- Joined
- Jan 11, 2016
- Messages
- 3
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- Classic Mac
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Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my inquiry. Maybe you'll be able to help a noob understand some things..
I'm a lifelong Mac user who is about to build his first computer. This resource is incredible and I probably wouldn't dare try something like this without a site like this to help me along.
It seems I'm entering "the game" at an interesting time. The 9 series motherboards and Haswell CPUs have been well vetted and tested and used and there is a solid understanding of what works well with OS X. I know the 170 series boards are out alongside the new Skylake CPUs. Thus, I'm tempted to buy a newer MOBO/CPU combo and just deal with some growing pains while knowing I have a newer current generation motherboard foundation with which to work with. But having no prior experience building a Hackintosh or working with a computer's BIOS I'm leaning toward buying a Z97/Haswell combo. I know it will be plenty powerful and likely much easier to work with as a noob.
Problem is, all the Z97 Mobos are becoming harder to purchase at a reasonable price. I was planning to buy the GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK from Amazon at $215 dollars. I was literally one or two days away from pulling the trigger and they went out of stock. NewEgg doesn't have them either. You can find them from other sellers but the price has gone up to $250 or so. At least the Haswell CPUs are still widely available.
What I'd like to know is if those retailers can be expected to restock the 9 series MOBOs or if everyone is just moving on to the new 170 models and once stock for 9 series is gone, it's gone.
The objective is to replace my 2012 Mac mini quad i7 with a fairly powerful machine with a discrete graphics card. The hope with building a 9 series machine was that I would actually save some money on closeout parts but I seem to have missed the boat and the prices of the new 100 series gear looks about on par with the 9 series. I have another Mac so if things didn't work quite right right away, I'd still have a functional machine regardless.
So, I ask the community, what is your advice for a noob? New tech or less new tech? Are any of you looking to sell your old MOBO/CPU? Thanks for reading!
I'm a lifelong Mac user who is about to build his first computer. This resource is incredible and I probably wouldn't dare try something like this without a site like this to help me along.
It seems I'm entering "the game" at an interesting time. The 9 series motherboards and Haswell CPUs have been well vetted and tested and used and there is a solid understanding of what works well with OS X. I know the 170 series boards are out alongside the new Skylake CPUs. Thus, I'm tempted to buy a newer MOBO/CPU combo and just deal with some growing pains while knowing I have a newer current generation motherboard foundation with which to work with. But having no prior experience building a Hackintosh or working with a computer's BIOS I'm leaning toward buying a Z97/Haswell combo. I know it will be plenty powerful and likely much easier to work with as a noob.
Problem is, all the Z97 Mobos are becoming harder to purchase at a reasonable price. I was planning to buy the GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK from Amazon at $215 dollars. I was literally one or two days away from pulling the trigger and they went out of stock. NewEgg doesn't have them either. You can find them from other sellers but the price has gone up to $250 or so. At least the Haswell CPUs are still widely available.
What I'd like to know is if those retailers can be expected to restock the 9 series MOBOs or if everyone is just moving on to the new 170 models and once stock for 9 series is gone, it's gone.
The objective is to replace my 2012 Mac mini quad i7 with a fairly powerful machine with a discrete graphics card. The hope with building a 9 series machine was that I would actually save some money on closeout parts but I seem to have missed the boat and the prices of the new 100 series gear looks about on par with the 9 series. I have another Mac so if things didn't work quite right right away, I'd still have a functional machine regardless.
So, I ask the community, what is your advice for a noob? New tech or less new tech? Are any of you looking to sell your old MOBO/CPU? Thanks for reading!
