Building a Hack Pro for video editing

[nikodme]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the forum. I've found the amount of information on this site a bit overwhelming and while I'll continue to reading through, I thought I might start off asking a question and maybe you could point me in the right direction. I'm looking to build a hackintosh, which I intend to use mostly for video (mainly Resolve and Scratch, as I'm focused on color grading, but also FCPX, Media Composer, Premiere and AE) and graphic design (Il, Ps, Id). Configuration I've been thinking about looks as follows:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z170MX-GAMING 5 S1151 Z170 4DDR4 UATX
CPU: i7-6700K
GPU: EVGA TItan X Supeclocked - I've found a good deal, but if I don't manage to get it, then it would be EVGA Gtx980ti
RAM: CRUCIAL DDR4 32GB/2133 (2*16GB) CL15 DIMM 288pin
System SSD: 512 GB Samsung 850 Evo M2
Media storage: 2x 1TB Samsung 850 Evo V-Nand (I'd like to build Raid 0)
Backup drive: HGST DESKSTAR NAS Drive Kit 4TB 7200
PSU: Corsair CX750M
Case: Raijintek Styx Micro ATX
Preview Monitor output: Blackmagic Declink MiniMonitor

What do you think about this config? Will I be able to run two SSDs as raid without an external controller? Has anyone had any experience with Declink MiniMonitor on Mackintosh?

Thanks!
http://allegro.pl/nowy-dysk-hdd-hgst-deskstar-nas-drive-kit-4tb-7200-i6375600487.html

 

[kiiroaka]

When it comes to video work always install the max RAM, in this case 64GB. You may want to research DDR4 2400, DDR4 3200 and DDR4 3400 (or whatever the next speed step up is available in your memory QVL.)

You may have problems RAIDing. Research whether anyone else has gotten RAID running on that mobo.

 

[nikodme]

I should be fine with 32GB for now. I will upgrade to 64 eventually, but I'm trying to keep the cost reasonably low while getting as much power as I can . I've been worrying about that RAID thing... Since I'm getting more and more RAW files to work with, having dual SSD RAID would be great. I'm not sure a single SSD is going to handle 6k Raw good enough... .

 

[kiiroaka]

I figure the Raid controller on the mobo is software, just like decades ago. Therefore you would have to research what PCI or PCI-E hardware controllers would work and how much you would be willing to pay. I figure $100 to $200 would be reasonable; I wouldn't trust the low priced boards, the SIIG and HiPoint and SYBA boards, since they are probably software based; and chances are that the best ones are probably going to cost $400 and up.

No, I think your best bet may be the new Intel NVME PCI-E X4 boards. You may not be able to boot from it, though, at least not at the present time. Hope you're not a gamer, though, since 4 of the 16 lanes will be used for the PCI-E X4 board. $$$ - about $375 for 400GB, $900 for the 1.2TB.

I hope you weren't thinking of using TLC SSDs in a RAID. I'd only go with MLC. Cheap (TLC) is not a way to go when it comes to SSDs, imo, ymmv. And, because they're SSD the more memory the better, max being preferable, so that you can turn off Swap, Indexing, etc., and running as many apps as you can in RAM Cache and RAM Drives.

But what would I know? I don't own an SSD. Right now I'm running 4 HDDs in my system because four 1TB WDs would have cost me less than a Samsung 512GB SSD 8 months ago, which was going for over $300 and since I needed three that would have cost me over $900! (There's no way I would put more than one OS on any drive, HDD or SSD. How others are able to do it is beyond me.) I did try a 256GB Samsung but I didn't like it (too slow when changing user logins) and so I took it back (but that was before my present build.)

 

[nikodme]

Are you using these 4 hdds in Raid?

These Samsung V-NANDs are allegedly fairly close to MLCs, performance-wise, so I think I should be all right. I'm not sure I'll need those 2TB in the nearest future (I rarely work with projects exceeding 500GB), so I might go with one faster sad for now (like Samsung 850 pro) and add a second one when i need it. SSDs seem to be getting cheaper really fast, so it might not make much sense to invest in something too big now.

I've been reading through forum and it seems that people tend to have more luck with Asus Maximus then with Gigabyte - I thought I might switch the mobo to ASUS Maximus VIII Gene - not sure about it's raid capability, but the setup should go smoother then wth gigabyte.