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My First Hackintosh — [WIP] The Build: HP ZBook 17 G6

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Hmm, all the '12+6'-pin–to–m.2 2230 type E adapters I'm seeing for sale on Amazon, eBay, NewEgg, etc. are desktop-height boards. Anybody know where I can get something that would fit inside a laptop?
 
I‘m really interested in your build. Did you already install macOS?

I have a ZBook G3 want to Hackintosh for working on FCPX on travelling. So I’m thinking to buy the mentioned GPU. Do you thing It will work in an old ZBook G3?
 
Got the wrong part in the mail; instead of the Broadcom BCM94360CSAX WiFi/Bluetooth card I wanted, I ended up with somebody else's internal MacBook SATA drive cable. I have now returned that and should get the correct item in the mail soon.

I‘m really interested in your build. Did you already install macOS?

I have a ZBook G3 want to Hackintosh for working on FCPX on travelling. So I’m thinking to buy the mentioned GPU. Do you thing It will work in an old ZBook G3?

No, I haven't installed macOS yet; my ZBook G6 is still being put together and shipped, as there was an 'unexpected component constraint,' although I do have some of the replacement parts (the RAM and graphics card) already. (Funny how that works, huh.) I'll be following RehabMan's guide, though, even though it hasn't been updated for Catalina yet. (Others have used it with minimal tweaks and said it works just the same as ever, but, after some experimentation, to use newer versions of Clover and any needed kexts.)

The AMD Radeon Pro WX 4170 I'm using was a native build-to-order option for the G5, and at least one item page for the card on eBay mentions it having been one (or at least a suitable aftermarket upgrade option) for the G4 as well. You could try it in your G3, but I'd make sure that your GPU heat sink would match up with the 4170 first. There aren't any AMD graphics options for the G6 — they're all Nvidia —, but the chips are all in the same place on what's a standard MXM 3 type A board even if you switch manufacturers, so I doubt the heat sink's changed much, if at all, on the G6. Oh, and you'll need thermal paste, of course.
 
I'm having better luck finding 12≠6-pin–to–m.2 2230 Type E adapters now. They also come in a flexible PCB-and-cable variant as opposed to the riser board variety, and the former of those two should fit in a laptop. I'll post again (and update my OP with a link) when I've bought one.
 
After deeper research about compatibility I found out that your mentioned GPU is MXM 3.0b (width 82mm, length 105mm and tbd max 200 watt) which will not fit inside the Zbook G3. It only supports MXM 3.0A GPU (width 82mm, length 70mm and tbd max 55 watt).
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_PCI_Express_Module

But I found the Radeon PRO WX 4150 4GB GPU MXM 3.0A which fits inside the Zbook 15 G3 which should be supported by MacOS. I already purchased one on Ebay and waiting for the delivery. Will report if everything is working.
Source: https://community.amd.com/thread/210032
 
After deeper research about compatibility I found out that your mentioned GPU is MXM 3.0b (width 82mm, length 105mm and tbd max 200 watt) which will not fit inside the Zbook G3. It only supports MXM 3.0A GPU (width 82mm, length 70mm and tbd max 55 watt).
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_PCI_Express_Module

But I found the Radeon PRO WX 4150 4GB GPU MXM 3.0A which fits inside the Zbook 15 G3 which should be supported by MacOS. I already purchased one on Ebay and waiting for the delivery. Will report if everything is working.
Source: https://community.amd.com/thread/210032

Huh, weird; where did you find that information? All sources I can find are roughly consistent with it being a type A card, and it's a 128-bit card, which that variant of the MXM interface can handle. (Most places I've looked at list it as a 50-watt card, though AMD itself does note it as being a 60-watt card on a page on its web site. I should've known this discrepancy couldn't be attributed to a difference in choice of rounding styles away from MXM 3 type A's maximum 55 watts; I really need to be more careful when shopping around. Sigh. Guess I'll have to return mine, then, and get a WX 4150.) In any case, measuring the 4170 yields dimensions of 82 mm by 105 mm, which matches up with it being a type B. Good catch, Har0n; I might well have gotten pretty far into installation before I noticed it didn't fit. I'll update my OP to reflect our discussion here shortly. (Edit: OP now updated.) (Edit 2: Profile updated to match.)
 
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Huh, weird; where did you find that information? All sources I can find are roughly consistent with it being a type A card, and it's a 128-bit card, which that variant of the MXM interface can handle. (Most places I've looked at list it as a 50-watt card, though AMD itself does note it as being a 60-watt card on a page on its web site. I should've known this discrepancy couldn't be attributed to a difference in choice of rounding styles away from MXM 3 type A's maximum 55 watts; I really need to be more careful when shopping around. Sigh. Guess I'll have to return mine, then, and get a WX 4150.) In any case, measuring the 4170 yields dimensions of 82 mm by 105 mm, which matches up with it being a type B. Good catch, Har0n; I might well have gotten pretty far into installation before I noticed it didn't fit. I'll update my OP to reflect our discussion here shortly. (Edit: OP now updated.) (Edit 2: Profile updated to match.)
The Zbook 17 can accept both MXM B and MXM A cards. The smaller Zbook 15 can only accept MXM A. You should be able to use that WX 4170 if you can find a Zbook 17 G5 heatsink for it. It may even work with the T1000 heatsink if its also MXM B, but be sure to carefully compare the cards to make sure the GPU die and VRM will make good contact before booting it up.
 
The Zbook 17 can accept both MXM B and MXM A cards. The smaller Zbook 15 can only accept MXM A.…

(Facepalms again.) What do you know, a little more investigation proves that all the other Nvidia cards that are available as options for the 17 G6 from HP (the Quadro RTX 3000, 4000, and 5000) are Type B cards.

…You should be able to use that WX 4170 if you can find a Zbook 17 G5 heatsink for it. …

Per its documentation (its maintenance and service guide, to be specific,) the G5 uses one of three different heat sinks:
  • one '[f]or use in models with discrete graphics F16M memory'
  • one '[f]or use in models with discrete graphics N18P memory'
  • one '[f]or use in models with discrete graphics N18E memory'
It's not clear from this listing which one of those is meant to go with the WX 4170. The documentation I can find for the G6 (including, mainly, its own maintenance and service guide) clearly states, however, that the two heat sinks that it can use are:
  • 'for use in models with NVIDIA Quadro [T]1000 (N19P) discrete graphics memory' (it actually says the P1000, but that's not an option any more)
  • 'for use in models with NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000, 4000, or 5000 (N19E) discrete graphics memory.'
I presume that means that the G5 heat sink I'd want is the one '[f]or use in models with discrete graphics F16M memory,' then, as 'N' numbers are for Nvidia card configurations. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find one at the moment.

…It may even work with the T1000 heatsink if its also MXM B, but be sure to carefully compare the cards to make sure the GPU die and VR[A]M will make good contact before booting it up.

The T1000's type A, not type B, so, no, that won't work.
 
Yes, you would want the F16M heatsink. I think it means Firepro - Version 16 - Mobile.

Interestingly enough, I spent some time trying to setup a hackintosh Dell Precision 7740 with a WX7100. It did work out of the box but in the end I decided to switch to a different configuration with only iGPU, then attaching to an eGPU when at my desk. The eGPU performance is about 50% faster than the WX7100, even with TB3 overhead, just because of how old the Polaris architecture is. The iGPU only config also has 3x more battery life, is much quieter and cooler, can more reliably connect external displays, and doesn't have issues using sleep / resume on MacOS which is important to me. My Linux setup on that machine is also much simpler given that I don't have to deal with hybrid graphics.

Either way you end up going keep us posted! The WX4150 MXM A card might be the easier route if the T1000 heatsink fits.
 
Yes, you would want the F16M heatsink. I think it means Firepro - Version 16 - Mobile.


Ah, so an earlier generation of the ZBook 17 had options for AMD FirePro graphics. Wikipedia's article on those says that the FirePro W-series cards were the predecessor to the current Radeon Pro WX series, so that makes sense. If you could keep using the same heat sink, why change it?



Interestingly enough, I spent some time trying to setup a hackintosh Dell Precision 7740 with a WX7100. It did work out of the box but in the end I decided to switch to a different configuration with only iGPU, then attaching to an eGPU when at my desk. The eGPU performance is about 50% faster than the WX7100, even with TB3 overhead, just because of how old the Polaris architecture is. The iGPU only config also has 3x more battery life, is much quieter and cooler, can more reliably connect external displays, and doesn't have issues using sleep / resume on MacOS which is important to me. My Linux setup on that machine is also much simpler given that I don't have to deal with hybrid graphics.

Either way you end up going keep us posted! The WX4150 MXM A card might be the easier route if the T1000 heatsink fits.

Good to know; thanks for sharing. I'm currently typing this post on an ancient (mid-2007) iMac with ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics based on the equally dated TeraScale 1.0 (R600) architecture, though, so even Polaris is a huge leap in performance for me, and it's not that old, either; counting Navi, it's only two generations behind. In any case, here's what I'm thinking:
  • I don't see an AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100–compatible heat sink available for the HP ZBook 17 G6 anywhere, so I don't think I'm even going to try that GPU any more.
  • I see at least the one listing for the F16M heat sink on HP's part store even though it's noted as being 'out of stock,' at least at the moment. This being a ZBook 17 G5 part and that model being discontinued, it'd be interesting to see if they'd get any more in. (On the other hand, I doubt that some the G5s still out in the wild don't need maintenance and repairs, so supply of this part may well return.) I don't think it would hurt to ask, so I will.
  • Only if I've exhausted this course of action will I then fall back onto figuring out whether the 4150 would work with the T1000's heat sink.
 
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