pastrychef's Asus ROG Strix Z370-G Gaming (WI-FI AC) build w/ i9-9900K + AMD 6600 XT

[Montesumolo]

Hello!
I changed to your OC 0.7.5 EFI lastly, and now my BIOS / UEFI posts always in safe mode when I restart macOS or boot (cold boot) my hack.

Is this a problem? Can the BIOS get corrupted, should I worry?

Didn't have this with Clover EFI.
Everything else seems to work fine.

May I ask which BIOS version you are running?

 

[pastrychef]

Hello!
I changed to your OC 0.7.5 EFI lastly, and now my BIOS / UEFI posts always in safe mode when I restart macOS or boot (cold boot) my hack.

Is this a problem? Can the BIOS get corrupted, should I worry?

Didn't have this with Clover EFI.
Everything else seems to work fine.

May I ask which BIOS version you are running?

Did you clear NVRAM?

I think I'm on BIOS version 2801.

 

[Montesumolo]

Did you clear NVRAM?

I think I'm on BIOS version 2801.

Hi! Just now updated to your 0.7.6 EFI, cleared NVRAM and the problem seems to be gone. Did some restarts and boots now, the issue did not come again. I am on BIOS ver. 2801 too.

Funny thing is that I had this digital noise problem with my FW AudioInterface on headphones and speakers and now in the headphones it's gone. The speaker still have the issue but maybe I can solve this with some balanced cables!

@pastrychef … You are a hero! THANK YOU a lot! Especially because you are always answering so fast and giving us this awesome support everytime!

 

[dclive]

FYI, if I didn't say before, BIOS 3004 works great. I haven't tried 3008, which is marked beta.

 

[Montesumolo]

FYI, if I didn't say before, BIOS 3004 works great. I haven't tried 3008, which is marked beta.

OK! Maybe I'll give it a try.
@dclive what OS version are you running? Im still on Mojave because of some audio-stuff.

 

[dclive]

I'm on 12.1.

 

[pastrychef]

I'm going to be giving away one of my Coffee Lake systems in anticipation of an updated Mac mini with M1 Pro/Max. It took me a long time to decide if I wanted to keep my Asus Z370 or my Gigabyte Z390. I've always preferred my Asus Z370 but the Gigabyte Z390 was in the case that I liked much more...

Well, last night I made the decision to keep my Asus Z370 and transplant it in to the better chassis. 1.5 days later and I finally have everything done. Dusting the internals and all the fans along the way, updating BIOS, tuning overclock was every bit as time consuming as I was expecting it to be.

I had one big boo-boo where I broke off one of the pins on the internal USB 3 header but I manage to get it back to a working state. It isn't pretty but it works. Anyway, I'm so happy to have back the small "quality of life" features that were missing from the Gigabyte Z390 such as waking with a single mouse click and "pulsing" power LED when system is sleeping.

I really tried to like the Gigabyte Z390, but it doesn't hold a candle next to my Asus Z370.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I'm going to be giving away one of my Coffee Lake systems in anticipation of an updated Mac mini with M1 Pro/Max. It took me a long time to decide if I wanted to keep my Asus Z370 or my Gigabyte Z390. I've always preferred my Asus Z370 but the Gigabyte Z390 was in the case that I liked much more...

Well, last night I made the decision to keep my Asus Z370 and transplant it in to the better chassis. 1.5 days later and I finally have everything done. Dusting the internals and all the fans along the way, updating BIOS, tuning overclock was every bit as time consuming as I was expecting it to be.

I had one big boo-boo where I broke off one of the pins on the internal USB 3 header but I manage to get it back to a working state. It isn't pretty but it works. Anyway, I'm so happy to have back the small "quality of life" features that were missing from the Gigabyte Z390 such as waking with a single mouse click and "pulsing" power LED when system is sleeping.

I really tried to like the Gigabyte Z390, but it doesn't hold a candle next to my Asus Z370.

That's what hackintoshing is about - not just raw power or having the latest and greatest. It's about what you're happiest with, whether as a professional or an amateur. For sure there's always a learning curve and those that expect it all an easy ride are often sadly mistaken. So Big Respect for not following the herd.

Funnily enough I was happier with my Hack than the M1 Mac Mini. But then I did have a serious bang on the head recently ...

 

[Montesumolo]

I'm going to be giving away one of my Coffee Lake systems in anticipation of an updated Mac mini with M1 Pro/Max. It took me a long time to decide if I wanted to keep my Asus Z370 or my Gigabyte Z390. I've always preferred my Asus Z370 but the Gigabyte Z390 was in the case that I liked much more...

Well, last night I made the decision to keep my Asus Z370 and transplant it in to the better chassis. 1.5 days later and I finally have everything done. Dusting the internals and all the fans along the way, updating BIOS, tuning overclock was every bit as time consuming as I was expecting it to be.

I had one big boo-boo where I broke off one of the pins on the internal USB 3 header but I manage to get it back to a working state. It isn't pretty but it works. Anyway, I'm so happy to have back the small "quality of life" features that were missing from the Gigabyte Z390 such as waking with a single mouse click and "pulsing" power LED when system is sleeping.

I really tried to like the Gigabyte Z390, but it doesn't hold a candle next to my Asus Z370.

I also got a Mac Mini M1 as home machine, and I will get a M1 Max at the end of January from my employer.

But just thinking at getting all these TB3/4 enclosures and the money it would cost, for all my audio drives and the space it will take on my desk again, makes me sick.

Despite having the FireWire audio problem and a badish Wifi/BT connection with the BCM94360CS2 (the antenna needs to be really close to the mouse), maybe because of a bad card or adapter (I don't know - thinking about to change it to the bcm94360ng w/o adapter), this Asus z370 build is so awesome and stable!

Because of that, the last months I was really thinking to start a new Z490 build, but after going through all the forums, and working with this z370 build at the studio made me really notice how stable this build is and live with this two small problems.

@pastrychef What do you think about changing the Wifi/BT card to the above stated?

Thank you again for all the support and work on this build!

 

[pastrychef]

I also got a mac mini M1 as home machine and I will get a m1 max at the end of january from my employer.

But just thinking at getting all these TB3/4 enclosures and the money it would cost, for all my audio drives and the space it will take on my desk again, makes me sick.

Despite having the firewire audio problem and a badish Wifi/BT connection with the BCM94360CS2 (the antenna needs to be really close to the mouse), maybe because of a bad card or adapter (I don't know - thinking about to change it to the bcm94360ng w/o adapter), this Asus z370 build is so awesome and stable!

Because of that, the last months I was really thinking to start a new Z490 build, but after going through all the forums, and working with this z370 build at the studio made me really notice how stable this build is and live with this two small problems.

@pastrychef What do you think about changing the Wifi/BT card to the above stated?

Thank you agian for all the support and work on this build!

I've been tempted to get an M1 powered Mac but have managed to resist the temptation. I really want something with more than 16GB of RAM.

In my case, I only expect to have an external drive attached to my future Mac. I already have a USB3 4 bay enclosure. USB3 should be fine for mechanical drives. If I need even more storage space, I will use my NAS which is connected via 10GBase-T. So, I expect to have more desk space after replacing my Gigabyte Z390 build with a Mac.

If you have a lot of gear, you may consider a mini rack mount to keep things tidy. I have something similar to the following sitting in my closet if/when I need to go to a rack mount setup...


Since the announcement of Apple Silicon, I have not even considered doing another hackintosh build. Knowingly walking in to a dead end seems foolish to me. So, I made the decision to keep chugging along with my Coffee Lake builds. They are still extremely capable and do everything I need them to do.

I have two 3 inch antennas attached to my BCM94360CS2 and my Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 1 are approx 3 feet away. Neither has any issues with reception. Also, I make sure to only use 5GHz Wi-Fi so that Wi-Fi won't interfere with Bluetooth.