- Joined
- Aug 10, 2017
- Messages
- 14
- Motherboard
- Asrock Z270M Extreme4 Z270
- CPU
- Intel Core i7-7700K, 4,2 GHz Kaby Lake
- Graphics
- Radeon RX 580
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
OMK's The O-Build 2017:
ASRock Z270M Extreme4 - i7-7700K - GTX 1050 on Sierra and High Sierra
ASRock Z270M Extreme4 - i7-7700K - GTX 1050 on Sierra and High Sierra
Components
ASRock Motherboard Motherboards Z270M Extreme4
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7CKVW9/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Intel 7th Gen Intel Core Desktop Processor i7-7700K
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MXSI216/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Windforce OC 4G
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M6Y671T/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 2400MHz (PC4-19200) C14 Memory Kit - Black
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0134EU9YA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBRE5UE/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
LG 24UD58-B 24-Inch 4K UHD IPS Monitor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LPNKFK0/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Thermaltake Water 3.0 Extreme S 240mm
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O08FWTM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Corsair AX Series, AX760, 760 Watt (760W), Fully Modular Power
Supply, 80+ Platinum Certified
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A0HZMEM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Thermaltake Core V21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PDDMN6S/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
IOGEAR Blutooth 4.0 USB GBU521
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GFX0PY/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
EDITS
This post is being updated as I learn.
2017-08-24: Notes on Magic Mouse and Dual boot, and wake from sleep problem described in more detail
2017-08-25: Edit on the Audio Setup and clarification on install of the EmuVariableUEFI-64 driver
2017-08-26: Edit on the Magic Keyboard in dual boot... not quite working.
2017-09-03: Edit wake on sleep now working.
2017-09-10: Changed sound setup to use VoodooHDA
2017-09-11: Added section about FAN settings in bios.
2017-09-12: Redacted parts of the previous edit
2017-10-08: Added Update to High Sierra section
2017-02-04: Added comment about stalling during update to 13.3.3
Comments
This is my first Hackingtosh build. It is ment to replace a Mac Mini 2011 version. I wanted to have something new in place before that system dies, and since the the future of the Mac Mini is a bit uncertain, and the flexibility/extendibity of Apple hardware has been a challenge I started eying my own build.
The install described here was done with Sierra. See below for the upgrade to High Sierra.
Since I want a general purpose machine for the next few years I decided to go for a high-end install that allows for relatively silent operation. Hence the choice for the water cooler and the power supply (0db at 50% operation). All in all I went over-board.
I took quite some time reading up on this and other forums before deciding on a Kaby Lake/Z270/Pascal based system. The Delphius' Build and the fact that Sierra 10.12.6 natively supports the Kaby Lake was the deal maker.
Installation Notes
- I followed the Delphius Build as the outline for the install. I ordered a USB 2.0 Head and did not try to install over the 3.0 USB interfaces.
- The settings in the Bios (version UEFI: Z270M p2.10): I disabled Fast boot and disabled Boot/CSM(compatibility Support Module), to prevent BIOS based boots. A somewhat unrelated setting is that the CASE FAN needed to be set on DC in order to not run at higher RPM all the time.
- The system is a dual boot system. I first unplugged the first SATA SSD to install Windows on the second SSD. This is not a Windows forum, but I hope I'll be forgiven for a few notes. To force UEF Install I created, on a windows-based laptop, a Windows 10 USB using RUFUS. During the install of Windows 10:
- When you get to it, Click/tap on the Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)
- Delete all partitions/volumes on the Drive # (ex: Drive 0) that you want to install Windows 10 with UEFI on until that Drive # shows as unallocated space. Next and a default partition table will be created:
- Partition 1 - Recovery
- Partition 2 - System - The EFI System partition that contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such a drivers.
- Partition 3 - MSR - The Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition that reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software.
- Partition 4 - Primary - Where Windows is to be installed to.
- After the Windows install I (SATA) unplugged the disk and used UniBeast for the MacOS install on the first disk. Once Clover was installed I could attach the second disk again and the Windows showed up in the boot menu.
- When you get to it, Click/tap on the Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)
- Video: The Clover install got me to a working version almost right away. It took me a bit of effort to get the NVIDIA drivers to work percistently. Turned out I had to apply step 6 from Solving NVIDIA Driver Install & Loading Problems post. Note: Every time after running MultiBeast (v 9.1 and v9.2) you have to run the Install Clover Bootloader application and reinstall Drivers64EUFI/EmuVariableUEFI-64, or install the Driver using CloverConfigurator.
- This is the MultiBeast configuration I have after messing about a bit and upgraded to MB 9.2
- Quick Start > UEFI Boot Mode
- Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > ALC1200
- Drivers > Audio > Realtek ALCxxx > 100/200 series Audio
- Drivers > Misc > Fake SMC v6.25-333-g05ef4be.1759
- Drivers > Network > Intel intelMausiEthernet v2.3.0
- Bootloaders > Clover v2.4k r4173 UEFI Boot Mode
- Customize > System Definitions > iMac 18.3
- Drivers > Graphics > NVIDIA Web Drivers Boot Flag
Note that after running MultiBeast you also have to use the CloverConfigurator to reset your (board) serial number in the SMBBIOS settings.
- Getting audio to work was a bit of a bummer. USB audio worked out of the box but the devices were not visible. I followed some of the advice in the "No Audio Devices - Realtek ALC AppleHDA" post, which got me the devices to show up, but without getting the sound to work. Frankly, I did not make notes during this process, but I think I had initally forgotten to install both the ALC1200 and 100/200 series Audio drivers and that after selecting both the devices showed up. It could also be the case that the DSDT patch that I applied allong the way did the trick. ('Rename HDAS to HDEF, Find 48444153, Replace 48444546). Regardless non of that actually gave me audible sound.
EDIT 2017-09-10
To get the audio working I eventually installed the AppleALC and Lilu Kexts
For audio, including HDMI to work, and having an audio panel that appropriately names all outputs, I installed the VoodooHDA version 2.8.8 driver.
As an aside: during the initial install I tried the Quick Fix which left me with an unbootable system - an adventure by itself.
- Wake from Sleep [Edit/Add 2017-09-03]
After the initial setup I had a problem where wake from Sleep kept the monitor dark. The system still worked, Screen Sharing and/or ssh allow me access the system, make edits, and to reboot cleanly. The same problem occurred when using the other HDMI slot on the monitor (for my laptop) and then switching back to the original HDMI input. The system failed to sync. This has to do with the 'Deep Color' option on the LG monitor. Reseting the monitor to its default values restored the wake/sleep possibility. It turns out that when the monitor is set to 'Deep Color' it will wake properly only if the display is scaled to the maximum 'More Space' setting (maximum i.e. 4k resolution). Any other display setting in combination with the Deep Color monitor setting will prevent the wake-up.
I could not get Wake from sleep to work propperl. The screen stays dark even though the machine seems to wake up. I tried some Darkwake settings (0, 2, 8) but could not get anywhere.(see above)- The Thermalake case is a bigger than I had imagined. I could have probably created a more compact setup with this gear, but I like the fact it is still expandable.
- [Added 2017-09-11 and modifies 201709-12] Over the weekend I did some serious Blender rendering which, so was my theory, caused very erratic behavior. After some period of rendering the machine would freeze. In almost all cases that impacted the LAN in such a way that no device connected could communicate. I suspect that the Ethernet interface is left in some weird state, I have not sniffed what happened on the LAN. During troubleshooting I figured that my machine remained remarkably silent. The Fans did not kick in at all. Turned out that in the bios settings I had the CPU and CASE fans set to silent --- given the reports on Kaby Lake temperature spikes I figured I wanted a bit more aggressive settings. Installing FAKE SMC allowed me to monitor the temperature in iStat and the hardware monitor that comes with FakeSMC and after setting some custom values (low speed around 40C, high speed getting close to 70)
the system has been stablehigh temperature has been excluded as the root cause.
[Added 2017-10-08] modified [2018-02-04] to reflect updates to 13.3.3.
The update to High Sierra was almost effortless. I've used the default install, with the default install to APFS. Following the standard update instructions
- To update the new NVIDIA drivers I had to boot with SIP ENABLED (CsrActiveConfig 0x0). That rendered my USB-keyboard and my mouse unusable. I did not do the full troubleshooting exercise and worked around the issue by connecting to the machine using ScreenSharing/VNC.
- For sound I had to upgrade to the VoodoHDA drivers for High Sierra.
- For the update from 13.3.2 to 13.3.3 I had to install FakeSMC.kext in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other/ otherwise the boot would stall during upgrade.
- While at 13.3.2 I changed the filesystem to apfs.efi, make sure the apfs.efi driver in
EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI
Summary
- What Works
- On-board Ethernet: 1000baseT
- Display over GTX-HDMI at its full 4k glory NVIDIA and all.
- Sound over USB and sound-jacks
- Display Sleep
- USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 (I did not test speed)
- Magic Mouse and Magic keyboard, with the IOGear 4.0. Bluetooth dongle (in the USB2.0 slot created with the head, the IOGear dongle fits uncomfortably tightly in the 3.0 slots.) [See Below]
- Dual Booth on two separate disks from Clover [See Below]
- Wake from sleep [See Above, 2017-09-3 Edit]
- What sort of works
- Getting the magic mouse and keyboard to work in the dual boot scenario took a bit of registry editing.
[Edit/Addition 20170826:] Every time you connect the USB to lightning cable to the keyboard or the mouse configures new keys (as displayed using sudo defaults read /private/var/root/Library/Preferences/blued.plist). The keyboard and mouse will survive dual-reboots as long as you do connect it to the OS using the USB to lightning cable.
- Getting the magic mouse and keyboard to work in the dual boot scenario took a bit of registry editing.
- What doesn't work
- Dual monitor setup using two slots on the the GTX. I couldn't be bothered to sort this out.
- Not used/tested
- native HDMI
- sound over GTX HDMI (pretty sure it doesn't)
- USB 3.1 Interface (it is visible in the system report)
- WIFI, I have no interface.
Geekbench 4.0 Score for this system: Single-Core: 5827, Multi-Core: 20141. This seems a bit low compared to the 7k/22k range for other i7-7700k based systems. I have not yet figured out what the root cause of that is, but i am sure that turning on some of the OC features in the bios will certainly crankt the value up a bit.
As for the Unigene Heaven Benchmark. Here are two screen shots, one for the default setting, and one for the default setting modified to full the max mode (2560x1600).
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