All We Know About Maximizing CPU Related Performance

Sedor · May 21, 2015

MacVidCards said:
Hey guys, really happy to see you here working on something that parallels what I have been working on.

Sedor I believe that you and I are the only ones posting about nMP with eGPU at Techinferno. You had CUDA running on nMP. I have been able to get display recognized as primary display via an Nvidia card on nMP, think I am the only one to have done so. It required a special eEFI that allowed boot screen to display on GTX Titan Black instead of on D300s.

The whole thing gets much more complicated trying to get into Windows. I actually posted in your thread over there asking about Windows. The fascinating thing about nMP is the incredible web of PCI to PCI bridges that connect things. And in every attempt I have made, with or without eEFI I can not get nMP to work for display output or CUDA in Windows. I always end up with an "Error 12" ("Windows can not find enough resources, etc")

I enlisted the help of Nando4 over there. He pointed me at a thread trying to get eGPU working on a MacBook of some sort. The guy was able to connect things by booting into EFI shell and then using mmio commands to link things. I dug into this and did everything I could, best I got was display output, but still couldn't get driver to load.

Anyhow, I think that we are fighting similar battle. Some good reads include the Tolud battles at eGPU boards. Basic issue they fight is all of the addressing going into 32 bit space, not enough space for GPUs, so they compact some and change to 36bit to gain space. There is a thread on this board from when people first started doing true EFI boots of Win 7 and Win 8. Issue was that GPUs weren't working in Windows, same Error 12 issue we hit with eGPU.

Anyhow, it may be possible to use some of the methods mentioned at eGPU board (DSDT over rides, mmio on EFI boards, etc)

Yes, haven't seen any other posting about a nMP with eGPU there - I am currently a bit silent there because all my GPUs are at the cMP, will continue with the nMP when I got a GPU for it (thinking about a 980 or Titan X, not sure right now if the Titan X is the card I should go for).
Great to hear that you figured out how to get it working for use as primary card/display adapter.

Somewhere I am right now also at the end of my knowledge (which wasnt pretty much

), I want to go more into deep with this - just for stretching the boundaries... seeing where the "real" end is.

MacVidCards said:
I did an lspci using a GTX680 that had been eEFI'd into running display and the out put didn't match what those threads expected, however. I have been unable to get nMP to see a 2nd eGPU IIRC. I am able to test a variety of setups. I have an infinite number of GPUs and an infinite number of TB2 enclosures (OK, exaggeration, only have 12 of those)

But my attempts to get 2014 Mini to do SLI failed horribly. Partially because HyperSli isn't being supported and the replacement is harder to get running, but also because I seem to run into issues with more than 2 or 3 eGPUs.

So, Sedor, I would be thrilled to know if you ever tried eGPU with nMP and:

1. Display output from eGPU in OS X.
2. Any function (CUDA or display output) in Windows.

EFI can help get a card "introduced" to the OS but doing many at once doesn't seem to be possible. There is however, someone much brighter than I who will shortly be joining the eGPU fray. He may find more useful answers than I.

I have had some fun already, I was being told off over there by someone with connections at Netstor TB enclosure company. They (Netstor) flat out swore that 2014 Mini could only have 2 external Nvidia GPUs. So I wired up 3 and did a screenshot.

It's the little things.

Well, as I mentioned above: I havent done more tries since my last posting at Techinferno, so I am sorry to say (at the moment) that I haven't looked into Windows and how the eGPU works there.
Display output in OSX was something I tried, but never got working - it hasn't made any difference if I used a non-flashed card (GTX780) or a flashed (GTX680).

What I can do is... getting a new Windows license (will go for W8) and (as I posted some days/weeks earlier) try to get my cluster, which is now finalized with it's water cooling, recognized at the nMP with W8.

PunkNugget · May 21, 2015

Wow Tutor! That's a lot to chew on. Lot's of choices and I don't want to mess this up. I will talk with RampageDev and let him read this and hope he'll chime in and give his thoughts as well. I'm eager to see if something like this could work, though he's convinced I should wait for the new year, as intel has a new CPU in the works that is going to be what he wants me to wait for. We'll see… Again, thanks for the input…

PS - I noticed this guys score here on GeekBench and wondered what type of system setup he used?

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/2284972

Any thoughts?

Tutor · May 22, 2015

PunkNugget said:
Wow Tutor! That's a lot to chew on. Lot's of choices and I don't want to mess this up. I will talk with RampageDev and let him read this and hope he'll chime in and give his thoughts as well. I'm eager to see if something like this could work, though he's convinced I should wait for the new year, as intel has a new CPU in the works that is going to be what he wants me to wait for. We'll see Again, thanks for the input

PS - I noticed this guys score here on GeekBench and wondered what type of system setup he used?

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/2284972

Any thoughts?

Looks like he used a pair of Ivy Bridge 2696 ES chips (that because his show version2 and version4 was retail, but the model nos. are a match) and in bios reduced the number of cores to fit into OSX's 32 core window. See http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon E5-2696 v2.html . I cannot tell for certain what motherboard he used, but I wouldn't be surprised if he, in fact, used the predecessor Supermicro motherboard (for Sandy and Ivy Bridges) to the X10DAX-O motherboard, the Supermicro $630 X9DAX-IF-O Dual LGA2011/ Intel C602/ DDR3/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&2GbE/ Enhanced EATX Server Motherboard [ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X9DAXF&c=CJ ].

PunkNugget · May 23, 2015

Tutor said:
Looks like he used a pair of Ivy Bridge 2696 ES chips (that because his show version2 and version4 was retail, but the model nos. are a match) and in bios reduced the number of cores to fit into OSX's 32 core window. See http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon E5-2696 v2.html . I cannot tell for certain what motherboard he used, but I wouldn't be surprised if he, in fact, used the predecessor Supermicro motherboard (for Sandy and Ivy Bridges) to the X10DAX-O motherboard, the Supermicro $630 X9DAX-IF-O Dual LGA2011/ Intel C602/ DDR3/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&2GbE/ Enhanced EATX Server Motherboard [ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X9DAXF&c=CJ ].

Thanks for the info, I thought that too; not in the detail that you have that knowledge, but I thought that he was using a Supermicro mobo of some kind. I wish I knew who "ccr4700" was. I Googled this: "ccr4700 hackintosh" and found this:

https://openzfsonosx.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=371&start=20

This guys location shows he's from Tokyo, Japan; if that's him. Beyond that, nothing else… Thanks for the info…

UPDATE: I just noticed something else while on this blog that I found. They talk about Hackintoshes. So my obvious hunch is that ccr4700 made his comment on there, may be the same guy who has received such high scores.

Also, I saw this post here:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/153074-dual-xeon-motherboard-recommendations-01-2015-a.html

and it looks like this other person hasn't (so far) had any success with his new setup that you had suggested. Any thoughts?

DJenkins · May 24, 2015

Hey Punknugget hope you're doing well! Please keep us updated in this thread, there has been almost no progress at all that I've seen in the dual CPU hackintosh world for quite a while!

I do believe Rampagedev would be of great help in this situation, but cost of the equipment limits him from trying it out just for fun.

Good luck with your build, I'll be following closely

PunkNugget · May 24, 2015

DJenkins said:
Hey Punknugget hope you're doing well! Please keep us updated in this thread, there has been almost no progress at all that I've seen in the dual CPU hackintosh world for quite a while!

I do believe Rampagedev would be of great help in this situation, but cost of the equipment limits him from trying it out just for fun.

Good luck with your build, I'll be following closely

Thanks for the reply and reaching out. Believe me, I've been very much reaching out to RampageDev (RD), but he too is running into the same problem. My ONLY problem (so far), is I just purchased this brand new case:

http://www.originpc.com/gaming/desktops/genesis/

and this case is a total game changer. As you are now able to configure it the way you want; I'm talking about the Mobo. You can use standard, standard inverted, 90˚ and 90˚ inverted setup. Plus you can fit 3 x 360mm rads. Personally I believe with some tweaking, I can increase the rad space by, 2 x 480's & 1 x 360. But we'll see once I get the unit in. In the meantime I'm still very happy with my existing system, but since I know that systems change and other companies stop supporting older OS's (like the one I'm currently using 10.8.3). Already I'm facing issues, so I think it's time for an update. That's just my take on it. Plus, I want to be an innovator and not follower. That is the reason why I'm here. Guys, like Tutor, RD, myself and others are the ones always questioning and brainstorming and seeking input from everyone here to push the limits of what can be done. But again, you are correct, I'm sure that if RD had the funds freely available at his disposal he would give it a good try. So far though it looks like someone HAS already been trying with little success:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/153074-dual-xeon-motherboard-recommendations-01-2015-a.html

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/153835-x10dax-board-hackintosh-workstation.html

who has been doing it since Jan, 2015 and has spent all that money only to find out that he has a very expensive and fast Windows system. Since he already has found out the limitations of what is not possible yet with Mac OS 10.10.+. After finding out on my own and reconfirming with Tutor with his suggestions, that I would have wanted to purchase the same type of setup, but I don't like taking expensive chances like that, as they haven't been tested to work yet.

It was just like when I purchased the SR-2 and 5690's and all the other stuff (that's in the HACKINBEAST), a lot of time went into making sure it worked first through others' trial and error. All I did was continue to seek the input and once I turned over to the two main people (RD with his OS installation knowledge and Tutor with technical parts and Over/Underclocking expertise), all I did was dress it up (with high end water cooling parts and map out how the all the parts were going to fit) to give it that Pro PC look. Of course that was an undertaking in and of itself, but it was worth it. I'm very grateful to have it still and my 3 x 2560x1600 monitor setup.

Now I see why RD said to wait until next year's new Intel CPU (whatever that's going to be). My gut tells me that Apple finally figured out how to put a stop to guys like us (as we are kicking their performing butts) and wrote the OS in such a way to create bottlenecks to prevent guys like us from having any kind of success. Maybe not. Maybe, they just haven't been able to catch up with the technology yet and that's why we're facing that bottleneck. In any case, I hope that someone out there who is reading this that may have found some success with this type of Dual CPU setup is willing to share their victory so we too can share in their success as well.

In the meantime, how about a X99 mobo/5690 CPU setup with 3 x Titans or at least 3 x 980's? From what I'm seeing so far Maniac Harmon1c (on tonymacx86) and has GB score of: 34,794. I'm sure that Tutor has reached a far higher score (if he's already built a similar system). Of course RD will help me with that one and (again) tell me to wait until the beginning of next year for the new Intel CPUs. With this kind of a setup though, I need to be able to run all three monitors side, by side, by side (like I currently have set up right now). I asked RD and he said it will work, but Mavericks and Yosemite have issues running multiple monitors right now. That is a problem for me, as I want to keep what I have, but if that continues to be an issue than I can make a compromise and get a 40" 4K monitor and be done with it and not have to purchase more than 2 x 980's, as I think that will be enough for one 4K monitor. We will see what happens.

Tutor · Jun 16, 2015

On my present two 4xE5-4650 Supermicro systems, I intend to use a combo of x16 to x16 risers [ $_12.JPG ] and Amfeltec splitters [ http://amfeltec.com/products/flexible-x4-pci-express-4-way-splitter-gpu-oriented/ ] to maximize their GPU count. I'll be using PCI Express Riser Card x8 to x16 Left Slot Adapters [ 61i-nVnMqbL._SL1001_.jpg ], along with x16 to x16 risers and Amfeltec splitters for my new two 2xE5-2680 Supermicro X9DRX builds. The Supermicro X9DRX is the only motherboard that I've been able to determine for sure has reached, and has passed, the 12 GPU threshold {recognized and working in CUDA} [ see https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/...llation/18-gpus-in-a-single-rig-and-it-works/ and http://www.superbiiz.com/query.php?s=Supermicro+X9DRX ]. I firmly believe that we can get this platform to work in Octane to reach the 12 GPU license limit, if not with Windows, then with either Windows Server or with Linux (which, of course, is free). ZZZ1000 used Linux [ https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/572651/issue-with-more-than-8-gpus/#4030904 ]. He first got 16 GPUs running under CUDA 5.5 in Linux and he later reached 18 GPUs running under CUDA in Linux. The only step that I can't tell whether he took was getting all of his GPUs to run under Octane. BTW - Octane has Linux support for Maya, Blender, Modo and Nuke. You can use Wine [ https://www.winehq.org/download/ ] to run other 3d applications under Linux such as Cinema 4d [ http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/82380-cinema-4d-on-linux/ ] etc. [ http://www.linux.com/learn/answers/view/1138-can-install-3d-max-and-maya-softwares-in-linux ].

Thus, the best performance for the buck for those desiring to run the maximum number of GPUs on Octane in one system currently lies in leveraging low cost Supermicros. They're more likely to attain, for the least cost, the current Octane license ceiling of 12 GPUs. The Supermicro X9DRX line is cheap (in terms of price), particularly when compared to the Trenton systems. One can purchase an 11 slotted Supermicro X9DRX in two versions, one for $460 [ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X9DRXFB ] */ and the other for $489 [ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X9DRXF ] **/ . One can purchase a Supermicro upright chassis that houses either motherboard for $967 [ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=CA-747TQ6B ] ***/ That chassis also includes the ability to use the GPUs, storage and memory of your choice (so long as it meets LGA 2011 standards). Purchasing the more expensive motherboard and chassis separately costs about $1456, or the least expensive motherboard and the same chassis for $1,427 ($967 + $460 = $1,427). But if one doesn't want to bother with installing the motherboard onto the chassis, one can purchase a motherboard/chassis combo for $1,552 [ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=SY-747RTXF ] ****/; this combo comes with the less expensive motherboard. You can also buy a rackmount chassis combo that has the least expensive motherboard for $1,346.99 [ http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=SY-637RTXF ]. It has 980W Redundant Power Supplies. If you’re going to be using lots of externally powered splitters this would likely work, but if you’re going to be using only or mainly risers like the one shown in this pic, http://render.otoy.com/forum/download/file.php?id=43956&mode=view , then connecting up to eleven GPUs to the eleven slots may be too much, since each GPU may draw up to 75 watts from its connected PCIe slot: 75W x 11 = 825W, not including the power requirements of the CPUs, chip set, fans, ram, etc.

I'll be housing my two Supermicro X9DRX builds in my two Lian Li PC - D8000 chassis [ http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-d8000/ ]. My first Supermicro X9DRX build will consist of Titan Hydros: 6xTitanZs + 2xTitanBlacks + 4xTitanXs) and, for next year I'll add as many Pascals Hydros as I can get running [ http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2015/03/17/pascal/ & [ http://www.pcworld.com/article/2898...10x-the-performance-of-titan-x-8-way-sli.html ] to this system or to my second build; and my second Supermicro X9DRX build will also likely consists of 18+ GPUs, consisting of any overflow GPUs from the first build, plus more Pascals and successors {it'll be a work-in-progress into the future}. In addition to rendering using Octane, I also be rendering on these systems with TheaRender {no GPU limit}, FurryBall {no GPU limit} and Redshift3d {effectively no GPU limit - one can run multiple instances simultaneously}, as well as other applications that are supported by GPUs. These Supermicro GPU consolidations/mods & builds (as well as similar consolidations/mods to my Tyan, MacPros, and my many Gigabyte systems) will allow me to significantly reduce my chassis count and, thus, reduce my software licensing costs (they're based per system).

Differences Bolded
*/
Specifications
Mfr Part Number: X9DRX+-F-B
CPU: Dual LGA2011
Support Intel Xeon E5-2600 Processors
Cache up to 20MB
QPI up to 8 GT/s
Support up to 135W TDP
Chipset: Intel C602
Memory: 16x 240pin DDR3-1600/1333/1066/800 DIMM Slots, Supports up to 512GB ECC/REG Memory or up to 128GB ECC/Non-ECC Unbuffered Memory
Slots: 10x PCI-Express 3.0 x8 Slots, 1x PCI-Express 2.0 x8 Slot (runs at x4)
SATA: 2x SATA3 Ports (via AHCI), 8x SATA2 Ports (four via AHCI, four via SCU); Support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 [see http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/xeon-e5-2687w-benchmark-review-cores,2-288-3.html - essentially, it adds SAS functionality ]
Video: Matrox G200eW Graphics Controller
LAN: Intel i350 Dual Port Gigabit Ethernet Controller; 1x Realtek RTL8201N PHY (Dedicated IPMI)
Ports: 10x USB 2.0 Ports (4 rear, 4 via headers, 2 Type A), 1x VGA Port, 2x Serial Ports (1 rear, 1 via header), 2x RJ45 LAN Ports, 1x RJ45 Dedicated IPMI LAN Port
Form Factor: Proprietary, 15.2 x 13.2 inch / 38.6 x 33.5 cm
RoHS Compliant

**/
Specifications
Mfr Part Number: X9DRX+-F-O
CPU: Dual LGA2011
Supports Intel Xeon E5-2600 Processors
Cache up to 20MB
QPI up to 8 GT/s
Supports up to 135W TDP
Chipset: Intel C602
Memory: 16x 240pin DDR3-1600/1333/1066/800 DIMM Sockets, Supports up to 512GB ECC/REG Memory or up to 128GB ECC/Non-ECC, Unbuffered Memory
Slots: 10x PCI-Express 3.0 x8 Slots, 1x PCI-Express 2.0 x8 Slot (runs at x4)
SATA: 2x SATA3 Ports, 8x SATA2 Ports; Support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10
Video: Matrox G200eW Graphics Controller
LAN: Intel i350 Dual Port Gigabit Ethernet Controller; 1x Realtek RTL8201N PHY (dedicated IPMI)
Ports: 10x USB 2.0 Ports (4 rear, 4 via headers, 2 Type A), 1x VGA Port, 2x Serial Ports (1 rear, 1 via header), 2x RJ45 LAN Ports, 1x RJ45 Dedicated IPMI LAN Port
Form Factor: Proprietary, 15.2 x 13.2 inch / 38.6 x 33.5 cm
RoHS Compliant

***/
Specifications
Mfr Part Number: CSE-747TQ-R1620B
Case Type: 4U Rackmount / Tower
Color: Dark Gray
M/B Type: EATX, ATX; Max Motherboard Size - 15.2 x 13.2 inch
Processor Support: Dual, Single Intel/AMD Processors
Drive Bays: 8x 3.5" Hot-swap SAS/SATA Drive Bays, 3x 5.25" Peripheral Drive Bays in Sorage Module (Rotates 90° for Rackmount), 1x 3.5" Fixed Peripheral Drive Bay
Expansion Slots: Capable of housing 11x Full-Height, Full-Length Expansion Cards
Backplane: SAS/SATA Hard Drive Backplane w/ SES2
Cooling System: 4x (92x38mm) 4-pin PWM Middle Cooling Fans, 2x (80x38mm) 4-pin PWM Rear Exhaust Fans
Front Panel:
Buttons: LED Power On/Off, System Reset
LEDs: Power Status, Hard Drive Activity, 2x Network Activity, System Overheat & Power Fail
Ports: 2x USB 2.0 Ports
Power Supply: 1620W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified High-efficiency Redundant Power Supply w/ PMBus
Dimensions (WxDxH): 18.2 x 26.5 x 7.0 inch / 462.0 x 673.0 x 178.0 mm
Gross Weight: 62.0 lbs / 28.1 kg

****/
Specifications
Mfr Part Number: SYS-7047R-TXRF
Motherboard: Super X9DRX+-F
Processor: Dual LGA2011
Supports Intel Xeon E5-2600 Processors
Cache up to 20MB
QPI up to 8 GT/s
Chipset: Intel C602
Memory: 16x 240pin DDR3-1600/1333/1066/800 DIMM Slots, Supports up to 512GB ECC/REG Memory or up to 128GB ECC/Unbuffered Memory
Slots: 10x PCI-Express 3.0 x8 Slots; 1x PCI-Express 2.0 x8 Slot (runs at x4)
SATA: 2x SATA3 Ports, 8x SATA2 Ports, Supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10
Video: Matrox G200eW Graphics
LAN: Intel i350 Dual Port Gigabit Ethernet Controller; 1x Realtek RTL8201N PHY (dedicated IPMI)
Drive Bays: 8x Hot-swap 3.5" Drive Trays; 3x 5.25" Peripheral Drive Trays
Backplane: SAS/SATA Hard Drive Backplane w/AMI MG9072
Ports: 10x USB 2.0 Ports (4 rear, 4 via header, 2 Type A), 2x Serial Ports (1 rear, 1 via header), 1x VGA Port, 2x RJ45 LAN Ports, 1x RJ45 Dedicated IPMI LAN Port
Form Factor: 4U Rackmountable / Tower
Power Supply: 1280W 80 Plus Platinum Certified Redundant High-efficiency Digital Power Supply w/ PMBus 1.2
System Cooling: 4x 92x38mm 4-pin PWM middle fans, 2x 80x38mm 4-pin PWM rear exhaust fans
Front Panel:
Buttons: Power On/Off, System Reset
LEDs: Power, Hard Drive Activity, 2x Network Activity, System Overheat, Power Fail
Color: Black
Dimensions (WxDxH): 7.0 x 26.5 x 17.2 inch / 178.0 x 673.0 x 437.0 mm
Weight: 56.2 lbs / 25.5 kg
RoHS Compliant

Tutor · Jun 17, 2015

Among the many new features of OctaneRender 3, coming late Summer or early Fall, will be “OpenCL support: OctaneRender 3 will support the broadest range of processors possible using OpenCL to run on Intel CPUs with support for out-of-core geometry, OpenCL FPGAs and ASICs, and AMD GPUs.”

OCTANE GPU ACCELERATED PLUGINS

The Present (as of 06/17/2015)

Autodesk® 3ds Max®
AutoCAD®
Autodesk® Inventor®
Autodesk® Maya®
Blender®
Carrara®
Cinema 4D®
Daz® Studio
Graphisoft® ArchiCAD®
Houdini
LightWave®
Modo®
Nuke®
Autodesk® Revit®
Rhinoceros®
SketchUp®
Smith Micro's Poser®
Autodesk® Softimage®

The Near Future

MotionBuilder®
ZBrush®
Unity3d®
Blackmagic Design Fusion®
Unreal Engine®
After Effects®
Photoshop®
Digital Molecular Matter®

PunkNugget · Jun 19, 2015

Wow, so much detailed info. Thanks again Tutor. I only wish I had the programming skills that you and Rampage do so I could get the Supermicro X9DAX-IF-O mobo (or a similar mobo) and use only 3 of those Titan X's to work and try to get El Capitan 10.11+ working for my next Hackintosh build. Well, if Rampage is able find out what he can about EC10.11 (I hope it's positive), but if we still have limits to this and it's a "no go," I might have to finally switch to using Windows 10? After 25 years of using Mac OS - Ouch!

I hope not though, we'll see...

PunkNugget · Jun 19, 2015

Tutor said:
Among the many new features of OctaneRender 3, coming late Summer or early Fall, will be “OpenCL support: OctaneRender 3 will support the broadest range of processors possible using OpenCL to run on Intel CPUs with support for out-of-core geometry, OpenCL FPGAs and ASICs, and AMD GPUs.”

The Near Future

MotionBuilder®
ZBrush®
Unity3d®
Blackmagic Design Fusion®
Unreal Engine®
After Effects®
Photoshop®
Digital Molecular Matter®

Well, I hope they work on the Adobe line of apps (especially Photoshop) to have that enabled. By the way, how does Octane compare to CUDA? Or does it use CUDA and support others (OpenCL) along with it to make it better?

Lastly, I just installed OctaneBench 2.17 on my Mac OS X 10.8.5 and it stated "OctaneBench Error - No supported GPU found." I gather that my nVidia C2070 and both of my EVGA GTX 580 GPUs are outdated and not able to be used in testing it.

Sedor · Jun 19, 2015

PunkNugget said:
Wow, so much detailed info. Thanks again Tutor. I only wish I had the programming skills that you and Rampage do so I could get the Supermicro X9DAX-IF-O mobo (or a similar mobo) and use only 3 of those Titan X's to work and try to get El Capitan 10.11+ working for my next Hackintosh build. Well, if Rampage is able find out what he can about EC10.11 (I hope it's positive), but if we still have limits to this and it's a "no go," I might have to finally switch to using Windows 10? After 25 years of using Mac OS - Ouch! I hope not though, we'll see...

Well, 3 of Titan X shouldn't be a problem... if you get them on your board

PunkNugget · Jun 19, 2015

Hi Sedor, I see that you're located in Germany, Well I just contacted ccr4700 from this forum site:

http://hackintosh-forum.de

as I found this person who built some kind of Hackintosh system that garnered this GeekBench score:

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/2284972

Of course I'm assuming that this is the same person, as you don't see too many people with that avatar name. Especially since that forum site is also a Hackintosh site (2 + 2 = 5, according to some sources - LOL!!!). So I joined the (German based) forum and just sent him a personal message. I had to use Google Translate to convert the language from English to Geraman and back again the other way in order to make sure it translated it properly, and of course I found quite a few words that I had to re-word so I could get my message across to this person properly. That took an hour, but to me it's worth it. I really hope that message reaches him and he is able to reply back to me. Mind you this particular German Hackintosh Forum site will NOT allow you to use the words: "InsanelyMac" or "TonyMacX86." So I had to use another website to show him one of my Hackintosh builds. Here is what I asked him:

Dear ccr4700,

Please forgive me for any incorrect language issues as I'm using a translation program to convert my English into German. If you do communicate in English please let me know that too. I live in the United States (Houston, Texas) and I wanted to reach out to you because I also made a Hackintosh PC 3 years ago. It's called The Hackinbeast. Here is the web link so you can see it:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...-SR-2-Mac-Hak-Pro-Build-YES-IT-FITS-!!!/page2

I hope you like it. The reason why I'm here is because I was on GeekBench and noticed this GeekBench Score:

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/2284972

I wanted to find out if that was you? If it is you, that score is AMAZING !!!

I also wanted to find out if is possible to provide all the parts that you used for this Hackintosh build:

Motherboard (possibly the Supermicro X9DAX-IF-O?)
CPUs (possibly the Intel Xeon E5-2696 v2?)
GPUs (graphics card?)
RAM (which company's brand did you use?)

I'm thinking you used the Supermicro X9DAX-IF-O motherboard. If I am wrong about this, please let me know the correct motherboard that you used along with the CPU's, GPU's and RAM. I would be very grateful for any help that you could provide.

Also, what did Hackintosh process did you use to install Mac OS X? If you are not allowed to tell me what it is here on this forum let me know that too. I was just curious.

One more question, what Mac OS X did you use: Mac OS X 10.9.5, 10.10.+? Have you tried the new El Capitan 10.11 yet? Please, if you can, try to be as detailed as possible as I would like to build the same PC system that you have. Thank you for whatever you can provide…

I hope he gets this message and reaches back out to me as I would love to put together a similar system.

Sedor · Jun 19, 2015

Whow, that scores are amazing - looks like there is a real monster build!

I hope you get the answer! I am really curious what exactly the specs of that machine are!

PunkNugget · Jun 19, 2015

We'll see what happens as I'm just as eager !!!

EDIT - Well, I dug in a little deeper and I think our man is in Japan. I mentioned it before but forgot. I just checked some Asian website (doing some more research) and found that he has a twitter account under "ccr4700" and he does. So I tweeted him in his foreign tongue and (again), we'll see if he responds. I hope this is the right person. I think he is…

In the meantime, I just watched this video:

Part 1:

Part 2:

and it seemed like he didn't know what he was doing? Maybe he did, but didn't quite get the results he was hoping for. What are your thoughts Tutor on what he was trying to accomplish?

PunkNugget · Jun 20, 2015

You know there's that little spirit inside me that says - Don't quit just yet - keep searching and asking… Well, guess what guys? I FOUND HIM !!! ccr4700 replied to me this morning and this was his reply:

"Hi, I read your e-mail and Twitter mention.

I'm Japanese and I don't understand Deutsche, so I want to communicate with you in English.
(I'm not so good at English, but it's difficult for me to read machine-translated Japanese. )

I saw your TJ11 Hackintosh on your url. It's great!
I don't have case-modding skill, so I’m so jealous! I really like water-cooling tubes and carbon sheet.

Now for the my Hackintosh build.
That geekbench score is my machine's one, as you expected.

Specs:
Motherboard : ASUS Z9PA-D8
CPUs : Intel Xeon E5-2687W v2 ES x2
GPU : GeForce GTX 750Ti (temporary)
RAM : DDR3L-1600 ECC Registered 8GB x 8 = 64GB (Overclocked to 1866MHz)
OS : OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 (I've never tried 10.11 yet.)

CPUs are little bit special.
Normal E5-2687W v2 has 3.4GHz(TB 4.0GHz) frequency, but it has 3.2GHz(TB 3.8GHz)
I'm not so rich to buy normal E5-2687W v2. So I bought ES CPUs.

To get higher Geekbench result, I set frequency at 3.4GHz statically by SSDT.aml.
(3.4GHz is highest turbo boost clock when all cores enabled.)

But this build still has a big problem. GPU doesn't work properly.
When I use GTX760 Kepler, it instantly reboots.
GTX750Ti only works with nv_disable=1. NVIDIA Web Driver with nvda_drv=1 makes black screen.
So I could get Geekbench score but couldn't get GPU acceleration.
I'm hoping Mavericks or El Capitan solve this problem. I'm planning to use these OS X versions.
I'll really really appreciate if you could tell me the solution for this problem.

I think this problem is my motherboard specific problem, so I don't recommend to use this motherboard.
Many Hackintosh users using ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS for dual-E5 Xeon build. I think it may work.
I didn't have enough money to buy Z9PE-D8 WS and wanted to use ATX case (Carbide Air 540), so I bought Z9PA-D8.
Currently I think it was wrong decision...

I used USB stick with Clover UEFI for installation. USB stick was created by command-line tool from Yosemite installer.
I had to patch kernel to make 32 logical cores working, so I used cpus=1 when installing.
And because of the strange BIOS of this motherboard, I must create DSDT.aml to boot.
I couldn't boot installer without DSDT.aml, so I extracted raw DSDT.aml from Clover bootloader and patched it.

My activity of this build posted on this thread.
"ccx4700" is my name on this thread. (Some reason, it's not ccr4700)
http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-buil...hr-z9pe-d8-ws-12tb-geekbench-28-000-a-70.html
(I didn't use tony's method, but this thread is biggest one of E5 Xeon Hackintosh, so I posted here.)

If you have another question of this build, feel free to ask."

First, I need to say that ccr4700's (CCR) English is FANTASTIC. I asked him to join this forum and contribute his thoughts, ideas and solutions, with everyone here on this post. I was thinking about starting a brand new post for this new hackintosh build, but since we've been communicating here, there's no need, as we've been doing pretty good replying to each other here so far. Plus this keeps the long trail of history going on this post - LOL !!!

I'm really looking forward to getting this possible solution going for his build. Looks like he might be right in having the wrong mobo, but if anyone has any thoughts or possible solutions that would be great. So far he does have the fastest GB score out there for a Dual CPU Hackintosh, but for everyday practical use, with no real GPU acceleration; not so much. I just asked Rampage to join this post as well for his possible solutions. If that Mobo doesn't work, then I was thinking about these mobos:

1) http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X9DAXF&c=CJ

2) http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X10DAX

3) http://www.amazon.com/Extended-2011-3-Motherboard-Z10PE-D8-WS/dp/B00O1AXIHM

I already have most of the parts:

1 x Origin PC Genesis Case
1 x EVGA 1600 P2 PSU
1 x Cablemod Green Cable Set for the EVGA 1600 P2 PSU
2 x Coolgate GC-360G2 Rads
1 x Coolgate GC-240G2 Rad
13 x Gelid Wing 12PL (PWM Fans)
10 x Primochill PETG tubing and fittings (for a cleaner look for this new build)

Like I said to Rampage, whatever Mobo/CPU/GPU config he thinks will work, I will send it to him so he can fully test it. Hopefully we'll have some solutions to this as I would like to get started on this. I'm hopeful…

ccr4700 · Jun 21, 2015

Hi PunkNugget, thank you for inviting me to this forum!

Many accounts you found at some forums, Twitter, Geekbench are mine.
I wanted to try ozmosis, so I created account at hackintosh-forum.de though I'm Japanese. haha

Thanks that you praised my English. My reply may be late because my reading and writing English speed is slow.
And time difference between Japan and U.S. would cause some delayed response.

https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/search?dir=desc&q=Mac+OS+X+64&sort=multicore_score
In this ranking, my result is 2nd. I'm pleased that I found the Tutor who get 1st score at this thread.
I'm really curious about quad CPU system for Hackintosh.

Currently, OS X supports 32 logical cores maximum. So using four 8 cores CPUs without HT is the best way to get highest Geekbench score I think.
When Apple supports LGA2011-3 CPU, using two 16 cores Xeon E5 v3 will be the best.

I put a inside pic of my dual Xeon system.
Specs and conditions from mail I sent to PunkNugget are pasted above.
Now I need a help to solve the GPU problem of this motherboard.

Because I still have the problem of this build, I can't provide precise recommendation of dual Xeon system.
I think using Z9PE-D8 WS is popular method for dual LGA2011 system.
Some people at tony's thread said they should use PCIe slot connected to 2nd CPU instead of a slot connected to 1st CPU to work GPU properly.
Sadly, all of slots on my mobo are connected to 1st CPU. I guess this is the cause of the GPU problem.

I don't know this PCIe problem affects to other non-ASUS or LGA2011-3 mobo or not.
But I suggest to use mobo that has PCIe slots connected to both 1st/2nd CPUs.
These connection configurations can be checked by block diagrams on the pdf manual.

I'm looking forward to discussing about monster Hackintosh at here!

ActionableMango · Jun 21, 2015

Tutor said:
5) Mac Pro 5,1 -
(a) same as Mac Pro 4,1, except no EFI utility needed and only Westmere CPUs [For possible Xeon 3600 1-CPU configurations see http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/T...on 3600.html; for possible Xeon 5600 2-CPU configurations see http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/T...on 5600.html and for standard/approved configurations see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro ] should be considered. Mac Pro 5,1 comes with DDR3 1333 MHz memory;

Tutor,

In the original post, the first two links in 5a (quoted above) are broken. I believe the correct, working links are below:
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/TYPE-Xeon 3600.html
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/TYPE-Xeon 5600.html

Rampage Dev · Jun 21, 2015

I will be working with PunkNugget on this endeavor.

PunkNugget · Jun 21, 2015

ccr4700 said:
Hi PunkNugget, thank you for inviting me to this forum!

Many accounts you found at some forums, Twitter, Geekbench are mine.
I wanted to try ozmosis, so I created account at hackintosh-forum.de though I'm Japanese. haha

Thanks that you praised my English. My reply may be late because my reading and writing English speed is slow.
And time difference between Japan and U.S. would cause some delayed response.

https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/search?dir=desc&q=Mac+OS+X+64&sort=multicore_score
In this ranking, my result is 2nd. I'm pleased that I found the Tutor who get 1st score at this thread.
I'm really curious about quad CPU system for Hackintosh.

Currently, OS X supports 32 logical cores maximum. So using four 8 cores CPUs without HT is the best way to get highest Geekbench score I think.
When Apple supports LGA2011-3 CPU, using two 16 cores Xeon E5 v3 will be the best.

I put a inside pic of my dual Xeon system.
Specs and conditions from mail I sent to PunkNugget are pasted above.
Now I need a help to solve the GPU problem of this motherboard.
View attachment 562892

Because I still have the problem of this build, I can't provide precise recommendation of dual Xeon system.
I think using Z9PE-D8 WS is popular method for dual LGA2011 system.
Some people at tony's thread said they should use PCIe slot connected to 2nd CPU instead of a slot connected to 1st CPU to work GPU properly.
Sadly, all of slots on my mobo are connected to 1st CPU. I guess this is the cause of the GPU problem.

I don't know this PCIe problem affects to other non-ASUS or LGA2011-3 mobo or not.
But I suggest to use mobo that has PCIe slots connected to both 1st/2nd CPUs.
These connection configurations can be checked by block diagrams on the pdf manual.

I'm looking forward to discussing about monster Hackintosh at here!

Well, just to let you know RampageDev (RD) will be helping this build you have at the end of the 2nd week of July. So we might get things going to help you here very shortly. I made the suggestion about these three other boards:

1) http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X9DAXF&c=CJ

2) http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X10DAX

3) http://www.amazon.com/Extended-2011-3-Motherboard-Z10PE-D8-WS/dp/B00O1AXIHM

But RD liked your board better and said:

"I think the board he uses would be fine. Need to remember about the Mem Map issues so less options it has the less drivers it loads and the more stable it becomes."

This board was introduced on 02/2103. That's over two years ago. You'd think that the newer boards and CPUs would possibly be better. Again, we'll see what happens. Hey Tutor, any thoughts?

Funny thing, with a little research I found this link:

http://www.ciderpc.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2014/5/31_New_Hackintosh_Super_ATX.html

ccr4700 · Jun 22, 2015

PunkNugget said:
Well, just to let you know RampageDev (RD) will be helping this build you have at the end of the 2nd week of July. So we might get things going to help you here very shortly. I made the suggestion about these three other boards:

1) http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X9DAXF&c=CJ

2) http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X10DAX

3) http://www.amazon.com/Extended-2011-3-Motherboard-Z10PE-D8-WS/dp/B00O1AXIHM

But RD liked your board better and said:

"I think the board he uses would be fine. Need to remember about the Mem Map issues so less options it has the less drivers it loads and the more stable it becomes."

This board was introduced on 02/2103. That's over two years ago. You'd think that the newer boards and CPUs would possibly be better. Again, we'll see what happens. Hey Tutor, any thoughts?

Funny thing, with a little research I found this link:

http://www.ciderpc.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2014/5/31_New_Hackintosh_Super_ATX.html

I'm not rich enough to replace both mobo and CPUs...

Newer CPUs are better, but Xeon E5 v3 CPUs are not fully supported in OS X until Apple releases new Mac Pro.
I use MacPro6,1 smbios to make SpeedStep fully functional. I worry about new MacPro using Haswell-EP or Broadwell-EP. Because if new MacPro uses Broadwell-EP (probably it will be called Xeon E5 v4), Haswell-EP probably never get full SpeedStep function.

I've never heard about Mem Map issues. I hope that this is the key of my problem.

The information of someone selling Z9PA-D8 Hackintosh encourages me.

Tutor · Jun 22, 2015

PunkNugget said:
Well, I hope they work on the Adobe line of apps (especially Photoshop) to have that enabled. By the way, how does Octane compare to CUDA? Or does it use CUDA and support others (OpenCL) along with it to make it better?

Lastly, I just installed OctaneBench 2.17 on my Mac OS X 10.8.5 and it stated "OctaneBench Error - No supported GPU found." I gather that my nVidia C2070 and both of my EVGA GTX 580 GPUs are outdated and not able to be used in testing it.

Presently, Octane (pre-3.0) requires CUDA to run and does not yet take advantage of OpenCL. Octane version 3 will support both CUDA and OpenCL, as well as others.

Your GPUs aren't outdated. It's probably an Nvidia driver related issue associated with your running on Mac OS X 10.8.5.

Supermicro X9DAX-IF-O can likely run the OS of your choice. It's CPUs can be directly over-clocked. The Supermicro DAX motherboards are the ones that are overclockable to the safe maximum limit (x1.0755% in the case of the Sandy/Ivy bridge DAX motherboards and x1.05% for the Haswell DAX motherboard) for post-Westmere Xeons. Other post-Westmere Supermicro motherboards can't be over-clocked directly. One can simulate a degree of rough over-clocking on other Supermicro motherboards (as well as other manufacturers' post-Westmere Xeon motherboards) by tweaking the CPU Power Management Configuration parameters (namely - the Long and Short Duration Power Limits and the Long Duration Maintained) and enabling EIST, Turbo Mode, C1E, and leave CPU C3 Report disabled, but enable the other reports and set the Package C-State limit to "No Limit."

Sedor · Jun 22, 2015

Now having Hackintosh users here... Are there any known systems running more than 4 GPUs?

Tutor · Jun 22, 2015

PunkNugget said:
We'll see what happens as I'm just as eager !!!

EDIT - Well, I dug in a little deeper and I think our man is in Japan. I mentioned it before but forgot. I just checked some Asian website (doing some more research) and found that he has a twitter account under "ccr4700" and he does. So I tweeted him in his foreign tongue and (again), we'll see if he responds. I hope this is the right person. I think he is…

In the meantime, I just watched this video:

Part 1:

Part 2:

and it seemed like he didn't know what he was doing? Maybe he did, but didn't quite get the results he was hoping for. What are your thoughts Tutor on what he was trying to accomplish?

He should have used narrow 1U coolers - http://www.dynatron-corp.com/en/product_list.aspx?cv=1-4-298 . I use these on my quad CPU Supermicros and will be using them on my two Supermicro X9DRX+-F builds : http://www.dynatron-corp.com/en/product_detail_1.aspx?cv=1-4-298&id=260&in=0 .

Tutor · Jun 22, 2015

Sedor said:
Now having Hackintosh users here... Are there any known systems running more than 4 GPUs?

The 32-core (real and hyper) limit in OSX makes using such systems impracticable; thus using just four CPUs can be wasteful, depending on each CPU's real core count - having 32 real cores is faster than 16 real cores + 16 hyper cores, but any more get wasted by the OS, even if one could get it to boot - and lots a luck on getting that to happen.

Tutor · Jun 22, 2015

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