Final PK X99 + E5 1660v3 vs. Z370 + 9400f

[Javenl]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning to build a new Macintosh and need some advice.

It's all about buget thus I'm not choosing the latetst Z390 platform. (Also considering there should be new generation coming soon)
The MB price in X99/Z370 in my place is similar is similar. e.g. Top boards in both are about 200$ and middle level, e.g. Asus Z370F vs. Asus X99 A are around 120$. However the CPU is quite different. E5 1660 v3 (8 cores, 16 threads, usually can OC to 4.2G) is about 160$ while in that price you can only get 9400f(6 cores, 6 threads, no OC) in Z370 platform.

So it looks that X99 is great for its price and performance in a lower price.

But, I also learnt that Hackintosh is not fully working on some X99 board. e.g. Actually I personally own a MSI X99a SLI plus, but I nerver get it running the installer and it will always stuck somewhere(e.g. VirtualSMC, PCI configuration begin, End Randomsome...etc..). It looks like only certain X99 board is OK for Hackintosh in latest OS version Catalina.

Thus I would have your opinion here. Is it so that I can choose a X99 board which has a successful story already in Catalina(e.g. Asus X99 A), or I should step back from performance but just play safe with Z370 board?

 

[theruck]

consider a B360 board if price is an objective

 

[Javenl]

consider a B360 board if price is an objective

Thank you for your reply.

I think MB price should not be an issue since Z370 board is around 120$. The only thing is that the mainstream platform has a much higher CPU price. If I would like to have a 8 cores, 16 threads CPU in mainstream, the only choice is going for 9900k which is much much out of my budget. If cut the performance down a little by using 8700k, 9700k, it's still at least 400$. Honestly, if there is a X99 broad known as fully support latest macOS hackintosh, I would definitely go for that. But the question is, is there?

 

[theruck]

even i5 9400f is much better CPU than Xeon 1660v3 so go for that

 

[Jamesbond007]

even i5 9400f is much better CPU than Xeon 1660v3 so go for that

No offense, but I am having difficulty understanding how the i5 9400F (6 core 6 threads) is somehow "much better" than the Xeon E5 1660 v3 (8 core 16 threads) apart from the fact the 9400F is newer and has native MacOS (Mojave and Catalina) support.

If you are talking about native Catalina support, then I would agree that using the 9400F is better as it seems that running Catalina with a X99 system would be difficult.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Thank you for your reply.

I think MB price should not be an issue since Z370 board is around 120$. The only thing is that the mainstream platform has a much higher CPU price. If I would like to have a 8 cores, 16 threads CPU in mainstream, the only choice is going for 9900k which is much much out of my budget. If cut the performance down a little by using 8700k, 9700k, it's still at least 400$. Honestly, if there is a X99 broad known as fully support latest macOS hackintosh, I would definitely go for that. But the question is, is there?

The X99 platform has never been natively supported under MacOS as no real Macs use them.

However, in the past people have successfully run Yosemite / El Capitan / Sierra / High Sierra / Mojave on X99 systems. I used a X99 motherboard (GA-X99-UD4) with an i7 5820K CPU as a hackintosh system before and it can run Yosemite / El Capitan / Sierra / High Sierra. It is now reused as a Windows system for my younger brother. The Xeon 1660 v3 is of the same generation (Haswell-E) as the 5820K so I would believe that with a suitable motherboard like my Gigabyte X99-UD4 it should be able to run MacOS (probably Mojave also).

But with Catalina the situation seems to be different. My internet searches seem to indicate that running Catalina using a X99 system is just not the same as older MacOS versions, and quite difficult.

So if you opt for a X99 motherboard with Catalina I would say you should prepare for a bumpy journey.

 

[theruck]

no offense taken it is just better CPU in single thread so it feels better in usual tasks where single thread is important.
so maybe not much better but much more practical choice when price and installation a concern
if you need really 16 threads for work there is no other choice just bite the price bullet

 

[Javenl]

My bad. I didn't mention I have a water cooled system so absolutely I will overclock those CPU. Considering 1660 v3 should be able to handle at least 4.2 GHz, so the single thread performance should not be that different. (Admit that still 9400F should be better if 1660 v3 only OC to 4.3G) However, the compatibility of X99 towards hackintosh in long term would be a problem. Who can tell if X99 would be still compatible in next main release?(e.g. 10.16.x)

Anyway, I already trade my MSI X99 board out for around 110$ and bought a Asus X99 Deluxe around 130$. Already got Catalina 10.15.3 installed but still some minor issues.

Thank all for your replying.