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

[pastrychef]

I had filled them out right after posting, but somehow it took a while before they were shown. I could not post them before because I had no working hackintosh yet.


https://community.amd.com/thread/220659

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/9ax8bl

To be clear:
• It doesn't always happen. It only happens once in a while. I have just build the whole thing a week ago and I only have
started it up for half a dozen times.
• I've had a few times where the image would be distorted in the sense that the Red/Green/Blue 'layers' of the screen were not lined up, but displaced in a horizontal direction. Sometimes just one or two pixels, sometimes more. This was before all BIOS settings were OK though and I haven't had that since, so far.

I was already planning on installing Windows 10 on a separate disk. After that, I can compare if it's OS-related.

That's more convenient in the sense that it's easier to ask for an RMA too, because the seller will obviously ask what driver I've been using etc..

Yes, if the issue appears with two different operating systems, then it's most likely a hardware issue.

 

[waltvonfrankenstein]

Hi @pastrychef, I have put together a build very similar to yours and it's booting into 10.14.2 and running OK but I am having issues with Clover starting the OS.

-- Created boot USB with UniBeast for Mojave 10.14.2 and install ran normally.
-- Able to install and run 10.14.2 with the OS loading off an internal SSD.
Problem is: the system only boots when selecting the Mojave OS from the USB installer's version of Clover.

-- I tried mounting the USB Installer's EFI and copied an exact duplicate of the "working" USB installer's EFI folder contents to the SSD EFI folder but that did not resolve the problem. Loop continues.

-- SOLUTION NOTE: So I downloaded the pastrychef MOJAVE EFI folder and -- THAT works 100%.

Boots normally, no loop. It's a different version of Clover. I mean -- this is good news, but also one of those instances where I am a little mystified what caused the problem in the first place. Glad to have a solution though, mostly. Anyway without your Mojave EFI to try I would have be lost in the woods! So thanks a million.

Hey -- one other question -- does native WiFi work on this board or is a card necessary?

 

[pastrychef]

Hi @pastrychef, I have put together a build very similar to yours and it's booting into 10.14.2 and running OK but I am having issues with Clover starting the OS.

-- Created boot USB with UniBeast for Mojave 10.14.2 and install ran normally.
-- Able to install and run 10.14.2 with the OS loading off an internal SSD.
Problem is: the system only boots when selecting the Mojave OS from the USB installer's version of Clover.

-- I tried mounting the USB Installer's EFI and copied an exact duplicate of the "working" USB installer's EFI folder contents to the SSD EFI folder but that did not resolve the problem. Loop continues.

-- SOLUTION NOTE: So I downloaded the pastrychef MOJAVE EFI folder and -- THAT works 100%.

Boots normally, no loop. It's a different version of Clover. I mean -- this is good news, but also one of those instances where I am a little mystified what caused the problem in the first place. Glad to have a solution though, mostly. Anyway without your Mojave EFI to try I would have be lost in the woods! So thanks a million.

Hey -- one other question -- does native WiFi work on this board or is a card necessary?

I can't tell why you had boot problems without looking at the original EFI folder...

Everything about the EFI folder I have attached to post #1 is pretty well explained in post #1. I haven't upgraded to newer versions of Clover yet because I don't see any need to. As far as I can tell from the change logs is that the newer versions are primarily improvements to the themes and it isn't essential.

No, the included Wi-Fi does not work with macOS. Again, this is all explained in post #1 along with which cards can work and which card I use. There's lots of info there and I highly recommend that you read it over.

 

[corint1]

I have a good news ... I have checked, and it works perfectly - WiFi M.2 classic with a type M adapter to type A + E ... the image I think is all words ... this is very good for the new Z390 motherboards where you needed an adapter ... I found this one ... in my country costs only 32 euros

​

Adapter M.2 Key M to M.2 Key E for USB / PCIe modules, Delock 63343

 

[thanman]

hey @pastrychef have you tried using a iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS on this build? seen some reports that HEVC encodes are quicker by disabling iGPU and using dGPU only (Vega 56) in FCPX. Unsure if you have tested or your thoughts on disabling iGPU?

 

[thanman]

I have checked, and it works perfectly - WiFi M.2 classic with a type M adapter to type A + E

Can you share the antenna solution? I have similar card on the way. Is it a PCIe back plate with two antennas?

 

[pastrychef]

I have a good news ... I have checked, and it works perfectly - WiFi M.2 classic with a type M adapter to type A + E ... the image I think is all words ... this is very good for the new Z390 motherboards where you needed an adapter ... I found this one ... in my country costs only 32 euros

View attachment 380228View attachment 380229

​

Adapter M.2 Key M to M.2 Key E for USB / PCIe modules, Delock 63343

That will always work. You are sacrificing an SSD M.2 slot for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.

M.2 M key is just PCI-e x4 with a different connector.
M.2 B key is PCI-e x2 with a different connector.

 

[pastrychef]

hey @pastrychef have you tried using a iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS on this build? seen some reports that HEVC encodes are quicker by disabling iGPU and using dGPU only (Vega 56) in FCPX. Unsure if you have tested or your thoughts on disabling iGPU?

Yes, I tried. It works fine. I went back to iMac18,3 because it fits my hardware better.

I don't know if HEVC is faster or slower by disabling IGPU.

 

[laptopleon]

Since I have never owned a machine with Windows on it, tried using a Mac to turn a USB stick into a bootable Windows 10 installer. Been using command lines and special apps for this but in the end I could not get the Gigabyte Gaming 5 board to 'see' it. Since I'm doing this for the first time and the motherboard does not always react how I expect it to on drives, nor does the manual provide much info on this matter, it's hard for me to know whether I'm doing something wrong with the hardware, BIOS or USB boot drive.

Finally, after hours, gave up on the Mac route and managed to create a bootable USB installer for W10 by using Parallels on a MacBook Pro.

Windows 10 seems to work OK. Even though I have worked on Windows desktops and laptops for clients, it feels quite strange to have a Windows machine of my own.

I haven't used it for long enough to determine if the Vega 56 black screen glitch is on it or not. So far not, although at startup you usually first see a windows logo on a black background for a second or less, then a black screen for a moment, then a larger Windows logo/startup thing and almost immediately the Windows desktop. If feels like this is not a completely smooth sequence, but what do I know? Maybe this is perfectly normal. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[pastrychef]

Since I have never owned a machine with Windows on it, tried using a Mac to turn a USB stick into a bootable Windows 10 installer. Been using command lines and special apps for this but in the end I could not get the Gigabyte Gaming 5 board to 'see' it. Since I'm doing this for the first time and the motherboard does not always react how I expect it to on drives, nor does the manual provide much info on this matter, it's hard for me to know whether I'm doing something wrong with the hardware, BIOS or USB boot drive.

Finally, after hours, gave up on the Mac route and managed to create a bootable USB installer for W10 by using Parallels on a MacBook Pro.

Windows 10 seems to work OK. Even though I have worked on Windows desktops and laptops for clients, it feels quite strange to have a Windows machine of my own.

I haven't used it for long enough to determine if the Vega 56 black screen glitch is on it or not. So far not, although at startup you usually first see a windows logo on a black background for a second or less, then a black screen for a moment, then a larger Windows logo/startup thing and almost immediately the Windows desktop. If feels like this is not a completely smooth sequence, but what do I know? Maybe this is perfectly normal. Can anyone confirm this?

Believe me, I'm as lost in Windows as you are. I've been booting in to Windows all week because I've been gaming and sometimes I need to search the internet for some help and even using a browser in Window feels weird.

Anyway, this is what it looks like when I boot in to Windows (sorry for crappy video quality):