[SUCCESS] Gigabyte Designare Z390 (Thunderbolt 3) + i7-9700K + AMD RX 580

[CaseySJ]

Thank you. I guess there's no way to verify the genuinity of the chip other than try it. I have everything in basket now, just need to figure out if I'm going to pull the trigger or not.

Keep in mind that if any component fails to work, you can return it if you purchase from a reputable retailer.

 

[CaseySJ]

And @CaseySJ , generic question: even though my iGPU is disabled in bios, and I have nothing in devices, is that compute still being used for rendering? Would it give me some better FPS in ProApps if it is? Before I disabled everything, and in 10.14.2 I went through your post line-by-line. In Cinebench, my FPS were 175. Then I went in and customized the headless config like your post talks of at the bottom for ProApps. Cinebench went down to 123 FPS. It has stayed there in 10.14.4 regardless if I have anything in Devices or not. HOWEVER, my rendering times are now faster in Davinci Resolve.

When I had 175 FPS in Cinebench, my test render was 4min something, when it went down to 123FPS I got 2:03m in Davinci Resolve. I guess I'm a little confused how taking away a processor equals better performance unless they both 'crowd each other' while processing or something (talking of iGPU and Vega)? And I'm wondering how lower framerates in Cinebench equate to faster rendering times?

This is just the OC'd part of me talking. Sorry to take up thread space...

Hmm, I'm not sure I can explain the discrepancy in Cinebench:

• With iGPU and dGPU both enabled, Cinebench score was 175 FPS.
• With iGPU off and only dGPU enabled, Cinebench score dropped to 123 FPS.
• This seems to imply:
  • Cinebench uses both GPUs? <-- ??
  • iGPU is faster than Vega for Cinebench? <-- unlikely

However, with respect to DaVinci Resolve rendering times:

• When both iGPU and dGPU were enabled, it's possible that Resolve was prioritizing the iGPU based simply on the alphabetical order of the name.
  • Intel UHD 630 is alphabetically ahead of RX Vega.
• With the iGPU disabled, Resolve uses the one and only GPU in the system, hence twice as fast in rendering.
• But you can still enable both iGPU and dGPU and simply rename them so that Vega comes alphabetically ahead:
  • Rename "RX Vega" to "AMD RX Vega".
  • Nothing comes before "A".
• The Vega SSDT in the build guide renames it to "AMD RX Vega", but because you're using VGTab, its name will remain "RX Vega".

 

[mnylen]

Keep in mind that if any component fails to work, you can return it if you purchase from a reputable retailer.

Yeah, good to keep in mind. For me the purchase decision is lingering more on the question whether I can live with a desktop computer as my main work computer. I've used laptops for the last 10 years, but have noticed that the recent laptops haven't really matched my expectations and that I tend to spend 90 % of the time plugged in anyway. So desktop clearly would work for majority of my use - question is, am I willing to endure the hassle there is syncing between desktop and my laptop for the rest of the time that I need/want to work on the go.

Though, I might just take the plunge anyway. If it doesn't work out, I can always use most of the parts as upgrades to my gaming PC.

 

[tokyocpu]

Ah interesting! Thank you again. I see now in the instructions where you said Slot 2 (why did I not see that...!!??) I followed your recommendation, I picked up the Marvell 88SE9215 SATA card you recommened off amazon and it should arrive tomorrow.

 

[MACAK]

@CaseySJ What version of Clover did you use to build this guide? I am set to use my Designare but no Thunderbolt shows in PCI info, and no connections are working either. I am on
Model Identifier: iMac18,3

This due to my version of Clover most likely as it did not have the Macmini8,1 on the Version 4.60.3.4.

 

[MACAK]

@CaseySJ What version of Clover did you use to build this guide? I am set to use my Designare but no Thunderbolt shows in PCI info, and no connections are working either. I am on
Model Identifier: iMac18,3

This due to my version of Clover most likely as it did not have the Macmini8,1 on the Version 4.60.3.4.

Booted into windows and hooked up thunderbolt connection and it worked, then rebooted into MACOS and it's working now. Sorry to have jumped the gun Casey.

 

[CaseySJ]

Booted into windows and hooked up thunderbolt connection and it worked, then rebooted into MACOS and it's working now. Sorry to have jumped the gun Casey.

Is this on the AORUS Pro motherboard or Designare? The Designare does not need Windows!

 

[MACAK]

Is this on the AORUS Pro motherboard or Designare? The Designare does not need Windows!

I know, it was weird, but its an Gigabyte Z390 Designare mb, with a Fenvi T-919 and a Sapphire RX580 installed. Very weird that after I booted into Windows and then MACOS that everything was working.

 

[CaseySJ]

I know, it was weird, but its an Gigabyte Z390 Designare mb, with a Fenvi T-919 and a Sapphire RX580 installed. Very weird that after I booted into Windows and then MACOS that everything was working.

I have experienced this myself, but the root cause is different! As soon as I run Windows, it initializes the Titan Ridge chip in a different way than MacOS.

Before I boot back into MacOS, I have to do a full power shutdown, boot into MacOS, then unplug and replug my Thunderbolt dock, and everything is fine again.

In other words, in my experience, Windows interferes with the initialization done by MacOS.

 

[MACAK]

I have experienced this myself, but the root cause is different! As soon as I run Windows, it initializes the Titan Ridge chip in a different way than MacOS.

Before I boot back into MacOS, I have to do a full power shutdown, boot into MacOS, then unplug and replug my Thunderbolt dock, and everything is fine again.

In other words, in my experience, Windows interferes with the initialization done by MacOS.

What happened to me was I look at the PCI in "About This Mac" and the only PCI info was the RX580, but after I booted into Windows and hooked up to mu M.2 thunderbolt connection, it showed the Titan information. That was quite odd.