Build and Buying Advice for a Hac Pro newbie (Thunderbolt)

[StBilyumChill]

Build and Buying Advice needed for a Hac Pro newbie (Thunderbolt)

I have created a build using the following parts. The intel board, processor and SSD can be changed but I don't have a lot of choices here and they must all be intel made. I will list my other choices for the board and proc. My current build:

CPU: i7-3770K
MotherBoard: Intel DZ77RE-75K (with Thunderbolt!)
GFX: EVGA GeForce GT 640 2048MB GDDR3 Dual DVI
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB Single DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) x 2 (for now, I plan on adding 2 more later.)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750G 80PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V/EPS12V 750W
Chassis: Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX Mid Tower
SSD: Intel 240 GB 520 Series
HDD: Seagate Barracuda x 4 to 6 (Likely, usually whatever is cheapest.)

My additional questions other than the general, "Will this all work" are fairly simple no brainer questions. Will the ports on the case work? I'm guessing it really depends on the motherboard, but thought it would be nice to be able to use them. Doesn't really make or break the build however. The case seems to have plenty of fans, and I have heard the processor comes with a heatsink, but am I missing anything relating to cooling or something I am forgetting entirely? Lastly, are there any Intel boards that are more compatible? I have the choice from a couple others but they are all Intel made and this one has Thunderbolt. (I did read that hot-swapping doesn't work but, oh well.)

Oh, and I figure I should say I am using this for some gaming, lots of graphics and web work, storage of several TB of data. I plan on getting a better GFX card later and more RAM, this is partially why the PSU is much bigger than really needed at this time. (It was also only $20 more than a 650w)

Other Motherboard/Processor choices:
i7-3930K
i7-3770S
i7-3770

DX79 SR
DX79 SI
DZ68BC

Thanks all for the help!

 

[StBilyumChill]

An additional question: Do I really even need the GFX Card for right now? Can I used integrated graphics until I am ready to purchase the card I really want? Would there be an advantage to having this card for now, as a backup, or in tandem with a newer, better card at some point in the future.

 

[KNNSpeed]

That looks like it'll work fine; while I can't say much about the gtx 600s (I believe they work out of the box), I don't see anything that would be a huge hurdle. That being said, I can't provide much input on SSDs, either, but the raid array, if it's BIOS-based, should be totally ok.

You can stick to the HD 4000 if you want, but since you'll be gaming and doing photo work I'd recommend getting a dedicated gpu. Support for the Radeon HD 7000s are supposedly in the works at Apple, but since I can't discuss more due to forum rules about betas I can only recommend either waiting for future graphics support (meaning use the integrated graphics for now) or going with a card that's out that you like.

Keep in mind that CrossFire/SLI support is basically nonexistent in OS X, too, so getting one supported powerhouse card at some point I'd think is the way to go.

 

[StBilyumChill]

Just the man I was hoping would see this! Thanks so much for the reply, I will see how it goes with everything. Question about the RAID at the BIOS level. From the looks of it the Intel RST stuff doesn't work, and since I was planning on just grouping multiple drives into one like a JBOD, should I just use disk utility once it's all up and running? I plan on keeping the SSD or both (If I have a second for Windows) but then combining the 3.5" drives into 2 massive volumes from either 4 or 6 drives. I will just use rsync for backup rather than rely on mirroring.

 

[KNNSpeed]

I saw your post in my thread, so I hopped on over. PMs work, too, for future reference.

Unfortunately, I've never actually used the RAID function for its intended purpose, although I've seen how others do it. I just got my DZ77RE-75K to boot into OS X with RAID mode on.

However, from what I can gather about the boot up process, if you can configure all your disks as 1 or 2 huge volumes through the BIOS (i.e. transparently to the OS) it should "just work" for any operating system--even old DOS 6.22! Everything loads before the BIOS hands off loading to the OS, which I think is exactly what you're after.

So, yeah, disk utility should see it as 1 disk, just like with the whole Mac "Fusion Drive" business. The Intel RST stuff just enables health checking and status monitoring of the array, really--I think it'll all work just fine without it.

I don't know anything about rsync, though, so I can't really help with that.

 

[aaron97]

An additional question: Do I really even need the GFX Card for right now? Can I used integrated graphics until I am ready to purchase the card I really want? Would there be an advantage to having this card for now, as a backup, or in tandem with a newer, better card at some point in the future.

Since you are going to be doing lots of graphic work, I would recommend getting a mid-highend gpu. You will be disappointed in the HD4000. I recommend the GTX 660, because it's the best bang for the buck basically. I wouldn't recommend going any higher for several reasons...
1. I suspect you are going to be gaming under windows (which supports SLI--this is the lowest card that supports SLI)
2.Even if you are going to be gaming under mac, almost all real macs would have a much worse gpu then you.
3. Spending more money on a even higher gpu will have tenuous gains for video editing at the price you pay.

Just my thoughts.

 

[StBilyumChill]

Is it significantly better than this : EVGA GeForce GT 640 2048MB GDDR3 Dual DVI (At least worth twice the price?)


I suppose I should clarify that any recent release game I will likely buy on console. I play Diablo III but right now it runs on my 2011 MacBook Pro with an AMD Radeon HD 6750M. Otherwise my biggest concern is running a PS2 emulator. (I am using my own backed up BIOS and ISOs I ripped myself from the game. Not joking or lying.) I don't know if anyone knows much about the emulators but I would consider that my biggest concern for the GFX card. Otherwise my graphics work includes Quartz Composer at the most intensive but mostly illustrator and photoshop which I am not too worried about.


KNNSpeed: Thanks for the help, I will try it the way you mentioned since it will likely work better for multiple OSs reading the drives. Don't worry about the rsync thing; My knowledge is fine for most things, I used to fix macs so I should be fine with the actual assembly and I currently work in UNIX systems so rsync is just a command I picked up that is really useful for a mirroring-like backup. I wrote a little shellscript and add it to LaunchAgents for an extra automated backup that I can use while keeping Time Machine automatic.


Lastly thank you all again for the help I really appreciate it and will do my best to return the favor to the community when I have my build all up and running. Everything is currently on order, but my intel bundle may be delayed a week. I am likely going to pick up a different case for now since Amazon is out up to 5 weeks on it at the price I wanted.

 

[aaron97]

Is it significantly better than this : EVGA GeForce GT 640 2048MB GDDR3 Dual DVI (At least worth twice the price?)


I suppose I should clarify that any recent release game I will likely buy on console. I play Diablo III but right now it runs on my 2011 MacBook Pro with an AMD Radeon HD 6750M. Otherwise my biggest concern is running a PS2 emulator. (I am using my own backed up BIOS and ISOs I ripped myself from the game. Not joking or lying.) I don't know if anyone knows much about the emulators but I would consider that my biggest concern for the GFX card. Otherwise my graphics work includes Quartz Composer at the most intensive but mostly illustrator and photoshop which I am not too worried about.


KNNSpeed: Thanks for the help, I will try it the way you mentioned since it will likely work better for multiple OSs reading the drives. Don't worry about the rsync thing; My knowledge is fine for most things, I used to fix macs so I should be fine with the actual assembly and I currently work in UNIX systems so rsync is just a command I picked up that is really useful for a mirroring-like backup. I wrote a little shellscript and add it to LaunchAgents for an extra automated backup that I can use while keeping Time Machine automatic.


Lastly thank you all again for the help I really appreciate it and will do my best to return the favor to the community when I have my build all up and running. Everything is currently on order, but my intel bundle may be delayed a week. I am likely going to pick up a different case for now since Amazon is out up to 5 weeks on it at the price I wanted.

It would be several times faster then the GT640. Do you use PCSX2? I use it, and really think its awesome. Don't worry PS2 emulation is all about the CPU, It runs just fine for me on my integrated HD4000. Although I normally use my GTX 650 ti. If you don't want to spend so much money, you should look into the GTX 650 ti. Although you probably cant max out all setting on modern games, you can put them all on High and Ultra.

 

[StBilyumChill]

Sorry for the really late reply, I somehow missed it but have built my machine since. I started with the 640 and may upgrade later if I see fit. For now I have no complaints.

I do use PCSX2, I have moderate success with the Mac version but the Windows version works great so I think I might do a dual boot when I get an extra SSD or sell my MacBook Pro and take the one from it. Either way if I use the PC version I think the card may come into play more since it relies so heavily on OpenGL for realistic emulation of the graphics. I think the Mac version does a translation so it doesn't rely on it but doesn't look quite as nice.

So far I am able to at least run Diablo III at max settings, and watch a movie while running two VMs all on three screens. So I think it will suffice for now. When I get back into graphics will really tell me how much I am missing out by not going at least 650 like you suggested. Oh, well only spent $99 on the 640 so no loss if I don't use it very long.