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SMBIOS Skylake/Nvidia iMac 14,2 or 17,1?

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Joined
Oct 9, 2018
Messages
65
Motherboard
Gigabyte z490 Vision G
CPU
i9-10900K
Graphics
HD 630/RX 5700 XT
I've read all the threads via search that I found. There really doesn't seem to be a case for or against either one. I've updated my system to 17,1 and applied the black screen fix since I'm using Nvidia.

I'm not taking my system "online" via iCloud/iMessage until I'm sure I want to keep 17,1. On 14,2 I had full Apple Watch unlock, continuity, handoff, iMessage, FaceTime. But since I'm not logging in with my Apple ID I can't test these to see if they work.

Right now, the only difference I can tell is that the system boots much faster. I did get single core readings on geek bunch to go up by a few hundred on single core and by almost 1000 on multicore.

I've noticed that tonymac users seem to lean toward iMac 14,2 while r/hackintosh users tend to lean toward 17,1. Can anyone shed any new light on this "debate" in October 2018 (previous threads were pretty old).

My main concern is that when Nvidia drivers drop for Mojave that I won't be able to upgrade from High Sierra to it. Is this a valid concern?

Appreciate any thoughts! Thanks.
 
I've read all the threads via search that I found. There really doesn't seem to be a case for or against either one. I've updated my system to 17,1 and applied the black screen fix since I'm using Nvidia.

I'm not taking my system "online" via iCloud/iMessage until I'm sure I want to keep 17,1. On 14,2 I had full Apple Watch unlock, continuity, handoff, iMessage, FaceTime. But since I'm not logging in with my Apple ID I can't test these to see if they work.

Right now, the only difference I can tell is that the system boots much faster. I did get single core readings on geek bunch to go up by a few hundred on single core and by almost 1000 on multicore.

I've noticed that tonymac users seem to lean toward iMac 14,2 while r/hackintosh users tend to lean toward 17,1. Can anyone shed any new light on this "debate" in October 2018 (previous threads were pretty old).

My main concern is that when Nvidia drivers drop for Mojave that I won't be able to upgrade from High Sierra to it. Is this a valid concern?

Appreciate any thoughts! Thanks.

Personally, I always choose iMac17,1 for Skylake and I always enable IGPU.

I don't see any reason why you can't upgrade to Mojave if/when there are Nvidia drivers.
 
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I've read all the threads via search that I found. There really doesn't seem to be a case for or against either one. I've updated my system to 17,1 and applied the black screen fix since I'm using Nvidia.

I'm not taking my system "online" via iCloud/iMessage until I'm sure I want to keep 17,1. On 14,2 I had full Apple Watch unlock, continuity, handoff, iMessage, FaceTime. But since I'm not logging in with my Apple ID I can't test these to see if they work.

Right now, the only difference I can tell is that the system boots much faster. I did get single core readings on geek bunch to go up by a few hundred on single core and by almost 1000 on multicore.

I've noticed that tonymac users seem to lean toward iMac 14,2 while r/hackintosh users tend to lean toward 17,1. Can anyone shed any new light on this "debate" in October 2018 (previous threads were pretty old).

My main concern is that when Nvidia drivers drop for Mojave that I won't be able to upgrade from High Sierra to it. Is this a valid concern?

Appreciate any thoughts! Thanks.


NVIDIA Web Driver should work on any system definition.
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/solving-nvidia-driver-install-loading-problems.161256/
 
Personally, I always choose iMac17,1 for Skylake and I always enable IGPU.

I don't see any reason why you can't upgrade to Mojave if/when there are Nvidia drivers.

Thanks so much for the reply. Your thread on your builds was one of the ones I read to try to come to a decision. I will be staying with 17,1 then. The faster boot up from shut down is so nice. I’m used to booting in 12 seconds on windows.

I will follow your guide to enable IGPU too.

Thanks!
 
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Yes, as a side-note, I notice that Windows 10 now boots faster than macOS. It wasn't always like this, was it!?

Can't quite remember now when the "overtaking" manoeuvre happened - I wasn't watching my rear-view mirror! :D
 
Yes, as a side-note, I notice that Windows 10 now boots faster than macOS. It wasn't always like this, was it!?

Can't quite remember now when the "overtaking" manoeuvre happened - I wasn't watching my rear-view mirror! :D

I think Windows always got to the desktop faster than macOS/OS X, but Windows would still be loading stuff and isn't quite fully usable whereas once you get to the desktop on macOS/OS X, you can start doing stuff.

Also, I think macOS/OS X always shutdown a lot faster than Windows.
 
I think Windows always got to the desktop faster than macOS/OS X, but Windows would still be loading stuff and isn't quite fully usable whereas once you get to the desktop on macOS/OS X, you can start doing stuff.

Also, I think macOS/OS X always shutdown a lot faster than Windows.

Very true. Windows churns away for a long time after the desktop is up.

I wasn't aware that changing Mac System Definitions had such a marked effect on boot times. The topic is very interesting. I wonder what exactly a different SysDef is doing during boot?
 
Very true. Windows churns away for a long time after the desktop is up.

I wasn't aware that changing Mac System Definitions had such a marked effect on boot times. The topic is very interesting. I wonder what exactly a different SysDef is doing during boot?

I don't know what causes the difference in booting... I also don't know why there was a performance difference in Geekbench when using different system definitions on my old HP 8300. I found performance to be better when using iMac13,2 and saw scores drop when I tried iMac14,1.
 
I don't know what causes the difference in booting... I also don't know why there was a performance difference in Geekbench when using different system definitions on my old HP 8300. I found performance to be better when using iMac13,2 and saw scores drop when I tried iMac14,1.

I don't doubt your findings for a minute :thumbup:

I just wonder - natural curiosity - what the core system is doing differently for each SysDef. Since most older Macs had HDDs that levelled the playing-field a little. But a 13,2 was only a year earlier than a 14,1. They both featured i7 CPUs in their ranges, for example, and as far as I can see DDR3 memory of the same speed. I wonder how OS X was looking at them differently?:crazy:
 
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