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First Build - Pro-Video Rig

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Aug 29, 2015
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Motherboard
MSI Z390M Gaming Edge AC
CPU
i9-9900K
Graphics
Vega 64
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
290x -Clover - Pro-Video Rig

Hi Everyone,

Been following the TonyMac forums for the past several months now trying to get enough knowledge to attempt my first PC build/Hackintosh. My original build started with only recommended build hardware from the Buyer's Guide here - but while researching as I built up my budget I ended up going with almost zero hardware from the Buyer's Guide... although all my research tells me this should be a non-issue.

For those interested, there were three main goals with this build:

1) A high-end PC capable of crushing the 5k iMacs, and close to the performance of the new Mac Pros (cylinder)

2) A cost-effective alternative to buying a real Mac

3) An aesthetically pleasing and meticulously designed build


Number 2 was the easiest, as building a Hackintosh will always be cheaper than buying the equivalently equipped Mac. Making number 1 happen is going to prove more difficult, as the only current video cards that shows high-end performance on Final Cut X are AMD, and the only 'trouble-free' video cards recommended on the site are Nvidia. In other words, if your main endeavor is video-editing on FCP X, the $700 980 ti is about 300% slower than a used 280x found on eBay often for under 150 bucks.

To make number 1 happened I had to stray from the comfort of the Tony Mac Buyer's Guide and take a risk with purchasing a 290x. Even with the 280x, the sheer amount of people on FCPX forums using Hackintoshes with dual 280x configurations is enough to ease my mind when going in this direction. The main caveat with using the 290x is it seems I will have to default to Clover for my installation method... which isn't too bad as it seems the minor headaches in the beginning are rewarded with a more fluid and trouble-free experience than installing with Easybeast/MultiBeast.

Number 3 was also pretty difficult, unless you want your build to be black/red or just mostly black it seems you don't have too many options. Luckily I was able to find components to make a classy black and white build without the black over-powering the aesthetic.

This post is mainly to document the progress of this build from start to finish - and seek advice with any obstacles I encounter...
Although hopefully this build will inspire some people that are also trying to build their own video-editing rig and may also be afraid or hesitant to purchase a 290x or AMD card. Currently all the parts have been ordered and I am waiting on them to begin the installation process. I will attempt to do a basic instal of Yosemite via Clover when everything arrives, and ideally there won't be any issues...

Here are my components:

Intel i7 4790k
MSI z97 Krait Edition
MSI Twin Frozr R9 290x
32gb 1866 MHz Kingston HyperX Fury DDR3 RAM (white/black)
Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SSD (boot drive)
(2x) Seagate 3TB 7200 RPM Internal HDDs - RAID 0 (storage drives)
Phanteks PH TC14S Slim Twin Towers CPU Cooler (white/black)
EVGA GS 650 SuperNOVA PSU
NZXT s340 Case (white)

stay tuned later this week for updates on build progress and success
:)
 
I look forward to following your build.

Do you plan to overclock your CPU? For video I need rock-solid stability so I'm curious.

Over the years I've stopped buying gear for "some day" over-clock/upgrades. When I finally need the increased performance the other bottlenecks aren't worth the effort involved.

These days I buy a system for 2 years work.

Admittedly that's kept me off the bleeding edge.
 
Apologies for the delay in following up my original post. The motherboard I first got was damaged during the build because of a small guide post I must have missed in the S340 case. The new one arrived this week and the build is now up and running via Clover!

Most exciting is that most of the hardware is immediately recognized and fully functional right out of the box! My MSI 290x Twin Frozr is silent and working powerfully. Obviously no issues with the 4790k, and only issue with the MSI Krait MoBo (except for ethernet workaround) is audio. The Kingston HyperX Fury 1866 RAM seems to be working flawlessly as well. I also setup 3x 7200 RPM HDD's in a Raid 0 setup post-installation without any trouble.

Installation via Clover was followed step by step via TonyMac's Clover installation guide. The only part that tripped me up was the ethernet kext required for my board. It took some research since the actual user guide for the Krait edition motherboard didn't mention which particular ethernet port it utilizes. Turns out it is the Realtek8111G, and once I knew that adding the ethernet kext to the Clover guide was a breeze.

The only remaining issue I have is getting the motherboard audio to work. I use bluetooth desktop speakers, so this isn't terribly concerning for me but obviously something I plan on fixing. At the moment I am experimenting with options from this guide: http://www.tonymacx86.com/audio/143757-audio-realtek-alc-applehda-guide.html but I don't have my Hackintosh in front of me until later tonight so I will probably update on that progress tomorrow.

But now... my favorite part. Ran the BruceX FCPX Benchmark with everything on stock settings, 20 seconds! It's pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. I'm hoping once I instal my additional RAM, and play around with OC'ing the CPU, GPU I can get it even faster.

So that kind of answers your question... I need to do alot more research on how OC'ing may affect my power load though so I don't do any damage to my hardware by getting over-zealous. But as you mentioned already, obviously OC'ing will also affect the longevity of your hardware, along with the power and heat issues. So to answer, maybe!

In the meantime if anyone wants to pass along the easiest way to deal with no audio on a Clover install for a realtek ALC892 MoBo it would be much appreciated :)
 
290x - 4790k - Clover - Pro-Video Rig

Just a quick follow up, Realtek 892 audio was enabled by downloading Multibeast and installing only the audio driver. Not too concerned with this method, I won't encounter having to redo it seeing as how Yosemite has reached it's last software update (I believe).

Having issues trying to OC from my motherboard - the MSI Z97 Krait Edition. I updated to latest BIOS but still no luck with either manual overclocking or OC Genie. This seems to be the next thing to tackle.

As of right now with Yosemite and Clover everything is running beautifully and I'm just waiting for the next issue to come up - but I think I'm in the clear!
 
Update...

I finally updated to El Capitan, and the results of METAL are really impressive. I averaged 20 seconds on the Bruce X benchmark for FCP X in Yosemite, in El Capitan I average 12 seconds!! :headbang:
Going to see how other benchmarks are affected now...
 
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