Opportunity to buy Hackintosh Quad-Core i7 3770k, 32GB RAM, 16TB RAID, 512GB SSD, GeForce GTX 680 VS. nMP - What should I do?

[nirvana019]

Hello guys, I really hope getting an advise here...

 

So this is my situation:

We are two students who need a new Mac for Cutting, 3D Animation etc. We're working with Maya, Final Cut 7 (atm - thinking about trying out FCX in the near future), After Effects, Photoshop. We both saved some money up to get as a new, fast and silent (yep, silent is very important.. can't stand a loud humming box, when theres the option of a more or less silent one...) Mac.

Firstly we bought a new Mac Pro (6 Core, 512GB, 16GB, D500) because it was from a reseller and about 600€ cheaper than direct from apple. But unfortunately that little thing had the a coil whining issue, so we handed it back.

Now after I got the refund, I was thinking about going "big" and get a 6 Core, 512GB, 32GB, D700 - because of the currently education pricing at the apple online store.

But infact I have a kind of bad conscience about spending 4.875,60€ - who would have not?

I am new to customacs but in fact informed me every once in a while, but do not really have time to build one myself. The thing is that i stumbled upon an offer through a friend of mine who knows a guy selling his hackintosh.

Specs:
Intel Core i7-3770K, 4x 3.50GHz, tray
Scythe Ninja 3 Passiv CPU Cooling
TridentX DIMM Kit 32GB PC3-19200U
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 OC, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort (GV-N680OC-4GD)
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH,
LSI 3ware Escalade 9650SE-8LPML retail, low profile, PCIe x4 Hardware RAID Controller
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB SSD
4*4TB Hitachi Deskstar
OCZ Max-Performance PSU / 1250W / 80+ Gold / Triple

Costs: 2500-3000€

I am more or less the "computer-guy" in my circle of friends, but must confess I am a little bit overwhelmed with this decision.

Of course I know the nMP late 2013 can be upgraded by Ram, CPU and only a slight chance of getting him upgraded on GPU too (at least there is an Ifixit tut of replacing the cards). I also can't actually say if one of those has enough power to handle the Maya Projects (I'll get into postproduction masterclass in 2 months, so I'll need quite a stronge horse.) I don't think we will lay our hands on 4K Footage in the near future, but the capability of doing so is good to have. Another thing: actually i can't image how "silent" the custoMac is...
All I want for the bottom line is a good and fast media computer for professionall video and 3D-animation work, which is silent (pro point for nMP) and future-proof. So it is not outdated in 2-3 years... That thing should run as long as possible..


I am sorry guys, I know I am not easy to please, but I thought I'll give it a try and maybe someone here has an advise for us.

[Allan]

this is a dream!

 

if I had that opportunity I would buy.

 

BUT, if you need a machine to work well, why not buy a Macintosh?

 

Look, this MacPro Quad-core: http://store.apple.com/pt-business/buy-mac/mac-pro?product=ME253PO/A&step=config

Just 3.099,00 €

[nirvana019]

so you would go for the hackintosh?

hm.. I talked to a few guys about this, some agreed some disagreed as it always is... but a good point: if it is for the work, go for the original. There can always be a crash all of a sudden... And when theres a deadline, it could be really frustrating.. hm... yeah i know that configuration.. mine would be about 1800€ more (http://store.apple.com/at-edu/buy-mac/mac-pro?product=MD878D/A&step=config#presoftware) - I have just a tendency to investing a little bit more once in a while and be happy with mac / hackintosh for a few years... its quite a bunch of money, which i can not afford to spend every 3-4 years.. It would be helpfull to know how many years i could run that machine in this configuration, until i have to jump on the next train...

[dcai777]

I'd go for the hackintosh. Given that it has TB anyway, it should be semi quiet with the ssd and the "passively cooled" (no fans!!!) CPU. Only fan would be internal case fans and the 680. Plus, you can upgrade the CPU much more easily, along with the GPU. Right now, given that you can still run OS X Mavericks on an Core 2 Solo (~2006??), an i7-3770k should last you pretty long, not to mention more ssd space and upgradable storage (4TB HDD array ) Then more ram (16GB vs 32GB)

[Allan]

so you would go for the hackintosh?

hm.. I talked to a few guys about this, some agreed some disagreed as it always is... but a good point: if it is for the work, go for the original. There can always be a crash all of a sudden... And when theres a deadline, it could be really frustrating.. hm... yeah i know that configuration.. mine would be about 1800€ more (http://store.apple.com/at-edu/buy-mac/mac-pro?product=MD878D/A&step=config#presoftware) - I have just a tendency to investing a little bit more once in a while and be happy with mac / hackintosh for a few years... its quite a bunch of money, which i can not afford to spend every 3-4 years.. It would be helpfull to know how many years i could run that machine in this configuration, until i have to jump on the next train...

 

For professional things, which involves some Apple device, I prefer to use a Macintosh. 

 

Of course (Hackintosh) it has some advantages such as memory, CPU, SSD and easy access to exchange. 

 

But think about it, and if one day get an error, and have to deliver a rush job? 

[dcai777]

then keep time machine/ccc backups

[Allan]

I believe that a professional would not have time to recreate the settings, reinstall the OS X, bootloaders, and apps again. 

 

On a Macintosh everything would be faster.

[dcai777]

With an CCC backup, if it goes down, you can simply boot from Clover/Charmelon to the CCC disk you usually backup to. if you have 2 ssd's (one for OS, one for CCC), then CCC will backup very fast anyway. Just schedule a backup every hour or so.

[Allan]

Got it.

But in the professional case...Time is money!!