- Joined
- Apr 3, 2017
- Messages
- 4
- Motherboard
- Asus Z97-A
- CPU
- i7-4790K
- Graphics
- RX 580
- Mac
My first OpenCore Build
My first OpenCore Build
(I know, the plastic is still on the glass)
I've been a member for a number of years and have been lurking in the background, reading, learning, and building a couple systems, one based on an Intel NUC and another that is the foundation of what you are able to read. This one here is my first attempt with OpenCore as well as one of my first posts to the site. I figured I would not necessarily do a detailed guide, but more comment about the experience and provide a list of where I sourced info from. I was determined to not use other people's files as much as possible and I think I accomplished that in only a few attempts.
My daily computer was an Asus Z97-A with an i7-4790K Clover build that seemed to be lagging a lot recently with some of the CAD work I've been doing. So around Christmas time I got the harebrained idea that I would simply upgrade components. I didn't want all the fancy LED lights, just simple and clean and keep costs as low as possible. So, reuse the graphics card, storage media, case, PSU, etc. Ha! Right, that didn't happen. I guess that's what happens when you pick and purchase a motherboard and CPU first without factoring what the cooling requirements of the CPU will be. Once I realized that CPU needed great cooling, I realized the current case wouldn't work, and it spiraled from there. What I was able to reuse: Storage, PSU, Graphics, WiFI/Bluetooth
I wanted to use OpenCore as I never really felt the Clover build was "right". It worked well enough that I didn't care too much, but this time, I wanted to try and iron out some of the oddities the donor computer had. From what I could tell, I could keep my existing installation of Mac OS Catalina so long as I completely replaced the contents of the EFI partition. On with the show...
New Parts:
- NZXT H510 Case
- Asus Prime Z490-A motherboard
- Intel i9-10850K CPU
- Noctura NH-D15 Black CPU cooler
- Corsair Vengance LPX (2x16GB)
- Asus ThunderboltEX 3-TR
Used Parts:
- Samsung EVO 860 500GB Sata SSD
- EVGA 600BQ Power Supply
- Fenvi FV-HB1200 WiFi/Bluetooth Card
- Sapphire RX 580 8GB Graphics Card
High level build process
Reading through Dortania's OpenCore guide helped (https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/) understand OpenCore. You really need to read it a few times to fully grasp it. The formatting of the guide does not help with some of the clarity, but once you are actually in the process of setting it up, it isn't too bad. The config file is the big scary beast, but at the end of the day, you really do not do too much to the file.
So for those worried about the OpenCore config file, don't. The ProperTree program really helps out with that. I was initially using the Plist editor via Xcode, but switched over shortly once I understood what ProperTree actually does.
The main issue I had with the guide is it didn't provide a good example of what a finished EFI folder should look like. Sure they had examples, but the examples really only showed the builds up to the files they provided or gave directions on how to build. I found this out after the first attempt to build my EFI folder. Things went surprising well until it just when to a black screen and nothing else. The computer showed up on the network but VNC and Apple Remote Desktop didn't work. There was a troubleshooting guide for things to do when it goes to a black screen at a certain part of the boot process, but those didn't have any effect.
So I got wondering, there was a lot more files in my Clover EFI folder than I had in the OpenCore folder. So I started searching for examples of what a proper OpenCore EFI folder should look like and tried to keep it as close to the build as I had. I wasn't able to find too much, but what I did find, definitely helped out:
ASUS Prime Z490-A, Intel Core i9-10850K, 64GB RAM, RX 5700 XT GPU
Updates: 01/27/2021 Updated Files with a new GPU SSDT. Shiloh's Build for Tristan ASUS Prime Z490-A - Intel Core i9-10850K - CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 64GB - Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 5700 XT Components: ASUS PRIME Z490-A LGA 1200 (Intel 10th Gen) Intel Z490 SATA 6Gb/s ATX Intel Motherboard...
www.tonymacx86.com
Asus PRIME Z490-P Catalina 10.5.5
Update 19-06-2020. See Post 19. Update 22-09-2020. See Post 83. Hi everyone. As the title suggests I installed Catalina 10.5.5 on this motherboard, and the system works quite well. Hardware: Asus PRIME Z490-P I5 10400 MSI Radeon 560 Opencore 0.59 I have a few problems to solve ... I...
www.tonymacx86.com
GitHub - 18520339/Hackintosh-CometLake-Z490-OpenCore: Successful build of Hackintosh with Intel 10th gen Comet Lake running on Gigabyte Z490 Gaming X using OpenCore
Successful build of Hackintosh with Intel 10th gen Comet Lake running on Gigabyte Z490 Gaming X using OpenCore - 18520339/Hackintosh-CometLake-Z490-OpenCore
github.com
GitHub - yilmazca/intel-i9-10900K-Asus-prime-Z490A-hackintosh: Hackintosh Stable system on Asus Prime Z490A with Opencore 0.5.9
Hackintosh Stable system on Asus Prime Z490A with Opencore 0.5.9 - yilmazca/intel-i9-10900K-Asus-prime-Z490A-hackintosh
github.com
Between the guide and the above links, I was able to determine all the Kexts and ACPI files that I was missing. I booted the computer using an Ubuntu LiveDisk and was able to build much of the SSDTs using SSDTTime. From there, it was a matter of looking for the prebuilt Kexts and comparing what others had in theirs to what I might need to have in mine. I did not end up with a mirror of any of the examples that I referenced. What effect that has, I am not sure, but the computer boots and runs fine. Geekbench scores are a little low for what I would have expected, but one day at a time.
iMac20,2 - Geekbench Browser
Benchmark results for an iMac20,2 with an Intel Core i9-10850K processor.
browser.geekbench.com
iMac20,2 - Geekbench Browser
Benchmark results for an iMac20,2 with an Intel Core i9-10850K processor.
browser.geekbench.com
USB port mapping always has kicked my butt, I have yet to get it right. As is the case with this build. I've even tried using prebuilt USB port mapping from one of the links above, but the computer won't boot with them. So, that is still to be done.
For this build, I am using the iMac20,2 SMBios. My previous Clover build with the Z97 I used the iMacPro1,1. I tried that with this computer and it gets to the point where just after logging in, it totally freezes. Not sure why, but that will be for another day.
Recap
All features work as you would expect. Boot, Sleep, WiFi, Bluetooth, graphics, unlock with my Apple Watch, Messages, yada yada yada. I have't tried out the ethernet port as I am wifi, but I assume it works as it shows up as a network option.
Dual Boot
Every so often, I have to get into Windows so my previous computer dual booted with Clover. Once I realized my OpenCore build was stable, I decided to implement the dual boot options of OpenCore. Install my windows SSD into the M.2 slot and adjust the config file. That was incredible easy. Too easy to be true so I was very skeptical. Fixing my Windows install EFI boot folder was not. It wasn't horrible, but was more difficult than it probably should have. For those in my situation, here is what I used to fix it: https://bobcares.com/blog/repair-efi-gpt-bootloader/
I have two Windows entries in the OpenCore start up screen, so if you have comments on how to get me down to 1, that would be fantastic. I haven't done much research on that yet as yesterday was the first day of dual booting.
A plus to the dual boot is that if I goof up my config file, I can always boot into Windows and restore the last working configuration without having to pull the drive and plug it in to another computer.
Up next
Enabling the thunderbolt card. From what I can tell, my power supply should be good enough. The 6-pin PCI-e power connector looks to be optional depending if you would like to use the quick charge feature or the 100w charging option. For the moment, I would just like to use some external storage options I have as well as my Apple Thunderbolt Display. There are mixed reports as to if that is possible or not. We shall see.
Sorry this writeup wasn't as glamorous as some of the others. Not really.