Contribute
Register

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

total newb humbly requesting help. Making dual boot. Gigabyte z390 Designare, 9900k, RTX2080. First thing I'm try to decide is which OSX version to use for everything to work (like no problems with wifi etc). Saw the video of guy building one vs mac mini, so I'm thinking I should go for 10.13 (high sierra), but am seeking all THAT OSX version selection ADVISE PLEASE and please give links to instructions. I know this is going to be a long dif thing for me but I want to try. I 'm going to go ahead and order another m.2, probably a WD Black 1TB (same as I have win10 on), unless there is some problem with that (I don't think so). If I get macos running well, I'm thinking of using m.2 ribbon cable to make it faster and easier to swap drives and be putting wear on ribbon connectors not the drives or my mb. I did the research about disabling m.2 via bios which is no a thing, etc.. still looking for ways to do that. Thanks for all the great help you give with these things !
Edit: Casey SJ beat me to it!! I deleted my reply.
 
Last edited:
Just wanted to give a quick shoutout to @CaseySJ for this amazingly comprehensive guide. I got my Mojave install running in no time at all and with no issues whatsoever so far. I'm using a Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming so I skipped all the Designare-specific steps and followed everything else to a T. Thanks!
 
Anyone with this build have a blu-ray writer working with it? My LG is not working at all...wondering if blu-ray drives need special drivers/hacks. Thanks!
My LG Blu Ray burner is currently attached to the old 2008 Mac Pro. Will move it across and test it later today.
Just moved the USB 3 cable to the Designare and the LG Blu Ray writer (model BE14NU40) works perfectly.

Screen Shot 2019-05-04 at 3.17.51 PM.png
 
Just moved the USB 3 cable to the Designare and the LG Blu Ray writer (model BE14NU40) works perfectly.

View attachment 403764

Actually, after remembering something about SATA ports limitations with an M.2 in the first slot... I moved things around, and it works.

This LG BD-RE WH14NS40, Revision: 1.02, and the external USB Samsung SE-506 BD-Writer. Both works perfectly.

Thanks!!
 
Several comments:
  • The RTX2080 will not work under Mojave. For this you have 2 options:
    • You can install an SSDT that renders the Nvidia GPU invisible to Mojave and use either the internal iGPU or purchase an AMD GPU that can be installed alongside the Nvidia. Windows will be able to use both GPUs.
    • Install High Sierra instead of Mojave and use the Nvidia Web Driver for the RTX2080.
  • Dual boot with MacOS and Windows can cause the following issue:
    • When Windows installs a big feature update (not a security update), it will most likely install a Windows EFI Boot folder on the Clover EFI partition. When this happens, the Designare motherboard will always choose to run Windows from that partition instead of Clover.
    • So before Windows performs one of these big feature updates, we should remove or disconnect the disk containing Clover.
Thanks everyone for these great comments. Sorry I wasn't clear that I plan to keep all drives associated with each OS completely inaccessible from each other. (I just meant dual-boot system.). That's why I was talking about plug-swapping NVMe drives. Re: Drive boot partitions, etc. I can't even conceive of that working out safely under my supervision. It would be me 'asking for trouble', lol. I haven't fully considered if the internal iGPU would be enough for me, but I've no expectation of needing much vid power in macOS. I am more concerned about other functionality issues like WiFi or anything of note. I got the impression that 10.14 Mojave was just generally much more difficult to get working fully functional, etc., like from that video where the guy spent a bunch of effort on Mojave, and then gave up and went to High Sierra. GPU considerations aside, have you seen people struggling with Mojave for this Z390 motherboard? Would you would recommend I avoid it and use High Serra instead? Or do you think maybe his experience perhaps not typical? Thanks again

Edit, I've read through the Mojave guide a couple times, is there a High Sierra guide somewhere I could compare? Is the Intel CNiI BT/WiFi card compatible with High Sierra? Or can it be made so?
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone for these great comments. Sorry I wasn't clear that I plan to keep all drives associated with each OS completely inaccessible from each other. (I just meant dual-boot system.). That's why I was talking about plug-swapping NVMe drives. Re: Drive boot partitions, etc. I can't even conceive of that working out safely under my supervision. It would be me 'asking for trouble', lol. I haven't fully considered if the internal iGPU would be enough for me, but I've no expectation of needing much vid power in macOS. I am more concerned about other functionality issues like WiFi or anything of note. I got the impression that 10.14 Mojave was just generally much more difficult to get working fully functional, etc., like from that video where the guy spent a bunch of effort on Mojave, and then gave up and went to High Sierra. GPU considerations aside, have you seen people struggling with Mojave for this Z390 motherboard? Would you would recommend I avoid it and use High Serra instead? Or do you think maybe his experience perhaps not typical? Thanks again

Edit, I've read through the Mojave guide a couple times, is there a High Sierra guide somewhere I could compare? Is the Intel CNiI BT/WiFi card compatible with High Sierra? Or can it be made so?

I followed this awesome guide made by @CaseySJ with the same exact components except for the graphics card.
I decided to not invest in a AMD card because I don't need it and went for a NVIDIA one (MSI RTX 2070 Armor 8Gb) that I would only use under Windows 10.

I use the internal GPU which works perfectly fine in macOS out of the box. I didn't even bother to disable the NVIDIA card for now. (I didn't find the SSDT to be honest.)
I set the BIOS to use IGFX to always boot my system with this the internal GPU and be sure to be able to use macOS or Windows.

Actually, I didn't remove my macOS drive while installing Windows 10, and, yes, it did add Windows' related EFI stuff on my macOS drive. But, well, it does not bother me because Clover detects both of my systems fine, and I am able to boot to Mojave or Windows 10 from there.

To use my NVIDIA card on Windows I just use my screen to switch the port to use. Never had any issue so far.

So to sum it up: I would definitely go for Mojave instead of High Sierra, especially if you are willing to stay up to date. (For my side it's a mandatory thing as I always want to stay in the wave to get the best support possible if any issues happens to my day-to-day job.)
The IGFX works just perfectly fine for any normal tasks. (I do web development.)
And the ability to separate the 2 systems with one dedicated to my work and the other one to games is really a pleasure I have to say. (Maybe some geeky answer there because, yeah, I love doing setups. haha :))

I hope I gave you the answers you needed to go further in your build!
 
  • Dual boot with MacOS and Windows can cause the following issue:
    • When Windows installs a big feature update (not a security update), it will most likely install a Windows EFI Boot folder on the Clover EFI partition. When this happens, the Designare motherboard will always choose to run Windows from that partition instead of Clover.
    • So before Windows performs one of these big feature updates, we should remove or disconnect the disk containing Clover.
Hi,
I am currently using a triple boot system (Clover legacy BIOS mode) on 2 x HDD + 1 x separate SSDs.
Since now I'm planning to create a multiboot system (Clover UEFI mode) on the new Gigabyte Z390 Designare using the Two M.2 PCIe slots, and I haven't found any way to disconnect them via BIOS. (And, therefore, I should physically disconnect them every time.) I would like to ask if when you say "big feature update", do you refer to "feature update" (available twice a year) or to "quality update", also called "cumulative updates" more frequently available?
(e.g. according to this: https://www.windowscentral.com/what...uality-updates-and-feature-updates-windows-10)
Thanks in advance
 
Hi,
I am currently using a triple boot system (Clover legacy BIOS mode) on 2 x HDD + 1 x separate SSDs.
Since now I'm planning to create a multiboot system (Clover UEFI mode) on the new Gigabyte Z390 Designare using the Two M.2 PCIe slots, and I haven't found any way to disconnect them via BIOS. (And, therefore, I should physically disconnect them every time.) I would like to ask if when you say "big feature update", do you refer to "feature update" (available twice a year) or to "quality update", also called "cumulative updates" more frequently available?
(e.g. according to this: https://www.windowscentral.com/what...uality-updates-and-feature-updates-windows-10)
Thanks in advance
There is no need to remove and reinstall your Mac and Windows drives when dual-booting.

What happens when you either a) install Windows on its own drive after you've installed macOS on its own drive, or b) received or run a major Windows update (such as the upcoming Spring '19 update) is that windows adds a folder to your EFI folder on the macOS drive. The folder is called Microsoft and is placed at the root level along with /Boot and /Clover.

Inside /Microsoft is a folder called Boot, and in that is the offending file. It is called bootmgfw.efi. You will know this has happened if you start up your hack, and it boots to windows instead of to Clover.

The fix is simple. Boot from your USB installer, and ,at the Clover screen, select your Mac drive. When at the Desktop, mount the EFi partition. Now open EFI/Microsoft/Boot, and change the name of bootmgfw.efi to something creative like bootmgfw-orig.efi. I suppose you could just delete it, but the guide I followed, when I did my first dual boot, suggested renaming it.

Note: on the attached screen shot (which is from a different Hackintosh) there are two bootmgfw.efi renamed files. I have updated Windows twice on this machine so have done the rename trick twice.

After you do this, you will still have Windows boot options on your Clover screen.

Screen Shot 2019-05-05 at 6.52.23 AM.png
 
There is no need to remove and reinstall your Mac and Windows drives when dual-booting.

What happens when you either a) install Windows on its own drive after you've installed macOS on its own drive, or b) received or run a major Windows update (such as the upcoming Spring '19 update) is that windows adds a folder to your EFI folder on the macOS drive. The folder is called Microsoft and is placed at the root level along with /Boot and /Clover.

Inside /Microsoft is a folder called Boot, and in that is the offending file. It is called bootmgfw.efi. You will know this has happened if you start up your hack, and it boots to windows instead of to Clover.

The fix is simple. Boot from your USB installer, and ,at the Clover screen, select your Mac drive. When at the Desktop, mount the EFi partition. Now open EFI/Microsoft/Boot, and change the name of bootmgfw.efi to something creative like bootmgfw-orig.efi. I suppose you could just delete it, but the guide I followed, when I did my first dual boot, suggested renaming it.

Note: on the attached screen shot (which is from a different Hackintosh) there are two bootmgfw.efi renamed files. I have updated Windows twice on this machine so have done the rename trick twice.

After you do this, you will still have Windows boot options on your Clover screen.

View attachment 403809
Thanks a lot for your reply.

I hope I'm not too much off topic ,but am I wrong to think that Windows would add the same folder (/ Microsoft) if I had a third SSD with a Linux distribution in a triple boot UEFI mode (macOS / Windows 10 / Linux)?
 
Last edited:
There's a good chance that the instructions will work for the H370M D3H, with the following exceptions:
  • Your board has the Realtek ALC892, so audio Layout 16 that we're using on Designare may need to be changed. Some possibilities are:
    • 1, 12, 15, 16
Thank you for the reply, I will be starting on this in a few days. I will be using your guide as well as these suggestions. Very much appreciated.
 
Back
Top