Recommended GPU for GA-Z77X-UD5H, and GPU/CPU for Asus Prime Z490-A

[cyberdogg]

Hello! So I have an old hackintosh with a GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard for which I want to upgrade the graphics card... and separately I'm planning my own first hackintosh build with an Asus Prime Z490-A. I want to put both on Big Sur.

I have never bought a GPU before, my old hackintosh was built for me back in 2013.
So I've spent the past month reading as much as I can about them.

I get that most NVIDIA cards are no longer compatible with MacOS. So I'm happy to use an AMD card. And it seems MSI deliver decent performance. I've identified the RX 560 to 580 range with 8gb, as a reasonably priced GPU. Looks like they can be obtained for about £230 (specifically the MSI Radeon RX 580 Armor OC 8gb).

This might suffice for both my builds. But...

My old hackintosh is hardly going to be used. It currently has an NVIDIA EVGA GeFroce GTX 560 Ti 1gb in it, which is OK I guess, but it's well old and I'd just like to update it a bit. Maybe an 8gb RX 580 card is overkill. Perhaps there is a decent card that will work well with this motherboard priced more around the £150 mark. Any ideas?

Secondly for my new build, I identified a motherboard that looked like the best value for money for me, the Asus Prime Z490-A. Again the MSI RX 580 might be perfect. I could possibly spend a little bit more (£300) if it's really worth it.

But also for this new build, while I'm fairly committed to the idea of getting an Intel i5 10600, I've heard good things about Ryzen. Should I opt for a similarly priced Ryzen chip instead? Are there any issues with Ryzen or is it all win?

Much appreciated any guidance regarding these 2 projects.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hello! So I have an old hackintosh with a GA-Z77X-UD5H motherboard for which I want to upgrade the graphics card... and separately I'm planning my own first hackintosh build with an Asus Prime Z490-A. I want to put both on Big Sur.

I have never bought a GPU before, my old hackintosh was built for me back in 2013.
So I've spent the past month reading as much as I can about them.

I get that most NVIDIA cards are no longer compatible with MacOS. So I'm happy to use an AMD card. And it seems MSI deliver decent performance. I've identified the RX 560 to 580 range with 8gb, as a reasonably priced GPU. Looks like they can be obtained for about £230 (specifically the MSI Radeon RX 580 Armor OC 8gb).

This might suffice for both my builds. But...

My old hackintosh is hardly going to be used. It currently has an NVIDIA EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1gb in it, which is OK I guess, but it's well old and I'd just like to update it a bit. Maybe an 8gb RX 580 card is overkill. Perhaps there is a decent card that will work well with this motherboard priced more around the £150 mark. Any ideas?

Secondly for my new build, I identified a motherboard that looked like the best value for money for me, the Asus Prime Z490-A. Again the MSI RX 580 might be perfect. I could possibly spend a little bit more (£300) if it's really worth it.

But also for this new build, while I'm fairly committed to the idea of getting an Intel i5 10600, I've heard good things about Ryzen. Should I opt for a similarly priced Ryzen chip instead? Are there any issues with Ryzen or is it all win?

Much appreciated any guidance regarding these 2 projects.

You are going to have to replace the GPU in your old build since you want to run Big Sur on it.

If you don't mind used cards, cards like GTX 760, Radeon 7870, or RX 460 / RX 470 are still supported on Big Sur. If you will hardly use your old machine it doesn't seem wise to spend a lot on it. As you said new cards like RX 560 / RX 570 / RX 580 will also work.

A RX 580 for £230? It seems that the prices of new graphics cards are high almost everywhere. Locally I can still get a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB for an equivalent price of US$180. We generally recommend Sapphire Pulse cards as they are the most compatible and have been tested by Apple for use in Thunderbolt external GPU enclosures.

A RX 580 for your new build will also work, but if you can spend more you can get higher performance cards like RX 5600 XT / RX 5700 / RX 5700 XT. These cards are supported on MacOS Catalina and Big Sur. Check your local prices to see if they fit into your budget.

While it is possible to get MacOS Catalina and Big Sur to run on an AMD Ryzen system, as MacOS Intel is designed for Intel CPUs, you may encounter software issues. Adobe CC applications are known to have problems, and virtualization software like VMware Fusion won't work as it relies on Intel CPU features, to give 2 examples. You should see if the softwares you will use will have such problems with AMD Ryzen systems. If you use your new system for work I would recommend getting a compatible Intel system like what you originally intend to (i5 10600 / Z490).

 

[cyberdogg]

You are going to have to replace the GPU in your old build since you want to run Big Sur on it.

If you don't mind used cards, cards like GTX 760, Radeon 7870, or RX 460 / RX 470 are still supported on Big Sur. If you will hardly use your old machine it doesn't seem wise to spend a lot on it. As you said new cards like RX 560 / RX 570 / RX 580 will also work.

A RX 580 for £230? It seems that the prices of new graphics cards are high almost everywhere. Locally I can still get a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB for an equivalent price of US$180. We generally recommend Sapphire Pulse cards as they are the most compatible and have been tested by Apple for use in Thunderbolt external GPU enclosures.

A RX 580 for your new build will also work, but if you can spend more you can get higher performance cards like RX 5600 XT / RX 5700 / RX 5700 XT. These cards are supported on MacOS Catalina and Big Sur. Check your local prices to see if they fit into your budget.

While it is possible to get MacOS Catalina and Big Sur to run on an AMD Ryzen system, as MacOS Intel is designed for Intel CPUs, you may encounter software issues. Adobe CC applications are known to have problems, and virtualization software like VMware Fusion won't work as it relies on Intel CPU features, to give 2 examples. You should see if the softwares you will use will have such problems with AMD Ryzen systems. If you use your new system for work I would recommend getting a compatible Intel system like what you originally intend to (i5 10600 / Z490).

Amazing response, thank you JamesBond007!


I've only done some quick Google searches so I will dig a bit more for better prices.

The Sapphire Pulse 580 is on Amazon for over £400 if I recall.

But I think I will do as you recommend. A cheaper card for the old build (maybe the 470), and a more expensive card for the new one (maybe the 5700).

And I will steer clear of Ryzen.

Thanks again!

 

[cyberdogg]

A RX 580 for your new build will also work, but if you can spend more you can get higher performance cards like RX 5600 XT / RX 5700 / RX 5700 XT. These cards are supported on MacOS Catalina and Big Sur. Check your local prices to see if they fit into your budget.

I've had a rethink, and I'm going to leave my old build as is with the 560ti.

Which means I have a bit more to spend on the new build.

I have search for Sapphire 5700 XT GPUs... no chance. Barely available, and when they are they're well over £500.

I think it's just a very bad time to buy graphics cards.

I think I can get an MSI or Gigabyte 5700 XT for a reasonable price though (well... £400, still a bit pricey I think)... but would either of these cards be suitable instead of the Sapphire performance wise? I imagine they might need a bit more tinkering than the Sapphire to get working but from what I gather ,it doesn't seem insurmountable.

(also think I decided to go for an i9 10900F cpu now!)

 

[cyberdogg]

Lol, the MSI and Gigabyte boards are sold out too.

Looks like there are no 5700 boards below £500. I guess it's all the crypto miners.

From my investigations though it looks like the MSI and Gigabyte boards should work fine. The MSI being slightly better in performance.

Sapphire would be my first pick, then MSI, then Gigabyte. Will have to procrastinate a bit on this before committing to that price tag atm.

 

[sriHacPro]

Graphics cards are not available anywhere. Those available cards are priced crazy. What is going on ?
Even RX 580 price jumped 70% in last 3 months.

 

[trs96]

Graphics cards are not available anywhere. Those available cards are priced crazy. What is going on ?
Even RX 580 price jumped 70% in last 3 months.

EVGA GT 710 2GB DDR3 for $43.59 - An alternative to sky high AMD graphics card prices

Only the 1GB version is still available. Works fine with 1080p monitors. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AZ8EJQ2/?tag=tonymacx86com-20 These give you a DVI and HDMI output you can use for dual monitors. Works with all the most recent macOS versions including Big Sur OOB. A plug and play...

www.tonymacx86.com

Note that I'm not recommending the GT 710 as a longer term replacement for an AMD Polaris card. It's simply a placeholder for those that can't wait 6-12 months to get working graphics in a build. The MSI GT 710 is now the number one best seller on Amazon. It's not a gaming card even though MSI puts that in the title. You can't play much more than Chess, Solitaire or very old PC games with this card. It has native support from HS through Big Sur. Performs closely to the HD4600 iGPU.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DOFD0G8/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[trs96]

Those available cards are priced crazy. What is going on ?

I'm not sure if everyone remembers how quickly the Bitcoin bubble broke back in December of 2017, just 4 short years ago. If it does the same this year expect the market to be flooded with very cheap AMD graphics cards.

The bubble, however, popped on 22nd December 2017; crashing from a record peak at the time of $19,783.06 to below $11,000 in mere 5 days. While many of the venerated financial institutions, like JP Morgan, mocked the craze of Bitcoin, they also warned of the worst market crash the world has ever seen over the obsession and the relentless rise in value of Bitcoin despite of the steep risks involved.

With the onset of 2021, however, the financial institutions who once steered clear of the digital phenomenon, now have taken a polar position with yet another price surge of Bitcoin. This time around, the high volatility in Bitcoin is associated with Institutional investors as opposed to the speculators deemed the culprits of the bubble back in 2017.

However, the waves are more raucous than ever. Trading at $40,797.61, Bitcoin slumped down to $34,039 on closing of 12th January 2021, just in a span of 4 days. Bitcoin has posted an astounding 300% growth in returns; bouncing from $5,000, just before the hit of the Covid pandemic, to the record highs above $40,000.