[Success] JSAlvarez's Skylake Sierra Build - GA-Z170MX Gaming 5 - i7 6700k - GTX 1080 & 960

[JSAlvarez]

JSAlvarez's Build: GA-Z170MX Gaming 5 - i7 6700K - GTX 1080/GTX 960

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Components

Gigabyte Z170MX Gaming 5 Motherboard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014W200G0/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Intel Core i7 6700K 4.5GHz Processor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012M8LXQW/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080 Founders Edition (For Windows)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FWI6F08/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

NVIDIA Geforce GTX 960 (For macOS)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SL2TQ2C/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Ballistix Sport 32GB DDR4
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AG9EZ6E/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Raijintek Triton v02 Processor Cooler with custom tubing and coolant
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA66Z29F0448

Fenvi T919 Wireless/Bluetooth Card
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/262663831420?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

M.2 500GB SSD (macOS)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TGIW1XG/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

500GB SSD (Windows)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBRE5UE/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Barracuda 4TB HHD (Storage)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LNJBA50/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Two LG 27UD68-W 4K Monitors
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824025372&cm_re=27ud68-_-24-025-372-_-Product


Comments

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I've always wanted to build my own computer, but I also love macOS and how well it integrates all of my Apple products. I also really like to game and do a bit of streaming, so I wanted a machine that could both run macOS and not only play games, but play them well. Unfortunately, nothing in Apple's current product line can help me do that, so I decided to build my own computer that could.

This was my first hackintosh build, and although the first few weeks of troubleshooting were frustrating enough to get me to the point of giving up for a few months, I ended up coming back to the project and completing with zero regrets and one of the most satisfying experiences that turning on a computer can possibly give you.

The Build

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Motherboard:
I went with Gigabyte's Z170MX Gaming 5 motherboard because it seemed to best suit my needs for a couple of reasons. I needed the extra PCIe slots for the additional wireless card and graphics card, and I couldn't exactly go full ATX because I really like the Bitfenix prodigy. Plus I was trying to go for a compact, yet very functional and customizable build. In order to fit the wireless card and two graphics card, I needed to use a PCIe riser ribbon cable for the wifi card, which sits right above both of my graphics cards.

CPU:
I went with the i7 6700K because at the time it was the best CPU that fit in a LGA 1151 slot, which is what I wanted and to me seemed like the best choice for video editing, gaming, and streaming.

Graphics Card(s):
I originally only had the GTX 1080 in my build which I used exclusively for windows, and I used the Intel HD 530 in macOS. A few months later, I decided to upgrade my monitors for two 4K LG 27UD68-Ws, which I would need two DisplayPort ports to drive properly in macOS. I then managed to get a 960 from a friend after helping him upgrade his CPU which I later used as my dedicated GPU for macOS.

Wireless Card:
I went with the Fenvi T919 as a shot in the dark. No one on the forums had posted anything about it, and no one was really talking about this particular card until I made a post about it. As far as Sierra is concerned, it turns out, this card doesn't require any kexts or special configurations to get working. Handoff and continuity work flawlessly, as well as bluetooth and wifi.

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Installation

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If anyone is looking for a really solid guide on how to get things working with this motherboard, I would follow VanillaIcee's Z170n guide here. I spent months trying to follow individual, and complicated guides to get very specific things working, but VanillaIcee puts everything for you here in this guide with relative ease. While the instructions were written for El Capitan on the Mini ITX version of my board, pretty much everything is still setup the same.

I'll recap some things for you that I had particular trouble with.

Audio:
Audio was something I had trouble with for quite a while. I resorted to using a USB audio converter for a while, until I finally figured out was causing the problem. It turns out that simply selecting 100 Series Audio from MultiBeast won't make Audio magically work. You'll need vit9696’s AppleALC, and make sure to install that using your preferred kext installer. From there, in my clover config file I added the following DSDT patch:

Rename HDAS to HDEF
Find: 48444153
Replace: 48444546

Then, in your clover configurator, make sure to inject audio "1"

Graphics:
For the 960, or any relatively recent NVIDIA card that isn't natively supported with macOS, you'll want to make sure to disable your NVIDIA graphics card before installation. To do this, make sure to write in "nv_disable=1" in your boot options. From there, install the most recent NVIDIA web drivers from here. DO NOT inject NVIDIA graphics from MultiBeast or Clover Configurator. Once you boot up with the new drivers installed, run PikeRAlpha's ADGPFix to prevent booting into black screen. You might have to run with nv_disable=1 again to do this.

iMessage and other Apple Services:
For iMessage, I followed the steps outlined in this guide here.

USB:
To get all of my USB ports working properly, I downloaded this SSDT-1.aml file, and moved this file into into the patched SSDT folder at /EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched.


What's working

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Currently, everything is working except sleep.

• Audio
• Bluetooth
• Wifi
• Handoff & Continuity
• Full graphics acceleration
• USB 3.0 and 3.1 full speeds
• USB C Port at USB 3.1 speed
• iMessage and Apple services
• Airplay and Airdrop

Benchmarks

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[yellocab]

Hi

congratulations for this build. I have the same MOBO and Dual Boot i76700k and a GTX970.
Under macOS (Sierra) a have some internet connection losses. Juste few seconds every few minutes. Do you have the same thing?

 

[JSAlvarez]

Hi

congratulations for this build. I have the same MOBO and Dual Boot i76700k and a GTX970.
Under macOS (Sierra) a have some internet connection losses. Juste few seconds every few minutes. Do you have the same thing?

No, that's a bit odd. Are you on Ethernet or wifi?

 

[yellocab]

Ethernet. No pb with windows... strange...

 

[twobit2354]

I have this almost same setup except the way to inject the audio is not working. I tried both 1150 & series 100 with how the other entleman tried to tell you how to do it except 10.11 is directed towards el capitan and I am on Sierra. Any help with audio??

 

[JSAlvarez]

I have this almost same setup except the way to inject the audio is not working. I tried both 1150 & series 100 with how the other entleman tried to tell you how to do it except 10.11 is directed towards el capitan and I am on Sierra. Any help with audio??

Refer to the Audio section I just updated in my post. Make sure to install the AppleALC kext in your S/L/E and apply the right patches and settings in your clover config file.

 

[davidgotmilk]

Could you elaborate more on how you got your 1080 and 960 to work together? I also have a 1080 and a 970. Which one did you plug in on top? And how does it know to use the 960 when booting into OSX and the 1080 when booting into Windows? I've always had to unplug my 1080 and put in my 970 if I was switching, but its becoming quite the hassle.

 

[JSAlvarez]

Could you elaborate more on how you got your 1080 and 960 to work together? I also have a 1080 and a 970. Which one did you plug in on top? And how does it know to use the 960 when booting into OSX and the 1080 when booting into Windows? I've always had to unplug my 1080 and put in my 970 if I was switching, but its becoming quite the hassle.

I have the 960 plugged into the primary PCIe port, or PCIe port 1, whichever that one might be for you. I have the bios boot up with the 960 and macOS boots up without any problems with the 960. As far as I'm aware macOS will not use the 1080 at all even if it's still plugged in, as long as you make sure that you have your bios set to boot up with the 960. I should also note that there are multiple ways to actually switch between the two video sources, and that all comes down to how your particular setup is. Before I got 2 4K monitors that both required Displayports, I just had multiple HDMI cables running from both graphics cards into an HDMI switch box that I used to switch between the 960 and 1080 depending on what OS I was in. Currently, I just have two displayport cables run from my 960 into my monitors when I'm in macOS, but when I switch to windows I only switch the displayport cable going to my primary monitor I use to game on from the 960 into the 1080. Windows and macOS will know from there what graphics card to use. As long as your monitor is running off the 1080 in Windows, the applications you launch on that monitor (as long as it's your primary monitor if you have more than one) will launch using the 1080.

 

[Val10M]

I have the same motherboard as you. Have you been able to resolve the sleep issue?

 

[Sonday9.5]

I followed this same guide and I'm having some issues post install. Clover will not boot the OSX drive. I can only boot with the use of Clover on the USB drive. I'm using the 17,1 definitions as instructed. Also I can't run AGDPfix 3 due to the inability to boot into recovery mode. Any suggestions?