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

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Drives and Ports for 8300 Mini Tower (looking into buying)

Can you dual boot Mac and Windows on a single SSD, each with its own partition? I have this setup on my ProBook with a mechanical HDD. I very rarely use the Windows drive. Your guide, however, hints to setting up two SSDs, and buying a split-end SATA cable for port 0 [dark blue color]?

I’m confused about ports. If you need two SSDs what is the ideal connection format to the motherboard? Two drives via one cable into one port [SATA0]?

Post #533 explains SATA0 and SATA1 for SSDs. SATA2 for HDDs. Post #513 states that an SSD also works from SATA3 [black]. Color descriptions don’t align because some models have the two blue ports. HP 8300 Manual advises 1st HD in SATA0, 2nd HD in SATA1, 3rd HD in SATA2, 1st Optical Drive in SATA3, 2nd Optical Drive in eSATA.

Post #733 also advises separate drives for dual booting. Are two mechanical drives recommended over a single SSD with two partitions? Considering the cost factor of two SSDs. Unless refurbished SSDs is a sound option.
 
UnknownManOnEarth said:
Drives and Ports for 8300 Mini Tower (looking into buying)

Can you dual boot Mac and Windows on a single SSD, each with its own partition? I have this setup on my ProBook with a mechanical HDD. I very rarely use the Windows drive. Your guide, however, hints to setting up two SSDs, and buying a split-end SATA cable for port 0 [dark blue color]?

I’m confused about ports. If you need two SSDs what is the ideal connection format to the motherboard? Two drives via one cable into one port [SATA0]?

Post #533 explains SATA0 and SATA1 for SSDs. SATA2 for HDDs. Post #513 states that an SSD also works from SATA3 [black]. Color descriptions don’t align because some models have the two blue ports. HP 8300 Manual advises 1st HD in SATA0, 2nd HD in SATA1, 3rd HD in SATA2, 1st Optical Drive in SATA3, 2nd Optical Drive in eSATA.

Post #733 also advises separate drives for dual booting. Are two mechanical drives recommended over a single SSD with two partitions? Considering the cost factor of two SSDs. Unless refurbished SSDs is a sound option.
Click to expand...

Sorry for all the multibooting confusion. As was previously mentioned. you really don't want Windows and macOS installed to the same drive. It will eventually create problems that you won't want to deal with. If you want two separate SSDs then go with the 8300 for it's two high speed sata 3 connectors onboard. The other option would be to install Sierra to a single SSD boot drive and then have Windows on a larger mechanical hard drive which gives you more storage at a lower cost. You can then store all your games on that drive. In that situation you can even disconnect the Sata cable from the drive you won't be using. i.e. disconnect the Windows HDD when you are (most of the time) using macOS Sierra or High Sierra. That eliminates any potential multiboot problems. Some go as far as installing a hot swap bay and switch to the drive they want to boot from that way.

I have one installed in my ATX Haswell desktop system and it works really well. Accepts SSDs or 3.5" HDDs. I've got drives with Windows 7/10. All different versions (at least 4) of macOS/OS X. If I kept all of them connected at all times my Clover Boot Manager screen would be a complete confusing mess.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M3WNWB2/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

You would install one into your mini-tower's optical drive bay(s). Connect it to the Sata 0 port and Sata power then swap away.
 
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Thanks for the responses yesterday. Got it, one data drive per port. I am a novice; most details are, unfortunately, over my head. But have been successful because of TonyMacX86 forums/guides with my HP Probook laptop since 2012.

trs96,

Read your guide and trying to determine the appropriate hardware/system. (Writing/editing this post for days.) In contrast to other guides, yours is a breath of fresh air. Thank you for the depth and clarity.

I am interested in better airflow and less noise, high processing speed, and multiple HDD slots. Viewing/editing very large jpg and pdf files in Preview or Adobe while typing my dissertation in Word. My ProBook with an i3 can’t handle it. Need a stable system. In my case, is the HP 8300 Elite Mini-Tower i7-3770 the best machine to purchase?

The i3 and i7 CPU’s from post #118 (numbers 3 to 7) have Intel HD Graphics 4000. This means that a Hackintosher does not need to buy a compatible graphics card listed at the top of the first post, right? I am not a gamer, so advanced graphics do not interest me.

i5-3475s Base clock 2.9 GHz
i5-3570K
i7-3770s Base clock 3.1 Ghz
i7-3770
i7-3770K (Do not use in the 8300 USFF)

Parts List
I found a refurbished HP 8300 Elite Mini-Tower i7-3770 on New Egg for $288.93
Two 8GB G.Skill Ram New Egg for $77.99 each
TP-Link AC1750 Wifi Adapter Amazon for $99.99
Syba USB Audio Adapter Amazon for $5.99 (if audio drivers do not work)
1TB Internal HD WD Blue Amazon for $48.99
[Maybe an extra mechanical HHD for Windows]
120GB SSD Amazon for $49.99
SSD Mounting bracket Amazon for $6.99
DP to VGA Adapter New Egg for $6.08
or
DP to VGA and HDMI Adapter Amazon for $12.99
Plus thermal paste and any cables (e.g., Sata6Gb/s)
I have an old USB Apple keyboard, mouse, and VGA monitor (LCD)

Approximate total before taxes $670.

Too much? Should I be looking for refurbished parts instead? E.g., a lower end HP with HD2500 graphics and swap the CPU with a used i7-3770, a used SSD, used ram, etc. Impoverished graduate student thinking.
 
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UnknownManOnEarth said:
Thanks for the responses yesterday. Got it, one data drive per port. I am a novice; most details are, unfortunately, over my head. But have been successful because of TonyMacX86 forums/guides with my HP Probook laptop since 2012.

trs96,

Read your guide and trying to determine the appropriate hardware/system. (Writing/editing this post for days.) In contrast to other guides, yours is a breath of fresh air. Thank you for the depth and clarity.

I am interested in better airflow and less noise, high processing speed, and multiple HDD slots. Viewing/editing very large jpg and pdf files in Preview or Adobe while typing my dissertation in Word. My ProBook with an i3 can’t handle it. Need a stable system. In my case, is the HP 8300 Elite Mini-Tower i7-3770 the best machine to purchase?

The i3 and i7 CPU’s from post #118 (numbers 3 to 7) have Intel HD Graphics 4000. This means that a Hackintosher does not need to buy a compatible graphics card listed at the top of the first post, right? I am not a gamer, so advanced graphics do not interest me.

i5-3475s Base clock 2.9 GHz
i5-3570K
i7-3770s Base clock 3.1 Ghz
i7-3770
i7-3770K (Do not use in the 8300 USFF)

Parts List
I found a refurbished HP 8300 Elite Mini-Tower i7-3770 on New Egg for $288.93
Two 8GB G.Skill Ram New Egg for $77.99 each
TP-Link AC1750 Wifi Adapter Amazon for $99.99
Syba USB Audio Adapter Amazon for $5.99 (if audio drivers do not work)
1TB Internal HD WD Blue Amazon for $48.99
[Maybe an extra mechanical HHD for Windows]
120GB SSD Amazon for $49.99
SSD Mounting bracket Amazon for $6.99
DP to VGA Adapter New Egg for $6.08
or
DP to VGA and HDMI Adapter Amazon for $12.99
Plus thermal paste and any cables (e.g., Sata6Gb/s)
I have an old USB Apple keyboard, mouse, and VGA monitor (LCD)

Approximate total before taxes $670.

Too much? Should I be looking for refurbished parts instead? E.g., a lower end HP with HD2500 graphics and swap the CPU with a used i7-3770, a used SSD, used ram, etc. Impoverished graduate student thinking.
Click to expand...

Good to hear you're doing a lot of research on this before buying. I think that the I7-3770 mini-tower is your best bet. You could spend 24 dollars more to get this one:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6YC6885308&cm_re=HP_Compaq_Elite_8300_CMT/Core_i7-3770-_-9SIA6YC6885308-_-Product

that comes with 12 GB of ram preinstalled. It's likely got 3 x 4GB so just add one matching 4 GB DIMM of HP ram from Ebay and you save a lot, probably over $100 right there. 16 GB of G.SKill for over $155 is just not worth it in my opinion. If you can use ethernet and the onboard audio, which does work, you can save another 100 plus dollars. So keep looking and tweaking things till you get the price down. If you'd be spending $670 you might as well build a new mATX Kaby Lake system in the case of your choice. The idea with the 8300 is to use capable older hardware like an i7-3770 / Elite 8300 system and not spend over about 400-450 dollars.

Here's a good deal on a 6300 MT which has 16GB of ram, a 1TB 7200 RPM HDD and the i7-3770 for about $385
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6YC43M1710&cm_re=HP_6300_mini_tower_i7-3770-_-9SIA6YC43M1710-_-Product You can always add in more Sata 3 ports via an inexpensive PCI-e card. Or just plug an SSD into Sata0 and the 1 TB drive into Sata1 and it would get the job done without a lot of upgrades. Compare the above to a new base level 2014 Mac Mini and you can see what a good value these are. The entry level Mini below for over $500 is hardly any better than a 4 year old laptop and it doesn't even include an LCD screen ! The only advantage a Mini has is the HD5000 vs. the HD4000 of the 3770 CPU. Nothing that makes any significant difference in photo editing. The 4 core 8 thread i7-3770 should make a major difference when using photo editing software. :thumbup: A laptop i5 with two cores is pretty weak when compared to a desktop i7 CPU.

Screen Shot 10.jpg
 
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Questions, i can't get hwmonitor to show cpu fan. Is that not possible with this hardware?
I have a 8300 i7 3770 with HD4000 running HS.

I have installed all kext from rehabmans latest Fake smc with kext beast. Tried L/E & S/L/E without any luck.
Rebuilt cache but no fans showing.

Another query is that cpu stepping shows x16 as lowest and 38 as highest is that correct?
It seems to jump from x16 to like 34, 35 under load and nothing between. I am using the ssdt.aml for the 3770 provided in the first post of this guide.

Great guide btw.
thanks.
 
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Hi,
Would like to mention that I had success setting up sound via AppleALC project (https://github.com/vit9696/AppleALC) which support Realtek ALC221 chip used by HP 6300 / HP 8300 family.

Sound seems better than with "VoodooHDA method" (higher volume, clear sound without distorsion) so far. :mrgreen:

Output line and front right jack are working as expected (as with "Voodoo method").
Nevertheless the front left jack (with microphone) is still not working (as with "Voodoo method"). This is probably due to a wrong "PinConfigurations" settings which I have not sorted out yet.

Installation procedure I used is as follow ...
- Create your DSDT -> (https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-patching-laptop-dsdt-ssdts.152573/).
- Patch your DSDT with 2 patches -> (https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/guide-patching-laptop-dsdt-ssdts.152573/):
- IRQ Fix
- HDEF to look like this (it's probably fine to leave "PinConfigurations" empty as it's overwritten by AppleALC.kext anyway) ...
Code: 
Method (_DSM, 4, NotSerialized)
            {
                If (LEqual (Arg2, Zero)) { Return (Buffer() { 0x03 } ) }
                Return (Package()
                {
                    "device-id", Buffer() { 0x20, 0x1E, 0x00, 0x00 },
                    "layout-id", Buffer() { 11, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00 },
                    "codec-id", Buffer() { 0x21, 0x02, 0xEC, 0x10 },
                    "hda-gfx", Buffer() { "onboard-1" },
                    "name", Buffer() { "pci8086,1e20" },
                    "built-in", Buffer() { 0x00 },
                    "PinConfigurations", Buffer() { 0x40, 0x40, 0x2b, 0x00, 0x30, 0x01, 0x10, 0x90, 0x10, 0x30, 0x8b, 0x00, 0x60, 0x90, 0xab, 0x01, 0xe0, 0x00, 0x56, 0x28 },
                    //"MaximumBootBeepVolume", 77,
                })
            }
- Remove AppleHDADisabler.kext & VoodooHDA.kext from your system (Clover kext folders or /L/E).
- Install AppleALC.kext & Lilu.kext in L/E, restore a vanilla version of AppleHDA.kext in /S/L/E.
- Reboot and cross fingers.

And voilà, you're done.
Hope this will help someone.
Next step is to find the correct "PinConfigurations" to get the front left jack to work as expected. Will keep you informed if I succeed.

NB: You should test this from a test USB drive to ensure your system is booting/running fine prior to making this changes to your live system.
 
Trying to set up my hp for a single boot system.

when i boot from usb I can't see the ssd drive in disk utilities. The Bios does see it though.
Interestingly, when I put the ssd in my other hp8300 it did see it

Is it ok to use bios 2.83?

What should I try? Is this a setup of hardware issue?
 
MrNeedSomeHelp said:
Trying to set up my hp for a single boot system.

when i boot from usb I can't see the ssd drive in disk utilities. The Bios does see it though.
Interestingly, when I put the ssd in my other hp8300 it did see it

Is it ok to use bios 2.83?

What should I try? Is this a setup of hardware issue?
Click to expand...

I'm a noob but i had the same problem with a 8300 that had windows on it.
I guees your problem is that installer can't see the disk?
If you don't have anything that needs to be saved on the disk try to partition it with terminal, you can start terminal from the installer. Check the disk number with :

diskutil list

When you know the number use this command to partition the whole disk, replace 'disk2' with your number':

diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk2 GPT JHFS+ New 0b

After i did this installer found the disk and the installation could begin.
 
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