First hackintosh, GPU advice needed for 27" iMac (via DP)

[Ausmarc]

Hey guys.. Still haven't fronted up the cash to get the hardware yet as I want to lay it all out first.

Looking at the following setup:



The motherboard in that list isn't the one I am planning on getting, it was just a placeholder. I have read that the easiest way to go for a first system is a GA-Z77-DS3H.. Unfortunately I can only buy one off ebay as that mobo is either discontinued from my country (australia) or just extremely hard to find. American PC hardware sites also don't like to post to other countries which is a pain..

I am also looking at the Corsair H70 hydro cooler for the CPU, as I plan to do some OC'ing.

I plan to have this system setup as a dual boot (mac for my music production hobby, windows for games). I will probably get another SSD to hold the other OS once I have Mountain Lion working correctly.

If any of you see an issue with compatibility that I don't see, I would love to hear your feedback.

My main question is however: I plan on using the mDP on my late 2009 27" iMac as my primary/only display for the hackintosh. Do you think that 2GB of vRAM, and the nVidia GTX680 is sufficient to run a modern game (specifically an upcoming MMO, and possibly Black Ops 2) at the native 27" resolution of 2560x1440, or will I have to look at using a dual GPU setup? I understand that this kind of resolution is quite taxing, and I don't want to resort to sacrificing AA or lighting settings etc in order to play at this resolution.

Cheers in advance

Marc

 

[nobodynose]

Hey guys.. Still haven't fronted up the cash to get the hardware yet as I want to lay it all out first.

Looking at the following setup:

View attachment 43321

The motherboard in that list isn't the one I am planning on getting, it was just a placeholder. I have read that the easiest way to go for a first system is a GA-Z77-DS3H.. Unfortunately I can only buy one off ebay as that mobo is either discontinued from my country (australia) or just extremely hard to find. American PC hardware sites also don't like to post to other countries which is a pain..

I am also looking at the Corsair H70 hydro cooler for the CPU, as I plan to do some OC'ing.

I plan to have this system setup as a dual boot (mac for my music production hobby, windows for games). I will probably get another SSD to hold the other OS once I have Mountain Lion working correctly.

If any of you see an issue with compatibility that I don't see, I would love to hear your feedback.

My main question is however: I plan on using the mDP on my late 2009 27" iMac as my primary/only display for the hackintosh. Do you think that 2GB of vRAM, and the nVidia GTX680 is sufficient to run a modern game (specifically an upcoming MMO, and possibly Black Ops 2) at the native 27" resolution of 2560x1440, or will I have to look at using a dual GPU setup? I understand that this kind of resolution is quite taxing, and I don't want to resort to sacrificing AA or lighting settings etc in order to play at this resolution.

Cheers in advance

Marc

Mac OS X doesn't support dual GPUs (in SLI or Crossfire mode), so that's off the table. I don't game, so I can't answer your other questions.

 

[grimAXE]

With the updated Chimera bootloader you can install more than 1 Graphics Card. However OS X will not recognize it as an SLI setup, mostly due to Driver limitations based on Nvidia's on graphics drivers for Mac.

A GTX 680 of any edition would do pretty amazing at 1080p video gaming. However at the native resolution of the 27" iMac it may under perform just a tad, maybe 50-40 fps in games maxed out at that resolution.

What I would suggest doing is going to Newegg's youtube channel and earlier in 2012 they did benchmarks for the GTX 680s in both 1920x1080 and 2560x1600.

If you're satisfied with the performance marks (look closely at Alien vs Predator for a guesstimate performance) you'll be pleased.


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A single GTX 680 would be plenty fine, even if gaming for Mac from its handful of games available such as Guild Wars 2 for Mac

 

[Ausmarc]

*edit*

Misread previous post and the original question was answered.

Thanks again!

Planning on picking up all the gear tomorrow so stay tuned for my frustrated "why isn't this working?" posts..