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

[Micalllee]

Although both my units do me very well and I have no reason to upgrade, I wonder if there will be a spiritual successor to these units that'll be as easy to hack...

I've been wondering the same thing for a while. I've also been trying to figure out what subsequent generations offer. For example, going from the 8200 to the 8300 added USB 3, which to me was a major consideration. Other than general performance increases, I'm not aware of anything in subsequent generations that I'd consider important (Thunderbolt/USB C/10 Gig Ethernet aren't things I need.) Dells with the 4th gen core chips seem to be good hacks, but that's barely an upgrade as far as I can tell.

 

[trs96]

Here's a Newegg deal of the day for an i7-3770 with 8GB ram 512 GB SSD and Windows 10 Pro license. This gives you most everything needed for a fully functional Catalina system. Add a LP AMD graphics card later on when you want to upgrade from Catalina to 10.16 or later versions of macOS.

https://www.newegg.com/hp-compaq-elite-8300-business-desktops-workstations/p/1VK-001E-3U4B0

If you buy this one or have one already make sure to see Sniki's new Catalina guide, just posted, for the install.

[Guide] HP Elite 8300 & 6300 Pro (all form factors) using Clover UEFI hotpatch

Introduction Welcome to my HP 8300 & 6300 (all form factors) macOS Catalina guide. The inspiration to get one of these Desktops came from @trs96 and his great guides that he created for macOS High Sierra & macOS Sierra. These Desktops are excellent machines that are both affordable and powerful...

www.tonymacx86.com

 

[BJLiv]

I have this, and it's been running great for a while now. However, I am having issues with my LP graphics card. The fan is giving out, and it's making HORRENDOUS noises, as well as overheating, which causes pauses and other performance issues. Currently, I just use it sparingly, and shut down often to keep it cool. MSI said i would have to ship it in, for them to look at it, and it would be 6 weeks before I got it back.

My question(s), does anyone know if you can replace the fans with Noctua fans? Ideally, I would like to replace both fans with small Noctua, and also replace my CPU cooler with a Noctua. However, I have NO idea how to do either of these. Any thoughts, on if it's possible or not? How to go about it if it is possible?

Should I just replace the graphics card completely? I am thinking about building a custom case for this, and replacing the PS with a much higher power supply. I know there are cables required, and I have found the proper ones on ebay for our specific model. This would allow me to run a better GPU i believe.

If i can upgrade the psu and GPU, what is the best to get, that will require no work to configure? What if I went with a new install of Catalina, does the same card work? I currently have the i7-3770, is that the best cpu available?

thanx for these awesome guides and information/help guys.

 

[trs96]

The fan is giving out, and it's making HORRENDOUS noises, as well as overheating, which causes pauses and other performance issues. Currently, I just use it sparingly, and shut down often to keep it cool. MSI said i would have to ship it in, for them to look at it, and it would be 6 weeks before I got it back.

If the card is under warranty I would get it replaced at no cost to you. You can use the HD4000 graphics while you're waiting for it. Your i7-3770 has HD4000 built in. It even works with Catalina.

I am thinking about building a custom case for this, and replacing the PS with a much higher power supply. I know there are cables required, and I have found the proper ones on ebay for our specific model. This would allow me to run a better GPU i believe.

That is going to be a lot of work as the HP 8300 motherboard is not mATX it's the older out of use BTX form factor. In other words the PCIe slots are on the opposite side from all standard mATX cases and motherboards you can buy. No one sells a BTX form factor case and it's certainly not easy to build one. Probably a better solution is to use it on a test bench outside the case then the form factor doesn't matter.

 

[BJLiv]

If the card is under warranty I would get it replaced at no cost to you. You can use the HD4000 graphics while you're waiting for it. Your i7-3770 has HD4000 built in. It even works with Catalina.

noted. But, this requires the blue analog cable correct? not sure any of my monitors support this. and, going from 3 to one hurts, but I might do it. 2 months really isn't that bad.

That is going to be a lot of work as the HP 8300 motherboard is not mATX it's the older out of use BTX form factor. In other words the PCIe slots are on the opposite side from all standard mATX cases and motherboards you can buy. No one sells a BTX form factor case and it's certainly not easy to build one. Probably a better solution is to use it on a test bench outside the case then the form factor doesn't matter.

I should have stated. I am a musician, and woodworker. my plan, is to take pieces from the existing case, that I need for fitting, rip them, cut them, etc, and put them inside a custom build guitar amp cabinet. I will then do the Tolex and screen on the front (to hide the fans). This would go in my music room, and fit much better than the HP case The building of the case would be easy, it's the computer portions that are hard! you guys amaze me with what you can accomplish.

eta: thank you again, and thnx for the quick reply

 

[trs96]

But, this requires the blue analog cable correct? not sure any of my monitors support this. and, going from 3 to one hurts, but I might do it. 2 months really isn't that bad.

No you don't want to use the VGA as it's not supported. There is a DP output there which you can adapt to HDMI if you need to. Adapters are only 5 or 6 dollars.

 

[trs96]

my plan, is to take pieces from the existing case, that I need for fitting, rip them, cut them, etc, and put them inside a custom build guitar amp cabinet. I will then do the Tolex and screen on the front (to hide the fans). This would go in my music room, and fit much better than the HP case The building of the case would be easy

Post pics of this if you do it. I'd really like to see the finished project.

 

[madvinegar]

What's the best LP AMD card that is supported by Catalina? I think it is only RX460 LP (which is quite expensive and hard to find). Is there any other?

I have a 4300 Pro SFF, and had to install High Sierra to it, as 1050ti LP was the only good LP I could find.

 

[trs96]

What's the best LP AMD card that is supported by Catalina? I think it is only RX460 LP (which is quite expensive and hard to find). Is there any other?

I have a 4300 Pro SFF, and had to install High Sierra to it, as 1050ti LP was the only good LP I could find.

RX 560 is slightly better than a 460 but expensive for what you get as well. There may be some new AMD RX 5300s that are low profile that come out this year. Be on the lookout for those. Navi cards will use less power and perform better.

 

[pnutster]

Thank you for the tremendously useful guide!!! Was able to successfully create a nice little hackintosh machine for around $250 Canadian. Throughly imrepssed by how fast and easy it was to het the HP 8300 SFF up and running with iMessage included.

I am actually a bit baffled that the little hackintosh is outperforming my fully decked out (Late 2013) MacBook Pro! Got better Geekhack result for the Hackintosh!

Built my earliest Hackintosh literally more than a decade ago, but work got in the way which provided me with Apple computers, so no need for Hackintoshes for a while. Lately I got into tinkering mode again and not to mention that I am pretty pretty frustrated by the outrageous pricing of current Apple machines, so I thought to give it another spin.

Thanks to all contributing to these guides, they are a wonderful source!