First timer asking for advice

[Ivagone]

G'day

Never built a computer before, and looking to put together a hackintosh. I know - J learning curve ahead. Anyway - I do understand about the components, but I am looking for advice on a good build. Does not have to be the fastest, flashest, etc. Does have to be a tower though.

I currently have a Mac Mini, 2014 I think. I have a 1TB hard drive, 8GB RAM, Intel Iris graphics, and no clue about the CPU. Anyway, looking for something somewhat faster that I can build myself. Doesn't need extra storage, but more RAM, faster CPU and better graphics are a must. I also want to install HDMI for the connection to my monitor, and have a better video card. I have watched a few Youtube vids about the subject, and read some of the discussions here.

Even a pointer to a good build that has already been published would be good.

Thanks for your time and consideration

 

[rwillett]

There are masses of builds on here. Look in

Golden Builds

Great Examples of User Builds - Chosen by the Mods

www.tonymacx86.com

as these are well documented builds.

Storage is the easiest thing to do, but the rest is all down to putting well matched components together that are known to work with Macs.

Most people's decisions come down to total cost, so you tend to get the CPU, Motherboard and CPU costs as a unit. Whilst your Mac Mini 'only' has 8GB, my Macbook Pro from 2013 only has 8GB and I use it every single day at work, I use it for video editing, database development, general web usage and it handles everything I throw at it including running VMware Fusion.

So work out what you really want to do, 16GB is actually good for most things. I'm writing this on my Hack which has an i7 and 32GB and has never failed to live up to whatever I throw at it.

Once you've worked out the motherboard, CPU and memory combination, start looking at Graphics cards. You have a choice of nVidia (great power/price ratio) but slightly more difficult drivers as they tend to lag by a day or two to OS X release but I'd never install a new release until it's a few weeks old so that's not a big deal. AMD graphics cards tend to be a little more out of the box working but the newer RX series seem to require more effort. I use older dual AMD 280X cards and drive DisplayPort and HDMI monitors on a triple monitor system. It just works now I know not to use DVI with Mojave. You learn something new everyday.

Storage is easy, get an SSD for the main OS, 1TB should be adequate and if you need more disk, just buy disks as needed.

Networking is whatever you want, though I would avoid any RTL networking card as they are utter junk and not worth spending anything on whatsoever. Get an Intel network card and have something that won't flog your CPU just to do data transfer. If you do video, avoid WiFi unless you like drinking lot's of coffee watching your 10GB video file not transfer quickly.

Case is whatever. Why people get excited about bent sheet metal is a mystery to me and why they want to put lights in the case is just weird. Don't bother with watercooling, buy a decent air cooler for your CPU and it'll be silent and you'll never worry about coolant leaks.

So read the golden builds and work out your budget and stick to it. The i5 CPU's are really good value, but only you can say what the system is worth to you.

Rob

 

[Stork]

For components to build your system, see also the tonymacx86 Buying Guide (menu at top of this thread).

See also The Basics > https://www.tonymacx86.com/forums/the-basics.165/

 

[Ivagone]

Thank you both for such excellent advice - I will certainly be following it.

 

[Ivagone]

Working my way through some of the builds. I live in Australia - so may have to source components from other suppliers.

 

[Ivagone]

I have noticed that none of the RAM in the build list of parts is available - at least not for Australia, and is says not instock, and may not be restocked. Ah well.....

 

[Ivagone]

OK - working away.

Looking at a motherboard: ASUS TUF Z390M-PRO GAMING (WI-FI) - sort of selected 'cos I saw it in the list. Do I need to get extra cards for wifi, wireless, bluetooth?

I figure this is a very basic question - or even the wrong question, but I gotta start somewhere.

Looking at a Intel Core i7-8700K Coffee Lake 6-Core 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) 95W BX80684I78700K Desktop Processor Intel UHD Graphics 630

and Graphics Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5 PCI-E Dual HDMI / DVI-D / Dual DP OC w/ Backplate (UEFI),
100411P8GOCL

The RAM that is showing in the parts list on this site I cannot get, but another person here uses these: G.Skill 16GB (2x 8GB) F4-2400C15D-16GTZR DDR4 2400Mhz Trident Z RGB

Anyway - would those all go together? I am looking to do a build that will last me for a fairly long time.

 

[trs96]

The RAM that is showing in the parts list on this site I cannot get, but another person here uses these: G.Skill 16GB (2x 8GB) F4-2400C15D-16GTZR DDR4 2400Mhz Trident Z RGB

Download this file (TUF_Z390M-PRO_GAMING_WI-FI_DRAM_QVL) to see exactly which ram will work with that Asus board.

TUF Z390M-PRO GAMING (WI-FI) Memory / Device Support | Motherboards | ASUS USA

Powered by 9th Generation Intel® Core™ processors, TUF Z390M-Pro Gaming is designed for 24/7 performance. Unlock your system’s full potential with Gamer’s Guardian featuring SafeSlot and Fan Xpert 4. Integrated dual M.2, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.1 Gen 2, and support for Intel® Optane™ Memory maximizes...

www.asus.com

 

[Ivagone]

WOW! - Thanks for that.