buying advice- Mac Pro Ivy Bridge Built

[Cery]

Hi,
I'm planning to built some kind of Mac Pro ivy Bridge Built because my old IMac is way to slow for my renderings and the 3DSoftware i'm using.
It's my first hackintosh so your advice is highly appreciated.
I have three questions.
1.Is it possible to use 2 gtx 670 in one mac? Are they running well togehter? I heard that SLI is not working? otherwise, is a gtx 680 good? would you recommend it?
2.is the standart cpu cooler enough? even if i overclock the cpu a bit (3.5@4)? Or do i need something like the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo?
3. Are these parts good for tonymacx86? Compatible etc. What do you think?
I want to use this parts:

CPU Intel Core i7-3770k http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SZ0EOW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20 Mother board Gigabyte Intel Z77 Dual Thunderbolt ATX Motherboard with BT4.0/Wi-Fi (GA-Z77X-UP5-TH) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008LTB3QW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20 GPU 2 Nvidia Geforce GTX 670 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Z3HZIA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20 SSD SanDisk Extreme SSD 120GB http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006EKJCWM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20 Harddrive Seagate 1TB http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IZN3YI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20 Case Corsair Carbide 500R http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005E983JW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20 RAM Corsair Vengeance 4x4gb (PC1600, 16GB, CL9) DDR3-RAM Kit http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Channel-240-Pin-CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9/dp/B004E0ZKLQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1345660441&sr=1-1&keywords=corsair+vengeance+16gb Power Supp Corsair Professional 650 Watt http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LVUPZQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20 Wifi TP-Link PCI Express http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GMPZ0A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

Thank you!
Cery
Ps: Sorry for bad english.

 

[alans17]

If someone has succeeded in getting multiple 670's working, I haven't seen it.

As for the cooler, you're not going to like the stock cooler because it's almost guaranteed to be noisy. The upgrade to a Hyper 212+ is cheap and worth it.

 

[Cery]

Is the 212plus fitting into the case?

 

[alans17]

Is the 212plus fitting into the case?

I would expect so, but you're better off measuring for yourself.

 

[ggeorge]

1.Is it possible to use 2 gtx 670 in one mac? Are they running well togehter? I heard that SLI is not working? otherwise, is a gtx 680 good? would you recommend it?

AFAIK, it should be possible to have two 670 working in your computer.

BUT!!!!

SLI does NOT work. Crossfire does NOT work.

You would only be able to use them as two separate cards.

If you are doing 3D work, you will probably want to look at a 580 or 570. The 680/670 are terrible at the kind of math necessary for 3D modeling.

Check the forums for the software you plan to use as to what cards work best with it. That will determine what cards you want to get.

2.is the standart cpu cooler enough? even if i overclock the cpu a bit (3.5@4)? Or do i need something like the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo?

That is a surprisingly good cooler for a very good price.

You do not require anything special for a moderate overclock. However, the Ivy Bridge chips do not overclock as well as the Sandy Bridge chips. Nobody can guarantee you will be able to overclock your chip, though a good cooler will obviously help.

If you want a top cooler look at a Phantek, Noctua.

SSD
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120GB
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006EKJCWM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

Prices in the US have recently come down significantly on SSDs. I would strongly recommend considering a 240/256gb SSD given recent price drops.

If you are doing video work, you might want to consider a non-sandforce based drive, they depend on compressing data for much of their performance and video is already compressed. Look at a Marvel based drive, Samsung or Crucial M4.

RAM
Corsair Vengeance 4x4gb (PC1600, 16GB, CL9) DDR3-RAM Kit
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Channel-240-Pin-CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9/dp/B004E0ZKLQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1345660441&sr=1-1&keywords=corsair+vengeance+16gb

Get 2x8gb Dimms if you want 16gb of ram, that way if you want to upgrade later to more, you do not have to throw away all of the ram you bought.

This ram has large heat sinks and may cause problems with most of the top air coolers, though probably not the Hyper 212 Evo, which is much smaller.

It is only 1333mhz ram, you should consider getting 1600mhz (PC3 12800) ram. That is as fast as makes a difference in most situations.

Power Supply
Corsair Professional 650 Watt
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LVUPZQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

If you are considering two graphics cards, you will probably want to look at something in the 750w to 1000w range, depending on exactly what cards you decide to get.

 

[Cery]

Thanks for your great post!
Makes sense what your saying.
I checked the thing with the gtx680 and your right, even if the 580 is older it's working better with 3dsoftware. (i'm using blender and other tools)
I think two gtx 580 wouldn't really make sense if i can't really use them at the same time. Or what do you think?
here are the parts i want to use different to my first post:

SSD http://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7PC256D-AM/dp/B005T3GQ0G/ref=dp_return_1?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics GPU http://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-Express-Graphics-ZT-50103-10P/dp/B004WBBFNO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345738388&sr=8-3&keywords=gtx+580+3gb RAM http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-1600MHz-Memory-CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10/dp/B006EWUO22/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1345739213&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=venganze+16gb+RAM

I'm not sure with the cooler.. i'll think about it
have i forgotten a part?
Thank you really much again!
Cery

 

[alans17]

I think two gtx 580 wouldn't really make sense if i can't really use them at the same time. Or what do you think?

Agreed.

 

[ggeorge]

Thanks for your great post!
Makes sense what your saying.
I checked the thing with the gtx680 and your right, even if the 580 is older it's working better with 3dsoftware. (i'm using blender and other tools)
I think two gtx 580 wouldn't really make sense if i can't really use them at the same time. Or what do you think?
here are the parts i want to use different to my first post:

I'm not an expert on 3D software, which is why I recommended that you check forums for the software you use to see what they recommend.

Some software can tap the power of multiple graphics cards to aid in rendering. Much in the same way they can tap into the power of multiple computers for rendering scenes, but exactly what software or what works best with them is beyond my level of knowledge.

SSD
http://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7PC256D-AM/dp/B005T3GQ0G/ref=dp_return_1?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics

That is what I have, works well and is top rated.

GPU
http://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-Express-Graphics-ZT-50103-10P/dp/B004WBBFNO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345738388&sr=8-3&keywords=gtx+580+3gb

Generally I strongly recommend NOT getting a graphics card with more than stock ram (1.5gb IIRC for a 580), however 3d modeling/rendering is one of those tasks where you may be able to benefit from more ram on the card.

Again, check the forums for the software you use to see what they have to say.

RAM
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-1600MHz-Memory-CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10/dp/B006EWUO22/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1345739213&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=venganze+16gb+RAM

This has stupidly large heat sinks on it which will interfere with the top air coolers like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709001

I would recommend ram with smaller heatsinks. I've used GSkill's ram on my current build, but the heats sinks are mostly for show.

I'm not sure with the cooler.. i'll think about it
have i forgotten a part?
Thank you really much again!
Cery

There's always cables and little fiddly bits that you'll discover you need afterwards, but nothing obvious.

Depending on your budget you might want to consider a build like mine

http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...page-iv-extreme-core-i7-3930k-successful.html

It does offer 6 cores vs 4, better support for multiple cards (40 PCIe lanes vs 16) and a max of 64gb of ram (8 dimm slots), but is significantly more expensive ($1000 for just the MB and CPU) and doesn't support Thunderbolt (not that useful currently IMHO) or sleep/powersaving.