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

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My initial setup back then was a X299-A and the problem is that the ThunderboltEX II Card is not supported on the new Platform. After upgrading to the X299 Deluxe I tried it again, the thunderbolt card just don’t recognize any device, no matter in Windows or in MacOS. So forget about it and just by an Gigabyte thunderbolt card if you need 2x Thunderbolt Ports or go the route with an X299 Designare.
Thanks very much for posting this info - now that I know my old card is not compatible with the latest gen X299 board, I have some hard decisions to make.

Do I run over to Fry's and pay $56US for the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge card for use with my X299-A board? Or do I bite the bullet, return the X299-A to MicroCenter (and lose an extra $30 discount that I got when I bought mobo/CPU together), and order either the X299-Deluxe or Designare EX?
:banghead: :crazy: :geek:

PS... the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge TB3 card requires the ssdt, yes? Or will it work OoB as-is, and ssdt only needed for optimization?
 
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Again updated. Excess CPU cores are now also removed from the DSDT. This new patch is also available individually.

Only for ASUS PRIME X299 DELUXE.

FWIW, Applying just the removal of the processor prevent the machine from booting (it locks just after logging TSC adjustements by TSCAdjustReset.kext, not sure if this is related)

As far as I can tell, you are removing CPUs that are in used.
By default, with a 7980xe the ones not in use are: CP0A, CP0B, CP0C, CP0D, CP16, CP17, CP18, CP19, CP1A, CP1B, CP26, CP27, CP28, CP29, CP32, CP33, CP34, CP35, CP36, CP37
You have removed existing ones so that they are continuous in *decimal* mode...

The used ones (now removed from the DSDT table) don't appear to be re-assigned to other entries.

So that beg the questions:
1- Does this work for you?
2- Are you using TSCAdjustReset.kext or other?

thanks
 
if only those lines, those marked in red , will not let me save for those lines.
The first 6 lines can be commented out (which is surprising because if you use an up to date iasl with MaciASL, it should have removed those lines)
@RehabMan gave instructions on how to do so.
Download his latest binaries of iasl there:
https://bitbucket.org/RehabMan/acpica/downloads/iasl.zip

Unzip the file, and move it in MaciASL.app/Contents/MacOS/iasl61 (you need to rename the file)..

You should no longer get compilation errors once you've updated iasl61 with the latest version...
 
Thanks very much for posting this info - now that I know my old card is not compatible with the latest gen X299 board, I have some hard decisions to make.

Do I run over to Fry's and pay $56US for the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge card for use with my X299-A board? Or do I bite the bullet, return the X299-A to MicroCenter (and lose an extra $30 discount that I got when I bought mobo/CPU together), and order either the X299-Deluxe or Designare EX?
:banghead: :crazy: :geek:

PS... the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge TB3 card requires the ssdt, yes? Or will it work OoB as-is, and ssdt only needed for optimization?

I can just comment on and help with the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe and the TBEX 3.. I never used the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge TB3 card and I do not own any Gigabyte Designare EX either..

There is a TB Alpine Ridge option in the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe TB BIOS settings, thus I guess in principle the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge TB3 should also work with ASUS boards or at least with the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe.

SSDTs you will need in all three cases, as long you aim at TB hot plug compatibility.

There seems to exist the SSDT for the Gigabyte Alpine Ridge TB3 of Mork vom Ork. You should directly ask him whether or not the latter already provides full TB hot plug compatibility. I did ask him but so far he did not answer..

We are currently trying to develop a TB hot plug SSDT for the the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe and the TBEX 3.

I don't know if anybody currently aims at reaching SSDT hot plug compatibility with the Designare EX.

I hope this helps in your decision.

Cheers,

KGP
 
Again updated. Excess CPU cores are now also removed from the DSDT. This new patch is also available individually.

Here is @apfelnico DSDT patch adapted for the Gigabyte X299 Designare EX.
There were little changes required between the two ACPI implementations.

1) Remove the CPU patch, this prevent booting. In all honesty, I don't understand how it works on the Asus either. It just can't
2) The 2nd Intel I211VA network adapter is located on RP03.D0A8, not RP02.D0A4
3) The GB Designare uses a Realtek ALC1220A, not a S1220A (though this is cosmetic only)
4) NVM2 device (that is M2Q_32G) is located on RP17, not RP21. The Designare has 3 M.2 slots (vs 2 for the Asus Prime), however I do not have a M.2 device plugged there, so I only bothered with M2P_32G and M2Q_32G.. If I find time I'll plug a NVMe card into M2M_32G and amend the patch accordingly)

Now all devices are appearing as they should in the PCI entry.
PCI:
Screen Shot 2018-03-05 at 5.03.29 pm.png
NVMe:
Screen Shot 2018-03-05 at 5.04.05 pm.png
Network cards:
Screen Shot 2018-03-05 at 5.03.52 pm.png
 

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  • DsdtPatchesGigabyteX299Designare.txt
    14.8 KB · Views: 206
We are currently trying to develop a TB hot plug SSDT for the the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe and the TBEX 3.

I don't know if anybody currently aims at reaching SSDT hot plug compatibility with the Designare EX.

Both the Designare and the TBEX 3 use the same intel chipset...
Be certain that the minute you have hotplug working on the TBEX 3 I'll look into getting this working with the Desginare, and my guess is that it won't take long to get it to work there too...

Right now I have an issue with the Promise Pegasus R4 I use. Whenever I reboot the mac, it puts the Pegasus in some weird state where it no longer works and will prevent the machine from booting (same on windows). I must unplug it and replug it...
Would love to see this fixed.
 
Here is @apfelnico DSDT patch adapted for the Gigabyte X299 Designare EX.
There were little changes required between the two ACPI implementations.

1) Remove the CPU patch, this prevent booting. In all honesty, I don't understand how it works on the Asus either. It just can't
2) The 2nd Intel I211VA network adapter is located on RP03.D0A8, not RP02.D0A4
3) The GB Designare uses a Realtek ALC1220A, not a S1220A (though this is cosmetic only)
4) NVM2 device (that is M2Q_32G) is located on RP17, not RP21. The Designare has 3 M.2 slots (vs 2 for the Asus Prime), however I do not have a M.2 device plugged there, so I only bothered with M2P_32G and M2Q_32G.. If I find time I'll plug a NVMe card into M2M_32G and amend the patch accordingly)

Now all devices are appearing as they should in the PCI entry.
PCI:
View attachment 317440
NVMe:
View attachment 317439
Network cards:
View attachment 317442

I don't understand how the DSDT of @apfelnico implements the PCI devices under "PCI" of Apple's system report without any additional SSDT ... what loads the individual PCI drivers if not a SSDT?

I still stay for now with all my ACPI replacements within the config.plist and SSDT-X299-iMacPro.aml, I feel comfortable with..

I also stay with my current SSDT-X299-iMacPro.aml PCI device implementation.

DSDT patches could be considered as soon everything else is fully controlled. However, I prefer the ACPI patch implementation within the config.plist and SSDT.aml, instead of using an additional DSDT.aml.

What about your TB implementation and TB hot plug functionality? Seems that also other PCI devices are still missing under "PCI" in your case.. Or does your "PCI" screenshot simply not show all implemented devices?

Also please be aware when advertising your current PCI implementation that the latter just reflects one particular example for the Designare EX, which is just valid for your particular slot population and particular hardware configuration.
 
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Both the Designare and the TBEX 3 use the same intel chipset...
Be certain that the minute you have hotplug working on the TBEX 3 I'll look into getting this working with the Desginare, and my guess is that it won't take long to get it to work there too...

Right now I have an issue with the Promise Pegasus R4 I use. Whenever I reboot the mac, it puts the Pegasus in some weird state where it no longer works and will prevent the machine from booting (same on windows). I must unplug it and replug it...
Would love to see this fixed.

The Designare EX has 2 TB ports, the TBEX 3 just one. The SSDT will not be the same.. If you adopt it for the Designare EX, fine with me and gorgeous for anybody else using the Designare EX.. :thumbup:
 
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Notification for all Nvidia Users:

Code:
Hi Ray,

there was a second Supplemental Update for 10.13.3 iMac Pro special build by last week,
which Nvidia apparently did not witness at all.

The actual iMac Pro special build has build number 10.13.3 (17D2104), while your iMacPro
Web Driver only supports 10.13.3 (17D2102)...

Would it be possible to update your iMacPro Web Driver to be compatible with 10.13.3
(17D2104)?

Many thanks in advance,
Klaus

-----------------

Hi Klaus,

We are working on new driver for the latest OS update. Unfortunately Apple does not 
give us any advanced notice for their OS updates, so we usually find out after the update 
has been released. Due to this the NVIDIA Web driver will always lack behind I'm afraid. 
We try to get a new drivers posted within 48 hours but in most cases it's been sooner. 
It really depends on the level of changes and how much testing before we feel confident 
driver is good for public release. Check for update again soon.

Best regards,
Ray
 
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