How to extend the iMac Pro to X99 [Successful Build/Extended Guide]

[psymbionic]

Hello all,

I followed this guide for my first Hackintosh build, and got everything working except Thunderbolt. I'm dual booting UEFI with Windows and 10.13.3, but I can't manage to get my Thunderbolt card to recognize in Device Manager > System Devices on Windows. I installed the drivers and they show up in Program Files (x86)/Intel. Currently plugged into PCIE Slot 3 (as suggested in E.5 of the x299 iMac Pro guide by @kgp -- although it should be noted that the BIOS options are pretty different than the guide for my x99), but I also tried slot 5 closest to the TB Header with no luck. I've also tried updating the firmware and various other driver builds.

One interesting thing is that 4G Decoding set to Disabled crashes by OSX boot with an AptioMemoryFix error, but 2000Free doesn't seem to fix that either. My current thinking is to try to get Thunderbolt recognized in Windows first and then move on to dealing with OSX booting.

Asus x99 Deluxe II
i7-6950x
Gigabyte Aorus 1080 Ti Waterforce
ThunderboltEX 3
Apollo Twin

Bios settings attached.

Any thoughts or ideas? @BoomR I believe you have a pretty similar setup and are also an audio guy, any thoughts?

 

[YoshiyukiAsakura]

absolutely great job！
will consider buying a x99 desktop since its perfect and cheap now

 

[psymbionic]

Hello all,

I followed this guide for my first Hackintosh build, and got everything working except Thunderbolt. I'm dual booting UEFI with Windows and 10.13.3, but I can't manage to get my Thunderbolt card to recognize in Device Manager > System Devices on Windows. I installed the drivers and they show up in Program Files (x86)/Intel. Currently plugged into PCIE Slot 3 (as suggested in E.5 of the x299 iMac Pro guide by @kgp -- although it should be noted that the BIOS options are pretty different than the guide for my x99), but I also tried slot 5 closest to the TB Header with no luck. I've also tried updating the firmware and various other driver builds.

One interesting thing is that 4G Decoding set to Disabled crashes by OSX boot with an AptioMemoryFix error, but 2000Free doesn't seem to fix that either. My current thinking is to try to get Thunderbolt recognized in Windows first and then move on to dealing with OSX booting.

Asus x99 Deluxe II
i7-6950x
Gigabyte Aorus 1080 Ti Waterforce
ThunderboltEX 3
Apollo Twin

Bios settings attached.

Any thoughts or ideas? @BoomR I believe you have a pretty similar setup and are also an audio guy, any thoughts?




View attachment 318891 View attachment 318892 View attachment 318893

Just a heads up, I got this working. Turns out it did need to be in PCIE slot 5 on my mobo. Seems to need X4 Mode setting in Advanced > Onboard Devices (which will probably tell you which slots you can use). The other trick is that with "Legacy" mode, a TB device has to be "approved" in the TB software on Windows. After that, it needs a cold reboot.

Problem I'm having now is with overclocking. My CPU seems to run a little hot. Can't get it up to 4.2ghz with my 3200 speed ram with the settings from this guide. I have an H115i cooler which is 2x radiators whereas this original guide calls for 1x. In Geekbench, my temps get over 88 degrees. Perhaps it's just a crap sample?

 

[guysmilez]

mobo: x99 deluxe-ii
cpu: 6950x

I have followed this guide many times and tried once more with the updated guide. i cant seem to get a stable system. When just surfing or checking email everything is fine. but when i run redcine-x or adobe premier while editing or rendering my system locks up. Is there a way to see what causing the crash? im not sure where to find reports or anything.

anyone have any idea on trouble shooting?

Things ive tried:
set cpu speed to 3ghz with sync all cores
tried rendering without cuda enabled -> software only


UPDATE: I am able to run prime95 torture tests over night with no issues. I am able to also run cinebench cpu and opengl test one after another with no issue

Maybe this seems to be a gpu issue. Anyone know a goo torture test for gpu in osx?

 

[raptortrax]

mobo: x99 deluxe-ii
cpu: 6950x

I have followed this guide many times and tried once more with the updated guide. i cant seem to get a stable system. When just surfing or checking email everything is fine. but when i run redcine-x or adobe premier while editing or rendering my system locks up. Is there a way to see what causing the crash? im not sure where to find reports or anything.

anyone have any idea on trouble shooting?

Things ive tried:
set cpu speed to 3ghz with sync all cores
tried rendering without cuda enabled -> software only


UPDATE: I am able to run prime95 torture tests over night with no issues. I am able to also run cinebench cpu and opengl test one after another with no issue

Maybe this seems to be a gpu issue. Anyone know a goo torture test for gpu in osx?

It has been my experience that PMDrvr and Cuda do not work well together. If I run without EIST and PMDrvr I do not get random reboots with Cuda enabled programs. Sweetsnap's post #512 also has the same issue.

 

[RyanC]

Just a heads up, I got this working. Turns out it did need to be in PCIE slot 5 on my mobo. Seems to need X4 Mode setting in Advanced > Onboard Devices (which will probably tell you which slots you can use). The other trick is that with "Legacy" mode, a TB device has to be "approved" in the TB software on Windows. After that, it needs a cold reboot.

Problem I'm having now is with overclocking. My CPU seems to run a little hot. Can't get it up to 4.2ghz with my 3200 speed ram with the settings from this guide. I have an H115i cooler which is 2x radiators whereas this original guide calls for 1x. In Geekbench, my temps get over 88 degrees. Perhaps it's just a crap sample?

Interesting. I'm running into some of the same problems with an x99 a ii and trying to get TB3EX working for a Focusrite Red 8Pre.

The one (frustrating) thing on the a ii board is that in onboard devices only 16_2 supports 4x and in TB 16_2 is not an option! There is under PCH settings some options for gen1 or gen2 speeds, going to play with those.

Is your system working well other than not being able to OC? You don't have to boot to windows every time? Just the one time to 'approve' it? I'm considering switching to the deluxe II if that one is working with TB. I'm using a 5960x so I can't help much with the OC.

Thanks

 

[psymbionic]

mobo: x99 deluxe-ii
cpu: 6950x

I have followed this guide many times and tried once more with the updated guide. i cant seem to get a stable system. When just surfing or checking email everything is fine. but when i run redcine-x or adobe premier while editing or rendering my system locks up. Is there a way to see what causing the crash? im not sure where to find reports or anything.

anyone have any idea on trouble shooting?

Things ive tried:
set cpu speed to 3ghz with sync all cores
tried rendering without cuda enabled -> software only


UPDATE: I am able to run prime95 torture tests over night with no issues. I am able to also run cinebench cpu and opengl test one after another with no issue

Maybe this seems to be a gpu issue. Anyone know a goo torture test for gpu in osx?

I would guess you are trying to overclock without the proper voltage. Turn off "Sync All Cores" and make sure the other settings for "no overclock" are set in the Bios and see if your system is stable then.

 

[psymbionic]

Interesting. I'm running into some of the same problems with an x99 a ii and trying to get TB3EX working for a Focusrite Red 8Pre.

The one (frustrating) thing on the a ii board is that in onboard devices only 16_2 supports 4x and in TB 16_2 is not an option! There is under PCH settings some options for gen1 or gen2 speeds, going to play with those.

Is your system working well other than not being able to OC? You don't have to boot to windows every time? Just the one time to 'approve' it? I'm considering switching to the deluxe II if that one is working with TB. I'm using a 5960x so I can't help much with the OC.

Thanks

I occasionally have to boot into Windows to get my interface to be seen but it's rare. If I'm having trouble, I normally just need to shut down, unplug, and then restart for it to work again. When that happens, I have to do a "reset" on my interface and then it works fine right into OSX no matter what.

You might have to flip your graphics card to a different slot if it's blocking 16_2, I read about some folks having to do that and then they got TB to work.

 

[psymbionic]

Just a heads up, I got this working. Turns out it did need to be in PCIE slot 5 on my mobo. Seems to need X4 Mode setting in Advanced > Onboard Devices (which will probably tell you which slots you can use). The other trick is that with "Legacy" mode, a TB device has to be "approved" in the TB software on Windows. After that, it needs a cold reboot.

Problem I'm having now is with overclocking. My CPU seems to run a little hot. Can't get it up to 4.2ghz with my 3200 speed ram with the settings from this guide. I have an H115i cooler which is 2x radiators whereas this original guide calls for 1x. In Geekbench, my temps get over 88 degrees. Perhaps it's just a crap sample?

An update: I got my OC pretty damn stable. A couple things I did:
- one big thing I overlooked and isn't mentioned in this guide is that because Corsair Link doesn't work in OSX, my cooler wasn't running at "Performance" speeds when I was booting directly into OSX. I was controlling my Cooler by hooking the two fans into the Corsair controller and then then 1 whole system into the "CPU FAN" spot on my MOBO. However, that only seems to control the pump speed and my fans were never changing speed when things heated up when in OSX. So now I've split all that apart and I put my pump on the PUMP slot on my MOBO and the FANS separately to CPU FAN with a fan cable splitter. This allows me to control everything from my BIOS. Otherwise, I have to boot into Windows each time and then restart into OSX -- cold restart resets Corsair Link every time.
- I have the H115i from Corsair, and mounted it on the front of my case pulling in cold air across my radiator and put my case fans exhausting the heat from the top. That helped get my temperature down as well.

On the 6950x, I have 1.165v on 4.1Ghz and everything is running smoothly. I could probably bump it up to 1.2v on 4.2Ghz but I live in TX and want to keep a little bit of wiggle room during the summer months.

 

[guysmilez]

It has been my experience that PMDrvr and Cuda do not work well together. If I run without EIST and PMDrvr I do not get random reboots with Cuda enabled programs. Sweetsnap's post #512 also has the same issue.

I deleted the PMDrvr.kext and disabled EIST. It seems to have helped. After I rebooted, I got it to freeze while trying to do 2 renders at once, but, since, I havn't been able to reproduce the problem.

Thank you for the reply! I thought i had made a good pass through this giant thread.

Kgp you've done a great job with the guide. Could I request a disclaimer about this issue in the Pmdrvr section or the error prevention section. I think a lot of people who are building this rig with this much power may also be using it for video work. it may be helpful and also make the tutorial be even more thorough.

Thanks for everyone!