pastrychef
Moderator
- Joined
- May 29, 2013
- Messages
- 19,458
- Motherboard
- Mac Studio - Mac13,1
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- M1 Max
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- 32 Core
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HP ProDesk 400 G6 SFF
Another build?!?
Yeah... I got bored and had an i5-9400F laying around and decided to do a Batocera build. I found a barebones HP ProDesk 400 G6 SFF on eBay and jumped on it. Of course, I needed a dGPU since the i5-9400F doesn't have an IGPU. Plus, I wanted a little more oomph than an IGPU can offer because I like to upscale the graphics in my games a bit. I went with an AMD RX 560 because of its native support in macOS.
Be warned!! After getting the system up and running, I quickly found that because the heatsink/fan of the RX 560 is right up against the power supply, it gets very little airflow and can get uncomfortably hot when the GPU is being stressed. To make matters worse, the fan gets quite loud when this happens. That being said, under normal loads, GPU temps are not a problem.
Originally, I hadn't planned on doing a build write up on this but I had a heckuva time getting macOS to boot using the conventional quirks that I'd been using for Coffee Lake and changed my mind because I think it may help others. Batocera is the primary OS that I will be using this build for, so updates to the EFI will be limited.
Specs
Motherboard chipset: B360
BIOS: Insyde
CPU: Inteli5-9400F i9-9900
GPU: Visiontek RX 560 4GB (14CU)
RAM:2x4GB 2x16GB (Be careful when shopping for RAM. There's very little RAM height clearance, so don't buy RAM with huge heat spreaders.)
PCI-e x1: ASM1142 USB 3.1 gen 2 (10Gb/s) card
Wi-Fi/Bluetooth: BCM94360NG
Drives: 1xM.2 SSD (macOS), 1x2.5" SSD (Batocera) in ODD bay, 1x3.5" HDD (ROMs)
BIOS Settings
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/592575870
*Sorry for poor quality... Vimeo limits me to only 360p...
Those who will be using IGPU only can set Advanced > Secure Boot Configuration > Legacy Support Disable and Secure Boot Disable.
Also, don't forget to set DVMT Prealloc to 64MB or more.
Create Your USB Installer And Install macOS
On your working Mac or hackintosh, create your USB Catalina installer.
1. Follow the official Apple instructions on how to create your USB installer.
2. Download either the Clover or OpenCore EFI below then unZip it.
3. Copy the EFI Folder to the EFI partition of your USB flash drive. (EFI Agent can help with mounting of EFI partitions.)
4. Boot from the USB flash drive.
5. Install macOS.
6. Mount the EFI partition of your USB flash drive and the EFI partition of your main system drive.
7. Copy the EFI folder from the EFI partition of your USB flash drive to the EFI partition of your main system drive.
8. Generate and fill in your Serial, Board Serial, UUID, and MAC address to the config.plist.
9. Done.
EFI Configuration Notes
Final Thoughts
I really like the size of the SFF systems from both Dell and HP. I just wish they'd swap the physical location of the PCI-e x16 and PCI-e x1 slots. Having the heatsink and fan of the video card right up against the power supply makes getting any airflow extremely difficult.
I appreciate the PCI-e x1 slot. It allowed me to add a UBS 3.1 gen 2 (10Gb/s). This makes it the fastest external I/O port I have on this system.
Outfitting an i9-9900 (non-K model) with this system would result in a very powerful and relatively tiny system.Even with my i5-9400, I am able to run Xbox, PS2, and Wii U games in Batocera with upscaled graphics. With my i9-9900, I can emulate everything up to Xbox 360 and PS3.
Another build?!?
Yeah... I got bored and had an i5-9400F laying around and decided to do a Batocera build. I found a barebones HP ProDesk 400 G6 SFF on eBay and jumped on it. Of course, I needed a dGPU since the i5-9400F doesn't have an IGPU. Plus, I wanted a little more oomph than an IGPU can offer because I like to upscale the graphics in my games a bit. I went with an AMD RX 560 because of its native support in macOS.
Be warned!! After getting the system up and running, I quickly found that because the heatsink/fan of the RX 560 is right up against the power supply, it gets very little airflow and can get uncomfortably hot when the GPU is being stressed. To make matters worse, the fan gets quite loud when this happens. That being said, under normal loads, GPU temps are not a problem.
Originally, I hadn't planned on doing a build write up on this but I had a heckuva time getting macOS to boot using the conventional quirks that I'd been using for Coffee Lake and changed my mind because I think it may help others. Batocera is the primary OS that I will be using this build for, so updates to the EFI will be limited.
Specs
Motherboard chipset: B360
BIOS: Insyde
CPU: Intel
GPU: Visiontek RX 560 4GB (14CU)
RAM:
PCI-e x1: ASM1142 USB 3.1 gen 2 (10Gb/s) card
Wi-Fi/Bluetooth: BCM94360NG
Drives: 1xM.2 SSD (macOS), 1x2.5" SSD (Batocera) in ODD bay, 1x3.5" HDD (ROMs)
BIOS Settings
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/592575870
*Sorry for poor quality... Vimeo limits me to only 360p...
Those who will be using IGPU only can set Advanced > Secure Boot Configuration > Legacy Support Disable and Secure Boot Disable.
Also, don't forget to set DVMT Prealloc to 64MB or more.
Create Your USB Installer And Install macOS
On your working Mac or hackintosh, create your USB Catalina installer.
1. Follow the official Apple instructions on how to create your USB installer.
2. Download either the Clover or OpenCore EFI below then unZip it.
3. Copy the EFI Folder to the EFI partition of your USB flash drive. (EFI Agent can help with mounting of EFI partitions.)
4. Boot from the USB flash drive.
5. Install macOS.
6. Mount the EFI partition of your USB flash drive and the EFI partition of your main system drive.
7. Copy the EFI folder from the EFI partition of your USB flash drive to the EFI partition of your main system drive.
8. Generate and fill in your Serial, Board Serial, UUID, and MAC address to the config.plist.
9. Done.
EFI Configuration Notes
- iMacPro1,1 system definition used. (You may switch to iMac19,1 if you like.)
- SIP is enabled.
- SecureBootModel is disabled for backwards compatibility with older versions of macOS. (You can enable this if you have no intention of booting Catalina or older.)
- APFS "MinDate" and "MinVersion" set to "-1" for backwards compatibility with older versions of macOS. (You can set to "0" if you have no intention of booting Catalina or older.)
- All external USB ports are enabled.
- USB port associated with M.2 slot for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card is enabled.
- The EFI folder(s) should work fine for non-SFF G6 HP desktops with the exception of the USBPorts.kext.
Final Thoughts
I really like the size of the SFF systems from both Dell and HP. I just wish they'd swap the physical location of the PCI-e x16 and PCI-e x1 slots. Having the heatsink and fan of the video card right up against the power supply makes getting any airflow extremely difficult.
I appreciate the PCI-e x1 slot. It allowed me to add a UBS 3.1 gen 2 (10Gb/s). This makes it the fastest external I/O port I have on this system.
Outfitting an i9-9900 (non-K model) with this system would result in a very powerful and relatively tiny system.
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