Z690 Chipset Motherboards and Alder Lake CPU

[CaseySJ]

116 pages already for such new hardware ... That's great support from you @CaseySJ but I get the feeling people are rushing headlong into buying all this highly expensive gear and expecting *you* to give them the support and answers they need.

What @trs96 said +1

As a team we have shown that installing macOS on most Alder Lake boards is relatively straightforward. @etorix has posted v0.5 of the kickstart OpenCore EFI that should be able to boot most Z690 boards. But each board can bring about its own issues, so we'll have to work through them.

At this time Z690 Hackintosh builds are for early adopters and those who have secondary systems for doing 'real' work.

 

[tonben]

If I choose another Gigabyte board, the forum might run me out of town...

Sadly @CaseySJ you are mistaken. Your following maintains loyalty Sire.

 

[DJ4MC]

As a team we have shown that installing macOS on most Alder Lake boards is relatively straightforward. @etorix has posted v0.5 of the kickstart OpenCore EFI that should be able to boot most Z690 boards. But each board can bring about its own issues, so we'll have to work through them.

At this time Z690 Hackintosh builds are for early adopters and those who have secondary systems for doing 'real' work.

You are paving the way for sure, @CaseySJ. Thanks for the passion and hard work here (and all the other people working this, too)! We probably won't get mass building until 2022 and parts are more readily available as mentioned. I'm eyeing up a build med 22-ish. By then it will be easy as the Z390.

Love the Tonymac Team!

 

[Westsurf]

Jesus just when I think I’ve worked out my next build …

oh well here I start reading again

 

[etorix]

@CaseySJ There was a patch by AlGrey to disable x86_validate_topology, which was used by AMD or Pentium/Celeron users; apparently it has been superseded by quirk ProvideCpuInfo. Does the original patch look like it could still be applicable with Big Sur/Monterey, and bypass x86_validate_topology?

<dict>
    <key>Base</key>
    <string>_cpu_topology_sort</string>
    <key>Comment</key>
    <string>algrey - cpu_topology_sort -disable _pology</string>
    <key>Count</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <key>Enabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Find</key>
    <data>6AAA//8=</data>
    <key>Identifier</key>
    <string>kernel</string>
    <key>Limit</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>Mask</key>
    <data>/wAA//8=</data>
    <key>MaxKernel</key>
    <string>19.99.99</string>
    <key>MinKernel</key>
    <string>17.0.0</string>
    <key>Replace</key>
    <data>Dx9EAAA=</data>
    <key>ReplaceMask</key>
    <data></data>
    <key>Skip</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
</dict>

 

[UtterDisbelief]

As a team we have shown that installing macOS on most Alder Lake boards is relatively straightforward. @etorix has posted v0.5 of the kickstart OpenCore EFI that should be able to boot most Z690 boards. But each board can bring about its own issues, so we'll have to work through them.

At this time Z690 Hackintosh builds are for early adopters and those who have secondary systems for doing 'real' work.

Don't misunderstand me, your work is second to none. Perhaps I was too quick to judge, those around you on the thread are clearly very talented as well.

Perhaps: "The Facilitator" - which sounds a bit like a Sylvester Stallone movie!

 

[sonny362]

By then it will be easy as the Z390

Looks like election campaign

 

[skroutz999]

It does look beautiful, but there are other z690 motherboards with Thunderbolt onboard from MSI (Ace) and Asus (Hero or ProArt). Given the experience of buggy BIOSes from the Gigabyte Z590 Vision series, we must seriously ask whether to pursue Gigabyte for a Golden build, or consider other options on the market. But from the experience of @CaseySJ, it seems that the Z690 Aero G F4 BIOS (not F2) isn't that buggy, outside of the 1-cycle sleep issue in macOS.

So perhaps the Aero D might be a decent choice but no one can say until we test. But the inclusion of the Aquantia 10 gbps AQC113c is a very nice touch...

In my case, as CaseySJ knows, my adventure with Asus motherboards. I started my latest hackintoshes with Asus z390-A Prime and Maximus Hero XI, and I experienced many many freezes for months w/o been able to solve any of this no matter what I tried. Then Casey suggested the "Designare z390" and since then my 2 hackintoshes run w/o any issues! Gigabyte doesn't have the best BIOS or OC possibilities like other brands like Asus and MSI. But in terms of stability I'm sure it exists on the top!

 

[sjoseph]

@CaseySJ There was a patch by AlGrey to disable x86_validate_topology, which was used by AMD or Pentium/Celeron users; apparently it has been superseded by quirk ProvideCpuInfo. Does the original patch look like it could still be applicable with Big Sur/Monterey, and bypass x86_validate_topology?

<dict>
    <key>Base</key>
    <string>_cpu_topology_sort</string>
    <key>Comment</key>
    <string>algrey - cpu_topology_sort -disable _pology</string>
    <key>Count</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <key>Enabled</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Find</key>
    <data>6AAA//8=</data>
    <key>Identifier</key>
    <string>kernel</string>
    <key>Limit</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>Mask</key>
    <data>/wAA//8=</data>
    <key>MaxKernel</key>
    <string>19.99.99</string>
    <key>MinKernel</key>
    <string>17.0.0</string>
    <key>Replace</key>
    <data>Dx9EAAA=</data>
    <key>ReplaceMask</key>
    <data></data>
    <key>Skip</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
</dict>

I have tested this patch with BigSur, and it seems to proceed further but the system restarts. I have added the screenshots where it restarts. May be @CaseySJ can find more detail about this...

 

[Middleman]

So I did some further tests today.
Disk speed read tests are certainly good. These are results from the Samsung 980 on Big Sur.

However performance is sporadic, with reads going from 1247-1501 and reads from 1747-2166

However it seems that there's one more setting we can turn on in BIOS to improve performance.
Under the Asus BIOS with AI Tweaker there is one setting called Asus Multicore Enhancement.
You have to set it to Enabled 'Remove All Limits'. With this turned on I/O was much higher (read was 2200MB/s).