I want to upgrade my hackintosh

[dunnope]

Hello,

I want to make an upgrade to my hackintosh. My config is an intel i5 2500k processor,a h61m-ds2 motherboard, 4 gb ram and a geforce 8600 gts graphic card. I was thinking at adding 4 gb ram and buy a new graphic card but I don't know what should I buy(a 6xx card maybe as I saw on the site but I don't know which one, I want it to be natively compatible and of course to bring performance), and also I don't know if I should stay with this motherboard or buy another one.
It remains pretty frequently without ram I mean with like 20-30 mb as I have a program which tells me that, and I was thinking if I upgrade the ram to 8 gb which I should have done in the past while I have mountain lion and the graphic card it should be better right? I mean that should be the problem.. the processor is good, what do you think about the motherboard? It will be fine if I stay with it? I don't want really to change the motherboard, I mean I think I can stick with it as all my drivers work, do you think the motherboard would work with a 6xx graphic, 8 gb ram and i5 2500k processor together? I mean to have a decent performance. I usually have a lot of programs opened at the same time like Photoshop, Illustrator, Chrome with a lot of tabs and so on. I don't have a big budget for now and I will have to keep it somewhere at $150.

Thank you

 

[ikara19]

I don't know much about your motherboard, but I'd think the biggest bang for your buck (especially at your $150 budget) would be some really nice RAM. You mentioned you have a lot of memory-heavy programs open at the same time, and more RAM would definitely help that. Additionally, if you do decide to upgrade other parts later (motherboard), your RAM will probably carry over.

After that I would think a new processor would be the most beneficial, assuming you aren't a gamer. Your graphics card sounds like it can handle photoshop/illustrator just fine. To avoid bottlenecking you shouldn't spend gratuitously more on one component than the other (CPU vs. GPU).

As an afterthought, if you're adventurous you can plop down some money for a water cooler and overclock your 2500K.

 

[thierry37]

Just a quick question: what applications are you running at same time, when you start using all the 4GB of Ram?

(Because OSX is not dealing with RAM as in Windows. The "Inactive" memory is not "used" and can be reused. Some users think their RAM is fully used when they see "Free RAM = 0" which is not always true)

What do you do with you hack? heavy photo editing?
It's important to know, when you want to upgrade.

Another question: do you already have SSD for your system? or still on HDD?
(because in my opinion, it's much better to boot in 10s, run application like a blink, etc.. and loose a bit of time when doing heavy rendering or else, if it's only done once a day or once a week.) This can only be known by you.

 

[dunnope]

Just a quick question: what applications are you running at same time, when you start using all the 4GB of Ram?

(Because OSX is not dealing with RAM as in Windows. The "Inactive" memory is not "used" and can be reused. Some users think their RAM is fully used when they see "Free RAM = 0" which is not always true)

What do you do with you hack? heavy photo editing?
It's important to know, when you want to upgrade.

Another question: do you already have SSD for your system? or still on HDD?
(because in my opinion, it's much better to boot in 10s, run application like a blink, etc.. and loose a bit of time when doing heavy rendering or else, if it's only done once a day or once a week.) This can only be known by you.

I usually have Photoshop, Illustrator, Chrome and Skype opened at the same time. I usually use a lot Photoshop and Illustrator as I am a graphic designer. I am on HDD. You think I should buy only a SSD?

 

[thierry37]

And when you run all software, do you see full use of the "inactive" ram?
or all is the active ram ?

in the activity monitor.

 

[dunnope]

And when you run all software, do you see full use of the "inactive" ram?
or all is the active ram ?

in the activity monitor.

No, it remains about 500 mb - 1 gb. I have an app that shows on the top bar the free ram and when it is somewhere at 10-30 mb which happens pretty frequently my computer starts to move slow and to be unresponsive. I am not sure now what to say..

 

[zaptoons]

I'd definitely recommend upgrading the graphic card. The GTS 8600 is getting pretty old, whereas the rest of your system is still fairly up to date.

Your motherboard has a 16x PCIe 2.0 slot. I would recommend a GTX 650 card with 1GB of DDR5. (I personally wouldn't waste money on a much lower spec GT 640, which I find cost nearly as much but offer a much lower level of performance benefit). You'll need to make sure GraphicEnabler=no is set in the boot.plist before you install a nVidia 6xx card.

8GB of RAM wouldn't hurt anything either (especially for Photoshop which is very RAM hungry) but if was down to one or the other, I'd go for upgrading the video card first.

An SSD is a great speed boost- but you'll see the advantage of it mostly at bootup. If that's your only upgrade, I think you'll only see a modest speed gain in actual system use. It is a help to Photoshop and other apps to use an SSD as a scratch disk- but then remember that more system RAM means less reliance on scratch disks, which is the better solution if choosing one or the other. I'd recommend an SSD upgrade in addition to upgrading your video card and RAM.

 

[dunnope]

I'd definitely recommend upgrading the graphic card. The GTS 8600 is getting pretty old, whereas the rest of your system is still fairly up to date.

Your motherboard has a 16x PCIe 2.0 slot. I would recommend a GTX 650 card with 1GB of DDR5. (I personally wouldn't waste money on a much lower spec GT 640, which I find cost nearly as much but offer a much lower level of performance benefit). You'll need to make sure GraphicEnabler=no is set in the boot.plist before you install a nVidia 6xx card.

8GB of RAM wouldn't hurt anything either (especially for Photoshop which is very RAM hungry) but if was down to one or the other, I'd go for upgrading the video card first.

An SSD is a great speed boost- but you'll see the advantage of it mostly at bootup. If that's your only upgrade, I think you'll only see a modest speed gain in actual system use. It is a help to Photoshop and other apps to use an SSD as a scratch disk- but then remember that more system RAM means less reliance on scratch disks, which is the better solution if choosing one or the other. I'd recommend an SSD upgrade in addition to upgrading your video card and RAM.

Thank you very much for your advice, this was very helpful. I will buy the components very soon. I will pick a GTX 650 card as you said, 4 gb of ram and I will think about the SSD, maybe I will upgrade that later.

 

[zaptoons]

Thank you very much for your advice, this was very helpful. I will buy the components very soon. I will pick a GTX 650 card as you said, 4 gb of ram and I will think about the SSD, maybe I will upgrade that later.

The H61M-DS2 only has two RAM slots. Do you currently have 1 stick of 4GB, or two sticks of 2GB?

If one 4GB stick already, then be sure to get the same speed RAM (hopefully DDR3 1333, the board's max). You'll also get the benefit of having dual-channel mode enabled.

If you currently have 2x 2GB, then you'll need to yank both and buy 2x 4GB. The maximum supported is 2x 8GB DDR3 1333mhz.

 

[dunnope]

The H61M-DS2 only has two RAM slots. Do you currently have 1 stick of 4GB, or two sticks of 2GB?

If one 4GB stick already, then be sure to get the same speed RAM (hopefully DDR3 1333, the board's max). You'll also get the benefit of having dual-channel mode enabled.

If you currently have 2x 2GB, then you'll need to yank both and buy 2x 4GB. The maximum supported is 2x 8GB DDR3 1333mhz.

Fortunately I have been cautious when I bought the ram along the motherboard, so I have only one stick with 4 gb of ram and is exactly ddr3 1333 . Now I am able to buy only 4 gb more. Thank you very much for your warning anyway.