$1500 gaming pc/hackintosh

[geshi]

hey sam,
taking you up on your suggestion to post here

this is what i came up with based on your $1500 build

obviously, i would like to run games on max settings and be relatively easy to upgrade for as long as possible w/o overkilling it either. if anything is excessive, i'll gladly cut it.

CPU - Intel Core i5 2500K (as we discussed, more for gaming is overkill)

mobo - MSI Z77A-GD65 (G3) (couldn't find Z68 on tidirect)

ram - 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3 Low Profile 1.5v Memory (i saw i could upgrade to vengeance 16gb for $35 more, but that's prolly over kill, right?)

gpu - Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB

boot - 2x crucial m4 128gb (one for w7 and one for lion)

dvd burner

psu - ocz zx 850w (in case i wanna sli, or should i wait w/ 650w and upgrade both if i need it)

case - Cooler Master HAF 932

cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (never overclocked before but i'll need it if i decide to)

that's pretty much it. it's running me $1,530 - similar to your build, i shaved off on psu and hd's even though i added an extra one it's the same cost

thanks
geshi

[Zuanism]

I would choose the gtx 670 instead of a HD 7950. the GTX 670 even outperforms the HD 7970 in some benchmarks. Check out more reviews about it, I'm sure you're gonna like it. It costs around the same as a HD7950.

[geshi]

i'll check it out, thanks

so even though it's 2gb for gtx 670 vs 3gb for the HD 7950, the gtx 670 is faster? i guess that's not what makes it faster...

also, i built the almost identical computer on ibuypower.com and it's about the same price w/in $50 compared to tigerdirect, do you have an opinion on which i should do over the other?

[Hasoonie17]

i'll check it out, thanks

so even though it's 2gb for gtx 670 vs 3gb for the HD 7950, the gtx 670 is faster? i guess that's not what makes it faster...

also, i built the almost identical computer on ibuypower.com and it's about the same price w/in $50 compared to tigerdirect, do you have an opinion on which i should do over the other?

Tbh, don't buy from ibuypower, I would just build your own as its the safer/better option. Also, its a really good learning experience as I was considering buying a pre-built PC also but decided not to. I second Zuanism's vote for the GTX 670, you can periodically check here if Tiger Direct is the store of your choice, I think they have the reference galaxy ($399.99) in stock usually, which is the one I have and it performs GREAT. Check this thread and go to the last post, I posted some results/OCing numbers if your interested, the card hits around ~1270 at core clock usually when gaming, which is quite frankly nothing short of amazing for the price. However, if you ever see that OC'd Gigabyte model with the triple fans in stock, definitely go for that instead, its usually the same price or $10 more but it can be pushed a little further and the temps are at least 10-20C cooler from what I've seen in benchmarks. Good luck in your build, and yeah 8gb of that RAM is more than sufficient.

[geshi]

thanks guys, you've been really helpful.

here's the updated build from your advice with some quick questions

CPU - Intel Core i5 2500K -> i5 3570K

mobo - MSI Z77A-GD65 (G3) -> GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 (because it'll be compatible with os x lion, will this mobo be compatible with the rest of the hardware?)

ram - 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3 Low Profile 1.5v Memory (what's the diff btwn 1600 MHz and 2300 MHz in terms of practical use, is worth getting the better one?)

gpu - gtx 670 (galaxy mod when available)

boot - 2x crucial m4 128gb (one for w7 and one for lion)

dvd burner

psu - ocz zx 850w -> corsair 750w 80+

case - corsair graphite 600t (much better looking, haha)

cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (never overclocked before but i'll need it if i decide to)

ends up at $1,461 - pretty respectable

thanks again, i really appreciate it

[Zuanism]

If would rather go with an Asus maximum V Gene mobo. (might want to check some reviews about it, up to you) At me it's priced the same as your motherboard.

Also, are you ever planning on doing SLI/crossfire configurations? In that case a 600W psu is more than sufficient already so I believe.

As for the rest of your build, I'd say you should go for it. Perhaps wait for a final approval from Sam though

[Hasoonie17]

If you still want a reliable Z68 board, this Asus board is going for $169.99 after rebate (I bought it from Amazon for my build), and its very reliable, has USB 3, SLI capabilities, and looks to be a similar/cheaper price than your current board. Also it supports Ivy Bridge as well per the latest bios update. Also this Corsair TX 750W PSU is very good (in my build also), its 80+ bronze rated if you care about efficiency, and is more than sufficient for a GTX 670 SLI since they dont consume as much power as last gen, I might SLI myself w/this PSU later on if i need the extra oomph.

Otherwise, your build looks excellent, hope I've given you some good options to pick from. Good Luck.

[sam.cpcr]

thanks guys, you've been really helpful.

here's the updated build from your advice with some quick questions

CPU - Intel Core i5 2500K -> i5 3570K

mobo - MSI Z77A-GD65 (G3) -> GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 (because it'll be compatible with os x lion, will this mobo be compatible with the rest of the hardware?)

ram - 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3 Low Profile 1.5v Memory (what's the diff btwn 1600 MHz and 2300 MHz in terms of practical use, is worth getting the better one?)

gpu - gtx 670 (galaxy mod when available)

boot - 2x crucial m4 128gb (one for w7 and one for lion)

dvd burner

psu - ocz zx 850w -> corsair 750w 80+

case - corsair graphite 600t (much better looking, haha)

cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (never overclocked before but i'll need it if i decide to)

ends up at $1,461 - pretty respectable

thanks again, i really appreciate it

Build looks pretty good. The Z77 chipset should be used with the Ivy Bridge processors and the Z68 chipset should be used with the Sandy Bridge processors. They'll work with each other, but some features of the Z77 boards won't be accessible to Sandy Bridge processors and some Ivy Bridge specific features won't be available on Z68 boards.

Since you're getting a GTX 670, something like a Corsair TX650 will be more than enough. They're ridiculously power efficient. No need to overspend here.

Otherwise, what you've got there is pretty good.

As for it being a hackintosh, I have no idea what parts are best. I've used it in the past and the main issue for me was compatibility with hardware. You might have to do your own research for that one.

HCL 10.7.4 - OSx86

[Alex Lin]

Are you getting the corsair 600t white edition or the normal black with no side windows and mesh?

[geshi]

white, pretty nice case