New Build Questions

[johnnyb]

I am currently debating whether or not I should move forward with a custom build. I am a photographer who is starting to move into videography and my old iMac just cannot keep up, especially with 4k footage. I need an upgrade but don't really want to spend close to $3000 on a iMac 5k with an AMD Radeon graphics card and no expandability.

I am worried however about the possible issues I will run into if I were to start a custom build. I love that there is a forum where all my questions will be answered, but I don't know if I would have the time to go through the forum constantly to fix a problem when I'm trying to finish a job for clients (mostly newlyweds eagerly waiting for their wedding video). I can work a computer fairly well but most of the stuff I see on these forums go way over my head and I would hate to run into a bunch of problems I can't fix.

So anyways, on to my question. I have my cart currently loaded up with parts for a new build, which are listed below. I was just wondering what sort of issues I could expect to run into with these parts. For instance, issues with thunderbolt connectivity or with the graphics card. Any help to nudge me in the right direction would be extremely helpful.

Intel® - Core™ i7-4790K 4.0GHz Processor

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 256bit

Corsair Carbide Series Black 500R Mid Tower Computer Case

Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD7 TH LGA 1150 Z97 Dual Thunderbolt 2 ATX Motherboard

Samsung - 850 PRO 256GB Internal SATA III Solid State Drive

TP-LINK - Wireless N900 Dual-Band PCI Express Adapter

Crucial - 16GB Kit (8GBx2), Ballistix 240-Pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-14900

Corsair - AX760 760-Watt ATX Power Supply

Asus - 28" UHD/4K Monitor

 

[Going Bald]

GPU should be chosen for the apps you plan to use. Adobe Suite go with nVidia, FCPX go with AMD.

Suggest you look at the builds of the members who are using their builds professionally. Many of them regularly post in the Photo and video forums - http://www.tonymacx86.com/system-usage/

If it works for them...

 

[johnnyb]

Yes, I will be using Premiere Pro CC as well as other Adobe programs. I will be using FCP X as well but very minimally.

I've been looking through the video forums looking for helpful information. I actually found a thread you posted regarding the 970 and 980 gpus. If I understand correctly, they should work after downloading the drivers from nvidia correct?

 

[Going Bald]

Yes, I will be using Premiere Pro CC as well as other Adobe programs. I will be using FCP X as well but very minimally.

I've been looking through the video forums looking for helpful information. I actually found a thread you posted regarding the 970 and 980 gpus. If I understand correctly, they should work after downloading the drivers from nvidia correct?

Yes, but the downside is that after you get it working in one version of OS X you can't update until nVidia posts the new drivers for the next version of OS X - sometimes it takes a month or so before you can attempt to update. It failed fpr me on the latest update of Yosemite - haven't figured out if it is the X99 platform or the drivers yet and haven't had time to mess with it lately.

 

[johnnyb]

Hm yeah that would be a problem for me. Would you recommend any other graphics card that would work continually with OSX?

 

[Going Bald]

Hm yeah that would be a problem for me. Would you recommend any other graphics card that would work continually with OSX?

On the nVidia side, GTX740 / GTX760
On the AMD side R9 280X

 

[apfelwurm]

On the nVidia side, GTX740 / GTX760
On the AMD side R9 280X

What about the more powerful AMD 290X? Anyone tested?

 

[Going Bald]

What about the more powerful AMD 290X? Anyone tested?

According to folks at Netkas forum the R9 290X is fully supported in 10.10 Yosemite and a couple of members here are using one.

 

[apfelwurm]

Thanks!
So it should work out of the box without any patches..?