[Guide] HP 6300 Pro / HP 8300 Elite - A 100 percent Working and Easily Affordable CustoMac

[andwhy81]

Yes I have it installed in the x16 slot and get HD4000 from my i3-3245 processor. I think it's down to what the motherboard can offer us. Even so like you said 3x the speed of a standard SSD is great for the price I paid.

craig, thanks for testing that setup for us, i was curious if that would work. might be an upgrade for me AFTER i get a AMD GFX card upgrade.

 

[mantroll]

NEWBIE Success!

I just want to add to the many who've had success with the HP 8300. This PC, with the excellent tools provided on the site, really is as easy as you could reasonably expect coming from a completely non-tech background. The only issues i had were understanding the language (which comes with some patience and googling) and downloading High Sierra (i couldn't download the whole install, only the stub, even after trying a few solutions on the site). In the end i downloaded and installed Sierra first, and then directly updated to High Sierra.

I had no desire to run a hackintosh until i tried to connect an external monitor i need for photo-editing to my Macbook Pro -it worked intermittently, apparently an issue that some have, for which Apple provided no solution. My preconception was that hackintoshing would be a nightmare of terminal commands and general OS instability. What i was surprised (and impressed) by was the simplicity of Multibeast and Clover, which just work really well.

Thanks to all the people who've done the work and written the software to make it such an easy process.
Regards.

 

[Geezah]

I thought I'd update my install. I have a 6300 i3 3220 and it's been running Sierra nice and competently as a file server. I ran Apple's Sierra updates and all good, but I decided to update Clover Configurator without any backups – I think in the vague hope I killed it. I did. So, time to try Mojave!

As all the BIOS stuff was already updated, I just made sure that legacy mode was disabled – it wasn't for whatever reason – and then created a new Unibeast installer USB. Just followed the guide but replaced the specified Sierra/High Sierra programs with the Mojave versions. Installed Mojave, did Multibeast, then Clover Config. Really interesting thing was that Clover Config had all the options already specified. I did erase the SSD I had Sierra on through Disk Manager, so I'm not sure whether the settings came from that, or the new installers have it baked in? The ssdt.aml was also there for the i3.

Downloaded VoodooHDA 2.9.0 and AppleHDADisabler from TRS96's post and installed, all good. Then did fakesmc plugins and HW Monitor and all good. Just downloading the latest Mojave update and then if all good, I'll do the iMessage fix.

Overall it seems to be working fine, but gee the i3 is pumped by Chrome. I've got 12Gb RAM and a GT710 1Gb so I thought it'd be a little more responsive. I'll give it a few days to settle down, hopefully it's a little better. It was fine when using Sierra via screen sharing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[phrozenpenguin]

Downloaded VoodooHDA 2.9.0 and AppleHDADisabler from TRS96's post and installed, all good. Then did fakesmc plugins and HW Monitor and all good. Just downloading the latest Mojave update and then if all good, I'll do the iMessage fix.

I found VoodooHDA pretty rubbish for audio. It is worth doing the DSDT(?) patch in order to get the ALC chip recognised properly - if you have any intention of using sound for more than just system notifications.

I've got one machine with an i3 - 3225, and I don't use Chrome much on that machine but Safari is fine. My main machine has an i7-3770 in and constantly has a LOT of Chrome windows open. In comparison it behaves better than my Macbook Pro (recent model with touchbar).

 

[Geezah]

I found VoodooHDA pretty rubbish for audio. It is worth doing the DSDT(?) patch in order to get the ALC chip recognised properly - if you have any intention of using sound for more than just system notifications.

I've got one machine with an i3 - 3225, and I don't use Chrome much on that machine but Safari is fine. My main machine has an i7-3770 in and constantly has a LOT of Chrome windows open. In comparison it behaves better than my Macbook Pro (recent model with touchbar).

Aha, that's good to know about the audio, thanks! I wasn't sure if it was worth it but I'll look at changing it over once it's happy again.

Yeah, I've also got an 8300 with the i7 and it's fantastic with Windows 10 (I decided to go with single boot) so maybe Apple dropped the i3 for a reason :/

 

[Daneland]

I will buy a new graphics card. My budget is around £120. What are your recommendations?

 

[phrozenpenguin]

I will buy a new graphics card. My budget is around £120. What are your recommendations?

What are the issues you have with your GT710?

 

[Geezah]

I will buy a new graphics card. My budget is around £120. What are your recommendations?

Mojave has limited card support, and the future is looking like AMD will be the focus. The GT710 is basic, but supported and low profile.

If you want more power, you’ll need to either stick to High Sierra max and have nvidia, or try and find low profile amd cards. Low profile amd cards are rare in Australia.

 

[trs96]

What are your recommendations?

Depends on what you will be doing. If you want to power dual or triple 4K monitors get an NVS 510. Gives you 4K @ 60Hz. The GT 710 is limited to 30Hz. If you want to game, neither of those older Kepler cards are very good for that. You'd need either a GTX 1050 Ti LP or an RX560 LP card. Of course, the 1050 Ti won't work in Mojave. The RX560 has the better support because Apple has completely sided with AMD since about 2014. The AMD cards have the better drivers / optimization in macOS. I would estimate that by 2021 or 22 Apple will remove all Nvidia support in macOS. We'll have to see what they announce at WWDC and whether the next MP supports Nvidia cards or not.

 

[phrozenpenguin]

@trs96 am I right in thinking that if the PSU is upgraded in the CMT then a RX570 or RX580 would be suitable? For FCPX and for 4K monitors?