My First Video Editing Hackintosh Build. (hardware and general questions)

[olleolsson]

Hi there, I´m on the forum and I need some help and advice about a coming computer build.

My plan is to build a video editing computer with mac/osx installed on it. In other words a Hackintosh.

I’m going to list the parts I´m planning to use so you guys get a feeling of what type of computer I want. I would like to call it a Hackintosh Pro hehe!

Case/Chassi: Cooltek Coolcube/ Jonsbo V3+ (It looks lite it has different names!)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CUD4H4K/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015IOOJ54/?tag=tonymacx86-21
Does the including Wi-Fi chip work?

CPU/Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012M8LXQW/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

CPU Cooling: Corsair H60 (Water) or Zalman CNPS8000B Low Profile (Air)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A0HZMGA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007B5Y1EI/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
(I haven´t decide yet)

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (16GB)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0198QDM9C/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Harddrive: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OAJ412U/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

PSU/Power supply: Corsair CS 550 Watt
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GH9NA6O/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

GPU/Graphics Card: EVGA GT 740 SC (4GB)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJGYOGG/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
(I´m pretty unsure of what graphic card I should get so it would be nice hear what card you recommend from the list here): http://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/july/2016#Graphics_Cards
It should be in the same price class. I just picked the EVGA GT 740 SC because it was cheap for 4gb.


I don´t know what future technique can offer and when I’m going to use advancer cameras but I think the computer should handle both Raw-files and 4k footage.

When I start planning the build many question have come up in my head that you I hope you guys can help me with!

I'm going to use the guides here at the forum.

First I want to hear about your Hackintosh build and if you have any advice what to think of when building a Hackintosh.

I also wondering what specific parts that is needed for good video editing? Where to spend the money? I´m going to use Premiere Pro, (basic use with After Effects) and color grading with Davinci Resolve Lite.

Down below I have listed a few more questions:

1. How do I get the computer quiet and well cooled? Is water cooling the case or does it work with standard air cooling? I´m not sure that the case can fit water cooling, what do you think?
2. What is it that decide the computers life span? I have heard something about how well the CPU is cooled.
3. Can the life span vary between Macintosh, Hackintosh and Windows?
4. Do you think that the Hardware parts could be destroyed if the Hackintosh installation would fail?
5. I also wonder if it is a good idea to wait to do the install until the "Sierra Nevada" is relesed?

Last but not least I´m thinking how I should come down I price! I´m going to do a review/video of the computer build pretty much like this guy:

I have been doing a lots of different video projects before so I think the the quality and content could be pretty sick. So now I wonder if you guys think it is worth to contact computer stores and brands to ask about a little sponsoring? I that I good idea?

Thank you for taking the time to read. Best Regards Olle

 

[kiiroaka]

What kind of sponsoring are you thinking you'd need? Thread carefully if you are thinking of putting these machines together and then selling them to others. ("I'm thinking how I should come down [in] price[?]") Chances are you will end up in court.

If you meant how much cheaper it could cost, that is purely subjective. I tend to think that a 500W PSU is not enough. It may be enough for built in video but you never know what kind of GPU you are likely to install in the future, like a GTX980 or GTX980Ti. Not that it may matter since that case will limit how long a video card you can install. I would go with a Midi case, instead.

When you install the CPU heast sink you will probably want the fan to blow up into the PSU exhaust fan instead of down into the CPU. Otherwise you may get turbulence, the two fans fighting against each other and the larger fan winning.

Along with that SSD you will need an HDD for your large video files.

Since you only have two memory slots you will get better memory throughput using Dual Channel, which means two memory sticks; since your max is 32GB, that is what you should install.

Your case looks nice but if you use a long m.2 SATA drive and you decide to replace it 12 months from now, what are you going to do? That case doesn't look like it has ready access to the backside of the mobo. So you will need to remove the mobo to be able to get to the m.2 SATA drive. Let's say you upgrade to an NVM m.2 drive and it doesn't work with OSX. To change it with another drive that does work will mean that you have to remove the drive from the mobo, which means removing the mobo, which means first removing the PSU. I think that is very inconvenient.

 

[olleolsson]

What kind of sponsoring are you thinking you'd need? Thread carefully if you are thinking of putting these machines together and then selling them to others. ("I'm thinking how I should come down [in] price[?]") Chances are you will end up in court.

If you meant how much cheaper it could cost, that is purely subjective. I tend to think that a 500W PSU is not enough. It may be enough for built in video but you never know what kind of GPU you are likely to install in the future, like a GTX980 or GTX980Ti. Not that it may matter since that case will limit how long a video card you can install. I would go with a Midi case, instead.

When you install the CPU heast sink you will probably want the fan to blow up into the PSU exhaust fan instead of down into the CPU. Otherwise you may get turbulence, the two fans fighting against each other and the larger fan winning.

Along with that SSD you will need an HDD for your large video files.

Since you only have two memory slots you will get better memory throughput using Dual Channel, which means two memory sticks; since your max is 32GB, that is what you should install.

Your case looks nice but if you use a long m.2 SATA drive and you decide to replace it 12 months from now, what are you going to do? That case doesn't look like it has ready access to the backside of the mobo. So you will need to remove the mobo to be able to get to the m.2 SATA drive. Let's say you upgrade to an NVM m.2 drive and it doesn't work with OSX. To change it with another drive that does work will mean that you have to remove the drive from the mobo, which means removing the mobo, which means first removing the PSU. I think that is very inconvenient.

Of course I don´t going to sell the computer. I going to use it instead of my 6 years old macbook! What I mean is to contact the computer brands/stores and ask for a special and lower price! Just like other tech channels!

Maybe I can pick another case but I´m going to have the computer on my desk and I really like the cube design. I have also been looking on the Xigmatek Nebula C case and the Cubitek Mini Center but I think they have worse air flow!

Do you really think the the fans are blowing right against eachother? Maybe the both are blowing air out of the wall with holes!?
How big PSU do you recommend? there are only 3 psu:s in the buyers guide and the 650w is twice as expensive as the 550! Do you think the 550w model will work if I buy it with 650w or is the 650w that is recommended the only one that work? Why do you think I will need a better grapics card in the future?

I have figured out that I don´t need a HHD since a already have a external 1tb drive!

About the memory slots I have been thinking about just that. Will it hurt the computer to use only one of the slots for lets say 6-12 months?

Because I don´t live in an english speaking country I will excuse my bad language!

 

[olleolsson]

No more thoughts???

 

[kiiroaka]

When it comes to video editing, the bigger the PSU the better. The 500W PSU might be okay for a mini build, though; it depends on the physical size that can be crammed in there and how much room you have for the wire harnesses.

With that case what you will want to do is to make sure that the intake fan is up against the case mesh. That way there is no air turbulence or fighting for air flow with the CPU fan. Air will come in through the top and exit out the back; the CPU fan will get it's air from the side. But there doesn't seem to be a place to install an exhaust fan.

Me, personally, I wouldn't bother with water cooling. That case is tight enough as it is so you may not be able to bend the water hoses enough to correctly mount the radiator. A different case may allow water cooling though.

I don't like that case because I like airflow, so I look for a case that has plenty of airflow wire mesh holes and that can take a lot of fans. See https://us.hardware.info/reviews/5411/20-mini-itx-cases-review-the-desktop-turns-mini

 

[rwillett]

My plan is to build a video editing computer with mac/osx installed on it.

Case/Chassi: Cooltek Coolcube/ Jonsbo V3+ (It looks lite it has different names!)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CUD4H4K/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Your case is really too small. If you start doing lots of video work, you will generate a lot of heat from the GPU or possibly GPU's. You should get a bigger case.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015IOOJ54/?tag=tonymacx86-21
Does the including Wi-Fi chip work?

Who cares if the WiFi chip works for video. Look at the size of video files and then work out how long it will take to transfer any 4K footage across WiFi. Unless you like doing a lot of reading, don't use WiFi. Get a decent Ethernet card, at least 1Gb and make sure its not a Realtek one. You need a proper Intel chip that off loads Ethernet traffic from the CPU. The reason RealTek is cheap is because they are not as fast.

CPU/Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012M8LXQW/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Fine

CPU Cooling: Corsair H60 (Water) or Zalman CNPS8000B Low Profile (Air)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A0HZMGA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007B5Y1EI/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
(I haven´t decide yet)

As somebody has already said, you will struggle to get water cooling here. I always wonder why people want to water cool as opposed to getting a decent big case, with decent fans working properly and a decent CPU cooler such as a Noctura. Water cooling is expensive and is certainly no quieter than my editing rig with dual 280X GPUS and a 4790 and a Noctura air fan.

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT (16GB)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0198QDM9C/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Check, check and check again that this memory is on the qualified list for the motherboard. Check the stock numbers down to the last digit. Do not assume that the memory will work just because it looks like it should.

Harddrive: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OAJ412U/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

I assume that your 4K videos are really small in size and that your raw footage is tiny? 250GB won't go very far.

PSU/Power supply: Corsair CS 550 Watt
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GH9NA6O/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Too small, get a bigger one so you can put dual GPU cards. Look for 850W and get a decent branded one. Don't buy cheap rubbish.

GPU/Graphics Card: EVGA GT 740 SC (4GB)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJGYOGG/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
(I´m pretty unsure of what graphic card I should get so it would be nice hear what card you recommend from the list here): http://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/july/2016#Graphics_Cards
It should be in the same price class. I just picked the EVGA GT 740 SC because it was cheap for 4gb.

I don't think the 740 will handle 4K very well, if at all. I would check this carefully and that all your video stuff will work with this card.

1. How do I get the computer quiet and well cooled? Is water cooling the case or does it work with standard air cooling? I´m not sure that the case can fit water cooling, what do you think?

Buy a decent case and decent big fans.

2. What is it that decide the computers life span? I have heard something about how well the CPU is cooled.

Heat is one of the main drivers. Bad power supply, over cloking the CPU to destruction. Heats the biggest problem.

3. Can the life span vary between Macintosh, Hackintosh and Windows?

No.

4. Do you think that the Hardware parts could be destroyed if the Hackintosh installation would fail?

Not unless you do something dumb.

5. I also wonder if it is a good idea to wait to do the install until the "Sierra Nevada" is relesed?

No, as there is no guarantee that Sierra will be easy to install. Start with a known installation OS such as El Capitan. let other people find the issues for you.

Last but not least I´m thinking how I should come down I price! I´m going to do a review/video of the computer build pretty much like this guy:

I have been doing a lots of different video projects before so I think the the quality and content could be pretty sick. So now I wonder if you guys think it is worth to contact computer stores and brands to ask about a little sponsoring? I that I good idea?

I think that advertising that you are breaching Apples OS X terms and conditions is not a good idea at all. Why would a computer store sponsor you? Think about this carefully.

Rob

 

[kiiroaka]

No, as there is no guarantee that Sierra will be easy to install. Start with a known installation OS such as El Capitan. let other people find the issues for you.

Boy, that's the truth. I've been trying all weekend to get Sierra going, trying 6 ways to Sunday (clean install and migrating from El Cap, UEFI and Legacy, both Legacy and UEFI, enabling and disabling nv_disable=1, different kexts, different MAC IDs, different USB sticks, different USB2.0 and USB3.0 sticks, different Clover versions, etc.) I'm giving up for now. There's no way I'm pulling my GTX950 just to see if it will install with just on-board video. Good thing it was all done on a spare HDD because there's no way I would want my "real" El Cap to get munged.

 

[rwillett]

Boy, that's the truth. I've been trying all weekend to get Sierra going, trying 6 ways to Sunday (clean install and migrating from El Cap, UEFI and Legacy, both Legacy and UEFI, enabling and disabling nv_disable=1, different kexts, different MAC IDs, different USB sticks, different USB2.0 and USB3.0 sticks, different Clover versions, etc.) I'm giving up for now. There's no way I'm pulling my GTX950 just to see if it will install with just on-board video. Good thing it was all done on a spare HDD because there's no way I would want my "real" El Cap to get munged.

Thats useful information. I'm a mobile app developer really so I need my machine to work. There's no compelling reason for me (and I suspect most people) to move to Sierra just yet.

So the advice here is, stick with El Capitan.

Rob

 

[kiiroaka]

Yep, I'm waiting for the good people here, the real gurus, to work it out. God bless them one and all.

In your case you would play with it after swapping your disc drive because there's no way that you would want Sierra to blow away El Cap, only to find out that you don't like it. Afterwards the spare drive can be installed in a caddy and used for TimeMachine or backups. Since I'm always playing with different OSes I always have a few drives laying around. Heck, I'm thinking of re-installing W8 and keeping my W10, too, on separate drives, obviously.

 

[olleolsson]

When it comes to video editing, the bigger the PSU the better. The 500W PSU might be okay for a mini build, though; it depends on the physical size that can be crammed in there and how much room you have for the wire harnesses.

With that case what you will want to do is to make sure that the intake fan is up against the case mesh. That way there is no air turbulence or fighting for air flow with the CPU fan. Air will come in through the top and exit out the back; the CPU fan will get it's air from the side. But there doesn't seem to be a place to install an exhaust fan.

Me, personally, I wouldn't bother with water cooling. That case is tight enough as it is so you may not be able to bend the water hoses enough to correctly mount the radiator. A different case may allow water cooling though.

I don't like that case because I like airflow, so I look for a case that has plenty of airflow wire mesh holes and that can take a lot of fans. See https://us.hardware.info/reviews/5411/20-mini-itx-cases-review-the-desktop-turns-mini

Your case is really too small. If you start doing lots of video work, you will generate a lot of heat from the GPU or possibly GPU's. You should get a bigger case.



Who cares if the WiFi chip works for video. Look at the size of video files and then work out how long it will take to transfer any 4K footage across WiFi. Unless you like doing a lot of reading, don't use WiFi. Get a decent Ethernet card, at least 1Gb and make sure its not a Realtek one. You need a proper Intel chip that off loads Ethernet traffic from the CPU. The reason RealTek is cheap is because they are not as fast.



Fine



As somebody has already said, you will struggle to get water cooling here. I always wonder why people want to water cool as opposed to getting a decent big case, with decent fans working properly and a decent CPU cooler such as a Noctura. Water cooling is expensive and is certainly no quieter than my editing rig with dual 280X GPUS and a 4790 and a Noctura air fan.



Check, check and check again that this memory is on the qualified list for the motherboard. Check the stock numbers down to the last digit. Do not assume that the memory will work just because it looks like it should.



I assume that your 4K videos are really small in size and that your raw footage is tiny? 250GB won't go very far.



Too small, get a bigger one so you can put dual GPU cards. Look for 850W and get a decent branded one. Don't buy cheap rubbish.



I don't think the 740 will handle 4K very well, if at all. I would check this carefully and that all your video stuff will work with this card.



Buy a decent case and decent big fans.



Heat is one of the main drivers. Bad power supply, over cloking the CPU to destruction. Heats the biggest problem.



No.



Not unless you do something dumb.



No, as there is no guarantee that Sierra will be easy to install. Start with a known installation OS such as El Capitan. let other people find the issues for you.



I think that advertising that you are breaching Apples OS X terms and conditions is not a good idea at all. Why would a computer store sponsor you? Think about this carefully.

Rob

thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate it!

Maybe I should look for another case! and I definetly going to install El Capitan before Sierra

Since I´m a beginner in this hole computer build thing I´m not sure what a Ethernet card is! ;D is it the same thing as wifi card?

About the harddrive. I already have an extrenal HHD so that´s not a problem. Maybe I will install a HHD in the computer later.

Last thing about the PSU. Exactly what advantages is it with dual GPUs? I don´t think I will buy one more GPU. So what specific PSU du you recomend? Here on the forums buyers guide they only recomend 3 different.