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

[MrNeedSomeHelp]

Just wondering:
Is the RX550 the current best (powerful) option for SFF owners that wish to upgrade from Sierra?
Does the RX550 compare well against the 1050ti for gaming power?
I'm thinking about building another 8300 hackintosh, if I purchased a 8300 tower what is the best graphics card option at present?

Sorry for all the questions.

 

[trs96]

Is the RX550 the current best (powerful) option for SFF owners that wish to upgrade from Sierra?

The majority of RX 550s don't even work. The only one that works is the Yeston RX 550 4GB. 2GB version doesn't. The yeston branded card is not that powerful. You'd be much better off with a regular RX 560. Those cost more.

if I purchased a 8300 tower what is the best graphics card option at present?

An AMD RX 570 or 580 but you'd have to replace the PSU for adequate power to run it. Adapters are required.

 

[MrNeedSomeHelp]

Thanks, is there a low profile RX560 that is known to work? OOB preferably?

 

[trs96]

Thanks, is there a low profile RX560 that is known to work? OOB preferably?

Yes. The cost is around $200. It's also single slot so it saves your other PCIe slot for something else.
https://www.newegg.com/p/1FT-001W-000Z2?

 

[MrNeedSomeHelp]

Thanks, before I try and buy a HP 8300 MT, I just want to check if its still the best budget hackintosh (best=simplicity+ compatibility+power). I've seen some have good results with the HP Elitedesk models.

 

[phrozenpenguin]

Thanks, before I try and buy a HP 8300 MT, I just want to check if its still the best budget hackintosh (best=simplicity+ compatibility+power). I've seen some have good results with the HP Elitedesk models.

It depends where you are in the world re pricing of the units.

The 8300 are readily available for very reasonable prices with me - and the Elitedesk are not. But also I have seen many many more guides and updates for the 8300 - which I don't think is just a bias as I have them!

A 8300 CMT with an RX560 / i7-3770 and 16 or 32gb RAM and an SSD I find an extremely capable machine. Much quicker than my actual MBP at a fraction of the price. Everything is working including audio etc, and multiple methods to install. If you get the SFF or USFF you are more limited by graphics.

I am still using 8300s daily (home and work) and will continue to for the foreseeable future.

 

[trs96]

It depends where you are in the world re pricing of the units.

In the USA right now the 8300 Core i5 SFFs are the best deal in terms of refurbished prices. I do think that those people who want an i7 Intel CPU are better off going with Haswell systems. I prefer the Dell 9020 MT. When you buy the Core i7 CPU models the price is only slightly higher or the same as the Ivy Bridge based 8300 Mini-Towers with an i7. The Haswell i7s have AVX2 instruction set support whereas the older 3rd gen systems don't. The other advantage of the Dell 9020 is that it's easier to swap out the PSU and add a 570/580 graphics card. No modding is required to do this. I also like that the 9020 MTs are closer to mATX size than Mini-Tower size. To me the 8300 MTs seem to have a lot of wasted internal space.

So yes, I think it's always important to survey local prices to get the best deal for the hardware.

Here's a current example on Ebay.com The newer Haswell based 9020 is the same price as an 8300 MT. So in this situation, the 9020 is the better choice. If the i7-4790 is available that has even faster turbo boost clock speeds.

Even if you build a new quad core i3-9100 CPU system with similar specs it doesn't compete in terms of price. You'll be paying well over $500 USD, even without a dedicated gfx card. The newer CFL system will give more years of a useful life though. A 3 year warranty on the new motherboard and CPU is also a plus. It seems that new case and PSU prices have gone up a lot lately and won't be coming down any time soon. Here's a new Asus B360M and i3-9100 CPU system I priced out on Newegg. The cost is $508 shipped before the sales tax is added. So total cost is close to about $530. A good investment but double the cost of the Dell i7-4770 MT. If one has the extra $270 to spend right now it's probably a good idea to build new. The PSU and case are significantly better in the new custom build. You get faster DDR4 ram and an NVME SSD boot drive. Some things to consider.

Prices are show in US dollars.

Total of about $508 USD before tax.

 

[trs96]

I've seen some have good results with the HP Elitedesk models.

I had an HP 800 G1 Elitedesk SFF for a short time but re-sold it with Windows 10 installed. It didn't appear to be the best choice for a hackintosh. I also found that the build quality was not as good as in the HP 8300s. Couldn't see any real reason to choose that over an 8300 SFF.

 

[trs96]

I am still using 8300s daily (home and work) and will continue to for the foreseeable future.

I do agree that the HP 8300s probably win the award for the most hackintosh compatible pre-built PCs ever. That's why they are still widely used by so many people the world over. They are always within the top 4 best selling desktops on Amazon.com.

Here's what you can currently get from Amazon. They run Windows 10 Pro perfectly. You get the whole computer for 19 dollars less than the cost of a Windows 10 Pro license alone.

 

[d360000]

Totally agree here - I have 8300 SFF, and a "work in progress" 8300CMT, and a completed 9020/7020 MT build. The 8300CMT does seem to be much larger and airy than it needs to be. The 9020/7020 MT is a good high end model with ample space for cards..etc... and VERY good compatibility. I would say the HP8300SFF is relegated to std day2day work/general purpose, while the real "workhorse" tower is the 7020/9020 for video etc as I have a AMD570 in it, and a AMD580 awaiting trial.

If the price diff is small - go with 7020/9020 is my advice. My kids use the HP8300 SFF now and its fine, but expansion is an issue for music/video work. Its USB3 etc so no problem for general purpose work tho in fact I am using it now.....
As you have probably seen there is also a few case mod videos out there, if you really want to go nuts on it.
I also note Dell Refurbished was selling these recently with warranty..etc... for dirt cheap, seems to happen periodically on their official site (ex-lease PC's).

My experience was : HP8300's as first builds, 7020/9020 as mature builds. Would take trs96's advice on this as these are literally golden builds.