I just finished building a new Hackintosh on a GA-Z170X-UD5 motherboard the components listed below.
System Build
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5
i7-6700K 4GHz LGA1151
64Gb Crucial Ballistix DDR4-2400 RAM
Nvidia GTX-960 OC
I used OSX 10.11.4 created by Unibeast 6.2 and Multibeast 8.2.2 for the post install
I largely followed the tonymacx86 installation guide using the above tools. Here are some specific notes.
BIOS Setup:
- As recommended, but I found no 'CFG-lock' setting. IMPORTANT NOTE: Just DO NOT MISS disabling the serial port (under Super I/O Configuration), because you will get kernel panic during the install with it enabled!!
Installation:
- To boot into the installer, the only parameter I had to change was to fix the USB ownership, under options -> PCI devices.
- Installation went smoothly after getting the BIOS setting correct and figuring out the boot options.
Post Configuration:
- After rebooting into the new install (from the Install USB stick) by selecting the newly installed HFS partition, NO options were required (no fix USB ownership).
- The default Apple nvidia drivers were loaded and my 2560x1440 screen displayed in much lower resolution. (Nvidia drivers were installed later.)
- Copy Mulibeast to the desktop, along with EFI Mounter V3, and Clover Configurator.
- Start Multibeast and select these options:
Quick Start -> UEFI Boot Mode
Drivers -> Audio -> Realtek ALCxxx -> ALC1150
Drivers -> Audio -> 100 Series Audio
Drivers -> Network -> Intel -> IntelMausiEthernet v2.1.0d0 (would the v2.1.0d3 work? Not sure.)
Drivers -> USB -> Increase Max Port Limit
Customize -> System Definition -> iMac 17,1 (don't install the nvdia drivers yet!)
- Hit build, and after everything finishes, you can reboot into a low res graphics mode. IF you install the nvidia drivers at this point, you will reboot into a black screen. You have to edit an Info.plist file in order to get that to work with this system definition. (If you installed the nvidia drivers in haste, you can reboot from the Unibeast installer stick and edit the Info.plist file below.)
- While you are there, a few boot variables need to be set using Clover Configurator. Mount the EFI parition using EFI Mounter v3. Then in the Acpi section, check FixShutdown to solve the problem of your computer rebooting a few seconds after you think it has been shut off. This is apparently a problem with this motherboard and Nvidia GTX-9xx series video cards. Under Devices, make sure your Audio ID is 1 if you want typical computer audio.
- Shutdown the computer, remove the USB drive, and start back up. Everything should boot using the default nvidia drivers into a low resolultion mode with no further modification.
Installing the Nvidia Drivers:
This one gave me fits for a while. Here is the updated reference for how to get things to work:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/solving-nvidia-driver-install-loading-problems.161256/
With the Nvidia GTX960 (and apparently GTXxxx), there is no native support. So you must install the Nvidia web drivers. They are different for EACH 10.11.x update, so make sure to install the set that is compatible with your installer version. Once you install OSX without the Nvidia web drivers you will get a very funky screen. That tells you they are not loaded. How you solve this also depends on your system definition.
You CAN make the system definition a Mac Pro 3,1, but in doing so apparently lose out of some of the skylake performance. By using the iMac 17,1 you take full benefit of the chips functionality. BUT, if you install the iMac 17,1 system definition (using Multibeast) and later install the nvidia drivers without modifying the Info.plist referenced below, your screen will go black on booting up. If you read the web link I posted above, that is "Problem number 4". Here is the solution.
First, mount your EFI partition using EFImounter v3. Then fire up Clover Configurator, load your /EFI/Clover/config.plist into Clover Configurator. Select SMBIOS on the left panel, and note the Board-ID in the right hand panel. You need this to edit the graphics policy Info.plist file. I set my system definition to iMac 17,1, so my Board-ID is Mac-65CE76090165799A.
Leave clover open till you add one more item to it after you load the Nvidia drivers.
Now download and install the Nvidia drivers for the version of OSX 10.11.x your installer is built on. BUT, DO NOT REBOOT until you edit the Info.plist file referenced below AND rebuild your system caches or you will still have the same problem.
Before rebooting, edit this file with whichever command line editor you wish (old linux geek, so I use vi, the reference article tells you how to do it in Nano).
/System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext/Contents/Info.plist
Scroll down to the <key>ConfigMap</key> section and fine your Board-ID. Mine looked like <key>Mac-65CE76090165799A</key>. Below that is the entry <string>Config2</string>. In THAT ENTRY, change the 'Config2' to 'none' (obviously NO quotes).
Save the file.
Initially, before I understood the process, I had problems with OSX selecting the native nvidia drivers over the nvidia web drivers. To solve that problem, you need to tell Clover to load the drivers. So if you left Clover Configurator open, simply go to the boot section (select it on the left side) and check nvda_drv=1 check box on the right. If you didn't leave Clover open simply mount the EFI partition (EFI Mounter v3) and use Clover Configurator to edit the /EFI/Clover/config.plist and under the boot category check the nvda_drv=1 check box.
Then reboot, and the Nvidia drivers will properly load and your screen won't be black.
After I upgraded to 11.5 a reboot at the ende resulted in low res graphics mode.
I had to download and install the nvidia drivers for 11.5. Then all was back to normal.
After I upgraded to 11.6 problems started. The initial web drivers were faulty and I couldn't get the screen back. I cloned back from the backup, waited till the WebDriver-346.03.15f02.pkg driver was available, and started the Nvidia loading from scratch. I had to edit the graphics Info.plist as described above. Then things worked.
Had I known all this up front, the install would have actually been a breeze. I hope this helps others save some time.
This a a zippy system so far
