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

[wolfkenny]

Hello, thanks for this guide and discussion! I'm planning to pick up a 7020 SFF and start tinkering on my first ever Hackintosh. I was wondering if anyone has tried a sapphire pulse rx 550 in the SFF case (I saw that some people had success with the Yeston Model). The measurements are 158(L)X112(W)X28(H) Dimension/mm, and I saw a few used versions on AliExpress for cheaper than the Yeston. Thanks in advance!

It looks like a full height card. It won't fit in SFF.
FYI, when I have the Yeston RX 550 in 7020 SFF (along with another PCI NVMe adapter), the fan seems to be running at high speed constantly, not sure it's from the system fan or graphic card. On 9020 MT, the fans stay quiet.

 

[trs96]

I was wondering if anyone has tried a sapphire pulse rx 550

550s don't work unless the they have 640 Shaders. The majority of of 550s have 512 shaders so check that first before you buy anything. You might save a few dollars but get a card that doesn't even work with macOS.

 

[mgrimace]

It looks like a full height card. It won't fit in SFF.
FYI, when I have the Yeston RX 550 in 7020 SFF (along with another PCI NVMe adapter), the fan seems to be running at high speed constantly, not sure it's from the system fan or graphic card. On 9020 MT, the fans stay quiet.

Thanks so much, and that's great to know about the Yeston, could it just be the heat related to being so tight in there?

 

[mgrimace]

550s don't work unless the they have 640 Shaders. The majority of of 550s have 512 shaders so check that first before you buy anything. You might save a few dollars but get a card that doesn't even work with macOS.

I had no honest idea, I appreciate the advice and that's great to know about! I haven't built a PC in AGES and don't know too much about current graphics cards (especially short ones that fit this case but still work with macOS) - I saw some options in the OP but the 550/Yeston caught my eye because it looks like it's a bit more powerful

 

[trs96]

I saw some options in the OP but the 550/Yeston caught my eye because it looks like it's a bit more powerful

This is from the Sapphire Pulse RX 550 page on Newegg. These are Lexa based, not Polaris.

The Yeston is called a 550 but it really isn't. That's what causes all the confusion. I think that the Yeston Graphics chip (GPU) is actually an older RX 460 which does have support in Mojave/Catalina and is Polaris based. Yeston re-badged it to make it look like a newer graphics card to help sales. So the 512 Stream Processors (shaders) tips you off that any RX550 card is Lexa based and that it isn't supported by macOS. Of course it's best to avoid buying any RX 550 with 512 SP if you want to run macOS.

 

[wolfkenny]

Thanks so much, and that's great to know about the Yeston, could it just be the heat related to being so tight in there?

heat from NVMe adapter and graphic card both contribute to this. It makes more sense to use graphic card in a MT.

 

[nicksoph]

It makes more sense to use graphic card in a MT.

I got a mt, intending to use a additional gpu and chose not to, I didn't want to sacrifice just how quiet it was.

 

[wolfkenny]

While accommodating the newly acquired graphic card in the PCIe x16 (blue) slot, I have to move the NVMe PCIe adapter to the x4 (black) slot. That results a noticeable SSD performance impact. With a WDC SN520 256GB spec 1700/1300MB/s(R/W), I got 1600/1260MB/s on x16, but only 760/710MB/s on x4 slot both with Blackmagic 1GB/stress.

Should I keep the configuration - Graphic card in x4, NVMe in x16 to optimize the SSD performance ?

Or it's something wrong with the PCIe NVMe adapter I am using (looks like this but I got from eBay)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JKH5VTL/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[trs96]

While accommodating the newly acquired graphic card in the PCIe x16 (blue) slot, I have to move the NVMe PCIe adapter to the x4 (black) slot. That results a noticeable SSD performance impact.

Put the Yeston in the x4 slot and leave the NVMe in the x16 slot. The Yeston won't suffer any loss of performance that you can notice in everyday use. You will then get the better read/write speeds that do make a difference.

 

[tzarevx]

Hi,

Thank you for the work put in this.

Just to let everyone interested know that I managed to install latest Catalina 10.5.5 wihtout any trouble with this guide.

Hardware is:
Dell Optiplex 9020 Mini-Tower / i7-4790
MSI RX 570 Armor 4G OC
Fenvi FV-HB1200 Broadcom 94360CS2 Wifi/BT Adapter

I followed the Catalina mini guide using latest UniBeast and kext versions from tonymac download links, not the ones provided within the post, but I can't tell whether it changed anything.

Mac OS offered a new update right after 10.15.5 was out (and immediately after I connected to the net), which I did not yet install.

Cheers.