Recommendations for video card (+CPU?)

[srk9026]

... This Dell 7060 MT with core i7-8700 is brand new without paying a lot more money as you would with used 8th gen Intel hardware built from components. Really good deal here.

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That looks pretty good. And the built-in graphics looks okay as well. But I -still- have questions:

Will a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter interfere with the HDMI DRM stuff that Amazon and Netflix throw onto their streams? Should I look at a PCI video card from the list posted by @Feartech on page 2?

If you do decide to go with that Dell 7060, the next step is to start learning some OpenCore basics. There's a whole section just on 8th gen Coffee lake systems.

Desktop Coffee Lake | OpenCore Install Guide

That looks rather intimidating. Will I be ble to get some help with that?

Thanks for all of your advice!

 

[Feartech]

That looks pretty good. And the built-in graphics looks okay as well. But I -still- have questions:

Will a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter interfere with the HDMI DRM stuff that Amazon and Netflix throw onto their streams? Should I look at a PCI video card from the list posted by @Feartech on page 2?



That looks rather intimidating. Will I be ble to get some help with that?

Thanks for all of your advice!

DRM stuff can be a pain and may require a dedicated AMD card

 

[trs96]

Will a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter interfere with the HDMI DRM stuff

DRM has more to do with other things than the adapter used. It generally doesn't work at all with just iGPU.
Here's the adapter that I use and recommend. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086QQT48Y/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

That looks rather intimidating. Will I be ble to get some help with that?

That's what this site is all about. Of course, you have to study the material yourself to understand what you're doing too. Don't expect to make no effort when attempting a hackintosh.

 

[trs96]

Should I look at a PCI video card from the list posted

From what I've read, the CPU is the most important component for Adobe CS and specifically Photoshop. You don't need a super high end card. If you do want one, get something that gets power from the PCIe slot. Not something that requires 6 or 8 pin power connectors. The Dell PSU is less than 300W anyway. It's high quality, just not high wattage. 80+ Bronze or better. Also, it's not standard ATX form factor so you can't replace it with a conventional 500W or more PSU.

You might even be able to use your old MP graphics card if it's High Sierra compatible.

 

[srk9026]

From what I've read, the CPU is the most important component for Adobe CS and specifically Photoshop. You don't need a super high end card. If you do want one, get something that gets power from the PCIe slot...

I have gotten some errors using Photoshop that describe a lack of video card, while using the Mac Mini. The 'Mini has an "Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB" graphics card built in, which I suspect is kinda puny.

The stock graphics on the Dell above says it's "Intel UHD Graphics 630" with "shared system memory." I should start looking for a video card, I suppose...

...You might even be able to use your old MP graphics card if it's High Sierra compatible.

The video card on the Mac Pro is history, long gone. I basically replaced the wholw thing with a Mac Mini and an external drive cage connected to the Mini via USB.

Also, it's not standard ATX form factor so you can't replace it with a conventional 500W or more PSU.

As long as it can power two 2.5" SSD drives and one 3.5" HD.

 

[trs96]

The stock graphics on the Dell above says it's "Intel UHD Graphics 630" with "shared system memory." I should start looking for a video card, I suppose...

I'd think UHD630 should be good enough for CS4 use. They're much better than HD4000.

If you do want to buy a card, the AMD Radeon Pro WX4100 is a nice hack friendly workstation graphics card. Still expensive brand new but the refurbs, most in really good condition, only cost around 100 USD on Ebay. Has 4GB of Vram. It will work from HS all the way through to Ventura if you also want to run a newer macOS version alongside High Sierra. You can easily dual boot.

As long as it can power two 2.5" SSD drives and one 3.5" HD.

Hard drives don't use much power so that's not a problem.

 

[srk9026]

Re graphics card: I found the Yeston RX550-4G LP D5 on the list Feartech posted on page 2 . It's got 4G and HDMI, BUT it recommends a 300W power supply. Its power consumption is 40W... I'm worried about the PSU not being able to power a graphics card. Otherwise, it looks like a good card, if only that 260W Bronze Dell power supply could be replaced with something else. Dell lists a "360W Gold" power supply for that model but I can't find it anywhere for sale.

I'm also aware of Dell's non-standard ATX architecture, and I REALLY am willing to pay the extra so I can have my choice of power supply and case.

I'm able to find new LGA-1151 boards for the CPU, and a new 4.6 GHz Intel Core i7-8700 for a decent price. I think I'm narrowing in on getting the stuff for my build, thanks to what you all have contributed.. I ask, are any LGA-1151 motherboards or 8th gen Intel processors recommended against?

 

[trs96]

I found the Yeston RX550-4G LP D5 on the list Feartech posted on page 2

I ran an RX570 on a Dell 290W PSU with no problems so a lowly 550 would be fine on that 260W PSU. The suggested wattage isn't an exact science. Just a number they throw out. You'd be better off getting an RX 560. Those don't cost much more than a 550.

 

[trs96]

I REALLY am willing to pay the extra so I can have my choice of power supply and case.

Here's what Tech Power up says about the 550.

Being a dual-slot card, the AMD Radeon RX 550 does not require any additional power connector, its power draw is rated at 50 W maximum. Display outputs include: 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a.

The PCIe slot will provide up to 75W of power. So a 550 is a non-issue in the 7060 MT. With average use it will probably draw possibly 30-40W. So that leaves at least 220W to run the rest of the system.

 

[srk9026]

Okay, so the Dell 7060 and the Yeston RX550 looks like a deal.

One more question: would I run into any problems replacing the stock 3.2 GHz processor with something faster?