What do you think? *Need help with install*

[ishoot2thrill]

Hi I wish I had joined earlier, but I have purchased a few items for my first build and was wondering what the community here thought about it.

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R MOBO with an Intel i7 960.
I purchased 8 GB (2x4GB) of GSKILL F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL (I know the board does triple channel, but unfortunately I have this and was thinking it will still run nice.)
PNY GeForce GTS450 graphics card
64GB Crucial SSD
2TB WD HDD
Memorex DVD Recorder

I'm hoping this will work well without much issue. Thanks

 

[ishoot2thrill]

Re: What do you think?

Again any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks agin.

 

[slowjin]

Re: What do you think?

I have not read of anyone with Memorex DVD, but that does not mean it will not work. Many people use Sony Optiarc, ASUS and Lite On DVD drives, and they are in the $20 - $25 range I believe, so if it does not work, your cost to replace should not be too high.

Looks like you are setting up a performance rig, and although the 8GB of RAM may work, you are doing yourself disservice by not using tri-channel memory IMHO.

[EDIT] And since you have an SSD listed, make sure it supports Sandforce, which will help your OSX bootup consistently fast without much degradation over time. Also there are random reports of freezes with the Fermi video cards so read up and take the plunge if you are willing to work out the issues as they come up.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[ishoot2thrill]

Re: What do you think?

I don't think that the SSD has a sandforce controller. Will that make it run horribly or not at all? I also picked the graphics card that I did because it says on the wiki that it is fully supported, or at least I thought? And believe me I understand that the tri-channel would may be better for utilization, but I don't know about returning/exchanging things on newegg too much? Will it make a huge, huge difference? I want performance, but am not really doing anything too crazy on it just yet. And will the drive not work? I assumed that any would until I joined this forum. Thanks again for any input.

 

[slowjin]

Re: What do you think?

Without Sandforce controller, SSD performance will start to slow down over time according to what I have read in this forum. For Win 7, you should make sure TRIM is supported and for OS X Sandforce. A-Data usually seems to have the fastest read/write at the lowest cost compared to Corsair or other brands. I have seen posts regarding Microcenter generic brands having some good specs and prices with Sandforce/TRIM.

As for newegg, their customer service has been pretty good for me, so give it a shot.

If you are referring to the Memorex DVD drive, if you have it, give it a try. I have not really seen any report that their DVD drive did not work. If it is not supported, I think you will get something like a 'waiting for root device' type error.

Although GTS450 cards are supported especially with the new drivers, there are random freeze issues that do not seem to have been ironed out, so if I were you, I would go with a more stable hardware such as 5770 cards.

If I understand where you are, you are probably eager to get going on the build, as was I. But it is that much more painful when you see your rig running OS X well but held back because of your RAM or other hardware issues. It broke my heart (well nearly) when I had to return my 9800gtx+ because it was DOA only to find out that it had been discontinued. I then went for a 9500GT to get going and it has worked great for me and no issues.

Would love to see what you end up using and how you like it. Trial and error is not a bad way to get your first hackintosh up and running in my opinion. Good luck!!

 

[ishoot2thrill]

Re: What do you think?

I don't believe it supports Sandforce (SSD). Is the decrease that substantial? I am not too sure that newegg will exchange the SSD and if it is going to be a huge difference that will definitely be a bummer. I may look at getting the tri-channel memory for my board. I may just have to wait until after the holiday which is unfortunate, ha. Thanks for the responses.

 

[MacMan]

Re: What do you think?

I don't believe it supports Sandforce (SSD). Is the decrease that substantial? I am not too sure that newegg will exchange the SSD and if it is going to be a huge difference that will definitely be a bummer. I may look at getting the tri-channel memory for my board. I may just have to wait until after the holiday which is unfortunate, ha. Thanks for the responses.

You will just need to backup, reformat and reload probably once a month to make up for the lack of trim support in the OS or a Sandforce controller.

 

[ishoot2thrill]

Re: What do you think?

Okay, so I ended up going with 12 GB of tri-channel memory instead. I was trying to get the OS to install using iBoot, but when I put the disc in after loading/reading it crashes? At first I was trying it in the SATA 3 port, but then remembered it should be in the blue ports. So I switched that and got the same results? I am only using 4 GB of RAM on install per the instructions. One thing I noticed is the OS disc I have seems to look wierd/discolored? Could this be the culprit? Or is it my optical drive? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I would love to get this build up and running. Other than the RAM change I have the same specs as listed in my original post. Thanks again.

EDIT: The error I get just says: "You need to restart your computer. Hold the power buttin down to restart" Also the drive had Windows installed on it. Do I have to reformat first to load OSX? I figured it would install over it? Also I got this message before Windows was installed. Thanks again. Sorry I am pretty new at this.