Big Sur on HP EliteDesk 800 G4/G5 Mini - The Perfect MacMini8,1 Hackintosh - OpenCore

[trs96]

I'm trying to download 10.15.4 and I can't get the installer,

gibMacOS is the best way to download Catalina.

GitHub - corpnewt/gibMacOS: Py2/py3 script that can download macOS components direct from Apple

Py2/py3 script that can download macOS components direct from Apple - GitHub - corpnewt/gibMacOS: Py2/py3 script that can download macOS components direct from Apple

github.com

 

[mamomamo]

gibMacOS is the best way to download Catalina.

GitHub - corpnewt/gibMacOS: Py2/py3 script that can download macOS components direct from Apple

Py2/py3 script that can download macOS components direct from Apple - GitHub - corpnewt/gibMacOS: Py2/py3 script that can download macOS components direct from Apple

github.com

View attachment 543250

Yes, thanks, this is what I downloaded, 3 times but it doesn't let me install, it gives me an error of I don't know what, I can't get the installer

 

[trs96]

Yes, thanks, this is what I downloaded, 3 times but it doesn't let me install, it gives me an error of I don't know what, I can't get the installer

Follow all the steps in this video.

 

[mamomamo]

Follow all the steps in this video.

Thanks trs96, I followed the steps of the video and everything went well except that once he downloaded it incomplete, now I make the key for the installation and if I can tonight I try to install it, I cross my fingers and I hope I can fix the bluetooth of the coupon, thanks again and happy Sunday

 

[mamomamo]

A small information update, the installation of Catalina unfortunately was not successful, after the first step of formatting the disk, on reboot there was no installation entry that is, you could only restart by restarting from the usb of installation, there were no other entries, one thing that made me think it might be the right way was the fact that I connected the wifi on the screen that allowed it, the connection lines were full while during Bigsur and Monterey now (I had the usb ready also from Monterey and I wanted to try it) always missing a bit of signal, probably from Catalina it could be true that it loads more correct drives. (even with poor monterey bluetooth) Next days I try to redo the usb with Catalina and try again the installation, good day everyone

 

[deeveedee]

I upgraded my HackMini8,1 EFI to OC 0.7.9. The manual upgrade steps are listed below. OC0.7.9-EFI-r001 is now attached to Post #1.

Upgrade to OC 0.7.9 from OC 0.7.8

• EFI/BOOT: Update BOOTx64.efi
• EFI/OC: Update OpenCore.efi
• EFI/OC/Drivers: Update OpenRuntime.efi, Update AudioDxe.efi
• EFI/OC/Kexts:
  • Update AppleALC.kext 1.6.9 -> 1.7.0
  • Update VirtualSMC.kext 1.2.8 -> 1.2.9
  • Update WhateverGreen.kext 1.5.7 -> 1.5.8
• EFI/OC/Tools: Update tools
• EFI/OC/config.plist:
  • Added Misc > Debug > LogModules (String, *)
  • Added Kernel > Block > Item n > Strategy (String, Disable)

 

[deeveedee]

@tonymacx86 created a very informative thread here to encourage discussion of the new Apple Mac Studio and the M1 Ultra. Apple is making technological leaps with its own silicon that have to make us question just how much longer we're going to invest time and money in hacks. Personally, I will continue to maintain my existing hacks because I enjoy it and because they work PERFECTLY, but I have stopped chasing the latest and greatest hardware to build new hacks. Used HP EliteDesk 800 G4 and G5 Minis continue to offer inexpensive MacMini alternatives (used HP ProDesk 600 G4 and G5 Minis may be even less expensive), so they may still be wise investments.

When considering the time and money investment in a hack, we're getting very close to being able to say that it's more cost effective to buy real Apple hardware than it is to build a new state-of-the-art hack.

 

[rafale77]

I took a very hard look at it and I am honestly a bit disappointed. It's not the leap it is made to be.
Though I would say that it is getting one step closer to obsoleting our hacks but there are still some ways to go. I will not jump ship to the ARM based CPUs for desktop yet and am still finding our tiny/mini a significantly better choice for what I use it for it is why I am yet building another one.
I tried configuring an equivalent of my new project with 64GB or RAM and 4TB SSD. The studio would end up being $3600 Vs. my $1600 hack. The M1 Max Studio would be 25% faster on single thread and less than 20% faster on multithread application. See here. Arguably the GPU would be 100% faster but there aren't that many use case for it since I am not gaming. There are also the numerous quirks of MacOS with various applications (my M1 MBA still suffers from them, making my hack mini a more reliable work machine) and the studio is more than twice the volume while less upgradeable and repairable. Overall the cost/performance ratio and even power usage (my new hack will take <160W under load and my current one ~125W Vs. 250W+) just doesn't make the studio all that attractive unless one is constantly chasing the latest and greatest which leads to the law of diminishing returns and a major source of e-Waste. The M1 Ultra is more of a leap but what for at this price? The biggest downfall of Apple's mini/studio is the repairability and upgradability... The Studio Max would have needed to be half its size and allow storage and RAM to be fully swappable at its $2K price. Maybe the rumored M2 generation of MacMini?

 

[deeveedee]

@rafale77 At $1600 for your rig, I'd say you got a killer deal. This link might give you an idea of what to expect when comparing performance of the g5 mini / i9-9900 to your i9-10900 Tiny. The G5 mini in the comparison is an i7-9700K and the G6 is an i9-10900K, so not quite the same comparison. Will be interested in seeing your real-world benchmarks (since we know synthetic benchmarks aren't very good with the thermal limits of these small formfactors).

 

[rafale77]

I had no idea one could install "K" CPUs in these minis. I am not that ambitious. I am only looking to get my 65W CPUs working. In my math I actually even forgot to take into account the net resale value of the excess components I am buying. The actual cost will now be around $1350...
I am trying the Lenovo after quite a bit of research between the HP minis, the Lenovo Tinys and the Dell Micro equivalent because of their greater configurability... namely they provide an actual PCIe slot in which I will be able to install a GPU or a 10G NIC. Unlike the HP, there is a version of the Dell which can also accommodate low profile single slot GPUs but it is also extremely rare. For inspiration: here and here


Edit: I just learned that indeed the Mini G5 has a version which takes the 90W "K" CPUs but require a 150W PSU... Which I do not have. Interesting nevertheless as I don't know if the motherboard is also different on these models.
Also was looking at the elitedesk 805 G8 which is quite a beast for its size but unfortunately not easily hackable with its proprietary nVidia 1660Ti GPU which would need to be swapped for an AMD one.