Dell 7020 - Using only onboard HD4600 GPU - Build Files and Overview for the experienced. 4k ready.

[lofidub]

From Power off to Clover screen = 14 seconds.
From Power off to Login screen = 33 seconds - Including 1 second timeout on clover screen.

I'm getting 18sec to clover and the another ~20sec to desktop on the NVMe
I switched to SSD to compare and its about 2-3 seconds slower.

What brand NVMe are you using?. Do you have it installed in the X4 or X16 slot?.
I have a 250 GB HP EX900 NVMe with Mojave installed in the X16 slot, (Worth keeping an eye on prices, sometimes there much cheaper than equivalent SSD). Boot up time is noticeably quicker, even from cold, but only by a few seconds.

@trs96 always points out in his guides that NVMe is optional because they're more about moving large files quickly and not about booting or loading applications faster. And he's right, yes macOS will feel a little snappier but your not going to notice a lot a difference in opening apps or booting.

Its a OEM Toshiba, I tested it with Blackmagic and got around 1100/600 R/W
The SSD got half that at 600/250 R/W
So not fast compared to some, but still twice the SSD. I guess I just expected more of an improvement on boot.

I would also add that the primary "must have" scenario for an NVME drive is for 4K+ video editing. In most other situations a good name brand Sata SSD gets the job done.

Right, I use this for Digital Audio workstation, multi-tracking etc so faster disk writes won't hurt, but as you say SSD would probably get it done too.
It was AU$50 tho so worth messing around with.

 

[lofidub]

USB/Sleep/Wake/Graphics/CPU Speed Stepping/Audio - seems to work as it should and is very stable.

Edit: This has been tested in use for about two months using 2 dp monitors there hasnt been one single hiccup.

Hi, how have you tested Speedstep? Mine only seems to switch between idle ~700mhz or full noise ~3400mhz
I don't really see any in-between speeds... Maybe its working but I don't see it.
Thanks.

 

[nicksoph]

@Iofidub I get lots of steps between Turbo and 800Mhz - Hackintool - has a bit that uses AppleIntelInfo.kext to give you CPU info including stepping. Once you have tetsted paste the appleIntelinfo.kext output here.

There is a state where the CPU sits high and uses only a few of the states at the top speeds which is caused by using the BIOS settings from the main thread but you seem to be saying you are getting 800Mhz and high states but nothing inbetween which I've not seen before.

 

[lofidub]

I don't really know what this means.
Maybe its working correctly but in HWMonitor all I really see is the 2 speeds high and low.
Does this mean anything to you?

Thanks.

AppleIntelInfo.kext v3.0 Copyright © 2012-2017 Pike R. Alpha. All rights reserved.

Settings:
------------------------------------------
enableHWP............................... : 0
logMSRs................................. : 1
logIGPU................................. : 1
logIntelRegs............................ : 0
logCStates.............................. : 1
logIPGStyle............................. : 1
InitialTSC.............................. : 0x14ef1729abe9 (676 MHz)
MWAIT C-States.......................... : 270624

Processor Brandstring................... : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz

Processor Signature..................... : 0x306C3
------------------------------------------
- Family............................... : 6
- Stepping............................. : 3
- Model................................ : 0x3C (60)

Model Specific Registers (MSRs)
------------------------------------------

MSR_IA32_PLATFORM_ID..............(0x17) : 0x4000000000000
------------------------------------------
- Processor Flags...................... : 1

MSR_CORE_THREAD_COUNT.............(0x35) : 0x40008
------------------------------------------
- Core Count........................... : 4
- Thread Count......................... : 8

MSR_PLATFORM_INFO.................(0xCE) : 0x80838F3012200
------------------------------------------
- Maximum Non-Turbo Ratio.............. : 0x22 (3400 MHz)
- Ratio Limit for Turbo Mode........... : 1 (programmable)
- TDP Limit for Turbo Mode............. : 1 (programmable)
- Low Power Mode Support............... : 0 (LMP not supported)
- Number of ConfigTDP Levels........... : 0 (only base TDP level available)
- Maximum Efficiency Ratio............. : 8
- Minimum Operating Ratio.............. : 8

MSR_PMG_CST_CONFIG_CONTROL........(0xE2) : 0x1E008405
------------------------------------------
- I/O MWAIT Redirection Enable......... : 1 (enabled, IO read of MSR(0xE4) mapped to MWAIT)
- CFG Lock............................. : 1 (MSR locked until next reset)
- C3 State Auto Demotion............... : 1 (enabled)
- C1 State Auto Demotion............... : 1 (enabled)
- C3 State Undemotion.................. : 1 (enabled)
- C1 State Undemotion.................. : 1 (enabled)
- Package C-State Auto Demotion........ : 0 (disabled/unsupported)
- Package C-State Undemotion........... : 0 (disabled/unsupported)

MSR_PMG_IO_CAPTURE_BASE...........(0xE4) : 0x21814
------------------------------------------
- LVL_2 Base Address................... : 0x1814
- C-state Range........................ : 2 (C7 is the max C-State to include)

IA32_MPERF........................(0xE7) : 0x2ADE6B72D79
IA32_APERF........................(0xE8) : 0x10535A36D2D

MSR_FLEX_RATIO...................(0x194) : 0x0
------------------------------------------

MSR_IA32_PERF_STATUS.............(0x198) : 0x225E00002500
------------------------------------------
- Current Performance State Value...... : 0x2500 (3700 MHz)

MSR_IA32_PERF_CONTROL............(0x199) : 0x2700
------------------------------------------
- Target performance State Value....... : 0x2700 (3900 MHz)
- Intel Dynamic Acceleration........... : 0 (IDA engaged)

IA32_CLOCK_MODULATION............(0x19A) : 0x0

IA32_THERM_INTERRUPT.............(0x19B) : 0x10
------------------------------------------
- High-Temperature Interrupt Enable.... : 0 (disabled)
- Low-Temperature Interrupt Enable..... : 0 (disabled)
- PROCHOT# Interrupt Enable............ : 0 (disabled)
- FORCEPR# Interrupt Enable............ : 0 (disabled)
- Critical Temperature Interrupt Enable : 1 (enabled)
- Threshold #1 Value................... : 0
- Threshold #1 Interrupt Enable........ : 0 (disabled)
- Threshold #2 Value................... : 0
- Threshold #2 Interrupt Enable........ : 0 (disabled)
- Power Limit Notification Enable...... : 0 (disabled)

IA32_THERM_STATUS................(0x19C) : 0x88240000
------------------------------------------
- Thermal Status....................... : 0
- Thermal Log.......................... : 0
- PROCHOT # or FORCEPR# event.......... : 0
- PROCHOT # or FORCEPR# log............ : 0
- Critical Temperature Status.......... : 0
- Critical Temperature log............. : 0
- Thermal Threshold #1 Status.......... : 0
- Thermal Threshold #1 log............. : 0
- Thermal Threshold #2 Status.......... : 0
- Thermal Threshold #2 log............. : 0
- Power Limitation Status.............. : 0
- Power Limitation log................. : 0
- Current Limit Status................. : 0
- Current Limit log.................... : 0
- Cross Domain Limit Status............ : 0
- Cross Domain Limit log............... : 0
- Digital Readout...................... : 36
- Resolution in Degrees Celsius........ : 1
- Reading Valid........................ : 1 (valid)

MSR_THERM2_CTL...................(0x19D) : 0x0

IA32_MISC_ENABLES................(0x1A0) : 0x850089
------------------------------------------
- Fast-Strings......................... : 1 (enabled)
- FOPCODE compatibility mode Enable.... : 0
- Automatic Thermal Control Circuit.... : 1 (enabled)
- Split-lock Disable................... : 0
- Performance Monitoring............... : 1 (available)
- Bus Lock On Cache Line Splits Disable : 0
- Hardware prefetch Disable............ : 0
- Processor Event Based Sampling....... : 0 (PEBS supported)
- GV1/2 legacy Enable.................. : 0
- Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology.. : 1 (enabled)
- MONITOR FSM.......................... : 1 (MONITOR/MWAIT supported)
- Adjacent sector prefetch Disable..... : 0
- CFG Lock............................. : 0 (MSR not locked)
- xTPR Message Disable................. : 1 (disabled)

MSR_TEMPERATURE_TARGET...........(0x1A2) : 0x641400
------------------------------------------
- Turbo Attenuation Units.............. : 0
- Temperature Target................... : 100
- TCC Activation Offset................ : 0

MSR_MISC_PWR_MGMT................(0x1AA) : 0x400001
------------------------------------------
- EIST Hardware Coordination........... : 1 (hardware coordination disabled)
- Energy/Performance Bias support...... : 1
- Energy/Performance Bias.............. : 0 (disabled/MSR not visible to software)
- Thermal Interrupt Coordination Enable : 1 (thermal interrupt routed to all cores)
- SpeedShift Technology Enable......... : 0 (disabled)
- SpeedShift Interrupt Coordination.... : 0 (disabled)
- SpeedShift Energy Efficient Perf..... : 0 (disabled)
- SpeedShift Technology Setup for HWP.. : No (not setup for HWP)

MSR_TURBO_RATIO_LIMIT............(0x1AD) : 0x25262727
------------------------------------------
- Maximum Ratio Limit for C01.......... : 27 (3900 MHz)
- Maximum Ratio Limit for C02.......... : 27 (3900 MHz)
- Maximum Ratio Limit for C03.......... : 26 (3800 MHz)
- Maximum Ratio Limit for C04.......... : 25 (3700 MHz)

IA32_ENERGY_PERF_BIAS............(0x1B0) : 0x5
------------------------------------------
- Power Policy Preference.............. : 5 (balanced performance and energy saving)

MSR_POWER_CTL....................(0x1FC) : 0x4005F
------------------------------------------
- Bi-Directional Processor Hot......... : 1 (enabled)
- C1E Enable........................... : 1 (enabled)

MSR_RAPL_POWER_UNIT..............(0x606) : 0xA0E03
------------------------------------------
- Power Units.......................... : 3 (1/8 Watt)
- Energy Status Units.................. : 14 (61 micro-Joules)
- Time Units .......................... : 10 (976.6 micro-Seconds)

MSR_PKG_POWER_LIMIT..............(0x610) : 0x80428348001A82A0
------------------------------------------
- Package Power Limit #1............... : 84 Watt
- Enable Power Limit #1................ : 1 (enabled)
- Package Clamping Limitation #1....... : 0 (disabled)
- Time Window for Power Limit #1....... : 13 (20480 milli-Seconds)
- Package Power Limit #2............... : 105 Watt
- Enable Power Limit #2................ : 1 (enabled)
- Package Clamping Limitation #2....... : 0 (disabled)
- Time Window for Power Limit #2....... : 33 (10 milli-Seconds)
- Lock................................. : 1 (MSR locked until next reset)

MSR_PKG_ENERGY_STATUS............(0x611) : 0x359DAFDD
------------------------------------------
- Total Energy Consumed................ : 54902 Joules (Watt = Joules / seconds)

MSR_PP0_POWER_LIMIT..............(0x638) : 0x0

MSR_PP0_ENERGY_STATUS............(0x639) : 0x1192B4FA
------------------------------------------
- Total Energy Consumed................ : 17994 Joules (Watt = Joules / seconds)

MSR_PP0_POWER_LIMIT..............(0x638) : 0x0

MSR_PP0_ENERGY_STATUS............(0x639) : 0x1192B4FA
------------------------------------------
- Total Energy Consumed................ : 17994 Joules (Watt = Joules / seconds)

MSR_PP1_POWER_LIMIT..............(0x640) : 0x0

MSR_PP1_ENERGY_STATUS............(0x641) : 0x4A32072
------------------------------------------
- Total Energy Consumed................ : 4748 Joules (Watt = Joules / seconds)

MSR_PP1_POLICY...................(0x642) : 0x18
------------------------------------------
- Priority Level....................... : 24

MSR_CONFIG_TDP_NOMINAL...........(0x648) : 0x22
MSR_CONFIG_TDP_LEVEL1............(0x649) : 0x0
MSR_CONFIG_TDP_LEVEL2............(0x64a) : 0x0
MSR_CONFIG_TDP_CONTROL...........(0x64b) : 0x80000000
MSR_TURBO_ACTIVATION_RATIO.......(0x64c) : 0x0
MSR_PKGC3_IRTL...................(0x60a) : 0x8842
MSR_PKGC6_IRTL...................(0x60b) : 0x8873
MSR_PKGC7_IRTL...................(0x60c) : 0x8891
MSR_PKG_C2_RESIDENCY.............(0x60d) : 0x9883C998942
MSR_PKG_C3_RESIDENCY.............(0x3f8) : 0x7EAB6F35A8
MSR_PKG_C2_RESIDENCY.............(0x60d) : 0x9883C998942
MSR_PKG_C3_RESIDENCY.............(0x3f8) : 0x7EAB6F35A8
MSR_PKG_C6_RESIDENCY.............(0x3f9) : 0x1C398FED3E
MSR_PKG_C7_RESIDENCY.............(0x3fa) : 0x11FD3D8

IA32_TSC_DEADLINE................(0x6E0) : 0x14EF1C22A731

CPU Ratio Info:
------------------------------------------
Base Clock Frequency (BLCK)............. : 100 MHz
Maximum Efficiency Ratio/Frequency...... : 8 ( 800 MHz)
Maximum non-Turbo Ratio/Frequency....... : 34 (3400 MHz)
Maximum Turbo Ratio/Frequency........... : 39 (3900 MHz)

IGPU Info:
------------------------------------------
IGPU Current Frequency.................. : 200 MHz
IGPU Minimum Frequency.................. : 200 MHz
IGPU Maximum Non-Turbo Frequency........ : 350 MHz
IGPU Maximum Turbo Frequency............ : 1200 MHz
IGPU Maximum limit...................... : No Limit

P-State ratio * 100 = Frequency in MHz
------------------------------------------
CPU P-States [ 30 (35) 37 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 0 2 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 1 2 3 5 ]
CPU C7-Cores [ 0 1 3 5 7 ]
CPU P-States [ 30 31 (34) 35 37 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 0 2 4 5 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 0 1 2 3 5 6 7 ]
CPU C7-Cores [ 0 1 3 5 6 7 ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 0 2 4 5 6 7 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]
CPU C7-Cores [ 0 1 3 4 5 6 7 ]
CPU P-States [ (8) 30 31 34 35 37 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) ]
CPU C3-Cores [ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]
CPU C7-Cores [ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ]
CPU P-States [ 8 30 31 32 (34) 35 37 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) ]
CPU P-States [ 8 30 31 32 34 35 (36) 37 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) ]
CPU P-States [ 8 30 31 32 34 35 36 37 (39) ] iGPU P-States [ (4) ]
CPU P-States [ 8 30 31 32 33 34 (35) 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ 4 (5) ]
CPU P-States [ 8 26 30 31 32 33 (34) 35 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) 5 ]
CPU P-States [ 8 25 26 30 31 32 33 (34) 35 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) 5 ]
CPU P-States [ 8 25 26 29 30 31 32 33 (34) 35 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) 5 ]
CPU P-States [ (8) 24 25 26 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) 5 ]
CPU P-States [ (8) 23 24 25 26 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) 5 ]
CPU P-States [ (8) 23 24 25 26 27 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) 5 ]
CPU P-States [ (8) 21 23 24 25 26 27 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) 5 ]
CPU P-States [ 8 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 (34) 35 36 37 39 ] iGPU P-States [ (4) 5 ]

 

[nicksoph]

@Iofidub - Hwmonitor may well not be reporting correctly - Intel Power Gadget is likely to give you a more realistic output and if HWmonitor is found to be misbehaving you might want to think about uninstalling it, it can make machines less stable. The output you posted from AppleIntelinfo.kext is showing all or nearly all P'states (it only shows the ones it actually saw in use) and spedstep seems to be working fine, but check the lower speeds against somebody elses output from a similar processor, if it is missing any of the lower power states thats unusual and I start troubleshooting that by taking out the HWmonitor kexts.

EDIT: Does seem to be missing the lower ranges - Theres output for the k version of your cpu shown here.
Just tried the same on mine and found that when I stressed out the cpu when Hackintool asks I too get only the higher states reported in the log BUT if I do it and just move the mouse a bit first, hovering over the dock and doing low power tasks before stressing it then I get the full range.

 

[lofidub]

OK, appreciate you looking in to it.

Oh man, I've been struggling with getting my Hacks stable for about 6years now, they have always worked pretty well but had the odd kernal panic, I had just got used to it and assumed it was part of having a Hackintosh.
But, its all come down to a faulty ram chip... (I moved the ram with me each time I upgraded to a new machine) last week I ran the ram test and worked out I had a bad stick... doh!

My system is super stable now that I've removed the faulty stick of ram. So I'm just fine tuning a few things like power use, speed step etc. Next is to build a Specific USB kext/ssdt (or whatever its called) as USB isn't 100% on my machine.


One other question, is this normal? to have high temp interrupt as disabled?
I do a bit of video encoding and the very first 9020 that I built actually got fried (at least partly my fault as I didnt change the thermal paste) But I still find it odd that there was no built-in thermal protection to shut down the machine before it got damaged.

IA32_THERM_INTERRUPT.............(0x19B) : 0x10
------------------------------------------
- High-Temperature Interrupt Enable.... : 0 (disabled)
- Low-Temperature Interrupt Enable..... : 0 (disabled)
- PROCHOT# Interrupt Enable............ : 0 (disabled)
- FORCEPR# Interrupt Enable............ : 0 (disabled)
- Critical Temperature Interrupt Enable : 1 (enabled)
- Threshold #1 Value................... : 0
- Threshold #1 Interrupt Enable........ : 0 (disabled)
- Threshold #2 Value................... : 0
- Threshold #2 Interrupt Enable........ : 0 (disabled)
- Power Limit Notification Enable...... : 0 (disabled)

 

[nicksoph]

Next is to build a Specific USB kext/ssdt

the files attached already have one - unless u have an additional usb card there is no need to make a new one and making your own should get you exactly what you have already been given - it is very unlikely the problem is with the usb ssdt that's been supplied.

Take a look at the main thread it is very detailed and works well.
Go thru the sections that relate to kexts - make sure they are both in both places and the ssdts are in /patched. Once you have it as described it will work as expected.

Re your questions on appleIntelInfo.kext compare yours to the one I linked to and if there are any differences you would like to know about ask in that thread.

 

[lofidub]

the files attached already have one - unless u have an additional usb card there is no need to make a new one and making your own should get you exactly what you have already been given - it is very unlikely the problem is with the usb ssdt that's been supplied.

Take a look at the main thread it is very detailed and works well.
Go thru the sections that relate to kexts - make sure they are both in both places and the ssdts are in /patched. Once you have it as described it will work as expected.

Re your questions on appleIntelInfo.kext compare yours to the one I linked to and if there are any differences you would like to know about ask in that thread.

Yes, I did follow the original instructions. However my USB ports do not match up, they mostly work except for 1 or 2 which intermittently don't work, also they are not identified as the right type. Anyway, it wont hurt for me to learn more about how to do that myself.

 

[lofidub]

EDIT: Does seem to be missing the lower ranges - Theres output for the k version of your cpu shown here.
Just tried the same on mine and found that when I stressed out the cpu when Hackintool asks I too get only the higher states reported in the log BUT if I do it and just move the mouse a bit first, hovering over the dock and doing low power tasks before stressing it then I get the full range.

yup, I get the lowest step and about 3-4 in the upper range, but nothing in between.
I'll check in with the other thread.

 

[nicksoph]

However my USB ports do not match up

This is the problematic because I can't see why yours might be different, there seems to be no evidence of these machines having differences in the USB setup - maybe bios version? but it seems more likely that the settings are wrong or files havnt been installed correctly. What Im suggesting is you check the details in BIOS, Kext and clover or maybe post images of your bios screens and your problem reporting files.