Hackintosh to run Davinci Resolve

[QuickHitRecord]

Like many people, I am looking at getting a new computer that will work well Davinci Resolve and will reasonably future-proof as the era of 4K begins to descend upon us. As a long time Mac user, the idea of the Hackintosh is growing on me. But I'm a camera guy, not a computer guy. It has been about a decade since I've tried to customize my computer hardware and a lot has changed. A lot of this is looking pretty foreign to me.

There's a pretty comprehensive guide at NoFilmSchool that was just updated last month ([url="http://nofilmschool.com/build-a-hackintosh/"]http://nofilmschool....d-a-hackintosh/[/url]), and to a computer simpleton like myself it looks great from performance and cost standpoints. But I have yet to find anyone's firsthand report on just how well this particular setup handles Resolve. Is anyone who is using this particular setup also using Resolve?

For a spec comparison, here's a "recommended requirements" link from Davinci that was initially posted in response to Andrew's recent post about the BMCC: [url="http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/4805318/Resolve_Win_Config_Guide_2012-08-30.pdf"]http://www.blackmagi..._2012-08-30.pdf[/url]

[richg101]

Hey man. I'm running a hackintosh. built for lion. cuda accelerated, 16gb ram, overclocked 3.8 intel chip. came to less than £1000 including operating system and mac keyboard. I can give you the parts numbers and links to the exact motherboard firmwares. I imagine this would be a nice cost effective workstation for most demanding av needs

[richg101]

a few quirks, but overall I'm running over 2.5k£ worth of system in Apple price terms

[XXX]

Would be interested too, could you make it an open post, please?

[richg101]

from ebuyer:-

Product Description

-Intel Core i7 2600k 3.4GHz Socket 1155 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor[url="http://www.ebuyer.com/product/252535"]252535[/url][img]https://image.ebuyer.com/customer/images/orders/warehouse_1.gif[/img] [url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd2ludm9pY2U=&order_uid=18184070&invoice_uid=30977528"]Invoiced[/url][url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd3RyYWNrX29yZGVyX3Jlc3VsdHM=&order_uid=18184070"]Track[/url]£198.62£198.621 x
-Samsung SH-222BB 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black[url="http://www.ebuyer.com/product/342873"]342873[/url][img]https://image.ebuyer.com/customer/images/orders/warehouse_1.gif[/img] [url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd2ludm9pY2U=&order_uid=18184070&invoice_uid=30977528"]Invoiced[/url][url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd3RyYWNrX29yZGVyX3Jlc3VsdHM=&order_uid=18184070"]Track[/url]£9.99£9.991 x
-Antec P183 V3 GunMetal Grey Case[url="http://www.ebuyer.com/product/253339"]253339[/url][img]https://image.ebuyer.com/customer/images/orders/warehouse_2.gif[/img] [url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd2ludm9pY2U=&order_uid=18184070&invoice_uid=30977529"]Invoiced[/url][url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd3RyYWNrX29yZGVyX3Jlc3VsdHM=&order_uid=18184070"]Track[/url]£102.23£102.231 x
-Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 1.5V Non-ECC Unbuffered[url="http://www.ebuyer.com/product/248759"]248759[/url][img]https://image.ebuyer.com/customer/images/orders/warehouse_1.gif[/img] [url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd2ludm9pY2U=&order_uid=18184070&invoice_uid=30977528"]Invoiced[/url][url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd3RyYWNrX29yZGVyX3Jlc3VsdHM=&order_uid=18184070"]Track[/url]£67.02£67.021 xOCZ
-120GB Agility 3 SSD - SATA-III - Read 525MB/s Write 500MB/s 85,000 IOPS[url="http://www.ebuyer.com/product/268244"]268244[/url][img]https://image.ebuyer.com/customer/images/orders/warehouse_1.gif[/img] [url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd2ludm9pY2U=&order_uid=18184070&invoice_uid=30977528"]Invoiced[/url][url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd3RyYWNrX29yZGVyX3Jlc3VsdHM=&order_uid=18184070"]Track[/url]£62.49£62.491 x
-EVGA GTX 460 Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card[url="http://www.ebuyer.com/product/344798"]344798[/url][img]https://image.ebuyer.com/customer/images/orders/warehouse_3.gif[/img] [url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd2ludm9pY2U=&order_uid=18184070&invoice_uid=30977530"]Invoiced[/url][url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd3RyYWNrX29yZGVyX3Jlc3VsdHM=&order_uid=18184070"]Track[/url]£102.56£102.561 xGigabyte -GA-Z68XP-UD3 Z68 Socket 1155 Onboard HDMI 7.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard[url="http://www.ebuyer.com/product/271792"]271792[/url][img]https://image.ebuyer.com/customer/images/orders/warehouse_1.gif[/img] [url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd2ludm9pY2U=&order_uid=18184070&invoice_uid=30977528"]Invoiced[/url][url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd3RyYWNrX29yZGVyX3Jlc3VsdHM=&order_uid=18184070"]Track[/url]£83.28£83.281 x
-Corsair 600W CX Builder Series 80 Plus Bronze PSU 3 Year Warranty[url="http://www.ebuyer.com/product/269259"]269259[/url][img]https://image.ebuyer.com/customer/images/orders/warehouse_1.gif[/img] [url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd2ludm9pY2U=&order_uid=18184070&invoice_uid=30977528"]Invoiced[/url][url="https://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/orders/index.html?rb=0&action=c2hvd3RyYWNrX29yZGVyX3Jlc3VsdHM=&order_uid=18184070"]Track[/url]£43.64£43.64


everything you need for building the hackintosh:-

http://www.tonymacx86.com/unibeast/

[richg101]

this was bought a few months ago now. I just missed the new/current 'sandybridge' i7 chip, or whatever it's called by a day or so. So you might get a better processor and a lot cheaper than I did. It all works great. a few quirks I have yet to bother ironing out like it tries to boot from a external usb hd if I leave it plugged in during turn on meaning you have to shut down and remove the portable drive. also some dialogue boxes and pop up windows are written in arabic text. being a newb to mac i havnt bothered trying to rectify it. but it hasnt affected my workflow. each of these things would be quite easy to sort if I could be bothered to read how to do it.

[kitchentable]

I've made 4 Hackintosh systems over the past couple of years.

1st one was converting a small Dell netbook, 2nd was converting a couple of year old HP desktop, 3rd was an i7 MacPro level machine based on a semi custom gaming PC and the last one a from scratch compact i3 desktop.

For all of them, I used the resources at tonymacx86.com and, whilst I wouldn't say it was without pain, it was reasonably straightforward with the help of the guides.

However, if you don't fancy diving in and doing it yourself, you can still benefit from a Hackintosh by buying ready built systems on ebay...

[QuickHitRecord]

Thanks for sharing, Rich. How does this beast work with Resolve?

A colleague who works in IT has advised me to wait until the bench scores for the new i7 iMacs come out. He says that they are CUDA-compatible and may surpass any current Hackintosh builds. But Black Friday is right around the corner...