Motherboard Advice For First Build

[ZaiFuchigami]

Hey everyone,


Been thinking about building a Hackintosh for a few years now but felt it wasn't the right time until now. I finally started planning my first build.


My machine will be used primarily for video editing, photo editing, graphic design, CAD and the usual stuff like web browsing, email, etc.

Features like AirDrop, Handoff, iMessage, App Store, FaceTime, etc would need to work.


I will not be doing anything GPU intensive at all, and want the machine to be as power friendly as possible, so I’m planning to use the integrated graphics on the i5-9600K outputting to an 4K LG display.


Now I want to know whether to go with a Z370 or Z390 board. The main reasons for me to go with the Gigabyte Z390 Designare over the Asus Prime Z370-A II is the integrated native Titan-Ridge TB3 ports, the higher build quality and many people saying its one of the best (if not the best) Hackintosh motherboards ever made. If you're someone who uses the Z390 Designare please let me know your experience with the board.


I've read that Z370 MBs have native Nvram support which equates to higher stability? The Gigabyte Z390 board is about 120USD more than the Asus Z370 board, do you think its worth the extra cost? Which one will be more simple to get up and running?

I've also read that some Z370 board require a BIOS update to work with 9th gen Intel CPUs and require a 8th gen CPU to update it. I looked around at some reviews and it seems like all of the Asus Prime Z370-a II MBs shipped after around April, has the updated BIOS to support 9th gen Intel CPUs out of the box, so that's not an issue.



Current Build:

CPU: Intel Core i5-9600K

GPU: none

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 DESIGNARE OR Asus Prime Z370-A II

Memory: HyperX Predator 2666Mhz 32Gb (16x2) DDR4

Boot Drive: Samsung 970 EVO 1Tb

PSU: EVGA Supernova 650 P2

Wireless: Fenvi T919 PCIe card


One question I have is about the video output on the two motherboard options, since there is no dedicated GPU. Is it possible to hookup a 4K monitor to the HDMI port or Thunderbolt 3 port on the motherboard and get a 4K output at 60Hz? Do I need a Display port?


Thanks guys!

 

[antieatingactivist]

I think the deciding factor would be if you need Thunderbolt 3 or not. Other than that the big difference between z370 and z390 is USB 3.1 gen 2. The Fenvi card should make Handoff work. All of the iMessage/FaceTime stuff should work with anything as long as your config file is done correctly. Its been years since I even had to think about that stuff getting messed up. It used to be a nightmare but now it pretty much just works. You will probably want to be running DisplayPort if you want full 60hz at 4K. I really can't say how easy or well thunderbolt displays will work or if the iGPU Video output is routed into the thunderbolt connection. I would imagine it would be, but someone else will have to chime in on that. I am running a much cheaper Asus z390m TUF motherboard and it works great. It also has DisplayPort Out on the board, which sounds like it would serve you better than Thunderbolt 3, unless you really need it.

 

[antieatingactivist]

Native NVRAM support shouldn't have anything to do with stability. My board is using emu variable and I've had no problems.

 

[ZaiFuchigami]

Thanks for the helpful info! Thunderbolt isn't a necessity for me but is one of those things that would be nice to have on hand. I'll probably go with a Asus board and save myself some cash. I could always add a PCIe TB3 card in the future. On the spec sheet of the Asus Prime Z370-A II it says it has 2 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, do z370 boards have or not have USB 3.1 Gen 2?