First Hackintosh build, to become my main computer.

[nickd]

First Hackintosh build, Need help please!

I'll start by saying I'm 17 and very new to the Hackintosh community and custom built computers altogether, so any help is good help!
Last week I picked up a Mac Pro 1,1 model 3.0ghz and a 30" Apple cinema display for a very, very good price and I already own a 15" Late 2011 MBP.

My current plan is (please tell me your opinions on my plan) to sell the Macbook Pro, 30" Display and Mac Pro (to make a hefty profit) then buy a Macbook Air to replace the laptop and it will be used just for Word documents and web browsing.
To replace the Mac Pro and become my new main machine (which is used for photo and video editing and also web design) I'm considering building a Hackintosh with the following parts:

CPU - i3 3225 (to be replaced with 3770k in the future)
Graphics - On board HD4000
MB -Gigabyte GA-H77N WIFI
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 500gb (SSD later to come in future)
RAM - Corsair Vengence 2x 4gb modules (to be upgraded to 16gb in future)
PSU - Corsair CX500
CASE - Bit Fenix Prodigy (white)
WIFI - TP-Link TL-WDN4800
Monitors - 2x 27" or 24" 1080p monitors

So as you may have noticed it's a very similar set-up to Tony's Hack-mini.
I've got a few questions, hoping someone can help me
1. Is there any issues with the choice of parts?
2. Wanting to know whether the future upgrade of parts is a very hard process and will it need much adjusting in the way of the operating system?
3. Will I need a CPU cooler once upgraded to the 3770k?
4. Will the PSU be enough for when upgrades are put in place and I'm running multiple HDD's 16gb ram, intel 3770k and possibly a GPU?
Thanks in advance!

Also, one last question, will a smaller case such as the MI-008 be able to handle all of the above parts (especially once the upgrades are in) and will a 3770k become too hot in this case?

 

[potemkin]

You look OK.
Cooling is not a problem unless you do severe over clocking. (with the better CPU )
DO NOT USE APEX 008 case.
It can definitely have heat problems depending what you put in it.
MOST IMPORTANT the PSU sits right on top of CPU fan.
Absolutely no clearance. You would have to buy a special low profile CPU cooler to make it work.
This would cost you $30/$50 more. This makes better cases that are more expensive cheaper actually.

A better case than Apex is the Cooler Master mini itx one at New Egg. This case is on the list for Customac as an option.
The Bit Fenix one is much bigger but it would acomadate your future plans if you over clock.
The Apex case will only handle a single slot video card.
Cooler master and Fenix handle dual slot card.
Most video cards take up double wide space.
PSU is more than adequate. Without video card you can get along with 250 watts(this would work even with most low poer cards anyhow)
Apex uses a special sized smaller PSU. Cooler Master takes standard.
A SSD for OS plus a hard drive for files is the best way to go.
If you do that you can add a partition to HD and then you have two copies of OS running.

 

[BitterMelon]

4. Yes. But, if you want to add a GPU you have a problem, your wifi card is taking up the only available PCIe slot! I suggest you buy a mini-PCIe card instead to replace the one mounted on the board (which isn't compatible with OS X). An Atheros 9280 based card is your best bet, like the one below or Dell DW1515. There's a ton of them on eBay.

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-AR5BHB92-Dual-band-802-11b-Toshiba/dp/B009HN63QQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359798585&sr=8-1&keywords=9280

 

[nickd]

4. Yes. But, if you want to add a GPU you have a problem, your wifi card is taking up the only available PCIe slot! I suggest you buy a mini-PCIe card instead to replace the one mounted on the board (which isn't compatible with OS X). An Atheros 9280 based card is your best bet, like the one below or Dell DW1515. There's a ton of them on eBay.

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-AR5BHB92-Dual-band-802-11b-Toshiba/dp/B009HN63QQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359798585&sr=8-1&keywords=9280

I will stick with the Bitfenix Case for now, thanks Potemkin.

BitterMelon, will any Mini-PCIe WIFI cards work natively, or is it best to stick with the 2 options you posted?

As for the PSU, will it be overkill for just running the system I posted (with upgrades: 3770k, 16gb ram and multiple HDDs) without a Graphics card, and if I did happen to purchase a decent Graphics Card will that PSU still be powerful enough?

Also is it simple to swap OS from say the Barracuda to an SSD then use the SSD as the boot disk rather than the barracuda, then just insert the Barracuda for files?