Monster PRODUCTIVITY Hackintosh

[krackato]

What would you do if you wanted to build a monster hackintosh that is stable for PRODUCTIVITY running Snow Leopard? Does iCore7 run OS X these days? I know the Quad Core Core2Duo's do. I've been a little out of the loop lately.

I have a White MacBook with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.

 

But I'm on my computer using Photoshop CS4, Excel, Word, Dreamweaver, VMware Fusion, Things, Filezilla, Quickeys, Firefox, Safari, Textmate, and who knows what else often at the same time.

 

Since I'm spending 50-60 hours a week in front of the machine, any kind of slow down affects my productivity flow.

 

I don't need games or anything like that, but I do need to be able to output to my 24" Dell LCD monitor using DVI.

 

I was thinking maybe this this: http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/28/ibuypow...r-sff-rigs-wee/ , off the suggestion of weaksauce12. But I don't really need multiple graphics cards.

 

Anyway, my budget is only $500-$1200. I know, big range, but just wanted to be clear that when I say monster, I don't mean a system that's $5,000. I just need apps that increase my productivity to run, and if that means getting a Good Graphics card that accelerates apps that's fine, but I don't need it for games.

 

I just need it to be very, very responsive and able to handle a lot of apps and be very stable. I've even thought about buying a Macbook Pro or a Mac Pro, but I figured I could get more for my money if I went the Hackintosh route and maybe even used a SSD drive.

[nano_tube]

I suggest the following setup:

 

CPU: A good Quad - either C2D or Corei7. If your budget is tight go for a Quad C2D. The four cores will leverage Snow Leopard's grand central dispatch (multi threading technology) well.

 

RAM: 16GB or more. Go for simple RAM like DDR2 800Mhz if it's a C2D as it's cheap and performs well. A lot of RAM is one of the most important things you'll need if you are working with a lot of apps in parallel.

 

Mother Board: Any relevant mobo from Gigabyte / Asus - look at the snow leopard components guide at the OSx86 Wiki. Make sure the board has working on-board LAN & Sound chips when running OS X.

 

Video Card: I would go for an nVidia GeForce 9800GTX with either 512MB or 1GB. These cards are supported well and also support OpenCL which will be used by most professional apps in the coming months to accelerate performance. This card also flies with Windows 7 AND as a bonus it runs games pretty good. This video card is pretty cheap these days.

 

HD: 2 X 1TB 7200RPM drives. One for Snow Leopard and the other for Windows 7 if you need it. They are cheap as dirt and will work well for 3 years. I would refrain from SSDs right now as they are very expensive.

 

DVD-RW: LG SATA are Ok. Just make sure they are SATA and not IDE. IDE doesn't work under Mac OS X 10.5/6

 

Case: Go for a midi tower that can house 1 or 2 DVDs and at least 4 HDs. Make sure that the power supply is strong enough - an Enermax Modu82+ is a good choice as it is powerful and VERY quiet. Place one quiet 120mm fan in the back and another at the front. Make sure all these components are as quiet as they can be so you won't suffer from noise when working.

 

Use Chameleon RC3 as a boot loader with Snow Leopard retail install DVD (Buy it, don't be a shmock).

Chameleon also represents OS selection in a very nice and easy way in case you have multiple OS installs.

 

Cheers.

 

P.S

If you are wondering, this is my setup:

CPU: C2D Quad 6600

RAM: 8GB DDR2

HD: WD 320GB

Video Card: 9800GTX+ 512MB VRam

Mother Board: Intel Dragontail

LAN & Sound: on-board

Screen: Apple Cinema Display 20"

OS: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7

Windows 7: via VMWare Fusion

Boot loader: Chameleon RC2

[drumtraks]

I'd go with a SSD for the OS disk as it will improve the overall performance. Then as much RAM as you can is a good step. At last, these days, I'd go for an i7 920 but a C2Q is also a good solution.

 

I've also started a new topic myself to have an expert opinion on my configuration (I'm also in the process of setting up a new computer for professional audio use, so it has to be quite a responsive and productive machine too).

Keep an eye on the topic, it may help you too if someone replies.

 

Don't know if it's of your interest but my config (as stated HERE) is about 1300 GBP.

[nano_tube]

I'd go with a SSD for the OS disk as it will improve the overall performance. Then as much RAM as you can is a good step. At last, these days, I'd go for an i7 920 but a C2Q is also a good solution.

 

I've also started a new topic myself to have an expert opinion on my configuration (I'm also in the process of setting up a new computer for professional audio use, so it has to be quite a responsive and productive machine too).

Keep an eye on the topic, it may help you too if someone replies.

 

Don't know if it's of your interest but my config (as stated HERE) is about 1300 GBP.

 

Though the parts you are suggesting are indeed very good, they are also quite expensive. His budget is up to $1,200 - I don't think he can squeeze in an Corei7 and SSD.

[krackato]

If I could only pick an SSD or an Core i7, which one would you guys suggest?

[nano_tube]

If I could only pick an SSD or an Core i7, which one would you guys suggest?

 

I would say an SSD will give you a good bang for the buck if you are highly dependent on your storage performance.

It will also boot up the system more quickly.

 

The CPU will give you more overall performance but it will also require you to buy a more expensive mother-board and more expensive DDR3 RAM.

 

Make the decision according to your own needs, but if I were on a budget I wouldn't buy any of these parts - they don't do THAT of a big difference in day to day work.

 

Cheers.

[drumtraks]

if comparing ssd vs traditional hdd and i7 vs c2q... i'd say there is more gain with the ssd on the day-to-day tasks. although it completely depends on the work you're doing.