[Success] cube mac > Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha - i7-6700K - 32 GB RAM - GTX 980 Ti

[markusberger83]

markusberger83's Cube Mac Build:
ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha - i7-6700K - GTX 980 Ti


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Contents

Components
Comments
General instructions​

Components

Intel Core i7-6700K Processor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012M8LXQW/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B010T6DQTQ/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117559

Corsair Hydro Series H115i Processor Liquid Cooler
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019955RNQ/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B019955RNQ/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16835181100

ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha Motherboard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017RI8UYA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B017RI8UYA/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132699

G.Skill Trident Z silber/rot DIMM Kit 32GB, DDR4-3200, CL14-14-14-34 (F4-3200C14D-32GTZ)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ACOFVXE/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01ACOFVXE/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232206

EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti FTW ACX 2.0+, 6GB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI, 3x DisplayPort (06G-P4-4996-KR)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014PXHC6M/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B014PXHC6M/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA70F4VA1573

Toshiba X300 High-Performance 6TB, SATA 6Gb/s, retail (HDWE160EZSTA)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013JPLKJC/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B013J7I8WM/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149629

Samsung SSD 850 PRO 512GB, SATA (MZ-7KE512BW)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LF10KTO/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00LF10KTO/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147361

Creative Blaster Omni Surround 5.1 (70SB156000002) Sound Card
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZT7RE4/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00EZT7RE4/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16886112001

Apple Magic Trackpad 2 (MJ2R2Z/A)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016QO5YNG/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B016MUCHTS/?tag=tonymacx8603-21

Logitech G610 Orion Red, USB, DE (920-007841) Keyboard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CDYB8AG/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01CNXNFM6/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4RE4SF5187

2x be quiet! Pure Wings 2 120mm PWM (BL039) Case Fans
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECWKD6I/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00ECWKD6I/?tag=tonymacx8603-21

2x Corsair Air Series SP120 PWM Quiet Edition High Static Pressure, 2-er Pack (CO-9050012-WW) Case Fans
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C249PEO/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00C249PEO/?tag=tonymacx8603-21

Lian Li PC-V33A Computer Case
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B015UU8SH6/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811112477

Wifi Bluetooth 4.0 BCM94360CD 802.11AC for Apple A1418 A1419
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DJAE99A/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

LG 34UC98-W 34-Inch 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD IPS Monitor with Thunderbolt
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019O78DPS/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01AWG5VIM/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824025326



Comments

This community is great. Thanks to all the excellent guides here, my hack is working perfectly!


Intel Core i7-6700K Processor
Two years old now, serves me well. For regular use and gaming OC to 4.6 Ghz @ 1.35 V on all cores.


Corsair Hydro Series H115i Processor Liquid Cooler
I debated extensively if I should go the AIO ore traditional tower cool way. Opted for this and it’s a good choice. Contrary to what many say, it is really quiet, I can barebelly hear the pump. Just make sure to install the utility to set the cooling profile to balanced in Windows and get some decent high pressure fans.


ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha Motherboard
On the expensive site. I’m not sure I would spend that much on a motherboard again, but this is the first PC that I built and I didn’t know any better.


G.Skill Trident Z silber/rot DIMM Kit 32GB, DDR4-3200, CL14-14-14-34 (F4-3200C14D-32GTZ)
32 GB of these overclackable should do.


EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti FTW ACX 2.0+, 6GB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI, 3x DisplayPort (06G-P4-4996-KR)
Still a very good card, I found out too late about Pascal support so I bought this used on ebay for 350€ in new condition.


Toshiba X300 High-Performance 6TB, SATA 6Gb/s, retail (HDWE160EZSTA)
Needed a large and quick HDD for my photos collection. This one gets the job done, is rather loud though.


Samsung SSD 850 PRO 512GB, SATA (MZ-7KE512BW)
I would get a cheaper one next time, no use for the PRO labeling with an SSD.


Creative Blaster Omni Surround 5.1 (70SB156000002) Sound Card
I wanted a sound experience in macOS with VLC playing digital optical audio via TOSLINK cable hooked up to my receiver. It should support DTS and Dolby 5.1, so this soundcard works well in macOS with the Creative driver.


Apple Magic Trackpad 2 (MJ2R2Z/A)
Since I’m so used to apple trackpads, I much prefer using macOS with a trackpad.


Logitech G610 Orion Red, USB, DE (920-007841) Keyboard
Gaming in Windows and a good Cherry key matt black and understated illuminated (white) typing experience. Quite loud klack klack sounds but I like it, makes every word so much more meaningful hehe ^^


2x be quiet! Pure Wings 2 120mm PWM (BL039) Case Fans
Quiet and not rattling case fans.


2x Corsair Air Series SP120 PWM Quiet Edition High Static Pressure, 2-er Pack (CO-9050012-WW) Case Fans
Quiet and not rattling pwm fans for the radiator.


Lian Li PC-V33A Computer Case
Reminded me of older macs, I wanted a cube shaped case and aluminum. Also really well laid out for water cooling.


Wifi Bluetooth 4.0 BCM94360CD 802.11AC for Apple A1418 A1419
I wanted all the fancy handoff, continuity and so on functions so this one does the job.


LG 34UC98-W 34-Inch 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD IPS Monitor with Thunderbolt
Just great, after almost two years of constant use, Very good sRGB and adobeRGB color space for photo editing.


General Instructions

- Time and patience ^^

- Inspired by: Stork's Build https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...og-maximus-viii-hero-i7-6700k-gtx-980.197284/

- Use following BIOS Settings



- Make Sierra USB drive & install Sierra https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ierra-on-any-supported-intel-based-pc.200564/

- Use MultiBeast to make Hack bootable (UEFI, Intel network, SATA, USB 3, increase max port limit) MultiBeast - Sierra 9.0.1

- Adjust XMP, nvdia web drivers flag in Clover Configurator http://mackie100projects.altervista.org/download-clover-configurator/

- Fix iCloud https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/an-idiots-guide-to-imessage.196827/

- Update Clover using Clover Configurator with NVRAM UEFI fix (Problem 6) https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/solving-nvidia-driver-install-loading-problems.161256/

- Install Nvdia WebDriver-378.05.05.05f01.pkg https://www.tonymacx86.com/nvidia-drivers/

- Restart

- Boot from macOS SSD in Clover, remove Sierra install USB stick but keep as emergency boot stick

- Enable trim: Terminal -> sudo trimforce enable

- Ready!

Thanks, again for providing so much info and the necessary tools.

 

[markusberger83]

v1.1 april 18th: updated content.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Great build

It looks like the Lian Li case was designed for water-cooling. How quiet is everything?

That monitor looks amazing too. Who needs dual monitors?

Enjoyed seeing something different there. Thanks!

 

[markusberger83]

Great build

It looks like the Lian Li case was designed for water-cooling. How quiet is everything?

That monitor looks amazing too. Who needs dual monitors?

Enjoyed seeing something different there. Thanks!

Thank you, UtterDisbelief! I set the Corsair AIO in Windows to silent mode; I can barely hear it, even under load. The EVGA 980 Ti is luckily very quiet as well.

This is the first PC / hackintosh I built myself after relying solely on my rusty 2011 17'' MBP which is still going strong, but I needed more power.

I also wanted to game a little (Cities Skylines, since Sim City went downhill). So, I tried to choose components that work well in both systems.

what works

• dual booting
• sierra
• icloud
• sound
• webcam
• nvidia web driver
• keyboard
• mouse
• trackpad

what works most times

• handoff
• bluetooth connection seems a little shakey, i don't know what's up with that. BCM94360CD used to do a good job but since sierra 10.12.4 (16E195) it's not so reliable anymore. i tried with Continuity Activation Tool but am not sure if it did the trick?!
• universal clipboard
• continuity
• hotspot activation via iPhone 6s

I really like the case, even if it was somewhat pricey.

The LG 34UC98-W 34-Inch 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD IPS Monitor with Thunderbolt display is just simply stunning. I've owned decent monitors before (Eizo, Dell) but this one is perfect. Impressive for gaming and just stylish to look at. SRGB color space is very accurate since I need that for editing photos (hobby).

I've had this build for 12 months now, and it continues to serve me very well. It's a really fast hackintosh with a respectable gaming performance in windows.

The prices of comparable "real" iMacs or Mac Pros are just ridiculous for aged hardware

 

[markusberger83]

Oh and since you asked about the temperatures, this is after one hour or so of gaming load in windows:

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Yes, good temperatures there! It seems you chose well with the Corsair AIO cooling. It has always worried me using water-cooling as people say the pump is often noisy, but it you can change settings using a Windows PC, that sounds good.

I like Lian Li cases very much, even though they are a bit expensive, and prefer to use them. The silver ones remind me of the old Mac Pros.

I wonder if your BlueTooth problems are because of the aerial/antenna. I had a very similar problem and it was all caused by the small, generic aerial I received with the wireless PCIe adapter. By changing it to a desktop, wired aerial I have no problems at all now. (Made me think maybe the metal case was shielding the signal somehow.) Wi-fi was okay.

 

[markusberger83]

It really is a very quiet and efficient cooling solution!

lian li has nice cases, in win has cool ones as well.

oh and thx for the tip with different antennas, it was missing BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext - now all the bluetooth functions incl. handoff and instant hotspot are working as intended

 

[buyjoey]

Hi, I wondering how did you get that score? my has the same CPU and ram is 32gb 3000mhz and I am using Samsung 950 pro NVME. But my score is quite low. CPU OC to 4.6 Can you share your SSDT or actual Config.plist file? Much much thank you for your help advance

 

[markusberger83]

The GPU doesn't affect the CPU geekbench scores, so that titan xp won't help (especially in macos).

Also, I'm using 32 GB 3200 MHz RAM (which was overclocked as well) and, for benching I used these settings:



I use bclk 100 and 45 core ratio limit @ 1.35v for regular use.

The settings above are for benchmarking, as they are somewhat unstable in certain games in Windows 10 - also, apart from geekbench scores, you won't notice a difference between the i7 6700k @ 4.5 or 4.7

 

[Samekas]

Why not iMac 17.1 smbios insted of the macpro 6.1? I have heard the iMac 17.1 it's better for skylake processors.