pastrychef's testing machine - HP Elite 8300 SFF - i7-3770 - GT 630

[pastrychef]

I used to have a MacPro3,1 too. It was one of the hottest running Macs I ever had (the others being a PowerMac MDD dual 1.42GHz G4, MacPro1,1, and MacPro5,1 with upgraded 3.33GHz CPUs). There is no doubt in my mind that this HP runs much, much cooler than the MacPro3,1.

In my limited testing, I saw the following temperatures:
Ambient temp: ~25C
Idle temp: ~38C
Full load temp: ~67C

Additionally, when I had it running at full load, I didn't notice any fan noise.

 

[Squonk-GA]

I used to have a MacPro3,1 too. It was one of the hottest running Macs I ever had (the others being a PowerMac MDD dual 1.42GHz G4, MacPro1,1, and MacPro5,1 with upgraded 3.33GHz CPUs). There is no doubt in my mind that this HP runs much, much cooler than the MacPro3,1.

In my limited testing, I saw the following temperatures:
Ambient temp: ~25C
Idle temp: ~38C
Full load temp: ~67C

Additionally, when I had it running at full load, I didn't notice any fan noise.

I've often wondered if a quad core MP 4,1 or 5,1 would run noticeably cooler than my 3,1 to make that a realistic upgrade for me.

I have been thinking lately of going with a Mac mini due to the energy and heat but the mini is too far the other extreme for me. That's why this HP seems like the perfect middle ground.

 

[pastrychef]

Yes, I think a quad core 4,1 or 5,1 would be considerably cooler than a 3,1. But it still wouldn't be "cool" or energy efficient by today's standards. One of the things that really made the MacPro1,1-3,1s hot were the RAM modules. Those things ran ridiculously hot. Also, if/when you upgrade to one of the 130W CPUs on a 4,1 or 5,1, heat and power consumption will, of course, increase.

I have a Mac mini 3,1 and while it's extremely energy efficient, it's quite weak when it comes to processing power. The limited air flow and rubber coating on the underside of the case also seems to cause it to retain a lot of heat.

I've only messed around with the unibody Mac minis briefly. I found them to be even more energy efficient than my older Mac mini. But I still found it a bit underpowered (I never had the pleasure of messing with the quad core i7 model). But once again, the limited air flow left me a bit concerned for its long term reliability, particularly with the models with AMD graphics.

 

[Squonk-GA]

I thought the 4,1 or 5,1 would be an "improvement".

The only mini that I'd consider getting would be the 2012 with the quad core i7, but for that same money I could get a quad core 4,1/5,1 and thus my waffling. Cooler but no expanability VS warmer and tons of options down the road. And selling off the 3,1 makes this upgrade not too much money and would keep me with fully supported hardware.

Or.... Go with HP solution, sell the 3,1 and iPad Air then buy a 11"/13" MBA. I feel compelled to keep at least one official system in the house.

Say, the original newegg link in this thread is for an i5. Is it feasible to upgrade the CPUs on these HP's or should I just wait for a good deal on an i7?

 

[pastrychef]

Performance-wise, the 4,1/5,1s are a huge step forward from the 3,1s.

If you intend to use an HP Elite 8300 with an i7, I suggest looking for one that comes with an i7 because, from what I've seen, i7-3770s alone sell for close to $200.

 

[pastrychef]

Increasing the Max Port Limit Patch

In this thread from July:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/solved-10-11-5-usb3-port-limit-guide.198101/#post-1290837

Rehabman states that:

"The patch is known to cause corruption of USB driver state due to writes outside a fixed array boundary.
If you know C/C++, you understand what that means... but if not, just be aware that the patch is not a good idea,
except to use temporarily while determining the actual ports you need."

Will you be working on using a custom SSDT for USBInjectAll for the El Capitan USB issues ? Wasn't sure if
you were aware of this as many are not.

I just did a bunch of reading and it seems that an ssdt-usb.aml is not needed for these older motherboards and chipsets.

From: [Guide] 10.11+ USB changes and solutions | tonymacx86.com

Also, these HP models have exactly 15 ports (7 USB2 and 4 USB3, so 7+(4x2)). So, I removed the 15 port limit patch and all the USB ports seem to still be functioning fine.

 

[trs96]

Thank you Pastrychef for this thread. Much like you, now that I've found a thread like this I'm in deep research mode and considering jumping on one of these HP refurbs. I do have a couple of questions for you about your experience with this machine though. I currently have a Mac Pro 3,1 (2008) with a quad core processor and 14GB of RAM. For my home office, I cannot run this machine very much during the summer months due to the heat it puts out.

Can you (or anyone for that matter) comment on how much heat the HP is kicking out compared with a Mac Pro - if you have a frame of reference?

This machine seems like a great candidate for my needs as it gives me what Apple won't - a decent CPU with SATAIII internal, USB3 and the ability for decent graphics card. My Mac Pro does what I need it to do, but it's power hungry and hot.

Thanks much, Tim

Here's one option for using a standard ATX power supply with an Elite 8300 Mini-Tower. I have not tried this or researched the specs on the proprietary PSU connector cable so do your due diligence before buying one. There is nothing wrong with the HP OEM PSU. It is 89% efficient and high quality. Only try this if you need to power a GPU with 6 or 8 Pin supplemental power.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/h...e-222-75-at-newegg.191143/page-6#post-1308838

 

[trs96]

Also, these HP models have exactly 15 ports (7 USB2 and 4 USB3, so 7+(4x2)). So, I removed the 15 port limit patch and all the USB ports seem to still be functioning fine.

So this makes the port limit patch unnecessary for the all of the HP Elite 8000 series PCs. Good to know that mapping out and testing the USB ports one at a time is not needed, makes the install and setup that much easier.

 

[trs96]

$200, this will be nearly impossible to beat in terms of bang-for-the-buck. Additionally, the fact that it has a few PCI-e slots helps future-proof it even more. For those who have the space, I'd recommend looking for the tower version so that it can accommodate full sized PCI-e cards.

It is literally impossible to beat this bang for your buck. The new, unused, 8300/3770 Convertible Mini Tower with 8GB of ram and a 500 GB mechanical HDD is still for sale online at some sites.

Here's what Office Depot is selling these new Elite 8300s for: $1792 USD. This does include a full 3 year parts and labor warranty but I'd much rather buy refurbished and be my own tech support !

see it here: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/839546/HP-Business-Desktop-Elite-8300-Desktop/

So the good news is, if you need a low cost, high quality workstation that can run OS X / macOS and has plenty of room for internal expansion, the Elite 8300 CMT (certified refurbished) is the best way to go.

 

[redlion]

For anyone in the UK there are a few on eBay UK. Both the SFF and the Tower. I am highly tempted to get one but hoping for Sierra support confirmation before pulling the trigger.