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New budget mid tier Build w/ Arctic theme

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Joined
Aug 10, 2010
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256
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-Z270N-Wifi
CPU
i5-7600K
Graphics
GTX 1050
Mac
  1. Mac mini
Mobile Phone
  1. iOS
Hey everyone. It's good to see this community not only up and running but thriving. It's been a while since I've built a hackintosh, as the build in my sig indicates. That sucker dates WAY back. I sold that rig quite a long time ago and since have gone through a few Macs (iMac 27", 2012 Macbook Pro spec'd out, and 2007 Mac Mini for a media server). I've since sold all of those devices save the 2007 Mac Mini. I've been relying on it as my sole window into the internet world and it is awful. I've been itching to build another Hackintosh.

My kids are older now (10 & 7 and I don't think the 7 year old wasn't even born when I had my last Hackintosh) and I decided to get them onboard with the build. My oldest now does A LOT of work at school using a Chromebook and his documents are stored in Google Docs. We also enjoy a little bit of gaming on our Xbox One. Them more so than me. Much more actually. They've never played any PC games and the last PC game I played was Need for Speed Underground 2 from 2004. Ouch.

So while this build will be MAINLY for basic internet use like youtube, banking, school work, etc. it also may want to run the occasional game. Not sure which and most likely not the highest end ones.

We decided on the Bitfenix Prodigy case because for one I like the MacProish look to it. We also like the space it will afford us. I tend to like smaller builds. I don't like big cases...at all. Our computer area also won't really allow a case too big. We plan to cut a window into this case to show off the innards. I know I can actually purchase a side panel with a window but I don't think the window is large enough and I may do something a little more custom. I have access to some devices that can cut this.

As for the mobo, we're keeping it simple and going with a suggested board from the Buyer's Guide. It'll be a GA-270N-Wifi. It quite known now that the Wifi/BT card isn't fully macOS compatible. I believe only the BT works. So with a great deal of help from Stork I think I can get an OOB experience with a card and M.2 adapter. This will make this a lot easier. I needed that for wifi because using PCI-E is out the question because there's only one. That's needed for my graphics cards.

Unfortunately this is where I needed to cut some corners. I had a budget in mind for this build, between $700-$800. After putting some parts together, it became apparent that if I wanted the latest stuff to more future proof this build for years I had to make some sacrifices. I initially wanted a GTX 1060 3gb. That coupled with the CPU I also wanted it put this build well over $1000. So I think we're going to go with the GTX 1050..maybe the 1050 Ti for the extra bump.

As for the CPU, I've been happy with core i5's on other units I've had and for what we're doing and the budget that's what we're going with. I initially wanted the unlocked i5-7600k just incase we wanted to fool around with overclocking but we're just going to go with the i5-7500. It'll be plenty for us.

The monitor is an interesting story. I was visiting a customer for my job. He had his two 27" Apple Cinema displays just sitting on the floor. I asked what was wrong and he said one just wasn't working and the other he just wanted to sell. I asked if he minded if I took the one that wasn't working. So I ended up with a nonworking 27" cinema display. Did some testing and discovered it was most likely the power supply. Order one from China for $50, disassembled the display, installed, reassembled and sure enough it works. So I got a free Apple Cinema display essentially.

So as this is the "Buying Advice" forum firstly, what do you think and what can I expect with this build? What sort of problems could I potentially run into?

Also, as this is an Arctic theme, I wanted things to match. It looks like I'm going to have to settle on a power supply though. I want one that's white, fully modular, Haswell ready (Gold+) and won't break the bank. The ONLY one I can find is the Corsair RMx750 White edition. However this ALSO won't work because it's too long for this case. So it's been a headache looking for this. So I settled on the Corsair RMx 550 because while it isn't completely white it does satisfy all other criteria and it has a white label so it looks clean. Does anyone have any psu in mind that fits these criteria?

All in all, my biggest concern is the GPU. I'm going with this model from Asus specifically because of color and reviews. The Apple cinema display has a mini Displayport ONLY so I'm hoping graphics and audio work as normal from the Displayport on the card and coupling that with this adapter cable I found. Does audio work across Displayport as well? Will that require some DSDT edits that aren't currently available from the site?

Anyway, I know I've been long winded. I'm hoping to get some good feed back. Thanks!!
 
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2F85UG8886&cm_re=PC_Power_%26_Cooling-_-17-703-035-_-Product

17-703-035-06.jpg
 
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