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

[CaseySJ]

@notthefirstryan,

A valiant effort. I think we can confidently ascribe blame to either motherboard or CPU. This wouldn't be the first such incident in recent days. I would agree with @Ploddles that it's better to replace both motherboard and CPU now, before the exchange window expires. With delayed shipping times we just don't have the liberty to exchange one component at a time.

 

[notthefirstryan]

@notthefirstryan,

A valiant effort. I think we can confidently ascribe blame to either motherboard or CPU. This wouldn't be the first such incident in recent days. I would agree with @Ploddles that it's better to replace both motherboard and CPU now, before the exchange window expires. With delayed shipping times, we just don't have the liberty to exchange one component at a time.

Yep I totally agree, just getting all the parts in any sort of window close together has been a challenge in itself as of late.

I appreciate everyone's help. I've worked in IT my entire life, been building Hackintosh systems for probably a decade and have been building computers since the 9th grade so I generally know what I am doing when it comes to these things and troubleshooting. Just given that this is such a similar issue to what I saw on my Z68+i5 Gigabyte build I got in my head that I am clearly screwing something up somewhere. I'll update everyone once the test CPU gets here and I have had a chance to install and test.

 

[Ploddles]

I'll update everyone once the test CPU gets here and I have had a chance to install and test.

Shouldn't that be, 'install, test and return'. You don't want an extra CPU you aren't going to use just sitting there.

 

[notthefirstryan]

Shouldn't that be, 'install, test and return'. You don't want an extra CPU you aren't going to use just sitting there.

Haha oh most definitely, one of the great perks of Amazon. I will be returning the i3 one way or another eventually but I don't mind floating the cost for testing for a bit lol.

Either of you have any suggestions for an as similar as possible motherboard I can look for that maybe has delivery sooner than my May 8 replacement arrival date for this board? I guess anything in the Z390 chipset would fit the bill, not that macOS compatibility really matters with my current issue.

 

[Ploddles]

Haha oh most definitely, one of the great perks of Amazon. I will be returning the i3 one way or another eventually but I don't mind floating the cost for testing for a bit lol.

Either of you have any suggestions for an as similar as possible motherboard I can look for that maybe has delivery sooner than my May 8 replacement arrival date for this board? I guess anything in the Z390 chipset would fit the bill, not that macOS compatibility really matters with my current issue.

I'm based in the UK so Designare delivery would be next week! Try any of the Aorus Z390 boards and choose whichever would be delivered soonest.

 

[notthefirstryan]

I'm based in the UK so Designare delivery would be next week! Try any of the Aorus Z390 boards and choose whichever would be delivered soonest.

Thanks! Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO slated for Saturday delivery. On to the last two possible tests! Haha

 

[3rdPowerCitizen]

Howdy folks! @CaseySJ - Fantastic guide. I built mine back in October following this, and it is mostly working. I haven't had time to fix some of the small things that don't work great, because I was very busy - I own a recording studio and it was very busy. Since the Corona pandemic, I have since brought my rig home and am working there and the studio is shut down. So, now I have time to get this girl running well.

One of the issues I have had since getting up and running is that Preview did not work. I found a video on youtube where the guy switched his SMBIOS to Imac Pro 1,1 and that fixed it for him. So I switch mine and that fixed preview, but now, when someone sends me an audio clip in iMessage it does not play the audio.

At my studio, I also have a youtube channel and have been editing in Final Cut. I shoot 4k on Sony a6400 cameras. My editing drive is a Samsung Xtreme 1tb connected via USB-C to one of the Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. Final Cut behaves poorly since switching to iMac Pro SMBIOS. It never worked great though, laggy and dropped frames. But it is worse now. Lots of beach balls. Pro Tools also never quits without giving me an error that it didn't shut down properly. I have not done the going the extra mile spoiler yet. I am getting ready to do that today. I just need to gather all the info that I need to do this right because while I do have a lot of extra time on my hands, I do still have some work to do. I have installed Lilu and Whatever Green.

Lastly, I noticed since switching that my CPU in about this Mac is listed as an i9. That might be cosmetic, just wanted to make sure.

I have attached IOReg and Config.pllist files for before the change and after the change to Imac Pro SMBIOS.

 

[rankrotten]

Thanks! Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO slated for Saturday delivery. On to the last two possible tests! Haha

I'm in the UK and running a Z390 Aorus Pro, 5700XT, Fenvi Wifi and BT and GC Titan ridge TB3 card with zero issues, Enjoy!

 

[notthefirstryan]

Oh man, what a sick twist of fate. I reassembled the entire system back in the case and I just booted five times in a row (into Windows) without issues from power off.

The only thing that is different now is the GPU is mounted in the top-most PCIe slot. Previously the Noctura cooler when mounted for front-to-back airflow blocks that port. I decided to try the alternate down-to-up airflow mounting method this time just to compare temperature differences. In my mind this really shouldn't be the culprit though, the issue was occuring repeatedly without any GPU installed at all. Nevertheless, I am trying to document everything here and it's worth noting.

EDIT: Actually just realized there is one other difference now, I only have one of the two fans on the CPU cooler installed or connected. (Connected to CPU_FAN, now nothing connected to CPU_OPT).

I'm still convinced something is screwed up somewhere. That issue was far to repeatable even when broken down to the sheer basic components.

I am going to start working through the process in this order:

1. Currently on F7_n BIOS, going to upgrade to F9
2. Re-apply BIOS settings from Post #1
3. Re-unlock MSR 0xE2

 

[NCMacGuy]

@CaseySJ

****Apple Thunderbolt display fully functional with Designare with flashed TB3****​

For those like me that had relegated their Apple Thunderbolt display to the dust bin, I have found a way to use that display with the Gigabyte Designare.

My Designare build has the i9-9900K, 32 GB DDR-3200, Radeon RX-580, BIOS F8, Catalina 10.15.4 (19E287), Clover 5107. I have an LG display using DP plugged into the RX-580. I’m running the Designare “headless” per CaseySJ's guide.

I flashed the TB chip on the Designare using CaseySJ's guides using a Raspberry Pi 4. That worked perfectly and TB is fully functional on the Designare.

I noticed some posts on this thread regarding the Apple TB display and the possibility of using it with the Designare. Since I already owned a Cable Matters #107003 Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt adapter I decided to give it a shot. (Adapter from Amazon for $55.)

First I connected a Displayport cable between the outer-most DP port on the RX-580 to the DP input port on the Designare. The other DP port is used with the LG display.

I then connected the Cable Matters TB3 -> TB adapter to the upper TB3 port on the Designare, and plugged the Apple TB display into the adapter.

I turned off the power to the Designare for about 10+ seconds, turned the power back on, and booted up. The LG monitor displayed the Gigabyte boot screen, then the Clover screen as usual. Nothing displayed on the Apple TB display until the end of booting, then the Apple TB display woke up and displayed a desktop. Wonderful!

The Apple TB display is fully functional. The camera and speakers work. The ethernet port and USB ports on the back work. The display can be run as the primary or secondary display. Mirroring works.

Sleep works. Restarting and shutting down work, and the display setup resumes as set. So far everything works like a charm. The only detail I haven’t sorted out is which display the boot screen and Clover screen are displayed on, which isn’t really an issue.

My Apple TB display has been resurrected!

My very initial testing shows that the Apple TB display may also be usable with the Z390 Aorus Pro with a flashed GC-Titan Ridge AIC, and the Cable Matters TB adapter.

I have an Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter due to be delivered today. I ordered it not thinking the Cable Matters adapter would give me a fully functional Apple TB display. I will test it when it arrives.

I hope this information is useful to others that have an unused Apple TB display sitting in a closet.