Lepus48's Asus Strix Z370-F, with i7-8700k / RX 570 / 2x 4k Monitors

[alinitkin]

Hi,

I was wondering if there was any difference whether I start a mac installation or windows installation, and if there was any reason you chose the m.2 disk for Windows while using the normal SSD for MacOS (since it seems your main OS is MacOS).

I ask because I have almost the same build (Motherboard, Processor and RAM) but I'm starting off with one disk, and I'm wondering if it makes a difference if use the sata vs m.2 for the two OS.

Also, is mining efficiency same on Windows vs Hackintosh?


Thanks.

 

[Lepus48]

Hi,

I was wondering if there was any difference whether I start a mac installation or windows installation, and if there was any reason you chose the m.2 disk for Windows while using the normal SSD for MacOS (since it seems your main OS is MacOS).

I ask because I have almost the same build (Motherboard, Processor and RAM) but I'm starting off with one disk, and I'm wondering if it makes a difference if use the sata vs m.2 for the two OS.

I already had the SSDs when I started the build - a 500GB SATA and a 250GB NVME. I went with the SATA SSD for macOS on account of the size alone. I only use Windows for the ocassional game, so I needed to use the larger of the drives to for mac.

Also, is mining efficiency same on Windows vs Hackintosh?

Same performance for CPU mining Cryptonight, but the GPU mining on mac is pretty poor. Most of the CUDA miners don't want to compile for mac, and there isn't an equivalent of MSI Afterburner or even nvidia-smi to adjust power levels or fan speeds, that I know of.

I'm mining Ethereum with at ~ 26Mh/sec on the mac's 1070 Ti, which is pretty wasteful for the hardware. Ethereum mining is memory bound and its the only card in the case, so the GPU temps don't jump beyond 60C or so. I think I'd run into issue's controlling the temperature if using a different algorithm like Equihash.

For CPU mining, I was originally using xmr-stak-cpu, but am now using xmrig. xmrig is in Homebrew now.

 

[alinitkin]

Hi,



I already had the SSDs when I started the build - a 500GB SATA and a 250GB NVME. I went with the SATA SSD for macOS on account of the size alone. I only use Windows for the ocassional game, so I needed to use the larger of the drives to for mac.

Thanks for the quick reply. I will do Windows first then, as I plan to get a better drive a bit later on. And disappointing to hear about GPU mining performances. Such is the nature of the mac.

 

[kernelpanicd]

Will this guide work for the Z370-E? More specifically the USB related fixes?

 

[Lepus48]

Will this guide work for the Z370-E? More specifically the USB related fixes?

Everything but the USB and Wifi are likely to be the same. The USB on the Z370-E does look very similar to this board's, so you may get lucky there.

 

[kernelpanicd]

Everything but the USB and Wifi are likely to be the same. The USB on the Z370-E does look very similar to this board's, so you may get lucky there.

I won't be using the built in wifi. The only difference in USB is the E has an extra internal 10gbps header, which I won't be using. I would have bought the Z370-F but the Z370-E was cheaper...

Fingers crossed it works the same. Hope to report back soon.

 

[Lestliness]

Nice build! I'm just finishing up an 8700K on the z370-G mATX. It's working well but I notice lag, or stutter going to and from full frame on videos at YouTube, Vimeo etc.

Do you have this experience? My First hack which still runs Yosemite is super tight in this regard.

 

[Lepus48]

Nice build! I'm just finishing up an 8700K on the z370-G mATX. It's working well but I notice lag, or stutter going to and from full frame on videos at YouTube, Vimeo etc.

Do you have this experience? My First hack which still runs Yosemite is super tight in this regard.

I've not had any lag like that while using Nvidia or AMD cards. It sounds like you might be having a driver issue of some sort.

 

[kernelpanicd]

A few of the USB ports don't work for me on the Z370-E, but enough work for now that I'm not bothered. I'll probably play around with the definition file when I get a chance.

I was able to get FileVault2 working as well (with the AsAmiShim.efi), but my Apple keyboard (latest gen) had issues with password input. It worked with a Logitech wireless keyboard but later I was able to get the Apple keyboard working by replacing the AppleKeyAggregator.efi with AppleKeyMapAggregator.efi. Simple fix.

Thanks for all the work on this guide!

 

[saltcod]

Beauty build — and great detail!

Been pretty stable in the month or so that you've built it?

How long would you say it took to get it operational? Thanks!