Thinking Hackintosh...

[El Awesome]

Unless you've already bought it I'd considering redo that setup.
X79 has limited support, no sleep, no speedstep etc..
Goinf Z77 with a 3770K which easily overclocks to 4.4Ghz++ will be cheaper and more compatible.

As for case and PSU, those don't matter in regards to hack compatibility.

I consider getting a GA-X79-UD5 with a i7 3930k.
Simply because SandyBridges overclock much better than IvyBridges, and I like the hexcore power of the 3930k. With a good cooling system, 4.7Ghz can be easily achieved as a 24/7 setup.
The H60 is not a really big cooling system, 4.4 could be pretty hard.

I heard of some people where sleep works (I don't care since my machine never goes to sleep), speedstep is unecessary anyway when OCing, and limited support? You still have 3 years of warranty.

 

[knapp40]

I consider getting a GA-X79-UD5 with a i7 3930k.
Simply because SandyBridges overclock much better than IvyBridges, and I like the hexcore power of the 3930k. With a good cooling system, 4.7Ghz can be easily achieved as a 24/7 setup.
The H60 is not a really big cooling system, 4.4 could be pretty hard.

I heard of some people where sleep works (I don't care since my machine never goes to sleep), speedstep is unecessary anyway when OCing, and limited support? You still have 3 years of warranty.

hey great thanks!!

 

[El Awesome]

hey great thanks!!

You're welcome

 

[alvindarkness]

You've gone a great way IMO. Very similar setup to what I have (same video card too if its the EVGA GTX680 SC2), and for exactly the same reasons. I've had a pure hackintosh set up since the late tiger days, and absolutely refused to install windows.

But I caved in a few months ago purely for games (particularly after some great steam sales), and installed windows on a spare hdd. Its simply the best of both worlds. The computer is in OSX until I want/need to go into a native windows. Just takes a quick reboot, enjoy a few hours of gaming, then back into OSX.

I think youll be a happy camper. Let us know how it all ends up!

 

[Wardenski]

Good luck but I would personally not bother installing OSX.

You may miss OSX for a while but then realise Windows 7 is not so bad. No point installing OSX on a gaming machine. Spending time installing OSX can be better spent playing games.

 

[knapp40]

You've gone a great way IMO. Very similar setup to what I have (same video card too if its the EVGA GTX680 SC2), and for exactly the same reasons. I've had a pure hackintosh set up since the late tiger days, and absolutely refused to install windows.

But I caved in a few months ago purely for games (particularly after some great steam sales), and installed windows on a spare hdd. Its simply the best of both worlds. The computer is in OSX until I want/need to go into a native windows. Just takes a quick reboot, enjoy a few hours of gaming, then back into OSX.

I think youll be a happy camper. Let us know how it all ends up!

Yeah that's exactly what I want to do. I will totally let you guys know. Thanks for all the replies everyone!!

 

[KadMac]

Good luck but I would personally not bother installing OSX.

You may miss OSX for a while but then realise Windows 7 is not so bad. No point installing OSX on a gaming machine. Spending time installing OSX can be better spent playing games.

Agreed. I have a Hackintosh too but once I got Windows 7 back on my machine, it allowed me to game like never before. I have a GTX 580 - a very decent graphics card and its fun playing games on max.

Since I game a lot, I find myself not logging back into Mountain Lion OS X very much. What's the point? Windows 7 is very capable and since I game so much, might as well just stay with it instead of rebooting.

 

[Curren~Sea]

I just want to say good luck to you. If you're comfortable mucking around in your hardware and software configuration, more power to ya.

I went down that road a few times with PC's and it always came back to bite me at some point. If you enjoy fiddling with drivers and updating hard to find configuration settings, searching the web for answers to tough questions, worrying about the next upgrade, go for it.

You may save a few bucks.

Personally, it's not worth it. There are new iMacs coming out next week and if a game doesn't play well on it in either OSX or Boot Camp, I don't need to play it.

One of the main reasons I choose Mac as a platform is because I simply do not have to worry about mucking around in it, like you always have to do on a Windows machine.

Anyway, you're committed now so I wish you all the best! Be sure to report your progress.

 

[Wardenski]

Personally, it's not worth it. There are new iMacs coming out next week and if a game doesn't play well on it in either OSX or Boot Camp, I don't need to play it.

One of the main reasons I choose Mac as a platform is because I simply do not have to worry about mucking around in it, like you always have to do on a Windows machine.

Anyway, you're committed now so I wish you all the best! Be sure to report your progress.

Why should you not be able to play the latest games on a machine with a premium price? IMO what you said is bad advice for a gamer, which the OP is.

Also, good luck getting surround sound from games in OSX.

 

[knapp40]

I just want to say good luck to you. If you're comfortable mucking around in your hardware and software configuration, more power to ya.

I went down that road a few times with PC's and it always came back to bite me at some point. If you enjoy fiddling with drivers and updating hard to find configuration settings, searching the web for answers to tough questions, worrying about the next upgrade, go for it.

You may save a few bucks.

Personally, it's not worth it. There are new iMacs coming out next week and if a game doesn't play well on it in either OSX or Boot Camp, I don't need to play it.

One of the main reasons I choose Mac as a platform is because I simply do not have to worry about mucking around in it, like you always have to do on a Windows machine.

Anyway, you're committed now so I wish you all the best! Be sure to report your progress.

Well I will try to install OS X on a separate drive and I won't update until I know that it will be fine. I wanted an iMac just like you and was going to install bootcamp also. But I also knew I wanted to play Skyrim and mod games. I have a MBP, wanted a iMac but thought the mobile GPU wouldn't be enough. I also wanted to be able to upgrade if needed. But I really like the OSX so I decided on this route. I could get ALMOST everything I needed from a cyberpowerpc webpage. So if this doesn't work that's okay I can still play games and then I will just try a different OS like Ubuntu. I just like tinkering with things. Thanks everyone.