[SUCCESS] Insane Cultist's X99 Workstation - GA-X99-UD4 - i7-5820K - 2x GTX 660 - 10.10.1

[InsaneCultist]

Updated to reflect bootloader swap from Chimera to Clover - please note the existing issue with some setups - Clover appears to have an issue with certain X99 motherboards and allocating memory when there are multiple PCIe devices installed. Please note, I can boot fine WITHOUT any of the modifications outlined in this issue report with 2 x GTX 660s and an M.2 WiFi/BT4 Combo Card. You can read about the issue and potential fixes here.

El Cap update was done with a simple update install, just like a "real Mac." Please see Toleda's audio guide for El Capitan X99 Audio - please note a 10.9 Audio Kext is required. I have been using this method since 10.10 and have a pre-patched kext which I am happy to attach later.

See first post for improved Geekbench performance and FakeCPUID implementation to fix the throttle and clock bounce issues.

 

[InsaneCultist]

I am considering a similar build with the following components.

...

-Thanks in advanced.

I believe that there is an issue with 12-core CPUs at this point in time if you want to run El Capitan. Over in the X99 thread, there are many people who have Haswell-EP CPUs and are running into issues with the ACPI kext. With the 5960X (8 core) there is a required rollback to the 10.9.5 kext, which I do not believe works under El Capitan. Perhaps be patient, or even go with an X79 board, which is older, but most certainly will work.

Regarding the board, there are a few bugs. If I had to build this computer again, I may have gone with a nicer board. There is an issue in particular with Gigabyte X99 boards and clover booting with multiple PCIe devices, as I outlined in an earlier post. The UD4 most certainly has this issue, though I am not sure how widespread it is. From what I have seen, it affects most of the UD4 and even the UD5 boards. Asus might be a wiser choice for motherboard if you do go X99.

Z97 is nowhere close in power to what you would get out of your proposed build. If anything, go for an X79 board if you're going to opt for an older system.

Be aware - CrossFire (AMD's rendition of SLI) does not work under OS X, and if you are using 2 cards as I am, it is up to the software that you are using to address the cards and utilize them. AFAIK, FCPX WILL utilize both 280X's, but I do not know firsthand as I use Premiere and benefit from CUDA rather than OpenCL.

You may run into issues with the PCIe based SSDs if you use a Gigabyte board - again, issue with the Clover memory addressing issue. Again, an Asus board might fix this potential problem. Perhaps do a bit of research on other X99 boards people have had success with. I would stay away from the UD4 if your budget is already allowing you to go for a 12-core Xeon.

Good luck with your hack, hope I was able to offer assistance.

-IC

 

[nnorris7]

Hi InsaneCultist,

I was wondering if you could post details on how you got macOS Sierra beta to run on this machine. I have almost exactly the same config (just video card difference) and am running 10.11.6 perfectly but am struggling to get 10.12 to install.

Any help re: config.plist and/or contents of your EFI folder would be greatly appreciated. Also wondering if you changed any BIOS settings.

Thank you for your helpful posts!
nnorris7

 

[InsaneCultist]

Hi InsaneCultist,

I was wondering if you could post details on how you got macOS Sierra beta to run on this machine. I have almost exactly the same config (just video card difference) and am running 10.11.6 perfectly but am struggling to get 10.12 to install.

Any help re: config.plist and/or contents of your EFI folder would be greatly appreciated. Also wondering if you changed any BIOS settings.

Thank you for your helpful posts!
nnorris7

Hi nnorris7,

I had Sierra running at one point in time. Significant changes were made to the config.plist to allow for proper install. The FakeCPUID was removed, many kext patches have been altered, and I've used a patched kernel for XCPM per PikeRAlpha's work. However, this is a production machine, and I haven't touched Sierra since PB2 and I don't plan on installing it until final release. Once it's out for good, perhaps I will post an update guide. Good luck with your endevours.

-IC