HP 8300 Elite w/ Intel i5-3470 Quad Core at Newegg

[Lonelytanker]

These can be easily Hackintoshed with Clover/El Capitan. Makes for a powerful budget build if you add a good low profile graphics card.

As I mentioned previously, I bought an Elite 8300 CMT with the i7-3770. Do you know if there are any published guides to "easily Hackintosh with Clover/El Cap"?? If there isn't a guide, where's the best place for a newb to start?

I haven't had time to starr trying this system out but hope to have some time in the next week or so. Would love to get El Cap running on it without having to go back to Mavericks or Yosemite. Thanks for your help!

 

[trs96]

As I mentioned previously, I bought an Elite 8300 CMT with the i7-3770. Do you know if there are any published guides to "easily Hackintosh with Clover/El Cap"?? If there isn't a guide, where's the best place for a newb to start?

I haven't had time to starr trying this system out but hope to have some time in the next week or so. Would love to get El Cap running on it without having to go back to Mavericks or Yosemite. Thanks for your help!

I haven't seen any detailed guides for the Elite 8300/3770 version, maybe you'll be the first to write one.
It has UEFI so make your Unibeast installer UEFI instead of legacy. Use the HD4000 and follow the standard
Unibeast / Multibeast guide on this site. If your monitor doesn't have DP you can use a DP to HDMI adapter.
VGA of course is not supported in El Capitan so just buy the adapter before you start the install. For audio it's
also easiest to get a basic USB adapter. I've never had any success with Voodoo HDA. Some claim they have.

Make sure to adjust the security settings in the UEFI so that it doesn't prevent you from booting OS X.
Start a new thread in El Capitan Desktop Support if you need any help. You can post a link to it here but
this thread is not a support thread so ?s on the install won't be answered here. Best of luck on the install !

 

[Lonelytanker]

I haven't seen any detailed guides for the Elite 8300/3770 version, maybe you'll be the first to write one.
It has UEFI so make your Unibeast installer UEFI instead of legacy. Use the HD4000 and follow the standard
Unibeast / Multibeast guide on this site. If your monitor doesn't have DP you can use a DP to HDMI adapter.
VGA of course is not supported in El Capitan so just buy the adapter before you start the install. For audio it's
also easiest to get a basic USB adapter. I've never had any success with Voodoo HDA. Some claim they have.

Make sure to adjust the security settings in the UEFI so that it doesn't prevent you from booting OS X.
Start a new thread in El Capitan Desktop Support if you need any help. You can post a link to it here but
this thread is not a support thread so ?s on the install won't be answered here. Best of luck on the install !

Thanks for the help. Now I just have to find the time to go forward with the install

 

[trs96]

Thanks for the help. Now I just have to find the time to go forward with the install

One more thing. If you plan on going on to Sierra sometime in late 2016 or 2017 then you'll want to select iMac 13,2 as your SMBIOS. The standard MacPro 3,1 that Multibeast selects will not work with Sierra so be aware of that if you will go beyond El Capitan with this. 13,2 is an exact match for the I7-3770 but some have seen problems with that. USB ports not working etc.
You can try both and see which works best and then stay with the one that's best for the 8300 Elite.

 

[Lonelytanker]

One more thing. If you plan on going on to Sierra sometime in late 2016 or 2017 then you'll want to select iMac 12,2 as your SMBIOS. The standard MacPro 3,1 that Multibeast selects will not work with Sierra so be aware of that if you will go beyond El Capitan with this. 13,2 is an exact match for the I7-3770 but some have seen problems with that. USB ports not working etc.
You can try both and see which works best and then stay with the one that's best for the 8300 Elite.

Great advice. Thanks for the info. I'll definitely want to upgrade to Sierra at some point.

 

[Lonelytanker]

I'm curious if it would be possible to install a graphics card that required external power using one of these SATA to dual molex splitters, assuming the power requirements of the card were still compatible with the 320W power supply.
6" SATA 15-Pin Male to Dual 4-Pin Molex Female Y Splitter, Manhattan 308977 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LBROAA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Or are there no graphics cards available that would be compatible with a 320W PSU and also require external power?

Thoughts?

 

[trs96]

I'm curious if it would be possible to install a graphics card that required external power using one of these SATA to dual molex splitters, assuming the power requirements of the card were still compatible with the 320W power supply.
6" SATA 15-Pin Male to Dual 4-Pin Molex Female Y Splitter, Manhattan 308977 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LBROAA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Or are there no graphics cards available that would be compatible with a 320W PSU and also require external power?

Thoughts?

Here's the best card you can get that doesn't require a 6 Pin power connection.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814126090&cm_re=asus_GTX_950-_-14-126-090-_-Product
Uses only up to 75W of power from the PCI-E slot.

As far as the Sata to dual molex adapter, never used one for that purpose, probably not a good idea, it's designed for HDDs with much lower power requirements than graphics cards have.

 

[Lonelytanker]

Here's the best card you can get that doesn't require a 6 Pin power connection.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814126090&cm_re=asus_GTX_950-_-14-126-090-_-Product
Uses only up to 75W of power from the PCI-E slot.

As far as the Sata to dual molex adapter, never used one for that purpose, probably not a good idea, it's designed for HDDs with much lower power requirements than graphics cards have.

This adapter might work. I'll have to peruse the reviews to see how well it works.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009GUP6O0/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

And this might be even better since it converts two SATA connectors instead of just one to a 6-pin connector.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Y91B80/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

One of the reviewers actually used it in an Elite 8300 CMT, too.
https ://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R19T3GG5C2N52C/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B007Y91B80
(Sorry for the above link. I had to play with it so the site wouldn't truncate it and try to point to the product instead of the review. Still not sure it will work when clicked)

I have a work PC (HP Elite 8300 CMT) that had no extra power plugs, much less a full PCI-E 12v plug for a video card. I wanted to run three monitors and had an existing AMD/ATI card with five mini-display ports on it that would work, but I couldn't use it without the extra power plugged in.

Long story short, I plugged into my only extra SATA power plug (for an extra drive if I had one), plugged PCI-E into my video card, and wa-la great work PC that supports 5 monitors!

I was really hoping to use the above adapters to get card like below working, though, for better 4K multi-monitor support. 90W power draw, so only an additional 15W would be needed through unused SATA connector(s). Recommended 350W power supply. Seems like it could work.
Hmmm....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...04&cm_re=msi_gtx950-2g-_-14-127-904-_-Product

Thanks!

 

[Lonelytanker]

I have had success with Yosemite and El Capitan on the HP 6300. I have not tried the HP 8300 yet. The difference between the two models is that the 8300 has 2 , x16 graphics card slots , and 2 Sata 3.0 , 6gb. ports. Where as the HP 6300 model only has 1 graphics card slots x16 , and 1 Sata 3.0 , 6gb ports. However they both have 4 sata ports each.

So I would say the 8300 is the better buy if you can find one at a good price.

Here is my install guide:
http://tonymacx86.com/threads/success-70-hp-6300-pro-mini-tower-with-intel-i3.184279/


HP 8300 Motherboard

HP 6300 Motherboard

I didn't realize the 6300 was so similar. The 8300 with an i7 may be more powerful, but a 6300 for $70 is hard to beat!

Thanks for posting a link to your guide. So much great information in there! It'll come in handy for me.

 

[trs96]

I didn't realize the 6300 was so similar. The 8300 with an i7 may be more powerful, but a 6300 for $70 is hard to beat!

Thanks for posting a link to your guide. So much great information in there! It'll come in handy for me.

What has been your experience installing El Capitan on the 8300 ? Have you attempted it yet ?