Success - Sierra + Kaby Lake i7 7700k + ASRock Z270 Extreme 4 + G.Skill 32GB ddr4-2400 + GTX 980

[Delphius]

Delphius' Build: ASRock Z270 Extreme 4 + i7-7700K + GTX 980
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Components

Intel Core i7-7700K Kaby Lake Quad-Core 4.2 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80677I77700K Desktop Processor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MXSI216/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117726

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005O65JXI/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

ASRock Z270 Extreme4 Motherboard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBEX0EK/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157738

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) (F4-2400C15D-32GVR)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018OB5RB8/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231967

PNY GeForce GTX 980 4GB CG EDITION
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NH5ZN4S/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA22F5G77175

SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E250B/AM
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OAJ412U/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147372

EVGA 850 GQ 210-GQ-0850-V1 80+ GOLD 850W Semi Modular EVGA ECO Mode Power Supply
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017HA3SO0/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438061

Phanteks Evolv PH-ES515E_AG Anthracite Gray Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YQKQZ72/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854022



Comments

Build
This machine was built to be a workstation for audio, photo, and video editing. Overall it was a very simple build. It was my second time configuring and installing a Hackintosh machine. My previous experience is with a z170m chipset and Skylake i5 (I will post build report on this as well later). I used all the standard guides for Kaby Lake and Sierra and everything went as expected.

If I would have known that Nvidia would be releasing Pascal drivers I would have purchased a GTX 1060 instead. I snagged the GTX 980 off craiglist used for a good deal. Its not really a huge loss, but a 1060 would be nice to have on the list.

I am very pleased with how everything turned out. For anyone purchasing a new computer and are hesitant about Kaby Lake, I say go for it. The changes were minimal in that aspect. Everything otherwise seemed the same as the Sky Lake on 170 series chips. Im guessing the buyers guide on the main page will be updated accordingly.

Guide
All pretty standard for most things.
I used snippets of this guide for most things - http://logicbugs.com/hackintosh-sierra-on-h270n-wifi/
For iMessage I recommend this one - http://www.fitzweekly.com/2016/02/hackintosh-imessage-tutorial.html?m=1

Install Notes

• You must make sure to change the CPU ID to Skylake ID but this is very simple to do even at boot menu.
• I had to use a USB 2.0 header slot for the install boot drive. This wasn't necessary on a previous build. It might be necessary if you want to do full install without pre-loading USB patches. Consider purchasing USB 2.0 header with your system build.
• After install, I had a lot of issues getting my GTX 980 to register with the web drivers. None of the edits or fixes were working. I finally discovered that z270 chipset motherboards do not use NVRAM so you must use emuvariableuefi-64 in clover to make it work. This is different compared to my Z170M build as well. See slim.jim's guide.
  
• I think I had to disable the USB 3.1 ports in BIOS to boot into install. I think they are now engaged post-install with no issues. (not tested)
• I always have to install the IntelMausiEthernet drivers with MultiBeast, then use KextBeast with the most recent drivers afterwords to make everything work right with network. (This occasionally quits working but reapplying KextBeast patch gets it working quick again)
• FakeCPUID can be loaded pre-install at clover boot. When clover boots, go to Option> Binaries Patching> and enter a Skylake cpuID of your choice.

Whats Working
Pretty much everything.

• Intel HD 630 - I did not finish configuring this to be certain that it is working all the way. I was having an issue but I think I was just a step away from getting it right and I think it is now corrected as I have adjusted. It recognized the correct resolution and recognized it as an HD630 GT2 or something. All of the memory showed as being available after the main patches were applied. Everything looked good, but I was still experiences graphical artifacts and youtube ran smooth, but with a lot of interlacing and such. It wasn't quite there. The HD 530 seemed much easier to me.
• Nvidia GTX 980 - Overall no problems really. If you missed the note above, make sure you use emuvariableuefi-64 or the web driver will not initialize.
• HDMI Audio - I have not tested this yet. Will update after I do but I think its working after patches in the guide.
• Onboard Ethernet - Working as normal with IntelMausiEthernet drivers. Use the latest kext with Kext Beast.
• Realtek Audio - This has not been tested either. I dont really plan to use them because everything I use is external. I will get to setting it up for the sake of knowing they work and finishing this post. Standby.
• USB Audio - I have not taken it to studio yet for the full multitrack test, but so a simple usb audio codec is being recognized and used with no problems.
• USB 3.1 Ports - Seem to be working but I have nothing to test them with.
• USB 3.0 Ports - Working after taking the steps in the guide above. They seem full speed after transferring files as well. MultiBeast port increase patch did not work for me this time.
• USB 2.0 Header Ports - These work fine too. This motherboard lacks any USB 2. 0
• Inboard Wifi - I didn't even realize the motherboard had this when I ordered it so not necessary for me. But doesnt seem to work out of the box but maybe with modification.
• Thunderbolt Option - I do not own the card so I have no way of testing yet. But this might be on the future list.
• iMessage - Working with the guide above. It has worked several times for me so there shouldnt be issues.
• Sleep/Wake - Works as expected.
• Other - I ordered a TP-Link n900 thinking it would work out of the box. However it wont boot with my current configuration so that is on standby.

GeekBench 4
I originally was hitting 20K+ on a fresh install. I have installed some essential audio software and plugins since then. I didnt expect it to lower like this, but this is the current score. I will test again later to see if it improves or not.



For an interesting comparison, here is the same machine with a Geekbench in Linux Mint


I will post further updates as well as pictures and benchmarks as soon as I get this finalized and settled in.

 

[fanclub]

is sleep/wake working consistently and reliably, now that it's been a few days since your original post?

this is the first kaby lake build i've come across that says sleep/wake is fine. did you do anything special for it?

thanks!

 

[Delphius]

I have had my doubts as well with this. I will double check and make sure it all really works with a few tests. But I have had the computer on since I did the original install and it has never had a restart for anything, even after sleeping. I did disable sleep mode last night just because it kept putting my external usb drives to sleep while I was copying data files over. But there was no restart any of the times. Im pretty sure my macbook pro functions the same way with external drives.

I also had problems originally with my Skylake build having the restart problems with sleep, but that seems to have snapped out of it too for the most part. Ill double check that as well and see if I can find some consistency that made it work.

 

[Delphius]

I just did a quick test on each of my systems by clicking the apple button at the top left screen, and selecting sleep. Everything darkerns like it should and pandora quits playing in the background. As soon as I move the mouse everything kicks back on, including the music right on cue. When i was having issues with it this was not the case. It is functioning on both systems fine.

If I had to to take any wild guess at the property that I changed, is darkwake=8. After it seemed to be working on my Kabylake, I made note and did the same in my Skylake and it seems to have been running correctly ever since. Let me know if that works for you, it would be awesome to know for sure.

 

[danip]

Just wanted to thank Delphius for taking the time to post this build. I'm still researching which components I'll go for and I like this one a lot (Kabylake + z270!). Still deciding on the videocard (maybe a 1060 or 1070)... Anyway thanks for this and also for clarifying about the sleep/wake on the other thread.

 

[Ferric07]

Hello! I have the exact same motherboard just a different cpu i5 6500 (will be upgrading to i7 later) and gtx 970. Is it okay? Please guide me, it's my first time building hackintosh. Thanks!

 

[Delphius]

Just wanted to thank Delphius for taking the time to post this build. I'm still researching which components I'll go for and I like this one a lot (Kabylake + z270!). Still deciding on the videocard (maybe a 1060 or 1070)... Anyway thanks for this and also for clarifying about the sleep/wake on the other thread.

I appreciate the thanks. I can say that having done Skylake and Kabylake at this point, they are really not much different as an install. If I would have known that pascal support was around the corner, I would have purchased a GTX 10 series instead. Probably the 1060 as it would have been comparative in price to what I paid for a used GTX 980. Another thing I should note about this build, is that I am using two 16gb ddr4 2400 ram chips instead of four 8gb ddr 2400 chips. For people wanting to use faster ram like a ddr4 2800, I found it had incompatibility issues with using more than two chips at a time. This is normal for any motherboard, but sometimes overlooked. If 32gb max is all you are looking to use in your system, then faster ram might be the way to go. I decided in this build to stay compatible with four ram chips at ddr 2400 so that I could eventually expand to 64gb total system ram. Its always worth downloading the motherboard ram support list to verify compatibility before purchasing.

You might be aware of all of this already, but for the sake of the thread and people looking to build I thought I would clarify.

 

[Delphius]

Hello! I have the exact same motherboard just a different cpu i5 6500 (will be upgrading to i7 later) and gtx 970. Is it okay? Please guide me, it's my first time building hackintosh. Thanks!

That should be totally ok and maybe even slightly easier until you upgrade to the i7. You should have to do any type of fakeCPU ID if you are using Skylake. I havnt tried a Skylake in a z270 board, but a Skylake in a z170 board is pretty straight forward. The GTX 970 is definitely a good choice in my opinion. You shouldnt have any issues except your standard learning curve for being your first time. There are alot of guides and people to help you along. Its not a difficult process overall, but I would expect some toubleshooting while you are learning the ropes. Its always best if you have a computer around that you can experiment with.

 

[danip]

Another thing I should note about this build, is that I am using two 16gb ddr4 2400 ram chips instead of four 8gb ddr 2400 chips. For people wanting to use faster ram like a ddr4 2800, I found it had incompatibility issues with using more than two chips at a time.

I'm aware that I should be better off buying ram kits and also to check the motherboard compatibility list but it's a good reminder! Or are you referring to something else?

 

[Delphius]

I'm aware that I should be better off buying ram kits and also to check the motherboard compatibility list but it's a good reminder! Or are you referring to something else?

Yes it always a good thing to check. I mainly brought it up in general for people building new. You will notice looking at most compatibility charts, there is usually an indicator whether or not two, or four chips have been tested. Most of the faster speeds out there will only work with two chips. So if you are going ddr4 2800 or ddr4 3000, keep in mind that in general only two chips will work. So if you want 32gbs of RAM at ddr4 2800 use two 16gb chips, not 4 8gb chips. The only speed i found consistency on z270 with all four slots is running the speed at ddr 2400. This lets you do pretty much any combination. Of course different motherboards my differ as well.

I mention this because Ive seen builds where people confuse this, usually first by buying two chips, then complaining later when they add a couple more that so and so brand is crap ram.