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Final Question ...... which mother board - ASUS Maximus or Gigabyte Designare

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Jun 21, 2020
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Motherboard
ASUS ROG Strix Gaming-E Z390
CPU
I7 i9700K
Graphics
RX580
Mac
  1. iMac
  2. MacBook
  3. MacBook Pro
Classic Mac
  1. iMac
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
  2. Other
Thank you to everyone that has helped so far.

I plan to order all the parts today ..... which will be

CPU - Intel i7 9700k 3.6MHz octa (8?) core LGA 1151 (this looks like good bang for buck processor)
GPU - Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5
SSD - Samsung 860 EVO 1TB for data and WD Black SN750 256GB for OS.
PSU - Corsair RM650x
Case - Corsair 275R Airflow tempered glass in white
Cooling - Corsair Hydro H60
WIFI/BT - Fenvi T919 BCM94360CD
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32GB (8GB * 4) DDR4 2400MHz
Webcam - Papalook HD 1080p AF925 USB
Monitor - I run a dual monitor set up currently an AOC G2778VP plus the iMac - intend to add another AOC Q2778Vqe (2560x1440) to the current AOC to replace the iMac screen - can use either HDMI or display port to connect each monitor to the GPU

My final question is about which motherboard to choose. I have been reading a lot on here, for the last two weeks, and cannot decide whether to go for the

ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero Z390

or the

Gigabyte MB INT 1151 Z390 Designare D4 ATX

Why the confusion? A few reasons...
1) ASUS is in the build spec on here for a CustoMac but reading the forums very few people seem to have experience with the Hero XI
2) There are lots of builds and forum threads on the Gigabyte
3) The Gigabyte card has a WIFI chip which I know won't work - I assume this will complicate matters (is that correct)
4) But I have also read there are still some issues with the Gigabyte card
5) Price wise they are within £10 of each other

This is all new to me! I am willing to read a lot, and try to solve things myself and with the help from forum members (what's the worst than can happen, you wipe and start again). But I would like as vanilla/easy a setup as possible - so getting the hardware choice right from the start is important to me.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on the MB choice, with the spec I have above, and bearing in mind I would like to run Catalina.

Thanks for any help you can give
 
Last edited:
It comes down to what feature you want. The only major difference I can think of is Thunderbolt. I went from ASUS Rog Strix to Designare because I needed the thunderbolt feature for my DAW and Video need. Both work flawlessly. You just have to spend the time configuring your SSDTs and USB map properly. There are a few who are experiencing USB stability issues with Designare at the moment, but my system has been rock solid (more than my 3 year old MBP). So YMMV. Do you also plan to overclock your system? ASUS cut corners on their board by putting in a sub-par fake 8 phase VRM which runs a lot hotter, so again, your mileage depends on what you are going to do with the board. WIFI/BT is a non-issue as you can simply pull out the module and install Fenvi.

For future proofing, you may want to consider having TB. I run everything including my monitor and USB dock with just one single TB cord from the MB, and it works just like a real Mac. I can easily switch back and forth between my MBP and Hackintosh using a single TB cable.
 
It comes down to what feature you want. The only major difference I can think of is Thunderbolt. I went from ASUS Rog Strix to Designare because I needed the thunderbolt feature for my DAW and Video need. Both work flawlessly. You just have to spend the time configuring your SSDTs and USB map properly. There are a few who are experiencing USB stability issues with Designare at the moment, but my system has been rock solid (more than my 3 year old MBP). So YMMV. Do you also plan to overclock your system? ASUS cut corners on their board by putting in a sub-par fake 8 phase VRM which runs a lot hotter, so again, your mileage depends on what you are going to do with the board. WIFI/BT is a non-issue as you can simply pull out the module and install Fenvi.

For future proofing, you may want to consider having TB. I run everything including my monitor and USB dock with just one single TB cord from the MB, and it works just like a real Mac. I can easily switch back and forth between my MBP and Hackintosh using a single TB cable.
That is exactly what I would want to do with my system. Did you need to flash your designare board to get the thunderbolt to work properly? I have been following the other threads on the thunderbolt ROM flash procedures.
 
That is exactly what I would want to do with my system. Did you need to flash your designare board to get the thunderbolt to work properly? I have been following the other threads on the thunderbolt ROM flash procedures.
I was planning on doing it, but didn't want to lose the option of booting into windows. All my TB dock, 4K Monitor, and USB ports work great. Rock-stable with zero freeze or kernel panic. Will wait and see how things progress with the TB ROM.
 
I was planning on doing it, but didn't want to lose the option of booting into windows. All my TB dock, 4K Monitor, and USB ports work great. Rock-stable with zero freeze or kernel panic. Will wait and see how things progress with the TB ROM.

Thanks for all the info. Which TB dock are you using?
 
Caldigit TS3+. I run a single cable from TB port to the dock and connect my monitor, audio interface, camera, capture card, and other hubs.
 
Thank you to everyone that has helped so far.

I plan to order all the parts today ..... which will be

CPU - Intel i7 9700k 3.6MHz octa (8?) core LGA 1151 (this looks like good bang for buck processor)
GPU - Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5
SSD - Samsung 860 EVO 1TB for data and WD Black SN750 256GB for OS.
PSU - Corsair RM650x
Case - Corsair 275R Airflow tempered glass in white
Cooling - Corsair Hydro H60
WIFI/BT - Fenvi T919 BCM94360CD
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32GB (8GB * 4) DDR4 2400MHz
Webcam - Papalook HD 1080p AF925 USB
Monitor - I run a dual monitor set up currently an AOC G2778VP plus the iMac - intend to add another AOC Q2778Vqe (2560x1440) to the current AOC to replace the iMac screen - can use either HDMI or display port to connect each monitor to the GPU

My final question is about which motherboard to choose. I have been reading a lot on here, for the last two weeks, and cannot decide whether to go for the

ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero Z390

or the

Gigabyte MB INT 1151 Z390 Designare D4 ATX

Why the confusion? A few reasons...
1) ASUS is in the build spec on here for a CustoMac but reading the forums very few people seem to have experience with the Hero XI
2) There are lots of builds and forum threads on the Gigabyte
3) The Gigabyte card has a WIFI chip which I know won't work - I assume this will complicate matters (is that correct)
4) But I have also read there are still some issues with the Gigabyte card
5) Price wise they are within £10 of each other

This is all new to me! I am willing to read a lot, and try to solve things myself and with the help from forum members (what's the worst than can happen, you wipe and start again). But I would like as vanilla/easy a setup as possible - so getting the hardware choice right from the start is important to me.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on the MB choice, with the spec I have above, and bearing in mind I would like to run Catalina.

Thanks for any help you can give


Gigabyte:
The Wifi & BT will NOT work (I have an Aorus Z390 Ultra).
I would personally recommend the Gigabyte

Asus:
Not as popular as the Gigabyte for Hackintoshes
RGB looks better (if you're into that stuff)

I would HIGHLY recommend getting faster RAM, like getting 3000 over 2400 (it'll be much faster).

For the cooler, I think that a 120mm cooler in not sufficient for a 9700K. I would recommend a 240mm or 280mm (I have a 9700K and a Corsair H100i Platinum, and it works great. I've never gone over 78C under full load).
 
For the cooler, I think that a 120mm cooler in not sufficient for a 9700K. I would recommend a 240mm or 280mm (I have a 9700K and a Corsair H100i Platinum, and it works great. I've never gone over 78C under full load).

Good to know. :thumbup: Thanks.
 
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