First Time Build. Feeling a bit like Penny on BigBangTheory.

[slp31]

I jumped into building my first hackintosh with both feet today. I was prepared to buy a 27" imac, upgraded to the best they offer, and I just could not get over the fact that it wasn't exactly what I wanted (glossy screen. boo.) So I did a bit of research and bought what I think I need. I have no idea what to do next, but I'm so thankful I found this board a few days ago. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Can someone take a look at what I bought today and give me a green light to build?

CPU: Intel i7 2700K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3
Graphics card: Diamond Radeon HD 6670 2GB
Drives: Crucial 256G SSD, 2TB Seagate SATA (for files)
RAM: Crucial 8GB (upgrading to 16gb?) 2x4 D3 1600
Optical Drive: LG Elecoem
Case: NZXT H2 Silent ATX
Power: PCPower 750W

I'm a photographer and run lots of Adobe programs (photoshop, indesign, lightroom, bridge) and usually more than one at the same time.

Thanks in advance!

 

[pwalth21]

I jumped into building my first hackintosh with both feet today. I was prepared to buy a 27" imac, upgraded to the best they offer, and I just could not get over the fact that it wasn't exactly what I wanted (glossy screen. boo.) So I did a bit of research and bought what I think I need. I have no idea what to do next, but I'm so thankful I found this board a few days ago. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Can someone take a look at what I bought today and give me a green light to build?

CPU: Intel i7 2700K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3
Graphics card: Diamond Radeon HD 6670 2GB
Drives: Crucial 256G SSD, 2TB Seagate SATA (for files)
RAM: Crucial 8GB (upgrading to 16gb?) 2x4 D3 1600
Optical Drive: LG Elecoem
Case: NZXT H2 Silent ATX
Power: PCPower 750W

I'm a photographer and run lots of Adobe programs (photoshop, indesign, lightroom, bridge) and usually more than one at the same time.

Thanks in advance!

That looks like a very nice build. You probably could have saved a little money here and there on some things, but if that's what you want that's cool. If you were trying to save money by only going with 8 GB of RAM I wouldn't skimp on that instead I would lower your SSD. You have a 2TB hard drive for storage not sure why you wanted so much space on the SSD. Also your PSU is slightly overkill. You could probably get away with 500W even. These are just my opinions, but do whatever works for you. All in all good build.

 

[Vendetta]

That looks like a very nice build. You probably could have saved a little money here and there on some things, but if that's what you want that's cool. If you were trying to save money by only going with 8 GB of RAM I wouldn't skimp on that instead I would lower your SSD. You have a 2TB hard drive for storage not sure why you wanted so much space on the SSD. Also your PSU is slightly overkill. You could probably get away with 500W even. These are just my opinions, but do whatever works for you. All in all good build.

I agree with what's said here. I think 256GB SSD is way overkill. You should cut that in half, and then spend the extra money on RAM, as that's what you'll need for the Adobe suite.

 

[wfj]

One last thing...with the adobe apps an nvidia card might suit you better with the cuda support. The only caveat is if you do upgrade to CS6, radeon cards now support hardware acceleration.

 

[talisman]

I'll reiterate that you should get more than 8GB of memory if you're going to be using photoshop.

 

[slp31]

Thank you all! This is so not my area of expertise.

I'm looking into the nvidia card and will be going to get more ram.

 

[Vendetta]

Thank you all! This is so not my area of expertise.

I'm looking into the nvidia card and will be going to get more ram.

Have you already purchased all this stuff? If so, can any of it be returned?

 

[Coupz]

Why is everyone telling to get a smaller SSD? Do you guys ever read some SSD reviews?

@slp31 go with the bigger SSD, they are always faster and more stable then smaller one's. If you want pure speed, go with the Samsung 830 256GB.
Please choose a known brand PSU like Antec, Seasonic (one of the best PSU companies out there!!), Corsair, Enermax. If you take a 500W model (I have 480W Enermax E9 and similar build like yours) and it's still enough. Don't know about the 6670, I have the 6870 and it works fine.
I'm missing a good CPU cooler, if you don't overclock, stock one is okay. But I didn't liked it, because it was too loud for me.

What I've been reading here in some threads, Sony Optiarcs should work fine, don't know about the LGs. Someone else would have to say more about this.

And get 16GB RAM (4x4 or 2x8), believe me Adobe Apps will like this

 

[Vendetta]

Why is everyone telling to get a smaller SSD? Do you guys ever read some SSD reviews?

@slp31 go with the bigger SSD, they are always faster and more stable then smaller one's. If you want pure speed, go with the Samsung 830 256GB.
Please choose a known brand PSU like Antec, Seasonic (one of the best PSU companies out there!!), Corsair, Enermax. If you take a 500W model (I have 480W Enermax E9 and similar build like yours) and it's still enough. Don't know about the 6670, I have the 6870 and it works fine.
I'm missing a good CPU cooler, if you don't overclock, stock one is okay. But I didn't liked it, because it was too loud for me.

What I've been reading here in some threads, Sony Optiarcs should work fine, don't know about the LGs. Someone else would have to say more about this.

And get 16GB RAM (4x4 or 2x8), believe me Adobe Apps will like this

Yes, I have read SSD reviews. I've read enough to know that the difference between 256GB and 120GB in terms of speed is negligible for nearly all common tasks. I also know that 256GB is a lot more expensive, and no one needs 256GB of storage for their apps and system (he's already mentioned he'll run a separate drive for files/user), so it becomes a waste of money. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but given that he's skimping on other parts, he's money will go a lot further by dropping the SSD size and going with better parts elsewhere.

It's not that a large SSD is inherently a bad decision. It's that his overall system could be better without costing more if he drops that SSD to something smaller. Now, if he just has the money to blow, then that's a different story altogether.

 

[Coupz]

I have 2 SSDs in RAID-0 and my projects folder (all PSDs from my clients and webdesigns) is more then 80GB.
I am the person, who don't wants to have his SSD almost 90% full. That's why I buy more at beginning and don't have this issue.

And if you have pretty big PSD files (more then 1GB), then you'll love to have a bigger SSD which loads this file almost instant, with a seperate HDD for your project files (seperate HDD is always recommended), you still have to wait.

I don't think that a 250 or 256GB SSD is a waste of money.