iMac Pro X299 - Live the Future now with macOS 10.14 Mojave [Successful Build/Extended Guide]

[shallmc]

You have a fully implemented Thunderbolt local node, dude! That's simply awesome and impossible to reach with TB3 controllers for now. HP should work in this case. Did you try to install TB drivers and initialise your TB2 controller in Windows before using the latter under macOS? Maybe this also helps with HotPlug under macOS. Report back in any case about TB and USB functionality under Windows and if HP works in this case.

Anyway, yet I am missing the DSB2 and XHCI implementation in your IOREG save. Does your controller not feature USB2.0, USB3.0 or USB-C?

Yes! I install all Drivers on windows before take Acpi tables from AIDA.
DSB2 - I bet i miss something in SSDT-TB2-03.aml

Anyway without ssdt UAD connects from time to time, at this moment i work on version #8. This version help me get UAD always connected when my computer boots up in any port. Don't know what i can improve in this version to get hotswap working - nothig new comes to my mind.

I attach all my files to this post, @kgp if you have any ideas what i can do let me know! That was fun, thanks to everybody who share info and good mood to keep things forward

 

[izo1]

Beautiful setup. Super neat. I wonder where they manage to fit the pumps in there.

I've just finished mine. Got a big scare wen removing the radiator from the vega. It was fully stuck, the thermal paste had turned in something like double sided scotch tape. Also, had an issue with one of the standoff that came out of the waterblock and I couldn't get it back in. The standoff thread appeared to be bad and I have no threading tool of that size to fix it Doesn't appear to cause an issue seeing the temperature I'm getting on the GPU.

View attachment 381344

I used the EKWB performance kit. The EKWB recommended a SE 360mm and a PE 360mm for this case. It was a poor recommendation as I almost couldn't make the tubes go as the radiators touch each other.
So had to drill the case a bit to be able to move down the extraction fan and move towards the back the top radiator.

For the fan I used 3x noctua NF-P12 with the SE360 and the Vardar F3-120 that came with the kit.

I have it setup like this: pump -> PE360 -> CPU -> SE360 -> Vega

Not on the photo, but I also have a nvidia 1080Ti (only to find out that it got in the way of the thermometre gadget and struggle to insert it back in)

Despite all this, I'm getting amazing results.
The VEGA stays at 33C during a run of a dozen Cinebench R15.
Running all the cores at 4.6GHz (with voltage offset of 0.1V for stability) it goes up to 93C only. Cooling water stays at 33C (it's pretty hot today, 29C in my office, 39C outside)
49C at idle.

The D5 pump is a bit noisy, and as I set it up to vary accoring to the CPU temperature, it's a varying noise. It's getting on my nerve. Still this setup is super quiet compare to before. Having the vega watercool made all the difference noise-wise.


I used to have the custom loop Thermaltake watercooler before, I would hit 105C instantly when running at 4.4GHz.

So very please, and proud that I did it all by myself

Very cool

Love the setup.

I wanted to avoid a full blown water cooling setup due to having no time for maintenance and dealing with liquid, but it’s definitly the best way to cool a system. Especially these hot cpus and gpus.

The Phoenix from EKWB puts the water pump and reservoir right on the edge of the radiator, so it actually extends it a bit. This is why I couldn’t fit a 360mm on top and front, so I opted for 360mm on top and 280mm on front.

EKWB told me to use 360mm rad if I ever go dual Vega in the same loop and use the 280mm for the CPU.

There are some negative reviews on the Phoenix and some of the parts are discontinued, hopefully I don’t get shafted by it in the upcoming months.

The biggest issue they mentioned was either air bubbles (easily fixed) or pump failure (not really fixable). Or the Vardar fans going bad in a short period of time (not too hard to fix, but they didn’t make it easy to remove these fans).

I just ordered a 140mm 2000rpm Noctua (of course will use a fan curve to cap at around 1200RPM) for the rear to use as intake so I can flip all the EKWB rad fans as exhaust. So cool air will come in from rear (at least hitting on the VRM) and then the rads will exhaust hot air out of the case.

And like you said watercooling the Vega made all the difference. There’s literally no noise when I have both the cpu and gpu on load all the time. And both run very cool. I’ll post more temps when I flip the fans and add the new rear fan.

This EKWB AIO with Quick Release tubes are the best AIOs I’ve ever used. I’ve used many before from Corsair, BeQuiet!, NZXT, etc. I don’t know why they’re discontinuing them.


I learned a lot in the last couple of builds when it comes to thermals/noise/airflow. It takes patience to balance all of these.

PS you should get a backplate for the Vega from EKWB, it cleans up the overall look

Also look into hard tubing in the future, just makes it look really clean.

 

[izo1]

OK thanks again, will try to check bios settings a little bit. And look for another cooler, maybe a dual cooler will works.

Regards

Don’t go spending money just yet.

Can you post your temps on full load? And a screenshot from Intel Power Gadget?

If you have windows installed, run Prime 95 and run HWInfo sensors and post a screenshot during load so we can see if there’s any throttling.

 

[kgp]

Yes! I install all Drivers on windows before take Acpi tables from AIDA.
DSB2 - I bet i miss something in SSDT-TB2-03.aml

Anyway without ssdt UAD connects from time to time, at this moment i work on version #8. This version help me get UAD always connected when my computer boots up in any port. Don't know what i can improve in this version to get hotswap working - nothig new comes to my mind.

I attach all my files to this post, @kgp if you have any ideas what i can do let me know! That was fun, thanks to everybody who share info and good mood to keep things forward

I bed there is also no TB xhc ACPI table without any SSDT. Something goes wrong. Please verify. Does TB USB and TB und USB hotplug work under windows? Please verify.

 

[shallmc]

I bed there is also no TB xhc ACPI table without any SSDT. Something goes wrong. Please verify. Does TB USB and TB und USB hotplug work under windows? Please verify.

At this moment i don't have usb devices or adapters to connect through TB 2 port also need to reinstall windows. I try to do it ASAP
Thanks @kgp

 

[gprime]

Don’t go spending money just yet.

Can you post your temps on full load? And a screenshot from Intel Power Gadget?

If you have windows installed, run Prime 95 and run HWInfo sensors and post a screenshot during load so we can see if there’s any throttling.

Sure, have a look. For Windows sorry I dont have it installed. Many thanks again

 

[mm2margaret]

Just a quick thank you note to @kgp - update to 10.14.3 went so smooth thanks to all of your hard work. Your EFI and other configuration data made this upgrade smoother than my real Mac! (its a Macbook, btw)

 

[aamir.dimtech]

Thunderbolt 3 is not working. Need help

As WebDriver are not released for the Mojave, I have to use 10.13.6
Rampage VI Extreme
7940X
1080 (x 2)
Asus ThunderboltEx3


Most of the things are working correctly
Except
Asus ThunderboltEx 3 is not working in the MAC with my TS-453BT3 NAS (It's working perfectly in the Windows 10)

I'm using the motherboard's PCIe x 4 slot for the TB3 card. (3rd slot in the MB out of 5)
Bios configuration is almost same as mentioned in the guide. Except I didn't overclocked the CPU (as I don't have the water cooling).

All I can see is a USB 3.1 drive in the system information.
There is no Thunderbolt Bridge in the Ethernet cards (which I can use to connect to my NAS)

I used the KGP EFI folder. And only added some kext files for the audio card and some extra options in the config file to patch my 10G lan card.

Anyone can help?

 

[izo1]

Sure, have a look. For Windows sorry I dont have it installed. Many thanks again

Those temps look good to me.

If you plan to enable "Sync All Cores" and/or bump the base boost clocks on all cores, then you will definitely need a bigger cooler. At least a 280mm AIO with good high-pressure fans like the ones from Noctua.

 

[RuleBreaker01]

Sure, have a look. For Windows sorry I dont have it installed. Many thanks again

It's interesting that those yes commands are what stress the CPU the most for me. Not even Prime95 on Windows stress it that bad.

With Prime95 I get a steady 86C, even the small FFTs test. With the yes command on macOS I get to 95C in no time.
I had to use AVX2 offset of 5 (with all cores set to run at 4.6GHz). Less than 5 and the mac typically doesn't boot or freeze during minutes of logging in.