Windows Next Computer Will Probably be Windows

[cluthz]

Same here. The changes from my first hack with 10.5.x to 10.7 and 10.8 is just amazing. Installing OSX now is as easy or even easier than linux

I'm using a Native Instruments AK1 sound interface usually, but I have some speakers connected thru the mobo inputs i use from time to time. I also have a SteelSeries USB sound card I used back in the days for microphone on my laptop. I have speakers connected thru the mobo because in win7 I'm using Rocksmith, which gives a bit better latency than the Native Instruments sound card.

 

[Huntn]

Solid looking setup. People will have their little preferences in terms of manufacturers and parts (I'm also not a big fan of seagate like the other poster, after having a few die, but thats neither here or there), but I think youve done well overall.

Good choice on the cooler as well, especially if you want to overclock in the future, and go with a push/pull fan setup for extremely low temps. But in terms of just noise and simplicity, a big heatsink with a single slow 140cm fan will probably be more quiet than the two fans and a pump. All up to priorities.

Out of interest how are you going to connect the audio outputs? Just via the 3.5mm ports, hdmi, digital out, something else? One option you might look at is a cheap usb to audio adapter, a few bucks off ebay or newegg. Simply cause if you use any type of HDA Enabler and modified AppleHDA.kext, its the one thing you will have to fuss with every osx update. I used to use a little usb audio adapter and cant remember the last time I had to do anything after a delta/combo update. Just the odd chimera update to support facetime and what not.

You know, I've not thought about sound. I assumed I would go with the sound on the motherboard and just plug in some speakers.

Regarding Mac updates, I assume when you are running MacOS, that it notifies you, or you just access the iTunes, or is it the App store and just let the MacOS download and install them?

Once I get this hardware and start putting it together, stand by for lots of posts and PMs. Found a new copy of Windows 7 on ebay for $65.

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I think where the overclocked may help is down the road when games begin to take advantage of these insane CPUs, especially with next-gen right around the corner. Is it worth the hassle/extra $? Maybe, maybe not. If you plan on upgrading the CPU and MB in 3-5 years anyway, maybe not. As for water cooling, keeping the CPU cool is always great, plus it'll cut down on noise. But that might not be worth the extra $100 to you, that's something that's up to you.

Ironically, I have no idea why but at my sources, right now the "k" model is less expensive $199 vs about $220, otherwise I would have gone for the plain vesion (i5 4670)/

You could always just go with stock cooler and then upgrade the cooler later on, if you want more power.

The only instances I notice the over clock is when I run emulators or render videos.

Third party coolers are also quieter than stock cooler by a lot.

It's also a damn cheap upgrade, only $20 for the "k" cpu and then as much as you like for the cooler, you don't need a h100i, a h60 or similar is a lot better than stock if money is an issue.

The R2 XL is a damn nice case, but I'd go for the R4, it's the same case, but smaller. You can fit 8 drives and 2 SSDs in the R4

Not only was the R2 less expensive than the R4, $99 vs $110, I thought more space for my first time around the patch would be nice. I plan on documenting this build, not with a video but with pics. Hopefully nothing hair pulling happens.

 

[lunaoso]

Ironically, I have no idea why but at my sources, right now the "k" model is less expensive $199 vs about $220, otherwise I would have gone for the plain vesion (i5 4670)/

Yeah I see that happen every once in a while. Maybe more demand, so they have more stock=slightly lower price? A build log would be pretty cool! Hopefully everything goes well.

 

[cluthz]

Regarding Mac updates, I assume when you are running MacOS, that it notifies you, or you just access the iTunes, or is it the App store and just let the MacOS download and install them?

Not only was the R2 less expensive than the R4, $99 vs $110, I thought more space for my first time around the patch would be nice. I plan on documenting this build, not with a video but with pics. Hopefully nothing hair pulling happens.

I do all updates except Mac OS updates (like 10.8.4->10.8.5) with Software update. OS updates i download the combo updater from apple manually.

If the XL is cheaper, by all means get it!
The Fractal cases are very nice to build in.

 

[Huntn]

Yeah I see that happen every once in a while. Maybe more demand, so they have more stock=slightly lower price? A build log would be pretty cool! Hopefully everything goes well.

Me too! Hopefully you won't hear any moaning coming from this end.

I do all updates except Mac OS updates (like 10.8.4->10.8.5) with Software update. OS updates i download the combo updater from apple manually.

If the XL is cheaper, by all means get it!
The Fractal cases are very nice to build in.

What bad thing would or could happen if you let Software update do the MacOS installs?

 

[cluthz]

Me too! Hopefully you won't hear any moaning coming from this end.



What bad thing would or could happen if you let Software update do the MacOS installs?

Not really, in 9 out of 10 times it works fine. It's just good practice.
The scenario that can happen is that a new kext is incompatible with a custom one you have installed. The combo updater will overwrite your custom one you have. It can in worst case mean you have to boot in text based mode (don't remember the name) and deactivate the conflicting kext and then install the combo updater.

We've had 5 updates in 14 months for ML, so it's not like it will take you that much time to install combo updater.

 

[Huntn]

Not really, in 9 out of 10 times it works fine. It's just good practice.
The scenario that can happen is that a new kext is incompatible with a custom one you have installed. The combo updater will overwrite your custom one you have. It can in worst case mean you have to boot in text based mode (don't remember the name) and deactivate the conflicting kext and then install the combo updater.

We've had 5 updates in 14 months for ML, so it's not like it will take you that much time to install combo updater.

Huh? No comprendo...

 

[CJM]

I moved away from owning a Mac back in 2009, for the same reasons. PC hardware lasts a lot longer compared to all the mobile components used in Macs.

I do now also own a Macbook Air for work. I like it, but I don't game on it.

 

[Huntn]

I moved away from owning a Mac back in 2009, for the same reasons. PC hardware lasts a lot longer compared to all the mobile components used in Macs.

I do now also own a Macbook Air for work. I like it, but I don't game on it.

Do you mean last longer as far as technical evolution or as in it does not break as often as Mac hardware? Maybe I'm lucky, but besides my game related complaints involving Mac hardware, Mac hardware itself has never been an issue as far as "lasting longer" or being cheap. Gaming aside, I've owned a string of Mac laptops with great results and satisfaction.

 

[lunaoso]

Huh? No comprendo...

Kexts are basically the drivers for OSX, AFAIK.

 

[CJM]

Do you mean last longer as far as technical evolution or as in it does not break as often as Mac hardware? Maybe I'm lucky, but besides my game related complaints involving Mac hardware, Mac hardware itself has never been an issue as far as "lasting longer" or being cheap. Gaming aside, I've owned a string of Mac laptops with great results and satisfaction.

I should have clarified, I did mean technical evolution. For example, my current build on my PC is three years old. Now I did recently upgrade the graphics card, but it almost every game on max before then.

 

[Huntn]

I should have clarified, I did mean technical evolution. For example, my current build on my PC is three years old. Now I did recently upgrade the graphics card, but it almost every game on max before then.

Thanks for clarifying.

From a strictly gaming standpoint, PCs are better for gaming and more affordable. However my relationship with Windows is definitely love/hate. The love only comes from better game performance from more available titles, period. The hate is everything else that has to do with Windows.

The exception to the "PCs are better for gaming" rule, is if you are traveling and want to enjoy the MacOS on the road while doing some gaming. I consider the MacBookPro as the best option to achieve this. Via Bootcamp, my recent play list is or has been World of Tanks, DODA2, FFXIV, GW2, Bioshock Infinity, SWTOR and they all play in the range of 25-75 fps, a very viable avenue to mobile gaming.

 

[Huntn]

Build Status: Parts on order...

 

[Miharu]

I will definitely buy a custom made PC next time, I'm tired of iMacs with their sub-par graphics and loud fans after playing for a while. I think I can live without a desktop Mac, or The new Mac Pro will definitely cost thousands so that's not an option

As for laptops, definitely sticking with Macs.

 

[doh123]

I think i'm going to build a mITX system with a good CPU, liquid cooling and a high end GPU... great for gaming, but mainly used as a hackintosh. Fell in love with this case...

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=10083&product_name=Elite 130

 

[ljonesj]

ive got a haf 912 but i did not go hack as i went with amd processor as the intel with my budget was to expensive and the benchmark to me did not warrent the price 5-10 fps in games i am sorry but 119 for my amd 6 core fx 6300 or 220 for a quad core haswell hem let me think

 

[Huntn]

For anyone considering building, I decided to build just for the experience of doing so, plus I wanted the possibility of installing the MacOS on it. I'm not really saving any money. If you look at my component list a couple of posts back, it is $1400.

If you don't want to mess with the challenges of building, you can buy the almost identical build from Digital Storm for virtually the same price. Their rig advertised in PC Gamer was GTX 770 2GB card, i5-4670k processor, 8GB RAM, 120 GB SSD memory, 1TB memory, Corsair H60 liquid cooling, ASUS motherboard, and Windows 7. You'd still have to add a second 1 TB drive to match my build. So I'm saving about $60 and for all I know it is Hackintosh compatible. It's possible I have a more substantial power supply and more capability with my motherboard.

 

[Huntn]

Wow, I'm done. Got the new PC build chugging along without any issues and it was surprisingly easy and fast with the help of this Newegg TV Video, which simplifies the process, just by mentioning them. In fact most of the time was spent listening to the video. There are 3 parts. This link is to Part 1.

I have documented the experience with some notes, and have not decided how I want to post it, in a forum thread or in a MacRumors guide format with pictures. I realize that this kind of info is perishable. Any opinions?

 

[garnerx]

Excellent, glad it worked. I've put together Ikea furniture that was more complicated than building a PC, so I don't know how much use a tutorial would be.

Get OSX running on it now.

 

[Dirtyharry50]

Congratulations on your success! I knew you could do it.

It will be interesting to hear how setting up OS X on there works out now.

 

[Huntn]

Excellent, glad it worked. I've put together Ikea furniture that was more complicated than building a PC, so I don't know how much use a tutorial would be.

Get OSX running on it now.

Congratulations on your success! I knew you could do it.

It will be interesting to hear how setting up OS X on there works out now.

Thanks guys! OSX is the next step, after I finish setting up my Windows stuff. I tried to make an image backup of my C drive using Windows Backup and Restore and it's giving me an error. I've got a 1TB external drive I'm selecting to keep the image on. I'll have to research this, but wondering if anyone has any ideas?

 

[lunaoso]

Nice! Glad you got it done. It really is easier then it sounds. Have you fired up any games yet or are you working on setup first?

 

[Huntn]

Nice! Glad you got it done. It really is easier then it sounds. Have you fired up any games yet or are you working on setup first?

Thanks! Yes, with the help of that Newegg video, it was much easier than I imagined it would be. Regarding games, I've cranked up WoT and the difference in graphic quality is substantial, running graphics at max, if I want to, along with, at times doubling my frame rate. I'm still working on setup, have my kitchen remodel going on, so I plan to get the MacOS going on this PC hardware in the next couple of weeks. I'll be looking for help soon.

 

[malman89]

Congrats. I'm definitely sick of missing out on games I can't play, so I'll be doing the same shortly.

My budget will probably be ~$1,000 though, since I need to buy an OEM Win 8 and monitor on top of that.

 

[Huntn]

Congrats. I'm definitely sick of missing out on games I can't play, so I'll be doing the same shortly.

My budget will probably be ~$1,000 though, since I need to buy an OEM Win 8 and monitor on top of that.

Thanks! Check out Digital Storm for comparison of any build you plan on executing. I'm glad I did the build because it removed some of the mystery and then there is the Hackintosh.