Advice: i7 3930K - Asustek P9X79 Pro - XFX 6870

[Beamer68]

Hi Guys,

I am new here and might need your help already. Not bad for a 1st post here. For professional purposes I need to buildup a very fast Hackintosh. However I am a newbi if it comes to a Hackintosh. So it might not be a good idea to start with this kind of system. But, I do not want to buy a proven (slower) system just to get practice and buy the desired system later on once it is simpler to install. So what should I do? Can I rely on your help here? I am using a Mac for a year now and I felt in love with OSX. I also run a Windows 7 VM using Parallels 7.

Here is the system I plan to use.
Asustek P9X79 Pro
Intel Core i7-3930K
XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB :?

I would rather use a Radeon HD 6970 2GB. But I do not want to create even more problems. However I am a developer (Hardware) and have Mountain Lion here as well. I read that ML is supporting Radeon HD 6970 OOB. And discussions about it are not permitted here. So I have to stick to Lion and the Radeon HD 6870 I guess.

So do you think I can manage the problems with your help? Or is to difficult for a newbi to get this type of system running?

Thanks in advance and greets from Germany,

Hendrik

 

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[Gordo74]

The 6970 is running on Mountain Lion on NORMAL Mac Pro's... NOT Hackintoshes. And Apple has been known to take OUT support for cards on the final version of their OS's.

I would go with a Z68 board and a 2600k (or wait for Ivy Bridge desktop chips April 28th). You'll spend about half the cost and get just about the same performance. A 2600k is blazingly fast already. My uncle, who is an audio producer, uses a 2600k hackintosh and he said it is faster than the current gen Mac Pro decked out... so it is enough power.

 

[Beamer68]

@ Gordo74: Thank you for your advice and your input about the Gfx card. If nothing helps I have to follow this path.

I still would like to get a very fast Hacky. The main CAD PCB design software is running on the PC side and I am using Parallels for that. However I love to us OSX and so I do as much as possible on the OSX side. I started with a Mac Mini and 8GB a year ago. Before I was working on Windows only. I still have a Windows PC too. My problem is, that my Mac runs very slow once I use windows software too. I am running CAD software and also 3D modeling. Some of the tasks need 5min to compute right now and I run them serval time a day. Also while I work there are some rule checks going on in the background and the software behaves laggy. This no fun! So the machine just can not be fast enough. A colleague of mine is using a 2 year old dual xeon system (PC) and is currently looking for a upgrade as well. This is also an indication for you guys. I am just afraid of spending extra $ for a system that I might upgrade in the next few month once X79 motherboards are well supported in this community.

 

[Gordo74]

X79 performance is a marginal upgrade for almost double the price. Plus Ivy Bridge will be faster than it and they run on the 1155 platform (once again, about half the price). You'll have to wait until next year for Ivy bridge to hit the 2011 socket.

 

[Beamer68]

Hi Gordo74

I looked at the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3. It has integrated Gfx from the K type CPU. Can I use this as a start and get familiar with the system and go from there. Or do I need a OOTB gfx card? This way I could save some money and decide later which Gfx board I want and I will buy myself some time to get more confident with the whole Hackintosh thing. So the alternative is that I could upgrade over time, if there is a need. Basic -> better Gfx card -> Ivy Bridge CPU. If this will still not be fast enough, then I have to look into Sandybridge-E and hope that the community made some progress. However this will be more expensive then going straight to a Sandybridge-E.

How well does the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 work right now. USB3?, Standby?, Shutdown?

Thanks a lot for your help here.

 

[Gordo74]

You could use the onboard graphics as long as it is a chip that has HD3000 graphics (i3-2105, i3-2125, i5-2500k, i7-2600k, i7-2700k).

My advice: Go with the Z68X-UD3H and use the 2600k. USB3, Shutdown, and Standby work. Then, if you REALLY need more power later, consider the 2011 socket, but I think that 1155 will be powerful enough and it is natively supported.

 

[Beamer68]

Thanks for finding the time to look at this. I really appreciate this! There is so much going on in this forum and still you take time to give me some advice.

I calculated the cost difference from a 2600K system to a 3920K system.

$900 cheaper:
If I would go with a i7 2600K and internal Gfx.
- Cheaper CPU
- Cheaper motherboard
- No new power supply
- No extra 6870 Gfx board

$360 cheaper:
If I need the extra 6870 Gfx board
- Cheaper CPU
- Cheaper motherboard

I could live with a $360 add on for my ultimate system. The question is however, if the internal Gfx of the 2600K is enough or not. $900 savings is quite an argument.

I am running 2 monitors here.
Dell U3011 @ 2560 x 1600
Dell 2405FPW @ 1600 x 1200

You see, I like high resolutions.

Another thing is that I am running Parallels all the time with CAD software. So I was planning to dedicate 3-4 cores to Parallels and leave to rest to the Mac.

 

[Gordo74]

I think you will be fine still dedicating 3-4 cores to parallels, as the 2600k is hyperthreaded, so it has 8 logical cores to assign.

I think the internal graphics will be fine for your uses.

 

[Beamer68]

Re: Advice: i7 3930K - Asustek P9X79 Pro - GTX 570

I got the last remaining component in today. Let the games begin and see what kind of issues I will face from now on. So let's get started with the installation....

The memory modules I got from AVEXIT today look awesome and are really heavy. They spend a lot of aluminium for the heat sink.

Edit: Writing this from my new Hackentosh. Network works, Gfx seams to work. I have Audio out, but no audio in. Installing my software now. Why does Time Machine not see the backup I have for my Mac Mini. I see it on the network but not in Time Machine. Is it because it was done for another Mac? I registered as the same user. But this maks no difference.

Edit: Subject. I got a GTX 570 instead.