<< Solved >> Mavericks Compatibility & K/KF CPUs

[AlexisK]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently planning on building a "budget" Mac Pro, for about 1300 $.
Main uses : AVID editing (no need to edit 4K as we are used to work with proxies), music making (Logic / Ableton), a bit of VFX (After Effects), lots of video exports.

As I'm not that experienced in computer science, I hesitated for months. Thus, if I may, I'd like to ask the community a few questions - remaining after searching in the past threads).
First, here is the config I planed:
-MOTHERBOARD= ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING (or H-Gaming)
-CPU= Intel Core i5 9600K (3.7 GHz / 4.6 GHz)... or KF ?
-GPU= Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580 8GD5 or Pulse Radeon RX 570 optimised
-DRIVE= Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus M.2 PCIe NVMe 250 GB (+ Barracuda 1 TB)
-RAM= Crucial DDR4 8go x3

As I prudently walk through discovery,I prefer asking stupid questions before than after...

-ABOUT CPU: If I'm right, Intel Cores marked "K" are without cooler, "F" without inner GPU, and "KF" without both. The Buyer's Guide only mentions K ones. Does it make any sense to save 40$ by choosing an i5 9600KF rather than the 9600K ? Does the inner GPU remains useful even with a proper GPU?

-ABOUT MOTHERBOARD: Is there anything else to take in account for choosing between a motherboard with inner WiFi card / one without (except the fact that one PCI slot will be dedicated to an extra Wifi card) ?

-Can this config work both with latest OS and with a Mavericks OS ? (idea is to mount my old SSD on Mavericks to get one boot with it and one boot with a new NVMe for new system, because I have a couple of apps and files I'd need to keep on Mavericks).

-Any specific recommandations about Audio config, specific chipsets...? No need to have a war machine, just avoid any complex compatibility issues.

If something in my buylist seems problematic to you, please don't hesitate to warn me.

Thanks a lot in advance,
I hope I don't ask too recurrent questions (and sorry for my English).

 

[pastrychef]

-ABOUT CPU: If I'm right, Intel Cores marked "K" are without cooler, "F" without inner GPU, and "KF" without both. The Buyer's Guide only mentions K ones. Does it make any sense to save 40$ by choosing an i5 9600KF rather than the 9600K ? Does the inner GPU remains useful even with a proper GPU?

-ABOUT MOTHERBOARD: Is there anything else to take in account for choosing between a motherboard with inner WiFi card / one without (except the fact that one PCI slot will be dedicated to an extra Wifi card) ?

K CPUs are unlocked and can be overclocked. They do not come with a cooler because they are not sufficient to cool the CPU when overclocked.

F CPUs do not have IGPU.


macOS compatible Wi-Fi/Bluetooth cards can not be used in the CNVi slots of Gigabyte Z390 motherboards. They can be used in CNVi slots of Asus and ASRock motherboards.

 

[AlexisK]

Okay, great,
Thanks a lot!

Any mind about hardware compatibility with Mavericks 10.9?
I checked that old buyer's guide for version 10.8.5+,
but kind of not sure how I should read it: isn't there any new components that are compatible with older OS?

Thanks again.
Alexis

 

[pastrychef]

Okay, great,
Thanks a lot!

Any mind about hardware compatibility with Mavericks 10.9?
I checked that old buyer's guide for version 10.8.5+,
but kind of not sure how I should read it: isn't there any new components that are compatible with older OS?

Thanks again.
Alexis

I really don't know what's compatible with Mavericks anymore. I haven't messed with that in many years.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently planning on building a "budget" Mac Pro, for about 1300 $.
Main uses : AVID editing (no need to edit 4K as we are used to work with proxies), music making (Logic / Ableton), a bit of VFX (After Effects), lots of video exports.

As I'm not that experienced in computer science, I hesitated for months. Thus, if I may, I'd like to ask the community a few questions - remaining after searching in the past threads).
First, here is the config I planed:
-MOTHERBOARD= ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING (or H-Gaming)
-CPU= Intel Core i5 9600K (3.7 GHz / 4.6 GHz)... or KF ?
-GPU= Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580 8GD5 or Pulse Radeon RX 570 optimised
-DRIVE= Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus M.2 PCIe NVMe 250 GB (+ Barracuda 1 TB)
-RAM= Crucial DDR4 8go x3

As I prudently walk through discovery, I prefer asking stupid questions before than after...

-ABOUT CPU: If I'm right, Intel Cores marked "K" are without cooler, "F" without inner GPU, and "KF" without both. The Buyer's Guide only mentions K ones. Does it make any sense to save 40$ by choosing an i5 9600KF rather than the 9600K ? Does the inner GPU remains useful even with a proper GPU?

-ABOUT MOTHERBOARD: Is there anything else to take in account for choosing between a motherboard with inner WiFi card / one without (except the fact that one PCI slot will be dedicated to an extra Wifi card) ?

-Can this config work both with latest OS and with a Mavericks OS ? (idea is to mount my old SSD on Mavericks to get one boot with it and one boot with a new NVMe for new system, because I have a couple of apps and files I'd need to keep on Mavericks).

-Any specific recommendations about Audio config, specific chipsets...? No need to have a war machine, just avoid any complex compatibility issues.

If something in my buylist seems problematic to you, please don't hesitate to warn me.

Thanks a lot in advance,
I hope I don't ask too recurrent questions (and sorry for my English).

(1) CPU : You can opt for a KF or F CPU if you want to save some money. Except for the loss of CPU integrated graphics, compatibility is the same as the non-F CPUs. I use a i7 9700KF myself in my main system and it runs MacOS Sierra 10.12.6 / High Sierra 10.13.6 / Mojave 10.14.6.

(2) Mavericks has no support for modern hardware like Z390 / 9th generation Intel CPUs (How can you expect support when the hardware was not present when Mavericks was current?). As far as I can see the oldest version of MacOS that can be made to run on Z390 / 9th generation Intel CPUs is MacOS Sierra 10.12.6, and then only when you also use a GPU supported on Sierra (the CPU integrated graphics, if any, are not supported on Sierra).

If you really need to run Mavericks you will need to source a Haswell (or older) system from at least 6 years ago. I have an old system based on a Z77 chipset motherboard and an Ivy Bridge i3 (3rd generation) which can run Mavericks (and all the way up to Mojave). It now runs Windows but if necessary it can be used to run MacOS again.

 

[AlexisK]

Hi James,

Great, that sounds really clear.

Thanks to you both !