Windows Next Computer Will Probably be Windows

[Huntn]

For this situation does it matter if you install Windows first or Mac first? My inclination would be to install Windows first. Does Tonymac address this?

I all ready purchased MacOS8 from the App store for my MBP. Honestly I don't know what happened to the download. Must OSX be purchased again?

I really want a DVD burner, any particular brand or type required?
Thanks!

Interesting links if you are in the market for a gaming computer:
i5 4670k vs i7 4770k

 

[Huntn]

Here are the various sites I found and used. I was starting from zero in knowledge of building a PC. The elitegamingcomputers site was the most helpful, I basically picked one of their builds and ordered with few slight modifications suggested by my daughter.

Below the sites I've listed the parts from the various shipping emails from amazon and newegg.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tcYw

http://elitegamingcomputers.com/buy/budget-builds/

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/12/gift-guide-build-a-custom-gaming-pc/

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/the-geek-blog/building-a-new-computer-part-3-setting-it-up/

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/the-...art-4-installing-windows-and-loading-drivers/

1 x ($299.99) SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$299.99

1 x ($199.99) ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 (1000:1) Built-in Speakers
$199.99

1 x ($99.99) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
$99.99

1 x ($69.99) CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$69.99

1 x ($27.99) SHARKOON Skiller 000SKSK Black 104 Normal Keys 20 Function Keys USB Wired Gaming Keyboard
$27.99

Cooler Master Elite 430 - Mid Tower Computer Case with All-Black Interior (RC-430-KWN1) $41.98

Logitech G500 Programmable Gaming Mouse
Sold by Amazon.com LLC $56.12

Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit ... $45.42

Seagate Barracuda 7200 1 TB 7200RPM SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare ... $79.23

Intel Core i5-3570 Quad-Core Processor 3.4 GHz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80637I53570 $212.99

Lite-On Super AllWrite 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive - Bulk - IHAS124-04 Version ...$23.86

Thanks for this info! I am using partpicker...

 

[jedolley]

I all ready purchased MacOS8 from the App store for my MBP. Honestly I don't know what happened to the download. Must OSX be purchased again?

If you already purchased it, you should be able to go to your "purchases" and click on the download link.

 

[Huntn]

If you already purchased it, you should be able to go to your "purchases" and click on the download link.

Thanks! I'm thinking I might do this and my build so far looks like. These parts comply with a tonymac86 build for including MacOS:

Proposed Build generated at pcpartpicker.com.
* CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.97 @ Outlet PC)
* CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
* Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($148.98 @ Outlet PC)
* Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.95 @ NCIX US)
* Storage: Sandisk Extreme 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Microcenter)
* Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($61.98 @ Outlet PC)
* Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($61.98 @ Outlet PC)
* Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($274.99 @ Newegg)
* Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($34.99 @ Microcenter)
* Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
* Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($57.99 @ Microcenter)

Total: $1192.80

I have a monitor and speakers. I need a keyboard, DVD player/burner, and Windows 7.

Other builds I've seen include CPU coolers. I noticed that the tonymac build does not. Thoughts in this regard?

Anyone know if it causes issues installing Windows first and then using tonymac instructions to add the MacOS?

Thoughts or suggestions from anyone invited.

 

[alvindarkness]

For this situation does it matter if you install Windows first or Mac first? My inclination would be to install Windows first. Does Tonymac address this?

If you are installing them onto separate harddrives it doesnt matter which you install first. The bootloader (chimera/chameleon/clover whatever you use) on your mac hdd will see the windows drive and give you the option to boot either mac or windows on boot.

To be safe put both the drives on the intel sata ports on the mobo.

If you wanted to boot your windows install as a "bootcamp" partition in Parallels (or vmware), you will want to install windows on a single partition, without the little reserved partition that it normally sets up for you. You should be able to find instructions on how to do that online. But it gives you some good options when running a gaming machine. Such as letting steam install whatever latest game you bought in parallels, while you work away in mac. Then all you have to do is reboot into the native windows install and whamo, ready to play.

 

[doh123]

Other builds I've seen include CPU coolers. I noticed that the tonymac build does not. Thoughts in this regard?

Anyone know if it causes issues installing Windows first and then using tonymac instructions to add the MacOS?

on the dual boot question, I do not know...

to the CPU cooler, if your case has good airflow and fans, there is really little reason to buy an extra cooler. You are getting a retail boxed Intel CPU which has its own heatsink and fan with it that works just fine.

EDIT:
I do notice your getting the K version of the CPU though so I'm guessing your going to be overclocking... so I'd get the best extra CPU cooler you can. If you are not planning on Overclocking, you should get the i5 4670 and not the i5 4670K. The K versions are unlocked for overclocking, but they cost more... and are missing a few features.

 

[Huntn]

If you are installing them onto separate harddrives it doesnt matter which you install first. The bootloader (chimera/chameleon/clover whatever you use) on your mac hdd will see the windows drive and give you the option to boot either mac or windows on boot.

To be safe put both the drives on the intel sata ports on the mobo.

If you wanted to boot your windows install as a "bootcamp" partition in Parallels (or vmware), you will want to install windows on a single partition, without the little reserved partition that it normally sets up for you. You should be able to find instructions on how to do that online. But it gives you some good options when running a gaming machine. Such as letting steam install whatever latest game you bought in parallels, while you work away in mac. Then all you have to do is reboot into the native windows install and whamo, ready to play.

I have installed Windows before on both PCs and in Bootcamp. Not that I remember or are doubting you, but what little reserve partition are you referring too?
I know how to dual boot under the MacOS. What I am not familiar with is dual booting on the machine I propose building such as when you first start it up. I seem to remember Windows offering the ability to dual boot. It just makes me wonder if two OSs are sitting on 2 drives, which one is predominant? Is this controlled by bios? If so I need guidance. Anyone? Will go look at tonymac and see if it is addressed there. Thanks!

on the dual boot question, I do not know...

to the CPU cooler, if your case has good airflow and fans, there is really little reason to buy an extra cooler. You are getting a retail boxed Intel CPU which has its own heatsink and fan with it that works just fine.

EDIT:
I do notice your getting the K version of the CPU though so I'm guessing your going to be overclocking... so I'd get the best extra CPU cooler you can. If you are not planning on Overclocking, you should get the i5 4670 and not the i5 4670K. The K versions are unlocked for overclocking, but they cost more... and are missing a few features.

Actually, no I don't plan on overclocking so let me go check those prices again. Thanks!

 

[Huntn]

Do the guides at tonymac tell you the process of booting in Mac or Windows? I assume it has something to do with setting up one OS as predominant, enable dual booting on it, then when starting the computer making a selection possibly similar to dual booting in bootcamp on Mac?

I just read something about the Chimera. Is this TonyMac software that enables dual boot? And is this the only way that you can dual boot? I thought I read something about running multiple OSs in Windows by enabling dual boot, no? Thanks!

on the dual boot question, I do not know...

to the CPU cooler, if your case has good airflow and fans, there is really little reason to buy an extra cooler. You are getting a retail boxed Intel CPU which has its own heatsink and fan with it that works just fine.

EDIT:
I do notice your getting the K version of the CPU though so I'm guessing your going to be overclocking... so I'd get the best extra CPU cooler you can. If you are not planning on Overclocking, you should get the i5 4670 and not the i5 4670K. The K versions are unlocked for overclocking, but they cost more... and are missing a few features.

After looking at this again, they are only $30 difference in price. Maybe I should get the "K" version. Is overclocking the only reason to get the K version? I assume both are "Haswell" chip sets?

 

[Huntn]

Apologizes in advance but I'm getting into the thousand question mode...

Anyone tell me the significant difference between Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H Desktop Motherboard - Intel Z87 Express Chipset- LGA-1150 and the GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-UD3H -LGA1150 Intel Z87 Chipset SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Motherboard. Is it USB or Sata, neither, or both? I think I want both Sata and USB... Thanks!

 

[doh123]

After looking at this again, they are only $30 difference in price. Maybe I should get the "K" version. Is overclocking the only reason to get the K version? I assume both are "Haswell" chip sets?

They are both Haswell, but there are differences. If you never want to overclock, then you do NOT want the K. Check the specs on each, and you'll notice that there are some thing missing in the K version. (Look at the bottom under advanced tech)
4670K
http://ark.intel.com/products/75048

4670
http://ark.intel.com/products/75047

Apologizes in advance but I'm getting into the thousand question mode...

Anyone tell me the significant difference between Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H Desktop Motherboard - Intel Z87 Express Chipset- LGA-1150 and the GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-UD3H -LGA1150 Intel Z87 Chipset SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Motherboard. Is it USB or Sata, neither, or both? I think I want both Sata and USB... Thanks!

Those are both the same exact model number, so the same exact board.

 

[PatrickCocoa]

That was then, this is now

some of the prices seem slightly higher than they should... but what did you get for a motherboard, I don't see it listed. Unlikely you'd get that to Hackintosh well just because of the GPU though... but should be a decent gaming machine if you only want to run Windows.

oh.. also, why a i5-3570 ? That's an Ivy Bridge (older gen)... for the price you should go for a Haswell system.

Here's the motherboard, accidentally left it out while cutting from some old emails:
AS Rock PRO4-M LGA1155 Intel H77 Quad CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 A V GbE MATX Motherboard H77"
Personal Computers; $89.99

This was in January (2013) so prices are as of then. Regarding the i5-3570 yeah I'd go with something different today. I'm not doing a Hackintosh, as you indicated it works well as a dedicated Windows gaming PC.

 

[alvindarkness]

I have installed Windows before on both PCs and in Bootcamp. Not that I remember or are doubting you, but what little reserve partition are you referring too?
I know how to dual boot under the MacOS. What I am not familiar with is dual booting on the machine I propose building such as when you first start it up.

Windows 7 (onward) usually installs a hidden "system reserved partition", of about 100Mb. I'm not saying itll effect your dual booting, just that it will effect parallels being able to boot that windows partition from within mac (as though it was a bootcamp parition on a real mac). Just sent you a PM with a link to a video showing chimera working and how it works that should explain what I think you are not familiar with.

But basically how it works is chimera (which is just a branch of chameleon that youve probably come across also), installs as a bootloader on the drive you plan to run osx from (you can also install it on a usb stick if you want, for installation/testing purposes). So when you boot (and choose your mac hdd as the first boot priority in the bios), chimera will be loaded first. Chimera will detect all bootable partitions across all your harddrives, and then spit up a graphical menu giving you your boot options (with selectable themes, some that look very similar to mac's dual boot menu). This is why it doesnt matter if you install windows first or not.

 

[lewdvig]

another option is to get a used Mac Pro and install windows on it.

I bought a well loaded Nehelem MP last year for $1000. Threw all my drives form my old 1,1 MP into it and added a RADEON 7950 ($200, pc, flashed and resistor modded).

lots of power for OSX, fully supported, and runs games well.

Hackintosh is probably cheaper, yes. Faster too, but this rig blasted through all the big games in 2013 so far.

 

[Huntn]

They are both Haswell, but there are differences. If you never want to overclock, then you do NOT want the K. Check the specs on each, and you'll notice that there are some thing missing in the K version. (Look at the bottom under advanced tech)
4670K
http://ark.intel.com/products/75048

4670
http://ark.intel.com/products/75047


Those are both the same exact model number, so the same exact board.

Thanks... except in my links one says Sata and the other says Intel Z87 Express. I'll keep this in mind. For CPU, probably the 4670 for me.

Windows 7 (onward) usually installs a hidden "system reserved partition", of about 100Mb. I'm not saying itll effect your dual booting, just that it will effect parallels being able to boot that windows partition from within mac (as though it was a bootcamp parition on a real mac). Just sent you a PM with a link to a video showing chimera working and how it works that should explain what I think you are not familiar with.

But basically how it works is chimera (which is just a branch of chameleon that youve probably come across also), installs as a bootloader on the drive you plan to run osx from (you can also install it on a usb stick if you want, for installation/testing purposes). So when you boot (and choose your mac hdd as the first boot priority in the bios), chimera will be loaded first. Chimera will detect all bootable partitions across all your harddrives, and then spit up a graphical menu giving you your boot options (with selectable themes, some that look very similar to mac's dual boot menu). This is why it doesnt matter if you install windows first or not.

Thanks for the Chimera explanation! So what are you saying to do to avoid the issue of Parallels not being able to boot the Windows partition?

another option is to get a used Mac Pro and install windows on it.

I bought a well loaded Nehelem MP last year for $1000. Threw all my drives form my old 1,1 MP into it and added a RADEON 7950 ($200, pc, flashed and resistor modded).

lots of power for OSX, fully supported, and runs games well.

Hackintosh is probably cheaper, yes. Faster too, but this rig blasted through all the big games in 2013 so far.

Something to consider. How old was that MP?

-----------

As an alternative to building, I'm considering buying an ibuypower Gamer Paladin D837 that can be configured with the i5 4670 and a GTX760 for about $1039.

From the Mac booting standpoint, I'm not sure if the right motherboard, is make or break? I realize there are Mac drivers that work best with certain hardware. I'm pretty sure the GRX760 (video card) will work with Mac. But for the motherboard, if it's not important, I'd get the default motherboard.

At Ibuypower there are categories of "crossfire" and "sli/crossfire". I want to say crossfire might have to do with radeon and SLI be related to Intell? Am I warm?

The default ibuypower motherboard listed under "crossfire" is the Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 -- 2x PCIe 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0, 6x SATA-III 6Gb/s. If this won't due, they have a Gigabit GA-Z87X-D3H which is $52 more and a GA-Z87X-UD5H for an extra $137. I really have no idea what the number designations at the end signify... any ideas?

If trying to emulate the Tonymac parts list, for a MacPro which show:
GA-Z87X-OC Force

GA-Z87X-OC

GA-Z87X-UD5H

GA-Z87X-UD3H


The moderator over at Tonymac is not that friendly. Any expect advice appreciated. Anyway, a pretty convoluted post, huh?

 

[lunaoso]

Thanks... except in my links one says Sata and the other says Intel Z87 Express. I'll keep this in mind. For CPU, probably the 4670 for me.



Thanks for the Chimera explanation! So what are you saying to do to avoid the issue of Parallels not being able to boot the Windows partition?



Something to consider. How old was that MP?

-----------

As an alternative to building, I'm considering buying an ibuypower Gamer Paladin D837 that can be configured with the i5 4670 and a GTX760 for about $1039.

From the Mac booting standpoint, I'm not sure if the right motherboard, is make or break? I realize there are Mac drivers that work best with certain hardware. I'm pretty sure the GRX760 (video card) will work with Mac. But for the motherboard, if it's not important, I'd get the default motherboard.

At Ibuypower there are categories of "crossfire" and "sli/crossfire". I want to say crossfire might have to do with radeon and SLI be related to Intell? Am I warm?

The default ibuypower motherboard listed under "crossfire" is the Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 -- 2x PCIe 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0, 6x SATA-III 6Gb/s. If this won't due, they have a Gigabit GA-Z87X-D3H which is $52 more and a GA-Z87X-UD5H for an extra $137. I really have no idea what the number designations at the end signify... any ideas?

If trying to emulate the Tonymac parts list, for a MacPro which show:
GA-Z87X-OC Force

GA-Z87X-OC

GA-Z87X-UD5H

GA-Z87X-UD3H


The moderator over at Tonymac is not that friendly. Any expect advice appreciated. Anyway, a pretty convoluted post, huh?

As far as I understand, the best method for dual booting would be-
1.Have only one hard drive plugged in through SATA.
2.Install either OSX or Windows on that drive.
3.Once you go through the install (if mac do all of the multibeast stuff too), unplug that hard drive from the SATA port and plug in the second one.
4.Install the other OS.
5. Plug both hard drives in. Set the OSX drive as the boot drive so it goes through Chimera.
6. Your done!

 

[doh123]

Thanks... except in my links one says Sata and the other says Intel Z87 Express. I'll keep this in mind. For CPU, probably the 4670 for me.



Thanks for the Chimera explanation! So what are you saying to do to avoid the issue of Parallels not being able to boot the Windows partition?



Something to consider. How old was that MP?

-----------

As an alternative to building, I'm considering buying an ibuypower Gamer Paladin D837 that can be configured with the i5 4670 and a GTX760 for about $1039.

From the Mac booting standpoint, I'm not sure if the right motherboard, is make or break? I realize there are Mac drivers that work best with certain hardware. I'm pretty sure the GRX760 (video card) will work with Mac. But for the motherboard, if it's not important, I'd get the default motherboard.

At Ibuypower there are categories of "crossfire" and "sli/crossfire". I want to say crossfire might have to do with radeon and SLI be related to Intell? Am I warm?

The default ibuypower motherboard listed under "crossfire" is the Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 -- 2x PCIe 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0, 6x SATA-III 6Gb/s. If this won't due, they have a Gigabit GA-Z87X-D3H which is $52 more and a GA-Z87X-UD5H for an extra $137. I really have no idea what the number designations at the end signify... any ideas?

If trying to emulate the Tonymac parts list, for a MacPro which show:
GA-Z87X-OC Force

GA-Z87X-OC

GA-Z87X-UD5H

GA-Z87X-UD3H


The moderator over at Tonymac is not that friendly. Any expect advice appreciated. Anyway, a pretty convoluted post, huh?

Just stick to Gigabyte boards listed on Tony's site... they are MUCH easier to get working as a hackintosh, and several other brands might not even work at all.

The models numbers are different because there are different features on the boards... maybe extra SATA, RAID support, dual NICs, or support for dual GPUs or whatever... you'd have to look through the list of what features each board has.... you cant just guess by the arbitrary model numbers given by Gigabyte... the only thing you can guess from that is they all have the Intel Z87 chipset

 

[garnerx]

At Ibuypower there are categories of "crossfire" and "sli/crossfire". I want to say crossfire might have to do with radeon and SLI be related to Intell? Am I warm?

The default ibuypower motherboard listed under "crossfire" is the Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 -- 2x PCIe 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0, 6x SATA-III 6Gb/s. If this won't due, they have a Gigabit GA-Z87X-D3H which is $52 more and a GA-Z87X-UD5H for an extra $137. I really have no idea what the number designations at the end signify... any ideas?

Crossfire is for combining multiple identical AMD graphics cards and SLI is Nvidia's version of the same thing. The Mac sees them as independent video cards but Windows combines them into one for extra performance. It's a good way to extend the life of your PC when the old graphics cards become cheaper. If you think you might go down that route, budget for a bigger power supply.

I have last year's version of the UD5H board. It sound pretty similar to the HD3 one you mentioned but it has more PCI slots and an extra SATA controller, so more hard drives can be plugged in. I can vouch for it insofar as it works flawlessly and was very easy to set up, but I'd imagine most Gigabyte boards are the same.

Regarding the DVD drive, almost anything will do. I got a Samsung one for peanuts. There's a list of drives with potential OSX issues on tonymac.

One other thing - get the K version of the processor. It's so easy to overclock, you can get an instant 500-800 MHz boost simply by changing a number in the BIOS. That's a significant improvement to the speed of the computer. Even if you don't go for the K chip, I'd recommend getting a decent cooler as the one you get bundled with the CPU is rubbish - hot and noisy.

Final point - it doesn't matter which way round you install OSX and Windows if they're on separate drives. I did OSX first.

 

[Huntn]

Windows 7 (onward) usually installs a hidden "system reserved partition", of about 100Mb. I'm not saying itll effect your dual booting, just that it will effect parallels being able to boot that windows partition from within mac (as though it was a bootcamp parition on a real mac). Just sent you a PM with a link to a video showing chimera working and how it works that should explain what I think you are not familiar with.

But basically how it works is chimera (which is just a branch of chameleon that youve probably come across also), installs as a bootloader on the drive you plan to run osx from (you can also install it on a usb stick if you want, for installation/testing purposes). So when you boot (and choose your mac hdd as the first boot priority in the bios), chimera will be loaded first. Chimera will detect all bootable partitions across all your harddrives, and then spit up a graphical menu giving you your boot options (with selectable themes, some that look very similar to mac's dual boot menu). This is why it doesnt matter if you install windows first or not.

I sent you a PM. You've probably told me how to get rid of the extra Windows partition, but I probably over looked it.

After the PM Alvin sent me, I'm having doubts about putting this thing together. As I explained to him I have replaced power supplies, added hard drives, memory, a variety of cards, installed both Mac and Windows operating systems, and messes around with Windows bios, but some of the stuff mentioned is very foreign to me. I'm mostly in the plug it together and hopefully it works mode. Therefore (if I did not say it all ready), I am also considering purchasing hardware from the likes of ibuypower or digital storm who both sell rigs with both the right mobos and graphic cards in them for Mac compatibility.

As far as I understand, the best method for dual booting would be-
1.Have only one hard drive plugged in through SATA.
2.Install either OSX or Windows on that drive.
3.Once you go through the install (if mac do all of the multibeast stuff too), unplug that hard drive from the SATA port and plug in the second one.
4.Install the other OS.
5. Plug both hard drives in. Set the OSX drive as the boot drive so it goes through Chimera.
6. Your done!

Thanks, that's a helpful description and I'm feeling better abut Chimera.

Just stick to Gigabyte boards listed on Tony's site... they are MUCH easier to get working as a hackintosh, and several other brands might not even work at all.

The models numbers are different because there are different features on the boards... maybe extra SATA, RAID support, dual NICs, or support for dual GPUs or whatever... you'd have to look through the list of what features each board has.... you cant just guess by the arbitrary model numbers given by Gigabyte... the only thing you can guess from that is they all have the Intel Z87 chipset

I'll stick with tonymac's list.

Crossfire is for combining multiple identical AMD graphics cards and SLI is Nvidia's version of the same thing. The Mac sees them as independent video cards but Windows combines them into one for extra performance. It's a good way to extend the life of your PC when the old graphics cards become cheaper. If you think you might go down that route, budget for a bigger power supply.

I have last year's version of the UD5H board. It sound pretty similar to the HD3 one you mentioned but it has more PCI slots and an extra SATA controller, so more hard drives can be plugged in. I can vouch for it insofar as it works flawlessly and was very easy to set up, but I'd imagine most Gigabyte boards are the same.

Regarding the DVD drive, almost anything will do. I got a Samsung one for peanuts. There's a list of drives with potential OSX issues on tonymac.

One other thing - get the K version of the processor. It's so easy to overclock, you can get an instant 500-800 MHz boost simply by changing a number in the BIOS. That's a significant improvement to the speed of the computer. Even if you don't go for the K chip, I'd recommend getting a decent cooler as the one you get bundled with the CPU is rubbish - hot and noisy.

Final point - it doesn't matter which way round you install OSX and Windows if they're on separate drives. I did OSX first.

So for Mac compatibility, I want SLI, don't care about Crossfire. Thanks for the headsup on the DVD list at tonymac and the advice!

Edit: Just looked at Tony Mac. Don't see the problem DVD list on his buying guide? A pointer would be appreciated!

 

[Huntn]

I went to ibuypower (who have tons of options) and starting with their Paladin B837, configured a system with a GA-Z87-UD5H mobo, CPU Intel i5-4670k, and GTX 760 video card, 2- 1TB drives, and 2- 120GB SSD drives and it came up at $1800. This includes a free full version of Windows 7 and free CPU liquid cooling.

Based on what I've researched, I should be good to go for configuring the MacOS on it in addition to Windows. Sound about right?

If I buy the components to put it together by myself, I'm at about $1700. For comparison a Mac Pro starts at $2500, plus more for Ram (6vs8GB standard +$75), more for extra HDs ($150 plus they don't offer 120GB SSDs, just a 512GB which is +$600) and the biggie, they don't offer a 2GB video card on that model.

I realize that I could just buy the cheaper PC gaming box, forget about putting the MacOS on it and save about $300 by virtue of not adding the extra hard drives, which would drop it down to $1500. But it would be nice to have 2 Mac capable boxes in the house.

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[garnerx]

I went to ibuypower (who have tons of options) and starting with their Paladin B837, configured a system with a GA-Z87-UD5H mobo, CPU Intel i5-4670k, and GTX 760 video card, 2- 1TB drives, and 2- 120GB SSD drives and it came up at $1800. This includes a free full version of Windows 7 and free CPU liquid cooling.

Based on what I've researched, I should be good to go for configuring the MacOS on it in addition to Windows. Sound about right?

Sounds like a winner! The 670 is slightly stronger than the 760 but also a bit more expensive. With liquid cooling you can really make that CPU fly. Do they put it all together for you? What kind of power supply do you get?

I would also recommend another big (>1TB) hard drive for Time Machine, so if you need to reinstall OSX you can restore all your apps and data easily. Plus you need an 8GB+ USB stick for the initial install.

Here's the dvd link, in case you still need one of those:
tonymac optical drive info

 

[Huntn]

Sounds like a winner! The 670 is slightly stronger than the 760 but also a bit more expensive. With liquid cooling you can really make that CPU fly. Do they put it all together for you? What kind of power supply do you get?

I would also recommend another big (>1TB) hard drive for Time Machine, so if you need to reinstall OSX you can restore all your apps and data easily. Plus you need an 8GB+ USB stick for the initial install.

Here's the dvd link, in case you still need one of those:
tonymac optical drive info

I do, thanks! Looks Like I'll be installing my own Optical drive and wireless wifi to comply with the tonymac list.

As far as your other questions, they put it together, it includes 8GB memory and the 4 HDs I mentioned. I all ready have an external drive for Time Machine. The only hitch if you want to call it that is to get the 2 SSD drives, they come in a raid config. I talked to the sales rep who said it was not hard to enter bios and unraid them. Anyone have experience with this? I have messed with bios on occasion, but not for years.

 

[lunaoso]

I do, thanks! Looks Like I'll be installing my own Optical drive and wireless wifi to comply with the tonymac list.

As far as your other questions, they put it together, it includes 8GB memory and the 4 HDs I mentioned. I all ready have an external drive for Time Machine. The only hitch if you want to call it that is to get the 2 SSD drives, they come in a raid config. I talked to the sales rep who said it was not hard to enter bios and unraid them. Anyone have experience with this? I have messed with bios on occasion, but not for years.

Where did you get $1700? I added it up and got about anywhere from 1300-1500.

MB- $200
CPU- $250
2 1TB Hard Drives- $180
2 128gb SSDs- $200
RAM- $100
Windows 7- $100
Corsair h100i Water Cooler- $100
GTX 760- $250
Case- Depends

Did I miss something or do the math wrong? Just trying to get you the best bang for your buck.

 

[cluthz]

Unless you want to add tons of stuff to your machine, don't bother with the more expensive boards.

I built my previous hack on Z77-DS3H, which was a ~ $100 board.
THe features i lost:
Less over clock potential (I'm still doing 4.3GHz on my 2500k stable for over 1.5 years now.)
Fewer SATA ports. This board had only 5 SATA + 1 mSATA.

I see no reason for most people to get something else than the budget boards in the tonymacx86 list.

Also 760 and 670 is almost identical in performance. It seems that you can get quite a better price on the 760 these days.

I would not worry about performance, a GTX670/760 will be 5-10 times faster than the old 6750M.

iBuyPower usually offer less value for money.

Installing mac os on a (fully tonymac supported) Gigabyte board is pretty easy when you have access to a real mac to make the USB stick.

I've built four hacks myself, and I've helped three other friends build too, all 100% success.

 

[Huntn]

Where did you get $1700? I added it up and got about anywhere from 1300-1500.

MB- $200
CPU- $250
2 1TB Hard Drives- $180
2 128gb SSDs- $200
RAM- $100
Windows 7- $100
Corsair h100i Water Cooler- $100
GTX 760- $250
Case- Depends

Did I miss something or do the math wrong? Just trying to get you the best bang for your buck.

At some point I had:
cpu- $239
mobo- $209
video card- $319
ram- $79
case- $165
power- $102,
2- 120GB SSD- $218
2- 1TB- $146
wifi- $43
cpu cooler- $56
dvd- $28
Windows 7- $80

total= $1684
Since then I have adjusted the card down about $100 with the GTX 760.

Unless you want to add tons of stuff to your machine, don't bother with the more expensive boards.

I built my previous hack on Z77-DS3H, which was a ~ $100 board.
THe features i lost:
Less over clock potential (I'm still doing 4.3GHz on my 2500k stable for over 1.5 years now.)
Fewer SATA ports. This board had only 5 SATA + 1 mSATA.

I see no reason for most people to get something else than the budget boards in the tonymacx86 list.

Also 760 and 670 is almost identical in performance. It seems that you can get quite a better price on the 760 these days.

I would not worry about performance, a GTX670/760 will be 5-10 times faster than the old 6750M.

iBuyPower usually offer less value for money.

Installing mac os on a (fully tonymac supported) Gigabyte board is pretty easy when you have access to a real mac to make the USB stick.

I've built four hacks myself, and I've helped three other friends build too, all 100% success.

Not that I am defending iBuy, but you are paying something for them to put it together... But hopefully you are benefiting somewhat from them being able to snag wholesaler component prices.

When you built your hacks, how much experience did you have and how hard was it? My anticipation would be that if I get the right stuff, I'd just plug it together and basically crank it up, at least for the pc side of things. I understand the Mac side is a little more involved. And I am worried about Mac updates and such and whatever glitches there are.

As this is intended as a gaming box, first goal is to get the PC half going. Later I'll consider the steps to get the Mac side going. Over at tonymac, I looked at the recommended boards for Sept 2013 and they were not cheap, the cheapest being $180 U.S. Or is that cheap? Is there a budget board list over there?

Thanks guys!

 

[doh123]

At some point I had:
cpu- $239
mobo- $209
video card- $319
ram- $79
case- $165
power- $102,
2- 120GB SSD- $218
2- 1TB- $146
wifi- $43
cpu cooler- $56
dvd- $28
Windows 7- $80

total= $1684
Since then I have adjusted the card down about $100 with the GTX 760.



Not that I am defending iBuy, but you are paying something for them to put it together... But hopefully you are benefiting somewhat from them being able to snag wholesaler component prices.

When you built your hacks, how much experience did you have and how hard was it? My anticipation would be that if I get the right stuff, I'd just plug it together and basically crank it up, at least for the pc side of things. I understand the Mac side is a little more involved. And I am worried about Mac updates and such and whatever glitches there are.

As this is intended as a gaming box, first goal is to get the PC half going. Later I'll consider the steps to get the Mac side going. Over at tonymac, I looked at the recommended boards for Sept 2013 and they were not cheap, the cheapest being $180 U.S. Or is that cheap? Is there a budget board list over there?

Thanks guys!

your not going to go overclock crazy... but this is olny like $100
Gigabyte GA-H87-D3H

you can also get good cases for 50 - 80... no need to spend $165... or get really cheapy ones for like $20
like this one...

You can also get good power supplies for like $60-$70, no need to spend $100...
like this one