🔧 OpenCore EFI for Gigabyte Z790 GAMING X AX

👉 This repository contains OpenCore EFI configuration files for the Gigabyte Z790 GAMING X AX motherboard, designed to run macOS Sequoia 15.0 on an Intel® Core™ i5-13600KF CPU and a Radeon™ RX 6600 XT GPU.

✅ What works

Core MacOS features
Handoff*
Continuity Camera*
AirDrop*
Sidecar*
Universal Control*
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
2.5GbE Ethernet
Sleep / Wake
Power Nap (I turned this off though)
Most USB ports (MacOS limits to 15 total)
Very stable. Rarely crashes, good temps with overclock enabled, quiet.

* = Requires Fenvi T919 BT/Wi-Fi Card

💿 Preparing the installer

Download this repository—you need the contents of the EFI folder.
Download MacOS Sequoia using gibMacOS. 15.0 is the most recent as of this guide.
Copy the installer to a USB 2.0 flash drive using createinstallmedia
Mount the USB's EFI partition (diskutil list, then sudo diskutil mount /dev/diskXsX)
Copy the whole EFI folder itself into the EFI partition.
Generate your own iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS using GenSMBIOS.
- You need to do this in order to get a serial number (etc.) that can work with iCloud and Apple's services. Make sure you apply the changes to the config.plist in your USB's EFI partition.
Generate your own CPUFriendDataProvider.kext using CPUFriendFriend and replace the one in the Kexts folder.
Unmount the USB—it's ready to install MacOS.

🔧 Preparing the BIOS

🚫 Disable

Fast Boot
Secure Boot
VT-d
Compatibility Support Module (CSM)
Intel Platform Trust
CFG Lock (MSR 0xE2 write protection)

✅ Enable

VT-x
Hyper-Threading
EHCI/XHCI Hand-off
OS type: Other OS
Above 4G Decoding
Resizable BAR

📺 Installing Windows (optional)

I suggest doing this first. Make sure you create separate partitions (or, ideally, use separate NVMe drives entirely) for MacOS and Windows.

🖥️ Installing MacOS

Insert the USB drive into a USB 2.0 port on your computer. Sometimes USB 3.0 ports work fine, but occasionally I ran into odd issues running both the Windows and Mac installers from USB 3.0 ports.
Boot from USB. OpenCore loader should appear. Choose "Install MacOS Sequoia"
With any luck, the MacOS installer will load. If you have issues...
- Try adding -v under boot-args in config.plist to see verbose output (you can also get this by pressing Ctrl+V in OpenCore loader)
- Google and ChatGPT are your friends
- TonyMacX86, Extremelymac, and Reddit have been immensely helpful for me in debugging.
Open Disk Utility and create a Macintosh HD partition to install MacOS onto.
Run the installer. Your system will reboot a few times. Make sure you choose the MacOS Installer boot option and not the USB. It should look like a hard drive.
On the final reboot, choose Macintosh HD to boot from.
Hold your breath. If it boots, hooray! If not, try the troubleshooting methods mentioned above.
Mount the USB's EFI partition (diskutil list, then sudo diskutil mount /dev/diskXsX) and copy the EFI folder to your desktop. Unmount it.
Mount your hard drive's EFI partition (diskutil list, then sudo diskutil mount /dev/diskXsX) and copy the EFI folder to it.
- In your BIOS, choose OpenCore as your primary boot option. OpenCore should pick up Windows automatically.

🧹 Post-install

Follow this guide to get Wi-Fi working in Sequoia. Don't follow the "One Key OCLP" instructions they were meant for the Sequoia beta only. OCLP 2.0.0 and later support Sequoia out of the box.

🗼 My build

Gigabyte Z790 Gaming X AX motherboard
Intel i5-13600KF
Sapphire PULSE Radeon 6600 XT 8GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws S5 Series 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5 6000
2x 1TB WD_BLACK SN850X (one for MacOS, one for Windows)
Fractal Design North case
fenvi T919 PCI-E WiFi Adapter
Thermalright CPU Contact Frame for LGA 1700
be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 250W TDP CPU Cooler
Seasonic Focus GX-850 power supply

wr/OpenCoreEFI-Gigabyte-Z790-GAMING-X-AX