Graphic-workstation Build 3D Animation + After Effects (Intel Skylake i7 CPU + GA-Z170X) need advise

[MacKuba]

Hello Guys,

I have a MacbookPro Retina 15“ and an iMac 21,5“ 2011 but for a graphicsworking station the systems are good but not good enough. I love the Macs but for 3D Animation and for After Effects and rendering the systems are not good enough anymore.
I have not enough money for an MacPro so thats why I wanted to build a Hackingtosh.
Get a good Hackingtosh with a MacPro style for less money. I think. I hope you agree with me.
I have an LG3487-B Display and can get the Hackingtosh attach to it via HDMI or thunderbold.

I work a lot in Maya, (Cinema4D), (Blender) , After Effects and Premiere Pro and thats why I need a good working station.

I can wait before I install MacOS X on the system, but I want to ask if this build will work for an Hackingtosh.
I know that the i7 Skylake CPUs are not supported for now in Mac OS X, but I hope they will be in future and than boom I can install Mac OS X and work as before.

I have this case already „Bitfenix Neos“. (it looks so MacPro like, the old ones) I like the old one cases more, because you can change everything. I can buy another case if this is important for the new Hackingtosh.
My budget is about 2000€ and I want to build a perfect graphicsworkingstation for that money.

Planing to buy.
The Build.

+ Leadex 80 Plus Titanium Powersupply – 1000 Watt (when need a more powerful power supply I will buy it.)
+ GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD5 TH
+ Intel CPU Core i7-6700K (4,5 Ghz)
+ Corsair Vengeance LPX Series DDR4-2400, CL14 - 32 GB RAM
+ SAMSUNG 850 EVO SSD 2,5, SATA 6G-500GB (have already)
+ KRAKEN X31 Watercooling -120mm
+ or a complete Water-cooling set.

+ PNY QUADRO K2200, 4096 MB GDDR5, 2x DP, 1x DVI (Graficcard)
or
+ GeForce GTX 980 Ti iChill X3 Ultra DHS Edition, 6144 MB GDDR ( I prefer the GTX980 one but the Quadro is perfect for a rendering and a graphic workstation.)

(which Graphicscard I buy is not so important. I have a tight budget and canot afford an M4000 or an GTX Titan X for now.) Perhaps in future when the system will work fine and I earn enough money for the cards.


I want to ask for advise and if the system parts that I am planing to buy are good enough for the Hackingtosh. I had a Hackingtosh before I bought the iMac, but that was 6 years ago. In that time it didn’t use the Mac for 3D Animation and for graphics, but now I did a lot, so that’s why I want to buy an Hackingtosh a PC for the works.
MacPro is to expensive in my opinion thats why the Hackingtosh.

Games are not so mine, but with this system they should work well I hope.

Is this build I am planing okay? Are the parts wise choosen?
I hope you can give me some advise.

.

Regards
Jakob


P.S. I am from Germany and my english is not perfect. I hope you understand what I wanted to say or ask.

 

[Egonator]

Hi
I do similar work: Rhino3d, Cinema4d, Blender, Adobe CS6.
My build:
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H
CPU: i7 4790k
CPU COOLER: Cooler master hyper evo 212+


RAM: Ballistix Tactical 16GB (1866 Mhz)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 120GB
WIFI: TP-LINK TL-WDN4800


PSU: Corsair RM 550 Watt
CASE: Fractal design DEFINE R5

GFX: MSI nvidia GTX 760 Twinfrozer 2GB

Running Yosemite without any problems (only didn't play with iMessage setup). Install was easy with Multibeast.


Budget was cca 1000 EUR. You can go better with Graphics but for me it is OK. I do both CPU and GPU rendering.
CPU is the top unless you plan to go dual XEON.

p.S? for GFX IMHO go for GTX 980 or similar instead QUADRO.

Egon

 

[MacKuba]

Hi
I do similar work: Rhino3d, Cinema4d, Blender, Adobe CS6.
My build:
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H
CPU: i7 4790k
CPU COOLER: Cooler master hyper evo 212+


RAM: Ballistix Tactical 16GB (1866 Mhz)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 120GB
WIFI: TP-LINK TL-WDN4800


PSU: Corsair RM 550 Watt
CASE: Fractal design DEFINE R5

GFX: MSI nvidia GTX 760 Twinfrozer 2GB

Running Yosemite without any problems (only didn't play with iMessage setup). Install was easy with Multibeast.


Budget was cca 1000 EUR. You can go better with Graphics but for me it is OK. I do both CPU and GPU rendering.
CPU is the top unless you plan to go dual XEON.

p.S? for GFX IMHO go for GTX 980 or similar instead QUADRO.

Egon

Hi Egon, Hi all,

Thank you for your answer.

I am considering to buy an Geforce GTX 980. I know that the QUADRO is better, but I will look into this, when I have enough money to buy a QUADRO for the 3D Works.
With the Geforce GTX 980 I can play some Games when I wanted to.

I saw today that the new Buyers Guide is online with support for the Skylake CPUs and Motherboards.

Okay I have now the following options to choose the right Motherboard and I am not sure which option should I choose.

I want to buy them in a bundle to safe some money.

Intel i7 6700K 4.2 Ghz
16 GB RAM DDR4
(will be the same in every bundle)

but I can have some options to safe real money to invest the budget into a great graphicscard the Geforce GTX or the Quadro.



Motherboard options:

ASUS:
ASUS Z170-P (1x M.2 slot)
ASUS Z170 Maximus VIII Ranger (1x M.2 slot)

MSI:
MSI Z170A Gaming M5 (2x M.2 slots)
MSI Z170A Gaming M7 (2x M.2 slots)

Gigabyte:
Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 5 (2x M.2 slots)
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 (2x M.2 slots)
Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI (1x M.2 slot)
Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P (1x M.2 slot)
Gigabyte H110M-S2HP


Which Motherboard is better for Mac OS X and for a Hackingtosh ?
Can someone tell me if they are any problems installing Mac OS X on these boards or should I choose Gigabyte for more compatibility or is this irrelevant and I can choose that board I would prefer?

I would choose a motherboard with 2 x M.2 slots for more compatibility for the future and of course with an USB-C connector for the future.
When I look into my list I would choose Gigabyte or MSI Motherboard, which is better for installation of Mac OS X?


Regards
Jakob

 

[Natrix7610]

It doesn't look like you got much of a reply for this... maybe because the boards that are recommended are already listed? Though, I am equally curious what you found out or ended up going with as I am in the same boat, working in After Effects and other 3D programs. Two boards that I was interested in Godlike X99A(removed from list) and Gigabyte Z170X-SOC Force(out of stock on newer and Prices JACKED everywhere else).