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X-8 Featuring White Lightning. An 8 core Hackintosh...

ALXAndy
By ALXAndy
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Quick update for the people who liked this build.

 

First of all thanks. It's a real morale booster to log on and see people liking what I made :)

 

Secondly, an update.

 

So the MAC has been chugging along fine. I managed to get it booting, no black screen on boot (I must have golden balls or something) and Clover is my boot method.

 

All of the hardware is installed and working somewhat correctly but I am having graphics issues and I think it is down to the way the frame buffer is handled so Nicholas and I are going to have a crack at changing it.

 

Either way? I'm not really fussed. I have my Windows PC and what a PC it is, it destroys the MAC for gaming so I can live with it if needs be. I am glad I didn't pay a lot for the GPU though as if I do have to leave gaming out on the MAC I'd be pretty pissed if I spent £250+ on a GPU. As it stands I paid £130 for the 290 which was amazing.

 

I've also converted my Porsche external hard drive to a USB2 (it was Firewire). This now plugs into the USB hub and can be seen and used by both my Windows PC and my MAC. Very, very helpful to have a central hub. For example I downloaded loads of mac software onto the PC, now I need it on the MAC. So all I gots to do is dump it on there, job done :)

 

I will be uploading some more pics soon but my camera battery is dead and the lighting in here sucks balls. So I will just wait for good light, then shoot a few pics of the somewhat final build all set up and running.

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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Stick is done you seem to have vanished dude.

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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Stick is done you seem to have vanished dude.

Sorry, was watching Castle and nothing beats Castle :P

\

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ScreenShot2014-10-21at034742.png

 

@Nicholas Marzio - both are now fully working. Sadly the graphics problems persist and I have a sinking feeling I damaged the card the other day :(

 

But all isn't lost. Just no gaming, but hey, why would I try and replace a 3970x with Titan Black SLI?

 

Rig pics coming soon, it's almost finished now :)

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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@Nicholas Marzio - both are now fully working. Sadly the graphics problems persist and I have a sinking feeling I damaged the card the other day :(

 

But all isn't lost. Just no gaming, but hey, why would I try and replace a 3970x with Titan Black SLI?

 

Rig pics coming soon, it's almost finished now :)

Amen!

\

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Amen!

 

Back on Unibeast I'm afraid. I just could not get the Clover method to work. May try again soon...

 

I removed the PCIE lock from the slot because it was aggro getting it in and out. Card only fell about three inches but hey, could have been damaged? no idea. Might remove the drive one day and put Windows back on.

 

Will install Clover back on in a bit and remove the flash drive :)

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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Quick update. No pics, camera is dead....

 

Any way, I am still having issues in OSX. I thought I may have damaged the graphics card so I installed Windows 8.1 and it's fine.

 

The Firewire card came and I have sorted that, and I also sorted the power output for the external drive (you won't have seen that yet as camera has been dead for a few days).

 

I've had an idea for the GPU so I have parts on order and I am trying out my old Soundblaster in hope that the March '14 drivers work properly.

 

Pics soon....

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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Sounds interesting looking forward to it :D

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OK so some pics. Here's what I been up to.

 

1. Made some white cover plates for the GPU so it doesn't look like ass. This is just temporary mind.

 

2. Sorted out and fitted my Firewire card.

 

3. Fitted the sound card.

 

4. Fitted a rear loaded Molex power output for external drives.

 

5. Obviously lots of soldering and braiding.

 

Here I am soldering in another molex run and removing a SATA power run.

 

DSC00198_zps1fd96414.jpg

 

I also made this. It's a molex=floppy for the XFI's front IO.

 

DSC00201_zps51737e6e.jpg

 

And plug the bugger in.

 

DSC00204_zps76580ad9.jpg

 

And test it for a few days before determining if it works properly, like 100%. These March 14 drivers make the actual sound card work perfectly but I am having minor issues with the IO...

 

Oh, and the Firewire card that's been heat wrapped.

 

DSC00203_zps4aace41a.jpg

 

Because TBH? well either this place is filled with people who can't spray paint or that Plasticoat really is a bucket of rotten old shit. I'll take vinyl or real paint any day.

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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OK take apart.

 

1_zps68ce0a75.jpg

 

Mark.

 

2_zpsec9ccb2e.jpg

 

Cut and sand.

 

3_zps78982a26.jpg

 

Put back together.

 

4_zpsa3deefaa.jpg

 

Glue is drying now. I have ordered this.

 

6_zpseac4feb6.jpg

 

Which the keen eyed will notice is a 40 pin IDE DMA 33 cable. That's what the Blaster uses and you can't use a 80 pin as I found out. So I need to mod it and I didn't want to risk killing the existing one. So I've bought some braid.

 

5_zps4ae4016a.jpg

 

And some fat ass shrink.

 

7_zps9eadfa1d.jpg

 

And will use the 80 pin end rubber parts and some time to strip away each wire making the whole thing more flexible. Then it will look better :)

 

Now I need another SSD as I am keeping 8.1 on here for audio work.

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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hehehe. I love poking around on Ebay. I just bought two of these...

 

8_zps7b498e32.jpg

 

Not sure on spec yet, will look into that now but holy balls they'll look foogin STUNNING in X8. All black and white ;) RAID 0 obs.

 

Now one thing I absolutely loathe doing is making SATA braided cables. SATA ends are a complete poostick to mod, so I cheated and paid £9 for this.

 

9_zpsc65057c9.jpg

 

One MOLEX - 4 SATA. Can't really argue over that...

 

10_zpsf435c8fd.jpg

 

Hell yeah.

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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THis is looking really good .

THOR D3SK V2,Asus Maximus VII Hero  ,INTEL4790K,CorsairHX1000i,ASUSR.O.G MATRIX PLATINUM R9 280X  CROSSFIRE,SAMSUNGSSD840 pro RAID0Corsair Force LX 120Gb RAID0,WD 2Tb Black Edition,CORSAIR Dominator Platinum16GB, CUSTOM WATERCOOLED

CUSTOM BUILD 2014

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Nicholas Marzio

 

Does RAID work with Yosemite?

 

If not I will clone Windows to the RAID stripe and put OSX back on the 60gb Kingston....

 

Edit. And thanks guys. I'm planning all of the finishing touches now :)

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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Nicholas Marzio

 

Does RAID work with Yosemite?

 

If not I will clone Windows to the RAID stripe and put OSX back on the 60gb Kingston....

 

Edit. And thanks guys. I'm planning all of the finishing touches now :)

It should, I wouldn't see why it won't.

\

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Wicked. My last install took around 5 seconds to boot, this should make the single SSD look a laughing stock :D

 

I'll be in touch mate. Had some bad bad stuff going down and my fiancee ended up in hospital. Not good....

 

But yeah, will try and get a mic going so I can skype you and we can have a coffee and a chat before getting stuck back in :D

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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Wicked. My last install took around 5 seconds to boot, this should make the single SSD look a laughing stock :D

 

I'll be in touch mate. Had some bad bad stuff going down and my fiancee ended up in hospital. Not good....

 

But yeah, will try and get a mic going so I can skype you and we can have a coffee and a chat before getting stuck back in :D

Sounds good, Sorry to hear the news. I have exams tomorrow and the next day so I won't be able to help much but on Wednesday I should be free.

\

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I love the cheap stuff you get on ebay. Maybe I should go on there some time. Keep working hard love to see the out come!

CPU-- AMD FX-8320 (Stock), Motherboard-- ASUS M5A99FX PRO R 2.0, RAM-- Team 8gb 1600Mhz, GPU-- Sapphire 7870 GHz with OC Edition, Case-- NZXT Tempest 210, PSU-- Corsair CX600m, HDD, 1tb Seagate & 2tb WD External, Monitor-- Dell S2240M IPS Display, Keyboard/Mouse-- Some Logitech keyboard and some Dell mouse, Speakers-- Logitech Z533

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I love the cheap stuff you get on ebay. Maybe I should go on there some time. Keep working hard love to see the out come!

 

£30 for two 32gb is about the going rate. But... These are Enterprise drives so they're built like a coal bunker. Should last for years too, they're made for servers.

 

Plus they're black and white, and if I get my next shroud right they'll look stunning mounted on display :)

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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Give me ten minutes with a Dremel and I will change how you look at your computer forever - ALXAndy, Oct 2014.

 

OK. So I thought about making a back plate for my R9 290. It's an ugly sod at the best of times. Then I asked B-negs to paint it for me but he was too busy it seems.

 

So what can I do? well, I got two SSDs to mount and nowhere to put them. Let's doing something about it huh?

 

1-14.jpg

 

So OK, mark. This won't make any sense whatsoever, but keep reading. Now look back at the first pic, you'll notice I drew a line. Well..

 

2-13.jpg

 

OK, so I've clamped it into my workbench across that line. Closer..

 

3-9.jpg

 

OK. So now that it's clamped in across the line we take a heat gun and start heating. Now this is like spray painting, only you do it closer. Spray painting is anything up to 12". Here I am using 3-4" as my guide.

 

4-7.jpg

 

This gets hot. Very hot. Don't go any closer you will bubble the acrylic and wreck it. Now this takes a while, but don't force it as you will end up with camel bumps from it being uneven. What I do is gently press it until it falls of its own will.

 

And eventually....

 

5-5.jpg

 

OK. Whatever you do DO NOT fucking touch it. That is a serious warning, it is seriously hot. Just keep gently pressing it evenly down, then take a look at the bend and make sure its even.

 

6-3.jpg

 

Right, now we need it out but it's still a bit hot. Take a cloth and wet it with cold water. Then...

 

7-2.jpg

 

Which cools it quicker. Eventually.

 

8-2.jpg

 

Right. Lots of measuring very carefully and cutting later and we have...

 

9-2.jpg

 

 

Then we mark up where the psu box ends, draw a line, cut and refit.

 

10-2.jpg

 

And bugger me ! we have a duct !

 

Now let's have some more fun with it. This red thing came with the case. I threw every single one of them away but one, here's why.

 

11-2.jpg

 

Because they carry the correct hole markings for SSDs. Oh yeah, talking of which.

 

13-1.jpg

 

PCIE power wires.

 

14.jpg

 

And..

 

15.jpg

 

:D

 

emiril.jpg

 

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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@ALXAndy that is really neat, but why would you hide your GPU?

 

Because it is red and black and would need some serious work to put right. Then there's the sound card, and the horrid ribbon that comes out of the end.

 

I thought about painting it but those blower fans are nigh on impossible to find and if I fuck it I fuck it, no going back. Then I have to buy an aftermarket cooler for it costing £60, etc, etc.

 

The duct cost me about £4, now I have a place to mount the last of the SSDs.

Area 51 2014. Intel 5820k@ 4.4ghz. MSI X99.16gb Quad channel ram. AMD Fury X.Asus RAIDR.OCZ ARC 480gb SSD. Velociraptor 600gb. 2tb WD.

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