[Success] GA-Z87X-OC Force - i7-4790k - GTX 980 (x2) - 10.10

[sgman]

sgman's TARS Build:
GA-Z87X-OC Force - i7-4790k - GTX 980 (x2) - Trident X 16GB - 10.10/Windows8.1

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Components

Intel i7-4790K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369

Gigabyte z87x-OC Force
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CU4L6CU/

G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231589

EVGA GTX980 Superclocked (x2)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NI5DA2E/

Silverstone Strider Gold S Series ST75F-GS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256099

Samsung 840 evo 250GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147248

NZXT H440
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146148


Comments

My first hackintosh build was with Z87MX-D3H + GTX 770 + i5-4670K. It was super easy installation so I didn't bother to write a log for it. Then I got into overclocking, custom water cooling, and all those geeky stuff. I ended up with i7 4790K + Z97X-UD5H + GTX 980 2-way SLI + custom CPU water cooling. I still don't know whether I should call it as a massive upgrade or a new build. After this process is done, I attempted to install Yosemite. It was a huge waste of time. As you can see from the picture above, it wasn't a simple process to take out and put in TWO GTX 980s as the reservoir is blocking the way. I know people have installed Yosemite successfully with Z97X-UD5H or GTX 980, but this combination never worked for me :. I decided to try Z87X OC Force. One of the biggest selling point with this board was PCI-e switch on the board. With this board, I don't have to take out TWO GTX 980s!!!!!!!! I just needed to flip those cute switches to use HD4600 on the first install and after nvidia web driver, flip them back on. UniBeast/MultiBeast gave me USB error. But clover worked perfectly so far. (I didn't try iMessage yet)


UEFI Settings

1. Load Optimized Default
2. Disable Vt-d
3. Disable Intel Virtualization Technology (I'm not sure if this is necessary, but I did this anyway)

Installation process

1. Disable GTX980 and use hd4600
   1. Go to BIOS
   2. Change Initial Display Output to igfx
   3. Save and exit
   4. Disconnect (or disable) GTX980(s)
2. Install Yosemite with Clover
3. Basic post-installation (MacPro3,1, Inject Intel, etc)
4. Confirm boot up with ssd or hdd alone
5. Install nvidia web driver
   1. Boot
   2. Install nvidia web driver
   3. Add nvda_drv=1, kext-dev-mode=1 boot flag
   4. Shutdown
6. Enable GTX980's
   1. Power on
   2. Go to BIOS
   3. Disable Intel Processor Graphics
   4. Change Initial Display Output to PCIe 1 Slot
   5. Save and exit
7. Patch Audio
   1. Used cloverALC/Clover patched (https://github.com/toleda/audio_CloverALC)

Benchmarks
[email protected]
GTX980 stock

highest scores are OpenGL 114fps, CPU 920cb.












http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/1329057


Update: Added new Heaven Benchmark with different settings

 

[spballer]

NICE build man!

Your heaven benchmarks are wild compared to my 970... is Yosemite recognizing and utilizing the two cards in SLI? I'd love to throw another 970 in my build and get the added power, I was just under the impression OS X didn't recognize SLI, that it simply saw two separate cards... what is your heaven score with everything maxed out @ 1920x1080 res?

Really like your build I personally couldn't get clover to work for me, thats my next big task...

 

[sgman]

NICE build man!

Your heaven benchmarks are wild compared to my 970... is Yosemite recognizing and utilizing the two cards in SLI? I'd love to throw another 970 in my build and get the added power, I was just under the impression OS X didn't recognize SLI, that it simply saw two separate cards... what is your heaven score with everything maxed out @ 1920x1080 res?

Really like your build I personally couldn't get clover to work for me, thats my next big task...

Thanks for the compliment.

I think you are right about SLI. OSX doesn't utilize sli.. which is fine by me. I'm planning to do all of the heavy gaming on Windows anyway.

About the heaven benchmark, I didn't know what's the standard here so I just ran it with the default setting with 1080p. I'll run it with max setting like you said and update the result soon.

 

[spballer]

Going to grab another SSD to install windows on and likely do the same.

When I saw your heaven scores I nearly cried, I thought maybe my card was dead or something. Only upon closer inspection did I notice the settings and breathed a little easier lol. I ran mine with the same and ended up right about where I thought I would in comparison to your 980.

I'm not sure what the convention is on heaven benchmarking here either, with my luck I'm doing that wrong too hahaha

 

[sgman]

Going to grab another SSD to install windows on and likely do the same.

When I saw your heaven scores I nearly cried, I thought maybe my card was dead or something. Only upon closer inspection did I notice the settings and breathed a little easier lol. I ran mine with the same and ended up right about where I thought I would in comparison to your 980.

I'm not sure what the convention is on heaven benchmarking here either, with my luck I'm doing that wrong too hahaha

You nearly cried lol. I just posted the new result. Compare to your score there are not that much of difference. I'm so used to 3DMark Firestrike for gpu benchmarking so Heaven and Valley are something that I heard of but I never got a chance to run. My bad on made you nearly cried. lol

I didn't write on the build log, but that's what I did as well. I have another ssd (intel 530 480gb) with Windows 8.1. Clover recognized Windows boot loader automatically and made the dual boot working. I guess I should update about this too. I think Chimera can do the same.

 

[spballer]

Right on. One of these days I'll figure clover out and switch so I can do iMessage, but I need to do more research, I messed things up twice trying, something in the post install... kept panicing at ACPI...IOPlatformExpert.cpp.1590. I think if I could get past that I'd be good to switch.

Thanks for running that test at the other settings, I appreciate you taking the time to further ease my concerns

 

[TurbineSeaplane]

Do we know of *anything* on the Mac side that can use the SLI'd cards to their potential?

 

[ej1fr3ak]

Awesome build man! Congrats!

I have a similar setup, the oc-force board, 4790k and similar hard drive and ram. I'm running a single GTX 750 with 3 monitors, and just installed the nvidia web drivers. Got 2 of the 3 monitors working, which is awesome. Hoping I can get the 3rd running soon.

Anyway, sweet looking machine man! Congrats again!