£200-£300 ( $270 - $405) Hackintosh for 1080-30 Editing and iOS Development

[skunkdonkey]

Hi everyone!

I am looking to build a system where I can do 1080p editing at 30fps and iOS development for around £200-300 (Aproximately $270 - $405) and would most likely prefer new parts.

I have been looking at a possible processor being the i3-7100 for what I would want.

I have also been looking at maybe buying an m3 Compute Stick for this with a 1tb external HDD.

Also, would a refurbished 2-3rd Gen i5 system be a good start?

Please reply with any ideas, thanks!

 

[trs96]

If you want to build a new system from the ground up you're going to go over $500 very quickly especially if it's a core I5 system. Just the CPU alone is about $180 for the non-K versions. The compute sticks are way under powered, don't bother with those. Your best option may be the quad core I3-8100 with a low budget motherboard and 8GB of ram if you want to stay under budget. Coffee Lake (+ 8 series boards) chips are due out by mid October so check into the prices of the I3 first.

The refurbished HP 6300/8300 with an I5 is another alternative. You can use the Pascal based 1050 Ti graphics card with those and get good performance. You won't get as many years out of a pre-built but the savings initially can help you to get a better system right now for less money.

 

[skunkdonkey]

If you want to build a new system from the ground up you're going to go over $500 very quickly especially if it's a core I5 system. Just the CPU alone is about $180 for the non-K versions. The compute sticks are way under powered, don't bother with those. Your best option may be the quad core I3-8100 with a low budget motherboard and 8GB of ram if you want to stay under budget. Coffee Lake (+ 8 series boards) chips are due out by mid October so check into the prices of the I3 first.

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The refurbished HP 6300/8300 with an I5 is another alternative. You can use the Pascal based 1050 Ti graphics card with those and get good performance. You won't get as many years out of a pre-built but the savings initially can help you to get a better system right now for less money.

What would be the cheapest motherboard compatible with the i3-8100 + Hackintosh if I were to go that route? Also, what would be the cheapest wifi-card?

Also, with the HP 6300, does the in-built wifi work? As buying one of these would be a good option as it would fit in my budget nicely, and I could still add some more stuff to it. Would a graphics card be worth it for one of these for my use as I wouldn't be using it for gaming as I have my PC for that, only really for Photoshop, video editing and development? (And possibly music mixing)

 

[trs96]

We don't know pricing yet on H370 or other motherboards. There is usually something under 80 USD that will work.
For wifi cards look in accessories and find one that fits your budget. The 6300 has no built in wifi, only ethernet. I've used a 10 dollar TP-Link WN725n with a 6300 and it performs ok with the latest driver. May be a while before there is one for High Sierra. It's always better to go with a macOS native PCI-e x1 card but they are more expensive than the USB dongles. It's best to get a GT1030 or 1050 graphics card as the HD2500 are not supported. You can get an MSI GT 1030 for only 70 USD. Even works with a 4K 60 Hz monitor via DP 1.4. The HDMI works fine with a 1080p display.

 

[skunkdonkey]

We don't know pricing yet on H370 or other motherboards. There is usually something under 80 USD that will work.
For wifi cards look in accessories and find one that fits your budget. The 6300 has no built in wifi, only ethernet. I've used a 10 dollar TP-Link WN725n with a 6300 and it performs ok with the latest driver. May be a while before there is one for High Sierra. It's always better to go with a macOS native PCI-e x1 card but they are more expensive than the USB dongles.

Looks like my best option would probably be a HP-6300, might also add an SSD, but I will look into a Coffee Lake system.

Thanks for your help!

 

[paulpatr1ck]

HP Pavilion Wave Desktop, is a great hackintosh, I bought one for 300 dollars and I'm running high Sierra