Hackintosh - Salvage your HD PCI cards - You Can Do It Too!

[jeremyroberts]

A few people have been emailing me privately... I am MORE than happy to help when I can -- but the whole point of my post here was to share what I learned from the dozens of helpful people on the DUC and TonyMac -- I just put what I learned into one place. I'm NOT the expert -- I just assembled the collective knowledge into one place. By the time YOU complete your build, you'll know as much or more than I do (did)...

With that said, please share your experiences here as well -- the community will be stronger and there will be more "it works for me" data points.

Another thing: this thread is pretty much neolithic-age when it comes to hardware specs... I specced this in May/June 2012 -- and that was already the trailing edge of the curve for this hardware -- there was no such thing as mountain lion or PT 10.3 at the time.

With today's hardware and software, I can only imagine the builds are faster and easier. My build was a snapshot for a good value at the moment I bought the parts with the then-available software options.

And in case anyone's wondering -- my rig has been rock-solid since I took it online in June 2012. It's quiet. Reliable. POWERFUL. And I haven't upgraded the OS or ProTools since. I know I can put mountain lion on it, and I know I can take PT to 10.3HD, but that would require some work and I simply don't value the benefit of the newer OS (I have 10.8 on my laptop, it's great, but not really needed for the production workstation). I achieved what I wanted -- salvage my HD cards and make a production rig that can compete -- this build more than accomplished that.

[Media_Matrix]

Hi Jeremy

Thanks for putting these specs online... This thread has certainly grabbed a lot of attention with people in the same boat. I had pretty much given up the idea of upgrading for a while until I saw this. I also starting to look at the PT HD Native option and keeping my old HD rig for tracking bands and live rec reg. Not any more...

A few questions to put to you and others, before I start the ball rolling on this Hackintosh build.

1. It appears that my old PT8 license will have to be surrendered when upgrading to PT10. Would you say the best approach is to go with the PT10 trial for 30 days and test the system that way before committing? I need to know that I can go back to my old system in the Hack setup process. Any thoughts on this - any other way around it? Would you say it's even an option to try install my old Leopard OSX and PT8.03 on this Hackintosh? Suppose this defeats the object of upgrading? $1500 is quite a chunk for an upgrade and I may want to stager these costs a bit.
I wonder if PT10 upgrade cost will come down when PT11 is released?

2. Sticking with the original PT10 option. What kind of issues am I likely to run into if I go the mountain lion route? Is it best to try and get a copy of Lion from somewhere and rule out Mountain Lion?

3. Not sure if any of you are doing music to picture or post but anyone had any trouble with video out of firewire option (canopus) with this Hackintosh or other similar setups? Anything to look out for here?

Now here with my intended shopping list for putting this beauty together. Jeremy if you have a minute please advise if you think there's anything a miss!
Sorry to be a bore but I'm based in Zimbabwe, Africa and will be shipping this all from the States! I need to really make sure it's all the right stuff.


Antec P280 Black Super Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129179

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151095

JetWay JNAF93-Q77 LGA 1155 Intel Q77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813153243

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070

ZALMAN CNPS8900 Quiet 110mm Ultra Quiet Slim CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118126

01G-P3-1526-KR GeForce GT 520 1024MB DDR3 PCIe 2.0 x16 Video Card
http://www.microcenter.com/product/3...x16_Video_Card
This video card should still fit into the mobo right?
PCIe 2.0 will still fit into and work with PCIe 3.0 not so?

GeIL Evo Two 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10660) GET332GB1333C9QC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144570
CPU cooler needs to clear the RAM so these might not work?
May have to look for similar spec ones Jeremy chose as his initial ones are out of stock

Intel 330 Series Maple Crest SSDSC2CT120A3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167121

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204

ASUS Black SATA Blu-ray Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135252

TOSHIBA DT01ACA200 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (x2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822149407

SYBA Low Profile PCI-Express 1394B/A Firewire Card Model SD-PEX30009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815124072


Signing off

[soul]

First all, a big THANKS to Jeremy for testing the waters with this system, and for taking the time to post a list of pc parts that worked for him along with his process.

I have built a handful of PCs in my time, and Ive been using Macs forever too. But I never tried to install Mac Os onto a PC. Inspired by this thread, I took a chance and built my rig which uses all of the same parts as Jeremy listed, except for the cpu cooler. I have a Cooler Master Evo 212. Also I am running Mountain Lion (I tried Snow Leopard, and then Lion. Snow Leopard was a pain in the *****, I finally gave up on it after days of trying and failing. I was able to install Lion using Unibeast much more easily, then I figured I might as well make it Mountain Lion) Of course to jump up from Snow Leopard meant I had to upgrade from PTHD8 to PTHD10. Ok, fine. I guess this is the last upgrade I'll do since Avid announced no further support past HD10 for HD/TDM systems. So now...

I am running Pro Tools HD 10.3.3 on Mountain Lion OSX 10.8.2 using my HD Core and Process PCI cards. Its still early, as I have only had the system running successfully for a day. But I'm feeling pretty confident that I got it right this time. I just used CCC to make a carbon copy bootable image of my successful build in case something goes wrong. That way I wont have to start from scratch next time. It took me a week and about 20 installs to clear every hurdle (I was one of the guys emailing Jeremy and he was nice enough to answer... thanks again). Every time something went wrong, I researched it and was able to resolve the issue.

It's true what he said. You will learn a LOT about the process, using resources like tonymacx86. That is where you start. And that is where you go to troubleshoot. Trust me, you will have to troubleshoot. Jeremy's guide is great, but there are so many little nuances and things like, graphics, power management, and drivers (which are called kexts in OSX). Plus they have updated the Multibeast application since he used it, so some options have changed. The Multibeast for Mountain Lion is totally different. But after youve done it 20 times you start to feel like a pro.

Go for the DSDT option. You can download DSDTfixer and it will extract the Jetway dsdt file.

If you don't get everything just right you end up with kernel panics. This is when you start the build from scratch.

If something goes wrong, use the Verbose Boot option in UniBeast! This will help you figure out the problem. It lists every command until it gets to the one that crashes. You can search for that string in Google and you'll find a solution for it.

Use the scientific method (only change one thing at a time). Document your process. Read forum posts...type your error messages in google. Someone else already had the same problem. You'll figure it out too.

Very wordy I know, but I could keep going. This project has consumed me for the past week. I am writing this post as a sort of closure. Looking forward to getting back to making music....and a lot less waiting around for the spinning beach ball.

[jeremyroberts]

If anyone is trying to figure out how to get a legal copy of LION installer -- here's how:

http://tidbits.com/e/13498

[Media_Matrix]

Hi Jeremy and anyone else who may know the answer to this.

The motherboard that Jeremy put in his build (JetWay JNAF92-Q67) is no longer available in the US or just hard to find. I can only find one seller in the UK. However the newer mobo which is the updated version is available (JetWay JNAF93-Q77) . This works with the Ivy Bridge Chip and is backwards compatible with Sandy Bridge i7 2600k too.

The question is... if you (Jeremy) were to do this again would you rather go for the same board or the newer Q77 one? Apparently it is still Native PCI supported. If so would you go with Ivy Bridge or stick with Sandy Bridge? Am in two minds as to what to do?

Lastly would you stick with Lion or go Mountain Lion?

I did find that someone used this Q77 mobo for a PC OS and Sandybridge CPU, PT HD setup and all seems well.

Any help or advice from anyone on this would be great.

Brendon

[jeremyroberts]

If I were doing this today, I would use the knowledge of the community and build the latest stable version. IF mountain lion and Ivy Bridge are working (and PT 10.3 supports) absolutely. I would make the machine as powerful as today's specs will allow, then freeze it.

If the TonyMac forum experts say it is ok, then it is ok.

I can only answer what I did 10 months ago - then I moved on and I probably forgot most of the fancy stuff. That's why I documented it here.

HTH
J

[sonorelli]

I've upgraded my Pro Tools cards since my original 4 CH system running on a Mac IIci. The upgrade paths to Mix, HD and Accel were reasonable, but the PCI to PCIe was insane. $4500 for PCIe cards or $2k for a Magma chassis, and $3k+ for a MacPro. For what??? A faster CPU, but the essentially the same digital audio power.

So I stayed with the G5 until it was unbearable. Then I found a very nice fellow to build me a Hackintosh.http://www.kevinscustomcomputersite.com/. This was over 2 years ago, so everything is obsolete. But its running PTHD 10.3.3 with Snow Lepoard 10.6.8 and Melodyne 3.2.2.2. I'm curious about upgrading to Mountain Lion, but concerned that all Rosetta apps will be broken. I'll probably try it on a separate drive and report the results.

Here's what we put my HD3 rig in:

Rosewill RSV-R4000 4U Chassis (shorter than "L" version)
Gigabyte GA-H55-USB3 Motherboard
i7-870 2.93GHz Quad-Core
8GB DDR3-1333Mhz (4x2GB)
ZOTAC ZT-20404-20L 1GB 128-bit DDR3Video Card
Noctua NH-U9B SE2 CPU Cooler
Samsung SH-243N Dual Layer DVD/CD Burner 24x
LaCie FireWire 800 PCI Card: 3x FW800
A-Data 256GB SATA II SSD
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 700W PS

Initially, there were some Ethernet and USB issues, and I used MultiBeast to fix them. Some of the fixes take a good amount of time to solve (sorry, Drew), but eventually, everything worked. When I upgraded to 10.6.8, I used the DSDT and only needed MultiBeast for a few tweaks (USB3). Even the on-board FW400 and built-in sound (optical) work. One more thing, this beast is quiet. A Glyph external hard drive case GT 050Q makes more than twice as much noise.

TonyMac is an amazing site, and none of this would be possible without it.

[soul]

I almost went with the Q77, to go the Ivy Bridge route...latest, and greatest. But I didn't want to stray from what was found to work. I read that Ivy Bridge CPUs aren't much faster and that they run hotter.

I'm glad I bought the Q67 board before they ran out. But I would probably take a shot on the Q77 now if it's all that's available. As long as it supports Sandy Bridge and native PCI, then it should be good.

I think the latest MultiBeast has some settings for SandyBridge compatibility on IvyBridge boards.

[Lunar Eclips]

I just recieved the Q77 and need a list of proven parts to work with this Motherboard I want to run Protools in dual boot windows/Hackintosh Lion
KEY FACTOR PCIX Core and Accell cards needed this board with 4 Native PCI slots any good list working for you in this configuration please Post and any roadblocks you have solved would be very much appreciated!

[richardsstudio.ca]

Originally Posted by AREED

I was in the same boat. Old G5, HD2 PCI. I was not interested in spending a ton of money on new mac and cards. I also was interested in going native.
I myself am not a computer builder so I needed some help. I found a guy in Davis, Ca that specializes in Hackintosh builds. (PM me if you want his contact info)
This is the build we went with to house my HD2 PCI
i7-2600 3.4GHz Quad-Core
16GB DDR3-1333Mhz (4x4GB)
ASUS P8Z68-V LX Motherboard
HD6450 1GB DDR3 Video Card
Dual Layer DVD/CD Burner 22x
FW Ports: 2x FW800 + 1x FW400
500GB SATA II 7,200RPM HDD
OS Drive
500GB SATA II 7,200RPM HDD
Recording Drive
Rosewill RSV-L4000 4U Chassis
Mac OS 10.6.8, ProTools HD2 10.2
I have been working with it for about 4 months with no problems. Very solid. A giant step up from the old G5. Saved alot of $$$$$ as well.

Is the Hackintosh still going strong?
Just wanted to verify the motherboard used in your build.
Does the Z68 chipset work with your PCI cards ?
Our studio is PT 8 HD2 Accel PCI on a G5 with a Control 24 too and considering
a similar path to yours.
thanks