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

Installing I had to come back to work. I left it running after formatting the drive and started install
 
trs96 said:
Try experimenting with the other possible system definitions. You can temporarily select a different config.plist via Clover at boot up. Back up your existing config.plist and change it to a secondary system def. in that .plist. Use either iMac 15,1 or 14,3 and see if that makes a difference. You are using 14,2 currently ? Remember that the best the 14,2 iMac could do is 1440p. iMac 15,1 was the first 5K iMac so that would be my first choice to get a 4K resolution when using onboard DP and HD4600 graphics.

View attachment 413382
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Yes currently using 14,2 I did a dual boot with Windows to see if it was a cable or something else but windows does recognize 4k. If I'm running a nvme should I have the clover folder on a USB for initial boot or should the nvme also have the same clover folder ? And I need to read on how to select a different system def at boot. Thanks will report back later.
 
Poli169 said:
If I'm running a nvme should I have the clover folder on a USB for initial boot or should the nvme also have the same clover folder ?
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You don't want anything on the EFI partition of the NVMe drive. The best way is to have the whole EFI folder on a Sata SSD of any size connected to Sata0. I wouldn't boot from an external USB drive long term as that can cause other problems.
 
Poli169 said:
And I need to read on how to select a different system def at boot
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When you get to the Clover boot screen/gui, go to options, and there is an obvious place to specify a different config file. I say obvious, because it will likely have the default choice already entered "config.plist." In any case, change that to the name of your experimental version, say, "configE.plist" and hit enter.
 
Best Bang for your Buck OptiMac System
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Was just costing out a 9020 MT OptiMac today. Choosing primarily brand new parts, including an RX 570 by Sapphire, it comes to around $386 total for an i5-4690 9020 MT. I used Newegg, Amazon and Ebay for all the components.

Everything but the 9020 MT and i5-4690 are brand new. If you try to build a brand new system that matches these specs it will cost you at least $600. This is a no compromise system you can edit videos and photos with. Create music within Logic Pro 10. Have a Windows 10 drive setup in a dual boot to game with. Really amazing what less than $400 gets you. If you add the LG 4K monitor for $299 you're still paying less than half the cost of a 2014 refurb iMac 5K.

Building the Dell 9020 MT / RX 570 OptiMac from a barebones system (in USD)

Barebones 9020 MT = 50 dollars ~ Ebay.com

RX 570 Sapphire Pulse 4GB = 140 ~ Newegg.com

Seasonic 500W PSU = 25 ~ Newegg.com

24 pin to 8 pin Adapter = 15 ~ moddiy.com

Samsung 16GB ram kit = 54 ~ Amazon.com

250GB HP NVMe = 34 ~ Amazon.com

i5-4690 = 68 ~ Ebay.com

Total Cost = $386

+ Optional LG 27" 4K monitor for $299 — Total = $685

Late 2014 15,1 5K iMac = about $1500 refurbished.

You can save an extra $45 by going with a used RX 570 4GB by MSI. These were probably used in bitcoin mining rigs but have been fully tested out as working. Mining is less stressful on graphics cards than gaming is. When used in a mining rig, they are usually underclocked and undervolted. $95 for an RX 570 is about the best price you'll find. If it has survived the "burn in" period it's probably a good card.
www.ebay.com

MSI Radeon RX 570 Armor 4GB Graphics Card GPU AMD | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for MSI Radeon RX 570 Armor 4GB Graphics Card GPU AMD at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
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New Mac mini 2018 without an RX 570, only 8GB of ram, a non-upgradable 128GB NVMe drive and no monitor costs over $800. It's obvious what is the better deal. Below you can see a direct comparison of the i3-8100 (Mac mini) vs. the i5-4690 CPU in an OptiMac that you put together yourself. Don't forget that the i5-4690 will not thermal throttle and that the i3-8100 has no turbo boost. You also only get UHD 630 graphics in the 2018 mini which are basically no good for any modern games.

Note: you don't need to watch all the games FPS results. Just know that the i3-8100 averages about 4-5 FPS better than the 4690. Not really significant at all. If you have a 570 and a Freesync monitor it will lock in at 60 FPS just fine.

 
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OK everything looks like up an running except PCI bluetooth. Wifi is connected perfectly but I can't get bluetooth working, I used USB dongle which works fine.
 
Daneland said:
Wifi is connected perfectly but I can't get bluetooth working
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Which card did you get ? Did you connect to the USB 2.0 header on the board ?
 
Daneland said:
This card

I connected it to the internal USB socket. WiFi works fine but Bluetooth does not.
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We'll need to try a few things to get it to work. Since I don't have the MT I couldn't test the internal header as the SFF doesn't have one. At the Clover boot menu, add this kernel flag: -uia_ignore_rmcf and enable the disabled port limit patches in your config.plist, reboot, upload a copy of IORegistryExplorer then we can see what needs changing in the USB SSDT. I need to determine if the USB header is either HS01, HS02, HS13 or HS14 it could be any of those four.
Thanks in advance.
 
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See: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/how-to-enter-edit-boot-flags-in-clover.174319/
for how to enter the kernel flag in Clover. If you don't have the port limit patches add them with MB for Mojave.

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