Dual Xeon E5-2670 with Asrock EP2C602, Dual Boot Hackintosh with Win7Pro or Win10Pro

[teamawesome]

Edit (02/02/2018):
Attached is a newer, modified version. This is for the EP2C602 only, not any of the other versions (ie EP2C602-4L/D16). The BIOS supports NVMe boot, has been updated with the newest Intel CPU microcodes, and has been patched to unlock the MSR.

 

[Coool]

@teamawesome, newest Intel CPU microcodes (Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge) with Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities fixes (really one of Spectre variant)? Does your UEFI Shell have bcfg command. I requested ASRock new UEFI for EP2C602-4L/D16 with NVME boot support. Send with missing UEFI Shell bcfg command and maybe some more commands. Did you special requested ASRock UEFI with Intel CPU microcodes update! Do you have problem described http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3211?

Thanks.

 

[teamawesome]

@teamawesome, newest Intel CPU microcodes (Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge) with Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities fixes (really one of Spectre variant)? Does your UEFI Shell have bcfg command. I requested ASRock new UEFI for EP2C602-4L/D16 with NVME boot support. Send with missing UEFI Shell bcfg command and maybe some more commands. Did you special requested ASRock UEFI with Intel CPU microcodes update! Do you have problem described http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3211?

Thanks.

I did not request the microcode update from Asrock, I just did it myself. If you are not familiar with the UEFI Bios Updater (UBU), you can check it out here. After I updated the microcode, I ran the BIOS through UEFIPatcher.

With regards to the post on the Asrock Forums, I can access my UEFI shell. I can check on the UEFI shell commands when I am back at home. I don't know off the top of my head. However, I have the Marvell controller disabled so I don't know anything about its functionality. I will update soon.

 

[DavidM8890]

Can't seem to get this to work.

I have EP2C602- 4LD16 with 2xGTX1080

I managed to install latest HighSierra 10.13.3 onto USB> Install latest version of Clover Bootloader with Dual CPU configuration> replacing plist file, kexts, APCHI file, etc...> When I boot from UEFI disk and enter install from Mac OSX it shows that it's starting overrides with a bunch of commands and screen goes black. Need some help as this is my first attempt at installing a Hackintosh.

The other method I tried was using UniBeast which showed Apple Logo- with a brief load bar and then black screen again. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[teamawesome]

Can't seem to get this to work.

I have EP2C602- 4LD16 with 2xGTX1080

I managed to install latest HighSierra 10.13.3 onto USB> Install latest version of Clover Bootloader with Dual CPU configuration> replacing plist file, kexts, APCHI file, etc...> When I boot from UEFI disk and enter install from Mac OSX it shows that it's starting overrides with a bunch of commands and screen goes black. Need some help as this is my first attempt at installing a Hackintosh.

The other method I tried was using UniBeast which showed Apple Logo- with a brief load bar and then black screen again. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am currently on Sierra. I haven’t worked out all kinks for HS yet. I have seen where others have but I don’t yet know the method. Once / if I can get High Sierra stable I will attempt a detailed guide.

 

[Coool]

@teamawesome, have you seen speed penalty (especially storage) hit after microcode update? How about bcfg command!

 

[teamawesome]

@teamawesome, have you seen speed penalty (especially storage) hit after microcode update? How about bcfg command!

I will run a battery of benchmarks on multiple BIOS builds with different microcode when I have a chance. However, I am currently running 10.12.6 with the security update, so it may be moot. That implemented several changes which could also detrimentally effect performance. At present I have been working to run HS. That is my primary goal. Once I can get HS up and going I will then focus on performance tuning and tweaks. Ill keep you posted. I just got this board a week ago, so I'm still working through everything.

 

[teamawesome]

I ran a series of benchmarks on the various microcodes and BIOS builds.

Disclaimer:
I ran these tests on my specific system. I make absolutely no assurances that the results are reproducible on any other system under any other conditions. Moreover, flashing BIOS, especially modded or unofficial builds, has an inherent degree of risk. It is less risk than operating a chainsaw blindfolded without a safety guard while on mushrooms, but risk nonetheless. Neither I, nor anyone else on the planet, is responsible if you damage your computer, self, or relationship as a result.

TLDR; I didn't notice any discernible differences.

Test Constants:
EVGA 1300 PSU
64gb Samsung DDR3R 1333mhz ECC
Asrock Rack EP2C602 (note - not 4L/D16)
2x Intel E5-2680 v2
2x Noctua NH-U12DXi4 CPU Cooler
3x 1TB RAID0 array on Marvell SE9230 controller

Test Variables:
I tested BIOS 1.80 in its original form and also tested a modded version. For the mod BIOS I updated the Marvell OpRom to the newest version (newer than 1.80 or 1.89). Unfortunately that caused significant problems and was barely bootable. I quickly flashed away from the mod BIOS. I also tested 1.89 stock and modded. The mod 1.89 has updated microcode from 12-1-2017 which I believe addresses Meltdown and Spectre. For any one reading this, as of the time of posting, BIOS 1.89 is not published on Asrock's website. You can contact them to receive it or download the copies I previously uploaded.

Comparison Systems:
To give ourselves a frame of reference, here are the scores Geekbench publishes for official Apple computers. Although Geekbench is cross platform, I personally don't feel the scores can be compared between operating systems. My build will score nearly 50K in Ubuntu x64 but only 38K in Sierra. A review of the results database shows a similar pattern. For further proof, view these results for the E5-2680 v2.

Geekbench-mac

• teamawesome
• Feb 7, 2018

BIOS 1.80 Results:

1.80-cpu

• teamawesome
• Feb 7, 2018

1.80-disk

• teamawesome
• Feb 7, 2018

New Microcode Test Results:

1.89-cpu

• teamawesome
• Feb 7, 2018

1.89-disk

• teamawesome
• Feb 7, 2018

Conclusion:
The difference between revised microcode and the original microcode can easily be attributed to background system activity and variations in TurboBoost. I saw no differences in speed for my Marvell storage platform, but magnetic storage is also not going to stress or saturate the controller.

 

[teamawesome]

@teamawesome, have you seen speed penalty (especially storage) hit after microcode update? How about bcfg command!

Unfortunately I did my testing reaaalllyyyy late last night and spaced on testing the UEFI commands. To be continued...

 

[teamawesome]

@DavidM8890 - I haven't tackled High Sierra yet, but as promised I put together a Sierra guide. Its still a work in progress. Hopefully it helps.