A hackintosh workstation recommendation

It has been only 4 months ago that I switched my 60GB Vortex 2 SSD with a 1TB harddisk and upgraded from 2GB to 4GB RAM. I’m super happy with my current setup, however my computing demands have shifted from creating simple website programming & creating slideshows, to Adobe After Effects & professional DVD compilations. The current bottle neck is definitely in the E5700 Core2Duo CPU and RAM. A typical AE project takes 3-6hours to complete. That’s way too long. Time for replacement … or not?

My current system has almost found a new owner, and while I’m building a new system I will be using my My DELL D430 Hackintosh. Time to make some tough decision on my new hardware. Actually we can make it a short article. As my hardware choices are largely based upon Hackintosh Best Buy Guides.

Mainboard & RAM

Although I would rather have 16GB or 32GB. The ITX mainboard I have in mind only has 2 slots, and thus the best value for the money is to get 2x4GB DDR3 modules.

Case

My Hackintosh buddy iMick early recommended me to get a Codegen MX-31 instead of an OEM built MidiTower casing. It’s double the money, but also half the size. I prefer to built on a budget. Otherwise I would buy an Antec or Lian Li casing straight away!

When planning to get a Mini-ITX I rather listen in this case to TonyMacX86’s recommendation for  the Apex MI-008. In Europe, Spire sells it as the ‘PowerCube SPM210B’. Although similar in size compared to the MX-31, the building quality is superior, and instead of a slimline 5.25″ it has full-sized 5.25″. which is perfect for fitting an Solid State Disc + slimline optical drive. So the internal 3.5″ is freed up for a large (second) SATA hard drive. More importantly the Spire/Apex has an excellent reviews from Silent PC, Hardware.net (German) and Freeocen.de (German). Update: but it won’t fit dualslot GPUs. So instead I’m getting a SilverStone SG05.

Videocard

I used to have a nVidia 8400GS. And although Chimera 1.5 enables to use the onboard Intel HD3000 (which has a similar performance), it simply isn’t enough for my needs. Adobe After Effects has full OpenGL rendering capabilities, so based (again) on iMick’s expert advise I’ve decided to get a Sapphire HD 6850 priced around €120. Additional benefit: to play high resolution Team Fortress 2 in Steam.