MacMan's Build: ASUS TUF Z390-PRO GAMING - i9-9900K - Vega 64 - Updated for 10.14.6 and NVRAM Support

[MacMan]

MacMan's Build:
ASUS TUF Z390-PRO GAMING - i9-9900K - UHD 630

Updated 2020-02-02 for Native NVRAM Support

Components

ASUS TUF Z390-PRO GAMING Motherboard
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HM6ZC9D/tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813119160

Intel i9-9900K Processor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005404P9I/tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117957

Corsair Hydro Series H75 Liquid Processor Cooler
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DGDXW6Z/tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181058

Cooler Master Blade Master 120 PWM Cooling Fan
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030DL37I/
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103069

Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory Kit (BLS2K8G4D32AESBK)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNJP6RW/tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820164125

Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD - CT1000P1SSD8
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J2Q4SWZ/tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820156199

CORSAIR RMX Series (2018), RM650x 650 Watt PSU
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079H6111J/tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139232

Corsair Carbide 200R Computer Case
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009GXZ8MM/tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018

2 Ports Hub USB 2.0 to 9 Pin Header Mainboard Panel Bracket
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K82WQ7K/tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1W8-00GB-00003

Comments

As the developer of UniBeast and MultiBeast I wanted to get a Z390 and i9 system for testing. It will eventually become my main development system and replace my current rig ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING i7-8800K.

The Build
My goal was for a full featured but high powered system and picked my favorites from the Buyers Guide. So that means the i9-9900K will provide 2 extra cores and higher Turbo rate. I went with the ASUS TUF Z390-PRO GAMING Motherboard as it has all the capabilities I needed. Since the i9 doesn't come with a cooler I went with the Corsair Hydro Series H75 but added an additional fan for increased cooling capability. Crucial is a new player when it comes to NVMe SSD, and I've had great luck with their 2.5" SSD drives so it was a logical choice for this build. The rest of the components are old reliables that I've used before.

Note this motherboard only has USB2 ports on motherboard headers. So you will need to use 2 Ports Hub USB 2.0 to 9 Pin Header Mainboard Panel Bracket or something similar for booting the UniBeast installer.

BIOS

UEFI default overrides:

Ai Tweaker -> Ai Overclock Tuner -> XMP1​

Advanced -> Onboard Devices Configuration -> USB power delivery in Soft Off state (S5) -> Disabled​

Advanced -> Onboard Devices Configuration -> Serial Port Configuration -> Serial Port -> Off​

Advanced -> USB Configuration -> Legacy USB Support -> Disabled​

If you use UEFI version 2203 or later the system will hang during the boot of macOS at apfs_module_start:1393. @mattystonnie has created a patch that fixes this.

I've attached the patch file ASUS_ACPI in a .zip file that you can install using plistbuddy in Terminal after unzipping.

You will need to install the patch on your UniBeast drive and then on your destination disk after running MultiBeast. The command would look like this if Clover was just install to the destination:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Merge ASUS_ACPI :ACPI:DSDT:" /Volumes/ESP/EFI/CLOVER/config.plist

or like this if you had to mount the destination EFI

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Merge ASUS_ACPI :ACPI:DSDT:" /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/config.plist

The Installation

Making the UniBeast USB Installation Thumb Drive

Use the tonymacx86 guide UniBeast: Install macOS Mojave on Any Supported Intel-based PC. Note: your USB Thumb drive needs to have at least 7.63 GB of free space to build the UniBeast installation thumb drive. Otherwise, you'll need a 16GB USB thumb drive which is actually a better size so you can copy the following items to the thumb drive for use in the post installation phase:

MultiBeast v11 for Mojave which you can probably put on your UniBeast Installation USB thumb drive;
EFI Mounter V3;
KextBeast which might use later to update your kexts in the /Library/Extensions/ folder (/L/E/);
Clover Configurator for fine tuning.

Since UEFI version 2012 does not support native NVRAM, you will need to add Emulate NVRam support to your UniBeast drive. If you don't do this you will get hangs during the install process. You can add Emulated NVRAM to your UniBeast 9.2 USB Installation drive using the attached Clover_v2.4k_r4920-UEFI-EmuNVR-UB.pkg.


Installation Notes

To boot the UniBeast installer you will need to use a USB2 port. You can then follow Steps 4 & 5 in the tonymacx86 guide: UniBeast: Install macOS Mojave on Any Supported Intel-based PC.

Note: You can save installation time by formatting the destination volume as APFS instead of Mac OS Extended (Journaled)​

Note: When initially booting into the Desktop, the setup process will ask you to log into iCloud, do not log in - skip it - as it messes up Messages.​

Post Installation

Drag & drop MultiBeast, EFI Mounter V3, Clover Configurator and KextBeast files from the thumb drive to your Applications folder, unzip them, run MultiBeast (v11.3+) and selection the following:

Quick Start > UEFI Boot Mode​

Drivers > Audio > AppleALC​

Drivers > Disk > Intel Generic AHCI SATA​

Drivers > Misc > FakeSMC​

Drivers > Network > Intel > IntelMausiEthernet v2.4.0​

Drivers > USB > Remove XHCI USB port Limit​

Customer > Graphics > Core Graphics Fixup AKA Whatevergreen​

Customer > Graphics > Intel HD630 (Coffee Lake)​

Customer > System Definitions > iMac > iMac19,1​

I've attached my MB config file, OctoTUF.mb. To use it, run MultiBeast and Load (far right menu choice); once loaded, choose Build, then Install.

The current version of macOS 10.14.5 officially support the i9-9900K, however this motherboard stills needs the Framebuffer patch to properly display video. There are 2 ways to go about this. The first is before rebooting after MultiBeast you install the patch. Otherwise if you have another working Mac of Hackintosh you can configure this build for screen sharing and install the patch after installing MultiBeast and rebooting.

I've attached the patch file ASUS_TUF_Z390_HD630 in a .zip file that you can install using plistbuddy in Terminal after unzipping.

If you are installing it after running MultiBeast and before rebooting the command would look like this:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Merge ASUS_TUF_Z390_HD630 :Devices:" /Volumes/ESP/EFI/CLOVER/config.plist

Then reboot and you should be good to go. I have seen kernel panics during the reboot phase but don't worry. I think it's due to the kernel cache not being updated. So it might take a couple of reboots to get back to the desktop.

The commands after rebooting would be:

sudo diskutil mount /dev/disk0s1
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Merge ASUS_TUF_Z390_HD630 :Devices:" /Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/config.plist

After running this command reboot and you should be good to go.

Summary

Here is my Geekbench 4 test results:

What Works
Everything.


What Doesn't Work
NVRAM so you need to use Clover with Emulated NVRAM.

NVRAM now works using Clover 2.5k-r5102 or later using the attached SSDT. If you previously installed Clover with Emulated NVRAM you need to delete the following files before rebooting:

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/CLOVER/drivers64UEFI/EmuVariableUefi-64.efi
/Volumes/EFI/nvram.plist

/etc/rc.clover.lib
/etc/rc.boot.d/10.save_and_rotate_boot_log.local
/etc/rc.boot.d/20.mount_ESP.local
/etc/rc.boot.d/70.disable_sleep_proxy_client.local.disabled
/etc/rc.shutdown.d/80.save_nvram_plist.local

If you want an automated solution download and run https://www.tonymacx86.com/resources/clover-emulated-nvram-uninstaller.368/

 

[Stork]

Yea! The Z390 just became easier to adapt macOS 10.14.5! Go for it!

 

[telepati]

@MacMan is your CPU Type shows correctly?

 

[MacMan]

No, as I'm not running the special iMac 2019 build of 10.14.4.

I expect it to show in 10.14.5.

 

[telepati]

No, as I'm not running the special iMac 2019 build of 10.14.4.

I expect it to show in 10.14.5.

I am already using Special Build but it doesn't make any difference either. Just like you said we must wait to version 10.14.5.

 

[glofter1]

I'm on macOS 10.14.4 (18E2034).
I found only one different. min CPU frequency before was 800mhz. now is 1300mhz.
and DGPU again not work property. I enable igpu to support h264. I waiting 10.14.5 too

 

[prud]

i9

 

[jiffyslot]

"Note: You can save installation time by formatting the destination volume as APFS instead of Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"

Did not know this. Thought it was part of the "UniBeast recipe"≈ (Still naming it Mojave?)

 

[kentval]

Just saying "Hi" - my second build is in a cardboard box waiting for the back-ordered case. [BHPhoto is closed for the next 10 days ] Got an i9-9900K; ASUS RoG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) mobo; 64GB RAM; a NVMe 1TB; RX580 and the usual range of other stuff. Hope that I can get FCPX to run on it.

Meanwhile, I just wait and read threads like this.

However I will take this moment to say (after 7 years on this board) THANK YOU to MacMan for what amounts to heroic efforts. (And to Stork for heroic patience.) I'll be back in 10-14 days (I hope.)

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Is that definition 18,1 or 19,1 ?

The 18,1 appears to be a mid 2017 model.