It's an amazing time once again to build a computer. Intel's "Ivy Bridge" CPUs alongside with the latest motherboards are the fastest and most compatible consumer components we've ever tested. There is native support for Thunderbolt, NVIDIA GeForce 6xx "Kepler" graphics cards, and Ivy Bridge in OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.





On the pro front, Apple hasn't updated their Mac Pro since 2010, but Intel's "Sandy Bridge-E/EP" has native kernel support. Socket 2011 CPUs are available in quad core, hexacore, and octacore (Sandy Bridge-EP Xeon only) options. Maximum RAM on single socket LGA-2011-based motherboards is 128 GB, making the platform ideal for tasks that need extra headroom. In comparison, Socket 1155 is capable of 32 GB of RAM. These no compromise supercomputers may never be fully optimized for power management, but they are the most powerful.





For maximum ease of use with tonymacx86.com guides and methods, we put together some general hardware recommendations. These might not be the only components that work, but based on our research they're the easiest and most supported options. Use these as a jumping off point or as a shopping list. You'll be supporting the site automatically if you get anything through these links, so thanks in advance!



