- Joined
- Sep 28, 2012
- Messages
- 65
- Motherboard
- Asus ROG Strix Z370-G Gaming (WI-FI AC)
- CPU
- i7-8700
- Graphics
- RX 580
- Mobile Phone
i7-6700 Skylake CPU
onboard HD530 graphics / updated to AMD Radeon 7970
ASUS Z170-A motherboard
Sierra 10.12.2 downloaded from Apple
I offer a few notes because there are issues in my install, and while everything seems to be "mostly" working I do see a slow boot right now (50+ seconds) a lot slower than my El Capitan install on Ivy Bridge. (*Update: a lot of my slow boot seemed connected to the native HD 530 graphics starting up. After I put in a dedicated graphics card, boot to OSX was appreciabley faster.)
NOTES / ISSUES:
(1)
This motherboard needs to have all BIOS settings precisely correct as stated in the Tonymac Sierra install guide. If anything is not correct in the BIOS, you will get a "hang" at the black Apple install screen with Unibeast. The settings are accessible in the ASUS bios, if in doubt try a few things -- but getting these right is critical to proceeding with the install. I could find all the options suggested in the Tonymac guide except for a way to disable serial port.
(2)
Post-installation, I was not able to get a working boot from my SSD with Multibeast. What I got was a cycle of rebooting & loop restarting though the clover start up screen. I solved this by replacing the config.plist file that Multibeast generated on the EFI section of the SSD with the config.plist that was on the installer USB (which I knew was working.) Once I copied the config.plist from the installer USB into the EFI folder on the SSD (replacing the one created by Multibeast) I then got a clover screen at boot that allowed me to select my SSD drive to start -- and Sierra 10.12 started up normally -- though as noted, with a longish boot time, resolved by adding a graphics card. I attach my config file that is working below. If you want to access these EFI volumes on the drives and copy or study the working files like config.plist a great tool is Clover Configurator. It's free too. I used it to see what was going on in my EFI volumes.
(3) Video
Occasionally I see some graphics glitches (horizontal lines) with the HD 530 graphics, but since I will add a graphic card later I am not going crazy about this. After I added a Gigabyte 7970 card, video is all good.
(4)WIFI
TP-Link wifi card worked immediately without further configuration.
(5) Sound
Initially I saw no devices listed in my sound selection pane. After trying many solutions, what I understood was my install was not seeing a codec/device installed, in other words I needed a "AppleHDA892.kext" for OSX to see the device hardware.
I reinstalled the original AppleHDA.kext off the install USB in S/L/E (this is needed unmodified) but if you haven't fooled with it, the one the USB installer placed in your S/L/E at install is fine.
Next, I downloaded and ran this shell script to create an AppleHDA892.kext
from: https://github.com/Piker-Alpha/AppleHDA8Series.sh
If you don't know how to run a shell script, you can change ".sh" to ".command" and it will execute in the terminal.
Running that worked -- after a reboot, and device is recognized in audio pane, sound is now stereo via the green central port and internal speakers.
(6) Graphics update:
After installing Sierra 10.12.2, I was struggling to get Nvidia drivers working with a $300 Nvidia 980 GPU. I changed my plans and decided to try an AMD card. I put in a Gigabyte 7970 card (GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970 DirectX 11 GV-R797OC-3GD 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 REV 2.1 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX.)
I got this card for $100 on Ebay. The card was "plug-and-play" and was recognized over my DVI port immediately at boot with no fooling around and it runs my DELL U2413 @ 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz and Pixel Depth:30-Bit Color.
This was a very easy install, it just works. I don't need 4K or 5K. And this card rips through photoshop and video editing. GPU scores with Geekbench open CL 106,389 which is ample for my needs -- I edit 1080 video and do graphics -- no gaming here. I don't know if all 7970 cards are equally good, other manufacturers may vary but so far this is a great $100 solution.
onboard HD530 graphics / updated to AMD Radeon 7970
ASUS Z170-A motherboard
Sierra 10.12.2 downloaded from Apple
I offer a few notes because there are issues in my install, and while everything seems to be "mostly" working I do see a slow boot right now (50+ seconds) a lot slower than my El Capitan install on Ivy Bridge. (*Update: a lot of my slow boot seemed connected to the native HD 530 graphics starting up. After I put in a dedicated graphics card, boot to OSX was appreciabley faster.)
NOTES / ISSUES:
(1)
This motherboard needs to have all BIOS settings precisely correct as stated in the Tonymac Sierra install guide. If anything is not correct in the BIOS, you will get a "hang" at the black Apple install screen with Unibeast. The settings are accessible in the ASUS bios, if in doubt try a few things -- but getting these right is critical to proceeding with the install. I could find all the options suggested in the Tonymac guide except for a way to disable serial port.
(2)
Post-installation, I was not able to get a working boot from my SSD with Multibeast. What I got was a cycle of rebooting & loop restarting though the clover start up screen. I solved this by replacing the config.plist file that Multibeast generated on the EFI section of the SSD with the config.plist that was on the installer USB (which I knew was working.) Once I copied the config.plist from the installer USB into the EFI folder on the SSD (replacing the one created by Multibeast) I then got a clover screen at boot that allowed me to select my SSD drive to start -- and Sierra 10.12 started up normally -- though as noted, with a longish boot time, resolved by adding a graphics card. I attach my config file that is working below. If you want to access these EFI volumes on the drives and copy or study the working files like config.plist a great tool is Clover Configurator. It's free too. I used it to see what was going on in my EFI volumes.
(3) Video
Occasionally I see some graphics glitches (horizontal lines) with the HD 530 graphics, but since I will add a graphic card later I am not going crazy about this. After I added a Gigabyte 7970 card, video is all good.
(4)WIFI
TP-Link wifi card worked immediately without further configuration.
(5) Sound
Initially I saw no devices listed in my sound selection pane. After trying many solutions, what I understood was my install was not seeing a codec/device installed, in other words I needed a "AppleHDA892.kext" for OSX to see the device hardware.
I reinstalled the original AppleHDA.kext off the install USB in S/L/E (this is needed unmodified) but if you haven't fooled with it, the one the USB installer placed in your S/L/E at install is fine.
Next, I downloaded and ran this shell script to create an AppleHDA892.kext
from: https://github.com/Piker-Alpha/AppleHDA8Series.sh
If you don't know how to run a shell script, you can change ".sh" to ".command" and it will execute in the terminal.
Running that worked -- after a reboot, and device is recognized in audio pane, sound is now stereo via the green central port and internal speakers.
(6) Graphics update:
After installing Sierra 10.12.2, I was struggling to get Nvidia drivers working with a $300 Nvidia 980 GPU. I changed my plans and decided to try an AMD card. I put in a Gigabyte 7970 card (GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970 DirectX 11 GV-R797OC-3GD 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 REV 2.1 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX.)
I got this card for $100 on Ebay. The card was "plug-and-play" and was recognized over my DVI port immediately at boot with no fooling around and it runs my DELL U2413 @ 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz and Pixel Depth:30-Bit Color.
This was a very easy install, it just works. I don't need 4K or 5K. And this card rips through photoshop and video editing. GPU scores with Geekbench open CL 106,389 which is ample for my needs -- I edit 1080 video and do graphics -- no gaming here. I don't know if all 7970 cards are equally good, other manufacturers may vary but so far this is a great $100 solution.
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