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

[Loloflatsix]

Please attach also your IOREg : this may help me for your

Hi.
Thank your for your solution, but it didn't work - OS does not boot. Are there any other ways?

We must see what happen, can you post :
- your screen shot when you boot in verbose mode
- your clover boot.log
- attach your IOReg

 

[izo1]

I've thought about it, look at sapphire and there are no bios to download.
What I find strange is that you recommend them apple and fail .. I really like the asus brand, I would have bought asus for sure ...

The thing is, like I said previously, FCPX uses QuickSync (Intel iGPU).

The only portable (and not iMac Pro) that has TB3 that Apple officially supports with eGPUs and High Sierra is the recent MacBook Pro's & iMacs. Both have iGPUs.

So when you connect an eGPU box to TB3 on a MBP with the "recommended" Sapphire RX580 from their list, FCPX still uses an iGPU.

There is just something that happens on an iMac Pro (without an iGPU) that FCPX takes advantage of on the Vega architecture. I am not intelligent enough to figure this out, but this is just my guess.

If the other user with the RX580 is saying that on an iMac Pro he gets accelerated H264 exports, then I'd love to see a QuickTime screencapture with Activity Monitor open to see if it's really using the CPU or the RX580 to export.

 

[WoodCabin]

Hello @kgp and other users, I've been following this thread since August and I have to congratulate the author and many contributors who have made this guide the fastest and most stable OSX-based system of the moment, In my case I started with an i9 7900x, then I the gas came in and I bought a 7960x and a few months ago I own the 7980xe. The computer is fully functional and I was able to reach 68,000 Geekbench points, fantastic!
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/7267634

A few days ago, I bought in Amazon an external box of two HD's
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01FU1RJKM/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21

The first days everything worked as it should, but I had to separate the external box from the computer and bought a longer cable, that's when my problems started, I can not find the way That it works. Sometimes the discs do not appear, other times they appear but the speed is 30 Mb / s, other times the discs give an error, a disaster, with the 1 meter cable everything works perfect, but when I put a longer cable it is impossible , I have tried all these options:

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B014RWATK2/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B017EBT256/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B01N5KL10L/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B074CHF1SL/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B01DVQKW5M/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21

None works, I think I've failed with the USB implementation, I'm quite new to IOreg, SSDT's and DSDT's. I successfully implemented my Wifi & Bluetooth card BCM943602CS thanks to the implementation guide published here, but that's it.

I wonder if someone can check my files that I have uploaded and tell me where I failed.

 

[RehabMan]

Hello @kgp and other users, I've been following this thread since August and I have to congratulate the author and many contributors who have made this guide the fastest and most stable OSX-based system of the moment, In my case I started with an i9 7900x, then I the gas came in and I bought a 7960x and a few months ago I own the 7980xe. The computer is fully functional and I was able to reach 68,000 Geekbench points, fantastic!
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/7267634

A few days ago, I bought in Amazon an external box of two HD's
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01FU1RJKM/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21

The first days everything worked as it should, but I had to separate the external box from the computer and bought a longer cable, that's when my problems started, I can not find the way That it works. Sometimes the discs do not appear, other times they appear but the speed is 30 Mb / s, other times the discs give an error, a disaster, with the 1 meter cable everything works perfect, but when I put a longer cable it is impossible , I have tried all these options:

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B014RWATK2/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B017EBT256/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B01N5KL10L/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B074CHF1SL/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21
https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B01DVQKW5M/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21

None works, I think I've failed with the USB implementation, I'm quite new to IOreg, SSDT's and DSDT's. I successfully implemented my Wifi & Bluetooth card BCM943602CS thanks to the implementation guide published here, but that's it.

I wonder if someone can check my files that I have uploaded and tell me where I failed.

SATA-200-series-unsupported.kext may help get the correct SATA kexts to load.
See laptop guide for the attachment:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-booting-the-os-x-installer-on-laptops-with-clover.148093/

But on to your actual problem... your USB configuration is wrong (huge mistake to exceed the 15-port limit).
See guide:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/

 

[xerox24]

The thing is, like I said previously, FCPX uses QuickSync (Intel iGPU).

The only portable (and not iMac Pro) that has TB3 that Apple officially supports with eGPUs and High Sierra is the recent MacBook Pro's & iMacs. Both have iGPUs.

So when you connect an eGPU box to TB3 on a MBP with the "recommended" Sapphire RX580 from their list, FCPX still uses an iGPU.

There is just something that happens on an iMac Pro (without an iGPU) that FCPX takes advantage of on the Vega architecture. I am not intelligent enough to figure this out, but this is just my guess.

If the other user with the RX580 is saying that on an iMac Pro he gets accelerated H264 exports, then I'd love to see a QuickTime screencapture with Activity Monitor open to see if it's really using the CPU or the RX580 to export.

I totally agree with you, I read that from FCPX 10.4 Apple takes support for polaris as egpu for hardware acceleration when before if it offered it. Users stopped having that support with the update.
I just used the egpu to play and when you used to export I used igpu.
On the screenshot I also agree with you and if it is a better video.

 

[canyondust]

SATA-200-series-unsupported.kext may help get the correct SATA kexts to load.
See laptop guide for the attachment:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-booting-the-os-x-installer-on-laptops-with-clover.148093/

But on to your actual problem... your USB configuration is wrong (huge mistake to exceed the 15-port limit).
See guide:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/

I made an X299 build for a friend and it seems there are multiple XHC controllers with a few ports on each.
Does the total need to stay under 15 even for ports controlled by ASmedia controllers etc? If not, how does one determine which type needs to be limited and which doesn't (by the driver they load?, like AppleUSBXHCISPT vs AppleUSBXHCIAR?)

 

[WoodCabin]

SATA-200-series-unsupported.kext may help get the correct SATA kexts to load.
See laptop guide for the attachment:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-booting-the-os-x-installer-on-laptops-with-clover.148093/

But on to your actual problem... your USB configuration is wrong (huge mistake to exceed the 15-port limit).
See guide:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-creating-a-custom-ssdt-for-usbinjectall-kext.211311/

Thanks for the info, I will read the two publications that you recommend, what I do not understand is that with the original cable that measures 1 meter, everything works perfectly, the problem I have when I put any cable that measures more than 1 meter. Tomorrow I will try to disable the internal and external usb3 ports from the bios that I do not use

 

[WoodCabin]

Also you could check to see if you get the same errors in Windows. It sounds like it could be a cable error - I don't think sata likes the cables too long.
A way better solution would be a NAS and network it up. Then you also get remote access, automated backups and room for expansion. Plus you can run an SSD cache on your HDs and get it working a lot faster.

Thanks for the answer, I also think that sata disks are not friends with long cables. I have a WD 4100 NAS that I mainly use for multimedia, for me, the NAS is not a solution because I need to change some discs frequently, the system of an external USB3 box is perfect for me, what bothers me most about this is that with the original cable works perfect, the only test that I have left is to buy a thunderbolt cable of 2m and try it, it is compatible with USB 3 type C

 

[P1LGRIM]

I also think that sata disks are not friends with long cables

SATA spec.

SATA cables can have lengths up to 1 metre (3.3 ft).
eSATA maximum cable length increased to 2 metres (6.6 ft) from 1 metre (3.3 ft).

 

[WoodCabin]

SATA spec.

SATA cables can have lengths up to 1 metre (3.3 ft).
eSATA maximum cable length increased to 2 metres (6.6 ft) from 1 metre (3.3 ft).

Thanks for the answer, sorry, I think I explained myself wrong, the hard drives are embedded in the external USB box, I have never used Sata cables older than 30-40cm, the problem is the USB3 cable. The box I bought is a terramaster and has a USB3 Type C connector, the cables I bought are USB3 Type C and the other end USB3 Type A. I tried to connect to the USB 3.1 and USB 3.0 of my Asus X299 DeLuxe, but always use the 2 meter cable works badly.