Gigabyte Z490 Vision D (Thunderbolt 3) + i5-10400 + AMD RX 580

[BoomR]

My build:
Vision D (F5 Firmware)
i7 10700
integrated GPU
Hyper X Fury 3200MHz 2x16GB (currently working with 1x16) (HX432C16FB3/16)
WD Green M.2 240GB SATA SSD on the topmost slot
Corsair v500 PSU
Kingston DataTraveler 100 G3 32GB FlashDrive
Apple Keyboard connected to Blue USB port

If I'm reading this right, you have a 32GB kit of RAM (2 @ 16GB ea). But you've only got 1 module installed? I could **swear** that memory needs to be installed in pairs (or that used to be the practice). And when you only populate 2 of the 4 memory slots, there are 2 in particular that get populated first:

I wonder if this could be contributing to your issues...?

 

[Uidi]

Hi @BoomR!
It is indeed a 2x16 kit. My first attempts were with both sticks installed, and as I kept finding problems I removed one of the sticks.
I am no expert, but I think you are talking about Dual Channel Configurations. It's not that it won't work with only one stick installed, but it would be half the bandwidth than with both sticks installed.

 

[CaseySJ]

Hi @BoomR!
It is indeed a 2x16 kit. My first attempts were with both sticks installed, and as I kept finding problems I removed one of the sticks.
I am no expert, but I think you are talking about Dual Channel Configurations. It's not that it won't work with only one stick installed, but it would be half the bandwidth than with both sticks installed.

Please enable verbose mode by pressing and releasing CMD-V at the OpenCore Picker. Then select Install macOS. Do you see lots of boot log messages on screen? (Hopefully you're not using a Bluetooth keyboard.)

I am beginning to suspect your WD Green M.2 SSD because other WD M.2 SSDs have proven to be incompatible. Do you have a simple (and cheap) 2.5" SATA SSD to test with? If you purchased purchased one for making a bootable backup (which you should have done ) then you can try installing macOS onto that SSD temporarily.

 

[Uidi]

Please enable verbose mode by pressing and releasing CMD-V at the OpenCore Picker. Then select Install macOS. Do you see lots of boot log messages on screen? (Hopefully you're not using a Bluetooth keyboard.)

I am beginning to suspect your WD Green M.2 SSD because other WD M.2 SSDs have proven to be incompatible. Do you have a simple (and cheap) 2.5" SATA SSD to test with? If you purchased purchased one for making a bootable backup (which you should have done ) then you can try installing macOS onto that SSD temporarily.

I had no luck enabling verbose by presing and releasing CMD V. I am not using a BT keyboard. I tried resetting NVRAM, caps lock on and off and every other nuance and combination I could think of. No verbose for me unless it's in the boot arguments.

The SSD I purchased to make the bootable backup was this M.2 SATA Green. My main SSD was going to be a Samsung 970 EVO Plus which I purchased and canceled after remembering it was not recommended for my build. I'm on the verge of buying what's going to be my OS drive. I was thinking of a SSD NVME WD Black SN750. Should I ditch that also?

I'm in Argentina. I can't get Sabrent SSDs. Not a lot of options to choose from. There are Kingston A2000, Gigabyte, ADATA and maybe a couple more, besides the WD line. Could you recommend any of those to be my main drive?

 

[CaseySJ]

I had no luck enabling verbose by presing and releasing CMD V. I am not using a BT keyboard. I tried resetting NVRAM, caps lock on and off and every other nuance and combination I could think of. No verbose for me unless it's in the boot arguments.

That's even better -- adding "-v" to boot-args.

The SSD I purchased to make the bootable backup was this M.2 SATA Green. My main SSD was going to be a Samsung 970 EVO Plus which I purchased and canceled after remembering it was not recommended for my build. I'm on the verge of buying what's going to be my OS drive. I was thinking of a SSD NVME WD Black SN750. Should I ditch that also?

Yes please ditch that too!

I'm in Argentina. I can't get Sabrent SSDs. Not a lot of options to choose from. There are Kingston A2000, Gigabyte, ADATA and maybe a couple more, besides the WD line. Could you recommend any of those to be my main drive?

I have both the ADATA SX 8200 and 8200 Pro. These are highly recommended and work perfectly with macOS.

 

[BoomR]

I am beginning to suspect your WD Green M.2 SSD because other WD M.2 SSDs have proven to be incompatible. Do you have a simple (and cheap) 2.5" SATA SSD to test with? If you purchased purchased one for making a bootable backup (which you should have done ) then you can try installing macOS onto that SSD temporarily.

@CaseySJ - do you mean for any/all WD m.2 SSDs? I could swear that, when I was reading about compatible storage devices, WD's homegrown controller on their m.2 drives is preferred/recommended. I was actually considering Upgrading to 1T using this WD Black 1TB m.2 SSD. Or are you suggesting that the "green" (power-savings) WD m.2 SSDs are the problematic ones?

Personally I have used a lot of Samsung SSDs and never experienced any performance issues. In my original 360/VR build, I was using 512GB Samsung 960 PRO with no issues. Right now on the Vision D rebuild, I'm booted from 512GB Samsung 970 EVO (not "plus" version) and again, not really experiencing any performance issues:

 

[Higgie]

I have both the ADATA SX 8200 and 8200 Pro. These are highly recommended and work perfectly with macOS.

I can also vouch for the SX8200 Pro. I have 2x 1TB (Windows and macOS) and I notice no difference in either OS

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ - do you mean for any/all WD m.2 SSDs? I could swear that, when I was reading about compatible storage devices, WD's homegrown controller on their m.2 drives is preferred/recommended. I was actually considering Upgrading to 1T using this WD Black 1TB m.2 SSD. Or are you suggesting that the "green" (power-savings) WD m.2 SSDs are the problematic ones?

I think the problem may be limited to the WD SN7xx and perhaps SN6xx series. Until we hear back from @Uidi we won't know if the WD Green is affected.

Personally I have used a lot of Samsung SSDs and never experienced any performance issues. In my original 360/VR build, I was using 512GB Samsung 960 PRO with no issues. Right now on the Vision D rebuild, I'm booted from 512GB Samsung 970 EVO (not "plus" version) and again, not really experiencing any performance issues:

Samsung NVMe SSDs are indeed compatible, but they tend to run hotter due to macOS's inability to properly manage power on those devices.

 

[jiffyslot]

+1 for the Samsung 850, 8650, 970, and 970 Pro SSDs. The temperatures are fine for my setup after I removed the Gigabyte "Heat Sink" ...see attachment...

 

[CaseySJ]

+1 for the Samsung 850, 8650, 970, and 970 Pro SSDs. The temperatures are fine for my setup after I removed the Gigabyte "Heat Sink" ...see attachment...

My Sabrent Rocket runs at 28C with Gigabyte’s heat sink.

Update:

• Sabrent Rocket PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD is currently at 26˚C
• Silicon Power PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD is currently at 25˚C