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

[Chelski68]

Hi, having been a long time reader of thread now looking to try to designare to work with my 2x Thunderbolt displays. To avoid flashing firmware, I’ve got a gigabyte alpine ridge add in card - should this work without flashing firmware and do I possibly need to bridge some jumpers given no TB header on m/ board.

To answer my own question after some trial and error - I've now got two Apple TB monitors working with Designare / Alpine Ridge card. It's not quite the outcome I'd wanted when buying the board, but better than I'd feared at one point.

Some points which may be of use to someone in similar position:

I) The Alpine Ridge card works without flashing or bridging any pins, bios doesn't show the PCI card but the displays work and are available throughout bios set up. TB set up options appear in BIOS only when a TB device it can recognise is connected - so the AR card is intervening between the TR controller on the MB and activating the options.

Ii) I've dual displayport feeds going into alpine ridge card, but only one of the two Thunderbolt ports actually gives an output, havent really investigated further given point iii)

Iii) despite not being able to use both Thunderbolt 3 ports, I can "daisy chain" the thunderbolt monitors on the active port, so both are detected and work. This implies add-in card + controller are able to support MSS in some form (this was issue with my previous old build hence moving to 2-port designare)

Iv) the camera / speakers / mics are not detected, for ease I've just gone with external ones although I may continue to try.

 

[CaseySJ]

To answer my own question after some trial and error - I've now got two Apple TB monitors working with Designare / Alpine Ridge card. It's not quite the outcome I'd wanted when buying the board, but better than I'd feared at one point.

Some points which may be of use to someone in similar position:

I) The Alpine Ridge card works without flashing or bridging any pins, bios doesn't show the PCI card but the displays work and are available throughout bios set up. TB set up options appear in BIOS only when a TB device it can recognise is connected - so the AR card is intervening between the TR controller on the MB and activating the options.

Ii) I've dual displayport feeds going into alpine ridge card, but only one of the two Thunderbolt ports actually gives an output, havent really investigated further given point iii)

Iii) despite not being able to use both Thunderbolt 3 ports, I can "daisy chain" the thunderbolt monitors on the active port, so both are detected and work. This implies add-in card + controller are able to support MSS in some form (this was issue with my previous old build hence moving to 2-port designare)

Iv) the camera / speakers / mics are not detected, for ease I've just gone with external ones although I may continue to try.

Some of the issues you listed can be resolved by flashing the firmware or using an SSDT that enables Thunderbolt Bus. Neither of these options is perfect, however, as each has some issues either with wake-from-sleep or hot plug. But at some point it may be worth experimenting first with the SSDT approach and subsequently with flashing the firmware.

The SSDT approach (for Alpine Ridge) can be found here.

 

[carloshferrari]

@CaseySJ Hi!

Let me ask you. I'v followed Mini-Guide for Fresh Installation of Catalina 10.15.4 and Newer for a clean install.
I need to know if I need to do anything for Pro Apps, with the headless GPU etc to make things work as usual.
I'm trying to export a video with x264 from premier and it's taking ages, and the video when exported is a mess.

Thanks.


EDIT: this is the current settings

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ Hi!

Let me ask you. I'v followed Mini-Guide for Fresh Installation of Catalina 10.15.4 and Newer for a clean install.
I need to know if I need to do anything for Pro Apps, with the headless GPU etc to make things work as usual.
I'm trying to export a video with x264 from premier and it's taking ages, and the video when exported is a mess.

Thanks.

As I recall, when multiple GPUs are present in a system, Adobe applications choose the GPU whose name appears first when sorted alphabetically. By default, the GPU names are:

• Intel UHD 630
• Radeon RX 580

So you can see that "Intel UHD 630" is alphabetically first. Try renaming the Radeon RX 580 to AMD Radeon RX 580. This can be done by adding a Device Property in Clover Configurator. Under Devices in Step 4, enter "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)".

 

[gandem]

I also tried the CalDigit TS3 Plus dock but ran into a couple issues.
1. Need to restart on cold boot otherwise it shows ‘No drivers loaded’ (I believe this is well known?)
2. Display out does not work using the DisplayPort or a usb c to hdmi cable using the dock.


Other than that the dock worked great but I returned it and I’m trying another one since I had issues with display out over the second thunderbolt port on my MacBook Pro .

Did you have your other monitor connected to the dock?

Yes, with unpatched firmware on GC-Titan Ridge, I was able to have both monitors run through the dock. One 4K on dock DP and One HD via usb-c to HDMI adapter plugged into TB3 out of dock. Zero problems with unpatched firmware.

 

[tdarkc]

Hello @tdarkc

Some immediate suggestions that come to mind:

• Clock Issue: Try replacing the coin battery on the motherboard or checking its battery strength.
• WiFi/Bluetooth Issue: Try connecting the antenna that comes in the Designare box instead of using the antennas that come with the Fenvi. Then reposition the antenna to see if the signal strength improves.

Thanks for your help

• Clock issue: It seems that you are right! I didn't suspect the motherboard first since it is a new one. I verified in the BIOS and the time was frozen. I changed the battery and now the time is moving normally!
• WiFi/Bluetooth issue: I tried both, same problem, and I don't think it is signal strength issue since it is very random, it can move from 10 to 150M just after a restart without changing anything, and the problem starts again after a sleep!

 

[carloshferrari]

As I recall, when multiple GPUs are present in a system, Adobe applications choose the GPU whose name appears first when sorted alphabetically. By default, the GPU names are:

• Intel UHD 630
• Radeon RX 580

So you can see that "Intel UHD 630" is alphabetically first. Try renaming the Radeon RX 580 to AMD Radeon RX 580. This can be done by adding a Device Property in Clover Configurator. Under Devices in Step 4, enter "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)".

View attachment 475293

Ok! Thanks.

But I need to ask you if I need to do anything that's on this guide from an year ago first?
I haven't enabled headless yet I think... unless it's already done in the mini guide.

I have attached an screenshot with my current settings on the other post, I think it's configured for Intel GFX only... but the Radeon 580 is enabled in LR and appears on about this mac.

 

[djlild7hina]

Yes, with unpatched firmware on GC-Titan Ridge, I was able to have both monitors run through the dock. One 4K on dock DP and One HD via usb-c to HDMI adapter plugged into TB3 out of dock. Zero problems with unpatched firmware.

Okay so looks like an issue with patched firmware. Thanks

 

[CaseySJ]

Ok! Thanks.

But I need to ask you if I need to do anything that's on this guide from an year ago first?
I haven't enabled headless yet I think... unless it's already done in the mini guide.

I have attached an screenshot with my current settings on the other post, I think it's configured for Intel GFX only... but the Radeon 580 is enabled in LR and appears on about this mac.

That's not strictly necessary because graphics compute performance on iMac19,1 is already quite good. Switching to iMacPro1,1 can improve that performance even further.

 

[Malenca]

Yes, way too high..
Been trouble shooting the whole day..What I did.
Replace the Alphacool by an old NZXT. = same results.
Replace the processor by an old I7 8700K = same behaviour
Change the bios to F9b no changes
System is now on normal settings no OC.
I have 2 fans on radiator+ 2 fans frontal and 1 on back....now I set all at full speed on a attempt to control the heat.
Still temps are around 60 C in idle and 85 under a very light load i.e browsing internet on safari.
No idea on what cause this, system was stable before with Vega64 and replacing to the 5700 XT should not cause this madness.
The funny thing is that the system is stable, no KP or freezing.

I'm going to try replace the cooling (Alphacool) for another one..Corsair or NZXT?????Any suggestion??