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

[myc]

Hello @pastrychef, thanks for this great thread! I am a bit of a newbie, but wondering if I could get a little help. I have a fairly simple build based on the z370 mobo and a core i5 8400. Trying to use the internal graphics for now, just to get going. Followed all your instructions. When the system boots from the USB installer, it reboots to apple logo and progress bar. After a few minutes my screen (direct HDMI from mobo to screen) goes blank and nothing else happens (doesn't get to OSX config).

Thinking it may be the iGPU config, I default all the pertinent bios settings. No love.

Any tips?

Thanks again!

 

[pastrychef]

Hello @pastrychef, thanks for this great thread! I am a bit of a newbie, but wondering if I could get a little help. I have a fairly simple build based on the z370 mobo and a core i5 8400. Trying to use the internal graphics for now, just to get going. Followed all your instructions. When the system boots from the USB installer, it reboots to apple logo and progress bar. After a few minutes my screen (direct HDMI from mobo to screen) goes blank and nothing else happens (doesn't get to OSX config).

Thinking it may be the iGPU config, I default all the pertinent bios settings. No love.

Any tips?

Thanks again!

Are you installing Mojave or High Sierra? I recommend Mojave, 10.14.0 if possible. Stay on 10.14.0 until you have USB configured correctly.

• If you are using my EFI folder, remember to use iMac18,1 system definition.
• In BIOS, set the memory for IGPU to be at least 64MB (more might be helpful).
• Also, if you are using a 4K display, you can try unplugging and re-plugging the HDMI cable when it goes blank.
• If you see disk activity when the screen is blank, let it continue working until the disk activity stops. Then you can force a reboot.

 

[XDAN]

@pastrychef, I‘m attending a convention the next upcoming days. I’ll give you feed as soon I’m back home.
Thank you!
XDan

 

[elfcake]

@pastrychef, I am on my second Gigabyte AORUS Z370 Gaming 5. The second is creating the same problems as the first MB. My question is not about what you may or may not think of this, or any another Gigabyte board, but do you have thoughts about Gigabyte? I would be happy to read what you think. Here's the problem, after restarts, spinning hard drives are dropped. I have to shut down fully and then unplug and then plug in the missing drive. One drive finally crapped out on me, unfortunately, it is my Time Machine backup.

Do you think that ASUS ROG Z370 Gaming Wifi is a more stable platform? Does the Wifi work or do you have to install a Broadcom unit to get wifi and bluetooth to work?

Thanks for you advice.

 

[pastrychef]

@pastrychef, I am on my second Gigabyte AORUS Z370 Gaming 5. The second is creating the same problems as the first MB. My question is not about what you may or may not think of this, or any another Gigabyte board, but do you have thoughts about Gigabyte? I would be happy to read what you think. Here's the problem, after restarts, spinning hard drives are dropped. I have to shut down fully and then unplug and then plug in the missing drive. One drive finally crapped out on me, unfortunately, it is my Time Machine backup.

Do you think that ASUS ROG Z370 Gaming Wifi is a more stable platform? Does the Wifi work or do you have to install a Broadcom unit to get wifi and bluetooth to work?

Thanks for you advice.

I really don't have any opinion on Gigabyte motherboards because I've never owned one...

Your issue with the dropped drives is really weird. What did Gigabyte tech support have to say about it? Is there any chance it can be power supply related? I have had 3 x 3.5" drives, 2 x SSDs, and 1 x M.2 NVMe SSD in my system since day one and have never experienced drives not appearing on boot.

My Asus Z370-G (and my Asus Z170 Gene before that) have been very reliable so far. I usually leave my main computer on 24/7 and only restart for updates, when I need to test something, or if I need to clear out swap memory. I think on both motherboards, I've had well over 40 days of uptime.

Overclocking on both of the motherboards worked well. Both were able to bring my CPUs (i7-6700K, i7-7700K, i7-8700K, and i9-9900K) to 5GHz for everyday use. Although, overclocking the i9-9900K was a little weird. I have to set up TMP before overclocking settings stick. I don't recall having to do that with my previous CPUS.

Compatibility-wise, both have been able to run macOS really well. But I think this may be true of all Z170 and Z370 motherboards due to the great work by the Clover devs.

As far as I know, all the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modules included with any Z370 motherboards need to be swapped in order for them to work with macOS. It's easy to do and if you're patient and willing to wait for delivery from China, it can be pretty inexpensive too.

That being said, I think it's almost impossible to find a Z370-G motherboard now. I think Asus stopped production in favor of Z390. I tried to help a friend find one for a hackintosh build but couldn't find one anywhere.

 

[mm2margaret]

Okay, I'm curious.....you had to purchase one of these: Asus TPM-M R2.0 14-1 TPM Module, to overclock the CPU? If you didn't have it, the overclock settings wouldn't stick?

And there are a lot Asus Z370 boards still available, Z370-A, Z370-I, Z370-E, Z370-H.....just not a lot of Z370-G (unless you want to buy from e-Bay)....

And, as it relates to Gigabyte boards, @BoomR, another moderator here on Tonymac, has a Gigabyte Z370 Gaming 7 build on his thread (https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...z370-aorus-ug-i7-8700k-ga-aorus-rx580.245362/) and it's been fine....working really well.

@LeleTuratti has a Gigabyte motherboard (also a Gaming 7) that he's been using with Thunderbolt 3, and it's also been fine. He has hot swap working, and his system works very well.

 

[elfcake]

I really don't have any opinion on Gigabyte motherboards because I've never owned one...

Your issue with the dropped drives is really weird. What did Gigabyte tech support have to say about it? Is there any chance it can be power supply related? I have had 3 x 3.5" drives, 2 x SSDs, and 1 x M.2 NVMe SSD in my system since day one and have never experienced drives not appearing on boot.

My Asus Z370-G (and my Asus Z170 Gene before that) have been very reliable so far. I usually leave my main computer on 24/7 and only restart for updates, when I need to test something, or if I need to clear out swap memory. I think on both motherboards, I've had well over 40 days of uptime.

Overclocking on both of the motherboards worked well. Both were able to bring my CPUs (i7-6700K, i7-7700K, i7-8700K, and i9-9900K) to 5GHz for everyday use. Although, overclocking the i9-9900K was a little weird. I have to set up TMP before overclocking settings stick. I don't recall having to do that with my previous CPUS.

Compatibility-wise, both have been able to run macOS really well. But I think this may be true of all Z170 and Z370 motherboards due to the great work by the Clover devs.

As far as I know, all the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modules included with any Z370 motherboards need to be swapped in order for them to work with macOS. It's easy to do and if you're patient and willing to wait for delivery from China, it can be pretty inexpensive too.

That being said, I think it's almost impossible to find a Z370-G motherboard now. I think Asus stopped production in favor of Z390. I tried to help a friend find one for a hackintosh build but couldn't find one anywhere.

Gigabyte claimed that they did not know about the problem, they sent me a refurbed unit. They problem began about a month into use, just like the first board. I updated the BIOS without change to the defect.

Then there is the continual sleep issues with the system freezing after 5 sleep/wake cycles. I'm almost done with hackintosh but the cost of a new iMac Pro is a killer. I'm planning on moving four of the five spinning drives into a USBc drive bay to see if that helps.

 

[pastrychef]

Okay, I'm curious.....you had to purchase one of these: Asus TPM-M R2.0 14-1 TPM Module, to overclock the CPU? If you didn't have it, the overclock settings wouldn't stick?

And there are a lot Asus Z370 boards still available, Z370-A, Z370-I, Z370-E, Z370-H.....just not a lot of Z370-G (unless you want to buy from e-Bay)....

And, as it relates to Gigabyte boards, @BoomR, another moderator here on Tonymac, has a Gigabyte Z370 Gaming 7 build on his thread (https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...z370-aorus-ug-i7-8700k-ga-aorus-rx580.245362/) and it's been fine....working really well.

@LeleTuratti has a Gigabyte motherboard (also a Gaming 7) that he's been using with Thunderbolt 3, and it's also been fine. He has hot swap working, and his system works very well.

Oops, I meant TPU, not TPM... I have to define TPU I (air cooled) instead of just leaving it at the default setting of "Keep Current Settings" like I have done in the past.

 

[pastrychef]

Gigabyte claimed that they did not know about the problem, they sent me a refurbed unit. They problem began about a month into use, just like the first board. I updated the BIOS without change to the defect.

Then there is the continual sleep issues with the system freezing after 5 sleep/wake cycles. I'm almost done with hackintosh but the cost of a new iMac Pro is a killer. I'm planning on moving four of the five spinning drives into a USBc drive bay to see if that helps.

Doesn't make sense. The drives should not be dropping. Sleep should not cause freezing.

If I had issues like this that could not be resolved, I would be discouraged too. I would try a different motherboard before investing in a 4-5 bay USB C enclosure.

 

[mm2margaret]

Doesn't make sense. The drives should not be dropping. Sleep should not cause freezing.

If I had issues like this that could not be resolved, I would be discouraged too. I would try a different motherboard before investing in a 4-5 bay USB C enclosure.

@elfcake It sounds like a power supply, but can't be sure about that, of course......sorry you're having so much trouble.....good quality power supplies aren't too expensive right now....

Given your bad experience with Gigabyte, I'd go with an Asus. I have an Asus Z370-A, and it's been fine, and the Z370-A is still widely available. @Stork has a thread, based on an Asus Z370 and his board is also widely available.

But honestly, I really didn't have much trouble with my Gigabyte Gaming 5 (actually resold it on e-Bay and the guy who bought it was really happy with it), so that's why I think your computer may have a questionable component in it. But I can say that a lot of unexplained problems with a system often boil down to a bad power supply or the motherboard.

But being remote, and not having direct access, nobody here can tell for sure what's going on with your system.