Motherboard for AMD Build?

[TheSteelShadow]

Hi all,

 

My main desktop rig is getting a bit long in the tooth, so I figured I might replace a few of the components. I've had a couple of issues with certain aspects of the motherboard I'm currently using (sound being the biggest one) so I was thinking I'd replace the mobo and leave the CPU intact.

 

I've currently got in my current machine:

AMD Phenom II 1055T (2.8Ghz, six-core, AM3 socket)

8GB 1600Mhz DDR3 RAM

1x 500GB SATA HDD, 1x 2TB SATA HDD

DVD-RW drive

Elitegroup GeForce 9800GT 1GB (definitely replacing this)

 

And I'm hoping to pick up:

Samsung 840 256GB SSD

Gigabyte GTX 660OC 2GB graphics

A new case (what? I like nice things)

 

Is it worth trying to find a decent AMD motherboard that will give me the least resistance in getting a good OS X install going? I understand that going with Intel will give me the best compatibility with regards to kernels but if I can get something good working with my current CPU then that'd be preferable.

 

Thanks all!

[theconnactic]

OSX works stable with AMD up to Lion 10.7.5. Any newer iteration will have serious graphics related issues - and won't work altogether with nVidia cards. Therefore, since GTX 6xx cards won't work with Lion, I think it's a bad choice. You can either chose an older card - nVidia up to GTX 5xx and ATI up to 68xx - or get a newer ATI card and try Mavericks (again, nVidia won't work, and even with ATI there will be issues).

 

My best advice is to ditch the large SSD and use the saved amount to get an OSX-friendly Z77-DS3H + Intel Core i5 3570K combo. It will be faster than your current setup, specially if you overclock, and you'll save money with future power bills, even if you overclock. Since the 3570K integrated Intel HD4000 is fully supported, you can even wait for a while to buy another discrete graphics card. You can also buy a small SSD (64 GB is the ideal size) and pair it as a Fusion HD (Google about it) with a larger spinning HDD for higher R&W speeds.

 

All the best!