Looking for Recommendations!

[teddykgb]

Hi all,

So after a extended hiatus I'd like to do another hackintosh. Last one I did was a customac mini which was fine but I'm looking for a little more space this time around.

Here are my needs:

• Would like to run/have option to run 3 monitors.
• Dual Boot to Windows on rare occasions - I do not game.
• Plenty of storage to not have to use an external HDD to sync entire dropbox (I will use one for backups).
• Full native support of components (I've been away for a while, but based on some quick reading this doesn't seem like it'll be too big of an issue?)
• Mid size case
• I don't do anything real resource intensive - most would be the rare video encoding, things like that

To give you an idea - I run a 2012 MBP with the optical drive replaced by storage drive and a 500gb SSD as my main drive as my daily/travel driver. Wish I had a higher resolution screen and the ability to push more than one external monitor without laggy USB adapter.

I'd like to keep the costs down as much as possible since this is purely a want and not any kind of need! Thanks and fire away!

 

[trs96]

Check the Buyer's Guide and look at the example builds. You can run three monitors off of most graphics cards that have at least 3 digital outputs. VGA analog video is not supported.

 

[teddykgb]

Check the Buyer's Guide and look at the example builds. You can run three monitors off of most graphics cards that have at least 3 digital outputs. VGA analog video is not supported.

Thanks - I looked at them some but I'll dive in more. The "recommended" options were coming out to more than I wanted to spend but that may just be reality.

 

[trs96]

Thanks - I looked at them some but I'll dive in more. The "recommended" options were coming out to more than I wanted to spend but that may just be reality.

You can save some money by purchasing the HP 8300 Elite with a Core I5-3470 or I7-3770 for a price of about 200-300 USD. If you add a GTX 1050 Ti for about 150 you can run three monitors quite easily and also stay under budget. See the link to the Desktop Guide in my signature below.

 

[teddykgb]

You can save some money by purchasing the HP 8300 Elite with a Core I5-3470 or I7-3770 for a price of about 200-300 USD. If you add a GTX 1050 Ti for about 150 you can run three monitors quite easily and also stay under budget. See the link to the Desktop Guide in my signature below.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

 

[VioletDragon]

Would be better to buy the HP 8300 with a i7 3770 if your planning on using Onboard IGPU. May work out even cheaper with just Onboard Graphics.

 

[teddykgb]

Would be better to buy the HP 8300 with a i7 3770 if your planning on using Onboard IGPU. May work out even cheaper with just Onboard Graphics.

Onboard would preclude 3 monitors? Right?

 

[VioletDragon]

Onboard would preclude 3 monitors? Right?

I have tried 3 monitors with HD 4000 in Windows and Linux same with OS X. Found that 3 monitors does show but 3rd monitor is disabled. So maybe if your planning on using 3 monitors to go with Dedicated Graphics.

 

[teddykgb]

I have tried 3 monitors with HD 4000 in Windows and Linux same with OS X. Found that 3 monitors does show but 3rd monitor is disabled. So maybe if your planning on using 3 monitors to go with Dedicated Graphics.

Thanks! think I'll go dedicated - cost outlined above is well within acceptable!

 

[VioletDragon]

Thanks! think I'll go dedicated - cost outlined above is well within acceptable!

One thing to mention about Nvidia Drivers. There is a bug with 10.12.6 which causes Safari WebKit to crash same with Final Cut Pro. I recently moved away from Nvidia Graphics because of it. Hope your 1050 works for you. Good luck with your build.