[Guide] Install High Sierra or Mojave on the Dell Optiplex 7010 / 9010 Desktop PC - Revision II

[nicksoph]

Just succeeded in enabling ME/AMT

I have had several of these 7010 in usff and sff but never seen the option to go into MEBx before - today received a MT version with a very old BIOS - A15 (now updated to A24) which does show MEBx options and am asking for recommendations as to which BIOS version I might update to and what to do with MEBx or BIOS settings to get the fastest performance at the cost of security considerations. Any advice?

 

[woodchip]

There are hundreds of themes to choose from on Sourceforge. I like the one that is High Sierra Themed. Looks great.

Clover EFI bootloader / Themes / [649fa8] /themes

sourceforge.net

I would also recommend the CloverThemeManager as a GUI front end to the repository.
DL

Clover EFI bootloader / Themes / [649fa8] /CloverThemeManagerApp/Updates

sourceforge.net

Info

Clover Theme Manager

Clover has many themes, some of which come included with the Clover installer but different themes, sometimes more up to date and better themes, have otherwise been listed in the Clover wiki with a download link to find the files. Not all themes can be included in the Clover installer as their ma...

www.insanelymac.com

 

[Grizz]

I have had several of these 7010 in usff and sff but never seen the option to go into MEBx before - today received a MT version with a very old BIOS - A15 (now updated to A24) which does show MEBx options and am asking for recommendations as to which BIOS version I might update to and what to do with MEBx or BIOS settings to get the fastest performance at the cost of security considerations. Any advice?

I have the Optiplex 7010 Desktop model, BIOS A29 and have all the settings as per trs96's example in the GUIDE.

I disable the SERIAL PORT, SATA = AHCI, Virtual Machine settings (all OFF except the first one). Everything else is as DEFAULT BIOS settings.

I am guessing that MEBx is disabled on my system (as it was a retired work computer), pressing CTRL+P yields nothing at all. I do not even see a screen for it on boot from POWER OFF state.

Grizz

 

[waipeinan]

This is great, my ancient x58 has finally give up the ghost and while I wait to sort another custom build I thought I would just get one of these running.
With your excellent guide and my old ssd I was able to get up and running in seriously no time at all, job as such on an i7 desktop 9010 (no sound yet but ill trim again and see where Iv'e missed something).
im curious as to the difference between the 9010 and 7010 as the latter are silly cheap here in uk (I paid 150 euro for 9010).

Once again thanks trs96 very much for this guide.

 

[nicksoph]

im curious as to the difference between the 9010 and 7010

The 9010 has a raid function which the 7010 dont - check the sata capabilities for your particular form factor - otherwise pretty much identical

 

[trs96]

I have had several of these 7010 in usff and sff but never seen the option to go into MEBx before - today received a MT version with a very old BIOS - A15 (now updated to A24) which does show MEBx options and am asking for recommendations as to which BIOS version I might update to and what to do with MEBx or BIOS settings to get the fastest performance at the cost of security considerations. Any advice?

I've added a paragraph to the guide about password protecting MEBx as the best approach. Disabling it will slow down your boot times. Leaving it enabled with the default "admin" password isn't the best either. For BIOS version, if you want the best security go to the newest one which is A29. That has spectre and meltdown fixes incorporated into it. Whether those slow down CPU performance, IDK. You'd have to run before and after benchmarks to know. I don't think it makes any significant speed difference humans could notice. The patches mostly seem to slow down large capacity servers such as the AWS servers and other major hosting / web services sites.

 

[trs96]

I am guessing that MEBx is disabled on my system (as it was a retired work computer), pressing CTRL+P yields nothing at all. I do not even see a screen for it on boot from POWER OFF state.

One person mentioned that his had a white tag on the inside with the number 3 on it. This indicates it has been disabled at the factory. I've never gotten one that has MEBx disabled so I'm not sure where it would be.

 

[nicksoph]

@trs96 - Thanks - I'll follow advice on MBEx but wanted the fastest performace and dont care about security - any thoughts?

 

[trs96]

@trs96 - Thanks - I'll follow advice on MBEx but wanted the fastest performace and dont care about security - any thoughts?

Pick the newest BIOS that came out before 2018. Not exactly sure which that is, maybe A27. Look at the dell BIOS download page.

 

[trs96]

The 9010 has a raid function which the 7010 dont - check the sata capabilities for your particular form factor - otherwise pretty much identical

There is one other difference, mentioned in Dell forums. The PCIe x16 slot in the MT gives you up to 75W of power but the DT versions of either 7010 or 9010 are limited to only 50W of power via the PCIe x16 slot.

That might make a difference when using a 1050 Ti and also an RX560 which could draw over 50W of power from the PCIe x16 slot. It has no 6 pin power adapter. So for anyone that wants the MSI RX560 it would be best to get the MT motherboard. If you'd like to you can buy just the MT board and put it into a DT dell case. It's really only important if you are going to game with it. For general use, you'll never get close to the 60W power draw. On average it uses about 20W.

These are the specs for the LP MSI RX560 card. Max power consumption is 60W.