Jump to content

[Guide & Software] Complete Intel Bad Axe 2 Walkthrough with Software

weaksauce12

By weaksauce12,
in OSx86 10.5 (Leopard)

 Share
918 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

bigvalboa
bigvalboa
Posted
Posted
No thermal paste, its the paste that came stock on the processor, everything is stock....

 

fan is stock..

 

BTW. I put a new BIOS on and just started slowly upping the speeds of the processor at stock voltage.

Got up over 333 or 3ghz...

 

Haven't even touched memory yet at this point in OC'ing. I have in the past few days and get nowhere. This is the first time I'm been successful in any overclocking.

If you plan on overclocking long term, definately look into a good fan and some arctic silver 5 thermal paste, thats what I have and while encoding in handbrake at about 80% cpu usage i dont go above 42c on stock speeds. I use this fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835106080 works well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lindmar
lindmar
Posted
Posted
If you plan on overclocking long term, definately look into a good fan and some arctic silver 5 thermal paste, thats what I have and while encoding in handbrake at about 80% cpu usage i dont go above 42c on stock speeds. I use this fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835106080 works well.

 

Not sure if I plan on oc'ing for the long term. Stability is key here for me, but these speeds oc'ed are addictive!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hakeem9
hakeem9
Posted
Posted

This is a crosspost from Onetrack's thread but:

 

I just wanted to chime in and say THANK YOU Onetrack/weaksauce12 for creating these guides. I have a flawless (well no mute or mic-in) Hack-pro running on a BadAxe2 with a Core 2 Quad Q6600. Everything works, including my wireless PCI card.

 

XBench: http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=261887

 

Also a huge thanks to weaksauce12 who put this awesome guide together for owners of the Intel BX2 motherboard:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=76014

 

You guys have saved me several thousand dollars and I can't thank you enough!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mesasone
mesasone
Posted
Posted
The main problem I am having right now is I don't know which Computer Case to get there are so many kinds that its confusing me.. I am also considering get one with a built in Power supply.

 

 

I would suggest looking at what Antec has to offer. Unlike the Transformer, Antec's cases typically aren't terribly flashy, but they are of good quality and they make great power supplies. I would suggest the Sonota III, specifically.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129024

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lindmar
lindmar
Posted
Posted
I would suggest looking at what Antec has to offer. Unlike the Transformer, Antec's cases typically aren't terribly flashy, but they are of good quality and they make great power supplies. I would suggest the Sonota III, specifically. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811129024
I bought the Sonata 3 for my hackintosh.Its nice. Not too loud, you can hear the fans running of course but other than that, nice case... Everything works great.

 

Question for all

 

So now that many of us have come this far.What are my options in terms of backing up a clone of the HD? For example, I want to really start to look into some of my bugs but dont want to lose what I've got...Can I make a clone of my main HDD and Install in case anything goes wrong?Thanks again

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chimp
Chimp
Posted
Posted
If you plan on overclocking long term, definately look into a good fan and some arctic silver 5 thermal paste, thats what I have and while encoding in handbrake at about 80% cpu usage i dont go above 42c on stock speeds. I use this fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835106080 works well.

 

Do you mean that you don't go above 42c without overclocking, or with overclocking?

 

I'm at 56c or so at 3.3Ghz at 80% load, which didn't seem too excessive (or so I thought). Should I be worried?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nmradar
nmradar
Posted
Posted
I have some questions about building the computer.. I don't have much money so I am trying to build one cheap. The main problem I am having right now is I don't know which Computer Case to get there are so many kinds that its confusing me.. I am also considering get one with a built in Power supply. Here is what I have selected and any advice would be appreciated:

 

NewEGG

Intel Bad Axe 2 - 189.99

EVGA-Geoforce 7600GT - 89.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz 'Conroe' - 169.99

A-Data 2GB(2 x 1.0GB) 240-pin DDR2 800(PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit - 42.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB OEM - 65.99

Lite-On 20xDVD Burner IDE DH-20A4P-04-OEM - 24.99

Xclio Goodpower 500W ATX - 49.99

Total=$634

 

I briefly considered getting the 'Allendale' Core 2 Duo because it was $40 cheaper, but it was up to 15% less efficient then the Conroe.

I had a hard time finding a good cheap power supply unit(man there was a lot of horror stories on every PSU review)

Like I said earlier I am struggling trying to find a good case and I am thinking about getting Sunbeam Transformer, but it is a little expensive at $79 unless I go for the one with a built in 450W PSU and I am not sure on its quality.

 

Check to make sure that the Bad Axe 2 will work with that processor. I can't say this with 100% certainty, but I don't think it will work, because the processor has an FSB of 1333, while the board only supports 1066. Check this link http://processormatch.intel.com/COMPDB/Sea...rdname=d975xbx2

Like I said, I'm not completely sure that it won't work, but I ran into that problem myself (with an E6750).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dotsam
dotsam
Posted
Posted
Check to make sure that the Bad Axe 2 will work with that processor. I can't say this with 100% certainty, but I don't think it will work, because the processor has an FSB of 1333, while the board only supports 1066. Check this link http://processormatch.intel.com/COMPDB/Sea...rdname=d975xbx2

Like I said, I'm not completely sure that it won't work, but I ran into that problem myself (with an E6750).

 

I'm running an e6750 here on my Bad Axe 2, just had to update to the latest firmware for it to be recognized properly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Georgiles
Georgiles
Posted
Posted
I am working on a second machine that I will make a guide for, based on the $50 Gigabyte motherboard. The only limitation is that it can only take 2 gigs of ram, but audio is 100% support (6 channel even!).

 

I will be waiting for this $50 setup. I want to build a basic around 300 for my brother, maybe microATX?

PCWIZ is talking about the most compatible motherboards here CLICK.

 

this is the one you have in mind I would guess. Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2 - Price: $46.99 Open Box

 

Thanks for the great work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
theotherone
theotherone
Posted
Posted

@hakeem9: I tried several days now playing with EFI8 and GUID with limited success. What i want was an install directly from the Original Leopard DVD (with post-install-added dsmos.kext and evtl NViject or a 7600-card-specific apple.com.boot.plist. I didn't try opengl-kexts from 10.5.2, so...

 

What works for me after reading and partly following 2 or three related threads in this forum: Installing a bootable EFI (7, and then 8), then installing from the original Leo-Installation DVD as recommended from zzak works also, but on booting i never get past the grey-screen. I tried -v on start and the system gives me messages with mDNSResponder and doesn't get past beyond that. I tried several things, re-installed and such and finally gave up on the Leo-Original DVD Install. Instead i used the Kalyway 10.5.1-DVD and only marked the kernel, NVinject, but NO Boot-Install (because my already installed GUID works..). And BOOM, this works! So i have now an external USB-Drive with GUID and EFI8 and a functioning 10.5.1 Kalyway install on that. So, in my opinion, the only way to get a kalyway-install under GUID working on tthe Bad Axe 2 ist to pre-or post-install EFI (7, and then 8). This seems also the only way for the weksauce-recommended install if one wants GUID-Booting instead MBR-Booting with that highly recommended-installation.

 

This is where i am now. Next will be to get this GUID-Sh..(sorry...) installed on my RAID-Volume so that i can boot from that (several messages back i told that this works with a MBR-Install a'la weaksauce). If i finally got this working with GUID/EFI8-Booting then there are 2 options: Merge my weaksauce-install with the new GUID-Partition or take the kalyway 10.5.1-Install as basis. This must work in one or the other way because next week my maschine is needed for serious work and i cannot spend so much time on installing and testing and such.

 

@lindmar: Nice to see you reaching 3 GHz, i am now stable on that for days, but today only testing a win-repair-cd, opening a ugly DOS (want update my RAID-Card BIOS) sends me back to the un-postable state and also killt my weaksauce-startupdisk so that it din't get past the blue screen. -_-

 

The damn BIOS gets back in settings without intervention, especially in the RAM-Settings one must always look after a unsuccessful Post, BIOS gets partly back to old settings.

 

So, when playing around with whatever settings and installations it is absoulutely crucial to have backups, and one sparse boot-disk lying around. It's absolutely dangerous to mess with these things without backup of data/system and needed apps. So, be careful...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lindmar
lindmar
Posted
Posted
Has anyone experimented with EFI v8 and GUID + GFX Strings to get 8800GTS/GTX's working? According to Netkas's post there are some graphics strings for 8800's which along with 10.5.2 OpenGL kext's should allow us to use these cards natively (no NVinject):

 

http://netkas.org/?p=40

 

I have ran an 8800GT without issue.

The only issue is that the entire machine seems to be zipper, but scrores are way lower across the board.

 

OPEN GL scores are higher and everything else is way down.

 

I used the expermiental installer one member of insanelymac made and then plugged in the 8800GT 256.

 

I'm going to return it though, not worth the extra $200 bucks at this point.

 

 

TheOtherOne: Can you explain what happened? You lost your Mac OSX HD and you need to start from scratch? Can anyone tell me if there is a way to clone my main HD incase something happens?

 

I want to continue OC'ing a bit so I ordered a Scythe Ninja Fan and some thermal paste, as well as 2 new SATA HD's.... :-)

 

I love my hackintosh. I havent even plugged in my regular mac since I built this thing. Its a slug compared to this.

 

THE only time I've had any issues is when I'm oc'ed... I want to learn more about this but OC'ing is the only time the system has crashed.

Going to be installed FCP Studio 2 today and playing with that a bit.

 

Finally: I've still got my video card issue. Sleep or Res/change causes a garbely display. I've tried editing NVCAP #'s, I also tried the 8800GT. The 8800GT was allowing sleep no problem but was crashing on resolution change. So I eventually have to buy a new video card. The GTS series are a lot of money and from what I've read the GT;s are more powerful for less. Just missing that full driver support in OSX right now.

 

I upgraded my BIOS to the newest BadAxe 2 Bios released 2 weeks ago, thinking it might do something for graphics.. no go..

 

I've learned a lot in this porject considering I had never built a PC before I started. All I had done was change ram. Now I'm testing (carefully) with OC'ing.. I've reset my bios, I've ran bios updates, and running a perfectly good mac.

 

You guys rock. Lets keep this thread going and get down to the bottom of all these issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
theotherone
theotherone
Posted
Posted
TheOtherOne: Can you explain what happened? You lost your Mac OSX HD and you need to start from scratch? Can anyone tell me if there is a way to clone my main HD incase something happens?

 

No, no, i didn't lost the HD, i only lost the ability to start from the weaksauce-installed HD again, it loads all the way thru the grey screen, then reaches the blue screen (where it normally switches immediatly to the mac-desktop) and stays there showing the running circle all 3 minutes for awhile, thats it, so i have to restart from another installation. Playing with diskutils from the windows world is the dangerous thing, with OC'ing i didn't have an issue with HDs.

 

I want to continue OC'ing a bit so I ordered a Scythe Ninja Fan and some thermal paste, as well as 2 new SATA HD's.... :-)

 

yeah, this will give you definetely more headroom to play with OCing! on HDs: i learned that you couldn't have enough HDs with this OSX86-thing, one to work with, one backup-system, on system to experiment new settings...., that's needed for me (+ several Backup-Disks for data).

 

Finally: I've still got my video card issue. Sleep or Res/change causes a garbely display. I've tried editing NVCAP #'s, I also tried the 8800GT. The 8800GT was allowing sleep no problem but was crashing on resolution change. So I eventually have to buy a new video card. The GTS series are a lot of money and from what I've read the GT;s are more powerful for less. Just missing that full driver support in OSX right now.

 

I upgraded my BIOS to the newest BadAxe 2 Bios released 2 weeks ago, thinking it might do something for graphics.. no go..

 

:rolleyes: Odd..., i didn't have a single problem here with my 7600.

 

There are several problems here to get components, maybe it's the holidays or/and there are new components coming, i got no chance to buy a second Bad Axe 2 here with 7600, absolutely sold out here so we bought a AUS P5W DH Deluxe with Q6600 and a XT1950 Pro 512 MB for my son. Other components, other problems...arghhh.

 

I love my hackintosh. I havent even plugged in my regular mac since I built this thing. Its a slug compared to this.

 

:D Yeah, me too, the only mac we have here is a mac mini c2d, which is used by my wife and by me for occassionally traveling to a customer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hakeem9
hakeem9
Posted
Posted

Just wanted to clarify - I have my 8800GTS 320mb working flawlessly (well, almost flawlessly...retouching pictures in iPhoto 08 crashes the whole OS...) using NVinject 0.2.1. What I am hoping to achieve is using the gfx-strings in the boot.plist and *NOT* using any NVinject/natit/titan and seeing how the performance is.

 

Browsing through various Xbenches its clear that the OpenGL portion of the NVinject driver (or however it works) is unbelievably slow. Even the ATi guys with the X1900/1950XT's on Hackintoshes are seeing scores 2-3x better in OpenGL performance in Xbench. I was hoping that by using the gfx-strings and bypassing NVinject completely we might be able to see some true performance from these cards.

 

For example, check out DDrDark's Xbench (E6600 @ 3.2ghz with X1950XT): http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=262339

Then compare to mine (Q6600 @ 2.4ghz with 8800GTS): http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=261887

 

Look particularly at the OpenGL and Quartz tests - the GTS is supposed to be about 50-100% faster than the X1950XT in Windows benchmarks, yet we are seeing as bad as 30% of the performance using NVinject.

 

Additionally, I do not think you need to use the Kalyway CD at all to install GUID/EFI 8. From what I have read it seems like booting into the Brazilmac installer, using disk utility to set the partition as GUID, unmounting the drive, then using terminal to install EFI 8 + 2-3 other commands, then back into disk utility to remount the disk, then install appears to work. I have no reason to mess with my EFI 5.2 at this point as it's incredibly stable and I don't see much need to use GUID, so probably won't try this anytime soon (unless someone gets the gfx-strings working on an 8800GTS or can report some significant benefit to using GUID).

 

Thanks for everyones help, this has been an interesting project.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bibendum
bibendum
Posted
Posted
For example, check out DDrDark's Xbench (E6600 @ 3.2ghz with X1950XT): http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=262339

Then compare to mine (Q6600 @ 2.4ghz with 8800GTS): http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=261887

 

What I don't understand is why the disk performance is SO bad...

 

Among the 6 hackintoshes I've built, I built 2 from the Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2 motherboard. Both have better than 100 in the disk speed tests. But both of the Bad Axe Quads I've built and the above bench marks show ABYSMAL disk performance...

 

Thoughts?

 

Patrick

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hakeem9
hakeem9
Posted
Posted
What I don't understand is why the disk performance is SO bad...

 

Among the 6 hackintoshes I've built, I built 2 from the Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2 motherboard. Both have better than 100 in the disk speed tests. But both of the Bad Axe Quads I've built and the above bench marks show ABYSMAL disk performance...

 

Thoughts?

 

Patrick

 

Good question. I am using a WD Raptor 10k RPM too which is about the fastest SATA drive available! Maybe the SATA driver kext's for BX2 need some work?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lindmar
lindmar
Posted
Posted

I'm having two new issues.

 

1) System Crashes on Restart. This is new.

 

2) Found a USB Device the system cant find. Not a big deal, it recognizes being plugged in on the device but doesnt work in the program. Logitech harmony remote... remote recognizes being plugged in, apps/drivers installed... can't update on the hackintosh..

 

3) Another question. On all my macs I usually run onyx every once and a while to keep things fresh. Could you run Onyx on a hackintosh?

 

I'd really like to fix the restart issue, like I said, this is a brand new issue..

 

Id the disk performance really that bad? What is a decent score? I just ran xbench on the disk

 

 

Results 61.24

System Info

Xbench Version 1.3

System Version 10.5.1 (9B18)

Physical RAM 8192 MB

Model Mac Pro

Drive Type ST3500320AS ST3500320AS

Disk Test 61.24

Sequential 126.41

Uncached Write 134.15 82.37 MB/sec [4K blocks]

Uncached Write 132.18 74.79 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Uncached Read 97.90 28.65 MB/sec [4K blocks]

Uncached Read 156.03 78.42 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Random 40.40

Uncached Write 14.18 1.50 MB/sec [4K blocks]

Uncached Write 124.43 39.84 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Uncached Read 77.52 0.55 MB/sec [4K blocks]

Uncached Read 132.42 24.57 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Link to comment
Share on other sites
weaksauce12
weaksauce12
Posted
  • Author
Posted

I got my Nintendo Wii Remote (Wiimote) working on my Hackintosh. I'm using a D-Link Bluetooth adapter ($25 or so anywhere, recognized instantly by OS X) and Darwiin:

 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/darwiin-remote/

 

I'm using it mainly for Front Row - the Home button opens Front Row, then the D-Pad to navigate, the "A" button to select, and the "B" button (trigger) to go back. Works great, nice little remote! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...