2018 Video/Photo Workstation

[boomography]

Hey guys, about to embark on my first build and wondering if folks can shed some advice on this build I'm thinking about:

MOBO: GIGABYTE X299 DESIGNARE EX (rev. 1.0)
PSU: Corsair AX860i
CPU: Intel i9 7980XE
RAM: 4 x G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3333 (PC4 26600) (128GB Total)
SSD: 2 x Samsung 960 Pro 2TB (One OS X, One Windows?)
GPU: Nvidia Quadro P5000
TB1: Pegasus R6
TB2: UA Apollo Twin
DSP: EIZO CG318-4K

Do I need to do anything special to get my apple kb/trackpad working with this? (I ordered this: http://www.osxwifi.com/apple-broadc...-bluetooth-4-0-with-adapter-for-pc-hackintosh )

I'll mostly be in Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Lightroom, Capture One & maybe some Logic every once and a while. Will this build work and end up being stable (or at least stable enough to work from?)? Thanks!!!

 

[trs96]

Read and Research to understand what you're attempting. X299 systems are not in the Buyer's Guide due to the complexity of getting macOS fully running on this hardware. Suggest you find a High Sierra Guide that uses the same or similar hardware. Spend a lot of time with R and R before buying. You'll be glad you did.

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...c-pro-successful-build-extended-guide.229353/

With the amount of time and money you'll be spending on this build you should also seriously consider a 10 Core iMac Pro with a Vega 64 Graphics and ram upgrade. For about $9600 it's probably worth it as a business expense that will help you make more money while also not having any worries about whether or not your computer will be down with the next macOS upgrade. You won't have the hassles of getting Thunderbolt to work etc. etc. I'm just stating that if I was in your position I'd get the iMac Pro.
Building, configuring and maintaining an X299 CustoMac build is like having another full time job on top of what you already have.

 

[Boead]

I have to agree!
That hardware won’t be stable enough for real production work.
Also it’s very much overkill for most work unless you render complex 3D animations and/or edit 4K

I produce literally hundreds of HD short shows annually on a older i7 with a 650 ti until recently, now a 970.

It’s entirely adequate!!

 

[boomography]

That hardware won’t be stable enough for real production work.

Interesting, this goes against what my research has been saying - most folks seem to be reporting very stable machines.

Also it’s very much overkill for most work unless you render complex 3D animations and/or edit 4K

I chose the parts based on my needs, 8k editing - and even this probably won't be enough.

 

[boomography]

With the amount of time and money you'll be spending on this build you should also seriously consider a 10 Core iMac Pro with a Vega 64 Graphics and ram upgrade. For about $9600 it's probably worth it as a business expense that will help you make more money while also not having any worries about whether or not your computer will be down with the next macOS upgrade. You won't have the hassles of getting Thunderbolt to work etc. etc. I'm just stating that if I was in your position I'd get the iMac Pro.
Building, configuring and maintaining an X299 CustoMac build is like having another full time job on top of what you already have.

I have the 18 core, it's fantastic. This is more just to see if I can reduce the costs to roll out more of these type of workstations in a stable fashion, I'm saving 3k+ per build over a iMac Pro.

 

[trs96]

I have the 18 core, it's fantastic. This is more just to see if I can reduce the costs to roll out more of these type of workstations in a stable fashion, I'm saving 3k+ per build over a iMac Pro.

Are you able to spend all the time it takes to build and configure these machines without it interfering with getting your work done ? Did you include the stand alone 5K monitor's cost ? Do you need 4 reliably working Thunderbolt ports ? Just some things to think about. In conversing with KGP who authored that very long... Build your own iMac Pro guide /X299 CustoMac system, he stated the amount of money he spent on his build and it was way over the cost of a maxed out iMac Pro. That was even before the crazy high prices of DDR4 ram and Vega graphics cards we are currently experiencing.

I wish you success in your endeavor. Let us know how it all turns out.

 

[boomography]

Are you able to spend all the time it takes to build and configure these machines without it interfering with getting your work done ? Did you include the stand alone 5K monitor's cost ? Do you need 4 reliably working Thunderbolt ports ? Just some things to think about. In conversing with KGP who authored that very long... Build your own iMac Pro guide /X299 CustoMac system, he stated the amount of money he spent on his build and it was way over the cost of a maxed out iMac Pro. That was even before the crazy high prices of DDR4 ram and Vega graphics cards we are currently experiencing.

I don't use the 5K monitors, or the iMac displays, regardless of whether I go iMac or Hackintosh, I need to purchase a display, which are from Eizo and are almost $6K on their own, so they don't really factor into the decision (but are the reason why we have Quadro cards in the build).

I only need 2 thunderbolt 3 ports, the two attached to the motherboard apparently work, albeit with the current hotplug issues, etc. I can spend the time to build/configure them, sure, it may take longer for the first, but to replicate a successful build shouldn't be nearly as time-consuming.

I've read the guide, my build comes out to a bit over $7k, which is still roughly $3k less than a comparable iMac Pro. I'm not including the Pegasus, Display or Apollo Twin costs in that as I'd incur those costs going with iMac pros as well.

 

[trs96]

I've read the guide, my build comes out to a bit over $7k, which is still roughly $3k less than a comparable iMac Pro. I'm not including the Pegasus, Display or Apollo Twin costs in that as I'd incur those costs going with iMac pros as well.

That's interesting to hear that you can build an 18 core system with 128 GB of ram and a Quadro workstation graphics card for 7K. I don't know if you're willing to spec it all out here but I'm interested to see how you can do this that cheaply. Are you using some used and refurbished parts to get the price that low ? When I check Newegg prices the CPU and ram alone cost close to 4K dollars. The two 2 TB NVME drives close to about $2700. The liquid cooling system will also have to be top of the line.

 

[boomography]

Are you using some used and refurbished parts to get the price that low ? When I check Newegg prices the CPU and ram alone cost close to 4K dollars.

Intel & nvidia provide discounts to the company I work for, they save me about 1800 per build.

 

[trs96]

Intel & nvidia provide discounts to the company I work for, they save me about 1800 per build.

That helps a lot to keep costs down ! I would certainly go the Hackintosh route. You may want to go with the Asus X299 motherboard that kgp uses in his guide, then you can basically use his provided EFI folder to get up and running quickly.