Working on Build Two (8300 Compaq Elite Based)

[Stansted]

My first Hackintosh build ever, built with the help of this community: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/success-stansteds-glowing-build-asus-tuf-z270-mark-1-intel-i7-6700k.226432/

The second build is on the horizon. I'm hoping to dual-boot Windows 10 and OS X, ideally off separate SSD's. Here's what we're looking at. I've purchased an HP Compaq Elite 8300 Convertible Tower running an i7-3770 @ 3.4 GHz. It's got a 2 TB Spinning Disk.

I've also picked up this Fenvi Wi-Fi Card (not the more expensive FV-T919): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IVIHPBY/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

I've got two SSD's lying around that came out of Early 2011 MacBook Pros. Thinking of using these for Windows and OS X.

Finally, I'll probably put a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti PCI-E Express GC in it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M25X363/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

The included PSU should be 320W.
Max Power on the CPU should be about 95W. The Graphics Card should consume 75W.
The Integrated Graphics should be Intel HD4000.

It should have three external 5.25" bays (one presumably occupied with a DVD drive) and three internal 3.5" bays.
The expansion slots should look like: (3) full-length PCI, (1) PCI Express x1, and (2) PCI Express x16 graphics
DDR3 up to 1600 should be supported.
It appears we've got the Realtek Audio Codec ALC221, but not sure.

The Graphics Card should consume one of the two available PCI-E x16 slots.
The Fenvi Wi-Fi Card should consume the PCI-E x1 slot.

I'm starting to have concerns about how many hard drives I can hook up to this thing... I'm hoping to drive four. Two SSD's and two Spinning Disks.

 

[Stansted]

I'm thinking that I might need to upgrade the PSU if I want to power some additional drives. Not because of wattage problems, really, but because I don't think the proprietary PSU in this beast is going to have the SATA power connections I need. For reference, here's the PSU:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-611483-0...-Elite-8300-MT-320W-Power-Supply-503378-001-/

That is one odd, proprietary creature. I think the mobo in the 8300 CMT is a Micro ATX (in terms of form factor), but we certainly don't have the standard power connection. So adding a modular PSU is going to require some hackery. It looks like we'll need to get one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAHMULC/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

That will need to be modified, I believe. I think this is the right pin-out diagram:

http://psg.i.lithium.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/132341i356E46D82CDB54AF?v=1.0

Once the cable has been appropriately modded for the 8300, we can use a real PSU. And this will open up further Graphics Card options (as well as permitting us to power more storage).

All of this problem-solving has been predicated on the assumption that we'll be able to get data connections to all the drives I'd like to run. And whether or not that's possible is presumably a matter of the available connections on the mobo and/or the BIOS. I *believe* reasonably high quality images of the motherboard can be viewed here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BJOPCJA/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-1hd-000a-00141

To my untrained eyes, it looks like we have plenty of SATA data connections. Here is the model of SSD I'd like to place (two of) in the 8300:

http://www.disctech.com/Toshiba-THNSNC256GBSJ-256GB-SATA-SSD

 

[Stansted]

That's enough research for tonight. The computer should arrive on Wednesday. Before pulling the trigger on wonky cables, I'll wait and see if anyone has some key insights. =)

 

[mangyver]

That's enough research for tonight. The computer should arrive on Wednesday. Before pulling the trigger on wonky cables, I'll wait and see if anyone has some key insights. =)[/QU

Hi, i'm sad to see this thread very late, anyway did you succed in your attemp to swap PSU ?
i'm planning to do something similar (put a standard ATX PSU with a 5v powered fan to lower the noise) because i don't need 3,5" bay under the PSU.

 

[Stansted]

Hi, i'm sad to see this thread very late, anyway did you succed in your attemp to swap PSU ?
i'm planning to do something similar (put a standard ATX PSU with a 5v powered fan to lower the noise) because i don't need 3,5" bay under the PSU.

No, I did not. Sorry. It's just running Windows right now.