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

[spewny]

Guys , are there any graphics cards with 2xdp, which are working in 10.13 oob?

I went with an RX570 for this exact reason and it works well with lilu/whatevergreen. I have to power down my second monitor, then back up at the login screen for it to be recognized, but that is a small price to pay to have this all working

Also, big thanks to KGP for this guide. My only recommendation to anyone is to READ EVERYTHING and don't try to skip any steps! I wasted way too much time before realizing my missing VoodooTSCSync.kext was causing a ton of my issues.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[jsixtvf]

I did not say that the RX580 is not a good alternative for Sierra or High Sierra. Up to my knowledge it's implementation actually also bases on the Whatevergreen.kext and Lilu.kext. Thus, no objections from my side with respect to the RX580! With my above comment I was actually referring to the already supposedly "natively" implemented AMD cards, which still seem to face several issues and problems.

The only solution for a full implementation of your Skylake-X/X299 and Maxwell System should be theoretically macOS Sierra until the official release of a Nvidia High Sierra Web Driver. However, by following the current user feedback, some Nvidia graphics cards do not seem to properly work on Sylake-X/X299 even under 10.12.6, despite the available web driver.

There is no official High Sierra guide, because the official release of High Sierra will be on 25 September 2017. This does not only state for Skylake-X/X299 but also for other systems. However I do not understand why, apart from this fact, you consider my macOS Sierra and macOS High Sierra Skylake-X/X299 guides being unofficial and beta?

As you anyway also propose yourself, lets stop with theoretical discussions and act together.

If you need any help with the macOS 10.12.6 installation, don't hesitate to ask. You are always welcome!

If you are willing to try your luck with the RX580 and High Sierra or Sierra, any feedback and related questions are also very appreciated!

Count on my support in this endeavour!

Cheers

KGP

If I understood well, the RX580 8GB VRAM offered as an optional custom graphic card configuration by Apple shows, in fact, some problems or issues.

So, for example, a Sapphire or an Asus Dual Radeon Pro 580 are in a same way a good option (with those minor problems as well the Apple "stock cards").

Also I think you meant Nvidia cards could be not fully supported in High Sierra or future releases despite of web drivers available.

I wonder if Vega 56 or Vega 64 could be a good choice after iMac Pro arrival, or, again, that Radeon Pro Vega would be possibly a different model. In this case, becoming that two PC Vega models into a dead end.

Unofficial guide or beta in terms of x299 doesnt appear in Buying's guide. Maybe your guide will be a success in 100% and x299 will be included as official hackintosh hardware as Z270, etc

 

[kgp]

If I understood well, the RX580 8GB VRAM offered as an optional custom graphic card configuration by Apple shows, in fact, some problems or issues.

So, for example, a Sapphire or an Asus Dual Radeon Pro 580 are in a same way a good option (with those minor problems as well the Apple "stock cards").

Also I think you meant Nvidia cards could be not fully supported in High Sierra or future releases despite of web drivers available.

I wonder if Vega 56 or Vega 64 could be a good choice after iMac Pro arrival, or, again, that Radeon Pro Vega would be possibly a different model. In this case, becoming that two PC Vega models into a dead end.

No, you once more misunderstood. I said that the RX580 supported by Whatevergreen.kext and Lilu.kext might currently be a very good choice for both macOS Sierra 10.12 and macOS High Sierra 10.13! If this card satisfies your reqierememts, go for it!

I said that many users reported severe problems with Nvidia graphics cards on Skylake-X/X299 under MacOS Sierra 10.12.6, despite the existing web driver! Note that currently there is no Nvidia Web Driver for macOS High Sierra 10.13!
When such web driver would be finally released, nobody really knows at the moment...

 

[Stork]

A note about the RX 580...Apple is using the Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB in an external GPU case. The MacRumors MacPro forum section reports this Sapphire card to work OOB in High Sierra, but there are some "glitches" as the drivers are still in the final development stage. So, for early support, the Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB is the way to go. However(!), this card is a favorite of the "miners"; consequently, the price of the card is almost twice of Sapphire's suggest list price. Thus, the consensus is to wait until the price comes down for the RX 580 cards, especially the Sapphire Pulse 8G.

 

[jsixtvf]

Last time, I did not ask you about wifi pce card compatibility, i read that Wifi ac88 (broadcom bcm4366) is not compatible or being able to work in Macintosh.

Reference: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/asus-pce-ac88.213464/

 

[kgp]

Last time, I did not ask you about wifi pce card compatibility, i read that Wifi ac88 (broadcom bcm4366) is not compatible or being able to work in Macintosh.

Reference: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/asus-pce-ac88.213464/

I recommend this one: http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadc...-bluetooth-4-0-with-adapter-for-pc-hackintosh

Native bluetooth 4.0
Native 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wifi
Native Airdrop
Native Hands-off
Native Continuity
Keyboard support in mainboard BIOS and Clover Boot Loader

 

[sgunes]

Quick introduction:
I had a great working hackintosh in the EVGA SR-2 with dual x5650's 2.66 GHz (32 nm, Westmere) OC's to 3.8 GHz for about 7 years. Finally the MB gave out and after reading these 2 threads I decided to jump in (instead of just buying the iMac Pro).
I have now a Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7, i9 7920X, 360mm Artic AIO water cooler with 6 fans, 8 x 16GB of G.Skill 3200Mhz memory, Gigabyte TB3 AIC, multiple Nvidia Pascal cards (1080 and 1070 and some old 9800 GTX just in case) plus a 1 TB Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2 and multiple other SSD's Samsung 850 Pro 1 TB and 840 Evo 1 TB...
Currently I am running Windows 10 Pro via Samsung 850 Pro SSD and I have not even formatted the 960 Pro M.2.
I will cross-post this also to the other X299 thread.
I know pete1959 has Aorus 9 and Vega and kgp has Asus and Nvidia Pascal card. Somehow I have to combine both threads to make a viable hackintosh.
From reading both treads I gather that the following participants have this HW configuration (if anything is incomplete or incorrect, please let me know).
pete1959 Asus X299 Pro Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 9, i9 7900X, AMD Vega
mgregrs Asus PRIME X299-Deluxe, i9 7900X, Vega 64
dwhitla Asus PRIME X299-Deluxe, i9 7900X, GTX1080TI
dk1306 Asus X299 Mark 1, i7 7800X, GTX560TI
liufei Asus TUF X299 MARK2, GTX1080TI

kgp Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 9
lolicat Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7, i9 7900X,
biomindxtr Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 3, i9 7900X, GTX1080
philter Gigabyte X299 UD4, TB (enabled EIST in BIOS, using pmdrvr kext)

Menno87 X299, Vega Frontier
petrikleynhans MSI X299 SLI Plus,
paulotex MSI X299 SLI Plus, i9 7820X, GTX1070+GF710
flyinsym MSI Gaming Carbon Pro AC, X7820, Vega64

I am trying to get a complete list, so anyone with a certain combination of HW can ask the right people how they got their rig working.
I am at the very beginning as I couldn't even make a bootable USB key with the High Sierra GM beta (17A362a). I know I downloaded the whole 5.17 GB install file (and it installed correctly on my iMac) but I already stumbled and get the "macOS does not appear to be a valid OS installer application" despite the fact that I can see the "createinstallmedia" file in Contents/Resources. I probably have to just wait a couple days for the actual GM.
One thing I tried was to OC and the Gigabyte (just like the Asus) lets you OC all cores (in my case all 12 of them) at the same time (I can get 4.4 to 4.6 GHz out of my setup).

 

[jsixtvf]

I recommend this one: http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadc...-bluetooth-4-0-with-adapter-for-pc-hackintosh

Native bluetooth 4.0
Native 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wifi
Native Airdrop
Native Hands-off
Native Continuity
Keyboard support in mainboard BIOS and Clover Boot Loader

About Keyboard support: I have a ps2 Cherry Keyboard and usb adapter, its website explains it is OS X compatible KB, therefore this wifi aaple broadcom native supported card should recognize it, i have no idea.

Thus I should to say I am a AC88 Wifi owner, then I would like to know if some expert achieved to use this model as AC68 fake config.

Thanks KGB for osxwifi.com option. If AC88 is not suitable in some way I ll buy the apple broadcom one.

I would like to know if Vega 64 (no liquid cooling one) worth it or it is better waiting for 1080ti nvidia driver.

Have a nice day, all.

 

[kgp]

View attachment 280331
Quick introduction:
I had a great working hackintosh in the EVGA SR-2 with dual x5650's 2.66 GHz (32 nm, Westmere) OC's to 3.8 GHz for about 7 years. Finally the MB gave out and after reading these 2 threads I decided to jump in (instead of just buying the iMac Pro).
I have now a Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7, i9 7920X, 360mm Artic AIO water cooler with 6 fans, 8 x 16GB of G.Skill 3200Mhz memory, Gigabyte TB3 AIC, multiple Nvidia Pascal cards (1080 and 1070 and some old 9800 GTX just in case) plus a 1 TB Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2 and multiple other SSD's Samsung 850 Pro 1 TB and 840 Evo 1 TB...
Currently I am running Windows 10 Pro via Samsung 850 Pro SSD and I have not even formatted the 960 Pro M.2.
I will cross-post this also to the other X299 thread.
I know pete1959 has Aorus 9 and Vega and kgp has Asus and Nvidia Pascal card. Somehow I have to combine both threads to make a viable hackintosh.
From reading both treads I gather that the following participants have this HW configuration (if anything is incomplete or incorrect, please let me know).
pete1959 Asus X299 Pro Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 9, i9 7900X, AMD Vega
mgregrs Asus PRIME X299-Deluxe, i9 7900X, Vega 64
dwhitla Asus PRIME X299-Deluxe, i9 7900X, GTX1080TI
dk1306 Asus X299 Mark 1, i7 7800X, GTX560TI
liufei Asus TUF X299 MARK2, GTX1080TI

kgp Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 9
lolicat Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7, i9 7900X,
biomindxtr Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 3, i9 7900X, GTX1080
philter Gigabyte X299 UD4, TB (enabled EIST in BIOS, using pmdrvr kext)

Menno87 X299, Vega Frontier
petrikleynhans MSI X299 SLI Plus,
paulotex MSI X299 SLI Plus, i9 7820X, GTX1070+GF710
flyinsym MSI Gaming Carbon Pro AC, X7820, Vega64

I am trying to get a complete list, so anyone with a certain combination of HW can ask the right people how they got their rig working.
I am at the very beginning as I couldn't even make a bootable USB key with the High Sierra GM beta (17A362a). I know I downloaded the whole 5.17 GB install file (and it installed correctly on my iMac) but I already stumbled and get the "macOS does not appear to be a valid OS installer application" despite the fact that I can see the "createinstallmedia" file in Contents/Resources. I probably have to just wait a couple days for the actual GM.
One thing I tried was to OC and the Gigabyte (just like the Asus) lets you OC all cores (in my case all 12 of them) at the same time (I can get 4.4 to 4.6 GHz out of my setup).

Well lets first correct my hardware configuration:

Current startup configuration: Asus X299 Prime Deluxe, i7-7800X, Gigabyte Radeon RX 560 2GB
Soon the be reached goal configuration: Asus X299 Prime Deluxe, i9-7980XE, Gigabyte Radeon Vega Frontier Liquid Water Edition

16GB.​

General note: the PB and DP createinstallmedia terminal commands are slightly different. I just updated my guide in correspondence, although this tiny modification might not last even 1 day, as today the we should witness the official macOS High Sierra 10.13 Release.

For creating the USB Flash Drive Installer, I attach below a very easy tool that works in 100%: Install Disk Creator.app.zip. Use it and you will succeed in creating your USB Flash Drive Installer. You might have to use it twice.. After the first creation intent which might fail, eject the USB Flash Drive and plug it again. Run once more the Install_Disk_Creator.app, which the second time will succeed in successfully creating your USB Flash Drive Installer.


The rest of my guide should work just straight for your hardware configuration. However, you might have to update and complete the correct BIOS settings for the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7. The biggest effort would be the creation of the XHC USB Kext for the latter mobo, which is absolutely mandatory. If you think that you are able to follow my respective guidelines, it should not be a big deal either and I am always here to help, in case my help is really needed. Your Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7 XHC USB Kext would be also very likely fully functional with the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 9. Thus your efforts would be of benefit for a very broad and large X299 mobo user community.

For your Nvidida Graphics Cards you can just pray that Nvidia will release a working 10.13 web driver within reasonable time.

Please note that your Gigabyte Board BIOS does not implement the ASUS specific "Sync All Cores" function.. To OC all cores at the same time is not equivalent to the latter ASUS specific functionality, thus you have to live with a somewhat worse XCPM performance of your i9-7920X in any case.

Please don't cross posts and don't animate other people to do so either. We will end up with a big mess. Either use my guide to setup your system or stay with the other thread, ok?

Your feedback to my guide is however very appreciated, and any questions during the setup process are warmly welcome. If you want to give it a try, count on my support at any time!

Cheers,

KGP

 

[kgp]

About Keyboard support: I have a ps2 Cherry Keyboard and usb adapter, its website explains it is OS X compatible KB, therefore this wifi aaple broadcom native supported card should recognize it, i have no idea.

Thus I should to say I am a AC88 Wifi owner, then I would like to know if some expert achieved to use this model as AC68 fake config.

Thanks KGB for osxwifi.com option. If AC88 is not suitable in some way I ll buy the apple broadcom one.

I would like to know if Vega 64 (no liquid cooling one) worth it or it is better waiting for 1080ti nvidia driver.

Have a nice day, all.

To your last question, please contact @DSM2. Up to my knowledge he owns and successfully runs a Vega 64.

Cheers,

KGP