Not happy with Asus Prime z390-A. Need a better MB

[kSilva]

I use my computer mainly for video editing and rendering, but I'm having lots of issues with computer crashing when rendering. Additionally it does not feel as stable as I thought it would. It was a pain to get it to work initially.

My question is what is the best, most reliable and Hackintosh friendly motherboard that I can use for some heavy video editing (mainly 4K video). I need power and reliability even if it cost me a bit more.

Current specs: Asus Prime Z390-A motherboard with an Intel 9-9900K CPU, a Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse GPU and 64gb 3200 MHz of RAM.

 

[pastrychef]

I use my computer mainly for video editing and rendering, but I'm having lots of issues with computer crashing when rendering. Additionally it does not feel as stable as I thought it would. It was a pain to get it to work initially.

My question is what is the best, most reliable and Hackintosh friendly motherboard that I can use for some heavy video editing (mainly 4K video). I need power and reliability even if it cost me a bit more.

Current specs: Asus Prime Z390-A motherboard with an Intel 9-9900K CPU, a Sapphire RX 5700 XT Pulse GPU and 64gb 3200 MHz of RAM.

What stability/reliability issues are you having?
Are you getting kernel panics?
Is your CPU overclocked?
Have you tried any other video card?

 

[kSilva]

What stability/reliability issues are you having?
Are you getting kernel panics?
Is your CPU overclocked?
Have you tried any other video card?

- No I haven't tried other video cards. I have a 1080Ti but as you know I can't use it with Catalina.
- No my system is not overclocked.
- I have 3 120mmm front fans and one out in the back. My CPU has the Corsair h150i AIO with radiator at top of case with 3 120mm fans. My CPU temps get as high 81 degrees Celsius.
- Kernel panic? the screen goes dark and stays there and I end-up having to hit the reset or power button.

*** I was able to render the video by enabling the integrated GPU in BIOS as the primary. Then, connecting my monitor to the motherboard display port, and having the GPU settings in davinci to auto. Both cards show in my system settings in Catalina.****
Is this the proper way to set it up. I thought the monitor is supposed to be connected to dedicated GPU and the integrated card disabled.

 

[pastrychef]

- No I haven't tried other video cards. I have a 1080Ti but as you know I can't use it with Catalina.
- No my system is not overclocked.
- I have 3 120mmm front fans and one out in the back. My CPU has the Corsair h150i AIO with radiator at top of case with 3 120mm fans. My CPU temps get as high 81 degrees Celsius.
- Kernel panic? the screen goes dark and stays there and I end-up having to hit the reset or power button.

*** I was able to render the video by enabling the integrated GPU in BIOS as the primary. Then, connecting my monitor to the motherboard display port, and having the GPU settings in davinci to auto. Both cards show in my system settings in Catalina.****
Is this the proper way to set it up. I thought the monitor is supposed to be connected to dedicated GPU and the integrated card disabled.

Wow. 81C sounds pretty hot for a CPU that isn't overclocked, especially with such a large water cooler.
I'm on an air cooler and my i9-9900K only reaches the lower 80s when stress testing with prime95 or when converting videos with Handbrake and my CPU is overclocked. *Note: I delidded my i9-9900K.

No, that's not the correct way to configure your system.
If you have a discrete video card, the video out ports on the motherboard should not be used.
Monitor(s) should only be connected to the discrete video card.
Some users have reported stability problems when using one of the new AMD Navi video cards. The problems described seem to indicate that they are driver issues. I expect these issues to be fixed by Apple in upcoming macOS releases. Keep in mind that these drivers are still relatively "young".

Please post your EFI folder.

 

[kSilva]

Wow. 81C sounds pretty hot for a CPU that isn't overclocked, especially with such a large water cooler.
I'm on an air cooler and my i9-9900K only reaches the lower 80s when stress testing with prime95 or when converting videos with Handbrake and my CPU is overclocked. *Note: I delidded my i9-9900K.

No, that's not the correct way to configure your system.
If you have a discrete video card, the video out ports on the motherboard should not be used.
Monitor(s) should only be connected to the discrete video card.
Some users have reported stability problems when using one of the new AMD Navi video cards. The problems described seem to indicate that they are driver issues. I expect these issues to be fixed by Apple in upcoming macOS releases. Keep in mind that these drivers are still relatively "young".

Please post your EFI folder.

Thanks again @pastrychef !!! you have been the most helpful person that I've found in this forum. You always have great inputs.
See attached for EFI folder (I removed the serial number from the SMBIOS before uploading). If you see anything else that might be helpful adjusting/changing let me know. The less unnecessary crap loading/running the better, I guess.

One thing I wanted to do was map my USBs, but limiting myself to 15 USBs won't cut it for me. I need more than that unfortunately.

 

[pastrychef]

Thanks again @pastrychef !!! you have been the most helpful person that I've found in this forum. You always have great inputs.
See attached for EFI folder (I removed the serial number from the SMBIOS before uploading). If you see anything else that might be helpful adjusting/changing let me know. The less unnecessary crap loading/running the better, I guess.

One thing I wanted to do was map my USBs, but limiting myself to 15 USBs won't cut it for me. I need more than that unfortunately.

Please try the attached EFI folder from a USB flash drive before deleing your existing EFI. Remember to plug back in your Serial, Board Serial, and UUID.

You should not look at mapping your USB ports as limiting yourself to 15 ports. It should be viewed as making the system more reliable and adhering to macOS rules. If you need more than 15 ports, you can always use USB hubs. Many (most?) monitors have built in USB hubs.

I believe that the changes in the EFI will give you a much more stable system. I don't feel there's any need to purchase another motherboard. The only reason I would consider a different motherboard is to look for one which would allow for better overclocking but, since you don't overclock, that's a non-issue.

 

[kSilva]

Please try the attached EFI folder from a USB flash drive before deleing your existing EFI. Remember to plug back in your Serial, Board Serial, and UUID.

You should not look at mapping your USB ports as limiting yourself to 15 ports. It should be viewed as making the system more reliable and adhering to macOS rules. If you need more than 15 ports, you can always use USB hubs. Many (most?) monitors have built in USB hubs.

I believe that the changes in the EFI will give you a much more stable system. I don't feel there's any need to purchase another motherboard. The only reason I would consider a different motherboard is to look for one which would allow for better overclocking but, since you don't overclock, that's a non-issue.

Thanks @pastrychef , I will try this as soon as I can and report back.

 

[thejoebot23]

@pastrychef I have the same configuration and I gave your EFI a shot. Works great!

Sleep worked ok. Fans hang but no freezing. Thanks a ton!

 

[kSilva]

Hey @pastrychef , I’m reporting back. Thanks for the EFI, it worked, and I was able to render my file in Davinci without crashing. However, your solution raised more questions and concerns from me that I hope you can answer.

• My original plist configuration was based on a vanilla guide that I found online, and I noticed a lot of the settings were different from the plist you sent me. I’m curious as to why so much difference, specially the ACPI section of clover configurator. Also, I didn’t realize the CsrActiveConfig was not set to 0x67 on your file and it created some SIP issues when trying to install the kexts to the extension folder and when updating clover to 5104. I changed it to 0x67 and it’s fine now.
• I was also wondering why the bootflag: agdpmod=pikera was needed. I though the RX 5700 XT was natively supported.
• Second question, is VirtualSMC now the way to go instead of FakeSMC? Only problem so far is that I can’t capture the CPU temps that I was trying to monitor while rendering.
• Last thing is I notice two files in the /EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/ folder (SSDT-PMC and SSDT-EC-USBX). I’m not sure what they are and what to do with them. I’m assuming it’s to map my USBs. What do I do with these?

Thank you.

 

[pastrychef]

Hey @pastrychef , I’m reporting back. Thanks for the EFI, it worked, and I was able to render my file in Davinci without crashing. However, your solution raised more questions and concerns from me that I hope you can answer.

• My original plist configuration was based on a vanilla guide that I found online, and I noticed a lot of the settings were different from the plist you sent me. I’m curious as to why so much difference, specially the ACPI section of clover configurator. Also, I didn’t realize the CsrActiveConfig was not set to 0x67 on your file and it created some SIP issues when trying to install the kexts to the extension folder and when updating clover to 5104. I changed it to 0x67 and it’s fine now.
• I was also wondering why the bootflag: agdpmod=pikera was needed. I though the RX 5700 XT was natively supported.
• Second question, is VirtualSMC now the way to go instead of FakeSMC? Only problem so far is that I can’t capture the CPU temps that I was trying to monitor while rendering.
• Last thing is I notice two files in the /EFI/CLOVER/ACPI/patched/ folder (SSDT-PMC and SSDT-EC-USBX). I’m not sure what they are and what to do with them. I’m assuming it’s to map my USBs. What do I do with these?

Thank you.

I don't remember what your original config.plist was like. I just remember looking at it and thought there was a lot to change. A lot of the stuff in my config.plist > ACPI section is redundant because much of it is done with the kexts. I keep them there in the event the kexts break after an update. Currently, they don't really do anything because the kexts are working as they should.

Yes, nowadays, I enable SIP on all the EFI folders I give to people. This is to help secure macOS and also to prevent unsigned kexts in /Library/Extensions/ from loading so I know the EFI that I provide is working as I intended. I do not endorse installing hackintosh kexts in /Library/Extensions/. Obviously, having the kexts in /Library/Extensions/ didn't help you previously since you were experiencing crashes...

"agdpmod=pikera" is currently needed for Navi cards. There are still some minor bugs with the macOS Navi drivers.

I don't know why you don't see CPU temps with VirtualSMC. I use iStat Menus and can see temps.

SSDT-PMC is there to help get your NVRAM working. Without it, you would have to use emulated NVRAM which I feel really sucks. SSDT-EC-USBX is for USB power injection. Something that macOS now requires to be able to boot. Neither are for USB port mapping which you should still do on your own. I can not do the port mapping for you without having your motherboard in front of me.

Some of your questions have already been answered by me here.