- Joined
- Jan 11, 2012
- Messages
- 80
- Motherboard
- Asus Tuf Z390 Plus Wifi-2808-OC
- CPU
- i9-9900K
- Graphics
- XFX Radeon VII
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
Squirrelzone's Coffee Lake ATX Build:
Asus Z370-A II - i5 9600k - Radeon RX 5700
Asus Z370-A II - i5 9600k - Radeon RX 5700
Components
Asus Prime Z370-A II Motherboard
Amazon
Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 2666 MHz DDR4 (2x8 GB = 16GB) Memory
Amazon
Intel Core i5 9600K Processor
Amazon
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
Amazon
Fenvi T919 PCIe Wifi Card (BCM94360CD)
Amazon
2 Ports USB 3.0 Female Back Panel to 20pin Header Connector (Generic)
Amazon
Already Owned
Razer DeathStalker Expert Keyboard
Amazon
M-Audio BX5a Powered Monitors (5" Speakers) - discontinued
M-Audio BX5a old product listing
2 TB Inland Premium NVME SSD Internal Drive (Windows 10 Drive)
Amazon
Logitech C920 Webcam
Discontinued - but you could select another Mac compatible model, like this: Amazon
NZXT Case - unsure of model
Comments
I've been using a hackintosh build around an H77 chipset since 2012. It served me very well and there was nothing wrong with it. But I felt the urge to upgrade my hardware during the 2019 holidays. I have to say, it was very hard to find motherboards and CPUs. It would seem that manufacturing of this generation has slowed down, in my opinion, because of an impending refresh by Intel. I tried an H370 and a Z390 motherboard. Both were fine, but caused too much trouble with non-native NVRAM and I didn't want to use the supposedly dangerous OsxAptioFix2Drv-free2000.efi just to get a headless iGPU.
This Asus Prime Z370-A II is really nice and easy to work with, and the native NVRAM is great. The first version of this board (Prime Z370-A) was in the buyers' guide, but I'm not aware of any noticeable difference with my version II for making a hackintosh.
Installation Notes
UEFI BIOS Settings
I'm using version 0801, and don't plan on updating for fear of messing anything up. I might update this thread if I do flash it. Here are my settings:
Load optimized defaults.
Advanced/SA Configuration>VT-d disabled
Above 4g decoding Enabled
/Graphics Configuration> Primary display: PCIE
iGPU multi-monitor Enabled
DVMT Pre-Allocated 64M
Serial Port off
Launch CSM
Secure Boot Disabled (and delete the keys if needed). If not, the machine will only allow Windows.
Update May 22, 2020:
I've updated the BIOS to 1202. I don't see any negative side effects. In the process I used MyLogo to change the Asus logo to an Apple one. Fun! Also, set iGPU graphics to 128MB.
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Installation
I went straight to Catalina from my MacBook using the createinstallmedia + Clover install method before the tonymacx86 UniBeast became available.
Update: UniBeast v10 is now available. You can follow the guide to make a USB installer.
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I admit, I used an old GTX 680 at first because I wasn't sure if the installer would like my new RX 5700. I'd been following the "AMD Radeon Navi GPU" thread started by Gigamaxx so I thought to just get the OS installed and then tackle the GPU. Once I had Clover running on my system drive, I went ahead and swapped for the 5700, using agdpmod=pikera at boot.
Update May 22, 2020:
I have since swapped the 5700 for a Radeon VII. The performance is solid and this allows me to have a Mojave installation for when times call for a 32-bit app, which does happen. Also, I don't need the agdpmod=pikera boot argument anymore.
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Because I wanted a bit more clarity into what would be installed, and MultiBeast isn't exactly made for Catalina yet, I manually installed Clover 5103 and used Clover Configurator (CC) to build a config.plist.
Update: While MultiBeast for Catalina isn't available as of Jan 26 2020, the UniBeast for Catalina guide states that the Mojave version is a good place to start.
I proceeded to find a suitable SMBIOS and generate a serial using CC. You can inspect my entire EFI which is attached (minus my serials).
EXTRA IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Please follow the guides for setting a good serial number in your SMBIOS. If not, things relating to iCloud such as the App Store, FaceTime and iMessage will not work, and possibly flag your AppleID on Apple's servers. Read this guide.
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For USB, I studied up on RehabMan's SSDT guide for USBInjectAll.kext and came up with a tidy USB SSDT to keep the machine under the 15-port limit. Don't simply use my SSDT-USB-UIAC.aml unless you plan on using the same exact physical configuration of ports.
Update: I used Hackintool to create my own USBports.kext instead of relying on a UIAC. This should last a long time. Note that I needed to use XHCI-Unsupported with USBInjectAll, and the port limit removal patches for 10.15.x. this was pretty easy. My USBPorts.kext is included in the attached zipped EFI folder.
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Ports are pretty straightforward: all USB 3.0 ports and headers are active, and one internal USB 2.0 header for my bluetooth card (the USB 2.0 header on the motherboard all the way to the right). The other 2.0 headers are disabled. This puts me within the 15 port limit. I did want a few more ports so I threw in an Inatek PCIe card. Note: the USB-C and accompanying USB 3.1 gen2 port are not affected by the port limits, so if disabling ports makes you sad, there are two extras.
Update May 22, 2020
In addition to setting port limits with Hackintool, I also added power properties for both the XHCI controller and the ASMedia Gen 2 chip. What this does is gives full charging capacity to iPads and iPhones. You can add this section to your USBPorts.kext fairly easily. See my example in the latest EFI I uploaded. Also, I removed the Inatek PCIe card because I don't need that many ports!
Latest EFI is attached (SquirrelZone-EFI May 22 2020.zip)
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Config.plist
After reading about what real Mac might have my CPU, I landed at the iMac19,1 for my System Definition. I read that machine can be built-to-order with a 9600K.
I don't want to list everything, but do note that with my iGPU enabled, I added AAPL,ig-platform-id of 0300983E and device-id of 983E000 through PCIRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0) using Clover Configurator. This allowed me to use the UHD 630 iGPU headless. Confirmed working with videoproc and Intel Power Gadget. Having a headless iGPU to accompany my Radeon was crucial, because I really like to use Sidecar with my iPad.
As I said, since MultiBeast for Catalina hasn't been released, I instead installed the latest version of Clover and chose the EFI drivers there. I have a software Raid0 on Sata ports in my case, and VBoxHFS didn't allow me to boot. Thus, I went with the older HFSPlus.efi driver instead.
Update May 22, 2020: No need for the older HFSPlus.efi. Not sure why but Vbox works fine with my setup now.
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I also used the regular AptioMemoryFix.efi and didn't need EMUVariable, because this motherboard has native NVRAM (confirmed with sudo nvram TestVar=HelloWorld).
The other UEFI drivers are more or less standard options.
The third party kexts I'm using are: FakeSMC , USBInjectAll , WhateverGreen , Lilu , IntelMausi , AppleALC with a layout ID of 1 (in Clover Configurator, Device>Audio>Inject). I tested the stereo green output with my speakers for purposes of having a complete User Build post, and it sounds fine. However, I intend to use an external USB Sound Blaster Omni. I use powered speakers and the Sound Blaster has a hardware volume knob, which is great for how I use this machine.
Update May 22, 2020:
I've since removed the SoundBlaster Omni in favor of using the on-board sound card. For volume control, I bought this knob on Amazon. The SoundBlaster can't be selected as the startup sound output for Clover (I want my Apple Chime!) and I realized I only really cared about having the volume knob on the SoundBlaster.
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The Fenvi t919 PCIe card works OOB and pairs nicely with my Apple Magic Trackpad 2.
Update May 22, 2020:
I decided to just use my Logitech G602 wireless USB mouse. There's too much interference going on at my desk, which I share with my work MacBook, which also has bluetooth issues, so I know the Hackintosh doesn't have a problem I can solve.
Update: In CC, I set my config.plist to "detect" for Inject Kexts in the System Parameters section. What this does is only loads kexts from the bootloader if there is no FakeSMC in /Library/Extensions (/L/E) on the drive where MacOS is installed. I prefer to have all third party kexts in /L/E. I do have the minimal kexts (FakeSMC, IntelMausi, Lilu, WhateverGreen) in EFI/Clover/kexts/Other in case I need to temporarily boot to something that doesn't have the necessary third party kexts in /L/E.
Update Feb 2020: Moved all third party kexts to EFI folder and set Clover to Inject them. This is to adhere to the latest policy set by Apple, where unsigned kexts will not load from L/E. So, set Inject Kexts to "Yes" in your config.plist.
Updates May 22, 2020:
Once you use the Hackintool USBports.kext method, you should remove USBInjectAll.kext.
Also, following the latest guides here, I switched to VirtualSMC. Everything works as expected, just follow CaseySJ's Mini-Guide. I am on Clover 5115 now.
Benchmarks (See new Radeon VII benches. 5700 benches will stay here for now)
CPU:
RX 5700 Metal:
Updated Radon VII Metal Benchmark May 22, 2020:
RX 5700 OpenCL:
Updated Radeon VII OpenCL Benchmark May 22, 2020:
CPU:
RX 5700 Metal:
Updated Radon VII Metal Benchmark May 22, 2020:
RX 5700 OpenCL:
Updated Radeon VII OpenCL Benchmark May 22, 2020:
Working
Sleep and shutdown are helped by the GPRW patch in CC and the SSDT in my EFI folder.
Update May 22, 2020:
I discovered that GPRW disables wake from USB devices (keyboard, mouse, etc) which was inconvenient. I found that turning off "Wake for Network Access" was all we need to do, so remove any trace of GPRW (in config and SSDT). I still had a problem where any external drive would eject unsafely and when waking up I'd get a bunch of warnings that it was ejected. To remedy this, I used SafeSleep.app.
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Working (cont'd)
Sidecar works
Gigabit Network (I'm hardwired to my switch)
USB
Not Working
A weird issue is that sometimes the system boots directly to the NVMe SSD which has Windows on it, even though my SSD with Clover is set as the first boot option. It's not a big deal as I don't turn it off much, but it can be annoying. Also, Encoding to H.264 via Quicktime isn't working. Even when I choose HEVC, it appears to encode using the CPU, not either GPU. Will look into it.
Update May 22, 2020:
I purchased another NVME drive and moved my Catalina install there. I haven't had an issue with the machine choosing the wrong drive since.
Update May 22, 2020:
Regarding encoding from QuickTime: I found that using any shikigva argument to enable DRM caused issues with QuickTime h.264 export in particular. I don't really use this computer to watch Netflix or Apple TV+ so I removed shikigva=xx. Now, exports utilize the iGPU as expected.
Update: Not Sure:
Thunderbolt. I got the Asus add-in card, and it's recognized in Windows. However, I don't own any Thunderbolt devices so I don't know if it actually works in either Windows or MacOS. I'm not sure why I bought the card, other than to "complete the package." If I get my hands on a Thunderbolt device I'll be sure to share my findings.
Update May 22, 2020:
Thunderbolt... I couldn't get the Add-in card to work, and I realized I don't use any TB devices. I did spend time troubleshooting and trying things, but in the end sold the Asus card. I'm sure if I really needed TB I could figure it out, but it's not worth it for now. I read that the Gigabyte Titan Ridge card is more cooperative in MacOS. Might try it later on down the road but not for now.
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Summary
Update May 22, 2020:
To finish things off, I put a .wav file in the clover theme. So when the machine reaches Clover, I hear a fun Apple Start-Up Chime.
A quick unrelated note: I found that having the iGPU enabled caused crashes in certain games in Windows, such as Red Dead Redemption 2. To work around that, just disable Intel UHD 630 in Device Manager. This way you can still have it enabled in BIOS for your MacOS install.
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This build has been pretty easy to set up and it meets all my needs. Final Cut Pro X works flawlessly and fast. Hopefully this post can be helpful to others. Thanks for reading!
Attachments
Last edited:
It's for a Z370, not a Z390. I don't want to go too far into detail, but a couple differences: Z370 motherboards have an additional ASMedia USB controller to provide USB 3.1 gen 2 ports, so port limits don't apply to those ports. Z390, on the other hand, has a built-in Intel USB 3.1 gen 2 controller, so port limits do apply. I have a port-deleting SSDT in my EFI folder that might mess with your setup and disable ports that you intended to use! Also, most Z370 motherboards have native NVRAM, whereas on Z390 it has to be emulated, which may or may not work for everyone. 
