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

[garbage914]

Whatfor do you think I am recommending dedicated BIOS settings for macOS, which btw also perfectly work with an UEFI Windows installation?

What you want to hear at this place? That it’s a good idea to optimize your BIOS on a dual boot system with macOS for Windows only?

Thank you for your response. I tweaked some settings to make them more ideal for audio work - for example, turning of the c-states and speedstep options. I’m not looking for it to be perfect on the OS X side. I’d like to be able to boot to the OS X side to use the internet and basic word processing. I’m wondering if 1. it will function on the OS X side (though maybe not as efficiently as possible), or 2. it could actually cause damage to my machine/build.

 

[kgp]

Thank you for your response. I tweaked some settings to make them more ideal for audio work - for example, turning of the c-states and speedstep options. I’m not looking for it to be perfect on the OS X side. I’d like to be able to boot to the OS X side to use the internet and basic word processing. I’m wondering if 1. it will function on the OS X side (though maybe not as efficiently as possible), or 2. it could actually cause damage to my machine/build.

Turning off c-states and speedstep options does improve audio work? I highly doubt so.. anyway C-states, Speedshfit etc. are fundamental for macOS CPU performance and power management. I also do not understand why one wants to do his work on a high-end pc under Windows, when all work can be done much more efficiently under macOS. And less I do understand why by strongly hampering the CPU performane one would achieve an improved overall system performance.. All this sounds really weird to me, but anyway your choice. Actually, I don't think that it is a good idea to run macOS under such conditions.

 

[garbage914]

Turning off c-states and speedstep options does improve audio work? I highly doubt so.. anyway C-states, Speedshfit etc. are fundamental for macOS CPU performance and power management. I also do not understand why one wants to do his work on a high-end pc under Windows, when all work can be done much more efficiently under macOS. And less I do understand why by strongly hampering the CPU performane one would achieve an improved overall system performance.. All this sounds really weird to me, but anyway your choice. Actually, I don't think that it is a good idea to run macOS under such conditions.

In my experience, turning off improves c-states and speedstep lets me get more plugins out of sessions. Also, Cubase and Reaper run more efficiently in Windows than in OSX - I wish it weren't the case. I spent the time learning to build a hackintosh hoping I could use Cubase on the mac side, but the same sessions that run smoothly on the Windows side have major audio dropouts on the mac side. There's a lot of documentation on audio websites of users having similar experiences. Here's an article by Avid (Protools) about turning CPU throttling and audio:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/how_to/en378495

Can you (or someone) please just tell me if I risk hurting my computer by booting up into OSX with settings other thanthose listed in the build instructions (for example, turning off C-states and speedstep)?

 

[kgp]

In my experience, turning off improves c-states and speedstep lets me get more plugins out of sessions. Also, Cubase and Reaper run more efficiently in Windows than in OSX - I wish it weren't the case. I spent the time learning to build a hackintosh hoping I could use Cubase on the mac side, but the same sessions that run smoothly on the Windows side have major audio dropouts on the mac side. There's a lot of documentation on audio websites of users having similar experiences. Here's an article by Avid (Protools) about turning CPU throttling and audio:

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/how_to/en378495

Can you (or someone) please just tell me if I risk hurting my computer by booting up into OSX with settings other thanthose listed in the build instructions (for example, turning off C-states and speedstep)?

No idea how your CPU will behave in this case. At your own risk, my friend .. and please do not wonder or complain if your macOS system does not properly work or shows terrible performance under such conditions..

 

[alineliodor]

Hi everybody !

I have only one issue remaining with my build : every time I'm activating XMP profile in BIOS the following issue occurs - after waking from sleep the system post "error 00 - detect memory" and is unresponsive. If XMP is disabled the computer works great after sleep with no issue . So far I tested with similar results:

-G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 3600MHz DIMM F4-3600C17Q-32GTZR
-Corsair Vengeance 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 3466 (PC4-27700) C16 for Intel 100, Red LED (CMU32GX4M4C3466C16R)
-G.Skill TridentZ RGB Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin 3600MHz (PC4 28800) Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C17D-16GTZR

I tested each memory to different frequency but no luck. Every type of memory works perfect if left at 2133 MHz DDR4.
Any ideas ? Am I not having the right memory ? Thanks

 

[nnorris7]

Sometimes I struggle to keep up with you guys! You made my day guys! anyway... do you still think I should spend extra money to buy the Deluxe instead of keeping this -A that now works like a charm? I'm asking this not for current situation, now everything is awesome, but in the future maybe @kgp will continue to develop .aml for Deluxe and @Il.F will stop sharing help with me? I'm a bit anxious I know, plz forgive me! Just saying 'cause @kgp is the boss here and probably will help us till the end (until Apple will use their ARM chips and the music will stop)

I have a Prime-A board and will continue to develop it for the foreseeable future. The adaptations from @kgp's Deluxe board have not been very difficult.

 

[Loloflatsix]

For users with 4k or 5k Monitors there is TinkerTool :

https://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html

Tinkertool allows users to access hidden Mac settings. For example, you can adjust the font and font size in the different menus.

 

[Loloflatsix]

For building projects, the 4K monitor is a big step forward for me: I have much more space to work on drawing.

 

[pieropontra]

I have a Prime-A board and will continue to develop it for the foreseeable future. The adaptations from @kgp's Deluxe board have not been very difficult.

do you have a Github (or similar) channel to download them? Thanks in advance.

 

[kgp]

do you have a Github (or similar) channel to download them? Thanks in advance.

I do neither see any need nor I would like that my SSDTs now popup in dozens of Github channels. It is not only a question of proper maintenance and consistency but also a question of authorship warranty. At most one could implement different forks for different systems.

However, I strongly recommend that you start getting familiar with basic SSDT editing, instead of permanently panicking her around with personal fears or permanently requesting a babysitting of your own system by others. The latter is definitely a no-go in long-term, which cannot continue forever. The adaptation of my systems SSDTs to any other system is really a trivial and basic act, which just requires a few additional edits for proper ACPI path and ACPI replacement adaptation. I am sure that with some minimum personal effort also you would succeed in properly configuring and maintaining your own system, as originally meant to be.