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

[trs96]

@mac2max looks like a great development machine. Are you using the 3770 SSDT ? Glad to hear of your success. The I7-3770 you're using has the HD4000 graphics, not the H4600. HD4000 is certainly up to the task for what you are doing with the 8300. Also you don't need VT-d enabled in BIOS. The VT-x is all you'll need to run a VM.

 

[trs96]

https://flash.newegg.com/product/9SIA59652U5419

Newegg flash has the 6300 Pro / I5-3470 / 8GB / 500 GB plus Windows 10 pre-installed. Sale is for one week from today.
199 USD no tax and free shipping. A few US states, California, Indiana, New Jersey and Tennessee have sales tax added.

The advantage of buying from Newegg is that the case will be in excellent condition and you get a warranty. Free shipping is an added bonus. These will run Windows 10 much faster than brand new PCs in this price range. Add a low profile 1050 Ti and you've got an instant gaming machine. If you want to spend 70 dollars less than this you can get the HP 8200 Elite with a Core i5 and a basic GT 710 graphics card. https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/hp-8200-elite-sff-with-core-i5-2400-msi-gt-710-for-129-98-shipped.230293/

 

[mac2max]

@mac2max looks like a great development machine. Are you using the 3770 SSDT ? Glad to hear of your success. The I7-3770 you're using has the HD4000 graphics, not the H4600. HD4000 is certainly up to the task for what you are doing with the 8300. Also you don't need VT-d enabled in BIOS. The VT-x is all you'll need to run a VM.

@trs96 I followed step

8a. Optional: Implement CPU Power Mangement

and checked HWMonitor. It shows power consumption and frequencies changing:

So it appears to be slowing down and speeding up the CPU according to load.

I corrected to Intel HD4000 GPU in profile. I will turn off VT-d in BIOS after checking to see if it makes no difference in performance in VirtualBox (out of curiosity), or if there appears to be a problem with it in Sierra.

 

[markintosh13]

My brother just pulled the trigger on an HP 8300 Elite SFF, i5 3470, Windows 7, Refurbished 8GB / 320GB from eBay for $109 plus $15 ship, 30 day money back

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/HP-8300-Elite-SFF-Intel-i-Series-Windows-7-Refurbished-ADS-/192286435529?var=&hash=item2cc52a28c9:m:m28QOlpCPvdudrnjJJJAwIw

swapping the HD for an SSD, etc.

I found some 8300 i7 3770s being sold on Kijiji for $100 each but they were in a different province...

 

[trs96]

My brother just pulled the trigger on an HP 8300 Elite SFF, i5 3470, Windows 7, Refurbished 8GB / 320GB from eBay for $109 plus $15 ship, 30 day money back

Is he in the US or Canada ? If he's paying in CDN there is also an import fee due to it shipping from the US (FL) to Canada.

It's a much better deal for those in the US due to the exchange rate.

 

[markintosh13]

Is he in the US or Canada ? If he's paying in CDN there is also an import fee due to it shipping from the US to Canada.

View attachment 274847

It's a much better deal for those in the US due to the exchange rate.

Yup, $20 import duties. Still better than any of the 8300 units being sold in Canada.

 

[trs96]

The average price of a new 8 GB 1600 MHz ram kit in the US right now is close to $72. So if you can get one of these with an I5 CPU and an 8 gig kit of ram for anywhere from 100-130 dollars it's a very good deal.

 

[mac2max]

If Windows 10 was installed previously, there is no need to enter the product key for it to activate. Here's what MS says:

How you activate Windows 10 after reinstalling it depends on how Windows 10 was originally installed on your device.

If you activated a free upgrade to Windows 10 or bought and activated Windows 10 from the Store, you have a digital license for your device. This means you can reinstall the same edition of Windows 10 that your device has a digital license for without entering a product key. During reinstallation, if you’re asked to enter a product key, you can skip this step. Windows 10 will automatically activate online after the installation is complete.

This is exactly what happened for me. I ignored the request to enter a product key during the Windows 10 clean re-install from the USB drive... and it continued on to completion and showed-up in Clover for dual-boot. Makes sense that the HP 8300 I bought must have a digital license and automatically activated after Windows 10 booted up and got online.

 

[markintosh13]

The average price of a new 8 GB 1600 MHz ram kit in the US right now is close to $72. So if you can get one of these with an I5 CPU and an 8 gig kit of ram for anywhere from 100-130 dollars it's a very good deal.

He's going to get an even better deal if he decides to swap the 8300 for my 6300, as I'll give him the cost of an 8300 mobo

 

[aaronash]

Has anyone experienced random reboots with these machines? I'm getting them lately and I don't know what the hell is the cause.