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[Success] Music Production w/ Sierra + GA-Z170X-GAMING 7 + GTX 1050 Ti + Thunderbolt Guide

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May 21, 2017
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Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-z170X-Gaming 7
CPU
i7-6700
Graphics
GTX 1050 Ti
Mac
  1. iMac
  2. MacBook Pro
Hi There,

After some struggling I finally got my hackintosh for music production (and a little bit of gaming in a dual boot windows partition). What I did might help you as all components are pretty new.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170x-Gaming 7: Overall, because of the thunderbolt port we'll need to connect the Apollo Quad interface
CPU: Intel Skylake i7 6700
Graphic card: EVGA Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050 Ti SC
RAM: Ballistix Sport DDR4 16Gb
SSD1: Samsung 850 Evo 250Gb
SSD2: SanDisk SDSSDA 120Gb
HD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM0100 1Tb
Power supply: Enermax Max Pro 600W
Cooler: Master Hyper 212X
Bluetooth: iogear GBU521W6
Case: Nox Hammer MC (didn't expect to be so cool BTW)
4k Monitor: HP Envy 27s
Apple Magic Mouse + Apple Keyboard (First version)

*All components have been acquired on Amazon (Spain)

Let's start with the guide!

  1. Download Sierra from App Store and keep it in the original path (Apps folder) [I did this with a MacBook]
  2. Create the Clover Installation USB selecting Sierra, UEFI, and no injection with UniBeast following the famous guide: Create a Bootable USB Drive with UniBeast
  3. Download these apps and place all of them in a new folder on your Clover USB:


  1. Download last BIOS version from here and place that file into a previously formatted USB as FAT32
  2. Enter BIOS with USB plugged in and flash it with Q-Flash
  3. Restart and enter BIOS choosing all these options (Very important to check/uncheck all of these)

  • OS: Win8 HQ
  • CMS Disable (very important to get the graphic card working properly)
  • Peripherals > Select PCI Slot 1 (if you put the graphic card there, as it is the x16 pci express port)
  • Peripherals > Disable internal graphics
  • Chipset > VT-d > Disabled
  • Chipset > Wake on Lan > Disabled
  • BIOS > Full Screen LOGO Show > Disabled
  • BIOS > Storage Boot Option Control > UEFI
  • Peripherals > Thunderbolt (TM) Configuration > Security Level > No Security
  • Peripherals > Super IO Configuration > Serial Port > Disabled
  • Peripherals > USB Configuration > XHCI Hand-off > Enabled
7) Now we are ready to go. Save changes and exit. Insert the clover USB, enter BIOS again and choose it in Boot override (last screen) Be patient, takes a while to got it loaded. Before start the installation, go to Utilities/Disk Utility and create the partition in your primary drive (Samsung SSD). It must be OS X Extended (Journaled) and GUI Partition. Follow Sierra installation steps. DO NOT login into your iCloud account.

8) When it is installed, run Multibeast which you inserted into your clover usb before and choose these options:
  • Quickstart -> UEFI Boot Mode
  • FakeSMC
  • Atheros ethernet 2200 series 100
  • USB: Increase Max Port Limit & Generic USB 3.0 support
    [*]Inject Nvidia Web
    flag! (very important) [although you could do it later through config.plist]
  • System Definitions: iMac 17,1 This is the only one supporting Skylake so far
(Nothing else!)

9) Now restart and start from your Sierra OS in the clover screen (should be as default)

10) Download 10.12.4 Combo update and install it. This is because I run into several graphic card drivers problems with the latest version 10.12.5, so I kept in 10.12.4. Restart.

[UPDATE!]: You can now download (or install via App Store) the last combo update (10.12.6) (16G1815) as the last Nvidia drivers have been released.

  1. Download Nvidia Web Drivers (Pascal support!) for 10.12.6 (16G1815) [check your version in the top left corner apple icon - About this Mac]. Install it.
  2. Go to Preferences and Nvidia Pane, and choose NVIDIA Driver. Restart.
  3. You will see NVIDIA Driver is not chosen yet, and OS X Driver is still selected though. Then run Clover EFI Bootloader v2 you downloaded before, and before start installation select Customize. Check the option EmuVariableUefi-64 within Drivers64Uefi. Proceed.
  4. After restart you will likely see a black screen right after Apple Logo. Don't worry. Restart again keep pressing Control+Control+Command and just a hit on Power button of your case. If this is not working just force a restart.
  5. In the clover boot screen go to options before Sierra is loaded. In Boot Args add this: nv_disable=1
  6. When you enter in your ugly/slow desktop with no graphic acceleration download the AGDFix v1. There is a newer 1.3 version but it gave me several problems and didn't work in the end, so I used version 1.
  7. Now you have the most important, a fluid usable desktop with the official drivers. You can test its powerful through Cinema Benchmark for Mac.
  8. At this point I did all the steps through the HDMI cable, from now on wards I switched to DisplayPort cable to get 60hz on the 4k Monitor. Choose your desired resolution in Preferences > Displays
  9. Place the SSDT-i7-6700.aml you got before renamed as SSDT.aml into your EFI Partition, Clover, Extra folder.
  10. Modify your config.plist (EFI Partition > Clover > config.plist) and add this piece of code in the KextToPatch array:
Code:
     <key>KextsToPatch</key>
                <array>
[B]                        <dict>
                                <key>Comment</key>
                                <string>Skylake APIC fix, discovered by Pike R. Alpha</string>
                                <key>Find</key>
                                <data>
                                wegQD7bw
                                </data>
                                <key>Name</key>
                                <string>AppleAPIC</string>
                                <key>Replace</key>
                                <data>
                                vhcAAACQ
                                </data>
                        </dict>[/B]

Warning! Check after modifying it is correct with an editor like PlistEdit Pro I like to use.

* RAM) Recognized perfectly

* Ethernet) This motherboard has 2 Ethernet ports. The above one works out of the box, so I wouldn't use any kext if I were you, just plug Ethernet cable on that port. You will see in Windows it doesn't happen in that way, but we will talk about it later on.

* Thunderbolt) Also works without any driver BUT, in order to get it working more stable, which is a very important word when it comes to work with audio, you will need to flash the thunderbolt port:

* Flashing the thunderbolt port) Unfortunately you can only do this on Windows. So what I did first is the Windows Installation in dual boot that I wrote down below. After Windows is installed, download FW Thunderbolt Tool. (Too bad that original drivers are not in the Gigabyte website for this high-end mobo....unacceptable). Install and flash. As simple as feed a pig. Take into account that it is a known issue in hackintosh the lack of plug&play thunderbolt, so you will need to power your thunderbolt device [Apollo Quad in my case] before power on your computer. (Aggg)

* Fix shutdown) When shutdown you will notice that the computer wakes up and starts again. To fix this just mount your EFI partition with EFI Mounter in your USB. Go to EFI/Clover/ and open the file config.plist with Clover Configurator. In the ACPI section just check FixShutDown. Job done!

* Bluetooth) We want our apple mouse and keyboard to work, don't we. This IOGear USB works out of the box BUT it must be connected in the front USB ports of your case, otherwise it will be disconnected eeeevery restart, and that is a pain in the ass. AND I advice you to buy a USB extension cable because unless that IOGear is in front of your mouse/keyboard, it'll be a lot laggish. (Is that why is so cheap?)

* Windows DUAL Boot) It would be nice to have a windows partition with the sole purpose of gaming a little bit sometimes to take advantage of the graphic card, wouldn't be! AND for updating your thunderbolt port, which I strongly recommend. So just follow this guide to get windows installed. Take into account you'll need something like Rufus as the USB must be UEFI! When windows is installed, you will need the LAN drivers you'll find in the Gigabyte site, BUT: There are 2 Ethernet ports, if you want to use the same as your Sierra partition is using, you will need to install the BigFoot one! Otherwise, you can install the Intel one (below) but you will need either plug another Ethernet cable or find a valid kext for your Sierra. It's up to you, but I'd go for the BigFoot one (tested at 300mb/s)

* Audio) I didn't bother with audio as I am using the Apollo card, BUT, if you want your internal audio working, it'll be a bit trickier than the rest. You can follow this guide , but taking into account you won't have volume control. Or you can follow this one, with volume control. I didn't do any. If you find an easier way please let me know.

Enjoy your brand new hackintosh.

[UPDATE]

You can get your brightness control via keyboard following this link

384576
384577
 

Attachments

  • config.plist
    5.4 KB · Views: 1,042
Last edited:
Audio

Finally I could get my internal audio to work with volume control really simple following a post a I found over the forum. In this case I got the front jack (the case one) to work just installing the attached kexts (through KextBeast) and adding a few lines in config.plist.

config.plist is attached in the main post.
 

Attachments

  • CodecCommander.kext.zip
    26.1 KB · Views: 501
  • AppleHDA.kext.zip
    1.8 MB · Views: 469
Hey thanks!

I just ordered this exact CPU (6700k tho) and MOBO combo for music and games, so this should prove very helpful. Especially for the thunderbolt and dual boot.

Will let you know how it goes!
 
Hey thanks!

I just ordered this exact CPU (6700k tho) and MOBO combo for music and games, so this should prove very helpful. Especially for the thunderbolt and dual boot.

Will let you know how it goes!

Sure! wish you lot of success
 
Hi
I have a Bios Error when i switch CMS to Disable, when it restarts i get 5 beeps.
Any idea ?
Thks
 
Hi
I have a Bios Error when i switch CMS to Disable, when it restarts i get 5 beeps.
Any idea ?
Thks

If I had to bet I'd say the CMS has nothing to do with the beeps. Beeps most likely happen when any component is not well connected to the mainboard (RAM modules, HD connected, Keyboard). Have you check that out?
 
Yes i did, Everything works ok when CMS is set on Enable, i can boot sierra, i have usb, ethernet, ram ok in sierra, just the gtx 1070 not working properly but as you said without setting CMS to disable it cant work.
I can redo this bios error just by setting CMS to disable, and i come back to normal by clearing cmos on mother board. i think it is a problem with my gtx+cms disable not compatible...
 
Yes i did, Everything works ok when CMS is set on Enable, i can boot sierra, i have usb, ethernet, ram ok in sierra, just the gtx 1070 not working properly but as you said without setting CMS to disable it cant work.
I can redo this bios error just by setting CMS to disable, and i come back to normal by clearing cmos on mother board. i think it is a problem with my gtx+cms disable not compatible...

That's pretty weird. I would ignore the CMS thingy for now and try to get your graphic card to work. Check these steps are correct:

1) Have you installed the proper Nvidia web drivers? check the Sierra version (10.12.4)
2) Have you set the web injection in your plist? (or checked that in multibeast step)
3) Have you applied the AGDPFix only in case your SMBios is iMac17,1?
4) Did you do the NVRAM thingy with clover boot loader installation in order to enable Nvidia drivers on startup?
 
1)Yes
2)Yes
3)Yes
4)Yes
 
1)Yes
2)Yes
3)Yes
4)Yes

- What happens when you try to enter Sierra exactly? Do you get a black screen?
- Are you able to enter Sierra with the flag nv_disable=1?
- Have you tried to add the flag -v to enable verbose mode and see if you get any error on the console related to your graphics?
 
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