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

[cuadriello]

Great Job mans!!

OC returns to my Asus X99 strix MOBO. I attach the bios file with the microcode patched and MSR 0xE2 Register unlocked.

Best regards.

 

[kgp]

Duly noted. I tried the current values from the OP and in my specific case, although I can see XCPM value reported as 1 and frequency vectors loaded in the terminal, the CPU stays at a constant 4.0Ghz (applied overclock value).

AppleIntelInfo also reports lesser CPU P-States. I’m AFK so I’ll report back tomorrow with my plist. If in the mean time you do publish updates, I’ll try those first before commenting.

Thank you for your time. Cheers.

I just use xcpm_pkg_scope and xcpm performance Kernel patches! No other kernel patches!

Everything works splendid and flawless with 4.3 Ghz max. CPU load as defined in the BIOS.

 

[dez]

I just use xcpm_pkg_scope and xcpm performance Kernel patches! No other kernel patches!

Everything works splendid and flawless with 4.3 Ghz max. CPU load as defined in the BIOS.

Thank you for the update @kgp. I now have things running stable.

_xcpm_SMT_scope_msrs 1 & 2 © Pike R. Alpha 10.13.6 (kindly provided by @PMheart)

These two entries caused the CPU to constantly hover around the OC frequency. I have since disabled them and now only using xcpm_pkg_scope and xcpm performance Kernel patches as suggested.

Further note that with CPU Core Ratio set to "Sync All Cores", one might have to set the AVX Instruction Core Ratio Negative Offset to "3" in case of system freezes or system instabilities.

As I am on Haswell-E, I do not have the AVX Offset option in my BIOS (Haven't checked the latest Beta BIOS). Do you believe this is critical in my case? I do end up in situations where my system would randomly freeze when using Safari (currently switched to Chrome) or Final Cut Pro X.

Once again, thank you for your efforts and help. Cheers.

 

[kgp]

Thank you for the update @kgp. I now have things running stable.

These two entries caused the CPU to constantly hover around the OC frequency. I have since disabled them and now only using xcpm_pkg_scope and xcpm performance Kernel patches as suggested.

As I am on Haswell-E, I do not have the AVX Offset option in my BIOS (Haven't checked the latest Beta BIOS). Do you believe this is critical in my case? I do end up in situations where my system would randomly freeze when using Safari (currently switched to Chrome) or Final Cut Pro X.

Once again, thank you for your efforts and help. Cheers.

1.) Are you using CUDA drivers? If so, remove them and check whether or not these also removes your freezes..

2.) Don't stick only to misleading IPG frequencies, but also watch the CPU power consumption, and CPU utilisation! You will notice much clearer difference between CPU Idle and max. load conditions.

 

[dez]

1.) Are you using CUDA drivers? If so, remove them and check whether or not these also removes your freezes..

2.) Don't stick only to misleading IPG frequencies, but also watch the CPU power consumption, and CPU utilisation! You will notice much clearer difference between CPU Idle and max. load conditions.

1. I am using CUDA Drivers. I'll try that over the weekend and report back (as I need them right now for a current project in Davinci Resolve).

2. Yes, that is indeed the case.

 

[kgp]

1. I am using CUDA Drivers. I'll try that over the weekend and report back (as I need them right now for a current project in Davinci Resolve).

2. Yes, that is indeed the case.

I really recommand to drop your Nvidia, to go for a Vega 64 and to use Metal instead of CUDA.

This should remove all related freezes at approx. equal GPU performance.

 

[dez]

I really recommand to drop your Nvidia, to go for a Vega 64 and to use Metal instead of CUDA.

This should remove all related freezes at approx. equal GPU performance.

Yes, I'm very much inclined to do that. I don't mind losing some GPU performance if it brings me better Metal Performance, and Native support OTB. I'll possibly wait for the Vega successor to arrive before making this jump.

As I am using a WC 1080 Ti (The Sea Hawk lineup comes with a preinstalled EK block), I'm finding it difficult to get a buyer for this card. If I sell the GPU this year itself, I don't mind the Vega 64 either.

 

[tzzsmk]

I did get a sudden lock up when editing this post once (weird huh, but I guess it's related to Safari Technology Preview). I'll wait further for @kgp to be his brilliant self and suggest to us any changes to the XCPM patches to get this working absolutely properly.

see my post on page 243 here, I did few adjustments compared to OP,
despite having slightly different mobo (ASUS X99-S) and gpu (GTX980Ti), I have same cpu (running at stable 4.3GHz on all 6 cores though), you might try the same,
I ran Cinebench yesterday and result was CPU score 1256 cb, GPU OpenGL score 120.37 fps so I consider that decent,
also played some games, in GRID 2 (native MacOS version, by Feral Games), max settings possible, 2560x1440 fullscreen, results: min fps: 56,06 avg fps: 79,61 max fps 120,47
[UPDATE] Geekbench score (keep in mind 4.3GHz OC on all 6 cores) results: 5038 single-core, 26081 multi-core, 146018 OpenCL (graphics)
umm, my i7-5820K Geekbench multicore score a bit higher than current i7-8700K which by default boosts to "same" 4.3GHz on all 6 cores? laughable a little

- solid enough imo, no hiccups, freezes...

 

[kgp]

Yes, I'm very much inclined to do that. I don't mind losing some GPU performance if it brings me better Metal Performance, and Native support OTB. I'll possibly wait for the Vega successor to arrive before making this jump.

As I am using a WC 1080 Ti (The Sea Hawk lineup comes with a preinstalled EK block), I'm finding it difficult to get a buyer for this card. If I sell the GPU this year itself, I don't mind the Vega 64 either.

1.) You can also try to use Metal instead of CUDA in case of your Nvidia GPU and remove the CUDa drivers..

2.) XCPM kernel patch optimisation:

10.13.6: for best performance enable _xcpm_pkg_scope_msrs, _xcpm performance patch, _xcpm_SMT_scope_msrs 1 and _xcpm_SMT_scope_msrs 2

10.14.0: for best performance enable _xcpm_pkg_scope_msrs and _xcpm performance patch

New 10.13.6 benchmarks added in post 1 of this thread (guide)

 

[michaeljeger]

Hi kgp
Thanks for posting those new benchmarks.
This is very interesting... for my 6900k CPU, my idle PowerConsumtion with overclocking and performance patches on stays at 30 Watts.... I do not really understand how that comes but PowerManagement seems to work better for your CPU.
Regards, Michael

Edit: When looking that the threads that are running in my system.... I keep seeing WindowServer using CPU.
Not sure what that means but if it is GPU related, I might also switch to a Vega Card.

Regards, Michael