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

[artemartemov]

oh boy, 88 pages of comments and here we are!

I have followed this thread and cannot wait for my purchases to come in. Thanks to this guide I was sold on putting together my first build and was able to find some decent buys

HP 8300 Elite MT - $160
G. SKILL 8GB - $45
TP-Link AC1750 - $40
GTX 1050 Ti 2GB - $104
Crucial 120GB SSD - $50
Corsair Dual SSD Mounting Bracket - $7
SATA III 6.0 Gbps Cable - $4
GMYLE Bluetooth Adapter Dongle - $10
USB External Stereo Sound Adapter - $8

Tower should arrive tomorrow and GPU on Thursday. Thanks again for the awesome guide and will keep updated with progress!

 

[trs96]

HP 8300 Elite MT - $160
G. SKILL 8GB - $45

Sounds great. Did you get the i5 or i7 CPU ? 2 x 4GB ram kit to run in dual channel mode ?
Bl. Friday deals really help keep the build costs down.

 

[artemartemov]

Sounds great. Did you get the i5 or i7 CPU ? 2 x 4GB ram kit to run in dual channel mode ?
Bl. Friday deals really help keep the build costs down.

I found an i5, unfortunately all the i7s I came across were either SFF (which I wanted to stay away from only due to some space limitations I read through and the possibility of upgrading further) but they were also all $250+ and I wanted to keep my budget down quite a bit.

And yes I got the 2 x 4GB kit to run in dual channel mode. I was also hoping to utilize the 4GB that comes with the desktop - really hoping it will be 2 x 2GB so I can have them all going with 12GB.

I mainly do heavy front-end dev work and product design (so apps like sketch and a little photoshop here and there), so hoping this will be just about as quick as my current Macbook Pro for most uses. Curious to see how docker native, and all that fun stuff will run on it

 

[trs96]

I found an i5, unfortunately all the i7s I came across were either SFF (which I wanted to stay away from only due to some space limitations I read through and the possibility of upgrading further) but they were also all $250+ and I wanted to keep my budget down quite a bit.

Just the fact that you've got a desktop i5 and a dedicated GPU will make it much faster than your MBP. The existing ram should work with the 2 x 4GB G.Skill kit. We're getting close to 100,00 views of this guide since mid June '17 so a lot of people have taken advantage of this low cost, highly compatible with macOS system. Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[artemartemov]

Just the fact that you've got a desktop i5 and a dedicated GPU will make it much faster than your MBP. The existing ram should work with the 2 x 4GB G.Skill kit. We're getting close to 100,00 views of this guide since mid June '17 so a lot of people have taken advantage of this low cost, highly compatible with macOS system. Let us know how it works out for you.

Will absolutely do, I will also try and write out my experience in a separate post for the build.

A side question - if I were to ever want to upgrade to i7 - would that be possible? Or remotely necessary? Other than the fact that it is the latest...

 

[trs96]

Will absolutely do, I will also try and write out my experience in a separate post for the build.

A side question - if I were to ever want to upgrade to i7 - would that be possible? Or remotely necessary? Other than the fact that it is the latest...

Yes, it's very easy to upgrade the CPU. Unplug the CPU cooler fan. Remove the heatsink ( 4 screws ) Take out the CPU and replace it with the new one. Clean the old thermal paste off the heatsink with 99% isopropyl alcohol. Put a dab of thermal paste on top of the CPU and replace the heatsink. Screw down the 4 screws until they are snug. For what you're doing the i5 is plenty. Wait a few years and get the i7-3770 for much less than it costs today.

If you want to post a High Sierra Guide based on your experience that would be awesome. I'm staying with Sierra till 2018 as I'm not a developer and have no good reason to upgrade yet.

 

[trs96]

I will also try and write out my experience in a separate post for the build.

One more thing for you or other devs using one of these HP desktops. Make sure to do a good job on Step 10 of the guide, create a unique serial number and check it with Apple's service and support coverage page per the iMessage guide. Make sure your system looks as much like a late 2012 iMac as possible by checking everymac.com site for all the details.

 

[artemartemov]

One more thing for you or other devs using one of these HP desktops. Make sure to do a good job on Step 10 of the guide, create a unique serial number and check it with Apple's service and support coverage page per the iMessage guide. Make sure your system looks as much like a late 2012 iMac as possible by checking everymac.com site for all the details.

That's a very good point, thank you for that. I am most concerned with minor issues such as with Xcode and whatnot - my coworker built 2 setups already and hasn't had any kind of issues (other than iMessage which he doesn't care for) so I have good hopes.

Do you think it is better to install Sierra and upgrade or go the High Sierra route to begin with? I am not 100% pressed on HS due to some issues with my dev setup that I have been seeing from others, but just out of curiosity.

 

[trs96]

Do you think it is better to install Sierra and upgrade or go the High Sierra route to begin with? I am not 100% pressed on HS due to some issues with my dev setup that I have been seeing from others, but just out of curiosity.

Yes, it's best to start with Sierra first and then do an in place upgrade to HS later on. Let HS get the bugs worked out some more and hopefully Nvidia fixes the web driver problems in HS too. The web drivers for 10.12.6 have given me no problems with a GTX 1050 so far.

 

[artemartemov]

Yes, it's best to start with Sierra first and then do an in place upgrade to HS later on. Let HS get the bugs worked out some more and hopefully Nvidia fixes the web driver problems in HS too. The web drivers for 10.12.6 have given me no problems with a GTX 1050 so far.

Awesome that is fantastic info! Thanks so much for all your help