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Hello all! Currently running a late 2007 17-inch MacBook Pro with a SSD and 6GB of RAM. It's time for an upgrade and I've been looking at the 5K iMacs for a while but they're too expensive. So a custom build it is! Here is my projected list of items I want my computer to have:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming or UD5
Processor: Intel i7 4.0GHz Quad-Core (6700K)
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32GB 2400MHz DDR4
Storage 1: Samsung 950 Pro 256GB M.2 SSD (OS X and Applications)
Storage 2: Two x HGST Deskstar 3TB 7200-rpm HDD (6TB Total)
Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB
Cooling: Corsair Hydro Liquid CPU Cooler H60
Power Supply: Corsair RM650
Bluetooth/WiFi: TP-Link N900 2.4GHz
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Mid-Tower

Power Supply:
Not sure if the RM650 will have enough juice for this build. Do I just look up all the watt requirements for each component and then get one that's closest to that total wattage number?

Storage:
The two HGST 3TB drives would be a RAID 1 array, probably installed much later on after the build and installation were completed. I may use a 240GB SSD rather than a 128GB, but let's stick with 128GB for now.

Graphics:
I do a lot of color grading with LUTs and add film grain into my videos, so After Effects CS6 gets a lot of work with rendering. I use Premiere Pro CS6 to edit. It's mostly 1080p footage that I'm dealing with, but I do have the ability to shoot 4K and my current Mac simply can't handle that. This is why I opted for the GTX 960 w/4GB. If there's a better solution out there, I'm all ears. I just need 4K to be played back smoothly.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Please tell me what you think about this build. Tell me, "it's great" or "it's crap" or tell me I don't know what I'm doing. Any response is greatly appreciated! :)
 
Last edited:
I am in a similar boat as you and just recently completed my first PC/Hackintosh build using similar components.

I cannot answer your questions regarding the use of the hardware. But I thought I'd share my experience.

If you are a total noob (like I am), than expect there to be a learning curve and a lot of troubleshooting, up front.
It took me starting over from scratch 3 times before I could get my system up and running.

One of the things I found is that following a guide for a similar (but not quite identical) hardware probably won't work and will result in bugs that need to be worked out.

If you want to make it as brainless as possible on yourself, I'd recommend finding a very recent build guide (i.e. Skylake/El Capitan within the past few months) and buy the exact same mobo/CPU/GPU. Then you can just follow the guide "to the T" and it should be pretty much flawless.

That said, you certainly don't need to do it this way, and as long as you buy hardware off the Buyers Guide you should be ok - though with a little troubleshooting time, skill and patience. The answers are out there and there is a ton of support here to help you through. My system is almost working perfectly now and it is awesome. Good luck!
 
I am in a similar boat as you and just recently completed my first PC/Hackintosh build using similar components.

I cannot answer your questions regarding the use of the hardware. But I thought I'd share my experience.

If you are a total noob (like I am), than expect there to be a learning curve and a lot of troubleshooting, up front.
It took me starting over from scratch 3 times before I could get my system up and running.

One of the things I found is that following a guide for a similar (but not quite identical) hardware probably won't work and will result in bugs that need to be worked out.

If you want to make it as brainless as possible on yourself, I'd recommend finding a very recent build guide (i.e. Skylake/El Capitan within the past few months) and buy the exact same mobo/CPU/GPU. Then you can just follow the guide "to the T" and it should be pretty much flawless.

That said, you certainly don't need to do it this way, and as long as you buy hardware off the Buyers Guide you should be ok - though with a little troubleshooting time, skill and patience. The answers are out there and there is a ton of support here to help you through. My system is almost working perfectly now and it is awesome. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips! For my build, I want it to be really good but I want as little trouble setting it up as possible. So I'll try to follow the builds & suggestions on this site as close as possible.

I've actually decided to get a different motherboard. I've changed my original post from above. Might get the Z170X-Gaming or UD5. And I've also been informed that they support M.2 SSDs… so that changes my idea about my system and application drive. Aiming for the Samsung 950 Pro 256GB!
 
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