Just Pulled The Trigger On My First HackPro Tower!

[bx don]

I need something to hold me over until apple decides to announce there new Ivory Bridge line up so I wanted to keep this build very reasonable on the price. I searched for great prices before I decided to start the complete build. These are the specs of the build I will be doing. these parts come from Ebay,Newegg and Amazon. only issue I'm having is with the Graphics card cant seem to find a good price on any of the ones that I would like for this build. I would like the ATI Radeon HD 5870 but in the interest of saving $$$ I'm probably going to be getting the AMD Radeon HD 6670 or AMD Radeon HD 6850. I will be using this machine for light/Medium Video Editing and HTPC, also I'm trying to stick to the confirmed working parts because I want this build to be as painless as possible. any advice on witch graphics card would work best for me in the interest of saving $$$ thanks for any help or advice. Total cost so far is $514

Processor: i5 2500K 3.33GHz $213
Mother Board: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 $84
Hard Drive: 60GB OCZ agility 3 $62
Ram: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB ( Upgrading 16/32GB Near Future) $39
Case: NZXT White Phantom $35
Usb Dongle: Jarba A320s $7
WiFi adapter: Asus usb-N13 $19
Power Supply: CORSAIR Builder CX600 V2 $42
Drive: Sony Optiarc 24X DVD Burner $16
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6670 $51

 

[jester969]

I've started to see people having issues w/the 6850. Get the HD6870.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150521

 

[bx don]

your not the first person to recommend this card for my build. I'm currently bidding on a 6670 on ebay its going for very cheap and if I don't win that bid then I will just probably just buy a graphics card retail.. and the HD6870 looks like a great card. does it install with no issues as far as drivers go? thanks for your advice.

I've started to see people having issues w/the 6850. Get the HD6870.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150521

 

[jester969]

Yes, works OOB in Lion w/GE=Yes

 

[bx don]

Great news. I'm am also interested in dual booting Windows 7 64bit. Can I use bootcamp like normal or will I need to have a separate boot drive for that. Any advice on wireless N capability I need this to be on my home network.

Yes, works OOB in Lion w/GE=Yes

 

[wfj]

Great news. I'm am also interested in dual booting Windows 7 64bit. Can I use bootcamp like normal or will I need to have a separate boot drive for that. Any advice on wireless N capability I need this to be on my home network.

Yes, works OOB in Lion w/GE=Yes

Best to have a separate drive for win7. Wifi:

http://x86wifi.blogspot.com/2010/04/how ... -card.html

 

[bx don]

Wow I don't know if I would attempt that mod on that wifi card. I hope I can find a USB alternative other wise it will just be hardwired.. Thanks for the replys fellas.

Great news. I'm am also interested in dual booting Windows 7 64bit. Can I use bootcamp like normal or will I need to have a separate boot drive for that. Any advice on wireless N capability I need this to be on my home network.

Yes, works OOB in Lion w/GE=Yes

Best to have a separate drive for win7. Wifi:

http://x86wifi.blogspot.com/2010/04/how ... -card.html

 

[wfj]

If you don't like that alternative, the asus usb-n13 works fine. You can get lion drivers from the Ralink website.

 

[bx don]

Now that's what I'm talking about the asus usb-n13 will fit right in with my budget... Thanks for the advice on that. I wanted to use the SSD for both OSX&W7 as just a Boot Drive but your saying it's best to keep them on separate hdd's? So your basically a SSD or OSX and a SSD for W7. That might get pricy I'll have to look deeper into that.

If you don't like that alternative, the asus usb-n13 works fine. You can get lion drivers from the Ralink website.

 

[wfj]

Now that's what I'm talking about the asus usb-n13 will fit right in with my budget... Thanks for the advice on that. I wanted to use the SSD for both OSX&W7 as just a Boot Drive but your saying it's best to keep them on separate hdd's? So your basically a SSD or OSX and a SSD for W7. That might get pricy I'll have to look deeper into that.

If you don't like that alternative, the asus usb-n13 works fine. You can get lion drivers from the Ralink website.

It's ideal but not required. OS X has a pretty small footprint and doesn't need a very big drive (60gb is fine for OS and apps). Windows is more of a pig space wise