iMac Pro X299 - Live the Future now with macOS 10.14 Mojave [Successful Build/Extended Guide]

[juantrix]

Mojave 10.14.1&2:

• Name*: com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI
• Find* [Hex]: 83FB0F0F 838F0400 00
• Replace* [Hex] : 83FB0F90 90909090 90
• Comment: USB Port limit patch 10.14.1 10.14.2 Beta by DalianSky
• MatchOS: 10.14.1&2

 

[kgp]

Mojave 10.14.1&2:

• Name*: com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI
• Find* [Hex]: 83FB0F0F 838F0400 00
• Replace* [Hex] : 83FB0F90 90909090 90
• Comment: USB Port limit patch 10.14.1 10.14.2 Beta by DalianSky
• MatchOS: 10.14.1&2

This is the port limit patch of @PMHeart hardwired in my 10.14.1 EFI-Folder distribution, which does not work for me anyway.

 

[RuleBreaker01]

ASUS just release PRIME X299-DELUXE II , seems it has two Thunderbolt 3 ports...

https://dlsvr04.asus.com/pub/ASUS/m...UXE_II/E14869_PRIME_X299-DELUXE_II_UM_WEB.pdf

Titan ridge chipset going by the DP 1.4 support.

Very cool motherboard

 

[izo1]

Titan ridge chipset going by the DP 1.4 support.

Very cool motherboard

Asus really has stepped up the heat spreader on this motherboard and put TB3 onboard. No need for a crazy expensive water block etc, just air cooler or AIO liquid cooler for the CPU is enough. Really cool looking board too, I always liked their BIOS far more than Gigabyte. But why did they put a 5G card instead of a 10G? Really dumb, the Aquantia chipset is really cheap. I don't think it was a PCIe lane issue since there are some ASRock boards that come with 10G Aquantias and these CPUs have 44+ Lanes.

Intel screwed up X299, they rushed the launch and now re-releasing new soldered CPUs with better base clocks.

Would love to add Titan Ridge to the Designare EX but not sure if it'll work? I don't think there is a TB port on the mobo since the ports are on board.

 

[kgp]

Asus really has stepped up the heat spreader on this motherboard and put TB3 onboard. No need for a crazy expensive water block etc, just air cooler or AIO liquid cooler for the CPU is enough. Really cool looking board too, I always liked their BIOS far more than Gigabyte. But why did they put a 5G card instead of a 10G? Really dumb, the Aquantia chipset is really cheap. I don't think it was a PCIe lane issue since there are some ASRock boards that come with 10G Aquantias and these CPUs have 44+ Lanes.

Intel screwed up X299, they rushed the launch and now re-releasing new soldered CPUs with better base clocks.

Would love to add Titan Ridge to the Designare EX but not sure if it'll work? I don't think there is a TB port on the mobo since the ports are on board.

View attachment 364948

Just a few comments out of my holidays to the above, which basically already has been addressed and discussed by myself but not only in post #274.

1.) I already explicitly demonstrated and detailed that one does not need a crazy expensive water blocking etc. for cooling the VRM of the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe when employing the EK ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe mono block for water blocking also the onboard VRM in line with any Skylake-X CPU (post #283). The VRM itself does not add much heat when compared with the usual head load produced by a Skylake-X CPU or Vega 64 in the same water cooling circuit.

2.) A warning to everybody, who believes that for the i9-9980XE just an air cooler or AIO liquid cooler might be more than sufficient. It want be the case, as it is also not the case for any delidded i9-7980XE, at least when overclocking the latter! The base clock of the soldered i9-99xx series won't be better than for the delidded i9-79xx series, the same states for respective OC temps. If one already employs a properly delidded i9-79xx CPU, there is absolutely no need to upgrade to the i9-99xx series refresh. Only advantage for all newbies I see is that by means of the i9-99xx series, the delidding process basically becomes obsolete and one would not loose warranty due to the additional delidding. I know that some guys even already intended to delid the soldered i9-99xx series, but I discourage from taking that risk by likely gaining just a few additional degrees in thermal performance when compared with the gain of about 20 degrees in thermal performance with the delidding of the i9-x79xx series.

3.) There will be very likely no way ever to properly run a Titan Ridge on to the Designare EX. Mobos with onboard TB implementations are usually not prepared for future TB technology updates due to a missing on-board TB header. One also needs to think if he wants to carry the same risk with the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II, once a Titan Ridge technology successor will be released in the future. Like the Designare EX, also the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II does not feature any additional TB header. Thus, the actual combo ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe + GC-Titan Ridge PCIe Add-In still might be the more clever and more flexible solution in terms of future TB technology adaptability.

4.) 5G Aquantia basically might have been implemented due to the tremendous head load produced by the 10GB Aquantia chip. Already the ASUS Aquantia 10GB PCIe can easily substitute any mini-barbecue in your garden. I wouldn't know any other reason for the actual implementation of the 5G Aquantia onboard NIC by ASUS if you think that thermal issue might not be the reason, as ASRock boards also come with 10G Aquantia onboard solutions. I don't think that there is much difference with respect to PCIe lane coverage between a 5G and 10GB (x4) onboard NIC implementation. The actual 5GB Aquantia NIC onboard solution will anyway by a show stopper and bottle neck for any 10GB ethernet home network solution, thus again the actual combo of ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe + e.g. ASUS Aquantia 10GB NIC PCIe-Slot Add-in adapter appears to be the more clever, more efficient and more flexible solution, not only in terms of future ethernet technology adaptability.

5.) Else, the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II features 3 instead of 2 NVME M.2 sockets by loosing one of the X16 PCIe slots and by knowing that the implemented NVMe heatsinks used by ASUS are anything else than efficient. The drop of the 4th X16 PCIe slot implementation might be indeed a 44 lane considerations, as one considers already 16 lanes (GPU) + 12 lanes (3x M.2) + 4 lanes (Titan Ridge TB) + 4 lanes (Aquantia 5GB NIC) + some additional lanes for the standard PCIe configuration. In this view, already the 3x X16 Slot implementation appears rather to be a gimmick or at least some nice add-on that certainly offers more PCIe slot extendibility than theoretically possible without any disabling of at least some of the onboard components.

Thus in conclusion, I really have my doubts to consider the successor of the actual ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe as the better option.

Cheers guys and until soon,

KGP

 

[izo1]

@kgp I don't know anyone who goes on the internet during their vacation.

1.) Not everyone wants a custom water cooling solution. Especially people like me. Some of us want to keep things stock.

2.) I do not overclock, although I would and can easily as I have a be quiet! AIO, which is MORE than enough, even when you start bumping the turbo boost or base clock.

3.) Yes we know. TB3 eventually will be onboard on most medium to high end mobos from now on and, so the expansion cards will become useless.

4.) True. They probably had a good reason for 5G. Anyway, Aquantia 10GbE NIC is cheap and affordable as an addon.

5.) Don't forget that there are also 24 lanes available on the chipset + 44 lanes on the CPU. The Designare EX already has Triple M.2 NVME (I'm using 2 of them). Usually x4 or x1 PCI-E slots are wired to the chipset, whereas the x16 are directly to the CPU. But most likely M.2 is wired to the CPU.

I don't know if the Asus Deluxe II is a "better" option if the previous is discontinued already (soon maybe?), but most likely X299 is going to slowly go the way of X99 maybe in the next year or so as the CPU wars have escalated between Intel and AMD and we'll see new mobos soon with new chipsets (X599??)

Get some rest, have a nice vacation.

 

[kgp]

@kgp I don't know anyone who goes on the internet during their vacation.

1.) Not everyone wants a custom water cooling solution. Especially people like me. Some of us want to keep things stock.

2.) I do not overclock, although I would and can easily as I have a be quiet! AIO, which is MORE than enough, even when you start bumping the turbo boost or base clock.

3.) Yes we know. TB3 eventually will be onboard on most medium to high end mobos from now on and, so the expansion cards will become useless.

4.) True. They probably had a good reason for 5G. Anyway, Aquantia 10GbE NIC is cheap and affordable as an addon.

5.) Don't forget that there are also 24 lanes available on the chipset + 44 lanes on the CPU. The Designare EX already has Triple M.2 NVME (I'm using 2 of them). Usually x4 or x1 PCI-E slots are wired to the chipset, whereas the x16 are directly to the CPU. But most likely M.2 is wired to the CPU.

I don't know if the Asus Deluxe II is a "better" option if the previous is discontinued already (soon maybe?), but most likely X299 is going to slowly go the way of X99 maybe in the next year or so as the CPU wars have escalated between Intel and AMD and we'll see new mobos soon with new chipsets (X599??)

Get some rest, have a nice vacation.

ad.1) in case of the stock heat pipe cooling, one still needs to remove all VRM heat outside the case, while within the water cooling circuit the VRM heat load is automatically removed by the implemented radiators, which anyway also remove any heat produced by the respective GPU and CPU implementations.

ad.2) wait and see until you will finally employ the i9-9980XE

ad.3) which implements a complete change of motherboard after each TB technology upgrade

ad.4) to spent money on a 5GB NIC onboard solution (which is useless within a 10Gb ethernet network implementation) and to spent additional money (100$) for a 10GB PCIe implementation?

ad.5) your claims of 24 lanes additionally available on the chipset are certainly valid and true. In this view one would rather ask why ASUS did not place the 1st M.2 slot at the position of the 1st x4 PCIe slot, which will be anyway always basically covered by 2-slot GPU implementations. At the actual position of the 1st M.2 slot, ASUS could have implemented a 4th X16 PCIe Slot opportunity and by this would have offered even more expansion capabilities.

it is certainly true that the stock VRM cooling is much better on the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II, as it is also true that the former stock VRM cooling of the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe likely was anything else then sufficient. Having outlined this basically unique advantage when compared with the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe and some additional Add-In configuration, I guess it was noteworthy and fair enough also to outline all apparent disadvantages and possible flaws of the new ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II, not only in the view that the actual ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe might be discontinued sooner or later, but especially for all owners of the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe considering a possible update to the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II and the i9-99xx series, while the latter in principle also certainly can be used on the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe after some microcode update.

Hence, all users of the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe or delidded i9-79xx series, I would rather recommend to wait a couple of months for the official Cascade Lake and X599? release, which represents the way we (or at least I) will go in the very near future. For all these latter users, the actual upgrade to the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II or i9-99xx refresh hence rather appears not really noteworthy.

 

[RuleBreaker01]

Intel screwed up X299, they rushed the launch and now re-releasing new soldered CPUs with better base clocks.

Would love to add Titan Ridge to the Designare EX but not sure if it'll work? I don't think there is a TB port on the mobo since the ports are on board.

There are people using the GB Titan ridge card with AMD boards or board with no THB_C header

In some cases the short the two pins on the card header to have it always activated.

plus you read about people using their TB card with no header connected at all, so that shouldn't be a worry. While tat would prevent proper hotplug to work in Windows, on macos it works.

So you could always try. But having said that, what would be the benefit? If it's for DP 1.4 support, may as well connect the screen directly to the graphic card. For everything else, the only advantage is the 100W power supply over TB, that's really nice.

I wonder if the Titan Ridge in the board is connected directly to the CPU or the PCH (like the Designare), seeing that they removed a PCIE slot that used to be on the CPU, hopefully it's in the CPU too.

In any case, this would likely be my choice if I had to redo everything today,

 

[izo1]

ad.1) in case of the stock heat pipe cooling, one still needs to remove all VRM heat outside the case, while within the water cooling circuit the VRM heat load is automatically removed by the implemented radiators, which anyway also remove any heat produced by the respective GPU and CPU implementations.

ad.2) wait and see until you will finally employ the i9-9980XE

ad.3) which implements a complete change of motherboard after each TB technology upgrade

ad.4) to spent money on a 5GB NIC onboard solution (which is useless within a 10Gb ethernet network implementation) and to spent additional money (100$) for a 10GB PCIe implementation?

ad.5) your claims of 24 lanes additionally available on the chipset are certainly valid and true. In this view one would rather ask why ASUS did not place the 1st M.2 slot at the position of the 1st x4 PCIe slot, which will be anyway always basically covered by 2-slot GPU implementations. At the actual position of the 1st M.2 slot, ASUS could have implemented a 4th X16 PCIe Slot opportunity and by this would have offered even more expansion capabilities.

it is certainly true that the stock VRM cooling is much better on the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II, as it is also true that the former stock VRM cooling of the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe likely was anything else then sufficient. Having outlined this basically unique advantage when compared with the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe and some additional Add-In configuration, I guess it was noteworthy and fair enough also to outline all apparent disadvantages and possible flaws of the new ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II, not only in the view that the actual ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe might be discontinued sooner or later, but especially for all owners of the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe considering a possible update to the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II and the i9-99xx series, while the latter in principle also certainly can be used on the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe after some microcode update.

Hence, all users of the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe or delidded i9-79xx series, I would rather recommend to wait a couple of months for the official Cascade Lake and X599? release, which represents the way we (or at least I) will go in the very near future. For all these latter users, the actual upgrade to the ASUS Prime X299 Deluxe II or i9-99xx refresh hence rather appears not really noteworthy.

1.) I have a good case with a giant mesh in the front to move cold air in, so ambient thermals are good. Not worried. Also Designare EX has a giant heatpipe (that's one of the reasons I bought it over the ASUS) plus it had on-board TB3 (which maybe at the time wasn't a good decision since Titan Ridge came out later).

You have to remember, I come from Macs and I do not really care about "squeezing" extra performance out of the gears, I like things stock as there are less things to worry about. Yes I am a PC enthusiast, but I prefer to run everything stock as 5-10% increase in performance is not a big deal for me.

2.) Not too worried. Intel now uses solder and no need to delid. Base clock is 3Ghz and turbo boost is 4.5Ghz now, compared to 7980XE 2.6/4.4. 9980XE will run cooler in stock settings and stock at 3.0/4.5 is more than enough for me. I'm not looking to hit record Cinebench scores, I just need to utilize all cores in programs like After Effects (through a Python script) and some other programs for my day to day activities that make me money since I am always on a tight schedule. I am still using DDR4 2400 RAM (bumped it to 2666) so I am not too concerned about 3200 memory or what not....and RGB lights and stuff like that I don't care about.

3.) I agree with that...but I am also wondering when TB4 comes out? Will that even be backwards compatible with TB3 mobos? Ie, whatever comes after Titan Ridge....so we're basically on the bleeding edge with TB3 and next step will be TB4. I am personally not too worried about TB3 since I only have 1 device I use sometimes (A hard drive) and haven't fully relied on it yet for day to day work, although dual 5k monitors would be nice

4.) No, I meant if you don't have an onboard NIC that is above 1GbE, then you can just get the cheap 10GbE Aquantia that's supported natively in macOS. However, I am baffled by ASUS and some other board manufacturers who put in anything below 10GbE...it's just weird because 10GbE supports 5GbE/1GbE...if it's a heat issue, they could put a heatsink on the chip? Or just include it as a separate PCIe NIC in the box with a larger heatsink. I really think it's a profit margin issue, because X299 is NOT a huge seller like the i9-9xxx line will be, so ASUS probably doesn't even care at this point.

5.) ASUS does weird things sometimes, that's why I moved away from them last couple of builds, Although I prefer their BIOS and sometimes their look (The ROG Maximus line is very nice).

There are people using the GB Titan ridge card with AMD boards or board with no THB_C header

In some cases the short the two pins on the card header to have it always activated.

plus you read about people using their TB card with no header connected at all, so that shouldn't be a worry. While tat would prevent proper hotplug to work in Windows, on macos it works.

So you could always try. But having said that, what would be the benefit? If it's for DP 1.4 support, may as well connect the screen directly to the graphic card. For everything else, the only advantage is the 100W power supply over TB, that's really nice.

I wonder if the Titan Ridge in the board is connected directly to the CPU or the PCH (like the Designare), seeing that they removed a PCIE slot that used to be on the CPU, hopefully it's in the CPU too.

In any case, this would likely be my choice if I had to redo everything today,

That's true, I could probably just order the Gigabyte Titan Ridge card and try it...

And also true, TB3 DP1.4 is not really that important to me since the Vega FE supports it via DisplayPort anyway....

I think I will stick with this system for another year or two until I see what Apple does with the Mac Pro. I wonder if it's even worth going with the 9980XE, which will save me time in production deadlines and I can sell the 7900X anyway...

I moved from PCs to Macs a long time ago, but, when Apple stopped caring about the Pro market, I stepped back to the PC building world and would love to go back, I am a bit tired of "tweaking"

Although I bet the Mac Pro 2019 base will start at $3999 knowing how Apple functions nowadays.

 

[arkanis]

Ok, found some Asus Sage/10g finally... hard to find in Europe at the moment.

What do you guys think about the VROC (4 x m.2 storage RAID) ?

I'm about to change my Atto card + 8way SATA raid with either something like the VROC or otherwise the external thunderbolt 3 enclosure made by G-Tech (SSD drives). I will either go with the VROC for online project + 10G NAS, or the G-Tech one alone for now.