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Is RAM crucial? (pun unintended)

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testuser112

testuser112

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***Who I am***
I am a person that can be best described as absolute newbie in terms of building CustoMacs aka Hackintoshs. I am/was a Pro Mac consumer with experiences since 2005 with respect to real Macs until lately when I bought a Mac Pro Late 2013 in order to see that it suffers from the same mediocre overall build quality Apples products all have (bad experience on my side, each Mac I bought went dead about 1,5 years after purchase; with 7 Macs this can't be called a statistical slip anymore to my mind). To make a long story short: I am working on my PhD thesis in a theoretical subject that involves being able to numerically simulate very extensive systems. I bought a Mac Pro for that purpose just to see that it can't fullfil my needs due to the fact that it is more often away because of repair than it is on my desk…

TL;DR: I heavily rely on tools like Mathematica, Matlab, custom routines written with C++ in combination with boost and friends that are very CPU and RAM consuming. And I really love macOS because I am a Mac user ever since.

***What I want***
I need a CustoMac that is more or less able to handle my heavy workload. I almost never update my system (due to incompatibility problems with numerical libraries). On my real Mac Pro Late 2013 I still rely on 10.10.4.

TL;DR: The requirements are: Very fast CPU/very fast RAM of >= 16 GB

***What I thought of***
I just read Nvidia's announcement of Pascal architecture GPUs (that is quite interesting for my studies due to Cuda, not for gaming) so I thought of the following system to replace my real Mac Pro (that is currently somewhere between dead and alive):

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K
Internal SSD: Samsung MZ-75E500B/EU 850 EVO 500GB
Case: NZXT H440
PSU: EVGA 210-GQ-0650-V2
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-ULTRA GAMING
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport Arbeitsspeicher 16GB Kit (2x8GB)
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 FTW


***What I want to know***
Given my needs as stated above: How reliable is a CustoMac? I, of course, know that this is almost impossible to say for a device you didn't build yourselves but the question is: Is it in principle possible to use a CustoMac as a daily driver? If so, are the components above good for heavy numerical work? Or would you recommend better RAM? In this context: Is it possible to use RAM that isn't build by Crucial?

I have no problems to invest a few weeks into building a Hackintosh. I almost never update macOS. But (and this is important) do I get a machine that simply works with a Hackintosh once configured without system upgrades? Or do I have to invest hours and hours a week to "keep it running"? What are your experiences?

Thanks for helping a newbie like me and sorry for the partly stupid questions.
 
Modified Hero
Maximus VIII Hero |  i7 6700 |  GeForce GTX 1070 FTW
testuser112 said:
***Who I am***
I am a person that can be best described as absolute newbie in terms of building CustoMacs aka Hackintoshs. I am/was a Pro Mac consumer with experiences since 2005 with respect to real Macs until lately when I bought a Mac Pro Late 2013 in order to see that it suffers from the same mediocre overall build quality Apples products all have (bad experience on my side, each Mac I bought went dead about 1,5 years after purchase; with 7 Macs this can't be called a statistical slip anymore to my mind). To make a long story short: I am working on my PhD thesis in a theoretical subject that involves being able to numerically simulate very extensive systems. I bought a Mac Pro for that purpose just to see that it can't fullfil my needs due to the fact that it is more often away because of repair than it is on my desk…

TL;DR: I heavily rely on tools like Mathematica, Matlab, custom routines written with C++ in combination with boost and friends that are very CPU and RAM consuming. And I really love macOS because I am a Mac user ever since.

***What I want***
I need a CustoMac that is more or less able to handle my heavy workload. I almost never update my system (due to incompatibility problems with numerical libraries). On my real Mac Pro Late 2013 I still rely on 10.10.4.

TL;DR: The requirements are: Very fast CPU/very fast RAM of >= 16 GB

***What I thought of***
I just read Nvidia's announcement of Pascal architecture GPUs (that is quite interesting for my studies due to Cuda, not for gaming) so I thought of the following system to replace my real Mac Pro (that is currently somewhere between dead and alive):

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K
Internal SSD: Samsung MZ-75E500B/EU 850 EVO 500GB
Case: NZXT H440
PSU: EVGA 210-GQ-0650-V2
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-ULTRA GAMING
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport Arbeitsspeicher 16GB Kit (2x8GB)
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 FTW


***What I want to know***
Given my needs as stated above: How reliable is a CustoMac? I, of course, know that this is almost impossible to say for a device you didn't build yourselves but the question is: Is it in principle possible to use a CustoMac as a daily driver? If so, are the components above good for heavy numerical work? Or would you recommend better RAM? In this context: Is it possible to use RAM that isn't build by Crucial?
Click to expand...

Your hardware looks basically fine - you have clearly done a reasonable amount of work to determine your actual requirements and you have made some good choices on the hardware side of things for a quality performance build. I would go for the EVGA 650 G3 PSU as it is made of better quality components and is worth the small extra difference in price. The model that you have picked will get the job done - it isn't a bad PSU.
On RAM, the board that you are looking at supports overclocking the RAM to gain additional RAM speed (common on many modern boards today). The manufacturer also links to recommended RAM modules, which if available locally to you would be the best starting point.
http://ca.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170X-Ultra-Gaming-rev-10#sp
http://ca.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170X-Ultra-Gaming-rev-10#support-doc

As you can see the board supports higher speed RAM from a number of different manufactures. Look at the specific model numbers of the particular speed and capacity that interest you and google these model numbers. Check that the results that you get correspond to the identical model. A single different letter or number may not be as suitable to the board that you use.
There is a lot of generic RAM available that will often do the job - but it may let you down on a performance build. RAM that is built to tighter manufacturing specifications should cost more to buy than the normal generic sticks that are fine for office computing tasks.
The motherboard will support some different RAM profiles that will make life a little easier in achieving faster RAM performance. The following video should be considered as a general overview:

I have no problems to invest a few weeks into building a Hackintosh. I almost never update macOS. But (and this is important) do I get a machine that simply works with a Hackintosh once configured without system upgrades? Or do I have to invest hours and hours a week to "keep it running"? What are your experiences?

Thanks for helping a newbie like me and sorry for the partly stupid questions.
Click to expand...

CustoMacs or Hackintoshes are generally extremely stable and used by many as their daily driver. Getting every macOS feature working (correct power management/Continuity & Handoff, iMessages etc willl take a little longer, there may be some issues getting all USB 3 ports working at the correct speeds, USB 3,1 may be an issue but this is all part of running macOS on pc hardware. macOS runs very well on pc hardware - it is after all very similar to what Apple use themselves.
 
Macallan
GA-B75M-HD3 |  i7 3770 |  Radeon HD 5570
With your build, I would say after some fine tuning, it would work like a charm(well, you actually have to wait for the Nvidia Web driver update. Beta is said to be coming this month but who know about the official release?).
 
To both of you who helped me: Wow, thank you for your (very extensive) answers and helping me out with further hints. To be honest, the support I got here from you is a lot more responsive and helpful than the official Apple Support for real Macs was </Raging>.

To become serious again: I just saw that @Stork built a system that is very much like the one I intended to build with the difference of a few better and more extensive components except for the GPU/PSU where I thought of the EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 FTW and (following the advice of @Adrian B) an EVGA 650 G3 PSU. I considered following most of the parts from Stork's Build because of his marvellous explanation regarding kexts and getting macOS on the Hardware. That might be of inestimable value to a newbie like me.

For better readability I will ask stepwise what I (I might have mentioned it: as a complete newbie ;-) ) don't know up to now and would like recommendations with:

  1. Would you choose the Corsair RX650M of the original build or the EVGA 650 G3 PSU? The warranty of 7 (to 5) years is a plus for the latter one. Are there disadvantages of choosing EVGA over Corsair?
  2. Does anybody know if it's as simple as I hope to replace Stork's GPU with the EVGA 1070 FTW? Just with the difference of using the most actual drivers that are (thanks for pointing out) available now to download.
  3. Stork uses Watercooling for the CPU. I am aware of apps like iStat Menus to see and control temperatures and fans on real Macs. I almost assume it won't be that easy to build a well working cooling on a CustoMac. So my question: Is this system self-contained? Does it simply measure the CPU temperature itself and adjust all parameters like fan speed accordingly? I ask because of the fact that I use numerical libraries that are going to put pressure on the CPU non stop for days. I would sleep a lot better to know that my investment doesn't burn itself and will show magic blue smoke to me the day after. I am a bit panicky regarding this as the thermal management of real Macs is a catastrophy for heavy use. It is meant to be silent, thus letting arise much higher temperatures. I wouldn't like that for my CustoMac.
I again thank you for helping me.
 
Modified Hero
Maximus VIII Hero |  i7 6700 |  GeForce GTX 1070 FTW
1. I like the Corsair and SeaSonic PSUs because of the reviews I've read and the recommendations of user's on this forum. As it turns out, SeaSonic is the OEM for a lot of PSU suppliers (to those supplier's specs). So, YMMV, but I wait until one of the Corsair or SeaSonic good PSUs are on sale and buy it for my upcoming build.

2. It depends upon which one of my builds you are looking at. The Gene and MyHero builds both use Maxwell GTX 900 series cards. With the new Nvidia drivers (see the Download menu at the top of this page), the Pascal GTX 1070 will work in your system, and you can even follow my installation procedures. :thumbup:

3. I used water cooling because...well, I wanted to test Corsair H series. I'm not a huge overclocker, so I'm kinda think that the water coolers cost too much for my use. On my next build, I'll return to air coolers, like the Arctic Freeze Pro, Rev 2, or the Scythe Mugen 5. (My second build back in the day used the Scythe Mugen 3 which did the job very well.) So, unless you overclock to the max, I recommend a good processor air cooler.
 
  1. Alright. In this case I will completely copy your build ("MyHero" btw) and go for Corsair as well.
  2. An even nicer information. In this case this will be my only modification to your build and I will use the EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 FTW instead of Maxwell architecture.
  3. Indeed I like the idea of water cooling, too. Despite of the fact what I will finally use: Is the temperature management wrt the fan speed completely automagically done by the Mainboard? Or does it always work on minimum fan speed by default? If so, that might not be sufficient for heavy workload, right?
 
Modified Hero
Maximus VIII Hero |  i7 6700 |  GeForce GTX 1070 FTW
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