First Build, Advice & Opinions Wanted

[severityr39]

Hi!

This will be my first hackintosh build and also my first computer build from scratch, I'm pretty tech savvy and so know what to head for, but wanted to get my feelers out into the wider world to pick up any tips and tricks/advice/warnings that may help me on my journey! I prefer OSX as my productivity operating system, but want a machine capable of playing games at decent specs, so I'm planning on dual booting between Windows 7 or 8 and Mountain Lion. I've chosen the components below for my build and given some reasoning behind it, if people could give me their two cents on everything that would be ideal! Thanks,

GA-Z77-DS3H - Seems pretty well supported from stock, got everything I need
i5 3750K - powerful quad core, with HD 4000 graphics
8GB Corsair Vengeance Ram
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB - partitioned into 2 64GB partitions, 1 per OS
WD Caviar Green 1TB - again partitioned in 2, 1 per OS
MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC - powerful GFX but not overly so, better value for money than the 660Ti (in my opinion)
TP Link WDN4800 - Native Wifi Card

I understand that there are some issues getting the GTX 660 to run, but I also understand the ML drivers for it from NVidia should help. The improved load times in games is something I desire from the SSD, but I don't plan on having a massive library so I figure 64GB for Windows & a small number of games will be okay, all save data & media will be on the HDD. The things I want to have my build succeeding in are audio over HDMI, on board ethernet and bluetooth on both Windows/OSX for a Trackpad (I'll use a wired apple keyboard for the num pad).

Some questions:
Could someone recommend a decent BT dongle available in the UK?
Would a Corsair 430W PSU be suitable or should I go for 500W?
How important is a case? I was just planning on spending £20 odd on a bog standard case...
Which HD webcams are compatible with OSX & FaceTime?
Could people suggest good IPS monitors to use, is there a major advantage of a 27" over 21.5" or do the costs outweigh the increased screen real estate?

Thanks, all advice/comments/opinions and criticism welcome!

 

[theaudiogod]

Hi!

This will be my first hackintosh build and also my first computer build from scratch, I'm pretty tech savvy and so know what to head for, but wanted to get my feelers out into the wider world to pick up any tips and tricks/advice/warnings that may help me on my journey! I prefer OSX as my productivity operating system, but want a machine capable of playing games at decent specs, so I'm planning on dual booting between Windows 7 or 8 and Mountain Lion. I've chosen the components below for my build and given some reasoning behind it, if people could give me their two cents on everything that would be ideal! Thanks,

GA-Z77-DS3H - Seems pretty well supported from stock, got everything I need
i5 3750K - powerful quad core, with HD 4000 graphics
8GB Corsair Vengeance Ram
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB - partitioned into 2 64GB partitions, 1 per OS
WD Caviar Green 1TB - again partitioned in 2, 1 per OS
MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC - powerful GFX but not overly so, better value for money than the 660Ti (in my opinion)
TP Link WDN4800 - Native Wifi Card

I understand that there are some issues getting the GTX 660 to run, but I also understand the ML drivers for it from NVidia should help. The improved load times in games is something I desire from the SSD, but I don't plan on having a massive library so I figure 64GB for Windows & a small number of games will be okay, all save data & media will be on the HDD. The things I want to have my build succeeding in are audio over HDMI, on board ethernet and bluetooth on both Windows/OSX for a Trackpad (I'll use a wired apple keyboard for the num pad).

Some questions:
Could someone recommend a decent BT dongle available in the UK?
Would a Corsair 430W PSU be suitable or should I go for 500W?
How important is a case? I was just planning on spending £20 odd on a bog standard case...
Which HD webcams are compatible with OSX & FaceTime?
Could people suggest good IPS monitors to use, is there a major advantage of a 27" over 21.5" or do the costs outweigh the increased screen real estate?

Thanks, all advice/comments/opinions and criticism welcome!

Hi,
For a bluetooth dongle a very good cheap option that will also work in the bios is
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001BROKXO/?tag=tonymacx86-21
You can pick up this dongle at pc world or curry's for under a tenner.
The corsair 430w will be fine but go for the 500w one just to give you that little extra juice incase you need it.
With the case it's totaly up to you really, I go for looks and also good air flow/cooling so I can overclock the pants out of it.
One more thing, if I was you I would get 2 ssd drives. One for osx and one for windows. You can do it all with one drive but A I don't think 64gb per op system will be enough in the long run and B having osx and windows on the same drive can cause a few headaches.

 

[severityr39]

Ah thanks, that's exactly what I was after for the dongle, that's what I thought in terms of expandability, the extra wattage gives me some more headroom. On my current MBPr the 128GB SSD isn't even half full, and that includes a fair music library and a 10 episode TV series, considering I have a 1TB NAS on top of the 500GB HDD partition (might go 80/20 OSX/Win due to time usage) where I'll keep the music, tv and film collection, I know OSX will suffice with <64GB (being just apps & operating system) but windows 7/8 & a game or two is the major unknown from my point of view for the SSD, could anyone suggest what a true windows 7/8 fresh installation takes up? I don't have any desire for overclocking & therefore hope provided the case cooling isn't awful the stock fans on CPU & GPU should keep everything chilled enough!

 

[theaudiogod]

Ah thanks, that's exactly what I was after for the dongle, that's what I thought in terms of expandability, the extra wattage gives me some more headroom. On my current MBPr the 128GB SSD isn't even half full, and that includes a fair music library and a 10 episode TV series, considering I have a 1TB NAS on top of the 500GB HDD partition (might go 80/20 OSX/Win due to time usage) where I'll keep the music, tv and film collection, I know OSX will suffice with <64GB (being just apps & operating system) but windows 7/8 & a game or two is the major unknown from my point of view for the SSD, could anyone suggest what a true windows 7/8 fresh installation takes up? I don't have any desire for overclocking & therefore hope provided the case cooling isn't awful the stock fans on CPU & GPU should keep everything chilled enough!

It's meant to be 8.5gb in size but I think windows 8 swallowed about 20gb of my 240gb drive after it was installed.

 

[severityr39]

If that is the case and it is only 20GB then I should be fine, I'm going to downsize the pagefile and remove the hiberfile which should give me a reduced file size, and I can't see myself running into too many issues with 8GB of RAM, plus another 4GB stick is significantly cheaper than another 64GB SSD...