How to build your own iMac Pro [Successful Build/Extended Guide]

[canyondust]

That's why I got hooked on the apple airport wifi cards with an adapter. Everything works with no modified kexts.

Once you airdrop a photo/video from your phone to a Mac you can’t go back

 

[RuleBreaker01]

Thank you for your prompt response!
Should I remove OSXWIFI from PCI slot and wifi implementation from SSDT-X299-iMacPro.aml file that I currently have or they will work in parallel?

the ARPT SSDT entry serves no purpose other than making it show in the PCI list.
You can of course, just adapt the ACPI path to the BRCM M.2 card to achieve the same.

 

[RuleBreaker01]

Wait... You have 2 of these things? $$$$$ You must not be married.

I'm married and with kids

No, I have just time to waste and I keep changing motherboards, thank you Amazon with your no question asked 30 days return policy.

So far I've tried:
- Asus x299 Prime Deluxe
- GB x299 Designare EX
- ASRock x299 Professional Gaming XE
- GB x299 Gaming 7 Pro.

Of all cards, the Designare is the best built... The x299 Gaming 7 Pro is almost the same and I got TB and USB-C hot plug to work.
Downside for both gigabyte is that the Thunderbolt is hooked to the PCH.. That's going to give crappy perf for sure.
The Asus is great, but after a few compilation runs I have the VRM in the 105-110 degrees (in the same tests, the gigabyte VRM never go over 65C).
Even for the CPU, I consistently gets lower CPU temperatures with the gigabytes (a good 10C lower). Seems that they are a bit less enthousiastic than Asus when it comes to voltage.

At first I hated the ASRock and I returned it promptly, but I'm having 2nd thoughts due to the TB using CPU PCI lanes, and having a great VRM (and 10Gbit/s). So I'm hoping that I have overlooked things during my first run of tests... If I can get hot plug working on that board, I'll keep it.
Otherwise, I'll use the GB Gaming 7 Pro.

 

[macs_forever]

That’s 20+ hours with no sleep AFTER spending weeks trying to make this thing works. I could have been doing something more productive.

Overall combined I’m sure I’ve spent less time on this hackintosh than someone like kgp but at least I’m pretty close to getting a perfectly working one which feels like a real Mac and doesn’t burn a hole in the wallet.

Also why are you cutting the shield when you can get a normal NGFF that might be a little older but fits perfectly in the shield?

Used authentic Apple macbook air AC wifi card, required an adapter. No kexts or mods needed. Everything just works.

 

[rauan1]

Why do you want to keep OSXwifi card if you have a Broadcom NGFF card working on your motherboard?

It’s either one.

And also yeah you can remove it from your ssdt however if you are just talking about PCI implementations that’s purely cosmetic.

USB port discovery is not cosmetic it actually gives proper ports their designated usb-connector types which allows macOS to know what to do with it.

Also if you are removing OSXwifi (which I have nothing against, I have one in my drawer for emergencies) and adding NGFF you need to reset your network settings which means your wifi will be assigned most likely en1 (if your Ethernet is set to en0)

Or in my case I have 2 Ethernet ports so I have en0/en1 for Ethernet ports and en2 for WiFi. If you put in the NGFF card your new card might get en3 or something.

1. Go to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

2. Rename preferences.plist to preferences.plist.bak (just in case it is needed)

3. Reboot

Your Ethernet should take en0 and en1 (if you have a second port) and en2 will be WiFi.

This is all to keep consistent with a real Mac because iMessage and some other services (I think also appnapp) use this.

I can't connect mouse and apple keyboard with BCM94352Z installed. Wifi works fine and bluetooth is turned on, but I couldn't connect mouse and keyboard.
I also got different setup in preferences file.

 

[izo1]

Used authentic Apple macbook air AC wifi card, required an adapter. No kexts or mods needed. Everything just works.

Yes that’s what OSXWifi PCIe cards are.

You can build one yourself or find a combo cheaper on eBay.

However like I said MacBook Air cards are older and slower.

 

[izo1]

I can't connect mouse and apple keyboard with BCM94352Z installed. Wifi works fine and bluetooth is turned on, but I couldn't connect mouse and keyboard.
I also got different setup in preferences file.View attachment 324458

Can you reset preferences like I mentioned in previous post so your EN# is reset?

I use a wired Apple keyboard and a wired Logitech mouse and a wired Wacom tablet, but I do have a wireless Apple keyboard. I’ll try it out later and report back.

 

[rauan1]

Can you reset preferences like I mentioned in previous post so your EN# is reset?

I use a wired Apple keyboard and a wired Logitech mouse and a wired Wacom tablet, but I do have a wireless Apple keyboard. I’ll try it out later and report back.

Previous results I got after renaming preferences.plist. Then I renamed both preferences.plist and NetworkInterfaces.plist files in systemconfiguration folder which gave me correct device names. Bluetooth still not connecting mouse and keyboard. I am using Logitech bluetooth mouse and keyboard instead.

 

[Loloflatsix]

By the way this is really cool for people with AMD cards. For far too long CUDA has gotten preferential 3rd party support but this is really awesome.

https://pro.radeon.com/en/radeon-prorender-blender-maya-macos-versions-available-now/

Also 9 months from now Octane will support Metal 2 (and not CUDA only)

Very interesting : seems very powerfull with Autodesk

GPU compatibility :

• Runs on both GPUs and CPUs. OpenCL™ 1.2 support required for GPUs on Windows® and Linux®. Metal® 2 support required for GPUs on macOS®
• AMD graphics cards are recommended for Windows® and Linux®, required for macOS®
• For non-AMD OpenCL™ 1.2 cards, Windows® 10 is required
• Recommended Graphics Hardware:
  Radeon™ Pro WX series cards, Radeon™ Pro SSG graphics, Radeon™ Pro Duo (“Polaris”) graphics, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition cards, and AMD FirePro™ W9100, W8100, W7100 and S series cards
• Compatible Graphics Hardware:
  Radeon™ Pro Duo (“Fiji”) graphics, Radeon™ RX series cards, Radeon™ R9 Fury series cards, Radeon™ R9 Nano graphics, Radeon™ R9 300 series cards, Radeon™ R9 290X graphics, Radeon™ R9 290 graphics, Radeon™ R9 285 graphics, Radeon™ R9 280X graphics, Radeon™ R9 280 graphic
• Compatible Apple® Mac® Hardware:
  MacBook® (Early 2015 or newer), MacBook Pro® (Mid 2012 or newer), MacBook Air® (Mid 2012 or newer), Mac mini® (Late 2012 or newer), iMac® (Late 2012 or newer), iMac Pro™ (Late 2017 or newer), Mac Pro® (Late 2013) (Models without discrete Radeon™, Radeon™ Pro, or AMD FirePro™ graphics will be limited to CPU rendering with Radeon™ ProRender)
• Compatible Apple® Mac® External Graphics (eGPU) Hardware:
  Radeon™ RX 570 graphics, Radeon™ RX 580 graphics, Radeon™ Vega 56 graphics, Radeon™ Vega 64 graphics, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition (Air-Cooled) graphics, Radeon™ Pro WX 7100, Radeon™ Pro WX 9100 graphics (Requires macOS® High Sierra 10.13.4 and compatible eGPU Thunderbolt™ 3 chassis)

 

[rauan1]

Yes. I use it...

As I wrote earlier, I have wifi working well, but no bluetooth mouse and keyboard.
Did you get bluetooth mouse/keyboard and hands-off working? If yes, what did you change in your system?