Asus Z690 ProArt Creator WiFi (Thunderbolt 4) + i7-12700K + AMD RX 6800 XT

[gandem]

Another Adobe Premiere Update:

After editing for a few days on my new Z690 rig, I can now report that running the latest Premiere (22.2) under MacOS 12.1 is performing as expected. I have a lot of video and audio plugins, mixed resolutions of 4K,1080p and digital assets and I am NOT experiencing any of the UI latency and general laggy behavior I reported in MacOS 12.2. In fact, the combination of the Alder Lake CPU and RX 6900 XT GPU is excellent! I'm playing many un-rendered timelines (yellow and red) with no dropped frames. Even After Effects projects dropped in sequences are playing either realtime or minimal dropped frames.
I have tested the latest Premiere (22.2) under MacOS 12.2 and the experience is still terrible (to me). There is no crashing, and it generally works, just painfully sluggish if you're an experienced user. This experience is the same across many devices including real Mac hardware. I try to keep up with the Adobe forums and there are many Mac users reporting the same issues, although I'm yet to read anything from Adobe acknowledging it. Maybe Apple started changing things under the hood for Universal Control and it's interfering with Premiere.
Bottom line, if you're using MacOS on ANY hardware and you need Adobe Premiere... stay on MacOS 12.1!

Any X-Plane users? I can report that X-Plane 11 works extremely well on this rig! The combination of the RX 6900 XT and i9 12900K is incredible. I'm sure the PCIe Gen4 NVMe contributes as well. I have a 3 monitor setup, when using the same gpu on my 9900K I could get 25-30fps, under AL I'm getting 48-55fps!

 

[Malenca]

Good news, any info about x-plane 11 settings that you are using and type of scenario that you use to get those FPS??
I'm planning to update my system as yours so I'm looking closely this guide....
tks

 

[dehjomz]

Another Adobe Premiere Update:

After editing for a few days on my new Z690 rig, I can now report that running the latest Premiere (22.2) under MacOS 12.1 is performing as expected. I have a lot of video and audio plugins, mixed resolutions of 4K,1080p and digital assets and I am NOT experiencing any of the UI latency and general laggy behavior I reported in MacOS 12.2. In fact, the combination of the Alder Lake CPU and RX 6900 XT GPU is excellent! I'm playing many un-rendered timelines (yellow and red) with no dropped frames. Even After Effects projects dropped in sequences are playing either realtime or minimal dropped frames.
I have tested the latest Premiere (22.2) under MacOS 12.2 and the experience is still terrible (to me). There is no crashing, and it generally works, just painfully sluggish if you're an experienced user. This experience is the same across many devices including real Mac hardware. I try to keep up with the Adobe forums and there are many Mac users reporting the same issues, although I'm yet to read anything from Adobe acknowledging it. Maybe Apple started changing things under the hood for Universal Control and it's interfering with Premiere.
Bottom line, if you're using MacOS on ANY hardware and you need Adobe Premiere... stay on MacOS 12.1!

Any X-Plane users? I can report that X-Plane 11 works extremely well on this rig! The combination of the RX 6900 XT and i9 12900K is incredible. I'm sure the PCIe Gen4 NVMe contributes as well. I have a 3 monitor setup, when using the same gpu on my 9900K I could get 25-30fps, under AL I'm getting 48-55fps!

Yeah something is weird with 12.2+ Maple ridge hotplug is working normally on 12.1 but for some reason with 12.2 and 12.3 beta1, there was only one working hotplug event until sleep or restart. Weird. I haven’t tested 12.2.1 or 12.3 beta3.

And on my MacBook updating to 12.2 involved a firmware upgrade that messed with my charging to the point where the laptop stopped charging when I turned it off or put it into hibernate. Apple store didn’t help. Luckily, resetting the smc worked.

Apple has to do better than this.

 

[Tashi]

Another Adobe Premiere Update:

After editing for a few days on my new Z690 rig, I can now report that running the latest Premiere (22.2) under MacOS 12.1 is performing as expected. I have a lot of video and audio plugins, mixed resolutions of 4K,1080p and digital assets and I am NOT experiencing any of the UI latency and general laggy behavior I reported in MacOS 12.2. In fact, the combination of the Alder Lake CPU and RX 6900 XT GPU is excellent! I'm playing many un-rendered timelines (yellow and red) with no dropped frames. Even After Effects projects dropped in sequences are playing either realtime or minimal dropped frames.
I have tested the latest Premiere (22.2) under MacOS 12.2 and the experience is still terrible (to me). There is no crashing, and it generally works, just painfully sluggish if you're an experienced user. This experience is the same across many devices including real Mac hardware. I try to keep up with the Adobe forums and there are many Mac users reporting the same issues, although I'm yet to read anything from Adobe acknowledging it. Maybe Apple started changing things under the hood for Universal Control and it's interfering with Premiere.
Bottom line, if you're using MacOS on ANY hardware and you need Adobe Premiere... stay on MacOS 12.1!

Any X-Plane users? I can report that X-Plane 11 works extremely well on this rig! The combination of the RX 6900 XT and i9 12900K is incredible. I'm sure the PCIe Gen4 NVMe contributes as well. I have a 3 monitor setup, when using the same gpu on my 9900K I could get 25-30fps, under AL I'm getting 48-55fps!

Ah that’s great to hear. Would you be able to run neatbench and report back? Quite a useful test

NeatBench | Neat Video

To help you start using Neat Video, download Neat Video test kit which includes a typical video clip captured by a digital video camera in high-gain mode.

www.neatvideo.com

 

[CaseySJ]

** On-Board Maple Ridge -- Enabling Device Connection on Cold Boot **
Please do not quote this post in its entirety. Use a link or excerpt instead.

UPDATE: After running many more tests, we conclude that this provides no benefit.
Will continue to look for a solution for one working hot plug action after every wake from sleep.​

Problem Statement:
As you may know, the on-board Maple Ridge controller on Asus ProArt Z690-Creator does not connect until one sleep/wake or one warm reboot cycle has taken place. Having found a solution for GC-Maple Ridge controller getting disabled after wake-from-sleep on Gigabyte Z690 Aero G (see this post), I decided to try the same solution on the built-in Maple Ridge controller. Result: Thunderbolt devices connect and work from a cold boot. A sleep/wake or warm reboot cycle is no longer necessary.

Requirements:

• Asus ProArt Z690-Creator WiFi.
  • This or a very similar solution may work on any Z690 motherboard with built-in Maple Ridge.

OpenCore EFI Modifications:
The fix involves three steps that are detailed below:

1. Use of SSDT-MAPLE-RIDGE-RP05-V1B.aml. This SSDT is attached.
2. Use of SSDT-DTbtSsdt.aml. This is a modified version of the original that's included in BIOS. This SSDT modifies the _GPE.NTFY method to notify the NHI0 device (Thunderbolt Native Host Interface) on wake.
3. ACPI entry to delete the standard SSDT-DTbtSsdt.aml.

Items 1 and 2 are easy to do. Just add them to ACPI --> Add section of config.plist and disable the previous Thunderbolt SSDT. Please add the two SSDTs in the positions shown.

Item 3 is done as follows (ACPI -> Delete section):

• Table Signature: SSDT
• Oem Table ID: 44546274 53736474
• Comment: Delete standard DTbtSsdt table
• Enabled: Check on

Then perform a cold boot by shutting down the system, flipping power switch on PSU to OFF for 10 seconds, then powering back up.

Things to Check:

1. Do Thunderbolt devices work after a cold boot without going through a sleep/wake or warm reboot cycle?
2. Do Thunderbolt devices hot plug? If so, do they hot plug only once or multiple times?
3. Put the system to sleep for 30 or more seconds. Wake it up with a key press. Run IORegistryExplorer and scroll to RP05 section. Is your Thunderbolt device still working?

Note that hot plug may not work after a wake from sleep.

 

[gandem]

​

Things to Check:

1. Do Thunderbolt devices work after a cold boot without going through a sleep/wake or warm reboot cycle?
2. Do Thunderbolt devices hot plug? If so, do they hot plug only once or multiple times?
3. Put the system to sleep for 30 or more seconds. Wake it up with a key press. Run IORegistryExplorer and scroll to RP05 section. Is your Thunderbolt device still working?

I have removed my Titan Ridge card and re-enabled on board Maple Ridge. After several cold boot attempts and warm boots, I'm not getting anything out of my Thunderbolt ports whether plugged in on boot or hot plugged after boot. I have attempted several sleep/wake cycles but nothing is activating on Thunderbolt 4 ports.

EDIT:
After determining Maple Ridge was dead even on the Windows side, I reset BIOS (shorting the pins) and that brought it back to life. Using the top Maple Ridge port- my Envoy Express is not recognized on boot or hot plug. My UltraFine does not work on boot, but does on hot-plug. My dock works only when hot plugged into the UltraFine. I can't seem to get the lower Maple Ridge port to work. I'll keep testing that. I noticed that it's reporting the driver is not installed.

 

[gandem]

Good news, any info about x-plane 11 settings that you are using and type of scenario that you use to get those FPS??
I'm planning to update my system as yours so I'm looking closely this guide....
tks

I'm using just stock scenery with no add-ons. I fly a lot out of a small airport in South Carolina typically, but I also like San Francisco Int. I can max everything out except AA.

 

[kenose]

After 4 hours I managed to get everything installed in the new Lian Li O11 Air Mini. Had to remove the plastic shroud covering the back of the IO ports. Lots of things go wrong when working in mini cases!

Here are some quick shots of the assembled unit, but with the covers still off. Some comments:

• I am incredibly happy with the quietness of the fans. They're simply inaudible. This includes:
  • Two 140mm Arctic A-RGB fans on the Liquid Freezer II
  • Two 140mm BeQuiet Light Wings on the top
  • One 120mm BeQuiet Light Wings on the rear
• A-RGB headers from all 5 fans (including the Arctic) are connected to the BeQuiet A-RGB hub that comes in the 3-pack. A single A-RGB cable from the Hub is connected to the Asus motherboard.
• 4-Pin PWM headers from all 5 fans are connected to fan headers on motherboard.

When shopping for fans at the local PC store yesterday, I was tempted by the Lian Li SL and AL series of daisy-chain-able fans. But in the end my priority was 100% on quietness over convenience.

Previously I was using this Asus Z690 ProArt Creator in an NZXT H510 chassis with NXZT Aer 2 fans and NZXT X62 280mm liquid AIO. The fan noise was always audible even with fan duty cycles reduced to 20%. I could not get over the noise.

That's why I am just floored over the silence that I'm (not) hearing with the Arctic and BeQuiet A-RGB fans! With my ears right next to the fans I can barely hear the darn things. Worth every single penny!

@CaseySJ Thanks so much for all the work on this build. I'm trying to figure out how the IO shroud comes off, like an idiot I forgot to swap the WiFi card before installing the board into the case. Is there screws on the back of the board that need to come out? I found an image of the back but I can't quite tell.

 

[noob888]

Hi Casey, just want to thank you so much for all your hard work and extremely generous communication here. I've been lurking around and have benefitted this forum for years but 100% want to make sure you feel like your time and energy here is really appreciated. You have saved me about 17k on a Mac pro setup that would still fall short of my build performance thanks to you and your guide here.

Cheers, you are amazing. Thank you.

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ Thanks so much for all the work on this build. I'm trying to figure out how the IO shroud comes off, like an idiot I forgot to swap the WiFi card before installing the board into the case. Is there screws on the back of the board that need to come out? I found an image of the back but I can't quite tell.

View attachment 541837

Hello @kenose,

Welcome to the forum. There are indeed a series of Phillips head screws on the back along two sides that need to be removed. We need to remove the covering over the audio circuit as well, but this covering can be put back after the IO shroud is removed.