Asus X299 - Support

[djlild7hina]

@djlild7hina

I would need help on how to set up my new hackintosh. Finally i've bought the next components:

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo (Is very hard to find a Case for the EKWB x360 Cooler Kit)
Motherboard: Asus WS x299 Sage 10g
CPU: Intel i9-9980XE
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon VII
RAM: 8x16GB DDR4 Crucial Ballistix
PSU: Corsair AX1200i
Liquid Cooler: EKWB EK-Kit X360 + EKWB EK-Vector Radeon VII Copper + Acetal + Backplate
SSD: 2 x Samsung 970 Pro 512Gb NVME M.2
HDD: 2 x HGST Ultrastar 10TB
Monitor: 2 x Benq PD2700U
WLAN/Bluetooth: Broadco BCM94331CD

It seems my setup is pretty similar to yours, and i would like to get advice on which PCI slot should i put my Radeon VII (I bought the EK-Vector Radeon VII - Copper and backplate, so i should be able to fit it using just one slot) and my WLAN/Bluetooth card before installing the water cooling system (After cutting the tubes i won't be able to move the cards).

Also i don't plan to buy the GC-Titan Ridge now, but maybe in the future i need it, so it sould be good to be able to add it to my setup without moving the graphics card at least.

Thanks in advance!

I would keep the VII in slot-1 and the Wi-fi card in slot 3,5,or 7 for now (of course test this before watercooling). How are you plugging in the bluetooth for your wifi card?
Here are two options that I recommend:
1. Use the 19-pin usb 3 + usb 3 to usb 2 adapter for your internal usb devices and then buy a usb pci-e card with an internal usb 3 port for cases usb 3 ports.
2. Connect your internal usb devices to an external rear port with one (or pair) of these adapters
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V6WD8A/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[pieropontra]

Anyone of you guys tested the new GeekBench 5? My system shuts off completely during test, I tried with light and hard OC (which is stable in GB 4/CB20/terminal stress test) and without any OC or multicore enhancement. It shuts off every freaking time regardless of OC. I'm on Catalina latest Beta.

 

[eiriasemrys]

Just briefly: Over this last weekend I upgraded to the WS Sage CEB, which is a lower cost Sage that doesn't have the 10G cards/chips on it. I don't need them, so why pay an additional $200 for something I don't need?

I got a really good price on this board, and I can report that my issues with the Radeon VII have been solved. No more scratchy audio and/or weird audio interrupts. All over.

Also, all my RAM works. I had a real headache getting my RAM to work on the Prime Deluxe, and there has been no issue with the RAM on this board. I'm on BIOS version 0905, and everything seems fine.

Finally, the 7980xe also works great on this board. I have both Clover and OC working just fine.

Curious what your stable AVX offsets are with this board and that cpu? Considering the jump myself and I have my offsets relatively high for Resolve stability.

 

[eiriasemrys]

Anyone of you guys tested the new GeekBench 5? My system shuts off completely during test, I tried with light and hard OC (which is stable in GB 4/CB20/terminal stress test) and without any OC or multicore enhancement. It shuts off every freaking time regardless of OC. I'm on Catalina latest Beta.

What are your AVX offsets and have you tested different offsets? Do other benchmarks crash your system? What about Geekbench 5 in windows?

Personally, I haven't tried yet. I'll report my findings!

 

[mm2margaret]

Offsets: 4 (AVX) and 3 (AVX-512). No, I haven't tested other offsets and as long as these work, I don't really intend to. Sorry, I don't have a licensed copy of Geekbench 5 for Windows, so no I don't intend to test that either.

My tests will consist of use, as in Premiere, Resolve etc. So far they have been fine.

In general, I think the Sage line is an improved version of the Prime Deluxe line, which was always a disappointment to me.....but that doesn't mean there won't be bugs, and occasional bumps in the road. I just haven't seen any yet with the Sage (I'm sure there will be some sooner or later).

Sorry, but as I'm on an advanced beta of Catalina, testing isn't really useful. Best to wait for the released version, and then maybe test at that time.

 

[pieropontra]

What are your AVX offsets and have you tested different offsets? Do other benchmarks crash your system? What about Geekbench 5 in windows?

Personally, I haven't tried yet. I'll report my findings!

I tried with offset from 5 to 12 for avx and avx 512: no way. Shuts off even without any kind of OC.

 

[ci2own]

I would keep the VII in slot-1 and the Wi-fi card in slot 3,5,or 7 for now (of course test this before watercooling). How are you plugging in the bluetooth for your wifi card?
Here are two options that I recommend:
1. Use the 19-pin usb 3 + usb 3 to usb 2 adapter for your internal usb devices and then buy a usb pci-e card with an internal usb 3 port for cases usb 3 ports.
2. Connect your internal usb devices to an external rear port with one (or pair) of these adapters
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V6WD8A/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Hope this helps and good luck!

I have a "small" problem and that's why I ask you before watercooling: I could test the Radeon VII before watercooling because it has its own fans, but not the processor. And if i mount the watercooling just for the processor, after know it works, I will have to empty liquid, cut tubes, connect the graphics card and fill of liquid again, and I didn't want to.

Do you have it in Slot 1 without any problem?

The WiFi/Bluetooth PCIe card is not a problem and i will be able to move it at any time because is not watercooled
This is the adapter card i bought for the BCM94360CD. And it's both: WiFi and Bluetooth.

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B00QIJ9Y86/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21

Also, I don't understand what you mean exactly with "for your internal USB devices". What internal devices do I have to connect to a USB?

Sorry, until the next Saturday, I won't receive the computer parts, and it's been a lot of time since i build a PC. So I'm a little bit lost, and maybe I'm missing something.

 

[djlild7hina]

I would keep the VII in slot-1 and the Wi-fi card in slot 3,5,or 7 for now (of course test this before watercooling). How are you plugging in the bluetooth for your wifi card?
Here are two options that I recommend:
1. Use the 19-pin usb 3 + usb 3 to usb 2 adapter for your internal usb devices and then buy a usb pci-e card with an internal usb 3 port for cases usb 3 ports.
2. Connect your internal usb devices to an external rear port with one (or pair) of these adapters
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V6WD8A/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Hope this helps and good luck!

I have a "small" problem and that's why I ask you before watercooling: I could test the Radeon VII before watercooling because it has its own fans, but not the processor. And if i mount the watercooling just for the processor, after know it works, I will have to empty liquid, cut tubes, connect the graphics card and fill of liquid again, and I didn't want to.

Do you have it in Slot 1 without any problem?

The WiFi/Bluetooth PCIe card is not a problem and i will be able to move it at any time because is not watercooled
This is the adapter card i bought for the BCM94360CD. And it's both: WiFi and Bluetooth.

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B00QIJ9Y86/?tag=tonymacx86c03-21

Also, I don't understand what you mean exactly with "for your internal USB devices". What internal devices do I have to connect to a USB?

Sorry, until the next Saturday, I won't receive the computer parts, and it's been a lot of time since i build a PC. So I'm a little bit lost, and maybe I'm missing something.

Oh, I was suggesting to try with a regular heatsink (non watercooled). But, yes, I've had it in Slot-1, and it's fine. The manual also recommends to keep a single GPU in Slot-1.

The Bluetooth on the WiFi/BT card is connected to your motherboard by the included internal USB cable. Without the USB cable connected to one of the headers, Bluetooth will not work. The Sage board only includes 1 internal USB 3.0 header, and 1 internal USB 3.1 type c header.

Unless you don't care about front panel USB 3 on your case, your best options to connect your Bluetooth from the PCI card are:
1. Internal USB 3.0 19 pin header -> USB 3.0 19 pin header to USB 2.0 9 pin adapter -> USB cable to pci card for Bluetooth
Additional USB PCIe card with USB 3.0 19 pin header for front panel USB 3.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MFB04JP/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
2. USB A adapter -> USB 2.0 adapter -> USB cable to PCI card for Bluetooth
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V6WD8A/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Couple other examples of internal USB devices are: Titan ridge TB3 card (for USB 2.0 support), Corsair RGB.
If you have multiple USB devices, you can use the NZXT hub
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IFGFTJ2/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[ci2own]

Oh, I was suggesting to try with a regular heatsink (non watercooled). But, yes, I've had it in Slot-1, and it's fine. The manual also recommends to keep a single GPU in Slot-1.

The Bluetooth on the WiFi/BT card is connected to your motherboard by the included internal USB cable. Without the USB cable connected to one of the headers, Bluetooth will not work. The Sage board only includes 1 internal USB 3.0 header, and 1 internal USB 3.1 type c header.

Unless you don't care about front panel USB 3 on your case, your best options to connect your Bluetooth from the PCI card are:
1. Internal USB 3.0 19 pin header -> USB 3.0 19 pin header to USB 2.0 9 pin adapter -> USB cable to pci card for Bluetooth
Additional USB PCIe card with USB 3.0 19 pin header for front panel USB 3.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MFB04JP/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
2. USB A adapter -> USB 2.0 adapter -> USB cable to PCI card for Bluetooth
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000V6WD8A/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Couple other examples of internal USB devices are: Titan ridge TB3 card (for USB 2.0 support), Corsair RGB.
If you have multiple USB devices, you can use the NZXT hub
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IFGFTJ2/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Now that I've seen my Wireless/Bluetooth PCIe card, I realized, as you are trying to explain me, that it has a USB connector. (I installed it 5-6 years ago and didn't remember that)

So, if I understand you right, I could buy the NZTX (For example) to expand the only USB 3.0 - 9 pin connector on my mobo. I could connect to it the front panel and the PCIe Wireless/Bluetooth card?

In that case, should I buy any other connector/cable, or just with the NZTX adapter would be enough?

Sorry to ask that, but don't even have the mobo, or this adapter, and I don't know which cables comes with them.

Because I see that the Gigabyte Titan Ridge ,which would be the other option (and maybe the better option for the future), needs a workaround. I would have to install Windows UEFI in a partition, and I didn't want to.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[djlild7hina]

So, if i understand you right, i could buy the NZTX (For example) to expand the only USB 3.0 - 9 pin connector on my mobo, so i could connect to it the frontal panel and the PCIe Wireless/Bluetooth card?

In that case, should i buy any other connector/cable, or just with the NZTX adaptor would be enough?

Sorry to ask that, but don't even have the mobo, or this adaptor and i don't know which cables comes with them.

Because i see that the Gigabyte Titan Ridge which would be the other option (and maybe the better option for the future) needs a workaround and i would have to install Windows UEFI in a partition, and i didn't want to.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I took a look at your case (Enthoo Primo), and it looks like it has 2x USB 3.0, and 2x USB2.0 front panel ports.
Like I mentioned in my previous post, I'd go with option one if you want to access all your front panel connections.

So you'll connect this to the onboard USB 3.0 19-pin header to the included cable that comes with the NZXT hub. The NZXT hub will give you 5 ports (One for the front panel 2x USB2.0, and another for the Bluetooth PCIe card).
You'll only need these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MFB04JP/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IFGFTJ2/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Here's the cable breakdown again:
Onboard usb 3.0 19-pin header -> USB 3.0 19-pin to USB 2.0 9-pin adapter -> NZXT included USB 2.0 9-pin cable -> NZXT hub. Then into the NZXT Hub (USB 2.0 front panel cable, Bluetooth USB cable included with the PCIe card)

Unfortunately, that only leaves you with the USB 3.1 type c header on the Sage. There are USB Type-C adapters to USB 2/3. But they are not reliable. So I would not buy one. I'd recommend that you look into a USB 3.0 PCIe card with an internal 19-pin header for your case's 2x USB 3.0 ports. Here's the one I currently have (Doesn't charge ipads):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JFR2H64/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Cable breakdown:
USB 3.0 19-pin header on PCIe card -> USB 3.0 front panel cable

Hope this clears up some confusion. Good luck!