The 4K Dell OptiMac - 9020 MT - Core i7-4790 - Radeon RX 570 - LG 4K IPS Monitor

[trs96]

I've been able to use your guides since the HP 6200 to keep several stable builds going.

Glad to hear they have helped. Looks like I've got the most affordable hackintosh pre-builts market all wrapped up with my guides here. It's been a lot of fun doing these. Hackintoshing for the masses is my modus operandi.

 

[trs96]

Trouble Free Dual Booting in the SFF or MT Dell OptiMac
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As has been stated in the Multi-Booting forums numerous times, it's much better to dual or triple boot on separate drives to avoid many serious complications. The worst combo is Windows and mac OS installed on the same drive. It can work but doing this has the highest probability of data loss and corruption of the bootloader and macOS itself. Using the same HDD or SSD for each OS makes updates and backups/clones a rather complicated matter. Because of the APFS file system you should never install macOS Mojave, Catalina or Big Sur on an HDD anyway. It boots and runs so slow that it makes macOS almost unusable.

If your are an SFF owner or plan to get one, you can easily dual boot with Windows (GPT/UEFI) on the 3.5" HDD and macOS installed to a 2.5" SSD. If you do want to keep the Windows HDD connected internally, full time, here's what I recommend that you do. Leave the Windows HDD connected when you're booting into macOS. It shouldn't create any problems that way. When you boot into Windows though, with your SSD also connected, that sets you up for problems. When you want to boot into Windows, disconnect the Sata data cable to your macOS SSD. That way Windows will never overwrite the EFI partition with your bootloader on it. No Sata data cable connected to the SSD means Windows cannot mess with that most important EFI partition. Run your Windows updates with the SSD disconnected also. It just makes multi-booting Windows and macOS much more trouble proof.

Of course if you only boot into Windows a few times per year it makes no sense to leave it connected to Sata data and power full time. It just wastes energy. Disconnect the drive and only connect up when you need it. Again, the macOS SSD should be disconnected when running Windows or your OC bootloader may get overwritten.

Here's how easy it is to slide in a 7mm thick 2.5" SSD above the mechanical 3.5" HDD and below the CD/DVD drive. You should already have the extra Sata cable to use and hopefully the other full size Sata power connector.

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[Huberer]

Hello,
I've setup my first Dell 9020 perfect with Big Sur. Everything runs fine. This Dell has the Haswell refresh CPU inside.
Now I've the chance to get another Dell 9020 but with the first Haswell series.
Now my question: is there a big difference between a Dell 9020 with the "normal" Haswell CPU and with the "refresh" version. I don't mean the CPU's themselves what I'm interested in is the stability. Maybe Dell used a better (optimized) motherboard series for the refresh-series and therefore it's better to buy a Dell 9020 with Haswell-refresh CPU or is there no difference? Thanks in advance

 

[trs96]

Maybe Dell used a better (optimized) motherboard series for the refresh-series and therefore it's better to buy a Dell 9020 with Haswell-refresh CPU or is there no difference?

Makes no difference. They kept using the same Q87 motherboards with the Haswell refresh CPUs. The BIOS is exactly the same as well. The only advantage of the refreshed Haswell CPUs is a higher clock speed.

 

[Huberer]

Thank you for the info

 

[r4ndr4s4]

Hello,

I have my Optiplex for a year now (with an i5-4590 and 16GB RAM) and it is becoming harder and harder to convince myself I don't need an i7-4790K. I don't mean I have any problem with its performance, but better and better deals appear every day, and currently I see a really good one, so it made me think again.

I mainly use my machine for software development (full-stack web development, Docker is included, so a little bit of virtualization too). Sometimes I try to play things (I have an RX580). Do you think the difference from 4590 to 4790K would be significant?

Also, can the original Dell cooler handle it? Could anything brake, or I could safely just upgrade to Big Sur, and everything would work like now (just faster)?

Thanks for the great guide!

 

[trs96]

I mainly use my machine for software development (full-stack web development, Docker is included, so a little bit of virtualization too). Sometimes I try to play things (I have an RX580). Do you think the difference from 4590 to 4790K would be significant?

That's a tough one to call. It may be worth it if you could sell the 4590 and get a good price for it. One thing to remember though, Dell never used the 4790K in their 9020 Optiplex lineup. So there is a simple trick you'd need to do to get it recognized properly. Watch the following video for all the details.

He does make a mistake on the 9020 BIOS version. The newest one isn't A18 that's for the 7020 only. The one you want for the 9020 is A25. Don't flash it back to a lower numbered BIOS as he suggests @5:55 in the video. Not really worth it.

 

[Huberer]

EDIT: I found out that I didn't get the FV-HB1200, I got the FV-AC1200 with Intel 7265 wireless. It looks I've ordered the wrong Fenvi

So, it's me again with another question:
I've bought a Fenvi FV-HB1200 according to the recommendations here at the beginning of this thread.
The Fenvi I've installed into my Dell 9020 MT and the USB-cabel is connected to the internal USB2.0 header.
I use the USBPorts.kext (for MT) from the Dell OptiMac with the enabled internal USB header.
Now I've two problems:
1. I can't deactivate Bluetooth in the Bluetooth menu under preferences
2. I can't enable wireless under network settings because it doesn't show up in the preferences menu => wlan

As you can see it shows up under Hackintool. But the curious thing is, that Hackintool shows an intel Wireless 7265 (see screenshot. Does that mean I got a wrong Fenvi?

 

[r4ndr4s4]

That's a tough one to call. It may be worth it if you could sell the 4590 and get a good price for it. One thing to remember though, Dell never used the 4790K in their 9020 Optiplex lineup. So there is a simple trick you'd need to do to get it recognized properly. Watch the following video for all the details.

He does make a mistake on the 9020 BIOS version. The newest one isn't A18 that's for the 7020 only. The one you want for the 9020 is A25. Don't flash it back to a lower numbered BIOS as he suggests @5:55 in the video. Not really worth it.

Honestly, I don't think I will ever sell this 4590. For that price I would be able to, I don't even want.

I realized something though: I could get almost the same performance as 4790(K) with an Intel Xeon E3 1240 v3, for half the price the 4790 I mentioned yesterday. It is a 4770 without IGP, which I don't need. What do you think, will it work with Big Sur?

I found somebody in this tread who use a 1231 v3, and he haven't mentioned any issues. It is pretty much the same as 1240 v3.

 

[trs96]

It is a 4770 without IGP, which I don't need. What do you think, will it work with Big Sur?

Some Xeons may work in combo with a dGPU but you would certainly lose Intel QuickSync feature which is used for rendering. It greatly speeds that up even more than a dGPU can. The only way to know if it would work for you is to test one out with your workflow and see what changes.