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The case against buying Gigabyte Z390 motherboards

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I went for the ASRock because I need Thunderbolt. I am still on Mojave and it is working nicely.

You're right. I forgot to consider Thunderbolt... Thunderbolt is especially important in an ITX build.
 
The Bluetooth/WIFI M.2 card that came installed in my Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI Mini-ITX motherboard was an Intel 8260NGW, which wouldn't allow use of Apple-specific Bluetooth peripherals such as the "Magic Keyboard." The solution was to replace the Intel card with a Broadcom BCM 94352Z and add the tonymac-recommended kexts to /Library/Extensions. It now works fine.
IMG_0042.JPG
 
The Bluetooth/WIFI M.2 card that came installed in my Gigabyte GA-H170N-WIFI Mini-ITX motherboard was an Intel 8260NGW, which wouldn't allow use of Apple-specific Bluetooth peripherals such as the "Magic Keyboard." The solution was to replace the Intel card with a Broadcom BCM 94352Z and add the tonymac-recommended kexts to /Library/Extensions. It now works fine.View attachment 455193

Gigabyte only started blocking the use of other Wi-Fi/Bluetooth cards on CNVi slots. All the Gigabyte Z390 motherboards with Wi-Fi/Bluetooth slots are CNVi.
 
Hi @pastrychef. I got curious about my MSI's CNVi slot when you mentioned that perhaps only Gigabyte blocks its use with other cards. It was a bit of a pain but I took my motherboard out in order to test it. Unfortunately, nothing worked on this MSI MPG Z390M Gaming Edge AC. Here are the detailed results:

Intel 9560NGW (preinstalled) - Windows: works 100%, macOS: no Wifi / Bluetooth detected but not really working
DW1560: doesn't work at all in either OS
DW1830: doesn't work at all in either OS
Original MacBook Air WiFi module in M.2 adapter: doesn't work at all in either OS
Intel AX200NGW: doesn't work at all in either OS
Intel AX201NGW: doesn't work at all in either OS

I have the latest BIOS/UEFI but there is absolutely no mention of either WiFi or Bluetooth in there. Still, I tried with both my usual "hack-friendly" settings as well as "optimized defaults" but that made no difference.

That last one, the AX201NGW surprised me since it's CNVi...or so I thought. Turns out there is a CNVi and a CNVi2 and Intel has no documentation regarding compatibility between the two. I was already aware of the "2" from looking up the part numbers and seeing the product specs on Intel's site but I thought I'd give it a go since it was only $23 on Amazon and I could return it.

While I was still waiting for delivery, I came across this thread on LTT:

I was able to verify everything mentioned in the thread and learned a little more about the issue in the process. It appears that CNVi2 only works with 10th gen CPUs at the moment.
 
Hi @pastrychef. I got curious about my MSI's CNVi slot when you mentioned that perhaps only Gigabyte blocks its use with other cards. It was a bit of a pain but I took my motherboard out in order to test it. Unfortunately, nothing worked on this MSI MPG Z390M Gaming Edge AC. Here are the detailed results:

Intel 9560NGW (preinstalled) - Windows: works 100%, macOS: no Wifi / Bluetooth detected but not really working
DW1560: doesn't work at all in either OS
DW1830: doesn't work at all in either OS
Original MacBook Air WiFi module in M.2 adapter: doesn't work at all in either OS
Intel AX200NGW: doesn't work at all in either OS
Intel AX201NGW: doesn't work at all in either OS

I have the latest BIOS/UEFI but there is absolutely no mention of either WiFi or Bluetooth in there. Still, I tried with both my usual "hack-friendly" settings as well as "optimized defaults" but that made no difference.

That last one, the AX201NGW surprised me since it's CNVi...or so I thought. Turns out there is a CNVi and a CNVi2 and Intel has no documentation regarding compatibility between the two. I was already aware of the "2" from looking up the part numbers and seeing the product specs on Intel's site but I thought I'd give it a go since it was only $23 on Amazon and I could return it.

While I was still waiting for delivery, I came across this thread on LTT:

I was able to verify everything mentioned in the thread and learned a little more about the issue in the process. It appears that CNVi2 only works with 10th gen CPUs at the moment.

Thanks for the info.

I wasn't even aware of a CNVi2.

So I guess Asus and ASRock are the best choices for ITX builds that need macOS compatible Wi-Fi.
 
With the exception of ITX form factors, the rest of Gigabyte's Z390 motherboard line is an excellent choice for Hackintosh. :) Please note:
  1. On-board HDMI ports do not work out-of-box for most motherboards regardless of brand. If you see the bottom of the HDMI Black Screen Fix Guide you will find motherboards from Asus, MSI, and ASRock listed there as well. This is not a problem because it takes 5 minutes to fix.
  2. The on-board CNVi socket only accepts Intel CNVi cards. This is the main issue for ITX motherboard that have only one PCIe slot. But if one uses iGPU for graphics, then the PCIe slot can accommodate a Fenvi FV-T919 WiFi/BT card that requires no drivers.
    • If you use a DW1650 or similar card, it's necessary to install about 4 drivers.
    • So that is 4 strikes against those cards!
  3. MSR 0xE2 is locked on most modern motherboards. This is not a Gigabyte problem. It takes less than 10 minutes to follow the unlocking procedure once the USB flash drive with grub has been created.
 
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With the exception of ITX form factors, the rest of Gigabyte's Z390 motherboard line is an excellent choice for Hackintosh. :) Please note:
  1. On-board HDMI ports do not work out-of-box for most motherboards regardless of brand. If you see the bottom of the HDMI Black Screen Fix Guide you will find motherboards from Asus, MSI, and ASRock listed there as well. This is not a problem because it takes 5 minutes to fix.
  2. The on-board CNVi socket only accepts Intel CNVi cards. This is the main issue for ITX motherboard that have only one PCIe slot. But if one uses iGPU for graphics, then the PCIe slot can accommodate a Fenvi FV-T919 WiFi/BT card that requires no drivers.
    • If you use a DW1650 or similar card, it's necessary to install about 4 drivers.
    • So that is 4 strikes against those cards!
  3. MSR 0xE2 is locked on most modern motherboards. This is not a Gigabyte problem. It takes less than 10 minutes to follow the unlocking procedure once the USB flash drive with grub has been created.

I think the video out ports on most motherboards from other manufacturers work OOB.

I think ONLY the Gigabyte motherboards need to have MSR unlocked manually. Asus has it unlocked OOB.

All of this is easy and fast for those who know how to do it. Tooth extraction is easy for those who know how to do it too. For those who are new to hackintoshing, all the above can be avoided by going with a different brand of motherboard.
 
The discussion in the HDMI Black Screen thread shows that HDMI port on most current-generation motherboards does not work out of the box.

On Gigabyte Z390 boards, DisplayPort works out of the box by setting Platform ID to 0x3E9B0007. Only HDMI needs to be configured.

Unlocking MSR 0xE2 is not strictly necessary because of EmuVariableUefi and RC scripts. Beginners can start with emulated NVRAM and eventually switch to native.
 
The discussion in the HDMI Black Screen thread shows that HDMI port on most current-generation motherboards does not work out of the box.

On Gigabyte Z390 boards, DisplayPort works out of the box by setting Platform ID to 0x3E9B0007. Only HDMI needs to be configured.

Unlocking MSR 0xE2 is not strictly necessary because of EmuVariableUefi and RC scripts. Beginners can start with emulated NVRAM and eventually switch to native.

Yes, unlocking MSR isn't strictly required, but it's not even a concern if you go with a different brand of motherboard.

I still feel that if shopping for a new motherboard, it doesn't make any sense to buy the 'extra difficult to hack' motherboard.

I don't know about others, but when I was choosing parts for my first build, I was looking for the most compatible, easiest to hack options. It wasn't until I gained much more experience that I started looking for "challenges".
 
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And then there are those folks like me who have no idea what "MSR Oxe2," "grub," or "setting Platform ID to 0x3E9B0007" even mean, and have to be looked up. But since 3 of my 4 Gigabyte Mini ITX motherboards are hard-wired, I don't really care. And the one that is MacOS wi-fi compatible (now) didn't require any of that, since it's not a Z390 I.
 
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