X299 14 Core Mac Pro build compatibility questions

[Warbands]

I have a pretty awesome custom water-cooled PC I built back in 2018, and I am curious what snags I may run into setting it up for dual booting Windows 10 / Mac OS Catalina Hackintosh.

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage VI Extreme
CPU: i9 7940x ( 14 core 28 thread )
RAM: Trident Z RGB PC3200 4x8GB CAS 14
Storage: Samsung 960 Pro 1TB ( Windows drive ) and a Samsung 970 ( unsure if it will be an EVO, EVO+, or Pro yet )
GPU: ASUS Strix Nvidia GTX 1080Ti OC Edition ( Windows GPU ) and a Radeon RX Vega 64 ( possibly ROG Strix version )

As far as I can tell from lurking through the forums here, the motherboard and CPU seem to be fine for a Hackintosh build. I did see some concern with the Samsung EVO+ but that seems to possibly been fixed with a firmware update.
My bigger concern is if I can have my GTX 1080Ti still installed in my box and just not make use of it in Mac OS Catalina, and instead have the OS make use of the Radeon RX Vega 64. My GTX 1080Ti is part of my custom water-cooling loop and will not be removing it. The Radeon RX Vega 64 will be air-cooled.

The Radeon RX Vega 64 I am looking at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0782PSHJ3/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Will I have to custom flash the bios to have the card function on the Hackintosh side? It would be nice to not to have to do that so it is still functional under Windows 10 ( if I want to make use of it ).

Regarding the motherboard, the ASUS Rampage VI Extreme: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-RAMPAGE-VI-EXTREME/
Will I be able to use the 10Gbit ethernet built-in, it is an Aquantia AQC-107. I assume the Intel 1Gbit ethernet (Intel I219-V ) will work without issues. This motherboard also has wifi/bluetooth, though I am unsure whose chipset it uses for that. I am assuming that I will have to get one of those WiFi / Bluetooth combo cards to get handoff, facetime, and other stuff to work.

I use onboard fan headers to control my water-cooling pumps, will I have access to my fan via something like MacFanControl?

I am looking for any guidance possible regarding my current equipment, and the few pieces that I will be adding ( GPU and NVMe drive ). Thanks in advance!

 

[Jamesbond007]

I have a pretty awesome custom water-cooled PC I built back in 2018, and I am curious what snags I may run into setting it up for dual booting Windows 10 / Mac OS Catalina Hackintosh.

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage VI Extreme
CPU: i9 7940x ( 14 core 28 thread )
RAM: Trident Z RGB PC3200 4x8GB CAS 14
Storage: Samsung 960 Pro 1TB ( Windows drive ) and a Samsung 970 ( unsure if it will be an EVO, EVO+, or Pro yet )
GPU: ASUS Strix Nvidia GTX 1080Ti OC Edition ( Windows GPU ) and a Radeon RX Vega 64 ( possibly ROG Strix version )

As far as I can tell from lurking through the forums here, the motherboard and CPU seem to be fine for a Hackintosh build. I did see some concern with the Samsung EVO+ but that seems to possibly been fixed with a firmware update.
My bigger concern is if I can have my GTX 1080Ti still installed in my box and just not make use of it in Mac OS Catalina, and instead have the OS make use of the Radeon RX Vega 64. My GTX 1080Ti is part of my custom water-cooling loop and will not be removing it. The Radeon RX Vega 64 will be air-cooled.

The Radeon RX Vega 64 I am looking at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0782PSHJ3/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Will I have to custom flash the bios to have the card function on the Hackintosh side? It would be nice to not to have to do that so it is still functional under Windows 10 ( if I want to make use of it ).

Regarding the motherboard, the ASUS Rampage VI Extreme: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-RAMPAGE-VI-EXTREME/
Will I be able to use the 10Gbit ethernet built-in, it is an Aquantia AQC-107. I assume the Intel 1Gbit ethernet (Intel I219-V ) will work without issues. This motherboard also has wifi/bluetooth, though I am unsure whose chipset it uses for that. I am assuming that I will have to get one of those WiFi / Bluetooth combo cards to get handoff, facetime, and other stuff to work.

I use onboard fan headers to control my water-cooling pumps, will I have access to my fan via something like MacFanControl?

I am looking for any guidance possible regarding my current equipment, and the few pieces that I will be adding ( GPU and NVMe drive ). Thanks in advance!

Personally I won't use a X299 system to run MacOS. The platform is not natively supported, and based on experiences on this forum you may have considerable difficulties getting it to work properly with MacOS, not to say the potential problems of keeping a non-supported GPU in the system.

If I were you, I would build another system using more compatible components like Z390 and i9 9900K and use it to run MacOS only.

And if you want to run Catalina, why not opt for the new RX 5700 / RX 5700 XT? They are supported in MacOS Catalina 10.15.2, and have similar or better performance than the Vega 64 while consuming much less power.

 

[kylec]

Well, I'll give you a second opinion. Native support for X299 is pretty much all there, because the C422 / Skylake-W used on the iMac Pro is a close analog. I have an X99 system that works great, and it's somewhat surprising, because Apple never really used anything close to that.

The kgp guide is the one you want. It hasn't been updated for Catalina, so I would recommend 10.14.6. I'm not familiar with that 10gig NIC, but it probably works, according to reports here.

That said, you are aiming squarely at the most difficult end of the whole hackintosh spectrum. It might be a lot harder than you're expecting.

 

[Warbands]

Unfortunately, I don't have the money to make a new machine, so using my current one as double duty is my main option. Kylec, I appreciate the second opinion. I have seen a few x299 builds that seemingly have gone well. My biggest concern at the moment would be needing to have to remove my nvidia gpu if it can't be ignored, and if I need to flash the Vega 64, as I would like to make use of it in windows as well. I have done some more reading, and it looks like Mac Fan Control has been used with success by other Hackintosh builders.
To answer James, I am not looking at the RX 5700XT due to performance differences with some of the pro apps I am planning on using ( FCP and Resolve ) along with Unity GPU light baking running slower on the RX 5700XT compared to the Vega 64.

 

[kylec]

Start with the MSR unlock BIOS mod (do the microcode updates at the same time, if possible). Then I would remove the 1080 for OS X installation. It will be simpler to work out how you can add it back in (with SSDT or other method) after you've got OS X up and running.

These builds can be quite sensitive to which PCI-e slots are used for which types of devices. So you'll likely end up having to do some experimentation, there.

 

[Warbands]

Removing the 1080Ti is not possible as it is part of the custom water loop, removing it and having the machine functional wouldn't be possible. There should be a way to ignore the 1080Ti without removing it. The MSR unlock BIOS mod is to allow for OS X to be able to control the motherboard better?

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Removing the 1080Ti is not possible as it is part of the custom water loop, removing it and having the machine functional wouldn't be possible. There should be a way to ignore the 1080Ti without removing it. The MSR unlock BIOS mod is to allow for OS X to be able to control the motherboard better?

Yes, there is a way. You have to disable the 1080 using ACPI patching. Not for the faint-hearted and there is a learning curve. Things often change with new OS versions but the best guide:

RehabMan SSDT trick used to disable unsupported Nvidia and keep it in pcie slot while using Mojave

For people like me who want to keep their unsupported videocard in pcie slot 1 (or 2, or 3, I suppose) while testing Mojave with a second supported videocard in another pcie slot (or integrated igpu), take a look at @RehabMan Guide : [FIX] "Window Server Service only ran for 0 seconds" with...

www.tonymacx86.com

 

[kylec]

Good luck!

(I am so not into water cooling.)

 

[Warbands]

UtterDisbelief thank you for the link, very appreciated! Kylec, the custom water cooling was for 2 reasons, one because I wanted to overclock the i9 7940x ( which worked out super well ) and second because I wanted to do it once in my life

 

[scottkendall]

Removing the 1080Ti is not possible as it is part of the custom water loop, removing it and having the machine functional wouldn't be possible. There should be a way to ignore the 1080Ti without removing it. The MSR unlock BIOS mod is to allow for OS X to be able to control the motherboard better?

Why is it not possible to remove the 1080 and just replace the hose or better yet just put a WC Vega in its place. There are a few companies that make water block for the Vega.