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

[pastrychef]

Hello, pastry. I have an Asus Prime Z370 aii motherboard with an i9 9900K CPU and a 6600 XT graphics card. Searching thru the forum, I found this https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/success-asus-prime-z370-a-i9-9900k-pro-audio-build.276446/ which the closest to what I have, without the thunderbolt and media thing. Somehow, your setup is a bit close to what I have as well since your board is a Z370 and the same CPU.

I am new to this and not so savvy. Any advice on what to do because your EFI folder is recent but different from my board...while the link I pasted above is old, and I don't know what to change. Please help me build my first rig. Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

My EFI should mostly work for any Z370 motherboard. The things you have to change are:

• The USB port configuration. Delete the /EFI/OC/Kexts/USBPorts.kext file and do your own USB fix for your motherboard. Instructions on how to do your own USB fix can be found here.
• The other thing you should do is open the config.plist and delete everything in the config.plist > DeviceProperties section. The only thing you would lose by doing this is that System Information > PCI would be unpopulated. That stuff is just cosmetic and won't affect performance or stability in any way.

As for your Thunderbolt, search around the forum. There are different ways to get it work. You can work on getting Thunderbolt working after installing macOS.

 

[NZRichard]

I have an Asus Prime Z370 aii motherboard

Believe this is what ASUS refers to as Prime Z370-A II - very similar to the earlier Prime Z370-A board.

@Scimitar has a very solid Opencore 0.8.2 boot loader for the Z370-A board that you may want to look at here

As @pastrychef mentioned, the USBPorts kext file would need to be updated to get full use of all the USB ports. (The USB layout for the ASUS Z370 boards are all fairly similar and a USBPorts kext from a Z370-A board mostly works with a Z370-G board, and most importantly Sleep/Wake works.

Note:
- your ASUS Z370-A II board has two more USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports than the Z370-A board
- the USBPorts kext filename is sometimes renamed as USBPort and USBMap, which is really only cosmetic

Update:
Generally speaking, avoid mixing files from different EFI folders, because they may be different versions of the Opencore boot loader. The exception would be the EFI/OC/Kexts/USBPorts.kext file where you may be trying a different file posted by OP with a similar motherboard, and in this case be sure that you rename the new file (for example - might be USBMap.kext) to match the name of the kext file (say, USBPorts.kext) you are replacing. The same thing applies when you create the USBPorts.kext file yourself.

As you will discover, the EFI/OC/Kexts/USBPorts.kext file is referenced in another file in the EFI folder and the names must match.

 

[Feartech]

My EFI should mostly work for any Z370 motherboard.

I have currently an Asus PRIME Z370-P:

PRIME Z370-P｜Motherboards｜ASUS Global

ASUS Prime series is expertly engineered to unleash the full potential of AMD and Intel processors. Boasting a robust power design, comprehensive cooling solutions and intelligent tuning options, Prime series motherboards provide daily users and DIY PC builders a range of performance tuning...

www.asus.com

Should be good?

 

[NZRichard]

Should be good?

Hard to tell - the I/O design of the Z370-A board is quite a bit different from the Z370-P board.

Some clues here: https://versus.com/en/asus-prime-z370-a-vs-asus-prime-z370-p

 

[molikeobo]

Thanks for all the input guys. I tried a test build using pastry's EFI following the instructions he said, but the installer wont start. It kept on rebooting the computer. Also, I tried the 0.8.2 EFI suggested, and it got stuck after the initial load. Then I tried the EFI from the link I posted with updated 0.8.5 files from pastry's EFI, and it worked!. Only problem I notice is the screen going blank during installation (for like 2mins). I'm not sure if it has to do with the config file, and I dont know what to change.

 

[pastrychef]

Thanks for all the input guys. I tried a test build using pastry's EFI following the instructions he said, but the installer wont start. It kept on rebooting the computer. Also, I tried the 0.8.2 EFI suggested, and it got stuck after the initial load. Then I tried the EFI from the link I posted with updated 0.8.5 files from pastry's EFI, and it worked!. Only problem I notice is the screen going blank during installation (for like 2mins). I'm not sure if it has to do with the config file, and I dont know what to change.

Remember to add "agdpmod=pikera" to boot-args in config.plist for your 6600 XT.

 

[NZRichard]

I notice dis the screen going blank during installation (for like 2mins).

Other posters have reported the screen going black during installation - don't be too alarmed.

Sometimes in these cases the computer restarts and the Apple logo and progress bar appear as normal.

Be patient and wait and see what happens.

 

[snoopy69]

macOS Ventura 13.0, about 30 minutes, all smooth.
OC 0.8.5

 

[NZRichard]

should see little to no difference between x8 and x16.

How do you rate the RX 6600 XT running in a 8 lane or is it a 16 lane slot (sorry - never found the precise page where you announced the 6600 XT).

Looking at upgrading from a RX 580 card and wondering what gives the best bang for the buck on a Z370 system?

 

[pastrychef]

How do you rate the RX 6600 XT running in a 8 lane or is it a 16 lane slot (sorry - never found the precise page where you announced the 6600 XT).

Looking at upgrading from a RX 580 card and wondering what gives the best bang for the buck on a Z370 system?

If the third slot is not used, the first slot will run at x16 speed.

If you have a card in the third slot, both the first and third slots will run at x8.