Mojave on Biostar TH55HD Socket 1156 / NVidia 9800GT

[deeveedee]

I removed VoodooHDA and installed Lilu/AppleALC (layout-id = 1). Sound quality is much better, but wake behavior remains unchanged. Audio is crystal clear with no pops/ticks.

            Device (HDEF)
            {
                Name (_ADR, 0x001B0000)
                Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized)
                {
                    If (LEqual (Arg2, Zero)) { Return (Buffer() { 0x03 } ) }
                    Return (Package()
                    {
                        "codec-id",
                        Buffer ()
                        {
                            0x88, 0x08, 0xEC, 0x10
                        },
                        "layout-id",
                        Buffer ()
                        {
                            0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00
                        },
                        "device-type",
                        Buffer ()
                        {
                            "Realtek ALC888"
                        },
                        "PinConfigurations",
                        Buffer () {}
                    })

 

[deeveedee]

I thought I needed FixRegions enabled as a CLOVER fix (in my config.plist) but it turns out this was because of an error I made. You should not need FixRegions enabled in your config.plist for the Biostar TH55HD motherboard. Leaving this as a puzzle for the reader:

What did I do wrong that required me to enable the FixRegions fix and what did I do to correct the problem (so that FixRegions can be disabled in config.plist)?

Answer: See Post #41

 

[deeveedee]

For overclocking enthusiasts, the Biostar TH55HD motherboard is fantastic. If you are lucky enough to have one of these MBs, take a look at the overclocking options in the BIOS and take note of the memory settings. When you change overclocking to "Manual," new memory settings are available to you (like XMP). Since I have DDR3-1600 8-8-8-24 memory, I changed overclocking to "Manual," changed the CPU clock setting from 133 to 160 and changed memory timing to XMP2 (1.5V, 8-8-8-24). With the exception of PCIE clock which I set to manual / 100, I left all other overclock settings on "Auto" so that speedstep and automatic voltage control continue to work normally.

 

[deeveedee]

The overclocking results with the Biostar TH55HD are so solid/stable with such great operating temps that I sold my X3480 and reverted to the X3450. You can pick up an X3450 on Ebay for $20 or less and the overclocked performance of the X3450 is just as good as a normally-clocked X3480. Geek Bench results of an X3450 are attached (using the settings in Post #33).

EDIT: My software build times are 5% faster with the overclocked X3450 than with the normally-clocked X3480 and my system just seems faster. Maybe because the memory is running at 1600 MHz CL8 (XMP) instead of 1333 MHz CL9.

 

[deeveedee]

Unbelievable! I just used DosDude's Mojave Patcher to upgrade my HackPro 5,1 with NVidia GeForce 9800GT to Mojave 10.14.4. I performed the OS upgrade and then applied the legacy graphics patch. Mojave runs great! The GeForce 9800GT works and both screens work with DVI. No need to purchase Radeon graphics card.

 

[deeveedee]

EDIT: Apparently, the CMOS checksum error was fixed in CLOVER r4920. Now, in Mojave, system cold-boots on Wake (instead of resuming) as it did in High Sierra 10.13.6. Note that shutdown still works without any problems.

This was the behavior with CLOVER r4910:
Sleep/Wake behavior is different in Mojave 10.14.4 than it was in High Sierra 10.13.6. In Mojave on wake from sleep, BIOS Checksum is wrong after sleeping. In High Sierra on wake from sleep, the system cold-booted without BIOS error. This might be a clue about what is actually happening - if I understand this correctly, the BIOS checksum error implies an improperly applied DSDT patch for shutdown and/or sleep.

Note that shutdown works fine in both Mojave and High Sierra.

 

[deeveedee]

For those who are curious, I did de-lid my Xeon X3450 to apply my own preferred thermal paste between the CPU die and the heat spreader (lid). after de-lidding and applying new thermal paste, My CPU temps are 10 deg C lower under load and 2-3 deg C lower at idle. CPU temps drop more quickly after load is removed. Since my office is hot and I've decided to run my X3450 overclocked 20% for daily use, de-lidding just made sense for me. DON'T do this if you don't know how and if you do, DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. Attached is a pictured of the de-lidded X3450.

NOTE: I used the "vice" method to delid this CPU. Note the placement of the caps around the die in the attached pic if you're going to attempt this. Also note that the attached pic is taken before I cleaned off the old glue. I removed all old glue before applying new thermal compound and did NOT apply new glue. My X3450 lid is held only by the motherboard's CPU clip and the heatsink. This technique is likely to be contrary to almost all other info that you see on delidding. It's my belief that leaving the lid unglued allows the lid/thermal compound to "settle" and "mate" over time. Immediately after I delidded and applied new thermal compound, one of my core temps was much lower than the others. Over time, all core temps dropped and evened out.

 

[deeveedee]

The DosDude Mojave Patcher is outstanding. I just upgraded a Socket 775 / Xeon E5450 (Harpertown, 771 > 775 conversion) / NVidia GeForce 8600GT to Mojave 10.14.4. Everything working perfectly.

Note that this is an old system that most closely resembles a MacPro 3,1, but I have the model set to iMac 14,2 in CLOVER config.plist. I still needed to apply DosDude's MacPro 3,1 patches to get this system working with Mojave 10.14.4.

EDIT: I will be changing this to a MacPro 3.1. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[deeveedee]

Now all three of my hackintoshes are running Mojave 10.14.4 thanks to DosDude's Mojave Patcher. My Thinkpad T61 (Penryn T9300, Nvidia NVS 140m, 8GB DDR2) runs Mojave 10.14.4 and the brightness slider works!

EDIT1: Speedstep (CPU frequency switching) for Penryn T9300 works after changing Mac Model to MacBookPro 5,1 (was using MacBookPro 7,1 with High Sierra 10.13.6). Now it appears that everything works perfectly for the Thinkpad T61 running Mojave 10.14.4. Note that I needed to edit Info.plist in USBInjectAll.kext to add MacBookPro 5,1.

EDIT2: T61's VGA output works in Mojave with patched NVidia drivers to support second display.

EDIT3: My T61 now dual-boots High Sierra 10.13.6 and Mojave 10.14.4 with the same CLOVER (Legacy) config.plist (MacBookPro 5,1). I added the CLOVER boot flag "-no_compat_check." I wish I had discovered -no_compat_check sooner. My T61 runs much better as a MacBookPro 5,1 than it ever did as a MacBookPro 7,1 (which is the model I had used to force compatibility with High Sierra).

EDIT4: Updated my T61 to Mojave 10.14.5. Process was simple: Install 10.14.5 update from AppStore. Apply Mojave patches using DodDudes post installer. After update, I was prompted to install an Apple MacBookPro T2 update. I didn't apply this update.

EDIT 5: Improved responsiveness of T61 / Mojave and lowered GPU temps by checking "Accessibility > Display > Reduce Motion" and "Accessibility > Display > Reduce Transparency"

 

[deeveedee]

Interesting observation: My Biostar TH55HD BIOS has a setting that gives the option to "Report C3 as ACPI C2 or C3." The default is "Report C3 as ACPI C2" and I changed it to "Report C3 as ACPI C3." Now my overclocked X3450 appears to run cooler at idle according to HWMonitor (3-6 deg C cooler). Is this my imagination, or is there a legit explanation for this?