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

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OK, you'll need to return/exchange this for a smaller one. The specs I read online must have been wrong. If you can exchange it for the newer S12 III model, 500W or more, that should fit as it's not as long. I don't own the MT version of this so thanks for reporting that the M12 II is too big.

Here's an EVGA model that will also fit. Not as nice as the Seasonic but you can find lower prices for these.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6ZP6CV7765
Just a warning to others about Newegg... (I haven't shopped with them much). $8.50 restocking fee, PLUS $22 return shipping fee for this PSU. so $30.50 out-of-pocket to return it. (I'll be keeping it and hopefully find a new project for it, possibly eBay it.)
 
Just a warning to others about Newegg... (I haven't shopped with them much). $8.50 restocking fee, PLUS $22 return shipping fee for this PSU. so $30.50 out-of-pocket to return it. (I'll be keeping it and hopefully find a new project for it, possibly eBay it.)
It's definitely a good PSU worth keeping. Too bad Newegg has to charge that much for a simple return. I have gotten a lot of good deals on PSUs there over the last 8 years or so. Never have returned one.
 
I was curious what everyone's idle CPU temps are. I haven't changed the thermal paste yet but mine are right around 40°C with the SFF and i5 3570. I only ask to see if it's really worth the trouble to change out the paste if everyone else is significantly lower.
 
I was curious what everyone's idle CPU temps are. I haven't changed the thermal paste yet but mine are right around 40°C with the SFF and i5 3570. I only ask to see if it's really worth the trouble to change out the paste if everyone else is significantly lower.
Change the thermal paste!. Don’t think, oh it’ll be ok, just change it to give yourself peace of mind. My 7010 with a i7-3770, idles at about 2% utilization with temps hovering in the mid thirties.
 
I was curious what everyone's idle CPU temps are. I haven't changed the thermal paste yet but mine are right around 40°C with the SFF and i5 3570. I only ask to see if it's really worth the trouble to change out the paste if everyone else is significantly lower.
I get closer to 30 C at idle with my 3700/SFF Dell. I replaced the old TP with Noctua brand. It's definitely worth the effort if you want to keep this longer term.
 
@djjeesh66 the i5 3570 runs the hottest out of 3475s, 3470 or any of the i3's. Mine runs close to 40 idle with the 3475s coolest of the i5's at about 32.

Edit: Just checked because Ive recently dropped the 3570K into a mini tower and found that whilst it was running near 40 in the USFF case, in the MT its running at 28 degrees in a room where the room temp is currently 24 degrees.
 
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Intel ME and why you Need to Password Protect it
The author/creator of this video about Intel ME is being very dramatic here. He makes it look like some kind of Intel/NSA conspiracy is going on with respect to IME which is just speculative. It does help to bring across the point that it is completely foolish to leave the MEBx password at the default "admin." If you do, yes, your Dell Optiplex could possibly be compromised remotely. It wouldn't be easy to do this. Having a secure password preventing access to it makes it extremely hard to gain access from any remote location. So, if you haven't done this yet, take a few minutes to make a secure 8 character plus password. No, you can't set it to "password" which is the most insecure password in existence. Follow the secure password guidelines.

There is more about this in Post #1 of the guide. There is only one 100% certain way you can fully disable ME. Either pull your power cord out of the wall socket or disconnect your Ethernet cable from your desktop. No power or internet connection means no access remotely. If you won't be using your PC for a few days or weeks it's a good habit to get into. Unplug both. Updating your Dell BIOS to A29/7010 or A30/9010 will also give you the latest patches that protect you from IME exploits. See step #1 of the guide. If you use any modern Intel PC having an ME chip onboard is something you can't avoid. It's nothing to be fearful about. Just use common sense. The most important thing you can do in macOS is set your firewall to stealth mode so that your CustoMac is invisible on the internet. Here's the setting in Security and Privacy tab of System Preferences. You also have a checkbox to block all connections if you need that level of security. I need to allow all of those for the ways I use my CustoMac. If you don't use any of those you could block all incoming connections.

399981



 
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I added the following components to the 7010 SFF:
  1. SilverStone Dual M2 to PCI-E X4 and SATA 6G Adapter Card - This has two M.2 slots - one for NVMe drive and other for SATA drive. I've NVMe with the Sabrent drive below and SATA with a WD drive. The adapter comes with both low profile and normal bracket. I used the first PCIe slot in my 7010 SFF
  2. Sabrent 256GB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD - this is where I installed Mojave
  3. WD Blue 500GB SATA M.2 2280 SSD - this is where I installed Clover. I am using this drive for data/storage
Below is my AmorphousDiskMark for the NVMe drive. The drive appears to be hitting close to it's advertised speeds.
View attachment 398192
The EFI I had to use to enable NVMe at the boot time for Clover is attached.

Daaaamn this is cool. Going to try it in my HP 8300 where I have some room. Why were Clover and Mojave on separate drives?
 
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How to bring your Dell Optiplex up to 2019 M.2 NVMe SSD Speeds
If you are using integrated HD4000 graphics and your PCIe x16 slot is open, here's a way to get blazing fast read and write speeds from your Mojave system drive. Buy the HP EX920 NVMe drive and install it into that x16 slot with an adapter. You can then get read speeds close to 3 GBps. What is the cost ? Well, if you already have a sata SSD with clover installed on it, all you need to spend is 48 dollars for the NVMe drive and 18 for the adapter. Yes, it's that low cost.

Post by randompurplehippo:

Link to the HP EX920 drive at Newegg.
1555409455162.png
Do I really need that kind of speed from my System drive ?

Depends on what you are doing with your CustoMac. If you just surf the internet and email and use social media it's a complete waste of your money. If you do things like photo editing in PS or 4K video editing in FCP X then it is immensely helpful to have one of these. Boot times should speed up greatly as well. The EX920 and adapter will also work in your x4 slot if you have a dedicated graphics card in your x16 slot. Speeds may be slightly slower depending on what else is connected to your adapter card. The x4 slot in your Optiplex only meets PCIe 2.0 standards and not 3.0 like the x16 slot.

What are some other scenarios where this is a good idea ?

If you have the 7010 or 9010 MT and an RX 570 or 580 installed it will probably block most of your Sata ports. You can use special Sata cables or you could just buy the adapter and NVMe SSD instead.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01798WOJ0/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
 

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