- Joined
- Sep 1, 2014
- Messages
- 2,944
- Motherboard
- GA-H87N-WIFI
- CPU
- i7-4790S
- Graphics
- GT 740
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
Of course... But for the cases where it's not practical, I'm trying to provide an alternative.
Of course... But for the cases where it's not practical, I'm trying to provide an alternative.
El Capitan on the GA-H170N-WIFI
This guide assumes you are installing from scratch. I find integrated graphics on the HD 530 a little challenging, but the system works nicely with an Nvidia card.
View attachment 162616
My Configuration
- BIOS F3 (current at the time of writing)
- Core i7-6700
- 2x 8 GB DDR4-2133
- Either integrated HD530 graphics (works, but poorly) or GeForce GT 730/740/960
- Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe x4 m.2 drive; also tested on an Intel X25-M SSD (SATA 3Gb/s)
- Dell DW1560 (BCM94352Z chip) m.2 WiFi/Bluetooth card (replacing the Intel wireless card it shipped with)
What Works
- SATA and m.2 PCIe x4 system drives
- Audio (tested with case and rear headphone outputs -- HDMI audio working only on an Nvidia card)
- USB, including USB3 (speed confirmed 409 MB/s write and 418 MB/s read with external SSD) and the USB3.0 Type C port
- Wireless networking via m.2 DW1560 card (get it from Dell, Amazon, or others)
- Straight 4K or 1080P Retina when using integrated graphics with a 4K monitor
- iTunes radio, including Beats One
- When using an Nvidia graphics card:
- Sleep/wake when using the Nvidia Web Driver
- All high-resolution modes when using a 4K monitor
- Audio over HDMI
- GT 740 benchmarks using OS X native drivers: Heaven: 15.6 FPS @ 1920x1080, Cinebench 55.5 FPS, Luxmark 1028
- GT 740 benchmarks using Nvidia Web driver: Heaven: 15.9 FPS @ 1920x1080, Cinebench 58 FPS, Luxmark 1007
What Sorta Works
- Intel i211 Ethernet port (the port above the USB3 type C connector) -- gets an occasional kernel panic during startup (possibly only in conjunction with the Nvidia card). At least once it just quit working after a while.
- Integrated graphics via HDMI output: annoying visual artifacts. App Store and Safari and Preview are pretty much unusable; Firefox works OK as a substitute for Safari. App Store can be used by booting in Safe Mode. Graphics and PDFs can be viewed with Quick View instead of Preview.
What Doesn't Work At All
- Intel i219 Ethernet port (the port next to the audio jacks): no driver available yet
- With HD 530 integrated graphics only:
- Sleep/wake (sleeps OK, on wake screen powers on and picks the resolution, but never shows anything)
- 4K scaled resolutions above 1080P but below 4K when using a 4K monitor
- Audio over HDMI
- The Intel WiFi that the board ships with (Intel Bluetooth not tested but may work)
- HD movie previews in iTunes, suggesting that any rented or purchased movies may not work.
Installation Prerequisites
- A GA-H170N-WIFI build
- A working Mac or Hackintosh
- A USB stick or drive, 16 GB or larger
970 should be fine.
But if you're fine with WiFi, just use the WiFi.
You CANNOT use an m.2 NVMe drive (with OS X)
ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac/comes with a supported wireless module/factor in the cost of the wireless module/comparable.