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

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I'm hoping for support for Q77 chipset and Ivy Bridge to continue with 10.15 and I think it will. Even if it is dropped, the 8300 will still be upgradable. As PP said, he can simply install an RX560 if HD4000 were to be no longer supported. The 8300s can easily use the iMac 14,2 or Mac mini 7,1 sysdefs if need be. When you look at so many with X58 chipset systems still running the latest Mojave you can see how it is possible. X58 motherboards came out in 2010 and the Q77s like the HP 8300 debuted in 2012.

I think it's more likely Apple will drop support for 2012 and 2013 desktop Macs in 2020 as those iMacs were still using Nvidia discrete graphics. Switch to AMD radeon dedicated graphics was with late 2014, 2015 iMacs. It wouldn't make sense to just drop IB and HD4000 support this year and keep Haswell and HD4600 support. Both are very similar in specs. They are both Metal 2 capable and still work quite well with Mojave.

Another option is to simply keep using Mojave as it will have full support this year and next. You still get all the security updates that 10.15 will get. So no worries there.

What I'm more concerned about is what Apple will do in 2020, the supposed and often predicted, transition to using ARM based A series chips in Macs. There is nothing we can do about that. Then it won't matter how new your hackintosh is, if it is Intel based it will have limited options for macOS updates. Maybe they will use some kind of emulation again, IDK. WWDC this June and next year will be quite interesting to watch and see what Apple will announce.
 
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I'm hoping for support for Q77 chipset and Ivy Bridge to continue with 10.15 and I think it will. Even if it is dropped, the 8300 will still be upgradable. As PP said, he can simply install an RX560 if HD4000 were to be no longer supported. The 8300s can easily use the iMac 14,2 or Mac mini 7,1 sysdefs if need be. When you look at so many with X58 chipset systems still running the latest Mojave you can see how it is possible. X58 motherboards came out in 2010 and the Q77s like the HP 8300 debuted in 2012.

I think it's more likely Apple will drop support for 2012 and 2013 desktop Macs in 2020 as those iMacs were still using Nvidia discrete graphics. Switch to AMD radeon dedicated graphics was with late 2014, 2015 iMacs. It wouldn't make sense to just drop IB and HD4000 support this year and keep Haswell and HD4600 support. Both are very similar in specs. They are both Metal 2 capable and still work quite well with Mojave.

Another option is to simply keep using Mojave as it will have full support this year and next. You still get all the security updates that 10.15 will get. So no worries there.

What I'm more concerned about is what Apple will do in 2020, the supposed and often predicted, transition to using ARM based A series chips in Macs. There is nothing we can do about that. Then it won't matter how new your hackintosh is, if it is Intel based it will have limited options for macOS updates. Maybe they will use some kind of emulation again, IDK. WWDC this June and next year will be quite interesting to watch and see what Apple will announce.

I'm one of those who believe that Arm based systems are coming (as well as Apple designed GPUs). But even if Apple completely transitions to Arm in 2020, we should still see X86-64 support for a few years after the transition. In a worse case scenario, I would say that support should last at least until 2024.

Yes, users will probably be able to continue running macOS even if Apple drops support for Ivy Bridge by changing system definitions, using dGPU, etc.

All this being said, I still feel it's much wiser to spend approx $150-200 for a Skylake or Kaby Lake system than $100 on an Ivy Bridge system today. Other than the improvements in CPU architecture, there were also improvements in the chipset that brought DDR4 (which has seen significant price drops recently), support for up to 64GB, improved Quick Sync, improved QMI, etc.

Quick Sync in particular is an important consideration as 4K videos become more prevalent. I was never able to get my old 8300 to play a 4K video even with a dGPU.

Screen Shot 2019-05-02 at 9.11.20 AM.png


If/when HD4000 support gets cut, an Ivy Bridge IGPU user will also need to get a dGPU which adds to cost and brings total cost even closer or even beyond the $150-200 for a Skylake or Kaby Lake box.
 
To get 4K/60Hz I just added a PNY Quadro K600 and it works OOB. They can be used LP in the SFF or full height in the MT versions. Cost was just under 19 USD. The average price on Ebay is about 25 USD so even less than a GT 710. The K600 has one DP 1.2 output for a single monitor. For Multi 4K monitors (2 or 3) the NVS 510 card works too. Those cost closer to about 90 USD used/refurb.
I think that if the price is close it is best to get the newer SL or KL CPU. For me it doesn't really matter because I've got newer systems that can do all the things an IB system can't. It's my secondary machine just for general use so quicksync features aren't too important. I really don't mind using older versions of OS X or macOS. Some of the oldies like Tiger and Mavericks are my favorites and I still use them on two of my systems. One is a 1st gen Mac mini that still works well. Got it with a G4 chip and OS X Tiger right before Apple announced the Intel transition in 2005. Was never even able to install Snow Leopard on it. They cut off the older PowerPC based Macs quickly once the Intel transition got going. It was only eligible for one OS X update to Leopard. I never bothered doing that update.
 
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To get 4K/60Hz I just added a PNY Quadro K600 and it works OOB. They can be used LP in the SFF or full height in the MT versions. Cost was just under 19 USD. The average price on Ebay is about 25 USD so even less than a GT 710. The K600 has one DP 1.2 output for a single monitor. For Multi 4K monitors (2 or 3) the NVS 510 card works too. Those cost closer to about 90 USD used/refurb.
I think that if the price is close it is best to get the newer SL or KL CPU. For me it doesn't really matter because I've got newer systems that can do all the things an IB system can't. It's my secondary machine just for general use so quicksync features aren't too important. I really don't mind using older versions of OS X or macOS. Some of the oldies like Tiger and Mavericks are my favorites and I still use them on two of my systems. One is a 1st gen Mac mini that still works well. Got it with a G4 chip and OS X Tiger right before Apple announced the Intel transition in 2005. Was never even able to install Snow Leopard on it. They cut off the older PowerPC based Macs quickly once the Intel transition got going. It was only eligible for one OS X update to Leopard. I never bothered doing that update.

I'm always trying to run the latest version of macOS. Lol

I'm also still bitter at Nvidia and really don't want to purchase any of their cards new or used.
 
I'm also still bitter at Nvidia and really don't want to purchase any of their cards new or used.
Yeah, It seems that the new MP won't even support Nvidia cards via eGPU. That is really too bad because so many pros would like to have that option. I've had good luck with Nvidia in the past but won't be buying any of their new Ray Tracing cards. Have no interest in that. Their prices have gone ballistic too.
 
Major point I forgot to mention, I'm not in the US. Geography plays a big part in availability!
Me as well, I'm in Canada. Plenty of 8300 available in a few form factors, at very affordable prices. I had difficulty even finding available newer ones unless the price rose significantly.

I may be proven wrong, but I'm thinking the 2012 Intel based machines won't be unsupported for a while, as the MacBook Pro 2012 was manufactured up until 2016. Thinking that the processor may be the deciding factor in Apple's decision to end support as they so often, prematurely do.
 
Yeah, It seems that the new MP won't even support Nvidia cards via eGPU. That is really too bad because so many pros would like to have that option. I've had good luck with Nvidia in the past but won't be buying any of their new Ray Tracing cards. Have no interest in that. Their prices have gone ballistic too.
Guys, I really appreciate the discussion! For me, graphics aren't a big thing as I don't game and don't do video work. My main interests and work are in database (for dollars) and music (for my soul ;-). Perhaps by the time the 8300 is unable to support a later MacOS, the later ones that are "too expensive" now will have dropped in price but be able to run the newer MacOS versions. Otherwise, I'll dedicate a machine to run with my audio setup and be happy with what it is. My audio interface and controller are discontinued Presonus, so the obsolescence match is pretty good on all ;-)
 
@pastrychef posting here in reference to my question in your Dell "clunker" thread here - seems more relevant here as it is an 8300 and I have followed and posted throughout this thread. Indeed, this thread started me on the hackintosh journey!

I have obtained the same RX560 as you (PowerColor RX 560 DHV2/OC) and am looking forward to using it. I am still running 10.13.6 as I have not yet got the confidence to upgrade. I hope to install the RX560, check all is working, and then migrate to Mojave when I am sure everything is still stable. This build has been rock solid stable to date :)

I have attached my EFI as requested and any advice very much appreciated. I am currently running a GT710 card and also my i7-3770 does have onboard HD4000.
 

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  • EFI-no-serial.zip
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@pastrychef posting here in reference to my question in your Dell "clunker" thread here - seems more relevant here as it is an 8300 and I have followed and posted throughout this thread. Indeed, this thread started me on the hackintosh journey!

I have obtained the same RX560 as you (PowerColor RX 560 DHV2/OC) and am looking forward to using it. I am still running 10.13.6 as I have not yet got the confidence to upgrade. I hope to install the RX560, check all is working, and then migrate to Mojave when I am sure everything is still stable. This build has been rock solid stable to date :)

I have attached my EFI as requested and any advice very much appreciated. I am currently running a GT710 card and also my i7-3770 does have onboard HD4000.

Just swap out the GT 710 for the RX 560. I don't see anything in your EFI folder that would give you problems.

Update Clover and your hackintosh kexts and you should not have any problems with running Mojave either.
 
@pastrychef or any other Hackintosh experts
I have been reading all of you posts with supporting folks with HP 8300 SFF trying to use RX 560. I appreciate how much help you provide. I have High Sierra, HP 8300 SFF currently configured with a Nvidia 710. I purchased the MSI Radeon 560 and have been trying to get it to work but no success. Upon bootup, it gets about 80% then the monitor loses connection. I'd be grateful if you could steer me in the right direction. I have provided my EFI folder.
Thanks!
 

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  • EFI-HP8300SFF.zip
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