[Success] ASUS Prime Z370-A+i9-9900k Pro Audio Build

[kolyasapphire]

You're welcome @kolyasapphire! Glad you dig it. I've made the full switch. My back up boot drive is even an OpenCore booter. I do keep a copy of my working Clover Config on Dropbox as a safety net.

First, may I suggest getting the Rev 2 version of the Z370-A Prime. It's pretty much all the same but can handle a 9900K and likely more in the future for the socket type. Mine can handle a 9900 non K or not overclocked 9900K. Just a thought! Though I see you have a Z390 Des in your signature. Switching boards or a new build? The built in TB3 is a plus on the Z390 Designware!

I've got CPU management handled by XCPM.aml and GPU by dAGPM.kext. Also SSDT-EC.am. I'm realizing as I type this that you probably do too and were simply wondering if it performs the same but there's a point to stress here. OpenCore is suppose to be ran without using Name Change Patches or at least as few as possible. This made me tear through my setup and realize how many outdated or useless patches I had. I slimmed it WAY down. That's the goal anyways right? To be as functional as possible with the least amount of patching. I have zero patches.

That being said, I love it and you're welcome to what I've learned about it so far. I've attached my OC EFI already if you want to look through the config file. Also read away!

Thanks a lot! That makes a lot of sense, I think I'll completely switch to OC once I finish the documentation.

I actually reverted back to Prime because it has a Thunderbolt header, otherwise my LG 5K won't work properly.

Your OC EFI will save me a lot of time!

 

[NorthAmTransAm]

@kolyasapphire Fair enough! I'm not the most knowledgeable person here but I can help out for sure.

 

[cnsilvan]

Ah, removing Hide Pre boot for you to see if this helps.

Attached. Replace your config with this.

The strange thing is my Z370-A BIOS only recognizes my flash drive in USB3.0 port.

 

[NorthAmTransAm]

The strange thing is my Z370-A BIOS only recognizes my flash drive in USB3.0 port.

I seem to remember this happening to someone else as well. Are you up and running?

 

[cnsilvan]

I seem to remember this happening to someone else as well. Are you up and running?

Sleep problems when use UHD 630.

 

[KingBfire]

Hi @NorthAmTransAm. First of all: Great user guide! I am thinking about modernising my pro audio build with a new graphics card and a cleaner SMBIOS/Drivers/KEXT setup as yours after finishing my current production projects.

The part of "undervolting" the CPU immediately caught my intention because I face huge issues with the painful AAE9173 Pro Tools error. I was hoping that it maybe can make it a bit better.

In my BIOS settings in the advance mode I can only find following under the "My Favorites" tab:
CPU Core Ratio: Auto
DRAM Odd Ratio Mode: Enabled
Extreme Over-voltage: Disabled (greyed out)
CPU Core/Cache Voltage: 1.040V (Auto)
Fast Boot: Enabled

Under CPU Core/Cache Voltage I can change Auto to Offset but cannot enter a negative "CPU Core Voltage Offset" - just a positive one as 0.075. The 1.040V listed before the dropdown menu cannot be edited. Is this the right place to edit those values, or am I completely wrong?

Edit:
BIOS Version 2.17.1246

 

[NorthAmTransAm]

Hi @NorthAmTransAm. First of all: Great user guide! I am thinking about modernising my pro audio build with a new graphics card and a cleaner SMBIOS/Drivers/KEXT setup as yours after finishing my current production projects.

The part of "undervolting" the CPU immediately caught my intention because I face huge issues with the painful AAE9173 Pro Tools error. I was hoping that it maybe can make it a bit better.

In my BIOS settings in the advance mode I can only find following under the "My Favorites" tab:
CPU Core Ratio: Auto
DRAM Odd Ratio Mode: Enabled
Extreme Over-voltage: Disabled (greyed out)
CPU Core/Cache Voltage: 1.040V (Auto)
Fast Boot: Enabled

Under CPU Core/Cache Voltage I can change Auto to Offset but cannot enter a negative "CPU Core Voltage Offset" - just a positive one as 0.075. The 1.040V listed before the dropdown menu cannot be edited. Is this the right place to edit those values, or am I completely wrong?

Edit:
BIOS Version 2.17.1246

Yeah that error is quite the battle. I still print out my big Virtual Instruments and Acustica plugins. I don't know what machine can wrangle those in. Also I use a lot of UAD.

Ok! So if memory serves, by selecting Offset and a positive number such as 0.075 you're telling the computer to apply 0.075 less volts. In other words, ya did it!

The best way to see the difference is to pull up Cinebench and Intel Power Gadget and keep an eye on when the throttling starts to happen. That number allowed me to go all the way through Cinebench's test without throttle. Good luck!

 

[KingBfire]

I tested it, and I could not recognise the improvement of the performance when testing it with Cinebech & Intel Power Gadget. The overall test score slightly decreased as well as the Utilisation (%) and the Frequency (GHz) by using Offset of 0.075.

Yes, I use a lot of UAD as well, and the AAE issue is so frustrating. I mean we have far more powerful systems right now than lots of devices in apple's product range...

 

[PavelV]

Hi, thanks for the files. I used them for my configuration, which is slightly different from yours.
ASUS Prime Z370-A-II + I5 8500 + MSI RX560 + ADATA 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000 MHz XPG GAMMIX D10 + SSD M.2 ADATA 512GB XPG 8200Pro NVMe PCIe3.0x4 (although it was originally Samsung PM961 256GB , but didn’t want to work in PCIx4 mode, only x2) + Transcend SSD MTE220S 512GB M.2 & HDD Seagate BarraCuda HDD 4TB (for Windows), as well ASUS ThunderboltEX 3 & BRCM4331 WiFfi/BT Card.
I edited config.plist a little for my equipment, but MaciASL gives a warning in Mojave, and 2 errors are added to Catalina. I edited System DSDT.aml and dropped it into EFI \ CLOVER \ ACPI \ patched \ - nothing has changed.
What can you advise in this situation?
Thanks in advance for your reply. Sincerely, Pavel.
P.S. in OS Mojave, the system sometimes freezes, but in Catalina beta 9 - 11 it works more stable.
P.P.S.I apologize for the grammatical errors, as I use google translation ;-)

 

[NorthAmTransAm]

Hi, thanks for the files. I used them for my configuration, which is slightly different from yours.
ASUS Prime Z370-A-II + I5 8500 + MSI RX560 + ADATA 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000 MHz XPG GAMMIX D10 + SSD M.2 ADATA 512GB XPG 8200Pro NVMe PCIe3.0x4 (although it was originally Samsung PM961 256GB , but didn’t want to work in PCIx4 mode, only x2) + Transcend SSD MTE220S 512GB M.2 & HDD Seagate BarraCuda HDD 4TB (for Windows), as well ASUS ThunderboltEX 3 & BRCM4331 WiFfi/BT Card.
I edited config.plist a little for my equipment, but MaciASL gives a warning in Mojave, and 2 errors are added to Catalina. I edited System DSDT.aml and dropped it into EFI \ CLOVER \ ACPI \ patched \ - nothing has changed.
What can you advise in this situation?
Thanks in advance for your reply. Sincerely, Pavel.
P.S. in OS Mojave, the system sometimes freezes, but in Catalina beta 9 - 11 it works more stable.
P.P.S.I apologize for the grammatical errors, as I use google translation ;-)

So sticking with Mojave, can you give me your IOreg file and a boot log? That way I can see what's going on.