Budget Pro Build

[modulus16]

I'd like to build a powerful hackintosh for my next computer, while doing it on a budget and buying parts over a period of time (3 to 4 months). I've had a 2010 13" MacBook Pro as my main computer for 4 years now and it's still running strong, but I'd like to step up my abilities. These are my goals with my hackintosh:

• Use it as a Plex Media Server to send multiple 1080p streams throughout my house.
• Use it for video transcoding/editing, rendering, and other A/V related tasks (Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Ableton)
• Potentially use is a small server, nothing heavy or complex, just to gain knowledge and skills

As such, I've definitely decided on an i7-4790K for the CPU, because I intended to have very CPU intensive tasks. Aside from that, I'm pretty clueless about what components to pick and were to go. I also think I'd like to go with a mid or full tower case, so a full size ATX motherboard. And I think I'd like to go with a Fractal Design Define R4 case, because of it's sound dampening qualities and it's lack of lights - my hack will be in my room where I sleep, so as little light and noise as possible would be nice.

 

On to my questions: I think I want to go with a Z97 motherboard, but which one? I've looked at the ASUS Maximus VII Hero as well as the ASUS Z97-A board. I've also looked a few Gigabyte boards, but not too closely. What kind of board should I be looking for?

 

For the time being, I've got a friend who will lend me a graphics card, PSU, case, fans, and everything else. But as time goes on, what should I really be looking for that will be the most compaitible with a hackintosh?

 

Things I'd like to add as time goes on: Bluetooth, Firewire 800, Wi-Fi, and Blu-ray capabilities (not to watch a Blu-ray movie, but to read data and write data).

 

Ideally, I'd like to keep my cost to $1000 for the whole thing. The processor will run me close to $300 and I'm thinking between $150 and $200 for the motherboard, but I've got no real idea about what I should be spending for the other components. Any thoughts or suggestions would be very helpful. Thank you!

[kvonlinee]

For $1000 range, you could have a great system.

The first thing is cpu, with the a mount you have for it, you could go with i7

The motherboard is gigabyte is more convenient, you want chipset in *97, the audio still not fully support yet, so go with the one you could get success on audio.

The ram is go with motherboard.

The next one is the graphics card, i like radeon 7950, you could go with kepler nvidia or gtx 7 series which less config to make it work than radeon 7 series that. I don't have the new R9 series, i don't know about it.

Get a quality psu such have 750 w total, corsair is great, seasonic, or evga.

Ssd is great, sometimes it is on sale not cost a fortune now.