First PC Build, Hackintosh (Need Help)

[zachrwolfe]

Hey guys! First post here. For months now, I've been feeling like I'm starting to outgrow my mid-2012 13" MacBook Pro, which since late 2012 when I got it has been my primary computer for everything I do, from casual web-browsing and content consumption (though it has mostly been replaced by an iPad for those purposes) to work/hobbies (music/audio production/recording/mixing, video editing, and programming/compiling code). For a while, I was considering saving up for one of the newer, maxed out 15" Retina MBPs because I really like my current ability to be working on projects in my living room (or any room in the house, for that matter). But ultimately, I think I've decided that since I don't usually take my laptop out of the house with me anywhere other than when on vacation, the novelty of being able to work on things anywhere in the house is outweighed by the possibilities of building my own, more capable machine. Now, with all that pointless rambling out of the way, here's what I'd like from this machine:

- Hackintosh capability

Important to mention as this limits the selection of parts, of course.

- Ability to work with 96khz/24bit audio in large multitrack audio projects comfortably

My MacBook struggles a bit with anything above 48khz projects. That, of course, is a perfectly respectable sample rate, but the nerd in me would really appreciate this. Can't see this one being all that difficult to achieve. If it's important, I use REAPER and Logic Pro X, DAW-wise. I also use Waves plugins rather extensively.

- Be relatively quiet (enough not to be picked up by sensitive microphones in the room)

- Ability to work with many simultaneous (eventually 4K) videos comfortably in Final Cut Pro X

I currently shoot in 1080p and upload to YouTube in 4K, but before you facepalm, that's because I make split screen multitrack music videos, where each piece of footage only takes up a small part of the screen and therefore actually does benefit from being exported in 4K. At some point, I'd like to upgrade to a 4K camera so that I could feel better about having one clip occupy the whole screen for a time while still exporting in 4K (or alternatively, I could upload in even higher resolutions like 8K, haha ). Admittedly, the 4K part of this this is probably a bit unrealistic and I'd understand if that's the case.

And here are a few things that are a bit less essential but would certainly be nice:

- Ability to power 4 displays in the following configuration:

4K monitor for the primary monitor

Dual 1440p monitors on either side

Existing 1080p monitor mounted above

- Ability to game at high resolutions

I will be dual booting Windows. I'd ideally like to be able to play stuff like Batman Arkham City, Far Cry 4, and GTA 5 when it comes out (which will almost definitely be before this computer is built) at 4K, 30+ FPS. For the games that aren't quite as co-operative towards this vision, 1440p on one of the side monitors is also acceptable.

So, with all that said, here's some of the parts I've been considering. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to see them. Also, when it comes to motherboards, coolers and power supplies, I'm pretty much completely clueless (as opposed to only mostly clueless, as I am with the other parts in a PC ), so if anyone could point me in the right direction, that'd be great.

CPU: either i5-4690K or i7-4690K, depending on whether you guys think that the latter's worth the extra $100 for what I need it to do.

GPU: EVGA GTX 980: seems like a card like this may be necessary in order to deliver on gaming performance close to what I'd like... Again, I'd really appreciate the input of people who actually know what they're talking about.

Anyway guys, this is definitely what I'd consider a long-term project as it'll be a while before I will actually be able to save up the amount of money needed for such a thing. As such, it was probably a bit early to create this thread, but I've been thinking about this for a couple weeks now, I'm excited about it and I'd like to get a clearer picture of what I'm working towards.

[Member]

Maybe even SLI-ing the 980's. Additionally, the "i7 4690k" doesnt exist. I would recommend and i7 for faster rendering. What is your budget for this build?

[soaringchicken]

Well the 4790k is definitely the best option for you+the 980 is great

[zachrwolfe]

Maybe even SLI-ing the 980's. Additionally, the "i7 4690k" doesnt exist. I would recommend and i7 for faster rendering. What is your budget for this build?

Oops, yeah - guess that's what happens when I write a post at 2 in the morning. Meant the 4760K.

As for budget, I was already preparing to save up about $2700 for a MacBook Pro, so somewhere close to that would be preferable. I think even that will be a bit tight though, since the monitors I'm looking at cost about $1400 together ($600 for the Dell 27" 4K, and $400 for each Monoprice 1440p), and the i7 + 980 cost just over $1000 together too. So I think two 980s might be a little too much. But if you guys think that one card really won't be enough for me, there is potentially the option of ditching the second 1440p in favour of another 980, and getting another monitor at a later date.

[Beanovsky Durst]

A few suggestions from a fellow Hackintosh user...

 

- Go for a Gigabyte motherboard, they are very Hackintosh friendly without too much hassle to get them running. This comes from experience as I was able to get my old G41-Combo mobo to run up to Mavericks without having a lot of issues.

 

- If you plan to use DAWs with high quality sample rates, then an audio interface is a must. Most high end ones will use Firewire and you will need an expansion card with a Texas Instruments chip to ensure maximum compatibility.

 

- While I'm no video expert, I know from experience that nVidia cards have some sort of native capability to fully run on OSX. I was able to play a few games with my old GT240 on Steam LOL. You'll need to do some tweaks here and there though, to get all display outputs working, etc. Best way is making a DSDT for your system, but you could also try to inject the cards info into your bootloader... I used the later and I had no issues, while it's not a "clean" solution, is relatively easy to do and it works.

 

 

Here are some suggested builds and parts from Tonymacx86 that might suit your needs:

 

http://www.tonymacx86.com/building-customac-buyers-guide-january-2015.html

 

And here's the info for the Firewire card:

 

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/59767-firewire-800-400-card-own-100-compatibility.html

 

Good luck with your build!

[zachrwolfe]

A few suggestions from a fellow Hackintosh user...

- Go for a Gigabyte motherboard, they are very Hackintosh friendly without too much hassle to get them running. This comes from experience as I was able to get my old G41-Combo mobo to run up to Mavericks without having a lot of issues.

- If you plan to use DAWs with high quality sample rates, then an audio interface is a must. Most high end ones will use Firewire and you will need an expansion card with a Texas Instruments chip to ensure maximum compatibility.

- While I'm no video expert, I know from experience that nVidia cards have some sort of native capability to fully run on OSX. I was able to play a few games with my old GT240 on Steam LOL. You'll need to do some tweaks here and there though, to get all display outputs working, etc. Best way is making a DSDT for your system, but you could also try to inject the cards info into your bootloader... I used the later and I had no issues, while it's not a "clean" solution, is relatively easy to do and it works.

Here are some suggested builds and parts from Tonymacx86 that might suit your needs:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/building-customac-buyers-guide-january-2015.html

And here's the info for the Firewire card:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/59767-firewire-800-400-card-own-100-compatibility.html

Good luck with your build!

Thanks for the tips, Beanovsky. I should've mentioned, I actually have and use a Tascam US-1800, so that (hopefully) won't be an issue.

And I'll have to read up on the things you discuss about getting graphics cards up and running, haven't heard of DSDT.

I'll look into some Gigabyte motherboards and report back.

[zachrwolfe]

So I went ahead and registered over at PCPartPicker, and it seems I, uh, underestimated the price slightly:  :blink:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($368.32 @ TigerDirect Canada) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($148.95 @ Vuugo) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($334.99 @ Amazon Canada) 

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($159.99 @ Memory Express) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($114.98 @ DirectCanada) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($626.96 @ DirectCanada) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($626.96 @ DirectCanada) 

Case: NZXT H440 (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($139.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.95 @ Vuugo) 

Monitor: Acer K272HULbmiidp 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($469.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Monitor: Acer K272HULbmiidp 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($469.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Other: Apple Wireless Keyboard - English (USA) ($75.00)

Other: Dell P2715Q Ultrahd 4K 27in IPS 3840X2160 9MS 2M:1 HDMI DP MHL USB LED Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor ($729.99)

Other: Magic Trackpad ($75.00)

Total: $4461.03

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-25 00:24 EST-0500

 

Apart from the outrageous price, anyone see any potential problems with this build? Particularly with respect to cooling/physical space in the case/power/compatibility? Also, if anything seems super-overkill for what I need or there's something that could be swapped with something more cost-effective (that's still compatible with hackintoshing), let me know.

 

Since the $4000+ price tag is of course very intimidating, the following is probably what I'll initially go for (provided there are no problems with what I listed above), as it's the bare minimum to get this all working. Then, I can continue to add the other stuff gradually, as I'm able to. One 980 instead of two, 2x8GB RAM instead of 4x8, no additional monitors (will just use the 1080p one I have already for the time being), and no 3 TB HD, will just use a couple 500 GB HDs I have laying around. Can someone verify that the RAM is actually the same product, just half as many sticks? I think that's the case but I don't know.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($368.32 @ TigerDirect Canada) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($148.95 @ Vuugo) 

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($197.99 @ Amazon Canada) 

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($159.99 @ Memory Express) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card  ($626.96 @ DirectCanada) 

Case: NZXT H440 (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($139.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.95 @ Vuugo) 

Other: Apple Wireless Keyboard - English (USA) ($75.00)

Other: Magic Trackpad ($75.00)

Total: $1912.14

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-25 01:14 EST-0500

[Beanovsky Durst]

I think this is a nice config, but just a heads up, to get the GTX980 fully working you will need to install OSX Yosemite and the alternate Nvidia drivers... More info here:

 

http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/149031-nvidia-releases-alternate-graphics-drivers-10-10-1-343-01-02-a.html