pastrychef's testing machine - HP Elite 8300 SFF - i7-3770 - GT 630

RMNB said:

The audio kexts (AppleALC.kext, Lilu.kext, HDMIAudio.kext) can also be loaded with Clover instead of installation in /Library/Extensions/. I prefer to do it that way just to keep all the hackintosh kexts together.

Click to expand...

That's where I keep my hackintosh kexts too. But /Library/Extensions/ is the recommended location.

Just noticed something. I removed both DSDT.aml and ssd.aml from CLOVER/ACPI/PATCHED and audio still works fine. Is patching necessary at all?

RMNB said:

Just noticed something. I removed both DSDT.aml and ssd.aml from CLOVER/ACPI/PATCHED and audio still works fine. Is patching necessary at all?

Click to expand...

Wow. I don't know how you got the audio to work without DSDT, but I am sure I could not get it to work without it.

Updated to macOS 10.13.4 (17E202) Security Update 2018-001 via App Store with no issues.

Great Ultra Value SFF guide(s) pastrychef and trs96.

Just an FYI that may be applicable stateside?.

In Australia - May 2018 - I've noticed that the equivalent ThinkCentre M73 and M83 (Haswell) SFF's and MT's are considerably cheaper across the board. Roughly 30% to 40% so, sometimes more (as in cheaper) than the Elites and Optiplexes.

One could speculate why - miners, gpu $$ pushing more to new pre builds etc, A M D+apu's etc - um... The Market. Anyway, doesn't matter, they're cheaper.

Wondering if I should take one for the team?

ClassicMartini said:

Great Ultra Value SFF guide(s) pastrychef and trs96.

Just an FYI that may be applicable stateside?.

In Australia - May 2018 - I've noticed that the equivalent ThinkCentre M73 and M83 (Haswell) SFF's and MT's are considerably cheaper across the board. Roughly 30% to 40% so, sometimes more (as in cheaper) than the Elites and Optiplexes.

One could speculate why - miners, gpu $$ pushing more to new pre builds etc, A M D+apu's etc - um... The Market. Anyway, doesn't matter, they're cheaper.

Wondering if I should take one for the team?

Click to expand...

Personally, I would not be afraid to give one of the Lenovos a try. The hardware component seem very similar and should not be too difficult to get macOS installed.

ClassicMartini said:

Great Ultra Value SFF guide(s) pastrychef and trs96.

Just an FYI that may be applicable stateside?.

In Australia - May 2018 - I've noticed that the equivalent ThinkCentre M73 and M83 (Haswell) SFF's and MT's are considerably cheaper across the board. Roughly 30% to 40% so, sometimes more (as in cheaper) than the Elites and Optiplexes.

One could speculate why - miners, gpu $$ pushing more to new pre builds etc, A M D+apu's etc - um... The Market. Anyway, doesn't matter, they're cheaper.

Wondering if I should take one for the team?

Click to expand...

I agree that those would probably work with a small amount of effort. Many of the lower cost i3 models have the HD4600 graphics so you can use the SFF versions of those without the cost of a dedicated GPU. They don't seem to be selling at a 30-40 % lower price than the 8300s do here.

Here's an example from Newegg: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIADUM75N8915

The HP and Dell Ivy Bridge i7-3770 models are still the best value in the US. You can find those in the 180-200 price range on places like eBay. The 4 cores/8 threads and higher clock speeds of the i7-3770 is much more capable than any of the Haswell i3s are.

Thanks gentlemen.

Appreciate your swift input.

I have some, er... "bigger" gpu's lying around, and have already boxed myself in with an SFF build. The Mini Towers look more attractive. Sort of the "deluxe" version of a value build?

Think you're right, the price differential is not as great to (please see my sig) - Put my thinking cap on with EB search parameters and dug deeper, perhaps a one-off fire sale was the dramatic difference in price, otherwise about 10-20% in favour of Lenovo.

The bots here won't let me edit previous post to reflect mainstream prices correction. Still 45 to 85 AUD better, which is nice in the up to 400 category (not putting dollar signs, sorry, think thats why I got flagged??).

Hmmm. Scratches chin.

Edit: Doing some due diligence on the Lenovo forums for bios/licence keys/psu/sata, support/mods/updates/options etc...

ClassicMartini said:

Thanks gentlemen.

Appreciate your swift input.

I have some, er... "bigger" gpu's lying around, and have already boxed myself in with an SFF build. The Mini Towers look more attractive. Sort of the "deluxe" version of a value build

Think you're right, the price differential is not as great to (please see my sig) - Put my thinking cap on with EB search parameters and dug deeper, perhaps a one-off fire sale was the dramatic difference in price, otherwise about 10-20% in favour of Lenovo.

Click to expand...

Your best bet would be the Dell Optiplex 7010 or 9010 MT with an i5 or i7-3770. Then you can easily swap out the PSU for a higher wattage one with 6 and 8 pin supplemental power connectors to power larger gfx cards. I recently bought a refurb 9010 MT motherboard and I'm currently testing it out. It's a standard mATX motherboard. The only downside is the stupidity of Dell putting 5 pin fan connectors on the motherboard so you have to use their OEM fans for the case and CPU cooler.

Cut from same cloth: I prefer Dell too. Unfortunately, market here a bit different at the moment.

EB search term:
(tower, MT) , (elitedesk, optiplex, thinkcentre) -i3

I can take the i5 and swap for my "on-hand" i7 - same chipset.

... Doing some due diligence on the Lenovo forums now. (Have to add aftermarket fan support to query now, another good tip '96)