stilig's PowerMac G7 - Best definition for Z97 + i7-4790k

[stiligFox]

This is my last post for the day.

Ever since I built my hackintosh in 2014, I’ve been using the iMac 14,2 profile.

I know that the iMac 15,1 is closer to my actual build (i7-4790k, dedicated Radeon GPU, etc) but back in the day I recall there being issues with that definition having black screen issues due to the 15,1 iMac using a special EDID with its screen. Has that changed with new macOS releases? Or was there a fix for this? My google-fu is failing me Would I see any benefit in updating my definition?

Thank you very much!

 

[Henties]

I use 14.2 and never had a problem up to and including Catalina 10.15.3

 

[stiligFox]

I use 14.2 and never had a problem up to and including Catalina 10.15.3

That’s what I’ve used all these years as well, I’m just wondering if I might get a more stable system under 15,1.

 

[rj985]

That’s what I’ve used all these years as well, I’m just wondering if I might get a more stable system under 15,1.

I've been tempted to move to 15.1, especially after adding RX 590 GPU, but stayed with 14.2 because I haven't wanted to deal with other consequences of changing SMBIOS related to Apple ID. If you make the change, I hope you report back on how it goes!

 

[stiligFox]

I've been tempted to move to 15.1, especially after adding RX 590 GPU, but stayed with 14.2 because I haven't wanted to deal with other consequences of changing SMBIOS related to Apple ID. If you make the change, I hope you report back on how it goes!

Sure thing! I’ll give a whirl and see what happens. I’m not sure what all to test outside of making sure all of my P-states are generating.

 

[jaymonkey]

@stiligFox,

The iMac15,1 SMBIOS is the best SMBIOS to use with a i7 4790K CPU and a AMD GPU, I use that SMBIOS with my White Knight build (see my sig for specs) and its been supper stable for years, be sure to configure the HD 4600 IGPU as headless.

iMac14,X is better suited if using a Nvidia GPU.

Cheers
Jay

 

[stiligFox]

@stiligFox,

The iMac15,1 SMBIOS is the best SMBIOS to use with a i7 4790K CPU and a AMD GPU, I use that SMBIOS with my White Knight build (see my sig for specs) and its been supper stable for years, be sure to configure the HD 4600 IGPU as headless.

iMac14,X is better suited if using a Nvidia GPU.

Cheers
Jay

Hey, thanks Jaymonkey!

When you say to configure the HD4600 to headless, how do you mean? Something in Clover or in BIOS? (All these years I've left the iGPU enabled so that Airplay would work and allow me to stream to my AppleTV)

 

[jaymonkey]

When you say to configure the HD4600 to headless, how do you mean? Something in Clover or in BIOS? (All these years I've left the iGPU enabled so that Airplay would work and allow me to stream to my AppleTV)

@stiligFox,

IGPU should be enabled in the BIOS and the dGPU (AMD GPU) should be configured as the Primary display adapter, then use WhatEverGreen to configure the IGPU using a Headless PlatformID.

The process is detailed in the Lilu & Plugins Guide :-

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-ins

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-in's Last Update: 22nd Jan 2021 (Add note about OpenCore config.plist modifications) About this Guide Note: This guide was written when Clover was the boot loader of choice as such the config.plist examples in this guide are mostley Clover specific ... if...

www.tonymacx86.com

The examples in that section of the guide are for HD 4600 / i7 4790K

Cheers
Jay

 

[stiligFox]

@stiligFox,

IGPU should be enabled in the BIOS and the dGPU (AMD GPU) should be configured as the Primary display adapter, then use WhatEverGreen to configure the IGPU using a Headless PlatformID.

The process is detailed in the Lilu & Plugins Guide :-

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-ins

An iDiot's Guide To Lilu and its Plug-in's Last Update: 22nd Jan 2021 (Add note about OpenCore config.plist modifications) About this Guide Note: This guide was written when Clover was the boot loader of choice as such the config.plist examples in this guide are mostley Clover specific ... if...

www.tonymacx86.com

The examples in that section of the guide are for HD 4600 / i7 4790K

Cheers
Jay

Thanks! Got it working, now to figure how to actually use the patch haha. Lots of reading! Thank you for creating the guide

• 4th Gen - Haswell CPU
  • HD-4600 IGPU = 0x0412000B or 0x04120004

Also - Clover Configurator only gives an option to auto generate the SMBIOS for the 15.1 i5-4590 3.3Ghz. Is there another tool that can generate the proper i7-4790 SMBIOS?

 

[jaymonkey]

Clover Configurator only gives an option to auto generate the SMBIOS for the 15.1 i5-4590 3.3Ghz. Is there another tool that can generate the proper i7-4790 SMBIOS?

@stiligFox,

Not sure what you mean by that, you only need to set the SMBIOS to iMac15,1 in your config.plist, there is no need to use Hackintool to do that ....

Cheers
Jay