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DanRamone First Build > ASUS MAXIMUS X HERO - i7-8700K - Radeon Sapphire rx560

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Joined
Oct 25, 2017
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Motherboard
ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero
CPU
Intel i7-8700K
Graphics
Radeon Sapphire AMD rx560 4Gb
Mac
  1. MacBook Pro
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
DanRamone First Audio Workstation Build:
ASUS MAXIMUS X HERO - i7-8700K - Radeon Sapphire rx560
[/B]​


Components
(I order everything on amazon.de, so the link is exactly what I ordered)

Asus ROG MAXIMUS x HERO Gaming Motherboard Socket 1151
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0764H6KPN/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0764BVTPQ/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813119040

Crucial Ballistix Sport LT Single DDR4 DIMM 288 pin Memory 2400 MT/s (PC4 19200) – BLS4G4D240FSC, white
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B019X3T708/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AG9EZ6E/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820156086

Intel BX80684I78700 K 8th Gen Core i7 – 8700 K Processor
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07598VZR8/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07598VZR8/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117827

ARCTIC Freezer 13 CO - CPU Cooler
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B005IOLEJO/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IOLEJO/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186065

Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 560 Pulse 4 GB GDDR5 1300 MHz OEM
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B073SF5QH3/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VP8MRJ/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202288

NZXT H700I Black Mid Tower
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B076JF4NQN/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075B17N7L/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146273

Corsair RM 650x Fully Modular 80 PLUS Gold Power Supply, black
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B015Q7F3NA/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015YEIBJ8/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139143

500GB Samsung 960 Evo with 2 PCIe Nvme Internal Solid State Drive
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01M20VBU7/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M20VBU7/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA12K54C9642

Seagate ST4000DM004 Barracuda 7200 4TB SATA HDD
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0713R3Y6F/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071WLPRHN/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

LG 34UM59 Wide 21:9 – (34 Inch) LED Monitor
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B06XCLTDZJ/?tag=tonymacx8603-21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7UF8T4/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824025555

Logitech K280e Keyboard
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00E6KGKXG/?tag=tonymacx8603-21

Logitech B100 Optical Mouse
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00AZKNPZC/?tag=tonymacx8603-21



Comments:
Preface:
I'm using my MBP for music production and for everything else, and one of the first upgrades I needed in my studio was a new dedicated audio workstation. After reading here some guides, I decided to build a Hackintosh by myself. My goal was to have a powerful, stable and on the same time easy build for using my DAWs (Ableton and Cubase). I decided to also add an extra graphic card because I also sometime use FCPX, and so I opted for a Radeon RX 560 as someone here on the forum suggested that they have almost native macOS compatibility and better performances on video applications like FCPX. Built in audio is not my problem as I have an USB external audio interface, so also here I can keep it very simple without need of any Thunderbolt or Firewire interface. I intentionally don't want a WiFi module as 1) I want to limit my internet time while I'm producing (unplugging the LAN cable is more effective than turning off the disabling the WiFi in the OS), and 2) I want to avoid to fill my Hackintosh with Internet junk (for this I still have my MBP); 3. Keep my build as easy, stable and minimal as possible.

Assembly
When I first I assembled the system, I was running in some RAM issues so nothing was actually working. I solved just taking every component out and reassembling it piece by piece. I still don't know what was wrong because after that everything was working fine. The case has this small box inside call SMART DEVICE where all the fans and the case LEDs are running into it, so I decided to remove it because I've read that is working with a windows-only app. I plugged the 3-pin cables of the 4 case fans into CHA_FAN 1-3 and W_PUMP and the LED strip into 4-pin Addressable RGB header (ADD_HEADER) of the motherboard. Be aware that this Motherboard has also other 2 RGB_HEADER but those are for AURA LEDs so the voltage is 12v while my NZXT led strips are 5v, and that's also exactly the voltage of the ADD_HEADER pins.

I'm a little bit surprised that the case fans are running at different speed based on the temperature and I can set this directly in the ASUS uefi...but I thought 3-pin fans have fix speed, haven't they?

Ok once the system was running I could press DEL/F2 and enter in the ASUS UEFI BIOS.

UEFI Settings
1. First of all I update the UEFI firmware connecting LAN cable to the internet, to ver.1003
2. Exit → Optimized default settings
3. Advanced \ CPU Configuration → Intel Virtualization Technology: Enabled
4. Advanced \ System Agent (SA) Configuration → Vt-d: Disabled
5. Advanced \ Onboard Devices Configuration → RGB LED Lighting → When system is in sleep, hibernate or soft off states: OFF
6. Advanced \ Network Stack Configuration → Network Stack: Disabled
7. Advanced \ USB Configuration -> Legacy USB Support: Auto
8. Boot → Fast Boot : Disabled
9. Boot → Secure Boot → OS Type : Other OS
10. Advanced \ System Agent (SA) Configuration \ Graphics Configuration → Primary Display: PEG (for using my Radeon RX 560 as primary card)

Making UniBeast USB Installer
In the meanwhile on my MBP I just followed this guide here on tonymacx86 to create the USB thumb. I ran into troubles because my USB-stick is 64GB and UniBeast was giving me some error. But, after some research, I found out that the stick was too big. So I just split it in two partitions of 32GB each, and it worked! If you have the same problem and Disk Utility doesn't let you partition the USB-stick, just Google on how to do it via terminal, and it will work.
The settings I used on UniBeast were:
1. UEFI boot mode;
2. Graphic configuration I didn't checked any.
After I've done my USB-thumb and copied MultiBeast on it, I was ready to install macOS High Sierra.[/FONT]

Installation
1. Insert the USB thumb with High Sierra installation and start your hackintosh;
2. Press DEL/F2 to get into the UEFI BIOS again, and in Boot set the first boot option starting with UEFI and the name of the drive you have the OS installation, save and restart;
3. Follow tonymacx86's guide on how to install macOS High Sierra;
4. I prevented the installation of APFS file system on my SSD using the described terminal command;
5. During half installation bar progress, the system rebooted; it can happen, at the second try the installation process completed
6. After installation finished, I was not able boot into High Sierra which a very common "beginner" problem. I did my research and find out that probably was because of my video card configuration. I found in another site a guy posted a config.plist for a build with the same motherboard and AMD graphic card (I can share if permitted);
7. I put the USB installation stick in my MBP, and opened the EFI partition with Clover Configurator. Copied the config.plist previously downloaded in EFI/CLOVER/;
8. I downloaded Lilu.ketx and WhateverGreen.kext and copied them in the folder EFI/CLOVER/ketxs/Other
9. Put USB-stick in Hackintosh and restart.

Post Installation
1. I rebooted from my USB macOS installation and finally I was able to enter in High Sierra!
2. Started MultiBeast but always get an error when patching the SSD EFI;
3. With Clover Configurator I created clover EFI partition on SSD;
4. Copied config.plist from USB-stick EFI to SSD EFI;
5. Added to SSD EFI/CLOVER/ketxs/Other Lilu.ketx, WhateverGreen.ketx, AppleALC.kext (for S1220A audio chipset) and IntelMausiEthernet.ketx (as LAN was not working anymore);
6. Open config.plist from your SSD EFI partition with Clover Configurator. Choose the Boot section on the left side, digit your SSD drive name in "Default Boot Volume" uncheck "-1" under Default Loader and put 0 in Timeout so that at restart you directly into your Apple screen.
7. System preferences I disabled all checked boxes in Energy Saver.
8. System preferences - Keyboard - Modifiers... - I switched alt with cmd key to have my Logitech keyboard apple-style


Summary
I'm running this Build since 2 days 24h and everything seems working smooth and fine. I'm super happy with that because it was fairly easy to make this build running. I haven't still stress tested it in music applications but I will keep you updated as more as I will use it and when I will install heavy duty audio plugins.

What is working and what not
Basically is working everything what I've tried so far. The only thing that is not working is the front case HD Audio panel. Is for me totally not important, but as I try to be perfectionist if someone has a clue I will try to make it work.

Audio card is detected immediately as expected and sound is working and this is actually the most important thing. USB ports are all working, from the back I/O panel and front case panel, both USB 2.0 and 3.0. I could't test the rear USB-C as I don't have any device using this port. Please tell me if there is some known issues that I should know about USB-C.

Even though I unticked all the options in the Energy Saver panel, macOS went to sleep last night (all fans, and lights in the case were off this morning) and woke up very promptly this morning (I can't say the same of me heheh). Is this a bug??
I'm a little concerned that maybe I have wrong settings for the GPU, as I don't get very good results (see down) on the benchmarks. Please share your thoughts.

Benchmarks





 

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I just noticed that if I put an external USB 3 drive it will be recognised as Hard Disk and not as External Disk as i.e. the usb-pen HS installation does, so to make it visible on the desktop I have to make Hard Disk visible in Finder preferences. Is there any solution?
 
Welcome to the Hero Club!
 
I am waiting this board and CPU to replace my MSI Z270... I'll try to boot my MacOS SSD directly, buy I assume that it will not work. More news on Saturday.
 
I am waiting this board and CPU to replace my MSI Z270... I'll try to boot my MacOS SSD directly, buy I assume that it will not work. More news on Saturday.

Well... It works. :D

Only a flaw. Audio. No devices detected. AppleALC.kext is not working. Any clue?
 
with a proper SSDT implementation ...
So! Is that a secret? Or are you going to tell us how to do that? (Or show use the thread where the creation of SSDT to show the PCI components is discussed.)
 
Is not a secret, but I have nothing to explain ... it is not so easy, and there is not a single thread to create that SSDT; it took me about a year to handle all. Not even now do I not think that I understood everything. So I'm sorry, but my advice is to read about it.
 
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