"Mini" form factor Dell/HP/Lenovo systems on Ebay

[pastrychef]

I recently put together a hackintosh based around an HP ProDesk 400 G3. I picked up a barebones unit from eBay for $50 because I already had CPU, RAM, and storage. It is a really good system given its size and power consumption. The one I put together has an i7-7700T and performs very nicely.



I noticed that eBay has a ton of these systems. Models with i5-6500T can be easily found for about $60. Even i7-8700T based systems can be found for about $200. I feel these are really good bargains.

Here are some examples with i5-7500T.




Things to keep in mind when shopping for these:

• Skylake can run Ventura by spoofing Kaby Lake IGPU. However, it does not have any hardware encoding/decoding for HEVC.
• Kaby Lake and newer are natively supported by Ventura.
• Since we can only use IGPU with these systems, sleep/wake may not work. This is a long standing issue with IGPU only hackintoshes.
• Given a choice, I'd suggest going Kaby Lake or newer.
• Read the listings carefully. For some reason, a lot of the sellers don't include the power adaptor in these listings.
• When buying RAM, getting a matched pair for dual channel will help performance.
• HP BIOS allows setting of DVMT prealloc. Dell probably doesn't. Idk about Lenovo...

 

[craighazan]

I recently put together a hackintosh based around an HP ProDesk 400 G3. I picked up a barebones unit from eBay for $50 because I already had CPU, RAM, and storage. It is a really good system given its size and power consumption. The one I put together has an i7-7700T and performs very nicely.

View attachment 562551

I noticed that eBay has a ton of these systems. Models with i5-6500T can be easily found for about $60. Even i7-8700T based systems can be found for about $200. I feel these are really good bargains.

Here are some examples with i5-7500T.
View attachment 562552 View attachment 562553



Things to keep in mind when shopping for these:

• Skylake can run Ventura by spoofing Kaby Lake IGPU. However, it does not have any hardware encoding/decoding for HEVC.
• Kaby Lake and newer are natively supported by Ventura.
• Since we can only use IGPU with these systems, sleep/wake may not work. This is a long standing issue with IGPU only hackintoshes.
• Given a choice, I'd suggest going Kaby Lake or newer.
• Read the listings carefully. For some reason, a lot of the sellers don't include the power adaptor in these listings.
• When buying RAM, getting a matched pair for dual channel will help performance.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the hp G3, after you mentioned it before. You can pick up a barebone for $40. I got one!, going to pair it with the i7 7700T.

 

[pastrychef]

I’ve been keeping an eye on the hp G3, after you mentioned it before. You can pick up a barebone for $40. I got one!, going to pair it with the i7 7700T.

View attachment 562554

Let me know if you need any help with USB mapping or display out mapping. They were a bit tricky....

 

[craighazan]

Let me know if you need any help with USB mapping or display out mapping. They were a bit tricky....

I’ve been lazy and never done a USB map before, so yes help would be awesome.

 

[pastrychef]

I’ve been lazy and never done a USB map before, so yes help would be awesome.

Configured for iMac18,1 system definition.

 

[craighazan]

Configured for iMac18,1 system definition.

You’re the best!, quick delivery on this one, should arrive in a couple of days!.

 

[craighazan]

Just wanted to add that you could plug in a RX560 into the WiFi slot using the same cable I used for the mini cube and recycled build. Would be interested to see if it works on this too.

 

[pastrychef]

I installed some Wi-Fi antennas today.

 

[scottkendall]

power consumption.

Why is this touted as such a key factor? I never think about power consumption. My power bill is rather small unless the the HVAC is running. For a laptop that has a battery I get it but for a Desktop it is not really on my Radar.

I have two windows PC that run most always, and two hacks between the 4 about 3200 watts of power supply.

 

[craighazan]

Hurry up and get here already!