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

[Lonelytanker]

Very true. I did notice that with USB audio I was getting some background hiss, while HDMI/DP audio sounded much "cleaner." Are there settings to tweak with USB audio devices to help alleviate some of that hiss (or maybe my audio cables were just poor quality)?

 

[Lonelytanker]

I have a HP 8300 setup and working fine with El Capitan.
If you set up your bios correctly and followed the instructions on how to create a USB install for El Capitan then it should work.
Here is everything you need to get it working.
Just read and follow the instructions carefully. Good luck.

Follow these instructions for Creating El Capitan USB installer. ( Use UEFI and GIUD methods )
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/u...pitan-on-any-supported-intel-based-pc.172672/

Mount the EFI partition on your install USB stick with Clover configurator
http://mackie100projects.altervista.org/download-clover-configurator/

Edit EFI/Clover/config.plist:
Setting Clover EFI/config.plist
Select kext-dev-mode=1
Select nvda_drv=1
Inject Nvidia
Set csr-active-config 0x67

Copy these kexts to /EFI/Clover/kexts/10.11
FakeSMC.kext
NullCPUPowermanagement.kext
AppleIntelE1000e.kext.

Get kext here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/resources/categories/kexts.11/


Post installation:
For iMessage and Facetime I followed this post and steps on how to configure the clover config.plist SMBIOS section with Serial Numbers. Used SimpleMLB.sh
http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-buil...ver-ts140-i3-4330-hd4600-yosemite-clover.html

For SSD's open terminal and enter following command:
"sudo trimforce enable"

For Audio I used this VoodooHDA kext.
http://www.osx86.net/files/file/480-voodoohda-282-r86-3264bit-installer-vt2021-51/

Just install with patch and rebuild cache with DPCImanger app and reboot.
Works great.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dpcimanager/

Delete AppleHPET.kext
rebuild cache with DPCImanger app and reboot

Install these kexts to /System/library/extentions/ with DPCImanger.
FakeSMC.kext
NullCPUPowermanagement.kext
AppleIntelE1000e.kext.

Get kext here:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/resources/categories/kexts.11/

Also check out this install guide:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/g...lite-8000-8100-8200-8300-other-models.186726/


Check here for Install and reboot problems
http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/big-list-of-solutions-for-el-capitan-install-problems.173991/

Are your USB 3 ports working at full speed? It doesn't look like you added any kexts to help with that. Also, is the Intel Ethernet kext you're using better to use than the Mausi one in Multibeast?

Just trying to figure out the "cleanest" way to do this in case I have to rebuild from scratch in the future.

Thanks!

 

[pastrychef]

So far, Sierra has been running fine for me. I upgraded the second day Sierra was made available. It has been solid enough that I've deleted my backup of El Capitan. I don't know if a pre-built system can be any more hackintosh friendly.

 

[trs96]

So far, Sierra has been running fine for me. I upgraded the second day Sierra was made available. It has been solid enough that I've deleted my backup of El Capitan. I don't know if a pre-built system can be any more hackintosh friendly.

It's quite ironic really, Woz was turned down 5 times when he asked HP (he was an employee) if they would build the computer that he was working on in the early 70's (what would later become the Apple I) . Now with these Elite series desktops they make something that runs OS X perfectly even though it's intended only to run Windows.

http://www.businessinsider.com/woz-begged-hp-to-make-the-apple-pc-2013-2

 

[pastrychef]

I saw a Texas Instrument chipset Firewire PCI card for $6.50 and decided to pick it up just to fill the empty PCI slot. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get the system to recognize that there are Firewire ports.

 

[pastrychef]

No need to rummage through your garage. lol. Your screenshot of System Information shows your Firewire is recognized. I'll take a look at your installation notes and see what may help my system recognize it. Which system definition are you using?

Thanks for the info and screenshots!

 

[pastrychef]

Yes, deleting AppleHPET.kext did it. Thanks!

 

[Lonelytanker]

Thats the setup I am using for El Capitan. Works for my HP 6300 and HP 8300 computers which use basically the same Motherboard. Everything works except for onboard serial port and onboard display port which I have not tried yet. As I use an Nvidia GT 610 graphics card with dual monitor displays ( Two 1080p TV's via HDMI ). For macOS Sierra you will have to use an Nvidia GT 630 / 710 / 740 / 750ti graphics card.
I know the USB 3.0 ports are working faster than my USB 2.0 ports. I have tested them. I did not record the black magic speed test score. If they are setup for optimal performance I am not sure. I will have to do a comparison with my Macbook Pro USB 3.0 ports. Ethernet works fine and is stable. Link speed is gigabit. I am using AppleIntelE1000e.kext right now and it is working fine.

My El Capitan build is very stable and everything works.
I have mine setup with 16gb. of ram and dual boot El Capitan / MS-Windows-10 on two 120gb. SSD's. One for each operating system. I am also using a Sound Blaster Audigy 2zs sound card for 7.2 Surround sound via the toslink optical cable and 7.2 AV receiver. My sabrent SD card reader work too. Broadcom bcm94360cd Wifi-ac / bluetooth card works vanilla. Using a logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard with M325 wireless mouse. Which works great for dual boot systems. All the special Keys work. 16gb of ram appears to be enough as the CPU get saturated before you can use up more ram. Even though these computers can support up to 32gb. of DDR3 12800 ram. Internal LG DVD and LG Blu-ray burners also work vanilla.

My HP 6300 is more stable and performs better with El Capitan than it does running Windows-10
El Capitan appears to be handling the hardware better. CPU and Memory management is very good with El Capitan.
Apps run smoothly in El Capitan.

I can say enough for these HP 6300 and 8300 MT / SFF computers they work great with OS-X, MS-Windows, Oracle Solaris, Linux, FreeeBSD, RedHat, SUSE, etc. For the price of a refurbished computer you get allot to do with. I paid about $150 for my Intel-i5 HP computer. Obviously the Intel-i7 build is a faster computer. My Geekbench score for the HP 8300 with Intel-i5 is about 9,800 multicore. An Intel-i7 will get you about 12,000 multicore. Not bad for an Ivy bridge CPU. The Skylake CPU will do a little better but does not justify the price difference and compatibility and easy of installation when compared to Ivy bridge builds.

I am using El Capitan right now as I am going to wait for the dust to settle before I upgrade to macOS Sierra.
too many problems with macOS Sierra right now. El Capitan build works very good and is very stable.
I have never had it crash or hang or lockup. It works flawlessly. I am using Mac 14,2 System ID. in Clover boot loader.

The only drawback I have had with these computers is that I have had two motherboards go bad on me already for no reason. I am using the latest bios version 3.02. I contacted HP and it cost $350 for a NEW motherboard. Luckily you can purchase used motherboards on eBay for about $35

Okay, I just checked and my USB 3.0 ports are working on the HP 6300 / 8300

Using Black magic app.
My Macbook Pro 13" USB 3.0 speed test score was 53mb/s write , and 67mb/s read
My HP 6300 / 8300 Hack USB 3.0 speed test score was 54mb/s write and 69mb/s read
My HP 6300 / 8300 Hack USB 2.0 speed test score was 29mb/s write and 36mb/s read
My HP 6300 / 8300 Win-10 USB 3.0 speed test score was 9mb/s write and 83mb/s read

This was performed using a Kinston Data Traveler R30 , 32gb. USB 3.0 flash drive.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008BSIJM4/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
ie=UTF8&qid=1475579303&sr=8-137&keywords=kingston+usb+3.0+flash+drive

See if you can improve on these USB bench mark scores ?
I know it is not USB 3.1

USB 3.0 scores varied greatly between Windows-10 and El Capitan.

Here is some info on the hardware.
See what you can find out and if you know of better kexts to use for this hardware.

View attachment 213848

View attachment 213849


Attached is my EFI zipped up.


As for a Clean install just follow the TonyMac USB install guide. Use GUID and UEFI methods.
Multibeast Non-DTST, UEFI mode, Clover Mac System ID 14.2 ,

Create your USB install drive.
Install Clover boot loader on your Install USB flash drive
mount and edit EFI partition on USB flash drive or just replace your EFI folder with mine.
Post install is to use DPCImanger to copy 3 kexts to /system/library/extentions/
For onboard audio follow my instructions on installing voodooHDA
reboot
Delete appleHPET.kexts from
rebuild cache using DPCImanager
reboot
Then edit the SMbios section of the Clover config.plist file for iMessage / Facetime fix.
reboot

Thanks for all those details. Very helpful. Too bad about the fragility of the motherboard. I certainly hope I have better luck with mine.

In regards to USB 3.0 speeds, I think your benchmarks are being limited by speed of the flash drive you're testing. USB 3.0's real world speeds top out around 300 MB/s or ~2.3 Gb/s. But it is certainly good to know that you're getting faster than USB 2 speeds. I'll see if I have something which can be tested closer to the USB 3.0 speed limits and report back my findings.

Thanks for the info on your setup. These 8300s are certainly impressive hackintosh setups. I've been very happy with my CMT system with i7-3770, 20GB RAM, and GTX 950. This thing really flies. I have a dual monitor setup (4K and 1080p), and this system drives them with no UI lagginess and buttery smoothness. My 15" late-2013 rMBP always seemed to struggle driving the same monitor setup with lagginess and dropped frames in the UI.

I haven't gotten around to getting proper wifi on my system yet. So far I've just been plugged into an 802.11N router in wireless bridge mode via Ethernet to get connected to my wifi at home. Works pretty well so far. I might move to a setup with an 802.11ac wireless bridge to see if I can get faster LAN speeds for network backups (time machine and Carbon Copy Cloner). I still need to get a Bluetooth adapter so I can use my magic trackpad. Will probably get the iogear one.

 

[Lonelytanker]

This is the card to get, Gets great reception compared to other wifi cards.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Broadcom-BC...295903?hash=item3ab81214df:g:6BEAAOSwfZ1WX0eA

View attachment 214142

Thanks for the suggestion. I was looking for one with 4 antennas, though (3 wifi, 1 BT), so I could get the highest link rate possible (my wireless router is 3x3). Maybe something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Broadcom-BCM94360CD-Dual-Band-1750Mbps-802-11AC-PCi-E-WiFi-Adapter-Bluetooth-4-0-/302000482894

 

[pastrychef]

What do you do with a Firewire port? What devices are available?

I really didn't need it... I just saw it for $6.50 and said what the heck... I still have a few very old Firewire hard drives and an old iSight though.