Converted Hack to Windows 10 and Gave It Away

[wstrohm]

Four Hacks in house were excessive, and daughter #2 needed one, but is a Windows user. So I converted my "Mini-ITX 1" Haswell listed below to a Windows 10 Pro machine. This was my first experience with Windows. It was very hard to do that... didn't expect so much trouble. Rants below; maybe you want to skip, that's okay.

Using my Hack at left, I downloaded a Windows 10 ISO image from Microsoft. On instructions from a Guru, formatted a USB 16 GB flash drive in FAT32/GPT/GUID since I had read that a UEFI installation needed that format. Opened the ISO image and copied all its files except its "sources" folder to the USB. Reason was that one file in there was too large for the FAT32 format, which can only handle files up to 4 GB, and "install.wim" was 5.15 GB.

Rant 1: Why would Microsoft require its installer be FAT32, and then stick a 5.15 GB file in there?

So I learned that the large file could be split by a program called "WIMB." But in order to run that on my Hack, I needed "Homebrew." So using the Terminal commands required, I started downloading "Homebrew." About halfway through the download it stopped with an error and some text explaining that Homebrew is a "shallow clone," and I needed to use a program "unshallow" to "unshallow it." That was done in Terminal and took quite a while. But then Homebrew finished, and I had it. Then again using Terminal I stuck in some obscure command to download WIMB, which refused to download because Homebrew's certificate had expired and I was not allowed to use it.

Rant 2: Why recommend a program whose certificate was not current?

So I messed around and found a way for WIMB to disregard the expired certificate, and then I downloaded WIMB. Running it split "install.wim" into 2 files. The first was 4.19 GB, and the second was 5.15-4.19= 0.96 GB. Not good, but I was on a roll. so with a sources folder that now contained the two split files, plus others, I attempted to install Windows on one of my two 1 TB Sandisk SSDs. No go. The installer "ran," but only about halfway. Later I found out that it was incorrectly formatted and needed to be FAT32/Master Boot Record. In the process I changed the pre-made "split" number in WIMB from 4000 MB to 2048 MB which split "install.wim" into three parts, 2.15 GB, 2.15 GB, and 0.85 GB. Now the installer went completely through, and I had a copy of Windows 10 Pro. Then I was introduced to the Microsoft Windows UI. (Yech.)

I downloaded a Windows 10 Gigabyte graphics driver for my Nvidia GT 1030, and to check whether it worked, I downloaded "Heaven" and "Valley" Unigine benchmarks (which I use on my Hacks with no problems). But neither would run, claiming they could not find "MSVCP100.dll." So I found that on the Net and downloaded it. I kept trying putting it in different folders (again Yech) until finally I guess I got the right one, and then both programs ran and I knew the driver worked properly.

Rant 3: If an app needs a file, why doesn't it carry it?

I found out that MSVCP100.dll is a C++ file, and Windows OS didn't have it. That seems very odd to me. I noticed there was a MSVRT100 file, but I guess that one was a no-go.

That's as far as I got on Windows, and it took hours over 3 days to get there. Hoping to pass this computer off in the next few days, if I get over this head cold. She wants it and she can deifinitely have it!

 

[phunguss]

“A computer is like air conditioning – it becomes useless when you open Windows.”
— Linus Torvalds

 

[wstrohm]

Daughter picked it up and says it works. My upstairs setup is now simpler.

 

[wstrohm]

My "Mini-ITX 2" (below) is now running Windows 11 Pro. Why on Earth? Well, I have "Mini-ITX 3" and "4" downstairs, one running High Sierra and the other (at left) running Mojave. Upstairs is my early 2005 2.7 GHz PPC Macintosh running Mac OS 10.4.11, and "Mini-ITX 2." I don't need 3 Hacks, and am a complete novice at Windows, and want to learn. Plus, the AMD RX 6400 low-profile graphics card is the best available for a small computer case like the Apex MI-800 or (in the case of "Mini-ITX 2") the Rosewill RS-MI-01. And MacOS doesn't support Navi 4, so the only way to upgrade to that graphics card is to move to Windows. I now have the latest AMD graphics software running the current RX 560, which is not the greatest, and which should theoretically run a new RX 6400. So the replacement card (Sapphire) is on its way. I have graphics benchmark results from Unigine Heaven and Valley with the RX 560, and will repeat for the new RX 6400 when I get a chance.

 

[wstrohm]

Installed the Sapphire RX 6400 into my "Mini-ITX 2" computer. Compared the graphics performance of the older Biostar AMD RX 560 with my new Sapphire RX 6400 in Windows 11. I used Unigine Heaven and Valley OpenGL benchmarks in the configurations shown in the results below. The display was my LG 24" 1920x1080 gaming monitor (144 Hz refresh rate, 1 ms delay). Results indicate the RX 6400, which uses 55 watts vs. the RX 560's 75 watts, is about 2.3 times faster than the RX 560.

I thought this graphics comparison might be of some interest to this Hackintosh community even though it's not for Hackintosh, because otherwise the RX 6400 is an unknown quantity, relative to other AMD graphics cards that do work under MacOS.

 

[trs96]

I thought this graphics comparison might be of some interest to this Hackintosh community even though it's not for Hackintosh

The lowest cost Ventura supported new RDNA2 AMD card is the RX6600. It sells for $220 + at Newegg.

RX6600 | Newegg.com

Search Newegg.com for RX6600. Get fast shipping and top-rated customer service.

www.newegg.com

The Gigabyte branded Eagle card has a ten dollar off promo code right now. Makes it $210 + sales tax.
The RX6400 generally costs $150 USD. So it's not a huge amount extra to pay $210 for the Eagle.

Does require an 8 pin power connector so it will use more than double the power of a 6400.

 

[wstrohm]

The RX6400 generally costs $150 USD. So it's not a huge amount extra to pay $210 for the Eagle.

Yes, I paid $150 for the Sapphire RX 6400. The RX 6400 is a single-slot, single-width card which would fit in my Rosewill RS-MI-01 case with no case mod. Unfortunately this particular case's cover was cut out previously, to allow a Biostar RX 560 to fit, and I can't reverse that mod easily. (No one sells a cover for this case as far as I know.) The RX 6600 is about the same size as the RX 560 but requires a lot more power, and this computer case has an internal 250 watt supply. Starting with the Rosewill or with an Apex MI-800 computer case, the RX 6400 is about the best-performing graphics card I could find that physically fits. I was impressed by ~103 fps on Heaven and Valley in High quality.

With an i7-6700 CPU (TDP 65 watts) and the RX 6400 (55 watts) in this computer case, I think the power supply will not be excessively stressed. Two Sandisk 1 TB SATA III SSDs use little more power, and the GA-H170N-WIFI board and Noctua CPU fan are all that's left. So the hardware is pretty well matched.