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

[redslislois]

There is currently no software that I know of that works for fan speed control. Using a hardware controller is probably the better option. Also note that Dell has used proprietary 5 pin fan headers on the motherboard. No way to simply plug in and use Noctua fans and get PWM control of the fans. Some people have bought new Dell replacement fans which are much quieter than older ones that have been used for 3 or more years. These Dells are not the best choice if you want a completely silent build that could be used for audio recording purposes. A custom build with new hardware would be the better choice where it's simple to install Noctua fans and get PWM control.

I know that i had to use adapters in order to plug an universal fan, you wrote it and so i bought 5 units.
I get it, you can't get a complete control, i'll see how will it perform a pwm noctua fan in the psu and a pwm noctua fan in the front, using adapter and splitter.
It can't be worse than today concerning noise. I don't need absolute silence but hell those fans are noisy (probably too used regards how dusty was the computer, but hey 90€ a I7 3770 SFF was a good deal in my opinion).

I'll send a report if the modifications are worth it.

Thanks again.

Best regards

 

[trs96]

I'll send a report if the modifications are worth it.

I'll look forward to hearing how the Noctuas work out. 90 euros for an i7-3770 itself without the SFF Dell is a good deal. They sell for $75 to $80 used/refurb on Ebay.com. For some reason the fans in the 7010/9010 desktops (DT) are much quieter than the SFFs in my experience. It may be related to the case design or the fans themselves. Others have reported this too. There is much more insternal free space for air flow in the DT models. So keep that in mind as an option if your current attempt doesn't work out. Was also wondering what size Noctua fans you will be using in your SFF ? I think the front can only be replaced with a 60mm fan and not sure about the CPU fan size.

 

[redslislois]

I'll look forward to hearing how the Noctuas work out. 90 euros for an i7-3770 itself without the SFF Dell is a good deal. They sell for $75 to $80 used/refurb on Ebay.com. For some reason the fans in the 7010/9010 desktops (DT) are much quieter than the SFFs in my experience. It may be related to the case design or the fans themselves. Others have reported this too. There is much more insternal free space for air flow in the DT models. So keep that in mind as an option if your current attempt doesn't work out. Was also wondering what size Noctua fans you will be using in your SFF ? I think the front can only be replaced with a 60mm fan and not sure about the CPU fan size.

I got a Dell 7010 sff i7 3770 fully functionnal for 90€, not only the cpu (4gb, 500 hdd)
The psu fan is a 60mm soldered by the black and red cables (i'll just remove it).
The front fan is a 80mm.
You can buy both in pwm and use the front fan connector i guess.
For cpu cooler, i'm pretty sure holes are fine for a standard cpu backplate, but keep in mind that you will have to remove the original backplate made into the chassis.
I just bought a new blower style fan (the same as the original), i'll tell you any improvement.
Dt or Mt are much more expensive in UE and are too big. Discrete graphics card isn't needed for my usage.

 

[Dean2013]

@trs96 Is there any supported sound cards with optical out?

Had a look around the forums to find supported cards with modified texts, but a little confused!

I did find CREATIVE Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium and the fatality set which have been found to work but I just need to be 100% sure. (Must have optical out)

 

[trs96]

I did find CREATIVE Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium and the fatality set which have been found to work but I just need to be 100% sure.

If it is macOS compatible or not is the primary concern. Since you will be using PCIe there are no problems with the Dell hardware that would cause it to fail. The PCI (legacy) slot is something I've not tested with a sound card. I think that someone may have reported it working in the past.

 

[Dean2013]

Thanks, I have an old Audigy 2 ZS which someone has compiled a new kext to support it, so will give it a try over the next week.

 

[Dean2013]

If it is macOS compatible or not is the primary concern. Since you will be using PCIe there are no problems with the Dell hardware that would cause it to fail. The PCI (legacy) slot is something I've not tested with a sound card. I think that someone may have reported it working in the past.

What about a USB to optical connection (if they exist)? Wonder if that would even sound decent?

 

[trs96]

What about a USB to optical connection (if they exist)? Wonder if that would even sound decent?

These from Behringer have been reported to work well via USB. You'd have to buy one and test it out to know if it meets your requirements for sound and latency. It's the UCA202 model.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KW2YEI/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[tbonoSE]

Congratulations on your build.
I suspect you have not setup the kexts on your hard drive as they should be. The process with the USB is a temporary step on the way to install Clover onto the SATA and one of the mistakes that is often made is confusing the EFI partitions - eg installing stuff on the USB when you intend to install it on the SATA.

This guide is very thorough and if you re-step thru the process, carefully checking the files are where they should be, the fix is likely to become clear.
My advice is to check you can differentiate whether you are looking at the USB or SATA EFI partition and then check you have the files mentioned in the right places.

If you would like to have an overview of how the file system works you can have a read of this.

Thank you for your reply.
Since I'm able to boot from the USB UEFI and not the hard drive, I take it one something at step 4 went wrong for me. So I re-did everything from Step 4.

Nothing changed.
So I went into BIOS and re-checked all the values, tried with Legacy mode, tried messing with the boot order. To no avail.

There is one noticable difference in the guide, for me there is no /Clover/Drivers64UEFI folder, there is only /Clover/DriversUEFI

Furthermore I have a i5 3570k in there and that's literally the single CPU ssdt I didn't see anywhere.

Lastly, I cannot even proceed with the hibernation step, see attached screenshot. Note: I did try with sudo aswell, same result!

 

[Dean2013]

Many thanks!