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

[starcat102]

Adapted config.plist to mine using vi in the terminal. Booted fine, need to test with the audio output and speakers, will report.

 

[pastrychef]

The new Supplemental Update installed fine. System restarted twice and it took ~8 minutes. I updated using OpenCore but Clover shouldn't be any problem either.

 

[starcat102]

What is OpenCore?
So this update isn't straight out of MacOS as the usual updates?

 

[starcat102]

How do you have your computer setup showing "Mac Pro (2017)"? Mine is showing
"iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)" - can I easily change this?

 

[pastrychef]

What is OpenCore?
So this update isn't straight out of MacOS as the usual updates?

OpenCore is a new bootloader. I wrote a bit about it here.

If you are on the latest EFI folder from post #1 of this thread, you can update normally.

How do you have your computer setup showing "Mac Pro (2017)"? Mine is showing
"iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)" - can I easily change this?

To change system definition to iMacPro1,1, open your config.plist with Clover Configurator and do the following:

 

[starcat102]

Yes, basically I should be on the latest EFI, installed some 2 months ago.
Posted EFI folder here.

When changing to iMac Pro, do I need to change any UUIDs, SNs, adapt in iMessage, delete old iMac computer on AppleID page, etc?

 

[pastrychef]

Yes, basically I should be on the latest EFI, installed some 2 months ago.
Posted EFI folder here.

When changing to iMac Pro, do I need to change any UUIDs, SNs, adapt in iMessage, delete old iMac computer on AppleID page, etc?

If/when you change to iMacPro1,1, it will automatically generate new Serial, Board Serial, and UUID. You should NOT reuse Serials, Board Serials, and UUID from iMac18,3 for iMacPro1,1.

If/when you change to iMacPro1,1, it's probably also a good idea to disable IGPU in BIOS.

 

[pastrychef]

My Radeon VII Odessey....

Some of you may know, I purchased a Radeon VII almost two months ago. After getting it installed, I quickly realized I could not wake the system with it installed. So, I RMA'ed it.

The replacement I received was defective and would not output any video. RMA again...

The third card worked exactly like the first one and prevented the system from waking with it installed!! I spent A LOT of time troubleshooting and narrowed down the issue to the ROG Strix Z370-G Gaming (Wi-Fi). It couldn't have been anything else because I tested every other possibility.

I contacted Asus support. Understandably, they seemed doubtful and were a bit dismissive. However, the rep whom I was exchanging emails with said he would ask the engineers to check it out. He told me they found no issues. I don't know if they really tested or just said they did because I'm positive it's the motherboard at fault here. I tested with Vega 56, RX 560, and GT 640 and all of them would wake normally. Only the Radeon VII was an issue.

Considering that I spent a fair amount of money on the Radeon VII and I truly do enjoy gaming on it much more than my Vega, I was not content to let the card sit in my closet. Not being able to let me system sleep was not an option since I leave my system running 24/7.

As much as I dislike my Z390 motherboard, I had to dig it out of my closet and put it to use. I don't like the loss of native NVRAM. I don't like that it won't even post with my 10GBase-T card installed. I know that adopting OpenCore will be considerably more difficult than with my Z370-G. But, I really want to use my Radeon VII!!

So, I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to the Z390 and, for the moment, my Z370 is in the closet... But my Z390 with Radeon VII is sleeping and waking correctly.


P.S.: No, I didn't do any clean installs of macOS or Windows.

 

[karambit]

So pastrychef, your Radeon VII is Asus and your Z390 Mb is what make and model ?

 

[pastrychef]

So pastrychef, your Radeon VII is Asus and your Z390 Mb is what make and model ?

My Radeon VII is from PowerColor. But all Radeon VIIs are the same. All are reference cards.

My Z390 motherboard is the Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming (rev. 1). I needed to stick to the mATX form factor and, on paper, this motherboard seemed to be the best.

Here are some of my observations and opinions of this motherboard, so far:
NVRAM

• While the motherboard itself is really, really good, the fact that there's no NVRAM support means that it does not run macOS nearly as well as the Asus Z370G Gaming.
• Booting in to macOS is inconsistent. Depending on the Aptio fix that is used, sometimes, booting will result in an error during the boot process and will stop around the "End random seed" portion of the boot process. When this happens, I have to press the reset button to restart the boot process.
• Other than the Aptio fix, my standard EFI folder (as found on post #1) works fine without any changes. I still have not been able to successfully boot the Gigabyte motherboard using OpenCore.

VRM, Overclocking, and Power consumption

• Overclocking my i9-9900K is vastly different between the two motherboards. On the Asus, I needed 1.320v to get a stable 5.0GHz all core overclock. On the Gigabyte, I only need 1.235v. These are the voltages needed to pass two hours of Prime95 testing. I assume the disparity is due to the the differences in VRM because everything else was the same, i.e. power supply, CPU cooler, etc. The Gigabyte seems to handle the overclock much more gracefully.
• I can't seem to be able to configure the BIOS to make the chassis fans run at full speed when the CPU is under heavy load (Prime95). This results in the CPU temp topping out at 90C vs ~84C on the Asus. However, the fans remain nearly inaudible to me while, on the Asus, I can clearly hear the movement of a lot of air.
• Power consumption is much lower with the Gigabyte. With pretty much the same hardware (same number of drives, PCI-e cards, etc.) the Gigabyte consumes much less power at idle. Approx 75-77W vs 95-108W. When testing Prime95, total system power draw was under 300W while the Asus was ~20W higher.

Other anomalies

• The Gigabyte motherboard won't even post when my 10GBase-T PCI-e card is installed but system sleeps and wakes fine with the Radeon VII.
• The Asus can not wake with the Radeon VII installed. This is true for both Windows and macOS. However, it boots fine with the 10GBase-T PCI-e card installed... Go figure...
• I have installed a Titan Ridge Thunderbolt card in place of the 10GBase-T in to the Gigabyte, but I'm still awaiting delivery of my first Thunderbolt accessory to see if it's working right. Right now, on System Information, Thunderbolt appears to be working...
• When sleeping, the Gigabyte motherboard does not pulse the power light on the computer case.
• Usage of the second M.2 NVMe SSD slot will disable one of the SATA ports. I do not remember seeing this mentioned on the Gigabyte website when I was shopping for motherboards.

So, in conclusion, I still feel, if macOS is your primary operating system, Z370 is the better choice. It's unfortunate that the Radeon VII didn't work right on my Z370G Gaming because macOS ran so well on it whether I used Clover or OpenCore.

There are more compromises when using macOS on this Gigabyte motherboard. None of them real deal breakers, more like annoyances. On the other hand, it's considerably more power efficient than the Asus and performance is really great.

I guess it can best be described as... My Asus felt almost like it was designed to run macOS, whereas, the Gigabyte requires more hacking and still isn't quite as compatible...