Project Reality Forums

Hello everyone,

Working on an old and slow macbook pro for the last year, its finally time to upgrade. I've been wanting to do so for a few years but never had the money because of being a student ^_^

Curious about what you guys think about my components. I can't select just any component as I want to turn this in to a hackintosh and windows build. So if you think I need to upgrade or change a certain component I'll look for a part that is compatible with Hackintosh.

Mobo: I'm thinking about the Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H instead of the GA-Z77X-UD5H. I've seen it suggested in a few topics here as a viable alternative. But its not on the list of january 2013. UD5H is and I've also read that almost everyone on here uses it. The UD5H has a lot more USB ports and the ability to run SLI cards. I don't think I'm ever going to need the SLI functionality, and my current laptop only has 2 USB slots. So I'm not going to need 10 of them . As far as I can tell, it fits the rest of my hardware perfectly. I'm not sure how much a mobo contributes to the speed of the machine.

Processor: Intel core i7 3770. I think its plenty fast for my budget. Not sure if I need the unlocked multiplier from the K version. the K version is also 100 mhz faster. But it costs 40 euro's more. This comes from the january list so should give me little to no problems.

RAM: Corsair Vengeance CML16GX3M2A160 (16gb). Comes from the list if I'm not mistaken so I don't expect any problems. If I'm right I need to use 8gb's while installing tho.

GPU: ASUS GTX 670 DC2. A nice silent card, that can achieve the 680 with some over clocking if I'm not mistaken, and the website I got this info from is correct. The GTX670 is on the january list as well. But I'm not sure yet if using any of the after-market brands will give me problems?

SSD: Samsung 830, 128gb.

Normal HD: Western Digital 1tb SATA600. This should work on my motherboard if I'm not mistaken. Does anyone have a better alternative that will work?

Housing: Probably the corsair Carbide 500R black. Cause it comes with 4 fans for the price and has plenty of room. I might look around for a cheaper housing to bring my budget down a little bit. But I'm not sure about airflow or room for all my components. Anyone have any good suggestions on this?

Power: Seasonic G serie 450watt. Not sure if this is enough power but I got it out of a list somewhere. If its not enough I got the Corsair gold AX650 (650watt) on standby. That will bring my total cost up by 40 euro's. Do you know the Seasonic Brand and if I have enough watt's for my system?

Optical drive: LG GH24NS90, haven't checked wether this is compatible tho. I'll check that out asap.


Its around 1152,78 total from a quick glance around.

That power supply is NOT going to work with that video card. The PSU needs to reasonably be rated 550Watts , and have average sustained power around 480Watts, and at least 30AMps on the 12V rail.

Would highly suggest not getting less than 600Watts on the PSU for the GTX670 GPU.

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Now the situation about buying a unlocked multiplier K series or not, and buying a motherboard with components that allow for unlocking or not.

Right now you are on the correct track, if you get the i7-3770 you can buy the mid range Z77 motherboards, including the one you mentioned above.

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It is my opinion as of the last few months you should look into buying a mini-ITX case, or a Micro-ATX case, and a mini-ITX Z77 motherboard. The new CPUs and GPUs run so cool, the SSDs are so small, there is no longer much reason to buy big cases.

This would be the general case I'd suggest:
Bitfenix Prodigy
Motherboard: mini-itx Z77
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770
RAM: Samsung Green Series DDR3-1600 8 GB kit
Graphics card: ASUS GTX670

Here is a "premium build" but if you look on various forums there are extensive discussions on Bitfenix Prodigy build logs, with all sorts of component lists, photos of the build, videos of the build, and troubleshooting.

Bitfenix Prodigy Owner's Club
Workshop: build water cooling into a mini-ITX gaming PC | Hardware.Info United Kingdom

Thanks about the power supply. So might it even be safer to invest in even more watt power supply then the 650? As you said I needed a minimum off about 600 for the card?

I guess the problem with that in my case is that its going to be harder to install MAC os on the system with different components. Unless the mini-itx is a gigabyte brand as well. I'll check that out tomorrow. Size still doesn't bother me that much. Its going to be tugged away under my desk anyway. Unless I'm missing something.

Thanks for the tips tho! I'll check it out either way.

I am not up to date on hackintosh, and never tried it myself, just read a bit about it when it was first being developed. I remember there being a user forum which had lists of compatible parts, definitely search that out before putting any money out.

The Best Mini-ITX Hackintosh Motherboards

and check tonymac build forums, The Build

looks like plenty of mini-ITX motherboard options out there.

I was right, that little case works well,

Tonymacx86 himself recommends the Bitfenix Prodigy case, check this out and adjust as you need:

tonymacx86 - Building a CustoMac: CustoMac Mini 2012

Good luck!

Cool! I got the parts from there good to see the mini works. Ill read in to it this evening.

Hmm the downside of that mini motherboard is that it can only accept 2 DDR3 RAM slots. Fine for now, but not very futureproof. Ram is cheap so its easy to put in 32gb when I feel like upgrading my system again. Or am I missing something? 2 sticks of 16 might be a lot more expensive.

cyberzomby,
I hope you haven't ordered parts yet,
I am almost certain the Asus DCUII Top GTX 670 will not fit in the Bitfenix Prodigy case.
The ASUS GTX 670 DC2 is either the largest custom cooler or second largest custom cooler GPU on the market, it takes up 2.5 slots. I don't think there is room between the mini-ITX slot and the Prodigy sidewall to fit the cooler.
it is by far the heaviest also, but that is not a concern here.

I would suggest getting a GTX 670 that has the more traditional design of blowing the hot air out of the rear of the case if you use a smaller case.

The ASUS GTX 670 DC2 blows the air straight into the case, which is problematic.

regards

regarding the RAM, 2 x 8GB should probably do you fine, it will cost maybe 10 to 15 Euros more than 4x 4GB. Or not, sometimes is the same price.

What would you do that would require more than 16GB of RAM?
NO video game during the lifetime of this new PC build, is ever going to use more than 12GB.

There are legit reasons for buying more than 16GB of RAM, CAD/CAM, video editing, audio production/editing, 3D modelling at a professional level, etc, but if you aren't performing these tasks and are on a budget, don't go crazy on getting more than 16GB of RAM.

Most gaming rigs today and for next several years will need no more than 8GB of RAM.

No I haven't ordered yet. Thanks for the advice.

The asus card is one of the most silent cards out there. And thats something I like as well. I will indeed do video-editing and semi 3d work. So for now the 16gb's will do fine, but I think in a year or two I might upgrade it to 32.

Thanks a lot for the help again and the alert. I'm reading up on the parts now. I still don't see a lot of reason to go for a smaller tower as it will be tugged away under my desk. Unless theres money to be won So thats something I'll find out this evening haha!

Its not just gaming rig Lito, but also for 3D modelling.