MOST POWERFUL HACKBOOK PRO --ASUS ROG G701VO-CS74K, i7-6820 64GB DDR4 w/980 (dedicated!!)

[emdirector]

ASUS Republic Of Gamers G701VO-CS74K
MAJOR DOWNSIDE OF THIS LAPTOP: WILL NOT WORK WITH BUILT-IN NVMe SSDs!!!And there are only 2 NVMe drives in the system, NO SATA! You will have to boot with external SSD. I think it's possible to DIY place USB SSD in the laptop without damaging electrical components. About that below.

MacBook Pro killer. More powerful, MUCH cheaper! BUT a lot of work.
Note: I will be constantly updating this first post to have latest information readily available for readers.

Specs:

• Core i7-6820HK
• Nvidia Desktop GTX 980 GPU (not 980m!!!) Not Optimus!
• 17.3-Inch FHD with G-Sync
• 64 GB 2400MHz DDR4
• 1 TB NVMe SSD (SM951) in RAID IRST (x2 512GB). Can be just 2 unRAIDed NVMe PCI drives. No AHCI thou.
• Card Reader, Web-Cam

After much struggle, I am glad to report a successful boot of macOS Sierra on this laptop. Not perfect yet, but stable.

It's running off of USB3 flash drive, with iMac14,2 SMBIOS. UPDATE: Also works with MacBookPro10,1 SMBIOS!!!!

OBSERVATION: Ran Unigine Valley benchmark in battery mode, and noticed low FPS, smooth but low {in 25fps range, all maxed out @ 1080p). Plugged in power, and FPS count doubled in seconds {to 50fps}. Power management seems to work. Not sure if it was on the OS level, or hardware.


What works:
-Nvidia 980!!! w/WebDrvs All ports work: Internal display, HDMI, miniDP even simultaneously! Thunderbolt to DP port works in 4K 60Hz!!
-Webcam, Card Reader (internal USB bus)
-Ethernet
-USB3 ports (A-type ports)
-Battery is at 0%. It's at 100% actually, try to change to MacBook Pro SMBIOS.
UPDATE 1: SMBIOS doesn't help, removing ACPIBattery.kext doesn't help (still shows 0%). DSDT might fix it.
UPDATE 2: DSDT patch fixed 0% problem. NOW IT'S @ 94%!
UPDATE 3: Now it does show 100% correctly. Interesting.
-Keyboard
-Trackpad I2C (doesn't work with regular PS2 kexts)
Got kext from here, kinda works. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/wip-voodooi2c-i2c-trackpad-limited-support.204227/
NOTE: Trackpad doesn't work for me with BIOS 202 (only in latest 204)
-WI-FI. Intel AC M.2. doesn't work. I have "Dell DW1830 Wireless-AC Wi-Fi Card BCM943602BAED (A00) HHKJD" coming in the mail soon. Read here that it will work with OSX.
Can confirm,BCM943602BAED WI-FI WORKS OOB, No patches needed!. Have to install third Mhf4 antenna thou. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E29HV38/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
-Bluetooth. BrcmFirmwareData.kext & BrcmPatchRAM2.kext (RehabMan's work)


What I want to do:
-Dual boot off NVMe RAID. In BIOS I created 2 RAID0 partitions each 500GB, but it's not yet recognized by macOS Sierra.
UPDATE: Got rid of Intel RST partitions. Still have to make PCIe NVMe to appear in macOS.
NOT POSSIBLE, check posts below.
-Test Thunderbolt. Especially in DP++ function (it can be set in BIOS)
Glad to report TB to DP pumps 4K 60Hz! TB is not tested, don't have TB devices.
-Figure out if custom 6 media keys will function under macOS.
TRY USB OVERDRIVE, Karbanier (when updated to support 10.12), and there are bunch of other apps that work.
-LEAST IN PRIORITY: Enable G-sync in macOS, or at least 75Hz refresh rate.


What needs to be fixed:
-NVMe RAID (Intel RST - Rapid Storage Technology)
UPDATE: Intel RST only works under WINDOWS.
MAJOR DOWNSIDE OF THIS LAPTOP: WILL NOT WORK WITH BUILT-IN NVMe SSDs!!!

-Audio. Probably will have to custom patch it. Haven't done it before.

UPDATE 1: installed VoodooHDA.kext 2.8.9 into /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other.
VoodooHDA.prefPane into /Library/PreferencePanes/
Temporary solution, sound only works thru built-in speakers, headphones, possibly HDMI

-Brightness control (@RehabMan you have guides for Intel HD graphics, do you have suggestions about Nvidia???)
-USB-C function (now works if I have device plugged in before booting)
-Test capabilities of USB-C Thunderbolt 3 to various TB devices
-DSDT/SSDT patches (waiting for WIFI card to begin work)
Working on it. Done custom DSDT/SSDT, didn't notice much difference in the macOS stability/performance.

Any recommendations I can get to make it run as smooth as possible will be greatly appreciated!

BIOS settings:


FLUFF, not related to problems listed above:
Note: Unigine Valley, Heaven benchmarks WILL NOT BENCHMARK WITHOUT AUDIO DEVICES! They will crash!
Fix audio, or install Soundflower to have at least something. Then it will benchmark no problem.

Off-topic, footnote: I have managed to boot into macOS on very similar: ASUS ROG G752VY-DH78K 17-Inch Gaming Laptop, Overclocked CPU i7-6820HK, Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M 8 GB VRAM, 64 GB DDR4, 1 TB, 512 GB NVMe SSD. w/nvidia, lan, sdcard, webcam working.

 

[RehabMan]

What needs to be fixed:
-NVMe RAID (Intel RST - Rapid Storage Technology)

Will not work. Must be disabled in BIOS (set SATA mode to AHCI).
You can use software RAID provided by macOS.

-Audio. Probably will have to custom patch it. Haven't done it before.
View attachment 243854

-Trackpad doesn't work with regular PS2 kexts, its I2C.
Got kext from here, kinda works. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/wip-voodooi2c-i2c-trackpad-limited-support.204227/
-Brightness control (@RehabMan you have guides for Intel HD graphics, do you have suggestions about Nvidia???)
-USB-C function (now works if I have device plugged in before booting)
-Test capabilities of USB-C Thunderbolt 3 (separate port)
-DSDT/SSDT patches (waiting for WIFI card to begin work)
-Battery is at 0% (It's at 100% actually, try to change to MacBook Pro SMBIOS)

http://www.tonymacx86.com/el-capita...faq-read-first-laptop-frequent-questions.html

 

[emdirector]

@RehabMan Huge issue - macOS can't see 2 NVMe SSDs, booting OS from USB3 drive.
Disabled Intel RST. Tried Pike's patch. Tried your NVMe patch following steps correctly, tried MacVid's kext.
Tried all settings Secure Boot, CSM, OpROM Legacy Enable/Disable. Tried your RAID kext. ALL TO NO AVAIL!

I have managed to install Win 10, but initially SSDs did not appear in WIN installer as well, had to load RAID drivers (even thou I have broken up RAID in BIOS, triple checked its condition: NON-RAID ).

In SATA CONTROLLER setting in BIOS there is ONLY: RAID setting, no AHCI, IDE.

SSDs in question x2 MZVPV512HDGM SM951. (Read somewhere: MZVPV512HDGM - 'V' for NVMe, MZHPV512HDGM - 'H' for AHCI).

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 07)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem (rev 31)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPSS I2C Controller #0 (rev 31)
00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPSS I2C Controller #1 (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 (rev 31)
00:17.0 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation SATA Controller [RAID mode] (rev 31)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev f1)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #4 (rev f1)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204M [GeForce GTX 980] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GM204 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 10)


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lshw (included only relevant info)
*-storage
description: RAID bus controller
product: SATA Controller [RAID mode]
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 17
bus info: pci@0000:00:17.0
version: 31
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: storage msix pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ahci latency=0
resources: irq:16 memory:da1a0000-da1a7fff memory:da1b1000-da1b10ff ioport:f050(size=8) ioport:f040(size=4) ioport:f020(size=32) memory:da100000-da17ffff


Any ideas?

 

[RehabMan]

@RehabMan Huge issue - macOS can't see 2 NVMe SSDs, booting OS from USB3 drive.
Disabled Intel RST. Tried Pike's patch. Tried your NVMe patch following steps correctly, tried MacVid's kext.
Tried all settings Secure Boot, CSM, OpROM Legacy Enable/Disable. Tried your RAID kext. ALL TO NO AVAIL!

I have managed to install Win 10, but initially SSDs did not appear in WIN installer as well, had to load RAID drivers (even thou I have broken up RAID in BIOS, triple checked its condition: NON-RAID ).

In SATA CONTROLLER setting in BIOS there is ONLY: RAID setting, no AHCI, IDE.

SSDs in question x2 MZVPV512HDGM SM951. (Read somewhere: MZVPV512HDGM - 'V' for NVMe, MZHPV512HDGM - 'H' for AHCI).

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 07)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem (rev 31)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPSS I2C Controller #0 (rev 31)
00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPSS I2C Controller #1 (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 (rev 31)
00:17.0 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation SATA Controller [RAID mode] (rev 31)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev f1)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #4 (rev f1)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204M [GeForce GTX 980] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GM204 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 10)


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lshw (included only relevant info)
*-storage
description: RAID bus controller
product: SATA Controller [RAID mode]
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 17
bus info: pci@0000:00:17.0
version: 31
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: storage msix pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ahci latency=0
resources: irq:16 memory:da1a0000-da1a7fff memory:da1b1000-da1b10ff ioport:f050(size=8) ioport:f040(size=4) ioport:f020(size=32) memory:da100000-da17ffff


Any ideas?

View attachment 244188 View attachment 244189 View attachment 244191 View attachment 244192 View attachment 244193 View attachment 244194 View attachment 244195 View attachment 244196 View attachment 244197 View attachment 244198

Attach output of 'lspci -nn' in Linux Terminal.
Attach EFI/Clover as ZIP (without themes).

 

[emdirector]

Apologies, I didn't realize to add "-nn" in linux terminal.

Also, can you please help me decipher audio codec?


00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [8086:1910] (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sky Lake PCIe Controller (x16) [8086:1901] (rev 07)
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller [8086:a12f] (rev 31)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem [8086:a131] (rev 31)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPSS I2C Controller #0 [8086:a160] (rev 31)
00:15.1 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPSS I2C Controller #1 [8086:a161] (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 [8086:a13a] (rev 31)
00:17.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: Intel Corporation SATA Controller [RAID mode] [8086:2822] (rev 31)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #1 [8086:a110] (rev f1)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #3 [8086:a112] (rev f1)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #4 [8086:a113] (rev f1)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #5 [8086:a114] (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller [8086:a150] (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller [0580]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC [8086:a121] (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio [8086:a170] (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus [8086:a123] (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GM204M [GeForce GTX 980] [10de:161a] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GM204 High Definition Audio Controller [10de:0fbb] (rev a1)
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC [14e4:43ba] (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 10)

 

[RehabMan]

Apologies, I didn't realize to add "-nn" in linux terminal.

Also, can you please help me decipher audio codec?


00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [8086:1910] (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sky Lake PCIe Controller (x16) [8086:1901] (rev 07)
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller [8086:a12f] (rev 31)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem [8086:a131] (rev 31)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPSS I2C Controller #0 [8086:a160] (rev 31)
00:15.1 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPSS I2C Controller #1 [8086:a161] (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 [8086:a13a] (rev 31)
00:17.0 RAID bus controller [0104]: Intel Corporation SATA Controller [RAID mode] [8086:2822] (rev 31)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #1 [8086:a110] (rev f1)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #3 [8086:a112] (rev f1)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #4 [8086:a113] (rev f1)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #5 [8086:a114] (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller [8086:a150] (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller [0580]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC [8086:a121] (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio [8086:a170] (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus [8086:a123] (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GM204M [GeForce GTX 980] [10de:161a] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GM204 High Definition Audio Controller [10de:0fbb] (rev a1)
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC [14e4:43ba] (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 10)

You could try adding 0x28228086 to the Info.plist of SATA-RAID-282a.kext.

Like this:

It would be better to set your SATA mode to AHCI...

 

[emdirector]

I would love to set it to AHCI, but the only option is RAID. Even thou in Intel Rapid Storage Technology drives are unRAIDED.
1). Is it possible to set it to AHCI in UEFI shell???

Will test above mentioned solution in couple hours.
2). UPDATE: Doesn't show up! I am becoming desperate... What else can I try?
I saw somewhere on this forum a post with a guide to edit DSDT to include NVMe, I can not find it now.


@RehabMan
3). Meanwhile, can you please please give me some pointers as to how to make sound work? Right now I have VoodooHDA (which I hate, but it works).
00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio [8086:a170] (rev 31)

Where do I start?

 

[RehabMan]

I would love to set it to AHCI, but the only option is RAID. Even thou in Intel Rapid Storage Technology drives are unRAIDED.
1). Is it possible to set it to AHCI in UEFI shell???

Will test above mentioned solution in couple hours.
2). UPDATE: Doesn't show up! I am becoming desperate... What else can I try?
I saw somewhere on this forum a post with a guide to edit DSDT to include NVMe, I can not find it now.


@RehabMan
3). Meanwhile, can you please please give me some pointers as to how to make sound work? Right now I have VoodooHDA (which I hate, but it works).
00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio [8086:a170] (rev 31)

Where do I start?

View attachment 244380

If your M.2 SSD is actually NVMe, you will need to find a way to change SATA mode to AHCI.
I suspect the solution with SATA-RAID-2a82.kext will only work if the SSD is M.2 SATA.

Look for a BIOS update, or other way to change the SATA mode.

 

[emdirector]

If your M.2 SSD is actually NVMe, you will need to find a way to change SATA mode to AHCI.
I suspect the solution with SATA-RAID-2a82.kext will only work if the SSD is M.2 SATA.

Look for a BIOS update, or other way to change the SATA mode.

Spent hours researching.
Rolled back BIOS version (had latest).
Tried at least dozen different kexts.
Even opened BIOS ROM file, checked disassembly of SETUP section (following DVMT guide), and it has ZERO reference to AHCI. I saw SATA controller section, and it had only RAID. It had references to everything, except AHCI. WOW, I guess SSD will not work after all... Unless Apple updates something in their OS.

POSSIBLE WORKAROUND:
There is enough space in the laptop case to put mSATA to USB PCB, drill small hole and pull USB3 cable out, epoxy the cable and hole in case, then solder the connector, connect to USB3 port, and boot macOS... Not the best solution, but I am playing with the idea. I'd rather try other laptops first to be 100% sure that I did not miss out on the one that will function the best under macOS. Man, "do a laptop hackintosh" they said, "it'll be fun" they said.

 

[RehabMan]

Spent hours researching.
Rolled back BIOS version (had latest).
Tried at least dozen different kexts.
Even opened BIOS ROM file, checked disassembly of SETUP section (following DVMT guide), and it has ZERO reference to AHCI. I saw SATA controller section, and it had only RAID. It had references to everything, except AHCI. WOW, I guess SSD will not work after all... Unless Apple updates something in their OS.

POSSIBLE WORKAROUND:
There is enough space in the laptop case to put mSATA to USB PCB, drill small hole and pull USB3 cable out, epoxy the cable and hole in case, then solder the connector, connect to USB3 port, and boot macOS... Not the best solution, but I am playing with the idea. I'd rather try other laptops first to be 100% sure that I did not miss out on the one that will function the best under macOS. Man, "do a laptop hackintosh" they said, "it'll be fun" they said.

Kexts will not help. You need to change the SATA mode, or install an M.2 SATA SSD.