- Joined
- Jul 12, 2015
- Messages
- 3
- Motherboard
- P9X79 DELUXE
- CPU
- i7 3930k
- Graphics
- EVGA GTX 980
sachabest's Build: P9X79 DELUXE - i7-3930K - GTX 980
ComponentsASUS P9X79 Deluxe
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064L8UJM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Intel i7-3930K Processor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00603QXPM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
NVIDIA stock GTX 980 (can't find link, this was sent to me by NVIDIA directly)
Corsair Dominator 16GB 2400MHz Memory
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J128GQS/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBRE5UE/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Mushkin Chronos 120GB SSD
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CGFU4I/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB HDD
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CSIG1G/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Themaltake Suppressor Case
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016R3KM4M/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
macOS Sierra 10.12.6 from the App Store
Comments
Just spent the better part of two days on this build. Hopefully there are others who can benefit from the steps I went through to make everything work.
Installation Steps (this is for advanced users - i.e. you should be very comfortable in the terminal and not afraid of digging into the kernel boot routine etc.)
- Make a UniBeast USB (click "Downloads" at the top of this page -> UniBeast)
- Download MultiBeast onto your USB (same downloads section)
- Turn off VT-d and put Secure Boot on "Other OS" in the UEFI BIOS
- Plug in your USB and boot from it (mash F8 at the ASUS logo - make sure you choose the USB boot entry that has "UEFI" in front of it.
- On the Clover bootloader screen, go to "Clover Settings" -> add "-v dart=0 cpus=1 npci=0x2000" to your boot arguments
- Boot from USB
- Install Sierra to a local hard drive
- Reboot into Clover FROM THE USB, put the same boot arguments, but this time, boot to the internal drive you just installed Sierra on.
- Follow user registration, log in, etc.
- Follow the MultiBeast steps mentioned in the normal guide: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ierra-on-any-supported-intel-based-pc.200564/. DO NOT install any audio drivers. DO install the i7 SSDT.
- Once everything is booted normally and you have your graphics set up correctly, grab yourself a copy of Clover Configurator (downloads section)
- In Clover, set your boot args to have "dart=0 npci=0x2000 darkwake=2" and that's IT. Reboot if you'd like to test.
- At this point, you should have graphics, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and basic CPU working.
- Now its time for audio. Go here: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/p9x79-deluxe-audio-on-sierra.230894/
- Once you have audio working, you can start working on getting the CPU to follow its intended stepping curves - this will make your computer WAY more snappy/fast, and save you a ton of power and burn on your chip in the process. This is long and arduous so the steps were moved to a separate guide: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...idge-3930k-power-management-on-sierra.230927/
- Now you can set up iMessage by following this guide: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/an-idiots-guide-to-imessage.196827/. DO NOT change the SMBIOS board ID or system ID!!! This is paramount if you want to keep your power-managed CPU state. Just generate a UUID and use the simpleMLB tool.
- Ta-da! Enjoy your fully powered Custom Mac - I've been able to run stress tests in Maya, Houdini, and league that come within 5% performance of my windows side.
- Onboard Realtek Audio (front and back panels)
- Bluetooth
- Onboard Ethernet (both ports)
- Full power management on the CPU (Turbo Boost, stepping, etc.)
- GPU (via web drivers)
- USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports
- iMessage/FaceTime/etc.
- (not tested) the on-board WiFi - it sucks anyway, if you need WiFi, grab a PCIe card
- literally nothing else
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