Thunderbolt Monitor - Computer Setup

Would it be possible to swap the positions of your left speaker and the Snowball? Those Audioengines are too nice to be unbalanced.

Good call! Will definitely do that! Don't know why I haven't done that before.

How good are those a2s? I used to own the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 and love them. I want to buy the a2s but I'm worried I'd be missing out on the bass so I might go back to the Klipsch.

Fellow klipsch owner... Haven't really found a reason to upgrade

Good lord, isn't that iMac going to get really dirty?

Errhmmm. Mac and Cheese <3

What to you makes mac inferior? I happen to like the overall look of OSX much more appealing over Windows.

I prefer the taste to be quite honest. sorry for the offense

If he doesn't clean it, it will.

Nah it's alright. If i cook something crazy, I just move it away further away

I'm mostly worried about the grease and smoke that will accumulate on the insides. And the humidity from the boiling water...

Fuck it, its not a windows PC

Any chance you could open that masterpiece up so we may take a look?

What was the main reason you switched ?

I work with a lot of 3D-modelling so I need computer with more juice. PC also allows me to use more addons and software that unfortunately aren't available for mac. The fact that I can play games with the highest settings also doesn't hurt.

You're a modeller and don't have a 2nd screen?! That's crazy man.

Have dual displays. Only use one with Cinema 4D.

Ha, finally found another person who uses a 3D connexion navigator. How often do you use it?

Yeah +1 for the 3D mouse. What do you use? Solidworks, Revit, 3DS Max?

3ds max, bought this baby back in 2010 at siggraph and never looked back.

I'm having a similar dilemma now; just started as a Naval Architecture student and my love for great design is being massively challenged by a need for Solidworks..

Just use BootCamp to install a Windows partition.

Have you considered making a Hackintosh?

Looks like it's a bit late for that man...

Why do you say that? Because he installed Windows? It is very possible to dual-boot Windows and OS X.

I was under the impression that you need certain parts for the OSX to work. If this guy already had his build and it wasn't compatible then I guess he'd be out of luck and not really wanna change it, but if I was wrong then nevermind.

You are correct, some hardware doesn't work. Anecdotally, I built a PC without making considerations for building a Hackintosh and it worked great; I think there is a pretty long list of compatible parts.

That is literally the most expensive TV I've ever seen.

I might be missing something .. But why are you running your RAM at 666hz?

That's because 666MHz double data rate is 1333MHz.

I was wondering about the ram speed as well... Very odd, though the rest of the build looks great!

For some reason, RAM is reported as half of what it really is. So in his case, 666Mhz is actually 1333Mhz.

Some reason: DDR. It runs at 666Mhz but transfers on the rise and fall of the clock cycle so the effective speed is double the frequency it actually runs at.

I feel like the heat from the stove would damage the iMac.. though I'm pretty jealous of having a display like that in the kitchen!

It'll probably be okay, my friend had one in a conservatory that he used to Minecraft on for hours on end (I know, wrong on so many levels). That thing used to hit the low 90's and it hasn't died yet. I guess if he's just watching tv on it, the cooling will probably handle it. As long as it's not directly over the stove, that is.

I always pay attention to the heat, steam and oil spill when I cook. If I know it will get steamy or oily, i just move the mac away. Not a big deal.

Parks and Rec. Nice choice

I use mac and pc and I don't know how anyone can stand a pc layout keyboard with a mac and vice versa.

You can swap the Win and Alt keys in software via System Preferences' keyboard section.

Ah. Not mine. My USB Apple keyboard is 3/3.

Ah, windows keyboards are 3/4.

True, but it doesn't bother me too much. I don't use the contextual menu option, and I've seen mech keyboards out there that are 3/3.

Oh no doubt, that would bother me a bit. If I had a Mac I'd probably hunt down a mechanical keyboard designed for a Mac.

Yes, but the layout and spacing is still different. Four keys left of spacebar on mac, three keys left of spacebar on pc.

Actually it looks like it depends on what Mac keyboard you have.

Well, you're right, that one does have the right number of keys left of the spacebar, but it still has the wrong number right of the spacebar, not to mention the spacing of the keys left of spacebar are different from pc keys.

Oh yeah I see that, weird. I'm not sure why manufactures do that. The bottom row doesn't bother me so much, I hate it when they mess with the shift key the most. I see that mostly on laptops, I doubt there any mechanical keyboards that have done that, at least I hope not.

We have a few mechanical keyboards around the office, actually. While they really make you feel like you're getting shit done when you use them, I prefer these Apple keyboards. Very minimal motion required for a press. If I was actually typing I would go mechanical, but for keyboard shortcuts I like the short throw keys.

My thoughts exactly. Get a mechanical keyboard and a decent wired mouse, then you'll be golden.

Not everyone likes the mechanical keyboards. I have used several and I just don't like them.

I'm a bit late to the party, but excellent setup.

It's nice! very small and compact with a sturdy build quality. Airflow seems to be just fine, the computer is at normal temp. It took a little extra effort to install the components since it was quite crowded but it's not a big deal. I recommend it

What is the other mouse thing to the left of your keyboard?

Ugh, that's exactly what I wish I had in my CAD class. Unforunately I think that getting a bunch of those for high school students is a bit unlikely.

That is literally the set up/build I'd like to have spec wise.

So creepy, I have the same mother board and same processor and I swear my fiend is sitting behind me watching parks & recreations. = )

That is one gorgeous display.

Stuck with the Apple display, nice one. They're amazing displays.

Logitech M705 Marathon Mouse? Excellent choice.

It's the Performance Mouse MX

How come no optical drives?

Who needs optical drives these days?

Awesome Setup! How nice do the speakers sound?

What case is that? I really like it!

Could you link your wallpaper? thanks!

How ya likin the snowball? i just got one myself.

Nice! Varifrån köpte du a2:orna. Är du nöjd med dom?

Very nice setup, I love the black/white with the cinema display

That is LITERALLY the best gaming setup I have ever seen. Way to be, Marcus!

How do you find the snowball? I'm looking for a desktop mic so I can swap out my Razer headset for some quality audiophile headphones

I giggled at the sight of that big iMac in the kitchen.

Really nice setup. So clean. And a pretty nice kaliber.

How are those Bitfenix cases? I've been thinking about getting one for my next build as they look super swish, but i think i read somewhere that they can have some ventilation issues?

As I answered from a previously comment: It's nice! very small and compact with a sturdy build quality. Airflow seems to be just fine, the computer is at normal temp. It took a little extra effort to install the components since it was quite crowded but it's not a big deal. I recommend it

Thanks for answering again! I should have checked the comments a bit more (:

What's that screen on the 4th picture that looks nifty!

Wish I had waited for the phenom :( it looks nice.

What is that thing next to the keyboard?

Are these the 27 inch Mac screens or the 30 inch?

How did you hook up your thunderbolt display to the pc? I have a mac now and want to make the switch over.

I believe the Thunderbolt cable works as a normal DisplayPort output. I could be mistaken though.

Huh. In that case, I too am interested! I was about to pull the trigger on one of these displays, but I need something compatible with PC and Mac.

Are you sure? It works fine on a macbook without thunderbolt at my work.

I'm positive. The thunderbolt port and the display port are the same thing on a macbook. It only works with certain motherboards that can support lucid logic

I have the older verison of the cinema display so it's using the mini displayport.

Oh ok thanks! I've been looking everywhere for a graphics card or motherboard that I can hook my thunderbolt display up to. Pretty much the only thing stopping me right now.

If you find one, let me know! I pulled the trigger too quickly on the Thunderbolt display and am now stuck in Apple-land.

I like to call it the iPrison.

Can't you just use the Thunderbolt monitor with a PC video card that supports display port? My Gigabyte R9 280x card has two mini-display port jacks.

Nope, accidentally made the same assumption a few months back. Thunderbolt display will only work from a thunderbolt capable mobo or mac.

What if someone builds a hackintosh?

I don't have any links or references, but I'm fairly sure the Thunderbolt display will only work in a hackintosh if a thunderbolt capable mobo is used.

You went from the thunderbolt display to the led cinema? Are there any huge differences?

I think msi has a mobo that supports thunderbolt. I have seen it, it works perfectly, except that you can't game on it (using cpu's graphics)

Yeah the whole reason I want to buy a rig is to game on it haha. I'm going to have to settle for running windows on my mbp for the time being.

These is some sort of software that lets you reroute your gpu powerz to your thunderbolt port. but as you could have guessed, lose 20% if not more percent performance.

Are you able to control the monitor brightness? I have the older mini displayport 24" 1920x1200 which is fantastic aside from the fact that is nearly as bright as the sun.

Asus P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt has Thunderbolt output. I dunno if it is possible to render on your graphics card and then output from the Thunderbolt port on that motherboard.

Leaving Mac world for PC land is a bit like leaving a holiday camp then realizing it was actually a minimum security jail.

If you don't really play games, I don't see any reason not to like Mac osx.

It's fine as long as you don't want to customize or change anything but from a technical point of view Mac does not "just work" and they can be a pain at a higher technical level.

But you could argue macs "just work" in many cases where PCs don't. I reinstalled windows on my desktop recently, and getting all the drivers working correctly was a pain. However, my coworker kept letting her mac die and soon the OS got corrupted. Used target disk mode to get all her files off, wiped the drive, reinstalled the OS over the internet, copied her stuff back. Bam, ready to go.

Mac's "just work" when you do what Apple want you do in the exact method they want used, leave that path or have other requirements and it's a world of pain.

I've had never had any issue changing anything within OS X. it has a bash shell right out of the box.

I would love to swap my 12 core MacPro at work for a PC. Apple computers just don't have the muscle that 3D work takes.

Not released yet and expected to be over 5K, the HP version is cheaper and fully upgradable when new graphics cards etc become available with store bought items.

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