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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

$3000 computer budget... what to do!?

P

paul Robinson

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Hi all, I have the budget to build out a computer for editing with my helium footage and wanted some guidance from those who have done this before me.

I am currently running all apple products but am not completely opposed to switching over.

Here are two set ups i am looking at. do they seem reasonably comparable in terms of performance? I would prefer to stay with mac but if it will be night and day difference, I could switch...

mac option:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Late-2013-M...141674?hash=item3f850cb32a:g:MqUAAOSwRwhZqYx2

windows option:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Z840-Wor...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

thank you all for taking a look and weighing out the options with me :)

Paul
 
I built my own Hackintosh about 10 years ago to handle R1 footage. It had similar specs to the then-current PowerMac, and probably cost less than half as much. It had two system drives: one running Windows, the other running MacOS as a Hackintosh (you can choose which one you want on boot up). I've upgraded components along the way and am still using that platform/system. I've gone from using mostly Mac to using Mac only when I need ProRes output. No regrets in all that time. With your budget you can build the latest-greatest system - maybe the crazy new Ryzen processor, a 1080TI card, tons of ram...
 
Misha, what do you think about the threadripper setups that gunther speaks of? thanks
 
paul Robinson said:
Misha, what do you think about the threadripper setups that gunther speaks of? thanks
Click to expand...

Dell sucks and is way to expensive, slow memory no room for expansion, loud, bad power supply, bad cooler for overclocking.
They make nice laptops, have good monitors, but the desktops are crap.
 
If it were me I would consider building a AMD setup. At that price I would look at an 8-core Ryzden processor. I think that's the 1700 series. You would be well within you price range and I would spend the extra cash on storage. We made the switch to PC last year and it was hard but the performance has been amazing. I am also using the new Dell XPS 15 and have been very pleased for a mobile setup.
 
for 3k you should definitely build your own machine and run windows.. fuck hackintosh its buggy af and you cant accept updates
 
Misha Engel said:
Depends on your computer skills.
I would never advise a hackintosh to the average computer user.
Click to expand...

Blanket statements shouldn't be used though (I know it wasn't you). Saying you can't install updates simply is not true. In reality if you don't do things haphazardly you likely will have minimal or even zero issues with a Hackintosh once it's set up and running. One of the first things anyone that has used a Hackintosh will tell you is to turn off all auto updates (which many will say you should do even on any computer) and only install updates after you've checked if there are potentially going to be issues. That means you wait a few days to make sure there are updated drivers (especially Nvidia graphics and CUDA drivers) and that all your software is compatible with that new version. And that's good general practice anyway.

Tonymacx86 always has a new article/post any time there's an OS update that explains what is changing in the new update, best practice for updating, and potential fixes for issues that could pop up. Those issues are almost always related to not waiting for an updated Nvidia driver (needs updating with each OS update) and not doing things in the correct way, as outlined and explained in those posts.

That said, I would agree with any statement that if you're not computer savvy at all and don't know the ins and outs of MacOS very well you should not have a Hackintosh. But lets get away from these false statements that a Hackintosh is not updatable or is not reliable. My current Hackintosh is 4 years old now and I've installed every new version of MacOS (I'm waiting on High Sierra for some drivers and other software to catch up with compatibility (see above)), and all the updates, in that time, and have not had any issues. I've even upgraded hardware in it (graphics card, USB 3.0 cards, Decklink card, etc.) It's still faster than any current Apple offering 4 years later and I use it every day with no stability issues, even overclocked and everything.
 
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