SFF HP Elite 8300 W/ Core I7-3770

[Lonelytanker]

Yes, you could get HDMI audio with certain discrete cards. The 8200 should have UEFI version of BIOS available. I've never worked with that specific model but some have installed EL Cap on them. With that tower you could easily run a GTX 950 GPU that doesn't need the extra 6 pin power like the ones that EVGA makes. They've got 4 versions that meet those specs. You would need Yosemite or newer and the Web drivers from Nvidia to use this or the 750 Ti GPU.

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In your opinion, what do you think would be the better, more reliable system to build off of for what I'm looking for? I'm open to either system. I was probably leaning towards the SFF system initially simply because the onboard graphics are supported. But now the tower seems like it might be better because of the expandability and the better graphics card it could support (since CPU probably won't be my limiting factor). Decisions, decisions

Thanks again for your help. I greatly appreciate it.

 

[trs96]

In your opinion, what do you think would be the better, more reliable system to build off of for what I'm looking for? I'm open to either system. I was probably leaning towards the SFF system initially simply because the onboard graphics are supported. But now the tower seems like it might be better because of the expandability and the better graphics card it could support (since CPU probably won't be my limiting factor). Decisions, decisions

Thanks again for your help. I greatly appreciate it.

The HP 8300 and HD4000 graphics is a plus. You could use the onboard DP and get 1440P from the HD4000. You also get support for 1600 MHz DDR3. If you have to drive a 4K monitor though a CMT with a bigger PSU is the better choice. To
make it even more complex, you can build from scratch a Skylake system and get much better on chip graphics that will
supposedly power a 4K monitor. Prices get a lot higher for a Skylake I7 system though.

 

[Lonelytanker]

The HP 8300 and HD4000 graphics is a plus. You could use the onboard DP and get 1440P from the HD4000. You also get support for 1600 MHz DDR3. If you have to drive a 4K monitor though a CMT with a bigger PSU is the better choice. To
make it even more complex, you can build from scratch a Skylake system and get much better on chip graphics that will
supposedly power a 4K monitor. Prices get a lot higher for a Skylake I7 system though.

You had to make it more complex, lol. Just kidding, obviously. Thanks for the help. That HP 8300 tower you mentioned in the other thread probably would have been ideal. Too bad it sold out so quickly. Wonder what the chances are of that coming back in stock.

 

[trs96]

You had to make it more complex, lol. Just kidding, obviously. Thanks for the help. That HP 8300 tower you mentioned in the other thread probably would have been ideal. Too bad it sold out so quickly. Wonder what the chances are of that coming back in stock.

Pretty good, there are hundreds of thousands of these coming off 3 year leases with Corporations so they'll be many available for the next 3 years or so. Prices generally get lower the older they get. That's why the 2009 Elite 8000s can be bought for well under 100 USD.

 

[Lonelytanker]

Pretty good, there are hundreds of thousands of these coming off 3 year leases with Corporations so they'll be many available for the next 3 years or so. Prices generally get lower the older they get. That's why the 2009 Elite 8000s can be bought for well under 100 USD.

Great to know. I guess it would make sense to be patient and wait and see then. I'll at least start reading up, so I'm a little more knowledgeable on things like the Ethernet card, wifi, Bluetooth, etc.

 

[chasmo]

Has anyone had any luck installing El C onto this? I can't get it to boot with my Unibeast. I keep getting the circle with a line through it. Any ideas?

 

[trs96]

Has anyone had any luck installing El C onto this? I can't get it to boot with my Unibeast. I keep getting the circle with a line through it. Any ideas?

Start a new thread in El Capitan Desktop Support. Put your CPU Mobo and Graphics into your profile.

 

[sweatysumo]

There are 50 of these available as of today 5/28 Sells for $299.99 on Amazon. These have on-chip HD4000 Intel graphics so you can even run OS X on it without a discrete graphics card. Nice deal!

Install El Capitan UEFI and you've got a very nice SFF system with some power.

I picked up one of these i7-3770 8300s in June and am just getting around to setting it up. I've installed 16GB more ram and an SSD for Mac OS in addition to the original HD with Win10 on it. My ultimate goal is to run El Cap on it. I'm a little confused by the all the different versions of these things. Should I follow the EZ8000 guide you originally linked to and try to upgrade from there or go with VoiletDragon's El Cap Guide? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[trs96]

I picked up one of these i7-3770 8300s in June and am just getting around to setting it up. I've installed 16GB more ram and an SSD for Mac OS in addition to the original HD with Win10 on it. My ultimate goal is to run El Cap on it. I'm a little confused by the all the different versions of these things. Should I follow the EZ8000 guide you originally linked to and try to upgrade from there or go with VoiletDragon's El Cap Guide? Any advice would be appreciated.

Try this guide: http://tonymacx86.com/threads/pastrychefs-testing-machine-hp-elite-8300-sff-i7-3770-gt-630.199712/
the hardware is probably identical other than the graphics card. If you have a monitor with DP input you could use the HD4000 to do the install. If not you might try a DP to HDMI adapter if your monitor only has HDMI. Let us know how it goes.

 

[sweatysumo]

Try this guide: http://tonymacx86.com/threads/pastrychefs-testing-machine-hp-elite-8300-sff-i7-3770-gt-630.199712/
the hardware is probably identical other than the graphics card. If you have a monitor with DP input you could use the HD4000 to do the install. If not you might try a DP to HDMI adapter if your monitor only has HDMI. Let us know how it goes.

Worked like a charm (I'm typing on it now). Didn't realize you had to use the DP port for video vs. VGA, but fortunately have a couple of DP monitors. Will plan on getting a 750ti low-profile card or similar eventually for HDMI video/sound.

BTW, I've read these can be picky with RAM, so this is the Crucial 16GB kit I used and can confirm works:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YG9EEW/?tag=tonymacx86com-20.

I'll post my results on pastrychef's thread as well.