$1000+ High-End PC

[Colton127]

Hello,

I'm looking to build a new PC. I would like to have this PC dual-boot Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion. Therefore, the parts that I purchase must be hackintosh capable (which, by the way, is completely legal).

I want a PC that can run anything you throw at it on max settings, while multi-tasking like a beast. I want very good performance with video and photo editing, and is very good with handling Xcode in Mac OS X Lion.

Please note that I already have a 550W PSU, which is less than 6 months old and is in good condition. I also have a good working 640GB 7200RPM drive, and a good optical drive!

NOTE: I will be using the 640GB 7200RPM drive for my Windows (gaming) partition - and the SSD for Mac OS X Lion. I will also use some of the HDD for extra storage on the Lion partition.

Approximate Purchase Date: By the end of the upcoming weekend!

Budget Range: $100-$1300 before rebate

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Programming, Photo Editing, Browsing, and doing all of the above at the same time (MULTI-TASKING!)

Parts Not Required:
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022
HDD: 640GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Western Digital Drive (runs perfectly fine)
Optical Drive: Unknown, but reads and burns CDs, DVDs, and DL DVD's
Monitor/Keyboard/Mouse - Have them already!

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg and Amazon

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: I would like an Intel CPU (for hackintosh). NVIDIA and ATI are both good companies IMO.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe (if I get a better price per performance)

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I would like a more quiet PC, that runs very cool at the same time. Must support hackintosh!


Here is what I have came up with so far:

CPU - $215 (Multi-Tasks well and over clocks well)
Intel Core i5-2500K - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

64GB SSD - $105 (Seems reliable and has a fast random read access time)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148357

12GB of RAM - $80 ($65 After mail-in-rebate) (Seems like a very good option. I want 12GB of RAM)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-226-100&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

Motherboard - $170 (Have NO background knowledge on motherboards. HELP me out here!)
NOTE: Not many motherboards support hackintosh, but a lot of GIGABYTE Z68's do
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506

Graphic Card - $270 (Should max Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, Skyrim, and most games in the next two years, right??)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608

Computer Case - $100 (Seems to be very good at cooling!)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=11-147-107&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

THANK YOU!
All comments, suggestions, tips, and everything else (but spam and flames!) are welcome!

 

[Emelth]

Alright good so far I know you said you want 12GB RAM but you dont need that much 8gb is the max need for gamers currently unless your doing video/photo editting. Great mobo choice, CPU is the best for gaming, I cant see the GPU for some reason.
I'm guessing you dont plan to go SLI anytime soon with your current PSU. However I'm gonna post you a build I was working on for myself.

Alot of places to save money with my build as well to get it close to your $1000 mark. Case I like it for all the blue LEDs it has but we can find ones that are just as good as this one for cheaper (Rosewill has a good $50 & $60 case and you can even look into the HAF series). The cooler can be changed to a Hyper 212+ its a beast enough said. Motherboard can be taken down to the $150 or even the $130 one. The 560 TI is OC'ed already for you it will be able to beast almost any game you throw at it however you could take my tips for the savings and try to get a GTX 570 or HD 6970. Plus if you dont plan to SLI then keep your PSU for another $100 saved .


Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $100.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107

Intel Core i5-2500K - $220.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 - $180.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157250

Enermax ETS-T40 T.B.APOLLISH CPU Cooler - $44.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214024

MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB - $270.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB - $140.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Crucial M4 64 GB SSD - $115.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $47.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified - $105.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

Total: $1221.00 (not including MIRs/Shipping)

 

[Colton127]

Hello Emelth,

Thanks for your reply! I'd like to let you know that I'd like 12GB of RAM because Mac OS X Lion eats RAM; especially with the tasks I manage on it. I have a 13" 2011 MacBook Pro i5 with 4GB of RAM, and run out of RAM very quickly. After I run out of RAM, it starts using the slow 5400RPM drive as RAM. Talk about slowness...an image takes 20 seconds to open!

Anyways, I'm selling the MacBook for $1000 and buying/building a new PC.

As I said, I won't be needing a new HDD, so you can take $140 off your config for the HDD. Sounds good to me!

Anyways, is the GTX 570 worth the price over the 560 MSI TI? How *BIG* of a performance boost would I get - and how would this effect me in real world usage?

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Emelth]

GPU benchmark are here:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188

How muc would it affect you depends on what games your playing

I dont know much about Mac's but I'll continue to stay away from them lol

 

[fb39ca4]

How will you get 3x4GB of RAM to work in a dual channel system? Best go with either 8GB or 16GB.

 

[g-unit1111]

A couple things:

- EXCELLENT choice of motherboard - I have the same one and it's held up quite well over the last 3 - 4 months, better than anything I've used in my system previously.

- For case I'd recommend the Corsair Carbide 400R over the Rosewill one you've chosen.

- You're using triple channel RAM on a dual channel system. You'll either have to go with 2 x 4GB or 4 x 4GB due to the limitations. Try this kit: Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600MHz

- Go with the M4 over the Real SSD - it's a much better product from Crucial and one of the best SSDs on the market.

- You might want to upgrade your PSU if you're going to be using a power-hungry GPU like the Radeon 6950. Try a 650 or 750 watt.

 

[aznshinobi]

Ehhh... I'd save a little more.

Check out my $850 build:
http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore
Since you don't need HDD and PSU that's about $180 off.
So it totals to about $670.

The 2GB 560 Ti is defiantly not worth it, if anything the 6950 2GB would be a better deal at that point since the 6950 2GB is cheaper. The 560 Ti 1GB is enough, the money difference between the 1GB and 2GB version doesn't justify the cost of the 2GB version.

The 560 Ti TFII OC I suggested in my build guide performs at about a 570 but cooler and consuming less power.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2011/01/27/msi-geforce-gtx-560-ti-1gb-review/6

I suggest this cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099&Tpk=Hyper%20212%20Evo
Review: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-Hyper-212-EVO-CPU-Cooler-Review/1407/6

As for the SSD (Which I didn't include) I suggest the Crucial M4 64GB as mentioned.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441
OR
OCZ Solid 3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227728

 

[Colton127]

Hello,

I do believe I will be going with the GTX 560 TI. I've read many reviews, and watched many videos featuring the card. It seems to run BF3 well on max and in a 1080p res (also, keep in mind I don't care about AA and shadows!). The card also works very well in Mac OS X Lion - a MUST for me!

For the CPU, I'm stuck between the i5-2500k and the i7-2700k. I know both CPUs perform about the same, but the i7 has 8 threads; allowing for a better multi-tasking experience. Any thoughts on this?

Thank you!

 

[aznshinobi]

2500K is fine, multitasking a quad core with just 4 threads is enough even for bf3. Actually, to give a little more correction, the 560 ti and 6950 in BF3 perform the same, Nvidia may have dumped a lot of money into bf3 but the performance difference defiantly isn't there.

 

[Emelth]

Stick with the i5 you cant go wrong

 

[Colton127]

Just an update: I bought an AMD 6870 for $150 yesterday. Got it on sale - couldn't go wrong. I plan on ordering another for Crossfire.

I plan on playing Skyrim for than anything. I also plan on adding two 1080p monitors soon enough - making a total of 3 1080p monitors. 6870 CF should handle that well.

Also, Mac OS X Live natively supports the 6870; making it a GREAT choice!

Thanks for your guys help and support. I'm yet to purchase other parts but plan to today and tomorrow!

 

[aznshinobi]

Sounds good, $150 is a solid price, defiantly get another one, you'll get much better frames assuming the game supports CF well.