[SUCCESS] Gigabyte Designare Z390 (Thunderbolt 3) + i7-9700K + AMD RX 580

[CaseySJ]

...
On the subject of boot args, would I be correct to assume that if you have iGPU disabled (for iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS) then you don't need to keep -disablegfxfirmware ?

Yes that's correct.

 

[bluepr0]

Some solutions:

1. You need to use a Thunderbolt 3 add-in card with two DisplayPort 1.2 inputs. GC-TITAN RIDGE or GC-ALPINE RIDGE should both work.

@joevt I heard @CaseySJ saying the Titan Ridge won't work on Designare, only the Alpine Ridge

 

[joevt]

@joevt I heard @CaseySJ saying the Titan Ridge won't work on Designare, only the Alpine Ridge

What does "won't work" mean in this case?

Does GC-ALPINE RIDGE allow PCIe over Thunderbolt in the Designare while the GC-TITAN RIDGE does not?
If so then go with GC-ALPINE RIDGE.
Else:

Does GC-TITAN RIDGE make the Designare crash or not boot while the GC-ALPINE RIDGE does not?​

If so then go with GC-ALPINE RIDGE.​

Else:​

Do neither cards cause a crash?​

If so then go with either card.​

Else:​

Go with either card but do not connect it to a Designare PCIe slot. Instead, power the card externally. They should be able to at least convert DisplayPorts to Thunderbolt to get 5K on a dual link 5K Thunderbolt display.​

​

 

[bluepr0]

What does "won't work" mean in this case?

I'm not sure to be honest, he only said that an user reported it 'won't work'. See reply below.

Regarding the question of GC-Alpine Ridge versus GC-Titan Ridge, the choice should be GC-Alpine Ridge because someone in this thread specifically mentioned that GC-Titan Ridge will not work.

 

[CaseySJ]

macOS doesn't scale 2560x1440 up to 5K. In HiDPI mode, it draws things 4 times larger. Heights and Widths are doubled. font size is doubled. Take a look at the differences between these two screen shots.

Yes, of course. However, pixel doubling is also a form of scaling. We're rendering an effective or UI resolution of 2560x1440 into a 5K pixel-doubled frame buffer. In general terms, scaling refers to any method by which resolution X is mapped or converted into resolution Y (and the effective or UI resolution remains the same).

We can also distinguish between:

• One-time rendering of effective resolution into a frame buffer.
• Subsequent scaling of the frame buffer to accommodate different transport streams (DP 1.2 vs DP 1.4, or 20 Gbps cable vs 40 Gbps cable) and different monitor capabilities (4K, 5K, 2K).

If it's not outputting 5K, then you have something to complain about. It should work properly if two DisplayPort 1.2 signals are being sent over the 40 Gbps Thunderbolt cable.

Curious to see @JayShay's results with the 40 Gbps cable.

They used the wrong cable or a bad cable. Note that Thunderbolt can be one or two lanes that can transmit at 10 or 20 Gbps. Thunderbolt 2 added the ability to join both lanes together for a single link.

I'm tempted to take my own 40 Gbps cable over to the Apple Store!

 

[CaseySJ]

OK, the last stick I also get a crash still.

Because this is a fresh install, these crashes are somewhat troubling. Does the system crash when any specific task is performed? Or does it crash completely randomly?

Edit: Just to be sure, have you connected the 8-pin CPU power cable to the ATX_12V_2X4 header?

 

[CaseySJ]

I'm not sure to be honest, he only said that an user reported it 'won't work'. See reply below.

Let me look for the post in which someone specifically installed the GC-Titan Ridge, but was unable to get a video output. Simply replacing it with GC-Alpine Ridge solved the problem.

 

[CaseySJ]

I'm not sure to be honest, he only said that an user reported it 'won't work'. See reply below.

Let me look for the post in which someone specifically installed the GC-Titan Ridge, but was unable to get a video output. Simply replacing it with GC-Alpine Ridge solved the problem.

Casey,

Thanks for the suggestion. Actually I have a triple monitor configuration with 1 LG UF 5k and 2 LG UF 4ks. I am now running the 5k in 4K resolution with the GB Alpine Ridge add in card in PCI slot 2. Also, I tested with a Titan Ridge add in card in bottom pcie slot and this card was seen as a second as second TB3 controller in windows but I just couldn’t get it to work in windows or Macos so I’m settling on 5k with no thunderbolt capabilities and the 2 4ks running of the Designare Intel IGPU. The 5k runs off the Radeon VII passthrough to the add in card. I can say the monitors connect instantaneously from sleep which my real 2018 Mac mini struggled with. I don’t think there is any hope getting the alpine ridge controller working with TB because it’s not even seen in windows and there isn’t a TB3 header on the Designare.

There is some talk about the Designer X299 which has 2 display port inputs that maybe can drive the 5k at 5k but would still need a TB3 add in card which I’ve never reliably been able to get both ports to work with DP passthrough in Hackintosh.

@bluepr0, @JayShay,

This post suggests that:

• Titan Ridge card was unable to work in Windows and MacOS.
  • In Windows, it did appear as a Thunderbolt Controller, but no Thunderbolt or Video output.
• Alpine Ridge card was subsequently installed, and video output works, but none of the other Thunderbolt capabilities.

@JayShay, please confirm or correct these statements...

 

[tdcam]

The EVO Plus must get its firmware updated otherwise it will interfere with macOS whether it has Windows or any other OS. Firmware update is still necessary.

There’s no way to disable NVMe from BIOS but it’s easy to physically remove the other drive when installing Windows. Remember to unplug or physically remove all other hard drives when installing Windows. Installing Windows first is a good idea. And yes, the Windows NVMe should go into the top M2M slot.

Thanks so much for this info. If I have Windows on a second NVMe can Windows use another spinning hard drive for file storage or is it better to have Windows and it's files contained on the boot NVMe? Thanks

 

[kolyasapphire]

1. I'm pretty sure the Thunderbolt controller gets one DisplayPort input from the DisplayPort input port and one from the iGPU. When you connect a dual link 5K display, each DisplayPort input of the 5K display is connected to a different GPU. They won't work together to produce a proper 5K image.

That's actually what I was going to find out right now. Is there no point in trying to get this to work?

Disconnect the AMD from the DisplayPort input. That way, the display will be powered by iGPU. If the motherboard has some fancy DisplayPort MUX, then it could output two DisplayPorts from the iGPU to the Thunderbolt controller when it senses no external DisplayPort input. But I don't think the motherboard is that smart. If the motherboard is not that smart, then it means they wasted the third DisplayPort output of the iGPU.

That's an interesting thought, will also try this. Thank you!