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

[djlild7hina]

Thank you for the details regarding the board I really appreciate it! I'm going to pick mine up today so I'm going to start on my build this evening. Few more questions have you tested being able to run a graphics card not in slot one? Also was there a specific bios you tested? We are at 0905 i believe. Do you still have your graphics card on a riser? If so how is that running? Couldn't you just move your graphics card to slot 3 and 4? I think that is my only issue is how I'm going to be able to run two graphics cards and the Thunderbolt at the same time. Thanks!

I believe I tested it before and it worked fine, I don’t see why it wouldn’t. I still have mine in slot-1 on a riser and it’s working great. Only issue is with airflow but that’s more of an issue with my case since my gpu is right next to the side panel. If you do end up running two GPUs + thunderbolt try thunderbolt in slot-2 and GPUs in slot 3/5. Curious if that still keeps the GPUs at x16 or defaults to x8
Hopefully you can return it if it doesn’t work it

 

[vamzi21]

@vamzi21
What country do you live in?

If i were you i would buy the x299-deluxe or x299-a , if it’s available in your country. The first one is recommended, cause kgp already optimized everything for that mobo.

Buy a Titan-Ridge for thunderbolt, if it’s not available where you live, buy from amazon/ebay.

I would suggest that you look at the 10.14 guide, since it’s updated to work with the latest MacOS.

Good luck mate!

Hey Junolouge, thank you for your reply. i looked at every shop in my counrty and found 1! it really seems to be the best solution available as far as compabilty, even better from the deluxe II according to KGP.

thanks again, Junologue!

 

[giftmusic]

I believe I tested it before and it worked fine, I don’t see why it wouldn’t. I still have mine in slot-1 on a riser and it’s working great. Only issue is with airflow but that’s more of an issue with my case since my gpu is right next to the side panel. If you do end up running two GPUs + thunderbolt try thunderbolt in slot-2 and GPUs in slot 3/5. Curious if that still keeps the GPUs at x16 or defaults to x8
Hopefully you can return it if it doesn’t work it

Sure no problem, I will test those things you asked for and report back. I just built her, now I am going to update the bios to the latest version and start the hack. Did you install the usual way from page 1 of the thread with 10.13.6? Or should I install 10.13.3 instead? Also if I do need 10.13.3 where did you find that old of a version? Thanks

 

[giftmusic]

Sure no problem, I will test those things you asked for and report back. I just built her, now I am going to update the bios to the latest version and start the hack. Did you install the usual way from page 1 of the thread with 10.13.6?


Also @kgp @djlild7hina do you guys have the SSDTs and kexts I need for this mobo? I found a few in the past pages, but I just want to make sure I am using the latest ones and following the proper steps. Also I cant find much on how to get the 10G working. I DO see the posts on the main page talking about eprom modding in ubuntu, but I would rather have option of a kext instead. Do I need to install to 10.13.3? Also if I do need 10.13.3 where did you find that old of a version? Thanks

 

[btzee]

Thank you very much !!!

 

[djlild7hina]

10.13.6 is fine with just the efi in the post. 10.13.3 method used to flash asus aquantia which is not the case for the sage. I would start with one gpu first and I can provide the ssdts and stuff once you get everything up and running. One step at a time .

Update: Added all updated kexts, 10g ports should be enabled. TSCAdjustReset is setup for the 7980xe which we both have so thats good, also has my usb kext so you should disable any port limit patches. Also the base ssdts that should be placed in EFI/Clover/ACPI/Patched. Will need a copy of your ioreg and a listing of what pci devices are in which slots for the rest of the ssdts.

 

[giftmusic]

10.13.6 is fine with just the efi in the post. 10.13.3 method used to flash asus aquantia which is not the case for the sage. I would start with one gpu first and I can provide the ssdts and stuff once you get everything up and running. One step at a time . I’ll update with the kexts once I’m home

Ok so here the report. 1st GPU has to be installed into slot 1 to post. I have another GPU in slot 3-4 and it works perfect. In octane bench no issues. No 10G as of yet. Trying to get the thunderbolt working now by installing Windows 10. Did you say you have the drivers, that would be awesome! Thanks!

 

[djlild7hina]

Ok so here the report. 1st GPU has to be installed into slot 1 to post. I have another GPU in slot 3-4 and it works perfect. In octane bench no issues. No 10G as of yet. Trying to get the thunderbolt working now by installing Windows 10. Did you say you have the drivers, that would be awesome! Thanks!

Check my updated post Ah I figured darn, so you have gpu in slot 1, thunderbolt in slot2, and another gpu in slot 3? is the gpu in slot 3 x8 or x16?

 

[giftmusic]

Ok so here the report. 1st GPU has to be installed into slot 1 to post. I have another GPU in slot 3-4 and it works perfect. In octane bench no issues. No 10G as of yet. Trying to get the thunderbolt working now by installing Windows 10. Did you say you have the drivers, that would be awesome! Thanks!

Also where did you read that the TB needs to be in slot 2? That really would be a horrible design if you can only run a 1 slot GPU in slot 1 and TB in slot 2 only.

 

[djlild7hina]

Also where did you read that the TB needs to be in slot 2? That really would be a horrible design if you can only run a 1 slot GPU in slot 1 and TB in slot 2 only.

The manual, though I haven't tried moving it to another slot. It might work? It's only slot-2 most likely because of how the plx chips are split out and the allocation of lanes. Slot-2 shares pci x4 on the PCH (which is where the thunderbolt card shows up in ioreg)