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

[Xevin]

OK after doing everything all over again. I finally decided to patch the BIOS even though the guide said it is no longer necessary.

All detailed instructions for ASUS X299 mainboard BIOS Firmware patching formerly outlined in Section B1.) are already obsolete.

After following the BIOS patching it seems to have finally got it working! Thank you all so much for your help! And Especially KGP I'm guessing English probably isn't your first language, but you have made an excellent guide. Thank you again for your time and help!

 

[kgp]

OK after doing everything all over again. I finally decided to patch the BIOS even though the guide said it is no longer necessary.



After following the BIOS patching it seems to have finally got it working! Thank you all so much for your help! And Especially KGP I'm guessing English probably isn't your first language, but you have made an excellent guide. Thank you again for your time and help!

BIOS patching is mandatory for sleep/wake.

 

[AcineL]

Hey KGP/TMX86

Currently waiting on shipment of parts for my first hackintosh build:
Asus x299 Prime Deluxe
Silicon lottery delided 7900x (OC <=4.7)
2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance
Arctic 360 Push/Pull
EVGA 1080 TI FTW Hybrid
Black Magic Decklink mini monitor PCIE card (for Divinci resolve monitor output)
Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M2 SSD

Specifically built for editing in premier and color grading in resolve. For the most part I will only be using Mac OS10 for Prores workflows as I don't want to export into DNX on windows and then complete a final prores render on my 2016 MBP.

I've read through the post a few times just to get a clear understanding of the process and have a few questions:

1. For thunderbolt implementation, can I have a separate m2 drive that runs windows only, and THAT is considered the dual boot, or does it specifically need to be on the same drive as the one I have macOS on?
1.1 If how I the thunderbolt guide it is true, and I already have the thunderbolt card configured on a windows drive, I can commit to a clean install on a virgin m2 drive and have thunderbolt working; correct?
Apologies as I'm a bit confused because the guide says remove any macOS drives and to partition the drive under windows as if you are planning to install HS on the other partition but the guide is in the post installation section of the post.

2. As for overclocking, can I use my regular OC settings as I would in windows for my CPU or should I follow KGPs auto clocking guide just to be safe?

3. Other than the PCIE implementation, are there any specific kexts I need to install to get the decklink mini monitor card working with my monitor other than installing desktop video setup (Black magic's configurator/driver)?

Thanks!

 

[izo1]

Just put this bad boy (which just came out) in the system. It flies.

Faster than my previous older SM951 (AHCI PCIe).

Now have to find a 1024GB (PRO is 24GB larger than EVO) SSD to use as a clone drive....ugh. I use CloneZilla to make a clone of the main drive for emergency purposes and this is annoying. CloneZilla always has issues with drives which are not exactly the same size (despite toggles to disable that feature, it doesn't work). Carbon Copy Cloner doesn't make a bit for bit replica (and you have to reset certain settings and Spotlight gets mucked upon restore). CloneZilla is the best (and free!). I only use CCC to move from smaller drives to bigger drives.

 

[flmmkr]

I installed my Samsung 970 Pro NVME 512GB. All went perfectly using CCC to transfer the system drive to it. The only thing I’m noticing wrong is that I’ve lost almost 2,000 Geekbench points with the NVME installed. Went from over 40,000 to just over 38,000. Does that make sense?

 

[kgp]

Hey KGP/TMX86

Currently waiting on shipment of parts for my first hackintosh build:
Asus x299 Prime Deluxe
Silicon lottery delided 7900x (OC <=4.7)
2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance
Arctic 360 Push/Pull
EVGA 1080 TI FTW Hybrid
Black Magic Decklink mini monitor PCIE card (for Divinci resolve monitor output)
Samsung 970 EVO 1TB M2 SSD

Specifically built for editing in premier and color grading in resolve. For the most part I will only be using Mac OS10 for Prores workflows as I don't want to export into DNX on windows and then complete a final prores render on my 2016 MBP.

I've read through the post a few times just to get a clear understanding of the process and have a few questions:

1. For thunderbolt implementation, can I have a separate m2 drive that runs windows only, and THAT is considered the dual boot, or does it specifically need to be on the same drive as the one I have macOS on?
1.1 If how I the thunderbolt guide it is true, and I already have the thunderbolt card configured on a windows drive, I can commit to a clean install on a virgin m2 drive and have thunderbolt working; correct?
Apologies as I'm a bit confused because the guide says remove any macOS drives and to partition the drive under windows as if you are planning to install HS on the other partition but the guide is in the post installation section of the post.

2. As for overclocking, can I use my regular OC settings as I would in windows for my CPU or should I follow KGPs auto clocking guide just to be safe?

3. Other than the PCIE implementation, are there any specific kexts I need to install to get the decklink mini monitor card working with my monitor other than installing desktop video setup (Black magic's configurator/driver)?

Thanks!

ad 1.) Windows needs to be installed on a separate drive, different from your macOS drive. Don't use different partitions on the same drive!

ad 1.1) I do not fully understand this question. I am not sure, that the windows installation and windows TB initiation is required at all. In any case, TB, once initialised under Windows, will fully independently run and work on your macOS System.

ad 2) I did not know that I published an auto-clocking-guide. All I suggest was to enable SVID and to set CPU Core Voltage to auto, provided the excellent sophistication level of ASUS'S microcode implementation. Of course you can also disable SVID (with the disadvantage that IPG will not show the CPU power consumption) and use a manual CPU Core Voltage offset. You are also free to implemented dedicated CPU load tables.

ad 3.) I might not be the right person to answer this question. Maybe somebody else can provide you some help and information?

Cheers,

KGP

 

[kgp]

I installed my Samsung 970 Pro NVME 512GB. All went perfectly using CCC to transfer the system drive to it. The only thing I’m noticing wrong is that I’ve lost almost 2,000 Geekbench points with the NVME installed. Went from over 40,000 to just over 38,000. Does that make sense?

Not really..

 

[franksanderdo]

I installed my Samsung 970 Pro NVME 512GB. All went perfectly using CCC to transfer the system drive to it. The only thing I’m noticing wrong is that I’ve lost almost 2,000 Geekbench points with the NVME installed. Went from over 40,000 to just over 38,000. Does that make sense?

I might be wrong, but I had fluctuating numbers in Geekbench until I realised that I had other programs (which got auto started) interfering with the test. Can that be a similar reason during your tests?

All the Best
Frank

 

[izo1]

I installed my Samsung 970 Pro NVME 512GB. All went perfectly using CCC to transfer the system drive to it. The only thing I’m noticing wrong is that I’ve lost almost 2,000 Geekbench points with the NVME installed. Went from over 40,000 to just over 38,000. Does that make sense?

I'm a little under 38k for the 7900x, no OC (my memory isn't the best, running at 2666MHz). I did notice about a 500pt drop or so from when I replaced the AHCI PCIe to NVME.

Probably a bug in Geekbench.

Use Cinebench as a benchmarking tool.

 

[apfelnico]

3. Other than the PCIE implementation, are there any specific kexts I need to install to get the decklink mini monitor card working with my monitor other than installing desktop video setup (Black magic's configurator/driver)?

Plug the card into the slot and install the BMD drivers. That's it.