- Joined
- Mar 10, 2018
- Messages
- 1
ABabar's Build: Asus B85M-G + i7-4770S + GTX 1080 Ti
Components (mostly already owned)Intel i7-4770S Processor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CO8T9VM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116902
ASUS B85M-G mATX Motherboard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CRJU3JA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Crucial Ballistix DDR3 32GB (4x8GB) 1600 MHz Memory (BLS4KIT8G3D1609DS1S00) - runs at 1333 MHz
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007HAXMGA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Kingston A400 120GB SSD
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6JQS8C/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
(A separate Windows SSD + a 4TB HDD (NTFS) are still present, so it’s dual-boot. I access the HDD from OS X via Paragon NTFS.)
TP-link TL-WN822N wireless adapter
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00416Q5KI/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Gigabyte Aorus 1080 Ti Xtreme Graphics Card
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XXJL3HM/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Thermaltake Core V21 SPCC mATX Cube Computer Case (CA-1D5-00S1WN-00)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PDDMN6S/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Dell U2713HM Monitor (1440p IPS attached via dual-DVI)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009H0XQQY/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Comment
To be honest, I didn’t have much hope of getting this to run flawlessly. It's my first attempt, and I also didn't use any of the explicitly recommended builds. Nearly all of the components are repurposed (or rather dual-purpose) from a machine I originally built for VR. Hence the extremely overpowered GPU relative to the other components. I plan on moving this card to a newer gaming/VR build later on and replace the GTX1080 Ti with a more suitable mid-range AMD card, and then maybe try my luck with Mojave. The only thing I bought specifically for this experiment was the cheap and small (but reasonably fast, short review here) SSD. I figured if it didn't work, I could use it elsewhere, so basically no risk involved. In other words, it was already built and tested by me before this endeavor.
Luckily, it did work very well indeed, so now this is the "Mac" that I use most of the time for work. It is more stable with High Sierra than it was/is with Windows, having crashed zero times so far (a couple of months of regular use). There’s one exception to the stability track record, however, which is mentioned below.
Installation of OS X
Due to the Nvidia GPU and lack of Mojave drivers, I had to choose High Sierra.
- I followed the High Sierra guide here on tonymacx86 and prepared a thumb drive for booting in UEFI mode. I had to redo this step because it failed at first, likely because I was using a large 64GB stick.
- As instructed, I reset everything in the BIOS to 'optimized default'. However, I later turned VT-d instructions back on in the BIOS in order to run VMWare. I've experienced no problems with the it turned on.
- Installation took a while but finished successfully.
Using MultiBeast, I checked options for:
- Quick Start > UEFI boot mode
- System definition (the recommended iMac14,2)
- Realtek ALC887/888b audio
- Realtek RTL8111 v2.2.2 (untested)
- Not sure what I selected in the USB options, but I think ‘3rd party’ and ‘remove port limit’.
The first issue was solved using the drivers from TP-link (check what version you have, mine was V4) and the second using the Nvidia High Sierra drivers.
What Works and What Doesn’t Work
On the whole, it works almost perfectly. This is my Geekbench score, which I suppose is OK considering the old hardware involved.
The only stability (or other) issue I have so far is that sleep/wake occasionally fails. It is a rare problem, but a few times the computer has rebooted from sleep for unclear reasons.
Also I don't have a wired network in my office, so I haven’t tested the integrated adapter.
