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

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kgp said:
I cannot answer this question. I don't use pci firewire nor Zotac video cards..

Any deviations form my guidelines are at your own personal risk.

Maybe somebody else can answer this question?
Click to expand...
I'm going to use almost that build. I could use a firewire/Thunderbolt adapter. Just for curiosity. Is there any problem or issues with high speed HD instead SSD?
 
josedavms13 said:
I'm going to use almost that build. I could use a firewire/Thunderbolt adapter. Just for curiosity. Is there any problem or issues with high speed HD instead SSD?
Click to expand...

As you see from my build, I currently do not use any high speed HD, whatever your refer to with the latter. You know yourself the general advantages of NVMes over SSDs, and SSDs over HDDs.

So please, what do you expect me to answer?

Also, please complete your current system specs (mobo, cpu, gpu) in your profile or signature.
 
Thank you KGP for your quick answer ! here are the components list (for editing 4K video with FCP X & RESOLVE):
  • Mainboard: Asus Prime X299 Deluxe with
    CORSAIR Hydro Series™ H115i 280mm Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler + Thermal paste IC DIAMOND
  • CPU: i9-7900x
  • RAM Memory: G.SKILL TRIDENT Z 32GO (4 X 8 GO) - DDR4 - 3200 MHZ
  • Storage Disks in RAID 5 : 3 Western Digital (WD) Gold 10 To, 7200rpm, 256MB cache
  • Monitor: LG 31MU97Z-B (already have it)
  • no webcam, wifi nor bluetooth
  • Case: No clue ! help welcome (i'd like to have 5 3.5 bays)
Questions :
1/ will the sound card be compatible with high sierra ? is PCI-e ok or rather external USBsound card ?
2/ are 1000w power enough/too high?
3/ Would you confirm the RAID Controller is mandatory to run RAID 5 HDDS under High Sierra?
4/ case advices
5/ any other advice about my config!

Thanks a LOT !
 
10.3.2
7900x
Asus Deluxe x299

Have now had my computer for a week and wanted to tell you how it's doing.

CPU:
Power Management is not very good on 7900x. Might be different for different CPU's in the x299-setup.
But I've tried all possible BIOS-settings/versions. Have created a specific stdt.aml for my configuration
and even tried other users EFI-folder + stdt that have the same CPU with more or less same results.

When running synthetic-benchmarks it sometimes looks very good. You get nice Speedshifting and the Cinebench-scores end up 100-200 points lower than on Windows (2100-2300), which I consider to be OK.

But this is flaky. For some reason the CPU isn't pinned to it's highest clock in certain tests and I've seen as low points as 1400.

The bigger issue seems to be that certain other instructions/core-load does not seem to make the CPU boost at all. Like for instance the issue with Logic Pro as been described in this post by multiple people.
When I run Logic Pro the CPU does not register the load and often get stuck down in the 1.2ghz-step which results in Overload in logic and end of playback. This issue make me feel that maybe other apps/workloads behave the same, but you will not notice it as that slow even if it's just executing at 1.2ghz.

ThunderboltEX 3:
This controller works for simple HDD's, but that does NOT mean it's 100% compatible with your equipment.
My thunderbolt HDD is recognised, but my sound-card (Antelope Zen Tour) does not work.
Have tried most things here as well, and it just seems to be a sad fact of controller incompatibility with this sound cards driver.


Graphics:
During the first couple of days I used the MSI ATI RX 560 OC 4gb. I worked great on my 4k mointor.
Fast and snappy. I then received a new Asus GTX 1080 Strix 8gb. I got the Web driver installed and
it is recognised, however, have in mind that this driver is FAR from optimised and it runs slower than the ATI RX 560 in all applications. You can notice it in normal window rendering where the 1080 is a bit stuttery, while the 560 is butter smooth.
For me, that does a lot of programming on iOS, the simulator in Xcode is 5 times faster on the ATI than on the 1080 for instance.

Sleep/Wake
Is flaky.. sometimes does not come back from sleep, sometimes does not turn off fans. <= (This I have not looked into closely)

Bluetooth
Works OOB, but sometimes does not connect and needs a cold restart to reconnect. Will buy another card.


Summery:
So far, this rig is far from perfect. But I will continue looking into improving it.
After a week of constant work on it, I don't think my problems are due to me doing something incorrectly, have done all steps in the guide, including my own IOReg implementation of the DSDT.

If anyone else have had the same problem I have, and resolved them, please let me know.

And let's all prey Apple releases native support for the CPU!
 
josedavms13 said:
Are pci firewire and Zotac video cards compatibles?
Click to expand...
I have Zotac GTX 980ti reference card and it's working fine! The only issue I have, if I have, sometimes when I turn on my TV witch connected to my computer via HDMI, I get black screen and i have to restart the computer. It's like 50%, the other 50% is no issue. Weird, I have no idea... I guess it's a little bug in the black screen fix, I the the "NvidiaGraphicsFixup.kext v1.2.1 + Lilu.kext v1.2.1" type prevention.
 
0herbert0 said:
Thank you KGP for your quick answer ! here are the components list (for editing 4K video with FCP X & RESOLVE):
  • Mainboard: Asus Prime X299 Deluxe with
    CORSAIR Hydro Series™ H115i 280mm Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler + Thermal paste IC DIAMOND
  • CPU: i9-7900x
  • RAM Memory: G.SKILL TRIDENT Z 32GO (4 X 8 GO) - DDR4 - 3200 MHZ
  • Storage Disks in RAID 5 : 3 Western Digital (WD) Gold 10 To, 7200rpm, 256MB cache
  • Monitor: LG 31MU97Z-B (already have it)
  • no webcam, wifi nor bluetooth
  • Case: No clue ! help welcome (i'd like to have 5 3.5 bays)
Questions :
1/ will the sound card be compatible with high sierra ? is PCI-e ok or rather external USBsound card ?
2/ are 1000w power enough/too high?
3/ Would you confirm the RAID Controller is mandatory to run RAID 5 HDDS under High Sierra?
4/ case advices
5/ any other advice about my config!

Thanks a LOT !
Click to expand...

1.) I use onboard sound! I cannot answer your questions concerning PCI-e or external USBsound cards..
2.) A 1000W PSU should be more than sufficient for the i9-7900X.
3.) The RAID controller is only mandatory for a hardware RAID configuration. Note that there are also software solutions, which
allow a RAID 5 configuration, see e.g. https://www.softraid.com​
4.) The case is a question of taste. Formerly I used the Corsair 760T Arctic White, which seems more than sufficient for your
endeavour. In contrary, my current Thermaltake Core X71 Tempered Glass Edition leaves a lot of space for sophisticated water cooling implementations.​
5.) Other advises to your configuration:
a.) RAM memory - I would opt for at least 3600 Mhz DDR4 if possible.
b.) I don't understand why you want to skip WIFI and Bluetooth at all - your choice - I would opt for the OSXWIFI in any case.​

Cheers,

KGP
 
Last edited:
olofd said:
10.3.2
7900x
Asus Deluxe x299

Have now had my computer for a week and wanted to tell you how it's doing.

CPU:
Power Management is not very good on 7900x. Might be different for different CPU's in the x299-setup.
But I've tried all possible BIOS-settings/versions. Have created a specific stdt.aml for my configuration
and even tried other users EFI-folder + stdt that have the same CPU with more or less same results.

When running synthetic-benchmarks it sometimes looks very good. You get nice Speedshifting and the Cinebench-scores end up 100-200 points lower than on Windows (2100-2300), which I consider to be OK.

But this is flaky. For some reason the CPU isn't pinned to it's highest clock in certain tests and I've seen as low points as 1400.

The bigger issue seems to be that certain other instructions/core-load does not seem to make the CPU boost at all. Like for instance the issue with Logic Pro as been described in this post by multiple people.
When I run Logic Pro the CPU does not register the load and often get stuck down in the 1.2ghz-step which results in Overload in logic and end of playback. This issue make me feel that maybe other apps/workloads behave the same, but you will not notice it as that slow even if it's just executing at 1.2ghz.

ThunderboltEX 3:
This controller works for simple HDD's, but that does NOT mean it's 100% compatible with your equipment.
My thunderbolt HDD is recognised, but my sound-card (Antelope Zen Tour) does not work.
Have tried most things here as well, and it just seems to be a sad fact of controller incompatibility with this sound cards driver.


Graphics:
During the first couple of days I used the MSI ATI RX 560 OC 4gb. I worked great on my 4k mointor.
Fast and snappy. I then received a new Asus GTX 1080 Strix 8gb. I got the Web driver installed and
it is recognised, however, have in mind that this driver is FAR from optimised and it runs slower than the ATI RX 560 in all applications. You can notice it in normal window rendering where the 1080 is a bit stuttery, while the 560 is butter smooth.
For me, that does a lot of programming on iOS, the simulator in Xcode is 5 times faster on the ATI than on the 1080 for instance.

Sleep/Wake
Is flaky.. sometimes does not come back from sleep, sometimes does not turn off fans. <= (This I have not looked into closely)

Bluetooth
Works OOB, but sometimes does not connect and needs a cold restart to reconnect. Will buy another card.


Summery:
So far, this rig is far from perfect. But I will continue looking into improving it.
After a week of constant work on it, I don't think my problems are due to me doing something incorrectly, have done all steps in the guide, including my own IOReg implementation of the DSDT.

If anyone else have had the same problem I have, and resolved them, please let me know.

And let's all prey Apple releases native support for the CPU!
Click to expand...

Comments:

1.) Apparently, the XCPM for your i9-7900X is not properly configured. Please show a IPG snapshot under i9-7900X idle and max. load conditions, by manually launching consecutive Cinebench Sessions. Please also provide a summary of your CPU BIOS settings. Did you perform all XCPM checks outlined in the corresponding section of my guide?

2.) As we have learned from various user feedback, the actual kexts for individual TB audio solutions are a mess! It is not the fault of the TB EX3 but the fault of the indivudal TB audio hardware providers to distribute incomplete and erroneous software with their products!

3.) I totally reject your conclusions, that the Nvidia web drivers are not optimised and that any 1080 would show a worse performance than a RX560! This is a totally wrong and misleading conclusion and lacks any base.

4.) Sleep/Wake: Properly adopt both SSDT-X299.aml and DSDT Replacement patches. Show your PCI implementation within a snapshot of Apple's System report.

5.) If you have problems with WIFI or Bluetooth, reset the respective network preferences and network configurations..

General comment: please provide facts and an adequate bug report instead of misleading hypothesis and conclusions nobody can deal with or is able to answer. If you want to debug your system and improve it's performance, provide an adequate bug report on which one can build on. Whining, blaming or arguing about what in your particular case and personal opinion might not work is neither constructive nor helpful in your present situation. ;)


Good luck,

KGP
 
Last edited:
@kgp I’m defenetly not whining.
The Thunderbolt is probably the manufactures problem. But the card works great in all real macs I’ve tried it with. So it might be good for people to know that.

The web driver is not performing as well as the 560 even with my TB-enclosure hocked up to a real Mac. So it’s not the hackintosh. It’s just Nvidia implementation. It’s faster in some benches and some games but not as fast in OpenCL and OpenGL/Cocoa (UI-kit) (It does however provide cuda, that is lacking entirely on ATI).

I’m providing you with my progress. If anyone is experiencing the same problems, it’s good to know to be able to go forward. As with the Logic Pro issue where multiple people are experiencing problems.

Thanks!
 
olofd said:
@kgp I’m defenetly not whining.
The Thunderbolt is probably the manufactures problem. But the card works great in all real macs I’ve tried it with. So it might be good for people to know that.

The web driver is not performing as well as the 560 even with my TB-enclosure hocked up to a real Mac. So it’s not the hackintosh. It’s just Nvidia implementation. It’s faster in some benches and some games but not as fast in OpenCL and OpenGL/Cocoa (UI-kit) (It does however provide cuda, that is lacking entirely on ATI).

I’m providing you with my progress. If anyone is experiencing the same problems, it’s good to know to be able to go forward. As with the Logic Pro issue where multiple people are experiencing problems.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Again!

Please learn to bug report.

1.) Provide hard numbers, facts and results, thus we are able to improve e.g. your lousy CPU performance, which is at odd with the results of all other users!

2.) Try to fix your Logic Pro issues by asking help and support from @flymovies! Don't justify your own awful results and supposed issues by means of other awful and disappointing former reports by other likely not experienced users.

3.) The RX 560 is a low cost starter card , which definitely cannot be compared with other costive high-end GPU implementations of Nvidia or ATI!

There are at least a couple of people, who know how to do and set things properly. Try to get their help instead of distributing misleading statements and conclusions.

I just try to avoid that other people follow your largely misleading, useless and contradicting advices and conclusions, which in my personal opinion just lack experience, background or any constructive base to build on.

Finally, please provide your system specs (mobo, cpu, gpu) in either profile or signature! That's really the minimum effort for providing a comprehensive picture about your current build and system configuration.

Thanks in advance and good luck!

KGP
 
Last edited:
Bagi1992 said:
I have Zotac GTX 980ti reference card and it's working fine! The only issue I have, if I have, sometimes when I turn on my TV witch connected to my computer via HDMI, I get black screen and i have to restart the computer. It's like 50%, the other 50% is no issue. Weird, I have no idea... I guess it's a little bug in the black screen fix, I the the "NvidiaGraphicsFixup.kext v1.2.1 + Lilu.kext v1.2.1" type prevention.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your feedback. I'd like to keep Zotac 1050 on my build but I'm not totally sure
 
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