3d rendering + Gaming Hackingtosh (i.e. keeping the wife happy)

[numnumnum]

Hi all,

This is my first computer and hackintosh build (as I said in another post). I have been very excited about the mini deluxe build, especially since it will basically run OSX out of box. I wanted something that would into my mac ecosystem but be able to play some decent games on.

My wife is an interior designer/architect. When I showed her my plan she said that if I was going to build another computer then it must also fit into her work needs. She does some pretty heavy rendering in Autocad, Rhino, and CS6. She also insists that the case look nice and not bulky in our office.

I've attached the list of what I was originally planning to buy below. I know that rendering/gaming have differeing CPU/GPU needs, so what is a best of both worlds scenario? Should I be moving up to one of the pro builds or will an over clocked 3770k be sufficient? Is the GTX 650 of any value for the architecture stuff?

Oh, and I also plan on dual booting win7.


Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
Corsair H60 74.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
EVGA GeForce GTX 650 2GB Video Card
BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case
Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer

 

[trs96]

Hi all,

This is my first computer and hackintosh build (as I said in another post). I have been very excited about the mini deluxe build, especially since it will basically run OSX out of box. I wanted something that would into my mac ecosystem but be able to play some decent games on.

My wife is an interior designer/architect. When I showed her my plan she said that if I was going to build another computer then it must also fit into her work needs. She does some pretty heavy rendering in Autocad, Rhino, and CS6. She also insists that the case look nice and not bulky in our office.

I've attached the list of what I was originally planning to buy below. I know that rendering/gaming have differeing CPU/GPU needs, so what is a best of both worlds scenario? Should I be moving up to one of the pro builds or will an over clocked 3770k be sufficient? Is the GTX 650 of any value for the architecture stuff?

Oh, and I also plan on dual booting win7.


Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
Corsair H60 74.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
EVGA GeForce GTX 650 2GB Video Card
BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case
Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer

Here's some important info on the psu for this bitfenix case. You'd be better off to go with a 150mm modular version of the corsair psu. It's much easier to work with in this case.

You'd also be fine with a lower power psu in the TX line if you only need to power a GTX 650 card. Take a look at the 550w model offered by Amazon in Canada. http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B005E98J28/?tag=tonymacx86c0c-20

You can still get the Vers.1 650W pro model from Corsair http://www.corsair.com/professional-series-hx650-80-plus-bronze-certified-modular-power-supply.html
It may also be available other places for less $ online retail stores.

I've got the same case and a modular Corsair 430cx worked out very nice in my build.

I would also get two 64 or 128 Gb samsung ssds. One for the Windows boot drive and one for OSX Good luck!

 

[zaptoons]

Unless I missed it, I don't see any hard drives. I would definitely recommend at least 1 fast SSD as a boot drive and maybe a larger capacity hard drive for storage.

I'd recommend stick with the 3770k i7 over any Pro build that uses socket 2011. The lack of sleep and power management would probably not be high WAF. The 3770k is no slouch anyway.

GTX 650 is a pretty nice card- I don't know about Autocad, but the CS6 apps that are CUDA enabled will definitely benefit.

How favorably your wife will take to the performance is largely based on what she's used to now. Highest end 12 core MacPro fully loaded? She may not be that impressed. (Except for how close to the same level of performance can be achieved for a fraction of the price). Virtually any other Mac? She'll likely love the performance.

In particular in this case, I'd especially recommend build in redundancy for OSX, IE: have at least one backup install of OSX on the system, preferably a separate drive with it's own bootloader. Just in case the wife gets a little too cozy with the system and updates it randomly and borks the main install right as some work deadline is looming, it will go from screaming bloody murder to total relief if she can just boot right back in where she started from and keep right on working as if nothing happened. I'm forever pointing this out, but always see people that took the 'screaming bloody murder' route instead.

 

[DBP]

What zaptoons said.
The GTX 650 should be fine, although I'm not familiar with the performance profiles of Autocad or Rhino.

You've selected a Z77 board, the 3770K, and an H60. This tells me you're planning to OC. Be aware that you can OC a bit with this board but it doesn't provide you with the voltage controls of some of the bigger boards, and that will restrict how fast you can go.
You can OC with the Z77N but do some research and see how far people have been able to push it.

A 3770K system is plenty fast for most of us, and even the 3770 is very powerful. Apple's biggest 27" iMac uses this CPU.

 

[DBP]

Forgot to mention:
Do you need WiFi? If so you can get one of the supported mini-PCIe WiFi cards for that motherboard, although then if you need Bluetooth you'll have to add a USB dongle (which is easy enough).

 

[numnumnum]

Thanks so much, all, for the comments. You've definitely put my mind at ease. It's funny that I keep trying to assure her that building a computer isn't rocket surgery, but she just doesn't trust that I can do it.

Yes, I'll add the two ssds, great idea.

I may go with a larger case and mono, too. I've been looking at some of the cool G5 case mods and I think that I might want to add that to my list of projects too. I'll probably just start with a cheap case for now, though.