Best CustoMac Pro 2018

[89Flay]

Hi everybody,

I was looking for building a new fully working CustoMac Pro and I wanted to ask your opinion about what for you is the "state of the art" right now.

From today's buyers guide there are basically 3 motherboards starting from:
- Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming WIFI
- ASUS ROG MAXIMUS X HERO
- ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-F GAMING

Anyone already built the hackintosh following this latest components? Or does anyone made a better hackintosh?

Please share comments/builds about your thought or experience.
Thank you!

 

[SebErr]

If you are looking for the high end z370 motherboards:

- go either for the Asus Maximus Hero or the Gigabyte Gaming 7. These are top of the line and people have full working builds with these boards. In the Golden Builds section you will find 2 very comprehensive build guides for these boards:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...-8700k-amd-rx-580.245074/page-42#post-1836654

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...7-8700k-rx-580-2x-dell-p2715q-4k-60hz.252989/

Pair these with a 8700k, 32GB Ram (3200Mhz)and a NVME Pcie SSD (Samsung 970) and you have a very powerful system.
Regarding graphics. Going the AMD route is recommend at the moment if you want to run Mojave, as there are no Nvidia drivers yet for Mojave. If High Sierra is ok for you then you can go with a Nvidia card ( not sure though if the RTX cards work already with High Sierra) but AMD cards have better support on macOS.

The other thing is that now you also have the new z390 motherboards and the new Intel 9th gen chips (9700k/9900k). They are available since a few days and people are still working on a full compatible working Hackintosh.

If you have time, wait and observe the progress on how the z390 motherboards work and maybe take one of those. The new high end models have some nice features and better VRMs (better for overclocking).

 

[e-troc]

I am on the same mission and have been looking into this for a few weeks. The z370 Aorus Gaming 7 seems like the best option as the prices for the Maximus Hero are going through the roof.
When it comes to whether or not to wait for z390, this was helpful:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/z390-anyone.262214/page-3
I am now set on the idea of snatching Black Friday deals for a z370 Gaming 7 / 8700K or 8086K build and benefit from the tried and tested nature of this combination, and maybe upgrade again in a couple years when Intel has hopefully cracked the 10nm nut for CPUs. Seems like they they are pushing 14nm too far with the 9th gen processors.

 

[trs96]

I am now set on the idea of snatching Black Friday deals for a z370 Gaming 7 / 8700K or 8086K build

The CPUs will still be available then but I doubt that motherboard will be. Now that Z390 is in production, what's in stock now is all there will be.

 

[captjones]

It seems that every board has its issues with MacOS and there's only a handful builds with your mentioned boards. I wish there would be more of a standard. I'm thinking of going with Asrock Extreme4 / 8700k / Dark Rock Pro 4 / Samsung 970 EVO / 16gb of Ripjaws 3200mhz DDR4 / Radeon 580 / 550W PSU.

Wish there would be an authority in this topic instead of "I've had luck with." I built my last hackintosh using a very popular setup and it just didn't power on one day because of some BIOS problem. I'm suspecting most people who own a 300$ motherboard don't even know why it's better than a 200$ one.

 

[e-troc]

The CPUs will still be available then but I doubt that motherboard will be. Now that Z390 is in production, what's in stock now is all there will be.

Good point, I suppose I should order that board now. Do you think the 8700K will drop in price soon?

 

[captjones]

Do you think the 8700K will drop in price soon?

I predict it will drop max 100$ in a year lol. Look at 7700k prices, there's no reason 8700k won't behave the same. Especially since i9 is a disapointment. Also Z390 is backwards compatible with 8700k.

 

[e-troc]

I suppose z370 / 9700K is another option if the processor's different configuration is considered beneficial for a given application (in relation to the 8700K). It's not much more expensive than the 8700K and is expected to not require delidding for overclocking, as far as I have read.

 

[captjones]

Since there's not much of a price difference between 8700k and 9700k, it would make sense to wait for a month or so (till they're actually available and hackintosh-tested) and get the 9700k.

 

[gregmcg]

I'm waiting for the month and see what Black Friday/Cyber Monday have. The 9th gen processors may not go on sale, but every other component will be.