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-tonymacx86 & MacMan
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Yay! The New Site is Alive! Re-Activate Your Account Today!
After a year of development, the day is finally here- we've updated the entire website. It's a brand new tonymacx86.com designed by our team and powered by vBulletin. There are a ton of amazing new user features we'll be rolling out gradually, literally too many to list.
The site has been completely redesigned! As part of the re-activation process, all users are required to reset their password. Follow this link and enter your email address, and you will be emailed directions to reset your password. If that link doesn't work, go to the forum homepage and reset your password manually.
Going forward we'll be writing articles and blogging directly on the new site, and as a new launch feature we'll start promoting great user threads to articles. This way every user will be able to write for the community- your custom build could end up on the front page of the site!
Hope you like it as much as we do! If you need anything, the old site is here. Please bear with us if there are a few things that don't work quite the same way yet. We're working on it as hard as we can.
-tonymacx86 & MacMan
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
New and Improved tonymacx86.com - Launching This Sunday!
Off and on over the past year or so, we've been collaborating, designing, testing and setting up a new more modern website and forum. We're happy to announce that the resulting new tonymacx86.com will be launching this Sunday!
We will be importing all current forums, posts, and users and shouldn't be going offline at all during the transition. However, the existing forum will be read-only for 7-8 hours.
More information is on the way! We really can't wait!
-tonymacx86 & MacMan
Edit: Not long now... the old board is available at legacy.tonymacx86.com.
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
Get Ready for OS X Mountain Lion
This week Apple released a GM (Golden Master) Seed of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion to Mac developers. Current rumors have the official launch date on or about July 25th. We thought we'd run down a list of recommended tasks so you can be ready once it's available. Could be any day now!
Necessary for Mountain Lion Update
Apple has provided a concise rundown of how to update to Mountain Lion on day one here. The system requirements are the same for CustoMac Builds. To proceed with a retail installation, you absolutely need the following.
- Intel Core 2 or above, 64 bit CPU
- A computer running the latest version of Mac OS X Lion (10.7.x) or Snow Leopard (10.6.6+)
- Mac App Store Account + $19.99
- Internet access to download the 4 GB Mountain Lion Install App through Mac App Store
- 4 GB free hard drive space available in /Applications
However, this time around there is a big change, as Mountain Lion is a 64-bit only Operating System. This means that there is no support for 32-bit only CPUs or 32-bit kexts. You will not be able to use the "arch=i386" boot flag to access 32-bit kernel and kexts mode. Some legacy 3rd party audio and wifi drivers may not work, and many older graphics drivers have been eliminated. If you want to check that you're currently using 64-bit kexts, this information can be viewed in System Profiler. Click on the Apple > About this Mac > More Info > System Info, click on Software. If the 64-bit Kernel and Extensions says Yes, you are clear to update.
Recommended Best Practices
When performing any full operating system upgrade, unexpected things can occur. To avoid data loss, these best practices should be adhered to. This upgrade should be a breeze, but if things do go wrong, you can always go back to your working Lion installation.
- Back Up All of Your Data
- Buy a Second Hard Drive
- Buy a Second 8 GB USB Drive
- Clone your Working Hard Drive using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
New CustoMac Buyer's Guide 2012 Coming Soon
Since the introduction of Ivy Bridge Macs last week, we've been getting lots of requests to update our CustoMac Recommended Builds and Buyer's Guide. Have no fear- it's coming soon! We're holding off on recommending specific Ivy Bridge rigs until the support is truly native and in the general release of the operating system. This will make things much easier for everyone- especially first time builders. Keep in mind that although Ivy Bridge support is in the builds of the new Macs, it could be weeks before it's actually hassle-free to install on these rigs. We also think that there are some really exciting new boards coming out very soon incorporating Thunderbolt.
If you have an itchy trigger finger, check out some awesome new builds in the Golden Builds section and the User Builds section of the forum. We also posted a few or our early Ivy Bridge CPU and motherboard recommendations here.
-tonymacx86 & MacMan
If you have an itchy trigger finger, check out some awesome new builds in the Golden Builds section and the User Builds section of the forum. We also posted a few or our early Ivy Bridge CPU and motherboard recommendations here.
-tonymacx86 & MacMan
tonymacx86 Build - GA-Z77-DS3H - Core i7-3770 - GTX 550 Ti [Ivy Bridge]
MacMan Build - GA-X79-UD5 - Core i7-3820 - GTX 560 Ti [Socket 2011]
Building a Sandy Bridge CustoMac: Buyer's Guide
BridgeHelper 5.0: Native Ivy Bridge Kernel & Power Management, USB 3.0, and Intel HD 4000
UniBeast.com MultiBeast.com CustoMac.com
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
BridgeHelper 5.0: Native Ivy Bridge Kernel & Power Management, USB 3.0, and Intel HD 4000
The process of manually extracting kernels and drivers isn't for everyone, so we put together a new BridgeHelper installer to do all of the heavy lifting. Simply install BridgeHelper 5.0 on on an existing 10.7.4 Lion installation to gain:
- Native Kernel
- Native CPU Power Management
- Speedstep and sleep working
- Will remove NullCPUPowerManagement if found
- Intel HD 4000 graphics drivers for testing
- Not functional yet- no QE/CI
- Chipset support for Intel 7 Series USB 3.0
- Patched chipset support for Intel 7 Series AHCI
NOTE: If you have a non-Gigabyte motherboard, you may need to install NullCPUPowerManagement.kext again before rebooting.
-tonymacx86 & MacMan
Related Posts:
Chimera 1.10 Update: Ivy Bridge HD 4000 Onboard Graphics Support
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
Apple Reveals 2012 Mac Laptops: How This Helps Us
How This Helps Us:
- Intel's new Ivy Bridge Socket 1155 CPU Support
- Native Kernel and Power Management
- Intel HD 4000 Integrated Graphics (60% faster than HD 3000)
- NVIDIA GeForce 6xx Support
- Specific device ids TBD
- Intel USB 3.0 Support
- Native Ivy Bridge USB 3.0
- 3rd party chipset support is unknown.
-tonymacx86 & MacMan
Related Posts:
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
DSDT Database Update: Gigabyte H67 Motherboards
We're happy to announce another major update for Gigabyte Socket 1155 motherboards is in progress. As part of these updated DSDTs MacMan has included enhanced USB fixes, eliminating USB wake from sleep issues. These new devices fully implement the Rate Matching Hub definitions and Apple specific parameters. For this round, the following DSDTs have been extracted from BIOS, edited using the using minimal edits, and added to the DSDT Database.
- Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 F4
- Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 F5
- Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 F7
- Gigabyte GA-H61N-USB3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-H67A-D3H-B3 F6
- Gigabyte GA-H67A-D3H-B3 F7
- Gigabyte GA-H67A-USB3-B3 F6
- Gigabyte GA-H67A-USB3-B3 F7
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H-B3-1.0 F5
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H-B3-1.0 F6
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H-B3-1.1 F5
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H-B3-1.1 F6
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H-B3 F7
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H-B3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-USB3-B3 F5
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-USB3-B3 F6
- Gigabyte GA-H67MA-USB3-B3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-H67N-USB3-B3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-H67N-USB3-B3 F9
- Gigabyte GA-PH67-DS3-B3 F4
- Gigabyte GA-PH67-DS3-B3 F5
- Gigabyte GA-PH67-UD3-B3 F7
- Gigabyte GA-PH67-UD3-B3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-PH67A-UD3-B3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-PH67A-UD3-B3 F9
NOTE: All DSDTs are verified extracts from the latest BIOS versions.
To use on an existing system, download and replace your /Extra/DSDT.aml. For a fresh install, instructions on MultiBeast's UserDSDT are available here. Be sure to only use the matching DSDT for your motherboard and BIOS version.
-tonymacx86 & MacMan
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
DSDT Database Update: Gigabyte Z68 Motherboards
We're happy to announce another major update for Gigabyte Socket 1155 motherboards is in progress. As part of these updated DSDTs MacMan has included enhanced USB fixes, eliminating USB wake from sleep issues. These new devices fully implement the Rate Matching Hub definitions and Apple specific parameters. For the first round, the following DSDTs have been extracted from BIOS, edited using the using minimal edits, and added to the DSDT Database.
- Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3-B3 F10
- Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3-B3 F11
- Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 F12
- Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 F13
- Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3-2.x FC
- Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3-2.x FD
- Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 F7
- Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-Z68M-D2H F6
- Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 F10
- Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3 F13
- Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3-2.x FD
- Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3-2.x FE
- Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3 F9
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 F12
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 F13
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 F11
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 F12
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3R-B3 F7
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 F10
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD5-B3 F10
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 F10
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-D3 F8
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-D3 F9
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 F9
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 F10
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD F9
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD F10
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P F7
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3R F6
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 F6
- Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD5 F6
NOTE: All DSDTs are verified extracts from the latest BIOS versions.
To use on an existing system, download and replace your /Extra/DSDT.aml. For a fresh install, instructions on MultiBeast's UserDSDT are available here. Be sure to only use the matching DSDT for your motherboard and BIOS version.
-tonymacx86 & MacMan
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
SSDT Editing Guide and Subforum
A few days ago, we released a new MultiBeast featuring SSDT files for Sandy Bridge CPUs. To assist with further SSDT editing and customizing, MacMan has written a guide at his blog called Customizing SSDT: Power Management Optimization on 10.7.4. The guide documents what you need to know about the SSDT so you can optimize your Socket 1155 CPU for an overclock greater then the 4.2 GHz supported in MultiBeast.
Good luck! And share your custom SSDTs and results at the new SSDT subforum.
Related Posts:
10.7.4 Power Management and Sandy Bridge CPUs
How To Test for SpeedStep on Sandy Bridge CPUs Using MSRDumper
Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update
10.7.4 Power Management and Sandy Bridge CPUs
How To Test for SpeedStep on Sandy Bridge CPUs Using MSRDumper
Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
SR Tools: Kext Management, Undo, & Version Control
What is it?
Well thats easy, it's a kernel extensions (kext) installer and manager with the ability to undo/rollback from the gui or using single user mode boot and running a single dynamic script! The script is "./SRTrestorelast"
What does it do?
Well for those of us that play, install, change and optimize lots, I wanted the ability to simply undo and still undo in the event of a non-boot problem. So basically it should save people from messing around for hours and re-installing.
What is history/action?
Well, everytime you install a kext, disable and existing one, enable one or simply remove one or many from /System/Library/Extensions this is classed as an action. This tool will log and save those actions for easy rollback/undo if you happen to make mistakes (like me)!
How many actions will it save?
Well that number is unlimited, but there are ways to optimize the actions/history list so that you're not looking at all the actions you EVER did!
StingRay has asked that the community contribute their ideas for the next version. For all feedback, bug reports, and general comments, please use this thread in the tonymacx86 Forum. And don't forget to thank him personally in the tonymacx86 Chat.
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
10.7.4 Power Management and Sandy Bridge CPUs
Source: Wikipedia
The Secondary System Description Table or SSDT is a continuation of the Differentiated System Description Table, or DSDT, allowing the the motherboard manufacturer or OEM to provide the base support in one table (DSDT) and add smaller system options in other tables (SSDT). As such they use the SSDT to provide speed stepping and power configuration.
The Chimera bootloader will either read the SSDT from the motherboard's BIOS/UEFI, use the SSDTs generated by boot keys provided by the MultiBeast UserDSDT boot.plist, or a user provided SSDT. As part of the 10.7.4 update, some Sandy Bridge Socket 1155 i5/i7 CPUs have issues with the BIOS/UEFI SSDT and need a properly edited one to override its configuration. NOTE: Core i3 and i5-2400 CPUs are known to work properly with the BIOS/UEFI SSDT, and don't need this fix.
Special thanks to Greggen and everyone in the community for sharing their knowledge- testing and editing SSDTs in the past week. We're interested in any feedback using these new tools. Please add your comments and results in this thread and in the brand new SSDT subforum.
Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update
Today Apple released Mac OS X 10.7.4 the fourth major update to Mac OS X Lion. To eliminate any potential issues, we generally recommend to update any supported systems using the standalone Combo installer, and not the built-in Software Update.
Be sure to back up any important data, and if possible clone your hard drive before applying the update. If you have any issues post-update, boot using UniBeast or rBoot.
What we know about 10.7.4 so far...
-
11.4.0 Darwin kernel
- No native Ivy Bridge CPU Support
- Ivy Bridge Users- BridgeHelper 4.0 Released.
- Improved AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA graphics drivers.
- If you use customized or edited graphics kexts, it will be necessary to make the edits again using the new drivers as a base.
- If you use Combo OpenCL Enabler, reapply it before reboot
- The update will replace your AppleHDA.kext.
- If you use ALC8xxHDA for onboard audio, you will have to reinstall AppleHDA Rollback using MultiBeast before rebooting.
- If you use toleda's AppleHDA for onboard audio, you will have to reinstall the Patched AppleHDA using MultiBeast before rebooting.
- If you use VoodooHDA, you will not need to make any modifications.
- If you use Sleepenabler.kext, remove before updating.
- If you use SpeedStepper for UEFI motherboards,
do not update yet- there is a new speedstepper script coming soon. - Install patched AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext for 10.7.4 from MultiBeast before reboot.
Good luck, and let us know how it goes! Report your results in the forum here.
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
Intel's New Ivy Bridge Socket 1155 CPUs and 7-Series Motherboards Now Available
This past week Intel unveiled and released it's new Ivy Bridge CPUs. These CPUs are compatible with any of the available Socket 1155 motherboards- including Sandy Bridge ones! So users with existing Sandy Bridge compatible H61, H67 and Z68 motherboards have the option to upgrade to new Ivy Bridge CPUs.
Ivy Bridge feature improvements over Sandy Bridge include:
- Tri-gate transistor technology (less than 50% power consumption at the same performance level as 2-D planar transistors).
- PCI Express 3.0 support.
- Max CPU multiplier of 63 (57 for Sandy Bridge).
- RAM support up to 2800 MT/s in 200 MHz increments.
- Intel HD Graphics 2500/4000 with DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.1, and OpenCL 1.1 support.
- The built-in GPU is believed to have up to 16 execution units (EUs), compared to Sandy Bridge's maximum of 12.
- A new random number generator and the RdRand instruction, codenamed Bull Mountain.
- Intel Quick Sync Video.
- DDR3L low voltage for mobile processors.
- Multiple 4K video playback. Source: Wikipedia
Recommended Ivy Bridge CPUs
We recommend Ivy Bridge Socket 1155 CPUs featuring Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics. Other available CPUs not listed here have lower quality HD 2500 graphics.
 | Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5 Ghz | 4 Cores / 8 Threads Unlocked for Overclocking 8MB L3 Cache | Amazon Newegg |
| Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 Ghz | 4 Cores / 8 Threads 8MB L3 Cache | Amazon Newegg |
| Intel Core i7-3770S 3.1 Ghz | 4 Cores / 8 Threads 65w Lower Power 8MB L3 Cache | Amazon Newegg |
 | Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4 Ghz | 4 Cores / 4 Threads Unlocked for Overclocking 6MB L3 Cache | Amazon Newegg |
Recommended 7-Series Motherboards
We recommend these Gigabyte 7-Series motherboards based on their compatible audio and ethernet. Gigabyte UEFI motherboards also have an exclusive new feature of working with sleep/wake without a DSDT.
 | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H | Realtek ALC898 Audio Atheros/Intel Dual Ethernet DVI-D, DisplayPort, VGA, HDMI | Amazon Newegg |
 | Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H | Realtek ALC887 Audio Atheros Ethernet DVI-D, VGA, HDMI | Amazon Newegg |
 | Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H | Realtek ALC887 Audio Atheros Ethernet DVI-D, VGA, HDMI | Amazon Newegg |
| Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3P | Realtek ALC887 Audio Realtek Ethernet DVI-D, VGA, HDMI | Amazon Newegg |
Other major manufacturers such as ASUS, ASRock, and MSI also have compatible audio and ethernet, but could have Power Management problems with locked MSR in their UEFI. View a list of some of these non-Gigabyte motherboard recommendations here.
PLEASE NOTE: Ivy Bridge CPUs and chipsets are not currently supported natively by Mac OS X. We can't recommend Ivy Bridge systems yet, as there is no official support. Hence, please don't view this as buying advice. We don't recommend using a patched kernel for the long-term. The vanilla kernel is a much more desirable solution for a stable system.
Can't wait to hear your experiences with these new CPUs and motherboards. Have fun!
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
UniBeast 1.2 Update
Today UniBeast has been updated to 1.2. The latest version is available for download at tonymacx86.com/downloads.
Please do not upload or redistribute UniBeast to any other sites.
Full list of changes:
- Updated Chimera to v1.9.1
If this utility has helped you, please consider a contribution to support further UniBeast development. Thanks in advance, and enjoy!
UniBeast: Install Mac OS X Lion Using an All-In-One Bootable USB Drive
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
iBoot 3.3 Update
iBoot has been updated to 3.3. As always, this boot CD facilitates the direct retail installation of Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard via iBoot + MultiBeast. Pick up the latest version at tonymacx86.com/downloads.
- Updated bootloader to Chimera v1.9.1
- For 10.6.x Snow Leopard only
Please do not upload or redistribute iBoot to any other sites.
If this utility has helped you, please consider a contribution to support further iBoot development. Thanks in advance, and enjoy!
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
Exclusive: Intel's Unreleased Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K Running Mac OS X Lion
Well it's official- Mac OS X Lion runs great on Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge platform. Here's a few screenshots of the Core i7-3770K running at stock 3.5GHz on a Z77 motherboard submitted to us via an anonymous tip:
Because there are no Macs yet with Ivy Bridge, the tipster had to use a modified kernel to boot. We can't wait to test out these chips to see what else they can do. Intel's official release date for Core i7 and Core i5 desktop CPUs is April 29th. Check out the Hardware News and Rumors section of the forum for more information on upcoming products.
For discussions on this and other topics, register today at tonymacx86.com!
