The Perfect Customac-Pro: X99-A II, i7-6950X, 128GB G.Skill TridentZ, Aorus GTX 1080 TI Xtreme

[kgp]

Thanks for the tips !
Then stupid question, to do so I have to install windows on a spare drive I have, but after that in order to be able to update the firmware on my two NVMe :

Can I let the NVMe SSD with OS Sierra on it or should I format it ?​

First time for me that I own and play with this new NVMe SSD, sorry for the newbie question.

Other question I have is the booting part, with apple logo, the progression bar under load in two times, is it the same for you guys ?

Let me explain, the first half of the progress bar load then black screen, apple logo and bar reapear and loads the second half.
(I don't get that on a normal mac). Is that normal or do I have a wrong setting somewhere ?

​

Yes, you have to install windows on a spare drive. And yes, please leave the NVMe SSD with MacOS Sierra untouched Don't format it! Otherwise you have to start from the beginning. What you just want to do is to upgrade the firmware of your EVO 960 . To do so download the Samsung Magician Software, execute the program under Windows and select your EVO 960. One of the available options is to upgrade the firmware. That's all. After the upgrade your system should always recognize the EVO 960.

Your other question: I guess the intermediate black screen while booting is just normal and might be caused by the load of the Nvidida display driver. Don't worry at all!

Cheers!

 

[kgp]

Yes, my work on this, installing it, is trivial, using your and Pike's ready-made materials. That's what I meant since you congratulated me on a job well done. I did no job. As an engineer and scientist I find it trivial.

I did compare Pike's table, yes, applied patches - but as soon as I did it, my power limits are 4kW (LOL) and my target frequency is 25500MHz (LOL again).

I now understand what it all does (took a few hours to read up on it), but can't figure out what causes these errors since during steps required, registration of the CPU specs, C/P states, etc. all results return correct values, TDP, C/P states, etc. Just Pike's kernel ext tool reports it as errors.

The machine appears to work fine (Geekbench 4700/32000, Cine R15 is at 4.0 during test), still I'm suspicious of memory (BIOS is set up to 2600/15-15-15-35-T2 but sys recognizes 2400) and the result at 4.0GHz should be higher.

It also seems that on random (actually when it hits a wrong MSR) the machine hard-reboots. Rare, but happens.

P.S. Am I the only one who finds his time and date totally messed up after using macOS?

So I suppose that you did include now the Haswell-E xcpm_cpuid_set_info KextToPatch entry. Now you have to carefully redo everything starting from point 3. Also perform once more all checks! If then also 9 a) is fine you should be save and everything should work as expected.

If you face occasional hard-reboots, you might have some incompatibility between your RAM and the ASUS mainboard. Please verify, that your RAM is officially supported by the X99-A II. To do so, download the ASUS Memory Qualified Vendors List
attached to my originating post (guide).

You should try to do everything without my guide my friend . Then you really might find your time and date totally messed up after using macOS . I took me quite long time to get everything done until this point. In turn you just have to repeat what I already did so far . I hope that's somehow sustainable ...

 

[kgp]

Hardware Build complete
​

LG 38UC99 arrived this morning with DHL - absolutely gorgeous ​

Already working on it - 38", 3840x1600 pix, 75 Hz - simply fantastic

 

[ahmadno]

I disassembled the kernel and couldn't find most of the kernel patches locations you mentioned in your guide. I looked at Piker's guide as well and I got even more confused. Do you have any idea what he means by DP1, DP2, ..., DP7?

My motherboard is GA-X99-UD4, coupled with 5820K. I'm thinking about buying the ASUS X99-A II and install my system on a 960 EVO.

 

[dogmaphobic]

It's important to have this info correct because otherwise others might get the wrong idea and think that can create the RAID in the BIOS and then come back here and wonder why it's not working. There's already one question about it in this thread.

That's why I brought this up. I made the purchase based on the assumption this motherboard had a hardware RAID controller. That was based on a very specific question asking if a volume created with the BIOS RAID controller was visible within Mac OS. Having received a positive response, I assumed it was indeed a hardware RAID controller. My bad for not doing further research as it is quite easy to find what "Intel Rapid Storage" is and the fact it does not work with Mac OS.

With that said, I'm happy with the build. It's been running 24/7 for a few days now and everything works (I don't ever turn the machine off nor let it "sleep").

 

[kgp]

I disassembled the kernel and couldn't find most of the kernel patches locations you mentioned in your guide. I looked at Piker's guide as well and I got even more confused. Do you have any idea what he means by DP1, DP2, ..., DP7?

My motherboard is GA-X99-UD4, coupled with 5820K. I'm thinking about buying the ASUS X99-A II and install my system on a 960 EVO.

DP means Developer Preview. Before buying the ASUS X99-A II, why don't you give your GA-X99-UD4 a chance with my guide . I would be so curious which gigabyte mobos are compatible with my guide...

Concerning XCPM, I would not get deeper into the matter... just follow my guide.. XCPM should also work with your 5820K. You can use all KernelToPatch entries that I provide for the 6950X and Broadwell-E processors. Just for the xcpm_cpuid_set_info KextToPatch entry you have to use the Haswell-E values, which I also provide in my guide.

Before changing to the X99-A II, check if your Ram is listed in the ASUS Memory Qualified Vendors List. If not, you might have to change the RAM as well to avoid subsequent random reboots.

Deal?

 

[flmmkr]

And if the RAID controller on the GA-X79-UP4 v1.1 did not use Intel Rapid Storage? I am still quite convinced that formerly on the GA-X79-UP4 I did not create a software RAID with Disk Utility. I do not state now at any place that I created the RAID with Intel Rapid Storage or the ASUS X99-A II. I also implemented your above clarification in the Hardware Buyer's Guide Section of my originating post (guide).

Someone else had mentioned the Intel Rapid Storage, so that's where I got that from. Regardless, if you look in the manual for the GA-X79-UP4 you'll see that the use of the RAID feature of the motherboard requires you to install a driver and software in Windows in order to use it. That driver and software is not available for Mac. Also, you've gone from a Gigabyte X79 motherboard that uses a different RAID controller than the Asus X99 motherboard. The RAID arrays created by those chipsets are not compatible with each other. Therefore, you could not have created the RAID array in the manner which you are saying and have it work across 2 different systems with 2 different motherboard RAID chipsets and running MacOS. The only way you'd get a RAID to be recognized in this manner is the way I previously stated, which is either a hardware RAID controller that you moved from the old system to the new system (either a PCIE card or a controller built into an external drive array enclosure) or software RAID. Note that when you moved the drives to the new computer and installed MacOS, the OS would automatically recognize the existing RAID array that was previously created in an older Disk Utility. You would not need to do anything in the new MacOS install to get it to work.

Also, if you had created a RAID array outside of MacOS you would not see the individual drives of that array in MacOS. It would appear as only one disk in Disk Utility.

 

[kgp]

That's why I brought this up. I made the purchase based on the assumption this motherboard had a hardware RAID controller. That was based on a very specific question asking if a volume created with the BIOS RAID controller was visible within Mac OS. Having received a positive response, I assumed it was indeed a hardware RAID controller. My bad for not doing further research as it is quite easy to find what "Intel Rapid Storage" is and the fact it does not work with Mac OS.

With that said, I'm happy with the build. It's been running 24/7 for a few days now and everything works (I don't ever turn the machine off nor let it "sleep").

I know it is basically my fault. I did not pay enough attention to the RAID issue. I was so convinced that the GA-X79-UP4 had a hardware RAID controller and that the BIOS RAID controller was visible in OSX. As after the mobo change, I simply plugged the three RAID-0 disks to the ASUS X99-A II without any additional configuration and the RAID-0 Volume showed up in disk utility and system info, I assumed that the GA-X79-UP4 RAID-0 configuration has been directly adopted by the x99-A II mobo and MacOS and was compatible with the former settings. Failed.. I had to figure out and learn during this lively discussion that the 3 disks are "just" implemented in form of a software RAID, which is still fine for me but apparently not for your requirements. Many thanks especially to @flmmkr for his in-depth explanation. I deeply regret for any inconvenience my wrong assumption might have caused on your side. Nobody is perfect...

In any case, I hope that the stable and fully functional build you have now at your deposit can compensate this inconvenience to some extent...

KGP

 

[flmmkr]

I know it is basically my fault. I did not pay enough attention to the RAID issue. I was so convinced that the GA-X79-UP4 had a hardware RAID controller and that the BIOS RAID controller was visible in OSX. As after the mobo change, I simply plugged the three RAID-0 disks to the ASUS X99-A II without any additional configuration and the RAID-0 Volume showed up in disk utility and system info, I assumed that the GA-X79-UP4 RAID-0 configuration has been directly adopted by the x99-A II mobo and MacOS and was compatible with the former settings. Failed.. I had to figure out and learn during this lively discussion that the 3 disks are "just" implemented in form of a software RAID, which is still fine for me but apparently not for your requirements. Many thanks especially to @flmmkr for his in-depth explanation. I deeply regret for any inconvenience my wrong assumption might have caused on your side. Nobody is perfect...

In any case, I hope that the stable and fully functional build you have now at your deposit can compensate this inconvenience to some extent...

KGP

No worries kgp. We're all here to learn and help each other.

Software RAID is not necessarily worse than hardware RAID. The implementation these days does not use the same amount of overhead as in the past, so it likely would not affect the performance of the computer that much. Disk Utility only allows RAID 0 and RAID 1, as well as concatenated which I personally think is worthless. If you want RAID 5 or other options or potentially better RAID performance look at SoftRAID or get a hardware RAID controller.

 

[ahmadno]

DP means Developer Preview. Before buying the ASUS X99-A II, why don't you give your GA-X99-UD4 a chance with my guide . I would be so curious which gigabyte mobos are compatible with my guide...

Concerning XCPM, I would not get deeper into the matter... just follow my guide.. XCPM should also work with your 5820K. You can use all KernelToPatch entries that I provide for the 6950X and Broadwell-E processors. Just for the xcpm_cpuid_set_info KextToPatch entry you have to use the Haswell-E values, which I also provide in my guide.

Before changing to the X99-A II, check if your Ram is listed in the ASUS Memory Qualified Vendors List. If not, you might have to change the RAM as well to avoid subsequent random reboots.

Deal?

Thanks for the information. I checked the document you provided for RAM compatibility and it checks out.

I have an extra ssd and I was thinking about trying your guide on my motherboard. I'll let you know what happens.