build suggestions: dual 2k, design station

[sonofbuster]

hi all,

first post. my 2011 iMac is dead (LB) right now and, being the second time to go through this failure on two Macs, i've been mulling over building a hackintosh. i may keep the iMac and try to isolate the cause of the issue with the help of a friend. meanwhile, i'd like to start looking at parts to build a suitable replacement machine.

my requirements aren't much. i'd just like to get back to where i was on the iMac. OS X 10.9.X, dual monitors (1440 i hope), ability to run my graphic apps like Adobe CS, Lightroom, do my web design work, and eventually write some apps for Android and iOS. i was hoping to run two spinny drives for content and an SSD for the OS and apps, but from what i read, OS X cannot use the built-in RAID of PC motherboards. i guess maybe an external drive setup might work?

i am aiming for a mini-ITX box and again, the board has to support two 2560x1440 monitors. this is where i'm not sure what'll work. is anyone out there running this type of config and can tell me what board you're using?

i'm using the build guides and PC parts picker to keep track of things as i collect them. i don't have anything yet, but found a deal on a CM Elite 130 case so i ordered that. if for some reason it's not compatible, i'll turn it into my media PC since it was cheap. other than that, i'm all ears. thanks!

 

[ammulder]

This writeup uses the 750 Ti, which I think can support four monitors. I believe two of them can be 4K? You could double-check.

 

[sonofbuster]

if I decide to go with a separate GPU, does that make the processor a bit less expensive in general? not sure if I'm asking a valid question. I'm looking at the other thread about Photoshop and am wondering if I need to offload the monitors to their own graphics card.

 

[sonofbuster]

if I offload graphics duty to a dedicated video card will the price of the processor be decreased due to removing the graphics capability? or do they all come with built in graphics processors? it's been a while since I've looked at computer parts. I assume a decent video card will handle dual 2k monitors no problem.

 

[rwillett]

hi all,

first post. my 2011 iMac is dead (LB) right now and, being the second time to go through this failure on two Macs, i've been mulling over building a hackintosh. i may keep the iMac and try to isolate the cause of the issue with the help of a friend. meanwhile, i'd like to start looking at parts to build a suitable replacement machine.

my requirements aren't much. i'd just like to get back to where i was on the iMac. OS X 10.9.X, dual monitors (1440 i hope), ability to run my graphic apps like Adobe CS, Lightroom, do my web design work, and eventually write some apps for Android and iOS. i was hoping to run two spinny drives for content and an SSD for the OS and apps, but from what i read, OS X cannot use the built-in RAID of PC motherboards. i guess maybe an external drive setup might work?

i am aiming for a mini-ITX box and again, the board has to support two 2560x1440 monitors. this is where i'm not sure what'll work. is anyone out there running this type of config and can tell me what board you're using?

i'm using the build guides and PC parts picker to keep track of things as i collect them. i don't have anything yet, but found a deal on a CM Elite 130 case so i ordered that. if for some reason it's not compatible, i'll turn it into my media PC since it was cheap. other than that, i'm all ears. thanks!

For what you want to do you don't need a massive graphics card and system. If you are a normal user of these apps, then a fairly 'normal' (for some value of normal) system will suffice. if you want to play heavy duty games or do real video editing then this advice changes.

1. Ignore the built in RAID on your motherboard. Unless you spend real money, you are better off without using the hardware built in. OS X software RAID is certainly as good and 99% of the time is better than a cheap RAID solution. After saying that, what do you want to with RAID? If you are simply going to RAID two disks together to get speed, then think again. If you create a RAID 0 set then your chances of disk failure is now double. If you are looking for backup then unless you know how to use RAID and understand the differences between RAID 0/1/3/5/6/10 most of the time you are better off having a simpler solution such as having a backup disk. Also do not make the mistake of considering Time Machine a backup system. Its not. Its a sparse disk image thats kludged onto OS X and a single byte failure in that sparse image could well mean you have lost the entire image. I know people who say they have never had a problem, great, fantastic, I also know people who have lost their entire 'backup' from Time Machine as its suddenly become unreadable.

Use a proper backup system such as Carbon Copy Cloner or Chronosync.

I have Time Machine for hour by hour stuff "just-in-case", I have Chronosync on a daily backup and in case TM fails (which is my default expectation) and I use Carbon Copy Cloner for system backups when doing an OS upgrade.

2. Hard disks now are pretty quick but if you really want speed get another SSD, they are getting cheaper or use the OS X built in RAID (mmm.... is it still available?) or a 3rd party. hardware or software system. Mind you disks are a lot quicker now, get a decent 3.5" desktop and it'll fly or build a hybrid. External is OK but USB3 isn't that good for disk access. Thunderbolt or Firewire (remember that) is better, but would imagine Thunderbolt is not an option and its waaaaay too expensive.

3. Two monitors are great, I can tell you that the AMD 280X cards support twin monitors on DVI out of the box. I run triple 1920x1080 on dual 280X cards. You MUST check the connections on whichever card you buy though and which monitor inputs you want. Once you've done that, check it all again.

AMD cards are the way to go for FXP X but if all you after is non video work, get whatever card you can afford. Check, check and check again though.

I use Clover and it was literally straight out of the box even with twin 280X cards.

I would spend money on ensuring compatibility rather than penny cutting there. Cases are cases, I;'d rather have a decent MB, lots of memory and a cheap case rather than the other way round.

I'd also ignore on board audio and simply buy a USB to Audio convertor. There are loads out there and they cost less than $5 for a lot of them. I have an iMic from years ago and its zero configuration.

Rob

 

[sonofbuster]

thanks for the advice. following up:

i wanted to mirror a couple drives for redundancy, but i don't see why i can't do an SSD for system and then a spinny drive for content. then have an external backup drive. so not having RAID is not an issue.

as for the graphics/monitors/other, i still am unsure of what to get. i plan on using the build guides on this website so i hope parts all end up compatible. specific parts, however, is where i have no idea where to go. will 16 GB of RAM suffice for photo editing? are the different processors so much better/worse than each other to justify the price differences? will Intel video off the board work for my needs?

these are questions i'll have to answer before I buy anything.

 

[rwillett]

thanks for the advice. following up:

i wanted to mirror a couple drives for redundancy, but i don't see why i can't do an SSD for system and then a spinny drive for content. then have an external backup drive. so not having RAID is not an issue.

as for the graphics/monitors/other, i still am unsure of what to get. i plan on using the build guides on this website so i hope parts all end up compatible. specific parts, however, is where i have no idea where to go. will 16 GB of RAM suffice for photo editing? are the different processors so much better/worse than each other to justify the price differences? will Intel video off the board work for my needs?

these are questions i'll have to answer before I buy anything.

Is 16GB enough? More than likely unless you are doing some enormous pictures. It depends on your photographic workload. Unless you are into seriously complicated, heavily touched up photos it should easily enough.

Intel video may well be enough for what you want. One suggestion is to get a MB with the latest Intel GPU onboard and see how it goes. Make sure its compatible before you buy and see if it works. if not THEN get a GPU for what you need. its easy to expand to a GPU.

Rob

 

[sonofbuster]

Is 16GB enough? More than likely unless you are doing some enormous pictures. It depends on your photographic workload. Unless you are into seriously complicated, heavily touched up photos it should easily enough.

Intel video may well be enough for what you want. One suggestion is to get a MB with the latest Intel GPU onboard and see how it goes. Make sure its compatible before you buy and see if it works. if not THEN get a GPU for what you need. its easy to expand to a GPU.

Rob

good suggestion. will start piecing this together...