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[Guide] Install High Sierra or Mojave on the Dell Optiplex 7010 / 9010 Desktop PC - Revision II

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I've got another old AMD card that came with my 9010 SFF so I'll be using the bracket from that. The seller doesn't mention anything about a LP bracket. You could ask them to throw one in with the card. Many sellers will do that.
If not you can either order it for $7.88 or just get an AMD 6450 LP for about 10 dollars and swap brackets.
I ordered a Nvidia Quadro K600, received it and installed in SFF in x16 slot (blue) next to the WiFi+BT card. Took off the full size bracket and it’s just loose at the moment. I broke down and ordered the LP bracket because I want it all tidy and nice. Seems a bummer to pay $18 for the GPU and another $9 for the gosh darn bracket. Ugh.
However, installed and, BIOS adjusted Video setting to Nvidia (not Auto) and it is up and looking good.
So this is my first Optiplex 9010 with an i5 3470 and discrete graphics card. $18+(reluctant $9) is a LOT cheaper than I was finding i7 3770 on eBay at the moment. All seem to be going for north of $80 plus shipping.
I’m not into benchmarks... its a budget machine after all. But if I were curious, how do I go about testing and measuring this K600 and comparing it to say, the HD4000 in a 3475S, for example?
 
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But if I were curious, how do I go about testing and measuring this K600 and comparing it to say, the HD4000 in a 3475S, for example?
Might as well. Run Cinebench and a few others and see what it can do. These cards are only DDR3 1GB and about 5-6 years old. They can do 4K at 60 Hz via DP so that is the main advantage. They do give you a fair number of CUDA cores if you use any of the Adobe Suite of apps.
 
I routed the WiFi+BT included cable through the unused hole in the WiFi+BT backplate. This card is a 2 antenna card; the included backplate has three holes. The head of the JST 1.25mm 1.5mm connector is small enough to just squeeze through. Leaving the 9-pin header connector outside the case.
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I have some JST 1.25mm 4-pin JST 1.5mm 4-pin female connectors on order... My intent is to custom build a direct, single USB cable by cutting the end off from an old (older the better, thicker wires, all 4 wires present!) USB cable and putting the JST 1.25mm JST 1.5mm connector on the end. That solution will eliminate the need to purchase the CJR cable at all, and also eliminates the USB 9-pin header connection dangling from the rear of the case.

UPDATE: I shared some incorrect information. The particular WiFi+BT card I am using uses a cable with a JST ZH 1.5mm 4-pin female connector (the male is on the card itself). It was the size I got incorrect. I have returned and ordered the correct size. i hope to have them by Friday or Monday.
 
I completed updated to 10.14.15 beta. on Dell 7010.
Here is my MAC:
 

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The Irony of this Statement by Michael Dell
October 6, 1997: Michael Dell makes an infamously bleak appraisal of Apple’s fortunes. Asked what he would do with Apple, the founder of Dell Inc. says he would “shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
As incorrect forecasts go, this is one of the more notable in tech history.

In 2013 Dell was struggling to survive. Sales were way down year over year. Apple was thriving. iPhone and iPad sales were going through the roof. Michael Dell presented shareholders with a $25 billion buyout that would take the company private, giving it space away from the public limelight (and pressure from investors) to rethink and reposition the struggling computer company for the future. Dell had missed out on the smart phone and tablet revolution of the latter 2000s.

To give Dell the benefit of the doubt, he’s a smart guy. Only in his early 30s at the time of his infamous blunder — making him a decade younger than Steve Jobs — had already made billions selling built-to-order PCs direct to consumers. To Dell's credit, he later clarified that at that conference he asked the person twice to give him a different question. When they refused to do so, he gave his "shut it down" answer mostly out of frustration with having to even speculate what he would do with Apple. He said that he "doesn't spend any time thinking about how he would manage other tech companies."

Apple had just announced massive losses in 1997 when he made that infamous comment. Apple had also just seen its Mac Clone strategy, which many thought would save the company, misfire spectacularly. The clones were faster than the Macs Apple was selling. Dell's comment did give Jobs some good material for the next Apple event later that year. I'm not a Steve Jobs fanboy or anything but like you, I'm glad NeXT was purchased by Apple in 1996 and then he got hired back as CEO in 1997.


22 years later, in 2019 we are installing macOS Mojave on Dell PCs and it works perfectly. Almost as well as on an Apple built Mac. I really like the build quality of these Dell Optiplex Business PCs. It's great that we can buy them used for such low prices as we do now and keep them functioning as macOS Mojave machines. Just think how easy it would have been for Apple to buyout Dell in 2013 and convert Dell business PCs into dual boot Windows/OS X machines. Business owners could then use either OS and would find that macOS really can work in a business environment.

It's also fortunate for us that Michael Dell didn't buy out Apple in the late 90's and return the money to the shareholders. We'd all still be using cell phones with physical buttons on them and 2.5 inch LCD screens. There would be no macOS operating system. We'd be running Windows 10 Bloated Professional Spyware edition on our PCs. Life would not be good. I probably wouldn't own a phone or a computer. Would be too painful to even use.
 
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Fenvi FV-T919 for sale $48.45 on Ebay
This is the best price I've seen for this Wifi/BT card lately. Cityeliter is the store name for Fenvi on Ebay. So you'll know that you're getting a real card from them. This fits in the MT Dell Optiplex, not in the other form factors.


If you are in the USA order it from Newegg. If you are in the UK or EU or Australia this may be the best way to get one.
 
Why is the Optiplex 3010 not included in this Guide ?
There are a few reasons why you shouldn't use the 3010 (any form factor) with this guide. I've stated in the guide that the 7010 and 9010 are more alike than different. Pretty much the same other than the numbers 7 and 9. When looking at the 3010 model from the same generation there is a night and day difference in what you get, even though the cases the 3010s come in look almost exactly the same as the related 7010/9010 models.

I had one briefly for testing so I tried a Mojave install with a customized Unibeast installer described in post #1. I flashed the BIOS to a newer version and was able to install Mojave UEFI and it did work. The 3010 had an i3-3245 with HD4000. Surprisingly even the audio and HDMI audio worked when I reached the desktop. After that not much else worked. It had frequent freeze ups. Here are the seven reasons this guide is not a good fit.
  1. The 3010 uses the older Intel H61 chipset. (used for Sandy Bridge systems - makes CPUPM more difficult)
  2. It doesn't have the Realtek ALC269 audio chip (uses Conexant)
  3. Gigabit Ethernet LAN is Realtek and not Intel. Intel is preferred.
  4. All 8 USB ports are USB 2.0 not 3.0. (only 2 ports in front)
  5. Only has the slower Sata 2 connectors on the motherboard.
  6. Maximum ram of 8GB according to Dell. 2 x 8GB would probably work.
  7. No DP output onboard (DP is preferred to HDMI for a CustoMac)
Here is a comparison of the Z77, Q77 (7010/9010) and H61 (3010) chipsets - Q77 offers everything the Z77 does

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So to sum this up, what you are getting with the 3010 is much more like a Sandy Bridge based Optiplex 390. The main difference is that you can install an Ivy Bridge i3 or i5 CPU into the 3010 and it will work with the BIOS/UEFI that was added.

Dell cut a lot of corners to hit a lower price point. When you look at the prices of these refurbished they are not much lower than the 7010 or 9010 Optiplex machines. You'll be more likely to get an i3 or Pentium CPU instead of an i5 CPU and miss out on most of the nicer features that the 7010 or 9010 will give you. If you can find a 3010 at an extremely low price it may be worth trying it. Just don't use all the customized SSDTs that are included in this guide. They are specific for patching the DSDTs of only a 7010 or 9010. The USB Ports are also totally different on the 3010. Don't use the custom USB-SSDT. On the postive side for the 3010, the CPU fan was the quietest I've ever heard on a Dell. The case build quality and condition was also excellent. Would be perfect to use as a Windows 10 desktop if you need to use Windows.

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Need help. I installed iOS to a 7010 a year ago. After recently updating it would no longer boot. Using this guide to reinstall Mojave on my 7010 i7 is not working so well for me.
 

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I installed iOS to a 7010 a year ago
I doubt it. iOS is for mobile devices like iPhones and iPads.

Serial ports should be disabled in the BIOS settings.
 
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