New PC/Hackintosh

P

pjoub06

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Hi guys,

I'm looking to buy a new PC and just wanted to make sure I'm not being a completed idiot.

Intel Core i5-2500K Quad-Core LGA1155 3.3GHz Boxed Processor (Sandybridge) - R2000
Gigabyte GA-H67MA-USB3-B3 -R1000
Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 Vengeance 4x4GB Kit DDR3-1600 1.5v CL9 Desktop - R1560
Coolermaster Silencio 550 (RC-550) Tower Chassis - No PSU - R780
Corsair CX500 500W Power Supply Unit - R645
MSI Radeon Graphics Card R6870 Hawk - 1GB 256Bit GDDR5 - PCI-E - R1900

R8 000

I am limiting myself a bit on which hardware I can select because I want to make a Hackintosh, but please point out any outdated/stupid choices.
Let me know what you think please!
 
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Do you really need 16GB of RAM?

You also probably want an aftermarket CPU cooler. I found the stock 2500k cooler to be pretty poor.

Otherwise looks okay. R9000 seems a little high, but I didn't bother to check prices, so I could be wrong.
 
Will the GPU fit without removing the one HDD cage?

Apparently cards longer than 11" require the removal of the upper HDD cage.
 
Rudimental said:
Do you really need 16GB of RAM?

You also probably want an aftermarket CPU cooler. I found the stock 2500k cooler to be pretty poor.

Otherwise looks okay. R9000 seems a little high, but I didn't bother to check prices, so I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

I don't think I need 16GB, but ram is rather cheap these days and I do play on doing some virtualization.

ponder said:
Will the GPU fit without removing the one HDD cage?

Apparently cards longer than 11" require the removal of the upper HDD cage.
Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out. I won't mind removing it.

hereticangel said:
makes me sad :(
Click to expand...

lol - it's really not that bad :)


Thanks for the feedback. I've updated the components a bit and included prices.
 
Thanks for that link S1ght!

For me the only important thing with the Hackintosh setups is that your graphics card and motherboard has to be supported. See their DSDT Database for the supported motherboards.
As long as you go for an AMD graphics card you'll be fine with drivers.

So far it seems like Gigabyte is the only brand with DSDT files for the Sandy Bridge motherboards. For that reason alone, I'll recommend the following motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3R-B3 @ R1850
If you know that you're not going to overclock, then you can instantly save R800 by going for an H67 chipset motherboard from Gigabyte - eg. Gigabyte GA-H67M-D2-B3.

If you're going for the i5 2500k/i7 2600k CPU's, make sure that you go for a P67/Z68 chipset Gigabyte motherboard, AND that you get an aftermarket CPU cooler, like the Coolermaster Hyper212+ would be an acceptable cheap option for overclocking the CPU to like 4.4GHz from 3.3/3.4GHz.

The Coolermaster Silencio 550 case should be able to handle the HD6870 length card just fine - with the HDD tray in place. It's just the ultra long cards that would require the removal of the HDD tray.

The setup now still requires a DVD/Bluray drive and HDD.
For the HDD, I'll recommend the Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB @ R550.

Depending on the use of the PC, it would be worth while getting either a 60GB/120GB SATA 3(6Gbps) SSD too, that peaks at 500MB/s read/write.
 
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Pada said:
The Coolermaster Silencio 550 case should be able to handle the HD6870 length card just fine - with the HDD tray in place. It's just the ultra long cards that would require the removal of the HDD tray.
Click to expand...

I wish I wish I wish all manufacturers would put their gpu card dimensions in their specs as looking at a picture tells you jack about it's length.
 
Listen to Pada. ;)

BTW, regarding your build, no use going for a K cpu if you are going to get the H motherboard. :)
 
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