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[SUCCESS] Opus i9 Build: Gigabyte Gaming X Z390 - i9-9900K - Radeon RX 6900 XT Ultimate

I'm not an expert on the video cards. When I was gathering information for my build, I was recommended a Vega 56 because of some compatibility issues with the 580 by a fellow user, Diorama. He was using a 580 and had some problems that went away when he bought a Vega 56. Since then, he built a new system using the Radeon VII and he likes that. It took some tweaks to get it working. I'm worried that he needed the RadeonBoost kext, which broke when Catalina was updated to 10.15.5. Others in this thread had good luck with the 5700 XT, but their initial report is that not all the ports are active.

I guess I would recommend the Vega or the 5700 XT, but I'm not an expert.
 
BTW, I think it is possible to get the iGPU working, but it will take a bit of work. The problem with my EFI is that I used the framebuffer patch for a different motherboard. It must have been good enough to make the iGPU recognized, but the HDMI port on the Gaming X motherboard is probably not mapped correctly.

The instructions on how to patch the framebuffer is here:

 
I have successfully installed Catalina 10.15.5 by OpenCore. But my Compute score of Geekbench is much lower than yours.
I use 9900k + 5700xt for my hackintosh.
Is it a normal score?
Screen Shot 2020-06-03 at 15.23.23.png
I don't install any additional kext or ssdt for my GPU, as 5700xt can be natively driven by Catalina.
 
Congratulations! What was the main problem from before? I'm glad you solved it!

Your score for your GPU should be much higher. The 5700 is supported by Catalina, but the full performance is not realized by the way Apple implemented the support. You can read this in mattystonnie's thread:


Not being a programmer myself, the way I understand it is that mattystonnie's SSDT injects the proper parameters for your card, the way that Apple would implement it on the system when you order the particular card. The "vanilla" Catalina install doesn't have these parameters. I am sure I butchered that explanation, but the bottom line is that if you want full performance, you will want to try to get the SSDT working.

There is a competing kext called RadeonBoost. When 10.15.5 was released, it wasn't compatible, although I don't know if its been updated yet.


I have successfully installed Catalina 10.15.5 by OpenCore. But my Compute score of Geekbench is much lower than yours.
I use 9900k + 5700xt for my hackintosh.
Is it a normal score?
View attachment 473419
I don't install any additional kext or ssdt for my GPU, as 5700xt can be natively driven by Catalina.
 
Hello @tedyun,

Following your steps, I have unlocked the MSR, I have installed Catalina, I can boot with the installation USB but I cannot boot the system without it, the loading bar reaches approximately 3/4 and the image goes black, both using the Integrated GPU like RX 5700.

What I did was download your Generic EFI - MSR unlocked - Clover 5119.zip package, replace it on the EFI partition with the one that came standard, use Clover to generate new SMBIOS information.

So ... what am I doing wrong so it won't boot without the USB EFI?

Thank you!!!
 
Hi again @tedyun, I searched out your build after all the help you have me with mine. Great writeup.

I'm curious about the custom ssdt you installed for the graphics card.... Although there are big benchmark improvements, have you noticed it actually improve anything from day to day?

As you know, my build is now working smoothly, but always on the look out for new tweaks! Don't want to screw around with it tho if there isn't really much improvement.

I also think I need to remove Radeonboost... Looks like mattystonnie doesn't think much of it.

What's the procedure for removing kexts in OC?

Thanks!
 
Hi @joobuzz

As a fellow Hackintosher, I expect nothing less than needlessly tweaking a perfectly running system!

With the SSDT, the performance increase is on par with the RadeonBoost. If you have RadeonBoost working well, there is no need to change it out. I went with mattystonnie's because Chris removed the Vega compatibility from RadeonBoost. I see no improvement in normal day to day operations. The SSDT/kext is to boost the rendering in games, and for games, like you, I can boot into Windows. I rarely play games on MacOS (until they port Doom Eternal!)

To disable RadeonBoost, I use PlistEditPro. If you're using pastrychef's EFI, go to Root > Kernel > Add > 10 then expand that list by clicking on the triangle. That should be the entry for RadeonBoost. You can simply change the "Enabled" switch to "No". If you want to remove it altogether, just right click on the "10" and select "Cut"

For me, I deleted this entry because I knew I wouldn't be using it (since he removed compatibility with my card).

Let me know how that works out!

Ted

PS. I kinda forgot about this thread, but I should update it with the fact that I switched to OC. I'm using this thread almost like a journal. I find it helpful -- you should put one together too!

Hi again @tedyun, I searched out your build after all the help you have me with mine. Great writeup.

I'm curious about the custom ssdt you installed for the graphics card.... Although there are big benchmark improvements, have you noticed it actually improve anything from day to day?

As you know, my build is now working smoothly, but always on the look out for new tweaks! Don't want to screw around with it tho if there isn't really much improvement.

I also think I need to remove Radeonboost... Looks like mattystonnie doesn't think much of it.

What's the procedure for removing kexts in OC?

Thanks!
 
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Hi @joobuzz

As a fellow Hackintosher, I expect nothing less than needlessly tweaking a perfectly running system!

With the SSDT, the performance increase is on par with the RadeonBoost. If you have RadeonBoost working well, there is no need to change it out. I went with mattystonnie's because Chris removed the Vega compatibility from RadeonBoost. I see no improvement in normal day to day operations. The SSDT/kext is to boost the rendering in games, and for games, like you, I can boot into Windows. I rarely play games on MacOS (until they port Doom Eternal!)

To disable RadeonBoost, I use PlistEditPro. If you're using pastrychef's EFI, go to Root > Kernel > Add > 10 then expand that list by clicking on the triangle. That should be the entry for RadeonBoost. You can simply change the "Enabled" switch to "No". If you want to remove it altogether, just right click on the "10" and select "Cut"

For me, I deleted this entry because I knew I wouldn't be using it (since he removed compatibility with my card).

Let me know how that works out!

Ted
Thanks,

I'd just spent the last 20 minutes or so looking through the config.plist and figured switching Enabled to NO for number 10 in the Add section of Kernel would do it.

I'm still in two minds about switching to be honest, and won't try it this late at night - I've had too many late nights over the last fortnight getting the machine to work! Might go watch Hamilton instead since it's on Disney Plus now!!
 
Hey Tedyun -

After about a month hiatus due to work, family, life, etc., I have my Z390 / i9 / Radeon RX 580 build booting independently of the UniBeast USB drive using the following MultiBeast settings:

Quick Start > Clover UEFI Boot Mode
Drivers > Audio > AppleALC
Drivers > Misc > VirtualSMC
Bootloaders > Clover UEFI Boot Mode + Emulated NVRAM
Customize > System Definitions > iMac > 14,2
Customize > Graphics > Core Graphics Fixup AKA Whatever Green

What Works: Video (sort of), Ethernet, Audio, Sleep, iCloud, iMessages (I don't care about WiFi or Sidecar).

What Doesn't Work: Video only works from the DP port on the RX 580. Trying to use either of the HDMI ports or the DVI port either singly or in combination with the DP yields the following results:
  • HDMI Outside Port or DVI Port - Boots fine, second monitor is seen in Display preferences, but no output. Power is on (blue light) but screen is black and seems to flash, but the blue power light is steady. Suspect it's a driver issue.
  • HDMI Inside Port - Get a "prohibited" sign after Clover Boot Screen.
If you have any ideas on the second monitor issue, I'm all ears.

Also, how do I check to see how many/which USB ports are active?

I would like to iron out these issues before doing any migration from my current prod system.

Edit: Changed SMBIOS to 19,2, both monitors working now. Second monitor on DVI. Haven't tried HDMI but it makes no difference to me.

However, a new issue has arisen - I tried installing the Catalina 10.15.5 Supplemental Update. It seemed not to work, just hung with like 1/10 of the progress bar done. The system then attempted to reboot itself but after the clover splash screen, I get a "prohibited" sign (circle with the bar through it). Back to booting through the Unibeast USB for now.
 
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Hi tastic,

That's great that you got the 580 to work!

With the USB ports, you should follow UtterDisbelief's guide here:


Basically, you'll add the USBInjectAll.kext, then a couple of Kext Patches. Then using Hackintool, you can map the USB Ports.

This is what I got with my Gaming X mobo, and it should be the same for yours. There is also an internal USB 3.0 plug but I didn't map that

Screen Shot 2020-07-11 at 12.33.04 PM.png



With the prohibited sign, make sure that your iGPU is disabled in the BIOS. When you get that sign, you can reset the CMOS and that usually fixes it, or if you keep trying to reboot it will eventually let you in.

Personally, I would try using pastrychef's EFI for his Gigabyte Z390M Gaming. When I switched over to that, it really smoothened out some of the intermittent stability issues. His EFI has a number of extensions that are not found in MultiBeast that probably help with stability. Also, ideally, you should unlock the MSR, following his instructions.

Let me know if you need help doing that!




Hey Tedyun -

After about a month hiatus due to work, family, life, etc., I have my Z390 / i9 / Radeon RX 580 build booting independently of the UniBeast USB drive using the following MultiBeast settings:

Quick Start > Clover UEFI Boot Mode
Drivers > Audio > AppleALC
Drivers > Misc > VirtualSMC
Bootloaders > Clover UEFI Boot Mode + Emulated NVRAM
Customize > System Definitions > iMac > 14,2
Customize > Graphics > Core Graphics Fixup AKA Whatever Green

What Works: Video (sort of), Ethernet, Audio, Sleep, iCloud, iMessages (I don't care about WiFi or Sidecar).

What Doesn't Work: Video only works from the DP port on the RX 580. Trying to use either of the HDMI ports or the DVI port either singly or in combination with the DP yields the following results:
  • HDMI Outside Port or DVI Port - Boots fine, second monitor is seen in Display preferences, but no output. Power is on (blue light) but screen is black and seems to flash, but the blue power light is steady. Suspect it's a driver issue.
  • HDMI Inside Port - Get a "prohibited" sign after Clover Boot Screen.
If you have any ideas on the second monitor issue, I'm all ears.

Also, how do I check to see how many/which USB ports are active?

I would like to iron out these issues before doing any migration from my current prod system.

Edit: Changed SMBIOS to 19,2, both monitors working now. Second monitor on DVI. Haven't tried HDMI but it makes no difference to me.

However, a new issue has arisen - I tried installing the Catalina 10.15.5 Supplemental Update. It seemed not to work, just hung with like 1/10 of the progress bar done. The system then attempted to reboot itself but after the clover splash screen, I get a "prohibited" sign (circle with the bar through it). Back to booting through the Unibeast USB for now.
 
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