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Xeon based Hackintosh

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Joined
Oct 22, 2016
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3
Motherboard
X99-deluxe II
CPU
Xeon E5-2696-V4
Graphics
Nvidia 1080
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
Hi guys,

I'm planning to build a compute server / video workstation and thought about a dual xeon setup. I'm not sure yet which xeon processors I will put in this machine but I want to keep it expandable. Should also contain loads of RAM. Of course I want to run macos on the machine, El Capitan or newer. I also think about putting a nvidia based graphics card inside, but i think this should be no problem.

Edit: I though about using xeon e5-2640v4 processors with LGA 2011-3 socket.

Can you give me any advice which motherboards to use in this setup? I found stuff from around 2012 when people build xeon based machines but it's almost 2017 and this seems a bit outdated.

Do you have any other tips and tricks that I should consider in planning?

Best,
A.S.Tarantoga
 
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Apple didn't update their MacPro line since "Ivy Bridge", so that's the latest stuff fully supported by OS X.

There are a few X99 builds in the User Build's section, but they're usually a lot more work than Hackintosh'ing a consumer platform rig (e.g. Skylake).
Personally I'd wait until the next Apple event (October 27th) and see if they finally update the Mac Pro. If they do, I'd try to build something similar for best compatibility.
 
Apple didn't update their MacPro line since "Ivy Bridge", so that's the latest stuff fully supported by OS X.

There are a few X99 builds in the User Build's section, but they're usually a lot more work than Hackintosh'ing a consumer platform rig (e.g. Skylake).
Personally I'd wait until the next Apple event (October 27th) and see if they finally update the Mac Pro. If they do, I'd try to build something similar for best compatibility.

Thank you. Then let's see what they'll show on the 27th...
 
Has anyone ever got a trashcan Mac Pro clone working? I mean, are there Ivy E Xeon builds anywhere? I know there are working Tylersburg builds, but those are too old to be worth the trouble.

I have an Ivy E3 Xeon that works nicely. Except that sleep and shutdown don't work, but otherwise it's been nice, stable and powerful.
 
X99 and 2699 v4 are ok , many on the web did it successfully and few with 2 x 2699 v4 (asus or supermicro mobo dual cpu)

but clearly possible with fakecpu and some mods to do, but not terrible at all...
(google: hackintosh with 2699v4, u will see, it is not rare at all)

i sold my system: 6950x + X99 rampage V to buy a xeon 2696 v4 + X99 deluxe II (useless to keep a rampage V specific for good OC)
the 2696 v4 is an OEM of the 2699 v4 and not an ES so it is not a pb ;)

PS: 20 or 22 cores it is cool but not useful in normal tasks (puget website shows that a 6950x is much better than a 20 or more cores for 95% of users)

the interest of this kind of CPU is:

1/ if you have heavy workload (poposhop or others are not at all, a 6950x will be better for that, as for da vinci resolve or else)
i speak about photoscan pro with 500 pics in raw and high quality YES this is what you need for this work
they show that for this kind of program (adobe suite etc etc) it is logarithmic, after 10 cores or 12 there is no interest (flat line)

2/ if you want to make a server with many threads in one time: also this is a good invest

3/ without the rest of the configuration which is at the same level: it is pointless!
I mean this number of cores (if it is used at the same times: many rendering by different programs and so on), if people plan to buy a xeon with more than 20 cores and only 16 GB: they truly need to forget it,
i mean this config needs RAM if not it will be clearly limited! I have 128 GB of DDR4 corsair 2133: cheap than others and go easily to 2400 at very low cas (cas 13),
2400 it is the max for the xeon v4, so dont buy the last super duper memory 3200 MHz it will not be useful!
as for the video cards, again the website puget shows that it is much better to invest in video cards than a cpu like this one: much more benefits for rendering or else,
BUT the must: a 2699 + 2 or 3 titan x maxwell, and then YES it is a beast! :D

4/ 90% of the user of this xeon can "OC" at 4 or 5% around not more, it is funny to say so but 5% for 40 or 44 threads, it makes a "tiny" difference appreciable ;)

to resume:
the reason to invest in this processor (which costs on ebay as OEM around 2000$) exists
BUT if you are not sure at 100% that u will use it on some kind of tasks which use max of cores and threads or use many greedy/glutonous programs at same time ,
much much much better to invest in a 6950x: it is cheaper and OC u can reach in 99% of use much better results than the xeon 2640!
also consider to invest in the rest of the machine too, so at the end the configuration costs much more than a 6950x with a 980Ti OC or 2 x 980Ti

it is like comparing a lamborghini (6950x oc 4,2GHz) vs a hummer (xeon 20 or 22 cores), not same domain


good luck
 
Thank you for your information. I will definitely check deeper into it.

To the number of the cores: Yes, 20 or more cores are definitely nothing for 95% of the users and for most of the out-of-the-box adobe applications a system with less cores should be sufficient. My idea is to build a compute server that will be able to run a load of parallel tasks in a custom software and I will definetley go for a lot of memory and GPGPU algorithms, so that would be a qualification for the remaining 5%...

BTW: I had the chance to use a 64 core system with 2TB of RAM once and it was quite fun to use such computing power. Such a system you don't find very often and it's a bit out of my league but anyway.

The final system will have a linux os for such tasks. For a wider utilization I'd like to check the possibility of running macos on it and also have the possibility of doing graphics-workstation stuff and the like.
 
after thinking: it is more "useless for 99%"
;)
cause it is rare to find users who buy a xeon v4 for a hackintosh and the rest which go well too, at this price u can have a crazy more mainstream desktop (i7)

i saw a person on the web who made a dual system of 2696 v4 so geekbench = more than 77 000 in multi :mrgreen:
ok it is synthetic test but 77 000 :headbang:


i bought this one on ebay, for around 1800$ (new one costs: 4450$ around)

it was sold as a SR2J0 and finally it is a SR2JS
very strange cause the SR2J0 means OEM (so 2696)
and SR2JS means Retail (so 2699)
if we follow the intel data sheet
maybe a retail transformed in OEM?

the seller has very very good reputation and said to me many times if it is not ok (exchange possible easily)
i will make a burn during few days (under linux) to see if problems of stability exists before to make my hack. and watercooling everything!
also on some OC erecords people can reach more than 5 or 6% and i dont now how they do, maybe by desactivating some cores cause i dont see how it can be possible without this! :think:


anyway mine: it is not a Confidential and i advice anyone to not buy a confidential at any cheap prices... they are not reliable at all, and much more if it is a Xeon series
so if it is a ES cheap price or not,
good chance that you will have problem, and if a person buy a xeon it is to have heavy workload and reliability (a minimum) so pointless to buy something not reliable for reliable tasks...
it is like going to swim with white sharks and expected to not be eaten: "yes but no" :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:
 

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Since the iMac Pro has been released, it should be possible to do Xeon-W hackintoshes now with 11.2? Would appreciate if anyone (with money to spare ;)) has validated this already.
 
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