tonymacx86's Skylake Thunderbolt 3 Test Build:

GA-Z170X-UD5-TH - i5-6600K



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Contents



Components

Already Owned

Comments

The Build

Installation

BIOS Settings

Installation Procedures

MultiBeast

Thunderbolt

Startech Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt 3 adapter - WORKING

Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt SATA adapter with 60GB SSD - WORKING

Apple Thunderbolt/FireWire adapter - WORKING FireWire 800 to 400 adapter > MOTU 8Pre FireWire Audio device - WORKING

Apple Thunderbolt/Ethernet adapter - WORKING

Generic Mini-DP to DVI adapter (integrated GPU only) - WORKING

Benchmarks

Resources

Contents

This is my test build for the Skylake platform. I have swapped most of the components around from older builds. Build purpose is to test Skylake settings using the site's tools. Skylake used to be a hassle, but as of 10.11.4+ it's a much smoother install and post-install.I chose this board because of the two Thunderbolt 3 ports. Along with the overclockable i5-6600K CPU, I decided to get a higher end set of RAM which is overclockable to 2666MHz through XMP in the BIOS.These are stock BIOS settings for this board. You really don't have to change much. First press delete and enter the BIOS- then choose:Save & Exit > Load Optimized DefaultsThen reboot, press delete and enter the BIOS for a second time. The important non default settings are:Peripherals > XHCI Hand-off - [Enabled]Peripherals > Super IO Configuration > Serial Port 1 - [Disabled]Peripherals > Intel(R) Thunderbolt > Security Level - [Legacy Mode]Chipset > Wake on LAN - [Disabled]Use the default UniBeast Installation Guide. UEFI Boot Mode. Some setups such as AMD or NVIDIA may need to use different UniBeast configurations and/or boot flags to reach the installer.I use many different MultiBeast configurations to test, however the below universal settings should work for many Z170 motherboard based rigs. It is not fully optimized with HDMI Audio, Power Management or iMessage but will boot by itself and Audio, Graphics, Network, and USB will work.It's worth noting that unlike systems with NVIDIA graphics, wake from sleep does not work when using onboard Intel HD 530 graphics. If you have a Skylake system and need sleep to work, consider a NVIDIA graphics card. Some NVIDIA graphics cards may also need alternate NVIDIA web drivers If you're using an NVIDIA card we recommend iMac14,2 system definition for maximum compatibility. Although it is a Skylake system, iMac17,1 can cause problems with NVIDIA cards and requires workarounds to function Testing Equipment:Testing Results:Thunderbolt 3 ports are not enabled by default. The system must boot into Windows and install the latest Thunderbolt Software and Firmware or the ports will not be functional.STEP 1: Download Windows 10 Trial mode and install to disk. (Activation not required)STEP 2: Update Gigabyte Z170X-UD5-TH BIOS toSTEP 5: Download and install the latestSTEP 4: Download and installSTEP 5: Navigate toSTEP 6: RunApplicationSTEP 7: Shut down computer and unplug power cable for 30 secondsAt this point you can either boot Windows or OS X to test functionality of various adapters. As far as my Startech adapter and older Thunderbolt peripherals go, Thunderbolt 3 works, but like Thunderbolt 2, Thunderbolt 3 devices cannot hotswap. User must connect any adapters and devices at boot time in order for devices to mount.Here are a few pics of the Apple Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter and Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter functioning in OS X:Default Settings:Overclocked CPU and X.M.P. set on Profile 1Use the following links and guides to fully configure the system.