View attachment 239497
Being frustrated about the present Customac Pro build configuration proposed by Tonymacx's Buyer's guide, I decided to go for a new
Customac Pro Built based on the Broadwell-E CPU, X99 chipset and LGA2011-v3 socket with Mac OS Sierra beating records, running like hell and behaving absolutely stable.
Mainboard:
Asus X99-A II
CPU:
I7-6950X(10-core);
I7-6800K (6-core);
I7-6850K (6-core),
I7-6900K (8 core) are further options
RAM:
2x Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 64 GB Kit (128GB)
Startup Disk:
Samsung 850 EVO 1TB (SSD)
RAID: 3x
Western Digital Red Pro 6TB (18TB)
Graphics:
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 TI (used below 400$)
Wifi:
TP-Link PCI Express WIFI Adapter 802.11N (N900)
Bluetooth:
IOGear Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
Power Supply:
Corsair AX860
CPU Cooler:
Corsair H80i v2
Webcam:
Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920
Monitor:
Asus MX299Q, 29", ultra-wide, 21:9, 2560x1080 pix
Case:
Corsair CC600TWM-WHT, Graphite Series 600T, Mid Tower
Keyboard:
Logitech K811
Mouse:
Logitech Ultra-Thin Touch Mouse T631
External Blu-Ray Writer:
Buffalo MediaStation BRXL-16U3
View attachment 229170
BIOS Configuration Guide
Just follow the instructions provided by Giacomoleopardo in
"STEP 2 - BIOS Configuration", which I basically summarize below. His instructions for the BIOS configuration are complete and result in a stable Mac OS Sierra system configuration.
View attachment 228923
1.) go to Exit\
a) Load Optimized Defaults
2.) go to Ai Tweaker\
a) ASUS Multicore Enhancement: "Disabled"
b) CPU Core Ratio: "Auto"
c) Internal PLL Overvoltage: "Disabled"
3.) go to Advanced\CPU Configuration\CPU Power Management Configuration\
a) Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology: "Disabled"
b) Turbo mode: "Enabled"
c) CPU C-State: "Auto"
4.) go to Advanced\USB Configuration\
a) Intel xHCI Mode: "Enabled" or "Smart Auto", depending on whether an USB3 or USB2 Boot-Stick will be used for MacOs Sierra installation (thanks to KevinAGI for providing this important update).
b) EHCI Legacy Support: "Enabled"
c) xHCI Hand-off: "Enabled"
d) EHCI Hand-off: "Disabled"
5.) go to Advanced\Onboard Devices Configuration\
a) SPDIF Out Type: "HDMI"
b) PCIEX16_2 Slot Bandwidth: "X4 Mode"
NOTE: If you want to use the Wifi PCI Express Card choose the "Standard Mode" instead, otherwhise the WIFI PCI Express Card will not be recognized.
c) Serial Port: "Off"
6.) go to \Boot\
a.) Fast Boot: "Disabled"
b) Setup Mode: "Advanced"
7.) go to \Boot\CSM (Compatibility Support Module)\
a) Launch CSM: "Disabled"
8.) go to \Boot\Secure Boot\
a) OS Type: "Other OS"
b) Define the harddrive BBS priorities
10.) Press F10 key to Save and Reboot
Bootable USB Drive Creation and MacOS Sierra Installation Guide
If you do not poccess an already pre-installed MacOS Sierra 10.12 distribution on your new hackintosh, you will have to create now a bootable USB installation medium on any Macintosh or Hackintosh you already have at your disposal and subsequently install MacOs Sierra 10.12 on your new system by means of the respective USB installation medium you created before. Please strictly follow this "Bootable USB Drive creation and MacOS Sierra Installation Guide" and DO NOT use UNIBEAST instead! Unibeast will create files in the /EFI/CLOVER/ directory of your USB installation medium you do not want to have there. If you already created a USB installation medium with unibeast before, delete the "config.plist" file and "/drivers64UEFI/" and "/kexts/10.12/" directories in the /EFI/CLOVER/ directory of your USB installation medium and proceed with this "Bootable USB Drive creation and MacOS Sierra Installation Guide". If you do already have a pre-installed MacOS Sierra 10.12 distribution on your new hackintosh, directly jump to my "System Disk Post-Installation Guide" below.
1.) Download the latest version of MacOS Sierra by performing the following actions:
a) Delete any version of the MacOS Sierra installer from your "Applications" folder if older versions of the installer exist.
b) Go to the App-Store, and download Sierra.
2.) Prepare an USB thumb drive with Disk Utility with the following options:
a) GUID Partition Table
b) Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
c) Use the name “USB”
3.) Type in a Terminal the following command:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/USB --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app --no interaction
This will take some time
4.)
Download and install the latest Clover distribution on your USB-DISK by verifying the proper Install-location (USB-DISK) and customizing (dont press "Install" but "Customize" instead) the following options:
a) Install for UEFI booting only
b) Install Clover in the ESP
c) Select the Bootloader Themes you want to install
e) Only select EmuVariableUefi-64.efi and OsxAptioFix-Drv-64.efi in the Drivers64UEFI menu!
During installation, Clover will automatically create and mount the EFI drive of the USB installation medium and copy all
required files to the /EFI/CLOVER/Drivers64UEFI/ directory.
5.) When Clover Installation completes, copy the "config.plist" file and "/kexts/10.12/" directory of ptzulu into the "CLOVER" directory of the EFI partition of your USB installation medium. No other files will be needed for the X99-A II board! Therfore, before performing this step, delete the "config.plist" file and /kexts/10.12/ directories in the /EFI/Clover/ directory of your USB installation medium if previously installed, e.g. by unibeast or a previous Clover installation! Note that also kext files like the "VoodooTSCSync.kext" (to enable CPUs with a higher number of cores), the "NullCPUPowerManagement.kext", the "BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext" or the "AppleIntelE1000e.kext" apparently are not required anymore. Following the feedback by superjunaid and KevinAGI, the configuration files are also valid for the X99-E and X-99 Deluxe II boards.
!!You are done!!
6.) Before installing MacOS Sierra on your new system, don't forget to apply the BIOS configuration as detailed by Giacomoleopardo in
"STEP 2 - BIOS Configuration" (see above).
7.) Boot the USB Installation Medium with the following boot options: -v npci=0x2000 nv_disable=1 kext-dev-mode=1
8.) Install MacOS Sierra onto your system
9.) Now perform the Post-Installation procedure described below
System Disk Post-Installation Guide
and install the latest Clover distrubution on your Sierra system disk by verifying the proper Install-Location (Sierra System Disk) and customizing (dont press "Install" but "Customize" instead) the following options:
a) Install for UEFI booting only
b) Install Clover in the ESP
c) Select the Bootloader Themes you want to install
d) Enable Install RC scripts on target volume
e) Only select EmuVariableUefi-64.efi and OsxAptioFix-Drv-64.efi in the Drivers64UEFI menu!
f) Select Install RC scritps on target volume
g) Select Install Clover Preference Pane
During installation, Clover will automatically create and mount the EFI drive of your Sierra system disk and copy all required files to the /EFI/CLOVER/Drivers64UEFI/ directory.
View attachment 229776
Clover Configuration
1.) Download the following configuration files of ptzulu (
for further details see the post of ptzulu on insanelymac), which I attach once more at the end of my post:
a) "config.plist.zip" -> unzip and copy the "config-plist" file to the "/EFI/CLOVER" directory of the "EFI" partition of your Sierra system disk.
b) "kexts.zip" -> unzip and copy the "kexts" directory to the "/EFI/CLOVER/" directory of the "EFI" partition of your Sierra system disk.
No other configuration files will be needed for the X99-A II board! Before performing a) and b), delete any "config.plist" file and /kexts/10.12/ directories from the "/EFI/CLOVER/" directory of your Sierra system disk if previously installed, e.g. by Multibeast or any previous Clover Installation!! Don't use Multibeast in general! Note that also kext files like the "VoodooTSCSync.kext" (to enable CPUs with a higher number of cores), the "NullCPUPowerManagement.kext", the "BrcmBluetoothInjector.kext" or the "AppleIntelE1000e.kext" are apparently not required anymore. Following the feedback by superjunaid and KevinAGI, the configuration files are also valid for the X99-E and X-99 Deluxe II boards.
2.) Download the latest Version of the
Clover Configurator and open ptzulu's "config.plist" file in the /EFI/CLOVER/ directory on the EFI-Paritition of your Sierra system disk.
View attachment 228920
a.) Implement the correct "RT Variables" and "SMBIOS" entries by following
"An iDiots's Guide To iMessage" by P1LGRIM.
It works perfectly. Note, that the BooterConfig (0x28) and CsrActiveConfig (0x67) entries remain unchanged.
b.) Select the following "BOOT" options: npci=0x2000 nvda_drv=1 kext-dev-mode=1
c.) Save the modified config.plist configuration
The "kexts" folder of ptzulu contains the VodooHDA.kext which is fully working but apparently results in a low audio gain signal.
If one prefers to change to an audio_cloverALC configuration instead, the following steps have to be considered:
1.) Remove the VodooHDA.kext from the "/clover/kexts/10.12/" folder of the EFI partition of your Sierra system disk.
2.) Download and install "
audio_cloverALC-120_v1.0d.command" and "
audio_cloverHDMI-120_v1.0d.command".
With both the VodooHDA and Audio_Clover configuration, the volume of the HDMI output of your Geforce graphic card cannot be directly controlled. I solved the problem by installing some 3rd-party software like
Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba, which unfortunately does not come for free.
Additional Requirements:
1.) Download and apply the
AGDPfix.
View attachment 228921
This is a simple Applescript app that will back up the AppleGraphicsControl.kex to your desktop in a folder called KextBackUp. It will then patch the /System/Library/Extensions/AppleGraphicsControl.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy.kext/Contents/Info.plist for the MacPro6,1 board ID. This ensures that your GPU will not be effected by the MacPro6,1's AMD FirePro device policy that causes your GPU not to send a signal to your monitor at boot. This app is only useful if you are using the MacPro6,1 system definition.
2.) Download and install the
latest NVIDIA Web-drivers and reboot.
View attachment 228922
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You are done - you now have a splendid and perfect x99/LGA2011-v3 MacOS Sierra Customac Pro Built
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!! Good Luck !!
Latest News : Sierra 10.12.3 working without problems!
I you are still running 10.12.2, simply perform the following steps:
1) In the web driver menu, change from "web driver" to "OS X default graphics driver".
2) Download the MacOS Sierra 10.12.3 update from the App-Store.
3) Reboot as requested (only in case that you encounter problems with the graphic card, boot just once with the
boot-flag: nv_disable=1)
4) Apply once more the AGDPfix!
5) Download and Install the
latest NVIDIA Web Drivers.
6) Reboot (don't forget the boot-flags "npci=0x2000
nvda_drv=1 kext-dev-mode=1") as requested and you are done! Now you are running MacOs Sierra 10.12.3!
The same procedure might also apply for all upcoming MacOS Sierra updates. However, better await respective confirmations. Don't forget to create a clone of your system-disk before performing any update or modification! The famous quote "never touch a running system" is still valid to some point
.
To do so, clone your system SSD with
CarbonCopyCloner.
However, the EFI partition on the clone-drive you will have to create manually by means of Clover subsequently, in order to have a boot-able clone-drive.
Don't forget afterwards to copy ptzulu's "congif.plist" file and "/kexts/10.12/" directory from the EFI partition of your system-disk to the /EFI/Clover/ directory of the EFI partition on your clone-drive. Delete all other files in the "/kexts/10.12/" directory possibly previously installed by Clover. Generally, to create the EFI partition on the Clone-drive, you can just follow once more my guide above.
It is the same procedure as described for the boot-medium creation or post-installation procedure.
By this, your clone-drive will identically behave to your system-disk and you can directly replace it in case of problems or repair the system-disk by restoring the backup from your clone drive. By the latter procedure, the EFI partition of the system-disk will remain untouched. Also the EFI partition on your clone-drive just has to be created once! Subsequent updates of clover have to be installed to each of the EFI partitions separately. Don't forget to only enable the OsxAptioFix-Drv-64.efi in the Drivers64UEFI menu of clover before installing or updating clover each time... Always keep your clone-drive up-to-date and frequently clone your system-disk! Good luck!
Update - M.2 User guide
As there have been many requests whether or not M.2 SSD-drives can be used with the actual build, I briefly summarize my actual status concerning the Samsung 1 TB EVO 960 M.2 SSD below:
Initially, the 1 TB EVO 960 M.2 SSD-drive was not recognized by the Asus X99-A II motherboard (did not show up in the BIOS entries). However, a BIOS reset (by removing the onboard battery) and a subsequent reconfiguration of the BIOS solved the entire issue! My Asus X99-A II is now fully compatible with the 1 TB EVO 960 M.2 SSD-drive, the latter is finally also recognized by the BIOS! Previously I performed the following steps:
1.) I patched the IONVMeFamily.kext on my System SATA SSD or HDD, following the procedure provided and described in detail by
Nickwoodhams, who also refers to the IONVMeFamily.kext patch provided by
RehabMan on github. The important steps are to rename the patched kext-file in the temporary directory to IONVMeFamily.kext, to subsequently remove the original IONVMeFamily.kext in the S/L/E directory of the System SATA SSD or HDD and to install the patched IONVMeFamily.kext in the S/L/E directory by means of
kext utility. I also copied the patched IONVMeFamily.kext to the /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/10.12/ directory of the EFI partition on my System SATA SSD/HDD. Reboot
2.) Once recognized by Apple's Disk Utility, I cloned my actual SATA SSD System Drive to the 1TB EVO 960 M.2 SSD Drive, including the EFI partition. Reboot.
If the 1 TB EVO 960 M.2 SSD Drive shows up as an external drive, follow the instruction of giacomoleopardo, which I just summarize below:
Open IORegistryExplorer, in the top-right search field type
nvme and look at the results in the left column. In the case illustrated in the picture below, the nvme device shows up in PCI0@0 > BR1B@1,1 > H000@0.
View attachment 238573
Remember the values you obtain for your specific device. Download the attached
SSDT-1.aml.zip attached to this post, unzip it, open the SSDT-1.aml with MaciASL and update the values highlighted in the picture below with the values for your specific device, which you found above in your IORegistry.
View attachment 238570
Compile, Save and copy your modified SSDT-1.aml into the "/EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/ directory. Rebuild the cache and repair the permissions with the "
caches_rebuild command" attached to this post. Shutdown and Reboot your System. Your 1TB EVO 960 M.2 SSD Drive should now show up as an internal device.
View attachment 238576
View attachment 238577
Actual Limitation: The 1TB EVO 960 M.2 SSD Drive is recognized by the Asus X99-A II motherboard only after a complete shutdown and subsequent reboot (likely a BIOS issue of 1401)
Update - I7-6950X Power Management (optional and unstable at present)
There have been some user requests for enhanced power management. The steps listed below are not mandatory and do not resolve persistent sleep/wake issues either! However, they provide more CPU C- and P-states, although the build becomes unstable (random reboots at present) . Thus, you can apply the steps listed below at your own risk and for experimental purposes only. Feedback and further input is highly appreciated.
Verify that your System ID is MacPro 6.1
Download Piker.Alpha's
ssdtPRGen.sh from Github.
Drop ssdtPRGen.sh into a terminal. Check before that ~/Library/ssdtPRGen/ does not exist. ssdtPRGen.sh will create a SDST.aml file in ~/Library/ssdtPRGen/. Copy the SDST.aml from ~/Library/ssdtPRGen/ to /EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/
Launch your CloverConfigurator and verify in the "Acpi Section" that Cpu0lst and CpuPm appear under Drop Tables.
View attachment 239757
To verify your new Power Management, download and compile Piker Alpha’s
AppleIntelInfo.kext from Github with xcode (compiled version is also attached to this post - see below). Copy it to your Desktop. Go to Finder, right-click on AppleIntelInfo.kext and select “Show Package Contents”. Go to Contents and edit the "Info.plist" file.
change:
<key>logMSRs</key>
<true/>
to:
<key>logMSRs</key>
<false/>
Save and replace the "Info.plist" file.
Enter the terminal commands:
sudo -s
chown -R 0:0 ~/Desktop/AppleIntelInfo.kext
chmod -R 755 ~/Desktop/AppleIntelInfo.kext
sudo kextutil ~/Desktop/AppleIntelInfo.kext
sudo cat /tmp/AppleIntelInfo.dat
The amount of enabled power states will then show up in the Terminal window:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AppleIntelInfo.kext v1.2 Copyright © 2012-2015 Pike R. Alpha. All rights reserved
Settings:
------------------------------------
logMSRs............................: 0
logIGPU............................: 0
logIntelRegs.......................: 1
logCStates.........................: 1
logIPGStyle........................: 1
InitialTSC.........................: 0x129a0de0506
MWAIT C-States.....................: 8480
CPU Ratio Info:
------------------------------------
CPU Low Frequency Mode.............: 1200 MHz
CPU Maximum non-Turbo Frequency....: 3000 MHz
CPU Maximum Turbo Frequency........: 4000 MHz
CPU P-States [ (12) 29 34 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 1 2 5 6 8 11 13 14 ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 22 29 34 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 1 2 5 6 7 8 10 11 13 14 15 16 ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 22 27 29 34 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 0 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 ]
CPU C6-Cores [ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 21 22 27 29 34 ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 21 22 25 27 29 34 ]
CPU P-States [ 12 21 22 25 27 29 34 (35) ]
CPU P-States [ 12 21 22 25 27 29 32 34 (35) ]
CPU P-States [ 12 21 22 23 25 27 29 32 34 (35) ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 21 22 23 25 27 29 32 33 34 35 ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 21 22 23 25 26 27 29 32 33 34 35 ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 20 21 22 23 25 26 27 29 32 33 34 35 ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 29 32 33 34 35 ]
CPU P-States [ 12 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 32 33 34 (35) ]
CPU P-States [ (12) 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 32 33 34 35 ]
CPU P-States [ 12 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 32 33 34 (35) ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unload the AppleIntelInfo.kext, enter the terminal command:
sudo kextunload ~/Desktop/AppleIntelInfo.kext
Lastly, one can use the terminal commands below to ensure that the system doesn't go to deep sleep. It wont come back from it anyway.
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
sudo pmset -a standby 0
sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0
In this case one remains with the following Energy Saver Settings:
View attachment 239608
