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The EZ 8000 - Core 2 Duo E8400 - Affordable CustoMac Media Center

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trs96

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Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw IPS Monitor


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Note to new readers: In 2019 it's now best to start out with the HP 8300 SFF if you want to run High Sierra or the latest Mojave version of macOS. The prices are about the same for those as the Elite 8000 models. Make sure to buy one with a CPU that has HD4000 graphics if possible.

Components

HP Compaq Elite 8000 SFF The Elite 8000 has a PCI-e x16 and 2 PCI-e x1 slots open.

Buy at Amazon or Buy at Newegg.com

Asus GeForce EN210 1GB Passive / Silent Graphics Card
http://www.amazon.com/EN210-SILENT-DI-1GD3-V2/dp/B004I5UDO6

Sabrent USB External Audio Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Adapter-Windows-AU-MMSA/dp/B00IRVQ0F8

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 (you can also install Mavericks or Yosemite with this guide)
OS X Mountain Lion

Alternate Components

EVGA GeForce 210 1GB (Alternate Graphics Card - Passive w/ smaller heatsink)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B004KABG1I

EVGA GT 610 1GB (Alternate Graphics Card - w/fan + 3D Blu Ray support)
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-1024MB-Graphics-01G-P3-2615-KR/dp/B00847TOLC

EVGA GTX 750 Ti 2GB (Graphics Card - Mini-Tower Only - Use Yosemite - Install Web Drivers)
EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 02G-P4-3751-KR G-SYNC Support 2GB Video Card - Newegg.com

Asus GTX 750 Ti Strix 2GB OC gaming card - Great bang for your buck ! (Mini-Tower Only)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121896

Behringer U-Control UCA202(Alternate Audio Adapter - Digital Audio - 5.1 Surround or Optical)
http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UCA202-Audio-Interface/dp/B000KW2YEI

Already Owned

HP Pavilion 22bw IPS Monitor
http://www.amazon.com/HP-22bw-21-5-LED-Monitor/dp/B00BQ2BYPG

Boston Acoustics Horizon MM226 Multimedia 2.1 Speaker System
No longer available. Try Ebay.

Optional Components

TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 (includes necessary low profile bracket)
Amazon US | Newegg

Ram (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 MHz Ram (Upgrade to 6 or 8 GB depending on which Elite 8000 you buy)

Amazon US Ebay.com Make sure ram is branded as HP compatible as these two are.

3.5 to 2.5 inch HDD Bracket (Lets you place up to two SSDs in the hard drive bay)
Amazon US

Q9550 CPU Quad core at 2.83 GHz and 12 MB of L2 Cache. Use for a server or editing system.
Amazon US Highly recommended if you want to play newer games. Use a GTX 750 Ti as well.


Before you begin: How Easy is this all going to be ?

Here's what you won't have to do to have success with the EZ 8000
  • Install a CPU, motherboard, PSU or CPU heatsink
  • Mod any part of your case or hardware
  • Enter any more than 3 boot flags or manually install kexts
  • Configure the motherboard's BIOS (is optional in most cases)
  • Extract and edit a custom DSDT for your Elite 8000
Here's the few minor things that are required to have success
  • Connect a sata data and power cable up to a hard drive
  • Intall a graphics card (takes between 15-30 seconds max)
  • Create a Unibeast drive with Mountain Lion/Mavericks/Yosemite
  • Make two selections in Multibeast post install
  • Delete two kexts from /S/L/E ( the Extensions folder )
Comments

The Build

In the tradition of the HP Elitebook/Probook this is another offering from HP that is easily converted into a CustoMac. It's a small form factor (SFF) desktop system that is an affordable solution for those who prefer to use OS X (10) vs. Windows on their desktop. This is an off the shelf, refurbished PC-Mac build. It can be a 2nd CustoMac for your general purpose use or something for family members that don't need an expensive high end system. If this is your first Hackintosh it will be a good confidence builder.

I call this the EZ 8000 because it's easy to afford, you can configure one of these for under $150 (US dollars). It was incredibly easy to install OS X Mountain Lion on this hardware too. I'll be giving the details on how to do this later on. Another added bonus of the Elite 8000 is that you will use the Mac Pro 3,1 system definition. When you have an Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad, it makes this system eligible to download the latest OS X El Capitan from the Mac App Store. You can then make a USB installer of El Capitan to install that on any other CustoMac build you would like. You can even install El Cap on this hardware but it is much more difficult to do. Best to start with Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite.

So if you're just curious about running OS X on PC hardware and don't want to invest a lot of effort, time or money into this experiment, read on to learn some more.
Description of the Hardware
The HP Elite 8000 that you will get was most likely leased for 3 years and then returned to HP at the end. So you can feel secure that the Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad chips were never overclocked or abused in any way. Even though they are incredibly easy to overclock as high as 4.4 GHz, you can't do that with this HP motherboard's BIOS. The case's fit and finish is great. It's made of thick, solid steel, usb ports and power button should never wear out. Many newer cases I see for sale these days are nowhere near the quality of these cases.

The 240W PSU is proprietary. It had to be, to fit in this case just above the hard drive. It can't be replaced with a newer ATX or even a smaller SFX supply. You can easily buy new or used 89% high efficiency versions of it on Ebay.

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The PSU and optical drive are both on hinges and have no screws holding them, they simply lift up. The case is designed so that you can both install and remove components without a philips head screwdriver.

The Elite 8000 I purchased was in mint condition when I received it, not even a spec of dust inside. It was labeled as scratch and dent but all I can see is two areas where a small amount of black paint is missing. It was "real steal" as they say, getting a well built PC, then adding a discrete graphics card for a total cost of under 100 US dollars.

Elite 8000 compared to the size of 2005 G4 Mac Mini, the original. It's about the size of a standard mATX HTPC case. Has 4 front and 6 rear panel USB 2.0 ports. The older Mac Mini has 2 on the back, one of those has failed.

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Why the Elite 8000 desktop ?

I was looking for the easiest to configure, lowest cost PC that could be converted into a CustoMac. The Elite 8000 is just old enough to be inexpensive and still has new enough hardware to run recent versions of OS X with no problems whatsoever. It's the perfect choice for those with no previous experience and not a lot of money to spend on an OS X compatible system. There is another version of this PC called the HP 6000 Pro. It comes in the exact same case, and was also released the same year. The only difference is that it does not have the vPro option (Vt-d). This is not useful in a CustoMac anyway. You can use one of the 6000 Pro models with this guide as long as it's got a compatible Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad CPU.

The idea for this build came about after reading P1LGRIM'S Thriftymac User Build, Thriftymac which features an earlier version of this HP Compaq business PC, the HP DC7900 from 2008. If you want to configure a pre-built HP tower to use as a server, buy either the Elite 8000 CMT or DC7900 CMT with a Core 2 Quad. These give you a higher wattage PSU and room for more HDDs.

This model is slightly different from the HP DC7900, the Elite 8000 model uses DDR3 ram and has 4 front USB 2.0 ports instead of 2. Other than that they share the exact same chipset, NIC, audio and graphics. Intel Q45 express chipset, Intel NIC, GMA X4500 HD graphics, integrated into the mainboard. The X4500 HD graphics will work with OS X but only at a 1024 x 768 resolution and with no acceleration, QE/CI.

The onboard audio is Realtek ALC261. Unfortunately it is not supported by OS X but there are two very simple solutions that will be mentioned later on. The Intel E8400 CPU is still quite capable even though it is an older Core 2 Duo chip. Has many of the newer technologies that the Core I series chips have. In everyday use it feels almost as fast as some of the Haswell Core I3 chips that are 1-2 years old. Nice to have VT-x if you want to run a VM on this system.

Retail price of the E8400 CPU was about $170 at launch

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The E8400 has a low 65W TDP so the air cooling should be adequate to keep it cool during use. If you need more cores and lower clock speeds go with one of the Core 2 Quad models from Intel. (See the optional components section above.)

The Elite 8000 will work well as a media center CustoMac and can even play iTunes DRM protected content ! Most of the newer CustoMac builds with Ivy Bridge or newer hardware cannot. Since many of these systems come with Windows 7 Home or Professional pre-installed you can set up a dual boot system if you prefer. For this build I'll only be installing OS X Mountain Lion. I know that the 5 versions of OS X, Snow Leopard through Yosemite, can be installed successfully.

The install of Mavericks requires the GraphicsEnabler=Yes boot flag for the GT 210/610. You would then select that option when running Multibeast to make it permanent. Other than that one difference, you can use the steps in the following guide for a Mavericks install. Use Multibeast for Mavericks, post install.

OSX Mountain Lion Purchased from Apple

Mountain Lion is the newest OS X version available for purchase from Apple (in the U.S.) at the time of writing this. There are many other places to download or purchase this version but you really want to avoid getting it from anywhere other than Apple.com. You will be saving hundreds of Dollars / Euros / Pounds on your hardware. Pay Apple the small amount of money required to obtain genuine OS X. You will order OS X online at Apple.com with a credit card. In one to two business days they'll email you a code to download the software. The file will be close to 5 GB in size so plan for it to take a while if you have slow internet. If you have previously downloaded Mavericks or Yosemite from the Mac App Store then you can re-download those directly from there under the purchased tab.

I chose to not go into the install of El Capitan or Sierra on this system. Since this is the EZ 8000, I'm going to keep everything as simple as possible. An El Capitan install would involve the use of an Enoch/Chameleon installation and make things more complicated than need be. If you want to run macOS Sierra, newer Ivy Bridge hardware would be a much better choice. See the HP 6300 / 8300 Elite Guide for step by step directions to install macOS Sierra on an HP desktop. Guide for HP 6300/8300

Step #1 - Prepare the UniBeast USB Thumb Drive

I already had a Mountain Lion 10.8.5 Unibeast USB drive prepared so I used that. If you need to create one follow the standard Unibeast 5.2.0 creation guide to install Mountain Lion on your 8GB USB drive. UniBeast: Install OS X Mountain Lion on Any Supported Intel-based PC If you don't have a Mac or CustoMac to make the installer, go with the basic Snow Leopard install first. [GUIDE] Install Snow Leopard on the HP Elite 8000 The Intel Ethernet works throughout the whole process so you can wait until after the install to download Multibeast 5.5.5 for Mountain Lion.

NOTE: If you are installing Mavericks or Yosemite do not use the most current Unibeast 6.x.x you'll need to have the 5.2.0 version for the Unibeast installer to work. You want the Chimera bootloader.

Step #2 - Prepare Your Elite 8000 for the Install

0. To flash the BIOS to a more current version - See: Elite 8000 Bios Setup
BIOS 1.13 Rev. A is the preferred version. 1.14 can interfere with OS X installation on some systems.
Download page for 1.13 Rev. A The executable will be named sp54008.exe in your downloads folder.
If you are using the HP 6000 Pro the Bios Rev. you want is 2.02. That has it's own download page. 2.02 Rev. A

1. Disconnect the sata data cable from the Windows 7 hard drive.
2. Connect your new hard drive to sata power and the sata 1 cable.
3. Install your compatible graphics card and connect your monitor to one of the outputs.
4. Place your Mountain Lion Unibeast installation drive into a front USB port.

Step #3 - Install OS X Mountain Lion (Mavericks or Yosemite)

1. Power on the PC and you should see the Mountain Lion icon under the tonymacx86 logo. Hit enter here and wait till you reach the installer. No boot flags are at all necessary here. GE=Yes is the default for Mountain Lion. If your graphics card needs GraphicsEnabler=No then boot with that flag.

2. When you reach the installer, click on Utilities in the Menu Bar and then format the hard drive OS X extended journaled after making a single partition (GUID). Close disk utiltiy and proceed with the install. Should take only about 20 minutes or less. I installed to a 3+ year old SSD drive. This helps to greatly speed up the install and gives you a more responsive system once
OS X is running too.

3. The install proceeded normally and the PC restarted. In some instances, especially if you are using a graphics card for the install, your screen will go black. This is OK, things are still getting installed, just let it finish the process and reboot from the UniBeast drive. Now select your new Mountain Lion install. Finish the setup and then you'll be at the Mountain Lion desktop.

Step #4 - Configure and Run Multibeast

Even the Multibeast choices are quite simple for this system. All you need to start with is EasyBeast and the Intel LAN kext. The default system definition is Mac Pro 3,1 which is perfect for this hardware.

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Click continue and then install. When it's finished you'll need to delete two kexts before you reboot.

Step #5 - Delete Two Unnecessary Kexts & Install your USB Audio Adapter

There are just two kernel extensions, that you'll need to move to the trash. First navigate to the Root Directory of your primary OS X drive then to: /System/Library/Extensions. Now move the AppleHPET.kext and the AHCI_3rdParty_Sata.kext to the trash and empty it. Finally open Disk Utility and repair permissions. Now make sure you've ejected your Unibeast drive before rebooting.

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Sabrent USB Audio Adapter
Reboot into the Mountain Lion Desktop and next we'll add the USB audio adapter from Sabrent. Plug it into any of the 10 front or rear USB ports. Open up System Preferences and then Sound. Under the input and output tabs select the USB audio device for each one.

While in System Prefs, go to the Energy Saver section and slide the Computer sleep button all the way over to the right. The Null CPU PM kext prevents waking the computer from a sleep state from working. Uncheck "put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" if it is checked as well as the other options listed.

Click on the lock icon in the lower left corner to prevent changes to these settings

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5.1 Surround Sound and Optical Audio Output

If you do purchase the Behringer UCA202 USB audio adapter (see optional components) you will need to use Toleda's guide to enable those options. Surround Sound - Realtek ALC AppleHDA [Guide]
This surround sound guide will work for Mavericks and Yosemite but not for Mountain Lion.

Closing Comments
Now you should have a fully functional EZ 8000 CustoMac. That really was easy, wasn't it ? You've probably spent less than 140 USD for all your hardware and the setup and install likely took less than one hour of your time. That was my goal for this User Build, to make it so easy that it would remove all of the obstacles for anyone to create a working and affordable CustoMac.
 
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The EZ 8000 - HP Elite 8000 - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw IPS Monitor

Summary of the EZ 8000 CustoMac Build

My attempt at this started out of curiosity to see what could be possible with a small investment of time, effort and money. An affordable PC combined with the easy installation of OS X was my goal. I think that this build has accomplished both of those goals. It's not as easy as buying a Mac, plugging it in and powering on, but it's pretty close. These are very low maintenance as well. Once you've installed 10.9.5 for example, there are no more system updates to worry about. Leave it as is and everything just works.

When I Googled "Elite 8000 Hackintosh" Nothing at all came up as a guide (in English) for installing OS X onto this hardware. Seems that no one could get the USB ports to work, so it wouldn't be very useful for running OS X. (There was one Youtube video, in Arabic, that showed it working.) So after reading the Thriftymac User Build, it seemed plausible that the same approach would work for the Elite 8000 since the hardware was so similar.
The most important key to success was deleting AppleHPET kext from /S/L/E. That is what causes the USB ports (all 10 of them) to stop functioning. When using the Easybeast selection from Multibeast and deleting the HPET kext it makes for a smoothly running system that serves well as an OS X media center. I wouldn't use it as my daily driver but it could actually function that way with a simple 2 x 4 GB ram upgrade. So overall this was a really positive experience with installing OS X on a pre-built system.

7 Key Points to Remember

1. Buy your Elite 8000, SFF or Tower, from a professional refurbisher.

It may cost a little more but then you'll get some kind of warranty if there are any hardware issues.
Will also reduce the likelihood of this because techs have already checked it out before the sale to you.
Get a system rated as Grade A if possible. Grade B may have some small scratches and dents in the case.


2. Install OS X on a separate drive from the one Windows 7 comes installed on.

Then if you ever to have to return it, you'll just replace the HDD and send it back to the seller. An SSD
of 120 to 240 GBs in size is very inexpensive and will make your system feel much faster than an HDD.
You can also dual boot from the Windows drive after you've got OS X and Chimera installed.

3. Use the Chimera Bootloader

It is possible to use Clover but it is preferable for beginners, without experience, to use Chimera. It
is included in Multibeast for Mountain Lion, Mavericks and Yosemite. Choosing Easybeast installs it.

4. Be aware of the need for airflow through your case

If you're making this part of your media center allow airflow to the front of the case.
The CPU cooler fan (on the SFF version) is just behind the vents in the front of the case.
Don't place the Elite 8000 behind a glass door in a media cabinet. Needs to be open for airflow.

5. Disable sleep in your System Preferences panel

When you choose Easybeast for your Multibeast install the null cpu power management kext is part of the package. This means that wake from sleep will not work, it's best to just disable sleep. If you've installed on an SSD drive, startup and shutdown will be lightning fast anyway.

6. Purchase a low profile compatible graphics card (for the SFF Elite 8000)

One of these is essential to producing a 1920 x 1080p picture on your monitor or television. I've listed some Nvidia options that will work OOB with Mountain Lion, Mavericks and Yosemite. Mavericks or newer will need the GraphicsEnabler=Yes flag to give you the full performance of these cards.

The mini-tower can use full height cards that are compatible with OS X. The GTX 750 Ti or other similar cards that don't need a 6 pin power connector to function are options here. The PSU is rated at 320 Watts so don't plan on installing a 980 Ti ! The Maxwell cards will need web drivers for full functionality so install Yosemite to be able to use those.

7. Get a Core 2 Duo or better Intel CPU

The E8400, E8500 or E8600 are all good choices. Pentium CPUs can possibly work in this situation.
However they generally don't provide any cost savings and offer lower performance than the C2Duos.
Check out the Quick Specs PDF for all the compatible Core 2 Quad CPUs that you could choose from.

Link to the Quick Specs of the HP Elite 8000
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04287230.pdf?ver=1

Have fun with this EZ 8000 guide. Remember it's all about enjoying the process of creating your low cost entertainment center, not hard work. You don't have to be a coder or case modder or even know how to build a PC. The guide section in post #1 will get you up and running quickly and using OS X on the Elite 8000 in no time.

I'll be interested to hear how your experience goes with the EZ 8000 CustoMac. Enjoy !


Here's the finished product just in time for Christmas.​

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This will give you an idea of the size of the EZ 8000 desktop. Monitor is 21.5 inches. (pic below ⬇)

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Will also work to stand it vertically in or next to your home entertainment system. Stand not included but it will be ok standing vertical if you don't have kids or pets that will knock it over.
 
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The EZ 8000 - HP Elite 8000 - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw IPS Monitor

EZ 8000 Updates

January 6th Update
: The person I've built this for has reported some problems with the Voodoo HDA
audio kext that I had included in the first post. The audio is making hissing noises and not working
properly although it did work fine initially when I tested it last month. Playing a large iTunes library of
music is important to him so he's switching to the USB audio adapter for sound.

The most affordable option is to go with the Sabrent USB audio adapter. Link is in the components section. That should give you reliable, trouble free analog audio for your EZ 8000. The Behringer audio adapter will also work with no issues. Just a little more expensive but a good investment if listening to and recording music will be important for your build.

January 18th Update: Installed Windows 10 Home 64 bit on this via the free upgrade and everything worked. Graphics looked fine, ethernet was fast, felt more responsive than Windows 7 does. It must be because Win 10 is designed to run on tablets that don't have very good hardware specs. You can use either the integrated 4500 HD or your graphics card for Windows to get full 1080p resolution. Amazing that hardware now over 6 years old can run Windows 10 quite well. So if you want to dual boot with
Win 10 it is a viable option on the Elite 8000 CustoMac.

February 6th Update: Why not a 2009 Mac Mini ? Someone asked me this question the other day and my reply was: " Because the Core 2 Duo Minis from 2009 or newer hold their value so well they start at about $240 for a decent refurbished model. A Macmini 3,1 with equivalent specs to the EZ8000 would cost close to $400. For that much, you could build a newer budget Haswell CustoMac system.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001U0OFKU/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

In the base early 2009 Mini you only get 1-2 GB of ram, a very slow laptop processor and graphics with only 128mb of vram at your disposal. So for the money you won't get great performance or have room for any significant upgrades. (Have you ever tried to open up one of these 1st Gen Mac Minis ?) It's a real PITA and you can easily lose the tiny screws that hold things together.

February 21st Update : Community member @jbamford has posted a detailed guide that shows how to install El Capitan on the HP Elite 8000 SFF or Mini-Tower. This includes creating an Enoch based El Capitan installer. If you are a beginner (otherwise known as a noob/newbie) this is a more advanced install method so be aware of that. If you read through the guide and think to yourself "this is all Greek to me" and you're not actually from Greece, it may not be for you. If you just want to easily get up and running OS X quickly use my EZ 8000 guide which you find in post #1 of this thread.

The EZ 8000 guide is something I would call "Hackintosh 101" the El Capitan install guide is more like Hackintosh for Graduate students. They've been at this much longer and have a lot more relevant previous experience to help them understand what they are actually doing. If you want to try it and already have Mavericks or Yosemite installed, try a separate, clean SSD or Mechanical drive for the install. Then you've always got your other OS X install that you can go back to when the inevitable problems occur.

Link to the El Capitan Installation Guide: http://www.tonymacx86.com/el-capita...guide-installing-10-11-hp-elite-8000-sff.html

February 24th Update : Not getting many posts here requesting any support for install or configuration on the EZ8000. I'm wondering if that's because no one is attempting this or that it really is so "EZ" that no one needs any help with this ? I've thought of renaming it the "Low as You Can Go" CustoMac. It's certainly the lowest cost, lowest amount of time to configure, lowest frustration factor of any CustoMac that you can attempt. So what do you think ? Was any of this worth my time and effort to post here ?

March 8th Update : Looks like these Elite 8000s have really started selling. The prices have gone up on Newegg and Amazon. It's difficult to find any there under the 100 dollar price point. There are still many available on Ebay.com so you should be able to get one there for under 100 USD. See the Ebay link in the first post, #1. This HP 6000 Pro 6000 Pro on Ebay is nearly identical in hardware to the Elite 8000 so the install guide will work just as well for that model. Note that it is a mid-tower size case and can accommodate fulll height graphics cards, unlike the SFF Elite 8000. If you'd like a case that is smaller than the full tower size Elite 8000, try one of the 6000s. It's closer to the standard mATX size cases. It's pictured in post #4 to the far right side of the four HP PCs pictured there.

April 22nd Update : Some prices are coming down on the Quad Core Elite 8000s. Here's an example from Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6A320W5964 It's got the Q9505 quad core 2.83 GHz CPU so with a good gfx card like a 750 Ti LP you could play modern games and edit video with no problems. Also has a 500 GB HDD so you can store lots of movies and pics. Add a second 4GB kit of ram if you want to use it for the aforementioned things.

Sells for only $140 USD so it's a really good deal on an EZ 8000 quad core. $1,137 dollars off the original retail price. WOW ! The value of depreciation and an OS X friendly BIOS. Compare this to what a late 2009 iMac or Mac Pro would cost to buy used.

It's a SFF case and comes with a Radeon 4550 LP graphics card. Not much success using it with OS X but you can use it with Windows 7 if you'd like. If you buy one of these do not update the BIOS past 1.13 Rev. A as it may cause problems with the OS X install.

June 2nd Update : I'm going to install a low profile MSI 750 Ti into one of these to see how the power supply handles that GPU by Nvidia. I'll run some benchmarks and then post them so you'll get a good idea of what a more powerful graphics card upgrade will do for one of these systems.

August 31st, 2016 Update : If you have over $200 to spend and want a system that can easily run El Capitan or the upcoming macOS Sierra then you'll probably want to go with the HP Elite 8300 with an I5 or I7 CPU. These Ivy Bridge systems are becoming more widely available at lower prices. They are coming off 3-4 year leases. Get the I7-3770 version if you want to edit videos or high resolution photos. An I5 if you want to game or just get better multicore performance than an I3 will give you.

See this guide : http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/p...hine-hp-elite-8300-sff-i7-3770-gt-630.199712/
shows you how easy it is to install El Capitan with UEFI instead of a legacy install.
 
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The EZ 8000 > HP Elite 8000 - Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw Monitor - Affordable CustoMac Media Center

I like these HP Desktop computers. They are very easy to hackintosh and all the OS-X features appear to work ( Sleep / Wake ) Power off , Ethernet , etc.
Just make sure you update the bios to the latest rev. first.
Yes, I do agree these are extremely easy to work with. Run OS X with very few problems. Trying one of these if you're new to this is a great idea as you don't have to spend a fortune to get a fully working CustoMac computer. The 6000 series first came out around the same time as the Elite 8000 series so the hardware is not all that different. BIOS is similar too.

What audio kexts would you use for an HP 6300 Pro?...
It is similar to these HP 8000's
I don't know which model chip. I think It might be a ( Realtek ALC261 codec ).
I know the USB audio devices work fine. However I would like to get onboard audio to work.
There are many possible Voodoo HDA kexts that have been tried. None seem to work as well as a simple and inexpensive USB audio adapter. If you want to experiment with them and find one that works reliably report your findings here or in the DC 7900 thread. ThriftyMac User build.
 
The EZ 8000 > HP Elite 8000 - Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw Monitor - Affordable CustoMac Media Center

Hello trs96, I installed El Capitan on the same hp as you,
HP Elite 8000 SFF
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210. Can you show me how to
Multibeast this setup? I'm booted into El Capitan and I need help on what to do next. Thank you.
 
The EZ 8000 > HP Elite 8000 - Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw Monitor - Affordable CustoMac Media Center

Hello trs96, I installed El Capitan on the same hp as you,and I need help on what to do next. Thank you.

I've never attempted El Capitan installation on this system. Since I've given it to someone who lives over 60 miles away I don't have access to it. What you can do is follow @jbamford's guide here :
http://www.tonymacx86.com/el-capita...guide-installing-10-11-hp-elite-8000-sff.html

For anyone else interested in this pre-built Elite 8000. The easiest install method is the standard
Unibeast/Chimera/Multibeast legacy install with Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite. It gets a
lot more complicated for beginners using the Clover legacy install method and El Capitan.

If you want to try El Capitan, start out by creating your own custom DSDT for the Elite 8000.
I wouldn't use the already available dc7900 DSDT even though the hardware is similar.
 
The EZ 8000 > HP Elite 8000 - Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw Monitor - Affordable CustoMac Media Center

I ended up installing Mavericks using the Unibeast/Chimera/Multibeast legacy way.
These HP Elite 8000 systems run os x just fine. Do you know of any hp elite desktop models that are i5 or i7 that are just as easy to install os x? Thanks again for your EZ 8000 tutorial.
:thumbup:
 
The EZ 8000 > HP Elite 8000 - Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw Monitor - Affordable CustoMac Media Center

I ended up installing Mavericks using the Unibeast/Chimera/Multibeast legacy way.
These HP Elite 8000 systems run os x just fine. Do you know of any hp elite desktop models that are i5 or i7 that are just as easy to install os x? Thanks again for your EZ 8000 tutorial.
:thumbup:

Glad to hear of your success. Mavericks is a great choice for the Elite 8000 hardware. I've looked at some of the refurb 8300s and there is one that comes with an I7-3770. The price is very reasonable for this Ivy Bridge system. So you can use the HD4000 igfx and not even need a graphics card like the GT610. That would be the most compatible with the latest El Capitan because it also has UEFI instead of legacy BIOS that the Elite 8000, 8100s both have. So over the next year or so there will be many of these available that have just come off their 3 year corporate lease. That would be a system ideal for a Yosemite or El Capitan install on an HP desktop.

One refurbisher on Newegg.com already has them for sale in the $350 price range. Pretty good deal
considering a used I7-3770 alone will cost you more than $250.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883283330

To use the onboard HD 4000 graphics with an HDMI monitor simply get a full size DP to HDMI adapter.
I've bought one for as little as 2 dollars on Ebay.com.
 
The EZ 8000 > HP Elite 8000 - Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw Monitor - Affordable CustoMac Media Center

I ended up installing Mavericks using the Unibeast/Chimera/Multibeast legacy way.
These HP Elite 8000 systems run os x just fine. Do you know of any hp elite desktop models that are i5 or i7 that are just as easy to install os x? Thanks again for your EZ 8000 tutorial.
:thumbup:

From where did you download Mavericks?
 
The EZ 8000 > HP Elite 8000 - Core 2 Duo E8400 - Asus GeForce EN210 - HP 22bw Monitor - Affordable CustoMac Media Center

Hello Stork. I have an iMac 24 inch 2008 model. I logged in with my apple id in the app store.
Looked under Purchased and Maverics 10.9.5 was there for me to download.
 
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