Broadwell E - i7-6950X x99 - Working

[axehomeyg]

Hey, just adding that I got the 6950X (Broadwell E) / ASUS x99 Deluxe II / 980ti installed with barely any issues. I followed a mix of x99 guides to get a 5930K working, then used a patch from the wonderful Brumbaer to allocate more memory during the PCI ConfigurationBegin phase, then it booted right up.

I'm not much one for documenting but what I essentially did was...

1) NOT used a USB stick. I installed El Capitan directly to an SSD, from a real mac. Installed clover on it. Booted directly to it in new Machine.

2) Updated VoodooTCSync with a 19 for the core setting.

3) Added brumbaer's patch for 5960X (search it on google, I'm not sure what the cross-posting/crediting rules are)...

4) Boot!

What isn't working is my USB 3.0 ports, a crazy TCP/IP lag, onboard ethernet is much slower than WiFi, and I'm using FakeSMC, NullCPUPowerManagement, and I'm sure I'm not getting the geek bench score that I probably should be. I've spent way too many days trying to get this working and I actually have to get some work done so I'll probably wait to tweak it for performance. Just happy to see so many cores plowing through my compiling tasks!

Again, thanks to the Hackintosh community, you guys rock!

 

[jbauman5]

Very cool to hear! I've been looking for threads to start trickling in on this CPU. I wonder what the odds are of it being as easy as just swapping my 5960x for the 6950x on Yosemite...

 

[EV.forever]

That is a beast of a hack! Congratulations!

 

[axehomeyg]

Very cool to hear! I've been looking for threads to start trickling in on this CPU. I wonder what the odds are of it being as easy as just swapping my 5960x for the 6950x on Yosemite...

5930->6950 required no changes. I literally popped in the CPU, and it booted. It is seriously really fast for work. I must say though, my 6700K at 4.6ghz feels faster for day-to-day. Almost wish I could dynamically switch between two processor/mobo-sets. Maybe one of those dual-mobo cases attached to some sort of SATA splitter. A crazy project for another day!

 

[Asus-Freak]

Maybe cause you already did the 5960 patch that's on IM.

 

[jbauman5]

Maybe cause you already did the 5960 patch that's on IM.

I'm thinking that might be needed too... But since I'm already running a 5960x it might be as easy as swapping it out. Only one way to find out I suppose.

@ axe when you have a moment would you mind running geekbench and/or cinebench r15 multi? What are you running it at?

Thanks!

 

[Asus-Freak]

I'm thinking that might be needed too... But since I'm already running a 5960x it might be as easy as swapping it out. Only one way to find out I suppose.

Probably right, though is it worth $1750.00 to find out?

 

[axehomeyg]

You definitely need that patch.

Just to describe what I went through, I bought the 6950X at MicroCenter and a Gigabyte x99p board. Found out that it didn't have the updated BIOS for the chip, and didn't have the USB no-cpu/mem-enabled bios upgrade (QFlash plus) and no CPU to drop in (or any friends with a spare xeon). So, went out and bought the Asus x99 Deluxe II. I couldn't get that to work, so I went back and bought the 5930K to have something in the interim. I will admit to feeling a bit sick at seeing my credit card bill. Now I have a bunch of hardware that I should return.

Getting the 5930K working was quite the ordeal. I followed the IM guide on the 5960K to the letter, but it would KP immediately. So, I restarted with a blank clover and pulled patches in as necessary. The final patch was the IM patch which got me passed PCI-ConfigBegin.

I included the geek bench on the OP. It says running @ 4.20ghz, but I didn't overclock it. I didn't realize Turbo was so high on that chip!

 

[Asus-Freak]

I don't think it is...

i7-6950X (10 Cores / 20 Threads)
Base Frequency 3000 MHz, Max Turbo Frequency 3500 MHz / 4000 MHz.

i7-6900K (8 Cores / 16 Threads)
Base Frequency 3200 MHz, Max Turbo Frequency 3700 MHz / 4000 MHz.

i7-6850K (6 Cores / 12 Threads)
Base Frequency 3600 MHz, Max Turbo Frequency 3800 MHz / 4000 MHz.

i7-6800K (6 Cores / 12 Threads)
Base Frequency 3400 MHz, Max Turbo Frequency 3600 MHz / 3800 MHz.

 

[jbauman5]

I apologize, I see it now. My old eyes. Great score. Yeah, I live about a mile from a microcenter and they do 15 day returns. I'm there often...