Hain Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Overview I had set a goal to build the cheapest OSx86 box possible using relatively good HW. Hardware list CPU: Kabylake i7 - 3.0-3.5GHz 150$ https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.22.27b502b7M64177&id=556543908251 GPU: RX560 - 130$ https://www.amazon.com/MSI-RX-560-AERO-ITX/dp/B072J422CZ MOBO: H110i Pro - 60$ https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Intel-Skylake-Motherboard-H110I/dp/B0194NENVU/ HDD: 240GB SSD - 60$ https://www.amazon.com/KingDian-SATAIII-Portable-External-Internal/dp/B00XJCNPEY RAM: Kingston 4GBx2 RAM - 100$ https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-HyperX-2133MHz-Non-ECC-HX421C14FBK2/dp/B00TY6A1P0/ PSU: APEVIA 450W PSU - 20$ https://www.amazon.com/APEVIA-ATX-VS450W-Auto-Thermally-Controlled-Protections/dp/B01GUENTKC Case: Coolermaster Elite - 40$ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ID2FBU6/ This totals us to: 560$, very cheap for such a pretty strong build. However, for people who want to be even more budget-conscious the following build also works: CPU: Skylake i7 - 2.2-2.7GHz 40$ (Search for other listings though, this fluctuates between 40-60$) https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=2013.1.20141002.8.3e350ce9WtiWJ7&scm=1007.10009.70205.100200300000001&id=551838989363 HDD: 1TB HDD - 40$ https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST1000DM010/dp/B01LNJBA2I/ GPU: GT1030 - 75 $ https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GeForce-GV-N1030D5-2GL-Computer-Graphics/dp/B071DY2VJR RAM: Generic 4GB RAM - 45$ https://www.amazon.com/4X70K09920-equivalent-Certified-DDR4-2133-PC4-17000/dp/B01N3U22OZ Which alternatively totals us to: 300$ squarely I think the CPU, RAM and HDD are acceptable corners to cut, but feel the RX560 is essential. I am unsure of whether the 1030 would be able to boot into the desktop to install drivers, using an Engineer CPU means (from what I observed) that you will need to depend on the external GPU for audio as well as graphics. The CPU only functions as a CPU on OSx, although the HD530/630 does work perfectly in Windows and Linux I haven't been able to replicate that on OSx, again it could be the MOBO. Another caveat with this MOBO is that if you receive one that has an old BIOS you will need a skylake CPU to update the BIOS for use with Kabylake. Other MOBO are likely acceptable but I do not know of anyone who has used an Engineer CPU to do this so.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigamaxx Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Nice job, these are good choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hain Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 Nice job, these are good choices. Thanks! Believe it or not, the ES CPUs are in reality stronger than the retail models in many regards they are made with specific attention to the fact that they will be reviewed and are just way more reliable. I dropped this box by mistake from 4 feet in the air and the CPU remained totally pristine, if that happened with a retail model that thing would fold. Edit: Box meaning the entire PC, the weight of the fan would fold a retail Sky/Kaby model due to inertia The MSI 4GB OC model is important because Apple actually uses it, so we gain their native driver in all it's glory here. I bought this HW specifically to see if an Engineer Sample could be used to boot OSx86, which would allow me to take the record for lowest-price budget build of all time which I think I've done. I noticed people talked about the H110i pro board but nobody seemed to have used it, so also I wanted to know if a SFF board like this would be suitable and can happily report it works exactly as expected. Also I think I'm the first person to do this under an ES CPU but maybe not, either way I'm the first to confirm it can be done Nice job, these are good choices. Here is a benchmark of this same build using a Kabylake i5 Engineer Model https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/6438302 As you can see it's pretty competitive, even with just 4 core 4 thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts