Z97X-UD5H-BK / i7-4790K / Radeon Vega 56 - Sonoma

[Edhawk]

Here is a an OpenCore 0.9.5 EFI set for a Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H-BK / i7-4790K / Radeon Vega 56 system to run macOS Sonoma 14.x.

1. The first thing I did was disable the IGPU in the Bios and set the dGPU as the default graphics processor.
2. Then went on to set the Bios to work with macOS following these guidelines.
   • # Intel Bios Settings
3. Booted in to a Windows 11 drive and using Corpnewt's SSDTTime generated a number of custom SSDTs, as per this guide, just used Windows instead of macOS.
   • https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/custom-ssdts-using-corpnewts-ssdttime.318976/
4. Downloaded macOS Sonoma 14.1 to another Hack.
5. Restored the OS to a 16GB USB PenDrive, using the following Terminal command.
   • sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sonoma.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled
6. Downloaded OpenCore 0.9.5 release, followed the Haswell OC guide, except for the following elements.
   1. Added a number of additional SSDT's, as point 3.
   2. Deleted any reference to Intel IGPU.
   3. Cleaned up the config.plist to remove any unused/unnecessary sections.
   4. Set Kernel > Quirks > XhciPortLimit to True/Enabled
7. Generated an SMBIOS for a MacPro7,1 system using Corpnewt's GenSMBIOS script.
8. Checked the config with OcValidate for any errors, none found.

Here is a Finder view of the EFI folder contents.
Haswell EFI folder contents for Sonoma

This EFI should work with most Haswell Z87/Z97 boards with little to no edits.

 

[Edhawk]

Once I had installed macOS Sonoma I used Hackintool to generate a USB config for the system.

You may have noticed that I included SSDT-EHCx-OFF.aml table in the /EFI/OC/ACPI folder linked above. This is for this specific task. The SSDT disables the EHC1 and EHC2 USB Controllers and passed all the ports over to the XHC controller. Disabling the 2 x EHCx USB Controllers is an easier method for configuring the USB Ports, as there is only the XHC USB controller to deal with.
The initial kext exported from Hackintool is attached as USBPorts-All.kext. It includes all the ports available on the motherboard except the 4 x ports that don't exist/can't be activated, i.e. HS04, HS13, HS14 & SSP4.

HS03 and SSP3 are both Hubs, dealing with the 4 x USB3 physical and 5 x USB2 virtual ports served from the USB3 ports on the 2nd, 3rd & 4th rows on the rearI/O plate. As shown in the screenshot below.

Rear I/O plate USB Ports

Motherboard USB Header ports

I then cut the number of activated ports from 16 down to 15, to work in the Apple USB limit. The Only active port I needed to remove was HS10. This is a virtual USB2 port served from the 2nd row right USB3 port on the rear I/O plate. This configuration is contained in the USBPorts.kext attached. This is the one I am currently using.

Hackintool > USB tab showing final configuration

I added this USBPorts.kext to the /EFI/OC/Kexts folder along with an entry for the kext in the config.plist. Then Disabled the XhciPortLimit quirk.

No need to remove USBInjectAll.kext, as it wasn't present in the EFI. It wasn't needed to create the USBPorts.kext in Sonoma.

 

[trs96]

I'd thought you said that all of your Haswell hacks were moved on to new owners ? Did one come back ?
Looks like a good Sonoma reference for all Z87/97 owners that want to keep up with the latest macOS.

 

[Edhawk]

The motherboard and CPU were sitting in a box on a shelf, and more importantly I was bored.

Simple enough setup on my test rig after I had stopped playing with my AMD X570 system. Also there was nothing difficult or contentious to cause any issues, as I haven't included a WiFi/BT card. It actually all went along too smoothly, I like a bit of a challenge sometimes, and this setup definitely wasn't challenging.

Truly a bare metal setup!

Looks like a good Sonoma reference for all Z87/97 owners that want to keep up with the latest macOS.

I was thinking along the same lines, that someone needed to provide a simple straightforward Haswell setup for Sonoma.

 

[trs96]

The motherboard and CPU were sitting in a box on a shelf

I had that same GA-Z97X board (UD3H version) with an i5-4690K but sold it 4 or so years ago. Amazing it still works well with Sonoma. Ultra-Durable means they last a long time.

 

[Edhawk]

I have added an Intel AX210NGW 6E WiFi/BT M.2 card on a PCIe adapter to the setup to see if this would provide basic WiFi and Bluetooth functionality. It does.

WiFi works with the Airportitlwm.kext from the v2.3.0-Alpha release (Sonoma specific kext).

System Information > WiFi report with Intel WiFi card

The Bluetooth module works with the 9-pin header connected to either motherboard USB2 header and these kexts.

• IntelBluetoothFirmware.kext
• IntelBTPatcher.kext
• BlueToolFixup.kext.

Placed in the order shown above in a revised config.plist, using latest Stable version 2.3.0 for the Intel kexts and v2.6.8 for BlueToolFixup.kext.

System Information > Bluetooth report with Intel BT module.

Revised EFI containing the Intel WiFi & BT kexts is attached below. Just add your own MacPro7,1 SMBIOS before trying to use it.

 

[goldenhelton1]

Hello Edhawk,
thank you very much for this tutorial including the "EFI" file for Sonoma and concerning the Hasswell Z87 & Z97.
I still have 2 "ultradurable" machines of this type (Gigabyte Z97-HD3 & Z87MX-D3H) which are under "ventura" with CGU RX580 and have just placed one of these, under your "EFI" (with "Xhciportlimit" activated and the kext "usbinjectall", because I'm not very comfortable with USB mapping!)
My question is, does the possible switch to "Sonoma" not affect the performance of these fairly old machines too much, and is it better to stay on "Ventura"?
Thank you for your reply.
Sincerely

NB: sorry for my english, i post from France !

 

[Edhawk]

I've had systems running on both of those motherboards. No longer have them but they still worked well when I finally retired them from my playroom/Office and parcelled them out to a few younger family members.

Always good to know that a guide has helped someone.

As to your question:
There is no performance hit running Sonoma on a Haswell system as far as I can tell. Always seen the same good performance as was found on Big Sur, Monterey & Ventura. Apple haven't added anything to these OS's that require a faster, harder working CPU that might cause an older CPU/RAM/MB combo to not cope with running their latest and greatest release.

The main reason for staying on Ventura would be when your system uses a Broadcom WiFi/BT card. If you rely on AirDrop, Continuity, Handoff etc. you don't want to upgrade, as these functions are lost when you install Sonoma.

If these functions aren't important to your workflow, then there is no reason to hold back. Even more so if you are using an Intel WiFi/BT card as they work the same in Sonoma as they do in previous versions of macOS.

 

[goldenhelton1]

Hello Edhawk,
thank you very much for your response, which as usual, is very understandable and educational.
Good day to you

I've had systems running on both of those motherboards. No longer have them but they still worked well when I finally retired them from my playroom/Office and parcelled them out to a few younger family members.

Always good to know that a guide has helped someone.

As to your question:
There is no performance hit running Sonoma on a Haswell system as far as I can tell. Always seen the same good performance as was found on Big Sur, Monterey & Ventura. Apple haven't added anything to these OS's that require a faster, harder working CPU that might cause an older CPU/RAM/MB combo to not cope with running their latest and greatest release.

The main reason for staying on Ventura would be when your system uses a Broadcom WiFi/BT card. If you rely on AirDrop, Continuity, Handoff etc. you don't want to upgrade, as these functions are lost when you install Sonoma.

If these functions aren't important to your workflow, then there is no reason to hold back. Even more so if you are using an Intel WiFi/BT card as they work the same in Sonoma as they do in previous versions of macOS.

Hello Edhawk,
thank you very much for your response, which as usual, is very understandable and educational.
Good day to you

 

[rafatribe]

Hi Edhawk, i've got almost the same config as you, i've upgraded my system to Sonoma from Monterey without issue, I'm still using clover. I've used Opencore-Patcher to get my GC to work. I'm mainly use my hackintosh to use Logic Pro and it's working without any problem however everytime i launch adobe apps (photoshop, illustrator, after effects) it crashes, the same thing happens with my Molotov TV app, VLC running fine thought.
Today, i've swapped my nvidia graphic card for a radeon RX 580 but the bug still occurs, (In the meantime I've noticed some videos are bugging on twitter too) can you tell me if you can run Photoshop on your system ? Maybe I need to calibrate my CPU or use some extra kext I dunno about