New To Hackintoshing, first build ?

[HiccaBurp]

Hello all and thanks for having a great forum! I'm excited to get my own Hackintosh started. I would appreciate patients with me as I'm new to this and I'm sure you've answered some of these questions a thousands times. Few things..

My 2007 iMac is on it's way out. I installed a Samsung 840 pro SSD to try and give it some more life. However, lot's of freezing up. Instead of buying a new iMac or Pro, I would like to try my hand at building a Hackintosh. I have a 2012 Macbook Pro laptop to fall back on while building my "super Mac"

What I'll be doing with it:
1. It is mostly a business computer
2. Office suite, PDF apps, etc..
3. Lots of communication apps - VOIP, Skype, iMessanger, Viber, etc..
4. High internet usage. It's not uncommon for me to have 20 windows with 20 tabs in each when I'm researching
5. Cloud storage and computing
6. I also have large photo files and music files. Photoshop will be used occasionally. So will Toast
7. I will watch videos online a lot as well
7. I will want dual monitors
8. I DO NOT GAME.

Couple of Questions:
1. Should I wait till Yosemite is available and bugs worked? Or just build a Mavericks machine and update?
2. Will a Hackintosh be reliable/stable? I do not want something that will require tweaking every other day.
3. Can I build a dual boot machine? Is this easy/hard? I rarely use Windows, however, there are some applications or websites that require me to.

I would like to start purchasing all the items asap. If you can lead me in the right direction, I would appreciate it. I don't need the fastest/newest, but something reliable and worthy for the next few years. Recommendations?
1. Case? I would like a case that is well built and has lots of room. I will probably want a few drives in there. I'll use an SSD for OS and apps. Then one for media with it's own clone drive as well as my business drive with it's own clone. So that is at least 5 drive bays?
2. Motherboards? I don't mind paying for good.
3. Chipset? i7? Which one is the best bang for the buck? I don't mind paying for fast, but again, I'm not gaming. Is one better suited for web browsing?
4. Graphics cards? Do I need it and which one?

Thank you,
HiccaBurp

 

[Going Bald]

I would suggest you go with the Customac Pro - http://www.tonymacx86.com/441-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-august-2014.html#custo_pro and use the UD5, the core i5 and max out the RAM. I know the Buyer's Guide recommends the Samsung EVO as best bang for buck, but I would go with the Samsung 850 Pro. Hard to beat a 10 year warranty on a SSD.

As for dual booting, if not using Windows often then a 120Gb Samsung EVO is OK for that.
See http://www.tonymacx86.com/multi-booting/96000-guide-dual-booting-mountain-lion-windows-8-a.html for methods - Mavericks or Win7 works same as ML and Win8.
For business only machine - stick with Windows 7 Professional. Win8 really sucks as a business platform - it is more for web browsing addicts and social media usage.

 

[HiccaBurp]

Going Bald, thank you for your input. Sounds like sound advice. I'm buying the case and power supply now. Have a couple of questions..

1. The UD5 Newegg link takes me to a page that says a newer version available. It's a GA-Z97X-UD5H instead of the 87X. Is this what I would want or find the 87X?

2. I'm planning on using the SSD for OSX and apps. How large should I get?

3. Will this setup work with Yosemite?

4. I will be using ethernet, I would not need the wifi adapter?

Thank you for your help?!!

 

[delta1inc]

"The UD5 Newegg link takes me to a page that says a newer version available. It's a GA-Z97X-UD5H instead of the 87X. Is this what I would want or find the 87X?"

I recommend you stick with a Mobo that as been tested with Mavericks more than likely it will be Z87 mobo as the Z97 are relatively new boards and have not been tested.

2. I'm planning on using the SSD for OSX and apps. How large should I get?
Crucial sells one that is $75 and it has 120GB SSD, it is fully compatible with mac and is more than enough to run OSX and Windows. Also you can purchase a WD Caviar Black 1TB to save other files, such as music, movies, work, etc. That way it does not affect your operating system.

3. Will this setup work with Yosemite?
Yosemite will most likely not work as it has yet to be tested, at this time it looks like unless a release for Yosemite is tested, you may be stuck with Mavericks for about 1-2 years, hopefully less as the people at tonymac are quiet fast at releasing updates/compatibility reviews.

4. I will be using ethernet, I would not need the wifi adapter?
I do not recommend you waste the $35 on the wifi adapter if you are going to be or having your modem/router directly within the premise of your PC. Honestly plugging it directly to an ethernet connection is much better than the wifi and it is less of a set up/money you need to worry about.

For what you need it for you don't really need a dedicated graphics card since the integrated graphics can power two monitors at most, now since you can skimp on the graphics card you should spring for the i7 4790K instead as you will be able to take advantage of the 4600 integrated graphics chip and the extra power for photoshop and windows programs. This will also work much faster and I agree that if you have that many tabs open, to max out your RAM since Photoshop is very RAM Hungry. 32Gb of ram is overkill with the i7 but will last for a long time.

Finally if you ever decided that you do want to game or that you want to add a third monitor then a small graphics card would be good something between $150-200 is a good suit for you.

Good luck and would love to see the finished build.

 

[HiccaBurp]

Thank you Delta1Inc. I like some of the recommendations. Couple of things..

1. Ok, stick with the Z87 MOBO? Newegg still has them.

2. The i7 479K seems like a good upgrade to the i5. I don't mind spending a few dollars extra for something faster. I saw this statement in one of the reviews of the i7. Is this something I need to worry about? "[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]*This chip is socket 1150 and will work in many Z87 boards..But..You need to check the manufacturers website for a BIOS update that says it will and have another chip to do the update with before installing this one. Otherwise Z97 is what you want.*"[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]3. I will have the 250g 840 Pro out of my iMac. Should I use this in my build? Or still buy the Crucial/850pro/evo?

4. I want to make sure my data is backed up. Should I build a RAID setup? Never done this? Or CCC or SuperDuper 2 drives?

Yes, I will absolutely keep track of my build and have a report when I'm done. I've already got a few things in my shopping cart. I would like to make my decisions before Monday morning and have everything ordered. Excited to get my first build

Thanks again to everyone who has input to my build!![/FONT]

 

[Going Bald]

Thank you Delta1Inc. I like some of the recommendations. Couple of things..

1. Ok, stick with the Z87 MOBO? Newegg still has them.

The 9 series boards will work, but not 100% as Apple has yet to use this chip in any of their models. The 8 series chip is fully supported at this time.

2. The i7 4790K seems like a good upgrade to the i5. I don't mind spending a few dollars extra for something faster. I saw this statement in one of the reviews of the i7. Is this something I need to worry about? "*This chip is socket 1150 and will work in many Z87 boards..But..You need to check the manufacturers website for a BIOS update that says it will and have another chip to do the update with before installing this one. Otherwise Z97 is what you want.*"

Be careful about purchasing Haswell refresh CPUs. If your 8 series/9 series board's BIOS has not been updated to the new BIOS that supports the refresh CPU's, then you will need a supported CPU to be able to update the BIOS so you can use the new CPU. Not worth it IMHO. If you want i7, go with the 4770K (if you want to overclock) or the 4770.

3. I will have the 250g 840 Pro out of my iMac. Should I use this in my build? Or still buy the Crucial/850pro/evo?

Actually, you should be able to just connect the drive from the iMac, boot it with UniBeast or Clover boot USB and run MultiBeast for installing needed files.

4. I want to make sure my data is backed up. Should I build a RAID setup? Never done this? Or CCC or SuperDuper 2 drives?

I don't recommend RAID for a boot drive - Unless you have enough data to fill a NAS, external RAID storage is probably not needed - CCC or SD will clone your drive, but you need to install a boot loader to make it bootable. Or you could just keep your UniBeast/Clover boot USB handy and use it as needed to boot your backup. For just files backup, why not use TimeMachine? That is what it is for.

 

[delta1inc]

I highly recommend you check out this website in order to check if your mobo has the necessary bios needed for the new Haswell Refresh chipset. I agree with Going Bald.

Also consider getting the none overclocked version which are the 'S' since you wont be overclocking and it is cheaper by at least $50 and less heat. However I still recommend you get a Haswell refresh since you can benefit from the low wattage and the less heat but then again if you go for the none-overclocked version you don't really need the Haswell Refresh and can get a Intel Core i7-4790S At this point the cpu is up to you, just make sure to check the mobo compatibility using this http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support.aspx

Definitely recommend to reuse your old SSD, save yourself some money and you already have your osx in there so you will just need to use "UniBeast or Clover boot USB and run MultiBeast for installing needed files" as stated by Going Bald. Also one other thing you may consider is cooling, if you want a quiet pc I recommend the Hyper Evo 212 since it will help keep the cpu cool and quiet. Best of luck with your build.

 

[HiccaBurp]

The 9 series boards will work, but not 100% as Apple has yet to use this chip in any of their models. The 8 series chip is fully supported at this time.

I'm planning on sticking with the 8 series chip for now. For a first build, I'd like to build as trouble free as possible.

Be careful about purchasing Haswell refresh CPUs. If your 8 series/9 series board's BIOS has not been updated to the new BIOS that supports the refresh CPU's, then you will need a supported CPU to be able to update the BIOS so you can use the new CPU. Not worth it IMHO. If you want i7, go with the 4770K (if you want to overclock) or the 4770.

Ok, still not sure on the chip. I can go with the i5 you recommended at first and save some money. It will be much faster then my 2007 iMac I'm using now and probably faster then my 2011 MBP. If the i5 is a better pair to the 8 series MOBO, I might stick with that. For $209 the S version seems like it would fit my needs well. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JST2QEW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

Actually, you should be able to just connect the drive from the iMac, boot it with UniBeast or Clover boot USB and run MultiBeast for installing needed files.

Should I do anything to the SSD before I pull it out of my iMac?

Also, I plan on having a separate SSD drive for Windows 7 if I even install it. I probably will.

I don't recommend RAID for a boot drive - Unless you have enough data to fill a NAS, external RAID storage is probably not needed - CCC or SD will clone your drive, but you need to install a boot loader to make it bootable. Or you could just keep your UniBeast/Clover boot USB handy and use it as needed to boot your backup. For just files backup, why not use TimeMachine? That is what it is for.

I was not going to RAID my boot drive. I was thinking of setting up a RAID for my data drives. I can install 2 data drives and have 2 data drives as clones/backups.

Yes, I can use TimeMachine and actually use a TimeCapsule now. I was thinking of having a redundant system especially for my photos as I have a lot of my kids photos on there.


Here is what I'm leaning towards:
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128593&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=4902415&SID=

CPU: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J2LIF3C/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

RAM: http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B00A14ZT7E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

Drives: My 840pro for OSX Mavericks
I'll buy another SSD to run Win7 (recommendations?) Again, very little use
I'll purchase 2 - 2TB WD drives to start with and add as needed

Graphics Card: Not sure if I will need it? I will run 2 monitors.

Case: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005E97ZUU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

PSU: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EB7UIRS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


I'm looking at this as a good solid build with an eye towards a Yosemite build next year. This will help me acquire some knowledge in the process. This build with dual monitors will be under $1,800 and have dual OS's. I can save a little bit and only run OSX. I can also opt for 16GB of Ram instead of 32GB. However, with all the windows/tabs I tend to open in my browser, I think it'll be $$ well spent.

Or,

I can buy an iMac for $3k and still not have all the features of this build?

 

[HiccaBurp]

I highly recommend you check out this website in order to check if your mobo has the necessary bios needed for the new Haswell Refresh chipset. I agree with Going Bald.

Also consider getting the none overclocked version which are the 'S' since you wont be overclocking and it is cheaper by at least $50 and less heat. However I still recommend you get a Haswell refresh since you can benefit from the low wattage and the less heat but then again if you go for the none-overclocked version you don't really need the Haswell Refresh and can get a Intel Core i7-4790S At this point the cpu is up to you, just make sure to check the mobo compatibility using this http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support.aspx

Definitely recommend to reuse your old SSD, save yourself some money and you already have your osx in there so you will just need to use "UniBeast or Clover boot USB and run MultiBeast for installing needed files" as stated by Going Bald. Also one other thing you may consider is cooling, if you want a quiet pc I recommend the Hyper Evo 212 since it will help keep the cpu cool and quiet. Best of luck with your build.

I'm on the fence about using the i7-4790S. Are they all Haswell refresh? Not sure if I'll get enough benefit over an i5? I don't game and use photoshop very minimally.

I will look at getting a Hyper Evo 212. Thx

 

[Going Bald]

I'm on the fence about using the i7-4790S. Are they all Haswell refresh? Not sure if I'll get enough benefit over an i5? I don't game and use photoshop very minimally.

I will look at getting a Hyper Evo 212. Thx

Unless you can be sure the 8 series mainboard has an updated BIOS, I would stay away from any CPU that has in the description:
"Z87 motherboard users may need to apply a BIOS update for compatibility."

rather than the 4790s, get the 4770S - http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-4770S-Quad-Core-Processor-BX80646I74770S/dp/B00CO8T9VM/