I am very close to doing a build, just have a few questions left

[dano281988]

I am new to the whole PC building thing but not new to the hackintosh forum sites. For the last 2 months I have been serious about building a kick ass desktop. My price range is around 1200 for the computer, up to 1500 with two monitors.

 

 

 

I have found many sites explaining how to do this, listed below are some of them:

 

 

 

http://lifehacker.com/5351485/how-to-build...finish#hardware

 

 

 

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?opti...3&Itemid=38

 

 

 

http://lifehacker.com/5672051/how-to-build...ne=true&s=i

 

 

 

http://techiemusings.typepad.com/techie_mu...otherboard.html

 

 

 

http://www.mattbrandenburg.com/2010/08/12/...w-2499-mac-pro/

 

 

 

The last one is the most relevant, it is the one that I am almost ready to copy… there is just one thing holding me back. The video card that it comes with will support 2 monitors, but I want 2 monitors and a TV for movies. The TV can be mirrored, but I want them all to be able to run at once at certain times, and I don’t know how changing the aspect ratio on a monitor will affect the TV.

 

 

 

My requirements include:

 

 

 

· 8 Gb RAM

 

· 2 TB Hard drive

 

· i7 chip, probably 920

 

· video card(s) that will support 2 monitors for sure, I want to have three but the third one can be a mirror of the 2^nd one because it is a TV that will be used to watch movies. I am a little worried about mirroring the third one because it is a 42” TV and I am worried about different aspect ratios on the two mirrored screens

 

· 650W power supply

 

· DVD burner

 

 

 

Is it a possibility to run two graphics cards to run 3 monitors?

 

Is this the best build that I can do for the money?

 

What is the best case that I should use?

 

Is there a better tutorial that I can follow? I am a newb so I don’t want to do this without one.

 

 

 

As you can see, I have been looking into this for some time and want to get some questions answered before I go out and spend a bunch of money. I have searched every site I can find and really feel that I can do the software installation, but the hardware is what I am worried about.

 

 

 

Thanks for the help! I’m itching to spend some money here so any advice you could give would be great

 

 

 

DaN

[Gringo Vermelho]

Is it a possibility to run two graphics cards to run 3 monitors?

That's the only way. On OS X (nvidia, ATI I don't know about) you can only have two displays active at the same time on each video card.

I don’t know how changing the aspect ratio on a monitor will affect the TV.

The same way as on Windows - it won't.

650W power supply

You'll need a beefier PSU for two video cards.

[dano281988]

That's the only way. On OS X (nvidia, ATI I don't know about) you can only have two displays active at the same time on each video card.

 

The same way as on Windows - it won't.

 

You'll need a beefier PSU for two video cards.

 

 

but two video cards is an option? it will be supported in osx? and would a 750 W power supply be enough?

 

thanks for the help!

 

anyone else have other suggestions?

[Gringo Vermelho]

but two video cards is an option? it will be supported in osx? and would a 750 W power supply be enough?

 

Two video cards are supported but it's not simple. There are guides available though, both here and on some of the other Hackintosh scene forums.

 

The PSU wattage is important but the amperage on the 12V lines is perhaps even more important.

How much juice you need depends on which video cards you'll be buying and of course the rest of the hardware.

 

Google 'PSU calculator' and try several different ones, compare the results.

 

You should study this subject before spending your cash, there are lots of articles online on how to choose the right PSU.

 

Don't skimp on the PSU, if the CPU is the brain, the PSU is the heart, kidneys and liver. Get a good quality PSU. Read reviews:

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/page/power

[dano281988]

Two video cards are supported but it's not simple. There are guides available though, both here and on some of the other Hackintosh scene forums.

 

The PSU wattage is important but the amperage on the 12V lines is perhaps even more important.

How much juice you need depends on which video cards you'll be buying and of course the rest of the hardware.

 

Google 'PSU calculator' and try several different ones, compare the results.

 

You should study this subject before spending your cash, there are lots of articles online on how to choose the right PSU.

 

Don't skimp on the PSU, if the CPU is the brain, the PSU is the heart, kidneys and liver. Get a good quality PSU. Read reviews:

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/page/power <---Go Brazil!!

 

 

 

Thanks man,

 

I don't necessarily need two video cards and it sounds like it may be more complicated then i want to get into.

 

I think i will just do a split from my secondary monitor to the TV for when i want to watch movies.

 

do you have any preference of any of the sites that i had in my original post?

 

what about tonymac's site... here is the link:

 

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/06/bui...omplete-pc.html

 

there are three builds on it? any that you recommend or don't recommend?

 

thanks for all of the help! I really appreciate it.

 

dan

[XLR]

If you install 2 cards like 9500GT then even a 500W PSU will be more than enough.

[Gringo Vermelho]

True, but it would be a shame to pair two 9500 GTs with an i7 920 though!

 

This doesn't look too good:

Badass Motherboard, Ultrafast CPU, Coolest Heatsink, Two Weak Video Cards, Tonnes of RAM,

Gigantic Hard Drive, Lightspeed Disk Burner, Professional Sound Card, Massive LCD Display.

 

 

dano: Yeah, get yourself a nice X58/ICH10 based mobo and go with a guide from TonyMac's forums.

 

Personally I would not rely on a single 2TB hard drive, I would definitely get at least one smaller drive (say, 500GB) for the OS and apps, and another drive (or more) for storage/data/work.

 

A potential issue with a single huge 2TB drive is that if there ever is a problem with it, it means you'll lose everything at once.