Mac Pro (5,1) Replacement Build - Pre-Build Advice / Order Review?

[HackaShaq]

I have a Mid 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 that is getting a bit long in the tooth. It's actually a fully functional machine and running High Sierra (10.13.4) quite well. I primarily use this machine for heavy photoshop work, and might get into video editing as well.

I'm going to use this machine to power two Dell P2715Q displays at 4k resolution @ 60Hz.

I also just purchased the Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB card that I can use natively with my Mid 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 as I wait to build my custom Hackinosh.

My goal is to have a replacement to my Mac Pro that shares many of the same characteristics of my current Mac Pro (expandability in a full tower case), and can also house a minimum of 4 internal 3.5" hard drives + 1 2.5" SSD (like my current Mac Pro), but ideally I'd like it to have access for even more 3.5" drives, maybe 6 internal 3.5" drives.

I have a ton of RAW photography files on various 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB drives that I mirror to a corresponding drive via SuperDuper, and thus my current setup has 4 Internal 3.5" HDs, 1 Internal 2.5" SSD, and 4 External 3.5" HD's connected via firewire enclosures. I'd like to keep costs down by simply utilizing these same HDs that are working fine.

I actually want a boring, minimalist looking case without a window if possible to just work. Don't need colorful lights etc. (I'm old.)

I already own the following, and will build my hackintosh around these two key elements:

Already own:
1. Two (2x) Dell P2715Q displays at 4k resolution @ 60Hz.
2. Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB card.

Items I Plan on Purchasing:

Case:
$74.25 - Phanteks Enthoo Pro series PH-ES614PC_BK Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811854004

(I saw that the Lian Li PC-V1000LA Silver looked a lot like the old PowerMac G5 case, and that was intriguing, but doesn't look like it's available in Silver anymore. Bummer.)

Motherboard:
$229.99 - GIGABYTE Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 (Intel LGA1151/ Z370/ ATX/ 3xM.2/ M.2 Thermal Guard / Front USB 3.1 /ESS Sabre DAC /RGB Fusion/ Fan Stop /SLI/ Motherboard)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075KFX627/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

(I'm especially concerned about covering my bases here with the motherboard. I read that the Gaming 7 has six SATA ports, but if you use an NVMe SSD in the first slot as your system's boot drive, you lose two of the SATA ports to lane-sharing. Not sure if this is true, or if there's an similar mb that doesn't suffer from this because I do want lots of internal storage. Any help is appreciated.)

Processor:
$347.06 - Intel Core i7-8700K Desktop Processor
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07598VZR8/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Boot Drive:
$117.19 - Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

(I use the boot drive for applications only and a scratch disk and have had a 256 SSD as my boot drive for quite some time with free space, but I may bump this to the 500GB model if need be)

Cooling Fan:
$89.90 - be quiet! BK019 Dark Rock Pro 3 - CPU Cooler
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HPX7J4K/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

RAM:
$356.99 - Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 2666MHz (PC4-21300) C16 Memory Kit - Black
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0134EW44S/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

PSU:
$79.99 - EVGA 750 BQ, 80+ BRONZE 750W, Semi Modular, 5 Year Warranty, Includes FREE Power On Self Tester, Power Supply 110-BQ-0750-V1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FYDUDJ0/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Around $1,300 total for this build (factoring in utilizing the RX 580 I already purchased).

Would welcome any advice as to what type of geekbench numbers I might expect, any items that might not play nice together, and any general recommendations that anyone might have.

I'm especially worried/concerned about the motherboard question above.

All info/suggestions are welcomed and appreciated, thanks.

 

[Jamesbond007]

I have a Mid 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 that is getting a bit long in the tooth. It's actually a fully functional machine and running High Sierra (10.13.4) quite well. I primarily use this machine for heavy photoshop work, and might get into video editing as well.

I'm going to use this machine to power two Dell P2715Q displays at 4k resolution @ 60Hz.

I also just purchased the Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB card that I can use natively with my Mid 2010 Mac Pro 5,1 as I wait to build my custom Hackinosh.

My goal is to have a replacement to my Mac Pro that shares many of the same characteristics of my current Mac Pro (expandability in a full tower case), and can also house a minimum of 4 internal 3.5" hard drives + 1 2.5" SSD (like my current Mac Pro), but ideally I'd like it to have access for even more 3.5" drives, maybe 6 internal 3.5" drives.

I have a ton of RAW photography files on various 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB drives that I mirror to a corresponding drive via SuperDuper, and thus my current setup has 4 Internal 3.5" HDs, 1 Internal 2.5" SSD, and 4 External 3.5" HD's connected via firewire enclosures. I'd like to keep costs down by simply utilizing these same HDs that are working fine.

I actually want a boring, minimalist looking case without a window if possible to just work. Don't need colorful lights etc. (I'm old.)

I already own the following, and will build my hackintosh around these two key elements:

Already own:
1. Two (2x) Dell P2715Q displays at 4k resolution @ 60Hz.
2. Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB card.

Items I Plan on Purchasing:

Case:
$74.25 - Phanteks Enthoo Pro series PH-ES614PC_BK Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

(I saw that the Lian Li PC-V1000LA Silver looked a lot like the old PowerMac G5 case, and that was intriguing, but doesn't look like it's available in Silver anymore. Bummer.)

Motherboard:
$229.99 - GIGABYTE Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 (Intel LGA1151/ Z370/ ATX/ 3xM.2/ M.2 Thermal Guard / Front USB 3.1 /ESS Sabre DAC /RGB Fusion/ Fan Stop /SLI/ Motherboard)

(I'm especially concerned about covering my bases here with the motherboard. I read that the Gaming 7 has six SATA ports, but if you use an NVMe SSD in the first slot as your system's boot drive, you lose two of the SATA ports to lane-sharing. Not sure if this is true, or if there's an similar mb that doesn't suffer from this because I do want lots of internal storage. Any help is appreciated.)

Processor:
$347.06 - Intel Core i7-8700K Desktop Processor

Boot Drive:
$117.19 - Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)

(I use the boot drive for applications only and a scratch disk and have had a 256 SSD as my boot drive for quite some time with free space, but I may bump this to the 500GB model if need be)

Cooling Fan:
$89.90 - be quiet! BK019 Dark Rock Pro 3 - CPU Cooler

RAM:
$356.99 - Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 2666MHz (PC4-21300) C16 Memory Kit - Black

PSU:
$79.99 - EVGA 750 BQ, 80+ BRONZE 750W, Semi Modular, 5 Year Warranty, Includes FREE Power On Self Tester, Power Supply 110-BQ-0750-V1

Around $1300 total for this build (factoring in utilizing the RX 580 I already purchased).

Would welcome any advice as to what type of geekbench numbers I might expect, any items that might not play nice together, and any general recommendations that anyone might have.

I'm especially worried/concerned about the motherboard question above.

All info/suggestions are welcomed and appreciated, thanks.

This build should be compatible with MacOS High Sierra 10.13.4 or above.

As to the motherboard, the Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 has 3 M.2 slots on the motherboard. The manual (P.33) says that if you use the M2M_32G slot (the one next to the CPU) then you will lose 2 SATA ports (4 and 5). If you use the M2A_32G slot (the middle one) then you will not lose any SATA port, provided you use a PCIe SSD. If you use the M2P_32G slot (the one on the left) you will not lose any SATA port, but this port is only compatible with PCIe SSDs, which basically means NVMe.

So since you plan to use the Samsung 960 EVO M.2, which is a NVMe PCIe SSD, you can install it in the left or middle M.2 slot and then you will still have use of all the SATA ports.

 

[HackaShaq]

This build should be compatible with MacOS High Sierra 10.13.4 or above.

As to the motherboard, the Gigabyte Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 has 3 M.2 slots on the motherboard. The manual (P.33) says that if you use the M2M_32G slot (the one next to the CPU) then you will lose 2 SATA ports (4 and 5). If you use the M2A_32G slot (the middle one) then you will not lose any SATA port, provided you use a PCIe SSD. If you use the M2P_32G slot (the one on the left) you will not lose any SATA port, but this port is only compatible with PCIe SSDs, which basically means NVMe.

So since you plan to use the Samsung 960 EVO M.2, which is a NVMe PCIe SSD, you can install it in the left or middle M.2 slot and then you will still have use of all the SATA ports.

@Jamesbond007 thanks so much for your reply.

Yeah, it was a bit confusing for me since I'm new to M.2, especially since after digging into the manual and seeing that Gigabyte provides a heat sink for the M2M_32G slot (the one next to the CPU), and not the others, but it seems like the middle slot is actually the one to use for maximum SATA storage. Wish those two slots were reversed so it wasn't close to the graphics card, but if I have enough airflow in the case I'm guessing it's not a deal-breaker.

If you happen to know of another comparable/alternate motherboard to consider, I'd love to know. I did some research and found that many people say the Gigabyte motherboards work very well for hackintosh, and I selected the "gaming 7" even though I don't game.

Thanks again for examining my build.