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

[phrozenpenguin]

All great info, guys.

Yes, I plan on editing video in FCP X down the road, but it's mostly for editing photos in Photoshop/Lightroom. I don't do any gaming.

I just updated my SFF to High Sierra last night and it worked like a charm. Followed these instructions here. I actually opted to not convert the SSD to APFS and stuck with HFS+. But I now have the latest version of High Sierra on my SFF and it's completely smooth.

I just ordered the LP RX560 about 15 mins ago, and it has free same-day shipping via Amazon. Gotta love that. So since I have High Sierra, I'm assuming I just pop in the card and it should hopefully work out of the box. I'll check it out late late tonight.

As always, thanks for the info from everyone.

Please update with how you get on - and which exact card you have

 

[HackaShaq]

Please update with how you get on - and which exact card you have

Ok, I wasn't expecting an update so soon, but here it is since this was actually really easy.

1. Here is the exact card I ordered from Amazon:
MSI R5604TPC RX 560 4GT LP OC Graphic Card
(Special thanks to @emericuh for the heads up that Amazon sold this exact card)

2. Card comes like this with the standard bracket installed, but an optional low profile bracket is included:

3. Since I'm installing this into an HP 8300 Elite Small Form Factor, I needed the low profile bracket and swapped it out.
I then installed the card in this black PCI slot (highlighted in yellow):

4. Video card is a fatty, and takes up two slots. It looks like this from above:

5. I connected the DisplayPort cable from the new video card DisplayPort slot to my monitor. Here's the back view:

6. Last night, I upgraded my machine to the latest macOS High Sierra version (10.13.4 as of this writing), so I wanted to see if this was really just plug-and-play with High Sierra out of the box. So I just plugged it in and rebooted...and crossed my fingers. *gulp*

7. I then disconnected and reconnected the DisplayPort cable and voila! There was the macOS desktop running perfectly via the DisplayPort on the new video card. It worked! Right out of the box. No software tweaks to anything.

8. Big note about this card. When installed in that slot, the ports for the DisplayPort and HDMI are physically too close to the metal vertical pillar on the SFF case. I tried adjusting the bracket a bit, but it was still physically too close, and this initially gave me intermittent video and I thought there was an issue related to the VGA/Integrated Graphics. Nope. It was literally not a secure connection that's all. Here's what the card looks like when installed and how it's too close to the metal pillar of the case:

And here's when I just cut out that metal piece, and ahhhhhh it let the DisplayPort cable sit in for a totally solid connection now:

CONCLUSION: This card works perfectly right out of the box with high sierra! Boom!


Meanwhile, here are the new results:

That OpenCL score skyrocketed obviously via geek bench. Nice!

I actually don't even have a 4k monitor yet, but this was the test to ensure that it would be worth getting one. I definitely think it will be for a nice photo/video editing station. And I'm keeping my eye out for a 4k display.

 

[phrozenpenguin]

Whoa, quick update @HackaShaq.

In my BIOS (v3.06 on CMT, so a different model but still 8300) I have the option to turn off integrated graphics.

Advanced > Device Options > Integrated Video



You shouldn't have to use the SCSI terminator style VGA cable!

Are you aware of QuickSync and what that would gain you (by keeping the HD4000 onboard enabled)? I'm still struggling to get my RX560 stable so watching your journey with interest.

 

[HackaShaq]

Whoa, quick update @HackaShaq.

In my BIOS (v3.06 on CMT, so a different model but still 8300) I have the option to turn off integrated graphics.

Advanced > Device Options > Integrated Video

View attachment 326314

You shouldn't have to use the SCSI terminator style VGA cable!

Are you aware of QuickSync and what that would gain you (by keeping the HD4000 onboard enabled)? I'm still struggling to get my RX560 stable so watching your journey with interest.

I updated my earlier post because I figured it out. I'm so dumb. Turns out the video card has the DisplayPort (and HDMI port) that sit too close to the vertical pilar of the back of the machine. That meant that the DisplayPort wasn't 100% locked in place and plugged in all the way which gave intermittent video and black screens. My issue had nothing to do with VGA actually. Just a coincidence when I moved the machine I guess.

I just ripped out that pillar, seated the DisplayPort cable entirely, and all is well in Hack-a-shaq land.

Thanks for your BIOS photo. I do have that option as well and can enable/disable integrated video. Have to be honest, I know nothing about QuickSync and what sort of gains that would bring with keeping HD4000 enabled.

I just updated my previous post with a note about this to not confuse others, but yeah, the video card works right out of the box with high sierra!

@phrozenpenguin, for your issue with keeping your RX560 stable, are you running the latest version of High Sierra (10.13.4)?

 

[phrozenpenguin]

@phrozenpenguin, for your issue with keeping your RX560 stable, are you running the latest version of High Sierra (10.13.4)?

Yep I'm running 10.13.4, have a thread running here so won't hijack this one.

 

[guttapercha]

Resolved !!!!!!!
Tonight I remembered that on the same day of the update, I had added a PCI firewire. This morning I took it off and now the standby works perfectly.
I apologize for the trouble.
in the next days we might try to make firewire work with standby.
Thank you again and sorry for everything.

Any luck getting sleep to work with your firewire card?

 

[HackaShaq]

Any luck getting sleep to work with your firewire card?

I got a firewire card to work perfectly right out of the box with my setup. Full info/details are here if this helps you.

 

[guttapercha]

I got a firewire card to work perfectly right out of the box with my setup. Full info/details are here if this helps you.

Good info! Thanks!! I had purchased a used FW400 card with the TI chipset for $3 at a university surplus, but haven't tried it yet. This seems like a solid backup plan, and maybe just a solid plan regardless given that it looks like a huge time-saver.

 

[Micalllee]

Has anyone tried using the eSATA port on the motherboard? I couldn't find anything in the HP documentation specifying whether it is SATA 2.0 or 3.0. It also doesn't show up in my system report, but that may be because nothing is plugged in to it.

Just to follow up, I had my case open so I checked this. The port labelled "eSATA" is just another SATA 2.0 port. It uses a regular SATA data cable. I switched my data drive (WD Blue, 1 TB 2.5" HDD) from SATA 1 and according to Black Magic the speeds were essentially identical (as I expected; I didn't think a spinny disk would be fast enough to need SATA 3.0).

 

[trs96]

For Anyone Using HD4000 graphics and a 1080p Monitor / TV
​

There is a very good deal on a Fosmon 6 ft. DP to HDMI cable right now by the Ebay Seller SF Planet. Sells for $6.99 shipped.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/311646742215

Only 10 left as of today so don't wait too long to buy one. These are very solid, high quality cables.