAJOR ISSUES when I used MBR formatting, around <50% of expected speed, with menu lag (with beachball). This might solve your problem!

 

Good Luck!

[Gringo Vermelho]

Still thinking it might have something to do with OSX not having instructions for Green (variable RPM) drives

No. The "green" in those drives is handled solely by the drive's own electronics and firmware.

OS X does not communicate directly with your hard drives, it talks to your motherboard's hard drive controller through a driver.