It used to be that any tiny system was too underpowered to be a real workstation. Mini-ITX systems with Atom processors and integrated graphics are no good for gaming or HD, let alone having enough horsepower to run professional applications.
Over the past year, many manufacturers have put out Socket 1156 (Intel Core-i3/i5/i7 compatible) Mini-ITX motherboards, completely changing the custom mini-build landscape. Now one can build a tiny powerhouse capable of running a full-sized graphics card, and a modern quad-core CPU.
The transition to 1156 has also altered people's ideas of an HTPC, as now your television can be the centerpiece of a very fast, and quiet computer build. We've put together the following spec build based on a rig that was contributed to the site earlier this year. It's meant to be a jumping off point for further customization, but if purchased verbatim would work 100% with audio + video through HDMI. This system is fully supported by iBoot + MultiBeast and the CustomBeast Project.
CustoMac Mini
Core i3-540 - Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 - NVIDIA GT 240 1GB - 4GB DDR3 RAM
$616.96
Case + PSU: SilverStone SG05B with SFX 300 Watt PSU $104.99
or
SilverStone SG05BB with SFX 450 Watt PSU $119.99
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1 TB $56.99
or
SilverStone SG05BB with SFX 450 Watt PSU $119.99
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1 TB $56.99
RAM: OCZ 4GB DDR3 1333 (2 x 2GB) $61.99
Adapter: Micro Sata to Sata (for Slim Optical) $14.99
Operating System: Mac OS X Snow Leopard $26.99
Adapter: Micro Sata to Sata (for Slim Optical) $14.99
Optional Accessories
Apple Magic Mouse $69.00
Targus USB Bluetooth Adapter $22.98
NOTE: Only MODEL NO: ACB10us v1.0 will wake from sleep.
SSD: Corsair 120 GB Force Series Ultra Fast TRIM Supported Solid State Drive $248.68
Oh, and don't forget, if you end up buying anything, click through one of these links. That way, you'll be supporting the site, as well as getting the best prices. Thanks in advance!
84 comments:
LOL that is one butt ugly case.
Aprat from that awesome
why cant PC manufacterers make some really well designed mac looking cases
Thanks for this post, thanks for the great website in general!
tonymacx86, nice one !
I'd just add a nice CPU cooler, for a quiet build.
Perfect! Thanks a lot - exactly, what I was looking for :-)!
Any good media center software for leopard?
xbmc,plex,boxee pick one :)
awesome!! I see my budget build components transferring to this, and salvaging my UD2 to a core i7 & 5770/460 upgrade. thanks as always!!
Have to agree with Shane's comments on the case, but, since all the components work together with the iBeast, etc., its a match made in heaven. LOL!
I'm curious. Why did you pick that case instead of one that looks like an audio rack component? Is it because of the height required for GT240 card? CPU cooler? Or disk space?
Wondering if anyone could let me know if the basic setup is capable of doing full 1080p playback with Plex. Please let me know.
Thanks
a e3300 will do full 1080p,
a 1.66 core duo mac mini will do full 1080p,
some people don't know this…
core duo and core2duo+ are all great CPU's
Haha. I just built this system last week. Incredible performance for the price. Now if we could just get the integrated graphics going.
rabbit.
Love that case, one of the best MiniITX cases on the market in both form and function, I've built several LAN rigs with it so far and now an OSX media server thanks to your site :)
You guys are missing the bluetooth module for the Magic Mouse, wireless keyboard and Magic Trackpad.
nice built man! but the bad thing for me - no firewire...anyway there is no 1156 itx mobo with firewire on market...
I've got a Silverstone SG02 for my Hackintosh. Nicer than this case but probably larger. No power supply either.
I used an antec sonata elite for my hackintosh.
I have here such an assembly
MB Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3
CPU Intel Core i7-870 2.93GHz
HDD WD 1.5 Tb
Video PCI-E Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5770 Vapor-X 1024MB
Mem DDR3 8Gb
DVD-ROM DVD±RW Transcend TS8XDVDRW-K USB
BenQ LCD 24" V2400 Eco
What is the purpose for Micro SATA to SATA with LP4 Power Adapter Cable? (which component need this?)
@Anonymous: The Micro SATA to SATA with LP4 Power Adapter Cable is so you can hook up the slim optical drive... the geniuses at Silverstone forgot to include such an item even though their cases will only take a slim optical drive.
Yes! My request has finally been fulfilled. Thanks guys.
It would be wise to include revisions of the products, Because a while back i bought a
GA-P55A-UD3 on recommendation of the site. And well it ended up being a revision 2.0 witch has ALC892 and Realtek 8111E, witch the sound till now is not supported, the network only became supported just a few days ago.
Im sure eventually they will become supported, but at least this way people can decide, if they want a full working osx, now or wait till its fully supported.
> Anonymous said...
> I've got a Silverstone SG02 for
> my Hackintosh.
> Nicer than this case but probably larger.
> No power supply either.
> December 10, 2010 11:50 AM
That case really is a good choice, i used it myself. You can choose a standard ATX power supply. The mentioned SG05 is much smaller and i think it is also available coloured white. Great for a real HTPC!
Additionally, the D-Link "DWL-G122 Revision E" WLAN-USB-Adapter is a good choice and fully working on such a configuration since D-Link supports their own Mac OS X drivers.
Greetings, tesso
Most propably heard about this:
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=43
Its a very fine and beautiful black NAS-casing.
It has a double-sized slot for a graphics card, but (in its actual revision) needs some modification of the inner HDD cage to make a full size card fit into it...
They wanna change this in Revision 3...
Dennis
what about wireless card? Which one should I use? Thanks
Definitely need to include the below mod if you plan on using it as a HTPC Mini:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=8913
Very nice. Should even be quite capable graphically provided the games aren't ridiculously demanding and the monitor not a massively high resolution. More than you can say for the real Mac Mini :)
It's just a shame there's no equivalent at the size of even the older Mac Mini (let alone that amazingly small new one). It's still a big shoebox.
Although Apple hardware is often just an underpowered and overpriced ripoff, driving the existence of these sites - current generation iMac I'm looking at you - sometimes Apple produce hardware that is amazing enough to justify the price and some other sacrifices. The Mac Mini is one of those, if you have the need for a very small machine with considerably more grunt than those crappy Atoms.
Wait, an SSD? I thought MacOSX did not support trim (despite the product name)
Just a suggestion for a cheaper (completely compatible) alternative keyboard and mouse.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DJ9GOS
Driver-
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/584/3129?wt.mc_id=usym_redirect_/maclcc
will:
ZOTAC nVidia GeForce GT240 1 GB DDR5 VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card ZT-20406-10L
work as well?
Costs about the same, and the specs seem better.
If I would like to change the graphics card (choosing from the graphics card database), is there any thing that I should take into consideration, e.g. the length of the card (what is the maximum length that will fit the casing), potential over-heating problem?
Thanks!
Hi all,
i have an assembled unit as this
MSI G41M-P33
Intel Core 2 Quad 2,5Ghz
4Gb DDR3 (2 x 2 Gb)
DVD Rom
Monitor 19"
i have download the iboot and everything supposed to be required and i can access the bios setting, however i cannot find any menu to change the sata to ACHI. FYI the PC used to run Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. please help me.. thank you in advance
Very nice-looking build. For all the people who keep saying this is a butt-ass ugly case, try taking a look at the Fractal Designs Array R2. There's a model with a 300W PSU, and it comes with space for six 3.5" drives. The only downside is that it comes without an external optical drive, but you could jury-rig one while you're installing the OS and remove it afterward.
If only there was a socket 1156 mini-ITX motherboard with Firewire 800... Then I'd be absolutely set.
now MB is GA-H55M-USB3 any impacts..
I bought every item except substituted a 64 GB Kingston SSD for my hard drive. When I put the iBoot disk in and try to boot up I get a command prompt and get stuck. I don't not see the Cameleon icon. Any suggestions?
i am trying to fit all these components into the SG05 case and I am having a really hard time. The cables coming out of the power supply + heat sink of this video card + 3.5 hard drive in the cage that goes under the optical drive all end up in the same space. I have been trying for hours to get it all to fit with not much luck. Has anyone gotten it all to fit (this exact case + video card + motherboard)?
which audio cable connector should we use for the front ports? ac97 or hd audio?
does anybody know if the Sapphire HD5770 1 GB will fit into the SilverStone SG05B?
does anybody know if the Sapphire HD5770 1 GB will fit into the SilverStone SG05B?
- It does. I have this setup myself.
I just built a system using this case and it wasn't that easy. My advice would be to go for a different case because the motherboard recommends a 500 watt or greater power supply which is not what this case comes with.
Also a bigger case will let you install more 3.5 inch hard drives (this case only fits one) and will also let you install a standard optical drive. The half height one that I used would not eject the tray properly (too tight a fit) and comments on newegg.com also write about this problem. I had to mount the optical drive with the bevel hanging out of the front face of the case so that it would eject properly.
I had to flip the power supply in the case because the heat shield of the graphics card + 3.5 " hd + hd cables all ended up in the same space and fitting everything in resulted in a cable mess and with wires touching the heat shield of the graphics card.
I have not gotten the audio ports working, the "Sound" preferences reports no inputs or outputs. My Rev 1.0 boards manual reports that it has a Realtek ALC892R chip which I guess is not supported. The onboard Realtek RTL8111E ethernet port works fine. I've also got a Rosewill RNX-N1MAC USB wireless N stick working fine with this motherboard.
I installed some DD3-1600 RAM and got Mac OS X to work fine so far with it so I've got 8 Gigs of RAM running in it (used 4 gigs during install).
A different motherboard might have better audio compatibility and also offer you more RAM slots. I am not sure the eSata port works under OS X. I did not test the USB 3.0 port.
I hope this info helps someone else out there.
Is there no way to use the integrated graphics on this mobo? I need the PCI slot for an HD-SDI capture card...
What about this case?
http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Mini-ITX-Mini-DTX-Certified-SG07B/dp/B003V8ATLS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293585005&sr=8-1
FYI that link to the micro sata to sata adapter is wrong.
It needs a slim sata to sata adapter like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270183
not sure what the adapter that is linked here is for....someone correct me if i am wrong....it came to me from amazon's return department so i knew something was not going to be right....
Thanks for the info- here's the one I'm using in my H55N-USB3. I've changed the post above to reflect. And you save a buck! ;)
Startech Micro Sata to Sata (for Slim Optical)
Thanks for the info :) Do I need a graphic card or is it optional? Because I think,i3 CPUs have an integrated GPU?! Hope you can help me :D
"does anybody know if the Sapphire HD5770 1 GB will fit into the SilverStone SG05B?
- It does. I have this setup myself."
Hi i was wondering if you were running windows or osx? and are you talking about the "Sapphire Radeon HD5770 Vapor-X"
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Vapor-X-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-100283VX-2L/dp/B003AK67HW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1294038468&sr=1-2
or the Sapphire Radeon HD 5770? i'm not sure if there is a difference but i want to make sure i don't get something that isn't compatible.
Thanks,
Brant
Just checking...I need a retail 10.6.3 snow leopard disc right?
NOT a 10.6 disc...correct?
I put this together exactly as described here but it is very unstable. I am having to load mac osx install disc in safe mode as it won't go in in regular mode.
it seemed to be working decently but upon attempting to get all the audio/network etc. working it fell apart so I am going to start over and see what happens but want to clarify the install disc version.
Will the SFX 300 watt be sufficient for the i5 cpu optional upgrade?
Anyone know if this setup (i5? i7?) will simultaneously encode as a DVR (using Hauppauge or El Gato's DVR) and also decode 1080p? If I am going to be using this as a media center, I want to make sure the specs are up to the task - anyone have a feel for this?
http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/OverclockingCoolingTuning/Tuning/elpachato-powered-slim-sujet_268759_1.htm
Still no way to use the integrated graphics?
Sorry for my english, could you made some tutorial how to complete install hackintosh OS X 10.6.x with this component? Short video on youtube or tutorial wuth screenshot step by step for geek as i am. What about kext in 10.6.6 on this hardware?
Thanks,
Roman, Slovakia
will the 450 Watt support a i7 920 + 9800GT?
The ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GT240 1GB DDR3
(ZT-20404-20L) seems to be out of stock everywhere... What are the alternatives? Are the ZOTAC GeForce® GT 220 (ZT-20204-20L)or the
ZOTAC GeForce GT 430 ZONE (ZT-40601-20L)also working? or any of the 240 models with fans?
I am having trouble finding the listed video card as well, Amazon says one seller has them available for $199.
Here is a website for everyone to find alternatives to the Zotac video card. Please use the Forum to ask questions.
Link: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Navigation Tips: 10.6.6 HCL, Components, Nvidia
Cheers.
W.
Any suggestion for a more common usb wifi dongle ?
Yeah would like some infomation on wifi to...
so do I
you're genius
For Wifi, I always recommend a wi-fire. This is an external, directional wifi adapter that is intended for mobile user, but is adaptable for a MAC / PC platforms.
Link: http://www.hfield.com/the-wi-fire/
802.11 b/g networks (sorry no N)
Cheers.
Just put together a build similar to this and it works great. Only problem is I don't understand why the targus bluetooth dongle is listed instead of the d-link dbt 120 that is supported by Apple. I bought the targus and although the wireless keyboard awakes the computer, it won't work unless I unplug it and plug it back in. This should be changed so that the d-link apple supported bluetooth dongle is shown so that it will properly wake from sleep.
hello,
sorry for my english, i buld this Budget Power Build 1 hackintosk , now i buy corsair nova 120 gb series, my question is:
when i clone my actually western digital hdd to my new ssd corsair nova hdd, it would be ok?
thanks for help
roman from slovakia
For Mac Backup options choose one of the options:
Carbon Copy Cloner: http://www.bombich.com/ccc_features.html
or
Super Duper: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
There are other PAID apps to create a clone of your current MAC. Always double check your settings before you hit submit.
Cheers.
carbon copy cloner and superduper are not pure disk cloning software! They only copy all data but not clonning bit to bit masterboot record on hdd, so after cloning with this apps you are not able to boot from new hdd.
Some possible way are boot from iboot cd and install again bootloader to new cloned hdd with this tool. But simplest way is make true image with true image software which suppirt hfs+ for example EASEUS Disk Copy.
Hi,
seems like i_m the only one running into problems here.
although i use the newest iboot/multibeast i just can_t get the installation to boot from hd after the update to 10.6.6
installation of the os is fine, i boot into osx from iboot after install and all is well. but as i then update to 10.6.6 as described use multibeast to postinstall with the apropr. dsdl (for the right bios version) the system hangs a little way in the boot, it says "DSMOS has arrived" and thereafter nothin is moving on.
i tried the usual stuff, booting from iboot-disk is hosed as well ans the same happens if i use the easybeast-option. tried the 10.6.5 update, didnt help either.
does anyone have a clue?
Harry
quick question - why not use the native onboard video? Is is absolutely required to get a video card for a mini atx desktop?
thanks...
Hello everyone and thanks for the excellent guide.
Until now my PC is 100% ok.
Question, I can easily update to the official version 10.6.7?
anyone recommend a mobo with firewire since the one listed on this page doesnt
hello,
I m looking forward to built with Core I7 960.
Can you help me with other parts
Any way for this to support dual monitors? I read on LifeHacker that VGA on this system is not supported on this build. I guess I could do one on HDMI and the other on DVI, right? http://lifehacker.com/5815715/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-mini-for-less-than-600
A Mac Mini from Apple Costs 700.00 what's the point
The Hackintosh costs 600.00 I think I'll spend an extra 100.00 to get a great design
@MrDon,
the point is that the mini gets you a Core 2 duo, and the Hackintosh gets you a Core i3 (cpu mark 1619 vs 2834), 2gigs of RAM vs 4gigs, 320GB hard drive vs 1TB, and a graphics card w/ 256megs of shared mem vs 1GB of dedicated RAM.
You get like twice the horsepower. That's the point.
Is there an optional motherboard with WiFi N ? anyone
Anyone have a USB wifi card running ? if so wich ?
fabulous build and article. am collecting the pieces/parts to make this build myself. any success with the onboard video?
NEED A LOT OF HELP PLEASE.
>>>I just bought the Intel Core i5-650 processor, but not sure if its fully compatible with this build.
>>> Can someone just answer yes or no please if it works or not.
Thank you
Does this build still make sense compared to the new macmini 2011 that was released? It seems awfully close in price with similar specs.
I'm curious about the differences between this hackintosh mini build and the new mac mini just released. Apart from the physical size. I'm guessing the hardware packed into this box does have more horsepower, compared to the stuff they've jammed into the mac mini. Does anybody have any real world comparisons they're willing to share. Thanks.
Just wondering if there are thoughts on using Intel i7 quad core @ 3.4GHz in the mini? Would the same board work? Need a different way to keep it cool? Thanks.
I am building with the bigger H55 USB3 MB because I wanted twice the ram slots. As for price if you did 8 gig mem and an ssd the price goes to 900ish, same Mac Mini is 1799. Thanks for all the work!
Thanks I've already built my own system. This page ROCKS!! :D
has anyone used geekbench to get benchmark tests on this build?
The MB GigaByte GA-H55N-USB3 is out of stock. Any other alternative MB?
Any alternatives to the GigaByte GA-H55N-USB3?
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