Help me with the best motherboard for i7-6700, please.

[Acden]

After years with problems on MacPro 3.1, MacBook pro on i7!!!!!
Finally, some days ago, I decided to try to make Hacintosh (((

(I love my Mac Pro tower... I like how it looks like on my desktop, I like to show my clients original Mac Pro server )))
And it was difficult decision...


It will be my main desktop for everyday use (surely, I will use Web-browsers, e-mail in time it Rendering video). Mac OS Sierra.
The most difficult question was about CPU. I chose from: Core i7 4790K, 6700, 4770, 4790, i7-5775C, i7-7700). Because I don't know what is enough for me?

I decided no to buy the latest CPU (not Sky-lake), because it is unknown how it will work in OS X, because there is no native support at the moment...

I was centered on 4770K processor, as heard a lot about it's power etc. But then found i7-6700 with very adequate price! (new in box about $250!!!). And it won my puzzle.

I have chosen Intel Core i7-6700. I would like to explain why not 6700K. Because it's TDP is much more. I'm not sure that I need more than 3,4 GHZ. Surely, 4Ghz is better but it requires better cooling (by the way, I buy best cooler anyway) and it could be more noisy!

I want silent desktop, like my Mac Pro 3.1. And I don't want to pay x2 bills for my K processor with TDPx2 than without K (or, did I mistaken about its more electicity requirements?).


And at this moment my question is about motherboard. How to chose motherboard with minumum problems in hackintosh? I mean minimum kextst or whatever else, required before installation. I need MB with at least 3 PCIe, it is good if it has 8SATA, instead of 6 sata-ports, it would be great if it has 10GBe or 2xLAN.

It is also good if it would be ASUS or GB motherboard compatible with their Thunderbolt adapters (As I already have Thunderbolt Display), but it is not the must.

My first point is: GIGABYTE-GA-Z170X UltraGaming. But I'm interested, what better I could buy with no compatibility(kext etc) problems?


As I know, there were less problems with Gigabyte mb some years ago. Now I see a lot of people uses ASUS (with the name like Formula or Similar).

I have Sapphire 7950 and Nvidia GTX 760 cards to use in my new system. Also, a lot of HDDs and SSD.

Oh, sorry. This desktop mainly is for editing and exporting in Adobe Premiere and FCPX!!! I want a good machine to use them without lags for Full HD video, weddings, concerts editings, mostly multicam edits with not a lot of effects!

(My MacPro 3.1 xeon 5462 2.8 Ghz with 6GB is very slow on both editing programms. And some people said it not worth upgrading)

(Will update the post, after remember something, so look it)



Can I buy any MB from: https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/february/2017
or other lists (other months)? Or there some details on each motherboard with some works perfect, some not.?!

 

[Acden]

Dear friends, I will get my i7 CPU tomorrow.
Help me to chose motherboard, please. I want to build it on weekends. But I can do it with your advice only.

 

[pastrychef]

For someone new to hackintosh, I suggest looking at the Golden Builds and Users Builds sub-forums. Look for a motherboard that is well documented so that you have somewhere to turn when you need to look for help. Those builds also give directions on how to get macOS installed so it will be easier for you.

 

[Acden]

Also, there is a question for me.

This CPU supports 2333 Ghz memory. Are there reason to buy MB with higher-speed memory and use it in overclocked mode?
As I understad that any CPU could support memory on the same frequency as CPU (3400 Mhz in my case).Is it good idea to use more high speed memory than CPU specifications?

 

[pastrychef]

I don't know how much difference overclocked memory makes in real world performance. When I put together my system, I went with the best i could find.