[Its_JoKer]

I'm going to be getting a new computer soon, idk what kind or anything, that's what I'm here for.

My mom said she would buy me a new one and she'd probably want to spend around $500. I really want to build my own Hackintosh and the MB and CPU and shit would be around $350. plus $70 for OSX Lion, and probs around $100-$150 for mouse, keyboard, and bluetooth dongle, so it'd be about $570 I guess. If I don't get that what should I get?

Idk if I want a laptop or a desktop, I'd be fine with a laptop but portability isn't important as my laptop now is always on my table. I'd prefer a desktop as I could upgrade it and shit. If I got a desktop I'd want to build my own, or maybe get a cheaper model with relatively good specs and build off of that, depends on what'd be cheaper.

As far as specs go I'd like an i5 processor, about 8GB of RAM, good graphics card, at least 500GB HDD, idk what else I'd need. I'm asking here cause I really don't know a whole lot about hardware. I just need a good MB that would support the specs I'm looking for.

I think a good one would be this one http://www.amazon.co...onymacx86com-20 which was listed on tonymac. Basically I guess just give me some suggestions, I've never built my own computer before so some tips there would be good, I don't want to jump in over my head with this. Also give me some good desktops to maybe start with and upgrade. As far as OS goes, if I don't make a hackintosh I guess I'd go with Win7 and probably dual boot with a linux distro.

Edited by Wolvy, 02 February 2012 - 12:40 AM.
To increase readability

[Duckstin]

You get more bang for your buck with a desktop. You also get more bang for your buck with an AMD processor instead of Intel. Focus your money on the things you won't have to upgrade like tower, power supply, motherboard and processor. Things like ram, hard drive, and video card upgrades can be added to your machine later. Just my opinion, good luck!

[Chris230291]

thats a good board man.
get a Core i5-2550K or a Core i5-2500K or something and 16GB of crucial ram.

i dont know how much that would come to in your money.

[Duckstin]

16 gigs of ram is way overkill for a $500 budget IMO. It's almost overkill anyways unless you're video rendering or something.

[Leffy]

Duckstin, on 02 February 2012 - 01:03 AM, said:

You get more bang for your buck with a desktop. You also get more bang for your buck with an AMD processor instead of Intel. Focus your money on the things you won't have to upgrade like tower, power supply, motherboard and processor. Things like ram, hard drive, and video card upgrades can be added to your machine later. Just my opinion, good luck!

If he wants a hackintosh, he'd be much better off with intel. Why you would to hackintosh is beyond me, but whatever.

[Its_JoKer]

yea I doubt I'd need 16GB RAM lmao, 8GB would be plenty. Where can I find out all the compatible CPUs for that board? I'd want to hackintosh cause it's cheaper and if I get the right components it'd be just as good as a real Mac, or so I've read. I might just get the hardware shown on tonymac for the CustoMac budget build. Probably would get two HDDs, or three, so I could have Windows and OSX and maybe a linux distro if I wanted.

[Chris230291]

yer but it'l fly lol.


$90 on crucial website.

[Leffy]

http://pcpartpicker.com/

[Duckstin]

Leffy, on 02 February 2012 - 01:26 AM, said:

If he wants a hackintosh, he'd be much better off with intel. Why you would to hackintosh is beyond me, but whatever.

Ah I see. I dunno much about hackintosh builds. I've always built for gaming or just basic family use.

[Chris230291]

http://www.gigabyte....p.aspx?pid=3855

[Its_JoKer]

So right now I'm thinking -
Gigabyte

GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 motherboard

http://www.amazon.co...onymacx86com-20

Intel Core i5 2500K CPU

http://www.amazon.co.../ref=pd_vtp_e_2

Corsair 8GB DDR3 RAM

http://www.amazon.co...onymacx86com-20

Cooler Master 341 Case

http://www.amazon.co...onymacx86com-20

Corsair 430w PSU

http://www.amazon.co...onymacx86com-20

Sound good? That puts me at about $460, and I'd still have to get a mouse, keyboard, and USB dongle, which shouldn't cost more than $100 right?

[Leffy]

Storage?

[Chris230291]

i heard corsair ram isn't so great. but other than that it looks good man.
are you not getting a graphics card? you wont wanna run OS X without full graphics support.
you could easily get the mouse, keyboard and dongle for less than 100. id get an apple keyboard if you want to use a hackintosh as its nicer.

[Leffy]

You can get it for $410.99

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($122.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot G Series Sector 5 Edition 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($24.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 341 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($53.05 @ Mac Connection)
Power Supply: HEC 485W ATX12V Power Supply ($29.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $410.99
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2012-02-01 20:57 EST-0500)

[Leffy]

Of coarse that's without a hard drive and video card.

[Its_JoKer]

Leffy, on 02 February 2012 - 01:57 AM, said:

You can get it for $410.99

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($122.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot G Series Sector 5 Edition 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($24.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 341 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($53.05 @ Mac Connection)
Power Supply: HEC 485W ATX12V Power Supply ($29.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $410.99
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2012-02-01 20:57 EST-0500)

sweet, thanks for this haha it'd save me over $50. As for the graphics card what should I get? I don't need like super awesome graphics, I'd probably do some gaming but nothing real heavy, mostly stuff like GTA, Minecraft, and idk what else, definitely not anything graphic intensive like BF3 or Skyrim or Crysis 2.

Would this HDD be good? http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136769 500GB, 7200 RPM, 6.0GB/s, sounds good, and good price I think. SO with that HDD I'd be at $500. Is there one site that I could order all these parts from for the same price?

With that HDD, a keyboard, and what you listed above - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4hWQ About $510 now (I've already got a wireless mouse so I don't need another one)

[Leffy]

You could order them all from newegg, but it would be more expensive, pcpartpicker shows the sites with the best deals, it might be more hassle but if you want to save money its the best route. The HDD looks fine. You might want to check out http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc . They have an absolute shit ton of info, and a really nice community. (read the sidebar)

[Leffy]

Also http://www.reddit.co.../comments/f3efg

As for a video card. I use the Radeon HD 6850. This can run most modern games at High or Ultra settings. I recommend this or higher otherwise your integrated graphics will do fine (don't expect any quality gaming though.) Its not a good idea to skimp on graphics cards as you'll usually just end up wasting money.

[Its_JoKer]

alright, with that graphics card I'm at $660. Since my mom will be paying for my computer I'm not sure if she'd want to pay this much. She'd use money from her tax refund to pay for it, so once she gets it I guess she'll decide how much she will be willing to pay. Thanks for your help if she will pay for it, this will probably be the system I get. Might try and find a different keyboard though, didn't really look hard for one.

[Its_JoKer]

Ok just remembered something I meant to ask. As far as building the actual computer, what will I have to do? I figured as far as putting the components into the case it's pretty much put it into the corresponding slots? What about putting the CPU into the motherboard, will I need anything for that? Do I just plug it in and that's all or do I need thermal paste or whatever it's called? I am really a noob at this lmao. Also would I really need an optical drive? I never really use the one on my laptop, except to play a DVD which I've done maybe 3 times in my 2 years of owning it. I don't burn OSs to CDs, just USBs so I guess I wouldn't need the drive.