UtterDisbelief’s Comet Lake ITX: ASRock B560M-ITX/ac - i3-10320 - 32GB DDR4 - GT710 2GB

[UtterDisbelief]

UtterDisbelief's 500-series Comet Lake Big Sur ITX Build







​

Components:

Gigabyte ASRock B560M-ITX/ac Motherboard with HDMI & DisplayPort Video output
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08XNJDGQZ/?tag=tonymacx86-21

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Intel Core i3-10320 3.8GHz Comet Lake Processor
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B086M4KSMW/?tag=tonymacx86-21

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Zotac GT710 2GB GDDR3 Graphics Card
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AZ7W88O/?tag=tonymacx86-21

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CORSAIR Vengeance LP 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3000 Memory
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07B2Y6H1M/?tag=tonymacx86-21

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Crucial MX500 250GB SATA SSD
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0764WCXCV/?tag=tonymacx86-21

CORSAIR CX500M 500W 80-PLUS BRONZE Semi Modular PSU

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MetallicGear Neo Mini ITX v2 Silver Computer Case
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07XCNJFQN/?tag=tonymacx86-21

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UpHere CPU Fan Cooler 5 Direct Contact Heat Pipes 120mm PWM Fan
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08MX66LDQ/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Noctua NF-P12 redux 1300RPM PWM 120mm Fan 4-Pin
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CG2PGVG/?tag=tonymacx86-21

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ARCTIC P12 PWM - 120 mm Case Fan with PWM
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GB6SJHW/?tag=tonymacx86-21

StarTech.com 1 Port SATA to eSATA Slot Plate Bracket
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000GX4C7I/?tag=tonymacx86-21


Already Owned:

Apple Magic Mouse 1 - No longer available new but …
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016MUCHTS/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Apple Wired USB Keyboard - No longer available new

Acer 24” R241Y HD Monitor - No longer available new

Western Digital 500GB Black SATA 3.5” Hard-Disk - No longer available. BYO.


EDIT 30th April 2021: Update concerning the Zotac GT710 GPU.
It was discovered that the Zotac GT710 2GB GDDR3 GPU caused artefacts and editing problems in photographs when using the Preview or Photos app. My fellow Mods tested other brands such as MSI and Asus and this problem doesn't affect them, so is probably a Zotac VBIOS issue. Please bear this in mind when choosing your own GPU.


Comments:

This is a brand-new budget build using a 500-series Intel motherboard and Comet Lake CPU.

I began the build as a proof-of-concept, so a couple of things to note:

Comet Lake CPUs might use the same UHD 630 iGPUs as in previous generations, but actually they have a different Device-ID and so far no-one I've seen or read about has genuinely made them output display with full acceleration in a 500-series board, only in the 400-series. Maybe as headless...

Because of this, and with no AMD GPUs available at the moment I used a natively compatible NVidia card instead. The build was completed with the iGPU but it really is not recommended.


Installation:

OpenCore 0.6.8 - was used for this build.

macOS Big Sur 11.3 - was used for this build

Partition and format a 16GB or 32GB USB memory stick with the GUID scheme and HFS+ file system:

​

With the Big Sur installation package in your Applications folder run the following Terminal command to create a USB installer stick:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/USB /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app --nointeraction

Once completed you need to mount the hidden EFI partition on the USB stick using EFI Mounter v3.1 from our Downloads section. To make sure you are mounting the correct partition, check with Disk Utility. In this example the disk has the identifier of disk3 so the EFI partition we want to mount is disk3s1 and you will see this in the EFI Mounter selection window:

​

The EFI partition will probably already contain an Apple folder. If you are going to use the EFI archive I've attached to this post, stick to the correct folder structure:

You can of course use your own if you would prefer.

Once done check your BIOS settings:

1. To access Setup, press and hold Delete on a USB Keyboard while the system boots. At the main screen Press F6 to toggle Advanced mode.
2. Advanced / CPU Configuration / CFG Lock = Disabled.
3. Advanced / Chipset Configuration / Primary Graphics Adapter = PCIe
4. Advanced / Chipset Configuration / Above 4G Decoding = Enabled
5. Advanced / Chipset Configuration / VT-d = Disabled
6. Advanced / USB Configuration / XHCI Hand-off = Enabled
7. Security / Secure Boot = Disabled
8. Save and exit.

Now on reboot, by pressing the BIOS boot selector key (F11) when the ASRock splash screen comes up, you can choose and boot the installer. Once the installer screen loads use Disk Utility to prepare your destination drive as GUID and HFS+ format. Then select your destination drive when you proceed to install and let it run its course.

​

Post Installation:

Attached is an EFI folder that will work for the main installation as well as the installer, so use the same technique I mention above copy it into your destination drive's EFI partition. It will give you audio and USB, it will give you Ethernet on "en0" and it will boot. YOU will need to refresh/enter your own SMBIOS details as the ones included are dummies. YOU will need to edit the itlwm.kext to include your own SSID Internet access details as I explain in the paragraph below.

As the necessary work has already been done in the EFI I’ll run through what’s there so you know a little more if you wish to create your own.

ACPI:
SSDT-AWAC.aml - needed to boot reliably
SSDT-EC.aml - dummy embedded controller
SSDT-PLUG.aml - CPU power management

Kexts:
IntelMausi.kext - LAN Ethernet support
itlwm.kext - Intel Wireless support **
Lilu.kext - Vital plug-in manager
Whatevergreen.kext - Graphics plug-in for Lilu.
SMCProcessor.kext
SMCSuperIO.kext
USBPorts.kext - USB port configuration file
VirtualSMC.kext
AppleALC.kext - Audio chipset activation

Drivers:
CrScreenshotDxe.efi - Screengrab utility for OpenCore
OpenCanopy.efi - The main Graphical User Interface for OpenCore
OpenHfsPlus.efi - File system compatibility for older macOS versions
OpenRuntime.efi - The main OpenCore runtime, unsurprisingly

** To make the itlwm.kext work with your wireless network you need to manually add in the SSID name and password you wish to log on to. Highlight the kext, right-click on it and “Show Package Contents”. Edit the Info.plist with a plain text editor. Search for “WiFi_1” and overwrite the placeholders with your password and SSID. Save and exit the kext. There is an app available from the developer called Heliport which handles the connection if you would rather use that.

config.plist :
We are using an iMac18,3 System-Defintion.
We are emulating an older CPU with a Fake CPUID.


A Few notes about USB:

The B560 chipset only has 12x USB ports of which 6x can be USB3. However ASRock have labelled some of them counter-intuitively:

A Type-C USB port is available but only through the new-style front-panel header, HS10/SS06. You will need an adapter cable for this. This port is a “switchable” one.

The LED RGB connector takes up USB port HS09.

The Bluetooth wireless uses port HS14 - which, yes, is odd considering we only have 12x ports maximum.


What Works:
Audio - Line out
Audio - HDMI
Ethernet
WiFi & BT
Sleep/Wake

What Doesn’t Work:
Continuity and Handoff
Safari DRM video - Due to the System-definition being used.
iGPU with acceleration. Works without.

Links:

OpenCore - AppleALC - Lilu - Whatevergreen etc and a lot of other cool stuff:

Acidanthera

Acidanthera has 47 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.

github.com

Intel Wireless:

GitHub - OpenIntelWireless/itlwm: Intel Wi-Fi Drivers for macOS

Intel Wi-Fi Drivers for macOS. Contribute to OpenIntelWireless/itlwm development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

In future updates:

I will detail how the USB ports were mapped. I had to exclude five to keep within our 15-limit.


Big Thanks to the Tonymacx86 Admins and fellow Mods who know what I've been through getting this build to press.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Update 1

USB Configuration.

Here are the motherboard and back-panel USB ports, labelled:

​

To keep within our 15-port limit as imposed by Apple and to clean up the ASRock ACPI implementation, a number of ports were excluded from the configuration file - USBPorts.kext.

HS08 - This is the second of the two internal USB2 header ports.

HS11 - )
HS12 - ) - These four are not implemented by ASRock
HS13 - )
SS05 - )

The guide used to create USBPorts kext.

Despite all the recent panic over Big Sur 11.3+, a USBPorts.kext created as per the guide with Hackintool does still work. No reason to go swapping to USBMap - unless you want to. Problems have been occurring with the OpenCore XhciPortLimit quirk, which I'm sure the devs will be addressing.

 

[picov]

Are you able to make the iGPU to works (in a configuration without the DGPU) with your mobo?

I'm trying to patch the framebuffer with an ASUS B560I Gaming and a i5-10600 CPU (UHD 630).
I'm using OpenCore 0.6.9, LILU 1.5.3, WhateverGreen 1.4.9 (latest version available).
BugSur 11.3 install was successful but I'm experiencing the infamous black video problem after initial boot.

I've tested the suggested framebuffer codes for Comet Lake using device properties method with no luck (0x3E9B0007 and 0x3E9B0000).

Following the FB OpenCore patching guide I've tried to manually patch the connectors and I've tested every BUSid from 1 to 8 for each port but I still got black video after initial boot.
I'm able to boot only with un-accelerated mode: in this case both HDMI and DiplayPort output the video signal and the iGPU is detected as Intel UHD 630 14MB.

Does anyone know the correct FB patch for this motherboard?
I'm wondering if there is a different way to determine the correct connector patching (using Window or Linux for example).

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Are you able to make the iGPU to works (in a configuration without the DGPU) with your mobo?

I'm trying to patch the framebuffer with an ASUS B560I Gaming and a i5-10600 CPU (UHD 630).
I'm using OpenCore 0.6.9, LILU 1.5.3, WhateverGreen 1.4.9 (latest version available).
BugSur 11.3 install was successful but I'm experiencing the infamous black video problem after initial boot.

I've tested the suggested framebuffer codes for Comet Lake using device properties method with no luck (0x3E9B0007 and 0x3E9B0000).

Following the FB OpenCore patching guide I've tried to manually patch the connectors and I've tested every BUSid from 1 to 8 for each port but I still got black video after initial boot.
I'm able to boot only with un-accelerated mode: in this case both HDMI and DiplayPort output the video signal and the iGPU is detected as Intel UHD 630 14MB.

Does anyone know the correct FB patch for this motherboard?
I'm wondering if there is a different way to determine the correct connector patching (using Window or Linux for example).

Sadly, though I did extensive testing, the iGPU only works without acceleration. I have not found anyone online who has achieved full display acceleration with a 500-series chipset and Comet Lake CPU. Many have with a 400-series board.

I believe the connectors are okay.

 

[picov]

Sadly, though I did extensive testing, the iGPU only works without acceleration. I have not found anyone online who has achieved full display acceleration with a 500-series chipset and Comet Lake CPU. Many have with a 400-series board.

I believe the connectors are okay.

Ok, I'll swap the mobo.
Do you know if the B460I (Asus Rog) will works for sure (with an i5-10600 and iGPU only config) ?

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Ok, I'll swap the mobo.
Do you know if the B460I (Asus Rog) will works for sure (with an i5-10600 and iGPU only config) ?

Sorry, I don't know. However a lot of builders have great success with the 400-series motherboards and Comet Lake.

 

[Middleman]

Sadly, though I did extensive testing, the iGPU only works without acceleration. I have not found anyone online who has achieved full display acceleration with a 500-series chipset and Comet Lake CPU. Many have with a 400-series board.

I believe the connectors are okay.

Ok, I'll swap the mobo.
Do you know if the B460I (Asus Rog) will works for sure (with an i5-10600 and iGPU only config) ?

Yes it should do.

AFAIK, the 400 series should technically be the same as the 500 series in my opinion, but the difference
is with the chipset.

In my experience on Comet Lake Z490 with OC we have to spoof using Coffee Lake architecture EA060900 (in High Sierra to Catalina) and use Coffee Lake GPU settings for render pipe (AAPL,ig-platform-id 03009BC8, device-id 9BC80000 for i5 chips, framebuffer-patch-enable 01000000). 0300923E & 923E0000 is also possible GPUID for Coffee Lake OSs. i9 11900K chips on Z490 will need to use 03009BC5 & 9BC50000 for Coffee Lake GPU rendering.

On Rocket Lake OC (both Z490 & perhaps Z590) we have to spoof using Coffee Lake CPUID EB060900 up to Catalina 10.15.3 and/or Comet Lake EC060800 in CML-compatible versions of macOS AFTER they have been upgraded from CFL version of the OS ie. Catalina 10.15.4 to Big Sur 11.3. For Rocket Lake render pipe we need likely to use (AAPL,ig-platform-id 03009BC8, device-id 9BC80000, framebuffer-patch-enable 01000000) for up to Catalina 10.15.3. Beyond this I don't know and I haven't tested but it could be possible to use 03004C8A & 4C8A0000 (which is actual Rocket Lake GPU ID) but we ideally need Rocket Lake architecture to be defined by Apple to do this.

Edit: there is also 71060A00 which is Rocket Lake CPUID (according to the Dortania Guide in reverse byte order for OC use).

 

[Middleman]

Utterbelief,

I've just had a look at your i3 chip's specs. I think you have a good chance of achieving Intel Quicksync because you have the Comet Lake CPU with proper CFL graphics, unlike my RKL i9. Try 03009BC5 for AAPL,ig-platform-id & 9BC50000 device-id for Coffee Lake GPU rendering, and use empty fields for CPUID.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Utterbelief,

I've just had a look at your i3 chip's specs. I think you have a good chance of achieving Intel Quicksync because you have the Comet Lake CPU with proper CFL graphics, unlike my RKL i9. Try 03009BC5 for AAPL,ig-platform-id & 9BC50000 device-id for Coffee Lake GPU rendering, and use empty fields for CPUID.

Thanks for the head-up. I'll give it a go.

 

[Middleman]

Thanks for the head-up. I'll give it a go.

You're welcome!