[Guide] GA-Z97x Gaming 3 i7-4790K GTX960 SC E2200 AC1150

[starcentral]

Intel core i7 4790k - Devil's Canyon / Haswell
Gigabyte GA-Z97X Gaming 3 (Intel based graphics, Killer™ Ethernet E2200)
GeForce GTX 960 SuperClocked
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
Corsair Vengeance 32GB RAM
CoolerMaster G650M 650W
Blackmagic Design Decklink mini monitor 4K SDI

Please also see other OSX version guides:
Z97x Gaming-3 I7-4790k GTX960 10.11 El Capitan - Guide
Z97x Gaming-3 I7-4790k GTX960 10.12 Sierra - Guide
Z97x Gaming-3 I7-4790k GTX960 10.13 High Sierra - Guide

PREFACE​

I had originally installed 10.11 (El Capitan) on this hardware but in the last few days put an clean SSD in the machine and wanted to see how far I could get installing 10.12 (Sierra). The guide for my old 10.11 build can be found here: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/ga-z97x-gaming-3-i7-4790k-gtx960-sc-killer-ethernet-e2200.186824/#post-1210980 I also have a newer High Sierra 10.13 build that can be found here: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-ga-z97x-gaming-3-i7-4790k-gtx960-sc-e2200-ac1150.286478/

I'm largely used this guide on this website but had to do some custom work along the way:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/unibeast-install-macos-sierra-on-any-supported-intel-based-pc.200564/

PRE-INSTALL​

1. After downloading the Sierra install app from App store I used UniBeast 7.1.1 https://www.tonymacx86.com/resources/unibeast-7-1-1.333/ to create the USB. To create the USB I followed the steps as outlined here in the Sierra Desktop Guide. (see above link if you need it)

2. For UniBeast options I used Legacy boot mode and didn't check off any extra boxes under optional graphics configuration.

3. My bios is version F6. I have my bios setup this way:

Load Optimized Defaults
Peripherals>xHCI Mode>Auto
Peripherals>xHCI Hand-off>ENABLED
Peripherals>EHCI Hand-off>ENABLED
BIOS Features>VT-d>DISABLED
BIOS Features>Boot Mode Selection>Legacy
Save and Exit

4. Install went very smooth. No issues to install the base OS X 10.12.

POST INSTALLATION​

After restart OSX had low resolution, no sound and no network access. That is where MultiBeast comes in:

Running the MultiBeast:

Under DRIVERS I selected AUDIO and then selected the ALC1150 option. DISK I skipped past. Under MISC I selected all three FakeSMC's. For the NETWORK options I selected AtherosE2200Ethernet v2.0.1.

Next I selected BOOTLOADERS and selected Clover UEFI Boot Mode.

Under the CUSTOMIZE option and under SYSTEM DEFINITIONS I picked iMac 14,2. SSDT options nothing is selected. 'Graphics Configuration' nothing selected.

Now I'm ready to BUILD it so make sure the right install drive is chosen, in my case it's "Sierra". I click INSTALL and shortly after success!

It's time to shut down now, pull out the boot USB and reboot into OSX 10.12 off the SSD.

After reboot sound was working, but not ethernet. I would sometimes see this message after several minutes idling in the OS X.

Next I decided to get the Nvidia 960 SC graphics card working.

GRAPHICS CARD GTX 960 SC​

I installed the cuda driver first. cudadriver-7.5.25-macos.dmg which you might be able to search online or download from here. http://www.nvidia.com/object/mac-driver-archive.html

I then tried a Nvidia drivers but got error message saying I must be on 10.12.6 to proceed - but I am on 10.12.6 so the solution was to try other (probably older) drivers. I found this driver WebDriver-378.05.05.25f01.pkg which worked. Rebooted and graphics were working proper now.

E2200​

In multiBeast I tried all three versions of the included E2200 drivers but none of them worked. I started researching and came across these steps which worked for me and got my network adapter working.

Remove /Library/Extensions/AtherosE2200Ethernet.kext

Download KextBeast 2.0.1 and AtherosE2200Ethernet-V2.2.0.zip

1. Place AtherosE2200Ethernet.kext from /AtherosE2200Ethernet-V2.2.0/Release/ folder on your desktop.
2. Run KextBeast installer
3. Select the destination folder: /Library/Extensions
4. Reboot

What's next?​

Next to test is USB 3.0 and install some softwares!

[Jan 15th - Continued...]​

My USB 3.0 ports would not read any of my USB 3.0 external hard drives. There are plenty of fixes on this website after searching and spending hours reading, the one that seemed to work for me is Renaming EHCx->EH0x in DSDT which you can read about here: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-10-11-usb-changes-and-solutions.173616/

As for USB 3.0 speed, with a modern usb 3.0 hard drive my speed test was 40 MB/s which seems slower than I would expect. I will keep researching and testing.

 

[starcentral]

missing benchmark pics -- to be added shortly

 

[ferianpz]

Hi, Im tempted to replace my current board which is z87m-d3h with GA-Z97x Gaming 3 like yours, to get native support of nvme ssd.
did you have problem with usb 3? also i read a lot of people cannot get the audio setup right.
did you upgrade to high sierra / Mojave, how did it go?

cheers.

 

[starcentral]

Hi, I have a few boot drives with z97-gaming 3. It is my workhorse machine that I do professional color correction on using DaVinci Resolve with blackmagic decklink 4K mini monitor card.

I did finally get USB 3 working, it is a bit of work cleaning up the sample file and figuring out the ports. I'd can zip my USB 3 folder and post it here. If you have the same version board as me, perhaps it might work.

Z97-GAMING-3 has been great for the past 2 years. I'm booting windows 7, El Capitan and Sierra. I haven't bothered to try newer OS yet.

 

[ferianpz]

thanks for the replay,
I'm also FCPX user, and this build are my main machine. I plan to get the same board as yours and get nvme in PCIe to squeeze more speed out of it.

if you can attach related kext/file here and the plist file would be great.
did you have problem with audio ?

 

[starcentral]

I'm also running FCPX on it since beginning of my build, and some Adobe software. No issues, not one crash or anomaly.

Do you have Devil's Canyon chip as well? It's great performance.

No audio issues at all. My PC keyboard even controls the volume which is nice.

I'll post files tonight.

 

[ferianpz]

Thats great to hear...
Yes i got the Devil's Canyon, it still very capable CPU and I can not justify the money yet to upgrade to newer system.
I also get RX 580 it feel snappier than my old GTX 760. rendering time in FCPX are down drastically.

I've made my mind and will get this board.

 

[starcentral]

Hi @ferianpz - attached are two files. One is my zip file for whole z97-gaming 3 machine with all config files and report. The USB zip has some program tools, template SSDT you will need (SSDT-UIAC-ALL.dsl), my final edited SSDT-UIAC for z97, and also included are some notes I made during the port tests used to map out your motherboard USB ports. There is also a link in the zip folder that I used as my initial guide to get USB 3 working, here it is anyway just incase https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/

Details on what I did to get it working starts on page 168 -> https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...om-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/page-168

 

[ferianpz]

Hi @ferianpz - attached are two files. One is my zip file for whole z97-gaming 3 machine with all config files and report. The USB zip has some program tools, template SSDT you will need (SSDT-UIAC-ALL.dsl), my final edited SSDT-UIAC for z97, and also included are some notes I made during the port tests used to map out your motherboard USB ports. There is also a link in the zip folder that I used as my initial guide to get USB 3 working, here it is anyway just incase https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/

Details on what I did to get it working starts on page 168 -> https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...om-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/page-168

Thanks man, I appreciate it. still waiting for my mainboard to arrive.

 

[starcentral]

Thanks man, I appreciate it. still waiting for my mainboard to arrive.

no problem, let me know how it goes. Were you able to buy the board new? What did it cost?

cheers