Gigabyte B550 Vision D (Thunderbolt 3) + AMD Ryzen 7 3700X + AMD RX 5600 XT

[CaseySJ]

Hello,

I'm considering building a second station strictly dedicated to mixing audio ( Between 70 to 100 tracks ).
Has anyone here successfully build a AMD system that can run Avid Protools & AAX plugins?
If so, would you mind sharing your experience? Stability, bugs, issues, etc..
No Thunderbolt needed. Pcie and/or Dante protocol.

Thanks in advance.

ProTools works on Ryzen Hackintoshes with no problems, but unsure about AAX plugins.

 

[realeoin]

Hi

First off, I've been on this board a good few years now and have come very close a number of times to building a hackintosh. What a wealth of knowledge and hard work this forum is. For various reasons I just never got there in the end. Apologies if this is not the place to be asking a long winded set of questions. Please remove if that is the case.

In the end (several years ago now) I refurbed a 2009 Mac Pro into a 2012 12 core. Solid machine overall. But I really need to the Thunderbolt 3

And because of this I'm pulling the trigger on new parts for a build. My thinking is even in worst case scenario I can always just use Windows. Not the end of the world for me really.

However I'm now fully committed to building a hackintosh and everything that comes with it. Up until yesterday I had my sights set on the Z490 Vision D build in your other thread. A few weeks ago I even received a Z490 Vision D and a 10700K in the post from Amazon. The packaging was severely damaged so I returned them straight away. I now have my refund and I'm ready to start again.

But now my eye has been drawn to this thread. Not just because it works out a bit cheaper but also because the B550 is far more aesthetically pleasing than the Z490 and the potential for future upgrade seems better

I do have a few things I'd like to be able to achieve. Maybe someone can tell me if they are at all realistic. I realise this is a Big Sur build and that (currently) is not my goal.

As I said I was using a Mac Pro 2012 as my daily work machine - so for various reasons I was using a dual boot (on separate SSDs) of Sierra 10.12.6 and Mojave 10.14.6

So I have clones of both of these drives from my Mac Pro. They are clones and I have backups so these are going to be my "for experimental use" drives until I get the desired results. I'd like to be able to run Sierra and Mojave on a build such as this thread

Is that an achievable goal? I see a lot of threads where the aim is to configure for the latest MacOS but not for older MacOS. As an audio engineer I'm happier with the OS versions I've been using

I never really used High Sierra and I really don't particularly need Catalina. Big Sur I'm not even sure about yet.

However in a pinch I'm perfectly happy to run whatever I need to just to have a decent powerful Mac desktop

Given any of the above is there any reason I should not use this build guide and instead go for the Z490 I was initially planning on?

Cheers and fantastic work in these guides btw

 

[trs96]

So I have clones of both of these drives from my Mac Pro. They are clones and I have backups so these are going to be my "for experimental use" drives until I get the desired results. I'd like to be able to run Sierra and Mojave on a build such as this thread

Is that an achievable goal? I see a lot of threads where the aim is to configure for the latest MacOS but not for older MacOS. As an audio engineer I'm happier with the OS versions I've been using

I never really used High Sierra and I really don't particularly need Catalina. Big Sur I'm not even sure about yet.

From what I've read following these threads, Sierra is not an option and even Mojave would be rather difficult to configure and make functional on a Z490 or B550 AMD based system. So right now it looks like Catalina would be the better choice if you use this for work. I'm sure CaseySJ will add some more commentary. Some people buy the older Z390 Designare to be able to run Mojave on their hackintosh. Not sure if those are still available new.

New chipsets and graphics cards are not backwards compatible with many older OS X versions. tonymacx86

Build Recommendations for older versions of OS X/macOS using older Chipsets

New chipsets and graphics cards are not backwards compatible with many older OS X versions. The Evolution of Core-i Processors http://www.tonymacx86.com/376-evolution-intel-s-core-i-processors.html The table in the post above shows the CPU and motherboard combos that are compatible with each...

www.tonymacx86.com

 

[CaseySJ]

@realeoin,

Those are all good questions. Let me see which ones I can answer:

• B550 contains the AMD AM4 socket. The new Ryzen 5000 CPUs will be the last ones to be supported on AM4. The next generation (AMD 6000 CPUs) will most likely require a new "AM5" socket. So this means that X570 and B550, because of their AM4 sockets, are now at the end of their upgrade path.
• Z490 will support Intel Rocket Lake-S CPUs sometime in February or March of 2021. Then Z490 will also be at the end of its upgrade path.
• Z390 upgrade path ended with 9th Gen Intel Coffee Lake CPUs.

Because Intel motherboards support only 2 generations of CPUs while AMD motherboards often support 3 generations of CPUs (or more), there is better long-term upgradability with AMD.

You should be able to run both High Sierra and Mojave on the B550 Vision D, but I have not seen concrete evidence of this yet (I haven't looked). Catalina will run for sure because @xtreem.p and others are already doing so.

Keep in mind that some applications -- particularly from Adobe -- do not work well on AMD systems, although patches are being released.

If you must use certain audio applications, the safest solution would be to run Catalina on a Z490 system, or run Mojave on a Z390 system.

But if you are willing to assemble an AMD B550 system and test your applications for compatibility and stability, then that is a perfectly viable option as well. Without knowing which applications and plug-ins you are using, we cannot tell whether they will work.

 

[realeoin]

Thanks for the replies

I will mainly use a combo of Ableton 10, Logic Pro X, Cubase, FL Studio and Pro Tools, Native Instruments Kontakt, Reaktor and various other VSTs and AU plugins

I'd like to be able to use some Adobe software (Photoshop, Premier and After Effects) though that part is not a deal breaker for me

It's mainly going to be an audio PC and general work station while I am working from home these days

I have an old Lynx Aurora 16 audio interface that would be nice to get going again - either by the PCI card that I have or and USB 2.0 card - again not a deal breaker - I want to upgrade to a Thunderbolt interface

So I think from what I'm reading I my have to start afresh with Catalina build

I think I'll follow my first instinct and follow the Z490 guide and try out a few things out with my older OS versions along the way

That guide seems very well documented and I've seen quite a few successful reports on that build now

 

[trs96]

Thanks for the replies

I will mainly use a combo of Ableton 10, Logic Pro X, Cubase, FL Studio and Pro Tools, Native Instruments Kontakt, Reaktor and various other VSTs and AU plugins

I'd like to be able to use some Adobe software (Photoshop, Premier and After Effects) though that part is not a deal breaker for me

It's mainly going to be an audio PC and general work station while I am working from home these days

I have an old Lynx Aurora 16 audio interface that would be nice to get going again - either by the PCI card that I have or and USB 2.0 card - again not a deal breaker - I want to upgrade to a Thunderbolt interface

So I think from what I'm reading I my have to start afresh with Catalina build

I think I'll follow my first instinct and follow the Z490 guide and try out a few things out with my older OS versions along the way

That guide seems very well documented and I've seen quite a few successful reports on that build now

I do think Intel is best for an audio workstation. The next thing to do is check how well everything works in Catalina. If you did have to go with Mojave for any reason it looks like Amazon still sells the Z390 Designare. That is the best fit with Mojave. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K8RJZRG/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Also note that Catalina dropped support for all 32 bit apps.

 

[realeoin]

Thanks I am aware of most of this - I use a Catalina iMac at work and I can comfortably use Ableton (my main DAW)
on that

Edit: this is purely a home studio build to replace my ageing Mac Pro 2012

I guess I'm just a dinosaur being dragged kicking and screaming out of the stone age

It's really not the end of the world to update with the times

But now that you mention it - I will take a closer look at the Z390 9900K build

This is not a million miles away from the Z490 and well documented to it seems

 

[xtreem.p]

It went smooth here....

 

[realeoin]

Actually having a difficult time finding a Z390 Designare here in my part of the world

may have missed the boat on that one

 

[xtreem.p]

Thanks I am aware of most of this - I use a Catalina iMac at work and I can comfortably use Ableton (my main DAW)
on that

Edit: this is purely a home studio build to replace my ageing Mac Pro 2012

I guess I'm just a dinosaur being dragged kicking and screaming out of the stone age

It's really not the end of the world to update with the times

But now that you mention it - I will take a closer look at the Z390 9900K build

This is not a million miles away from the Z490 and well documented to it seems

For music production, i use my Z390 Designare with 9900k running Catalina (following CaseySJs thread).
That build is the best music production computer for years to come. Thunderbolt is working flawlessly and everything is just tip top.. no quirks no pans...you can probably score 9900k for cheap now. It can easily handle lots of tracks and plugins.

This B550 Vision D is my "play" computer. i quadro boot on this.

1. Windows - Gaming!
2. Big Sur - testing
3. Catalina - Used for music production
4. Manjaro Linux - hacking

Edit: Until i get my 5950x and my flashkit to flash this B550 Vision D that is