These are great. I just picked up a z440 with a 1620 v4 and 980 ti in it for $100. I spent $20 on a 1650 v4 to swap in and threw I. A spare ssd I had. I’m amazed how well it actually plays some modern games.
They really are the value sweet-spot right now. 1080p gaming on a budget - especially with that GTX 980 Ti (still an absolute trooper of a GPU). You can also get cheap CPU and RAM upgrades. I settled on a E5-2697 V4 in my Z440 - ample cores at a decent clock speed. Add in say 64GB of DDR4 2400MHz ECC Registered RAM and you have a system that can handle most modern titles while solving complex calculations and browsing TH-cam - all at the same time lol.
@@racerrrz Thanks for the 2697 v4 recommendation. I just saw a listing up on eBay for that cpu for $40. I have another z440 that I got for $60 shipped without a gpu. I threw my old EVGA 1080 ti ftw3 in there (the door barely closes; it’s kind of a giant card). I might pop for the 2697 v4 in that one to get the most out of the gpu 👍🏼
That E5-2697 V4 is a really well rounded CPU. $60 for a Z440 base machine is ridiculously cheap given the hardware they are packing. Interesting that you ran into clearance issues with the GTX 1080 Ti (they were really solid cards! I had clearance issues with a RTX 3090 Ti in my Z840). The E5-2697 V4 will be well matched with the GTX 1080 Ti and I would expect some decent frame rates in most modern titles. If you haven't already, look towards a solid NVMe for your system. I found the Asus Hyper M.2 V2 adapter to be a really solid option for running quad NVMes on a x16 PCIe slot (the Z440 supports PCIe slot bifurcation). Combine 4x NVMes with RAID 0 and you have an ultra fast drive on these systems (my highest transfer speeds was 7500MB/s read and 6500MB/s write!)
Nice. The Z400 and Z420 are well proven machines now. Now is a good time to grab a Z440, they are really well priced at the moment, and obtaining upgrades for them - like Haswell or Broadwell Xeons - is cheaper now than ever! I suspect I'll hold onto my Z440 for many years to come.
In the future, you might want to check the documentation carefully where it describes each PCIe expansion slot. For example, the Z420 documentation says the third PCIe slot (counting from top down) is "PCIe2 x8 (4)". That means this slot has x8 mechanical lanes, but only x4 electrical lanes. By comparison, the Z440 documentation says the third PCIe slot is "PCIe2 x4". In both workstations, if a RAID controller with an x8 edge connector is installed in that third PCIe slot, its raw bandwidth will only be one-half because only x4 electrical lanes are assigned by the chipset to such an expansion slot. Similarly, NVMe SSDs are designed to inter-operate with PCIe 3.0 chipsets and expansion slots: x4 lanes per M.2 SSD @ 8G clock and 128b/130b jumbo frames. Therefore, if NVMe SSDs are installed in PCIe 2.0 expansion slots, they either not work at all, or if they do work their throughput will be significantly slower than NVMe SSDs installed in PCIe 3.0 slots. Lastly, you might want to do a very close comparison of the Z240 Tower: for Users who are happy with integrated graphics, that saves one full expansion slot by eliminating the need for a discrete graphics card. Also, the Z240 has an integrated M.2 socket at the lower right corner, which frees up another PCIe expansion slot. And, all PCIe expansion slots on the Z240 are Gen3 (there are no Gen2 expansion slots whatsoever on the Z240 Tower). Because of the latter features, it appears that the Z240 Tower was designed AFTER the Z400 series workstations. Hope this helps.
Thank you for the feedback. I usually refer to the technical white-paper from HPE and I would recommend All to do so. Due to the nature of the video (covering x3 generations of workstation in one video) I wasn’t able to go into detail on the PCIe lane configuration of each model. But you are absolutely correct, the lanes need to be carefully matched with the desired specification / adapter output. For more detail on the PCIe config. you can check some of my newer videos: Z420 PCIe lanes th-cam.com/video/D9uYjdXOnKM/w-d-xo.html (1:22) ; Z240 PCIe Lanes th-cam.com/video/cAca0iz9sFQ/w-d-xo.html (0:56) ; Z840 PCIe Lanes th-cam.com/video/pWS9hGgSo-4/w-d-xo.html (2:57), but none of them do a detailed analysis of the optimal usage of the PCIe lanes because that wasn’t the goal for those videos. In terms of the mechanical vs electrical lanes, I would agree that some clarity is needed to make sure individuals assign the right PCIe adapters to each PCIe lane. In addition to referring to the HPE technical whitepapers and your description above, I’ll do a brief summary here: The mechanical lanes (x1, x4, x8, x16) refers to the physical connections on the PCIe slot (i.e. x1, x4, x8 or x16 lanes of communication). However, electrical lanes (x1, x4, x8, x16) refer to the actual number of data lanes that are equipped on the physical PCIe connector. So a PCIe x8 mechanical with only x4 electrical can hold a x8 adapter (unless open-ended, then you could fit a x16 mechanical, but it would only support up to x4 speeds. (e.g. Most NVMe adapters are x16 mechanical but only x4 electrical). In terms of NVMe operation, you are correct that they require x4 electrical lanes to operate optimally, although the clock frequency (data transfer speed) and jumbo frames (overhead on smaller data packets) are not directly related to the PCIe 2.0 (5GT/s) vs PCIe 3.0 (8GT/s) bandwidth. I have tested NVMes on PCIe 2.0 (e.g. HP Z800 + Samsung 970 Evo Plus on PCIe x4 electrical slot) and I obtained peak read/write speeds ~2000MB/s (near 2GT/s). The same adapter and NVMe on PCIe 3.0 (e.g. HP Z840 + Samsung 970 Evo Plus on x4 electrical slot) obtained ~3500MB/s Read (near 3.5GT/s). PCIe 2.0 is limited to ~500MB/s per lane (x4 lanes), and PCIe 3.0 is limited to ~985 MB/s per lane (x4 lanes) [not considering hardware overheads]. I absolutely agree that the Z240 is more modern than the Z400 / Z420 (did I make an error in the video? Apologies if I did!) I have done a HP Z240 case swap (th-cam.com/video/ORdZLAYHemk/w-d-xo.html ) and I am very impressed with the functionality, so much so that I was contemplating replacing my Z420 NAS build with a Z240 as well. However, the Z420 still provides better PCIe bandwidth because the Z240’s PCIe configuration will be limiting due to PCIe Slot 1 being only x1 electrical and PCIe Slot 4 (the second x16 mechanical slot) being limited to x4 electrical. The native M.2 NVMe slot is a great add-on, something the Z440, Z640 & Z840 lack! Although, there are NVMe slots on the Z2 G4, Z4 G4, or Z6 G4 (not Z8 G4; has the HP M.2 Personality Module Carrier), and now even the Z2 G5, Z4 G5 & Z6 G5 (Z8 G5 has the HP M.2 Personality Module Carrier!). Quite cool to see the HP Z8 G5 can support 5.25” Drive Bay removable M.2 carriers! Don’t forget about the HP Z Turbo Drive & Turbo Quad Pro fulfilling this role also (future video in the works, Head-to-head between AORUS GEN4 vs ASUS Hyper M.2 vs HP Z Turbo Drive Quad Pro NVMe adapters, on the Z840!).
@@racerrrz GREAT details in your Reply: MANY THANKS!! We just finished upgrading 3 x PCs with PCIe Gen1 chipsets to 2.5GbE, and boy was that an adventure. The most troublesome PC was an "ancient" ASUS P5W64 WS Professional motherboard. The ONLY way to get all 4 x16 slots working is to start installing AICs in the bottom slot #4, then slot #3, then slot #2 and then finally slot #1. Starting at x16 slot #1 (from top down) guaranteed that only 3 x16 slots would function, and the fourth slot was simply not recognized by the motherboard BIOS. We also tried installing USB 3.0 adapters, to connect 2.5GbE USB "dongles", but many simply did not work DESPITE advertising claims that they were compatible with PCIe 1.0a chipsets. Vantec got us working with their model UGT-PC345. We endured a lot of trial-and-error, and I'm stuck with 2 x USB 3.0 AICs that will remain in spare parts, awaiting a new home. THANKS AGAIN for your excellent coverage of these HP workstations, with high quality close-ups: they are superbly engineered, and refurbished models are terrific deals: with Windows 10 Pro x64 pre-installed, the hardware is almost totally free, and there are plenty of HP-compatible parts to be had on eBay.
I gotta Z440. Old but gold at $240 au. Basic E5 1620 v3 32g 256 ssd and a K2200 Quadro. Probably upgrade the cpu and gpu for video rendering. Nvme pcie as well. This will cost me a further $150. Good considering its robust build and performance. Cool video bro.
Cheers Honah, I am glad you found the video useful. The Z440 a solid machine, and you got your one at an awesome price. They come up for a low price every so often, but most of the time they are closer to $600 USD! If you haven't already got these, keep an eye out for the Z Cooler (P/N: 828230-001) and Memory Cooler (P/N: J2R52AA), but that's only if you want to push it to the limits. The K2200 is a solid GPU but it is getting along in age. If you are aiming for video rendering I would recommend something like the RTX 3070 (uses ~250W peak) or RTX A4000 (~140W peak). CPU wise, the best V4 CPUs in terms of value is the E5-2697V4 (16 Core, 2.6GHz Base), E5-2683 (16 Core, 2.1GHz Base) and E5-2680 (14 Core, 2.4GHz Base). More cores help a heap during rendering, but that will depend on the software you use also.
@@racerrrz It cam without the ram cooler but only has 2 16 g modules. Thank you for the advice. I saw a used E52683 v3 for $79 au on ebay and a E52680 v3 brand new for $80 au. Cheers bro.
Hi. Perfect choice, the Z440 workstation is well priced these days and it can support some very capable hardware. I have converted a Z440 into my NAS server and I am quite pleased with it's expand-ability and overall performance. I have a video in-production that will outline how to case swap the Z440 motherboard (into a Fractal Define 7XL case) - along with all the supporting hardware that I used to get my NAS setup complete.
Aren't the 5.25" bays normally just a rectangular box? I guess the 5.25" bays will be good for that hardware throwback - but I only ever had CD players/writers in them - the floppy disk readers were a bit smaller at least lol.
Nice, that's the way to go with them. I was using the Z420 for quite a while as my file server but I eventually needed more storage which lead me to the Z440 case swap into a Fractal Define 7XL. Ample room to really make use of the motherboard for storage.
At 42:08 you see the 2x4 screw just above your disc? You take 4 of them, screws them on the side of the disk and Magic! insert the disk with the screw sliding in the green rail...
@@racerrrz In fact I was a little wrong... The black screws are for the 5.25" bays. For the 3.5" bays, as you said, the screws in your Z400 are missing, sorry...
just ordered a z440 with 1650v4, 32gb or ram, 512SSD and 700 watt psu for $220. I will be putting in more ssds from my current system and my current rx 6650 xt!
Hi there. Great choice with that system. The Z440 will remain a solid value machine for a long while yet. The RX 6650 XT should give you a solid gaming experience in the Z440. If you haven't already, look into NVMe drives to further boost your system's speed. NVMe prices have dropped to where they nearly match SSDs prices per TB, but you get the benefit of more speed. If you are interested, check my most recent video: th-cam.com/video/xqg0uQ93KTg/w-d-xo.html
@@racerrrz Just ordered the hp z turbo drive g2 for $14 and 2tb Intel 670p Series M.2 for $68. The next question is do I make that the boot drive or keep the boot on the SSD it comes with and use the m.2 for games and applications? The total cost for this build is under $350!
@@scupking Great job there. I can't believe you sourced a Turbo Drive G2 for $14! Locally for me they are like $150 USD (rare here in NZ). The Intel 670p would make for a solid boot drive, but being 2TB you could use it more as a storage library. I am running off a 500GB 970 Evo Plus right now but I am considering upgrading to a 1TB (space issues). I would say boot from the NVMe over SSD. Both the NVMe and SSD will slow as they fill-up over time, but the NVMe will remain fast in comparison. I tend to install critical software onto the boot drive and any less critical software onto a second NVMe (Steam game library etc.). Seems to work well enough.
@@racerrrz Got the system setup yesterday! It even came with the front case fan and memory fan! Slapped in my rx 6650 xt and it's a monster of a budget gaming system!! CPUz bench puts my 1650v4 as equivalent to an i7 8700k! I'm still waiting on the Turbo Drive and I'm going to put in more SSDs from my old system.
@@scupking You got a great deal there by the sounds of it. Having the front case fan and a memory fan is a huge plus, and it should keep your system operating at ideal temps. The E5-1650V4, with its 3.6GHz Base and 4GHz boost frequency, is a well specified CPU and it should handle everything you can throw it. No doubt your RX 6650 XT slotted right in and you are well on your way to making the most of the system. Hopefully the Turbo Drive arrives soon so you can get your build finalised, then you just need to enjoy the performance.
I have a Z440 with the 1650 v4 and 32Gb DDR4 in quad-channel. It boots from the HP Z Turbo drive (m.2)and has an SSD and a hard drive. It games well with the 2060.
The Z440 has really held onto that sweet spot of best value workstation. Your system sounds well setup and I am sure the 4GHz boost on the E5-1650 V4 CPU keeps the gaming experience solid, especially with the RTX 2060. What are your future upgrade plans for your system?
@@racerrrz I'm still contemplating the 8 core 1680. The base speed is slightly slower but it benefits in other applications with the extra two cores. I also like to get another 32 GB of memory and more hard drive space for storage and serving. My main rig is a P520 with an 8 core W-2245
@@neopolaris Nice, the P520 might be one of the best systems for the price point. The extra cores should help - especially if not your main machine. I have mine set up as a dedicated TrueNAS server - I settled on the E5-2697A V4 for the high clock speed and high core count. The extra memory is well worth it. I have 4x 16GB modules loaded into mine at the moment - but I will need to expand it soon enough (it's recommended to have 1GB of RAM per 1TB of storage for TrueNAS).
Indeed. The prices are wildly variable depending on where you are located. I do like using Ebay and Amazon pricing as a baseline for the purchasing decision. If the local prices are double the Ebay prices I would rather consider importing it - with taxes and customs fees generally still making it cheaper than local prices. The Z440 has actually retained it's value relatively well but the motherboards can be sourced cheaply. I have done a guide for how to case swap the Z440 motherboard which would make obtaining the system more viable - pending being able to source all the individual components to get the system running.
How much is shipping cost from the USA? That's probably the best way to get one. I would expect the Z420 and Z440 to be on second hand market places in Canada, but I guess they are getting on the old side now. It's good to hear you have Dell and Lenovo workstations at least, they are really solid also (sometimes even better, check the Lenovo P520 - great performer for the dollars).
Out of these three workstations the Z420 is the best option in terms of price. The best budget entry that has a heap of power is the Z240 Workstation: th-cam.com/video/GJqKfCG2Up8/w-d-xo.html If you want even cheaper, the next most powerful option would be the Z600, but it's an older system now.
i have z440 , and change the motherboard twice! . an excelent machine and fast 90GB RAM and SSD - but the BIOS has a weak Firmware , doeas anyone with same problem?
That's interesting to hear. I have not had any issues my Z440's BIOS - its been quite reliable. What issues did you run into on your system? The BIOS update process can cause issues if it fails to complete. Other than that it should run well.
Great review only channel showing the internals of these. How do these compare to Lenovo p500 for nas Proxmox setup. Please can you advise if the older ones support bifurcation on the pcie.
Hi there. Thank you. From the hardware perspective it was a decent overview of three generations. This overview was a memorable video to render, it took 7 hours of DaVinci Resolve processing and it crashed many times during creation (insufficient VRAM at the time!). In some ways the Lenovo and Dell workstations offer more bang for buck (model dependent, but generally for the same budget balance second hand you can obtain a higher spec. workstation for less than the HP counter part; e.g. Lenovo ThinkStation P720 (~2017) vs Precision 7920 (~2017) vs HP Z840 (~2015; the HP Z8 G4 has a steeper price tag). In terms of the Lenovo P500, it stacks up well to the HP Z440 and they tend to be quite similar in over specification. Right now, I am building a HP Z440 (case swap into Fractal Define 7-XL) as a dedicated TrueNAS Core file server. What I liked about the Z440 was the bifurcation support (so I can add in 4x NVMes on a x16 slot) and 8x memory DIMMs. In terms of bifurcation, only the more recent Zx40 (but not the Z240) workstations and newer have bifurcation (I did an overview on it recently: th-cam.com/video/PRMWIpscDCg/w-d-xo.html . I have read about PCIe adapters that contain a PLX chip for management of bifurcation independent of the motherboard. Those may open possibilities to use the older workstations with bifurcation (sadly I haven't tested that yet).
I acquired an HP z440, and it looks through the video especially at the HBA SAS controller. I'm confused because when I bought this machine I read through the documentation and said that it was compatible with SAS hard drives Do you need the controller to plug in SAS hard drives? Or do you need a special adapter to go from the SATA drives to the SAS?
Hi there. That's a fair question and it is somewhat confusing when the hardware is "SAS compatible * Conditions apply". The simple answer: The Z440 does not have a SAS chipset on the motherboard and hence it can't support SAS HDDs directly. However, with the HP recommended H240 HBA, the Z440 can be made compatible with SAS drives when connected to the H240's SAS controller via the SFF-8087 connector which is normally split into 4x SATA/SAS cables. The technical explanation: The Z440 has the hardware to manage the SAS interface but it lacks a dedicated SAS chipset on the motherboard like what is seen on the Z840. The Z440's SATA ports are driven through the SATA chipset on the motherboard for the most part. For comparison, I initially had in mind the Z640 could handle SAS but I noticed the Z440 and Z640 have essentially the same motherboard PCB and both require a PCIe SAS controller to communicate with SAS drives. Hence, your Z440 can handle SAS drives but only with the PCIe SAS controller like the HPE H240 HBA (which is specifically recommend for the HP Z440 and Z640, and even Z840 if that way inclined). The other benefit with the H240 HBA is that it can be adapted to use SATA / SAS cables with the SFF (SFF-8087) to 4x SAS port converter cable. That makes the end use the same as the Z840 which has a dedicated number of SATA ports and SAS ports on the motherboard - with each port communicating with the respective SATA or SAS chipset. For the Z840, the data cables that connect to the HDD bays can be switched between the SATA and SAS chipset - depending on desired use. I wish TH-cam's comments function allowed sharing image - it would be easier to show than tell! Hopefully that was helpful.
Ok, so I did all this, I installed h240 hba and now I can't get post. If I pull it out I can get into the OS. But I get this error and I have googled the heck out of this trying to find a solution. So I can't even get into bios I get this error. Slot ?? HPE Smart HBA HAUController (256M8, v6.88) 0Logical Drives Hardware RAID support is disabled via controller NVRAM configuration setti 1805-Slot 22 Dri ve Array- Cache Module Super-Cap is not installed: IMPORTANT: Unsupported Configuration: Cache Module functionality is limited. Action: Install the Super-Cap to remove these limitations.
@@qem888 I am sorry to hear you are having issues with your H240 HBA. The error message you're encountering indicates that there's a problem related to the RAID controller cache module. The system is reporting that the Cache Module Super-Cap (super capacitor) is not installed in Slot 22 of the Drive Array. The cache module is important for enhancing the performance and reliability of the RAID setup. However, I do not believe my H240 HBA has the Super-Cap module either. Checking online I found this post: www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/6k3fxr/hp_h240_unknown_error/ But this issue did not appear to be resolved by the OP. At a best guess, I would conclude your H240 HBA was used in a RAID configuration with a Super-Cap module by the previous owner and now the controller is causing a POST error from the lack of the Super-Cap module, preventing your machine from reaching the BIOS when installed. A firmware reflash or firmware settings adjustment may clear the issue, but that is beyond what I have experience with. Are you able to contact the seller of your HBA? If they are a business, they should be able to provide support and likely even modify the HBA firmware to support your end-use of data pass-through in IT mode (unless you wanted to use the H240’s hardware RAID functions?). In IT mode, the HBA essentially acts as a pass-through device, allowing the attached storage drives to be directly recognized by the operating system without any hardware-level RAID or caching functionality. If your seller can’t provide any help to clear the issue, I would recommend that you send TheArtOfServer a message (he is on TH-cam and on Ebay): www.ebay.com/str/theartofserver He specialises in server hardware and I would be confident that he would be able to help out, but there would be a fee for this type of service. Hopefully it can be solved! As an example of what is needed (but note this is a risky procedure since it can brick the HBA if an error occurs): www.truenas.com/community/threads/how-to-flashing-lsi-sas-hba-controller-efi-uefi.78457/
@@qem888 I am sorry to hear you are having issues with your H240 HBA. The error message you're encountering indicates that there's a problem related to the RAID controller cache module. The system is reporting that the Cache Module Super-Cap (super capacitor) is not installed in Slot 22 of the Drive Array. The cache module is important for enhancing the performance and reliability of the RAID setup. However, I do not believe my H240 HBA has the Super-Cap module either. Checking online I found this post: www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/6k3fxr/hp_h240_unknown_error/ But this issue did not appear to be resolved by the OP. At a best guess, I would conclude your H240 HBA was used in a RAID configuration with a Super-Cap module by the previous owner and now the controller is causing a POST error from the lack of the Super-Cap module, preventing your machine from reaching the BIOS when installed. A firmware reflash or firmware settings adjustment may clear the issue, but that is beyond what I have experience with. Are you able to contact the seller of your HBA? If they are a business, they should be able to provide support and likely even modify the HBA firmware to support your end-use of data pass-through in IT mode (unless you wanted to use the H240’s hardware RAID functions?). In IT mode, the HBA essentially acts as a pass-through device, allowing the attached storage drives to be directly recognized by the operating system without any hardware-level RAID or caching functionality. Hopefully it can be solved! As an example of what is needed (but note this is a risky procedure since it can brick the HBA also if an error occurs): www.truenas.com/community/threads/how-to-flashing-lsi-sas-hba-controller-efi-uefi.78457/
Running a Z440 Here Xeon 22 core @ 2.2ghz 128GB DDR4 RTX 3090TI 1000 WATT CUSTOM PSU (With Adapters) and 2 x 8TB SSD's (Samsung) A MONSTER in 4K gaming.
That's a nice system you have there. The RTX 3090Ti is a solid addition. How are you finding the 22 Core CPU speeds for 4K gaming? My e5-2697 V3's held up well for 4K gaming with a RTX3090 Ti, with their boost speeds being between 2.9GHz to 3.6GHz. Nice, the Samsung 8TB SSDs are well and truly retiring HDDs.lol
@@racerrrz CPU idles at 1.9ghz and normal usage 2.2ghz But second I play cyberpunk or star citizen etc it vamps up to 3.6ghz turbo boost. So all good 3090ti can just about fit... but also have to use 2 adapters for it as well lol
@@xMandalorex Nice! My E5-2697 V3's tend to cap out around 2.9GHz in titles like Cyberpunk. These Xeons remain impressive - despite their age they continue to play modern titles at 4K 60 FPS without capping out! The RTX3090 Ti is a worth wild upgrade. Mine lives on the 24GB of VRAM limit daily and despite the workloads it never crashes. I am also impressed with the good thermals - mine hovers around 55'C and basically never goes much higher than 63'C. Exceptional cooler on the 3090 Ti.
@@xMandalorex Nice! Getting to 3.6Ghz sure does iron-out any clock speed troubles during high load tasks. Adding in some extra performance from the RTX 3090ti could be worth wild, but they are a little more power hungry. They do manage to handle 4K gaming a bit better. The RTX 4080 could be a solid option also, pending prices and the power output on your PSU.
The PSU is a 1600 Watt so got plenty! pain in the ass to fit that though as it's HEAVY the 3090ti runs 4k in some games ok but i think we'll be hitting the limits on gpu if we get a 4090? lol because it's MASSIVE and i think the 4090 is a 16 pin connector? so i'll have to buy more adapters. Still pc will last me a good while anyway long as it does what i need it to do. I might move to the HP ZG4/8 Series at some point. @@racerrrz Have you looked into the HP Z840? that can hold TWO processors so imagine two cpu's @ 22 cores each and i believe it can also hold 512gb of ram.. total madness.
That's not silly at all. Most modern GPUs will handle 4K 60FPS without too much complaint. I have used a 4k monitor with my Z420 with a GTX 970. It worked well enough, but it does run out of steam on demanding gaming titles. Make sure to pair it with a high boost clock CPU for the best performance (e.g. Xeon E5 2697 v2). Which GPU were you planning on using?
Hey Racerrz, Can I upgrade my TPM from 1.2 to 2.0 in Z420? Is there any method available in terms of software or hardware wise? Please explain it to us!
Hey Wasif, I presume you are asking for a reason? Win 11 maybe? The Z420 is not going to be able to update to TPM 2.0 due to hardware age, and even with a work-around, the hardware will be too old to fully support the specification. HP has a full list of TPM updates here: support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05792935 The Z420 isn't listed because they are more aged. The Z240 is listed and has the option of TPM 1.2 and 2.0. Now, regarding what it is. Think of Trusted Platform Module (TPM) as a hardware 'safe' on the motherboard - a secure box (computer chip technically) where you can place sensitive codes that validate the hardware (things like Secure Boot, Data Authentication and Encryption etc.). Over time the hardware chip specification gets updated with more features and better encryption (thus limiting older motherboards because their TPM chip is dated). Windows 11, as an example, needs TPM 2.0 to fully support it's new security features.
Hi there. Yes, the HP Z440 workstation can support a NVIDIA P40 GPU (which will need ~250 watts to run optimally), but you will require an adapter cable to convert the 2x 6-pins to 1x 8-pin for GPU power. The HP Z440 is a capable workstation that can easily accommodate high-performance GPUs like the P40 or even other never GPUs (RTX 3070 etc.; but 6-pin to 8-pin adapters are needed). The Z440 was released around 2014 and the P40 is closer to 2016 - likely the HP documentation doesn’t mention the P40 due to being a newer edition GPU vs the K40 which was era matched (2014 ish).
Hi. For the Z440 your options will be limited to a max speed of 2133MHz or 2400 MHz of DDR4 ECC Registered Server memory. The memory type that suits the system is dependent on the CPUs that are supported by the motherboard. For the Z440 only Xeons from the Haswell and Broadwell generations are supported and they require server memory. The Z240 is a little different in that it can support both Intel Desktop and Server CPUs in the same motherboard - but even there the Xeon CPU options require server memory.
@@racerrrz Thanks for the reply. Another quick question: can I just use two sticks and would that be considered dual channel ram? Should I place 2 on the right 4 dimm slots or 1 on the right 4 dimms and 1 on the left 4 dims?
@@Ramble1234 The most optimal configuration for the RAM can be found in the HP manual. In a quick search I tracked this version: www.manualslib.com/manual/891915/Hp-Z440.html?page=18#manual . There is a very specific load order on these systems which helps optimize the performance of the Xeon CPU. The most optimal configuration is to have all the DIMM slots filled with memory. Two RAM modules should work if you place them in the slots furthest away from the CPU, but it doesn't appear to be a supported configuration in the Z440's manual. Make sure to update the BIOS to the latest version also - that should help with improving your upgrade process. I have 4 modules in mine, all populating the black DIMM slots.
Thank you. I have basically got the case swap done, but the video is still a little while off. I am not aware of any Z440 case swaps (or at least none documented on TH-cam), but I can't see any reason why it can't be done. The same issues will present where not all of the ATX motherboard standoffs will match with the HP Z440 motherboard's positions. I have run into other issues with my Z240 case swap, mainly the CPU cooler is not clearing the Lian Li case side cover (Lian Li PC-O11; it was meant to allow 155mm CPU coolers but it's not working! haha). I'll have to see if I can find shorter motherboard standoffs, or just go without the case lid and get the biggest cooler I can find...
@@EliezYT The HP Z4 G4 will be the more recent spec but they tend to still cost quite a bit and upgrades still prove expensive. If you can source a machine for a good price, maybe one that's not running (like PSU issues; perfect case swap candidate!), then that would make it very viable over the Z440. My only hesitation would be the added cost to get one running. When I priced up a HP Z8 G4 that could get close to my Z840 I had to spend about 4x the amount I put into the Z840 (this was back in April 2022). Doing a quick ebay scan: HP Z440 (e5-2680 V4 14Core, 64GB RAM, 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD, M4000 GPU) = 947.86 USD HP Z4 G4 (W-2295 18Core, 64GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Quadro NVS310 = 1509.88 USD. (Both not including shipping or taxes). Give or take ~2x the cost. Keep in mind the Z4 G4 will have a faster CPU and faster RAM, so quite possible if you have the cash on hand. I am quite happy with my Z240 Case Swap. I'll see where the limits on it are soon enough, and I am hoping to put the Z240 through some benchmarks and game tests for a video.
@@EliezYT Nice find! It looks like a good summary of the common challenges with a case swap. On the Reddit page, right down the bottom I have a data table that I update with any parts that I run into. I have a link there to the HP Z440's PSU adapter (ATX converter; ATX 24Pin to 18Pin + 8pin to 12pin power adapter). I'll bookmark a video idea - general case swap guide. The most challenging part of the case swap will be the power button wiring, resolving BIOS/posting errors (I just hit F1 to bypass!), and getting your motherboard happy with inputs - like the thermal sensor for fan speed control. The rear I/O plate may not be easy to do if there are no options on marketplaces. e.g. I have not found a Z240 rear I/O plate.
I am glad to hear I am not the only one with exceptional SSD mounting skills.lol. My best one yet was gaining perfect geometry with an Apacer Panther SSD tilted at 45 degrees to simulate the panther leaping. The effect was quite striking when the case fans rammed up and made the SSD float around (around 0:50sec here: th-cam.com/video/D9uYjdXOnKM/w-d-xo.html .lol)
@@racerrrzlooked good to me! Have you ever case swapped a Z440? I’ve done just about everything you can do to upgrade a Z440 except the processor, which is next, and potentially the case
You are in the right place, because I have case swapped my Z440 and I have filmed the process. I also posted the motherboard pinouts recently: www.reddit.com/r/HSpecWorkstations/comments/16mffe4/hp_z440_front_io_pinout/. I am a bit slow with the video editing (I have 7 hours of raw footage to cut down to ~20min, who knew filming a case swap could make it all take so long lol). The best I have for now is a short video of the Z440 case swap: th-cam.com/video/6szIfBMfDLs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Yo65iRRctZymC1Wc . Hands-down, the case swap gave me the best possible outcome for my Z440. All 6 PCIe slots are in use, I have over 60TB of HDD space and it's all housed in the Fractal Define 7XL case.
Hi there. You are correct, the Z440's range of CPUs are limited to either 2166MHz (V3 CPUs) or 2400MHz (V4 CPUs). The 2666MHz memory is compatible with the V4 CPUs but it will clock down to 2400MHz. This makes it a more future-proof upgrade since most of the newer HP Z Workstations can use 2666MHz also. But yes, the speed limit remains in place and it's not cost effective to run fast memory in a slow system.
That will vary a bit pending the CPU fitted in the machine and operating conditions. As an example, the E5-2697 V3 uses ~20W to 120W during normal use in Windows 10 (its TDP is 145 W). It usually sits around 60W-80W during normal use. So heavy on the power when fully loaded, but reasonable during normal use.
Hi Meng. The HP Workstations have proprietary HDD caddies. I believe it will be difficult to find a 3rd party HDD caddy that will fit unless they were designed for the HP workstations. Each range of workstation (Z2xx, Z4xx, Z6xx, Z8xx etc.) have their own system for mounting the drives. I can switch HDD between a Z800 and the Z840, but not from a Z420 into the Z840 (not without changing the caddy), as an example. The option that could work is the 5.25" Bay adapters (Like the Olmaster Adapter that I used here: th-cam.com/video/VCQYljpl5Ec/w-d-xo.html ). The 5.25"Bay is standardized. The Z420 could take a 3 x 5.25" Slot adapter - like the Icy Dock FlexCage MB973SP-2B 5.25-inch HDD Bay, but there are many other options also.
Nice job! They are rare for me on my local market place. Yes, the Z640 is solid value at that price - pending the hardware that it came with. I can recommend the E5-2687W V4 or E5-2697 V4 or E5-2696 V4 CPUs as the best applications in the Z640. What are your plans for the machine? They handle most situations without trouble.
I am planning to buy HP Z420 with 1650 v2, 16 gb ddr3 ram and RX 5500XT 8gb. The whole deal costs me 215 USD. Is it a good deal for a gaming/editing pc?
Hi Wasif. Yes with the GPU in there that will be a solid machine. The e5-1650 V2 is decent, but if you find you need more performance you could upgrade that pending cash. The E5-2687w v2 is one of the best for the Z420. DDR3 RAM is cheap, you could aim to get a little more (64GB is solid for editing). The only downside to the Z420 is age. If you can find one, the Z440 is the better value at this stage, but you may not find one cheap. The Z420 could be a good starting point, especially if you can sell that system again, maybe without the GPU. (You could slot in a Quadro K600 or so for resale). Then upgrade later.
@@racerrrz thank you for your swift response. I dropped the plan of buying z440 because of buying from the used market. It will be a huge loss for me if it malfunctions in future. My only concern right now is 5500xt 8gb msi mech. It is a 128 bit card. I want to do 1080p video editing in da Vinci. Will the combination give me a satisfying performance?
@@wasifshabbir2432 Both the Z420 and the Z440 will be a super reliable machines. The most common failure point is the PSU, but they are relatively cheap to replace. The Z440 is the more powerful option and adds some future proofing, but the cost goes up! I still use a Z420 daily for light tasks, great value machine. The GPU will be touch and go and there will be limits on what you can do. For just editing 1080p footage, the 5500XT 8GB will handle the task. Rendering will take some time but it should get there (keep videos shorter if you can - 10-20min, longer might mean crashes become more frequent). If you add in any effects you will run into issues (e.g. noise reduction, green screen removal, AI object tracking etc.). Off memory, the free version of DaVinci Resolve does not include effects, but if you go for the paid version and you want to make use of the extra functionality then you may want to work towards a more powerful GPU. I found 24GB of VRAM a must for my videos but I aim to add extra effects which are quite taxing on my system. The worst I have had it was when rendering this Z4x0 review video. It took ~ 6hours to render and failed several times due to insufficient VRAM (I had 12GB). I have since found ways to compartmentalize the editing process to reduce rendering time but it means applying effects in batches instead of having everything processed in the final render.
@@racerrrz let me tell you what I want to do with the z420 machine: -Wordpress blogging (Mostly) -Video Editing: Opening a TH-cam channel (Use only stock footages and desktop recordings, make 5-10 minutes long videos) -1080p Gaming (eSports, rdr2, forza, gtav, etc) -Streaming Rarely (if it can handle) I don't know such things about video editing that you have said. I have researched on internet that da Vinci is the best free software for beginners and RX 5500xt takes a lot of time in video rendering. Should I stay with 5500xt or go with 1660 super? Or one more option of RX 590 sapphire nitro+ blue edition.
@@wasifshabbir2432 The Z420 should handle that workload well. 1080p gaming will be no issue, but I found that recording gameplay on the same machine that is being used to create the footage doesn't work so well. You need to drop settings a decent amount to allow the footage to be recorded in the background. I initially built a Z420 in a gaming case to be a secondary capture machine and I paired it with the Elgato 4K Pro capture card. However, you need a decent GPU to manage 4K footage (I aimed to record 4K gameplay) and I only had a GTX 970 at the time for that (it does not do 4K well). In terms of GPU, I would go for the 5500XT (GTX1660 Super is solid also but likely costs more). The 5500XT / 1660 Super memory is faster than the RX 590 which will come in handy. The 1660 Super has only 6GB VRAM which makes it less useful. The RX 590 might render slightly faster but overall the 5500XT should be a stable GPU for your needs. Don't worry about the advanced editing options just yet, but keep them in mind. As you become more confident with DaVinci Resolve you'll find you will need more hardware performance - but take your time to get there. I upgrade my system each time I find something that slows my process. Right now my editing process is running smoothly and I hope it will stay like that!
Hi there. The simple answer is no. The Z400's power supply is best suited to the Z400 motherboard. The complicated answer is yes. The power supply can be rewired to suit any PC but it would require checking the pin-outs carefully and matching them with your target motherboard. Generally it would be easier to get a new PSU or one that matches your system. Which HP computer do you want the Z400 PSU to run?
@@elcapi2280 What was your end goal for the machine / PSU swap? It would technically be possible to adapt the PSU to work but it would require some research. The easiest way I can think of to do something like this would be to adapt the Z400 PSU to ATX power (with an adapter), and convert the Z240 or Optiplex 7010 to ATX power (with an adapter), and then get a male to male ATX power joiner to join all into one circuit. But that turns into a lot of wire mess! Doing a quick search I tracked this which you will find useful: linustechtips.com/topic/987783-optiplex-70109010-front-io-panel-pinout/ But I do not see much on the Dell 7010 (mostly 7020).
Yes you should be able to power the RX 580 pulse with the single 6-pin from your Z420 PSU. You need a single 6-pin female to single 8-pin male converter. The x16 PCIe slot (Slot #2) on the Z420 will be ideal for the GPU and with the 6-pin to 8-pin adapter you'll have enough power to meet the ~ 225W max needs (~150W from the 6-pin and 75W from the slot, but the 6-pin is capable of delivering more than 150W if there were power spikes etc.).
@@racerrrz thank you! One more thing, my 3 sticks are from samsung and 1 from HP but all 4 are 8gigs, 1600mhz, Rdimm pc3l 12800r, 2Rx4. Would there be any performance issue as 3 from samsung and 1 from HP. Btw I inserted them into all 4 black slots first.
@@wasifshabbir2432 No, you should be ok on performance if they are all the same specifications. The most important aspect to check is the CAS Latency which should ideally be the same (they are likely all CL11). The black slots will give you the most optimal memory configuration. If you haven't already, the HP technical whitenotes on the Z420 will be handy to download. The "HP Z420 Memory Configurations and Optimization" document is one of the first to check - especially if you end up getting more memory eventually etc.
Whatever you do- do NOT buy a Z230 workstation! I bought one a few years back to use as my main driver. I fully regret doing so, I should've done more research. The Z200 line of computers is outdated and overpriced.
Hi there. I am sorry to hear you had a negative experience with a Workstation! You are correct that the Z230 is dated with its technology (4th Gen Intel, DDR3 RAM, 1x PCIe 3.0 slot). I would hope you didn't over pay too much. I obtained a Z240 (7th Gen Intel, 2133MHz DDR4 RAM, PCIe 3.0, 1x NVMe slot; also dated by today's standards) for ~$200 USD. In my experience the ability to create a high core workstation for a "low price" pulled me in. My Z840 has 28 Cores and 52 Threads (2x Xeon e5-2697v3's), 256GB DDR4 RAM etc. and the entire machine with its hardware (second-hand; minus GPU) cost less than a new Ryzen Threadripper 3970X CPU (32 Core, 64 Threads). The Z840's hardware is aged, but it performs well (all my videos are rendered on my Z840).
@@TheCrooksandCastle Hi there. It really depends on the load I place on the GPU with DaVinci Resolve. The most intensive processing is a noise reduction filter. A 40min 4k H.265 video takes ~2hours to render with just that effect on (compared to ~20minutes without the effect). The longest render time to-date was this Z440/Z420/Z400 video which took 7 hours to render but this was for the full video with all effects and processing. I aim to avoid that load now because once the GPU reaches 12GB of VRAM in-use DaVinci crashes and I loose the render (I have ~128GB virtual memory / RAM there but I presume the memory speeds are too slow to match the GPU requirement when in full use).
Re: "do NOT buy a Z230 workstation!" AGREED! PCI slots are almost totally / 100% OBSOLETE. 32 bits @ 33 MHz ~= 1,056 Mbps 1,056 / 8 = 132 MBps a/k/a ATA-133 A single x1 PCIe 1.0a expansion slot has a raw clock rate of 2.5Gbps, i.e. almost TWICE the raw bandwidth of a single PCI expansion slot. Also, PCIe Gen1 and Gen2 both used the old 8b/10b "legacy frame": 1 start bit + 8 data bits + 1 stop bit = 10 bits per byte. 2.5G / 10 = 250 MBps MAX HEADROOM. PCIe Gen3 increased the clock to 8G and implemented a 128b/130b "jumbo frame" -- both of which became the standard for PCIe chipsets ever since. This paved the way for storage devices to "sync" with chipsets e.g. M.2 x4 PCIe 3.0 sockets. The Z240 Tower has an optional PCB that adds a PCI slot at the bottom of the motherboard. We used that space to install a Vantec dual slot fan there: works great!
Hi there. Yes it is possible! I have done this and more on my Z440 case swap. I opted for a 750W PSU but it was more power than what I needed for my Z440. I have links in the video description of related video for the cables that I used in my system to power the new PSU: th-cam.com/video/K4RalaEbRI4/w-d-xo.html . Note, if you wish to fit a new PSU in the Z440's stock case there may be some mounting holes that do not align. This picture would give you some idea of the issue: imgbox.com/2qVVgbXd
@@pagey007 That will usually not deliver enough power but it depends on the GPU you are trying to fit. A PCIe slot delivers 75W and the GPU 6-pins typically deliver 75W and 8-pins deliver 150W. HP over-engineers their GPU 6-pin cables so that it can deliver 216W max (12 Volts at 18 Amps = 216W). The molex cables are only rated for safely delivering ~50W (5V wire) - 130W (12V wire) per connector, but their max power would depend on the 12V rail that's supplying them (so volts multiplied by amps as indicated on the actual PSU's sticker for that wire). If your GPU was rated to say 300W with 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin you could power the 8-pin with the PSU's 6-pin cable using a 6-pin to 8-pin adapter. The remaining 6-pin could be powered by a 2x molex to 1x 6-pin adapter (75W from slot, 216W from 6-pin, ~130W from dual molex), but this is generally not recommended because modern GPUs have transient power spikes. e.g. my RTX 3090 Ti is rated to 450W but others have measured transient spikes as high as 670W! Hence, it's best to leave as much over-head as possible to avoid burning-out your PSU. As an example, in my old Z800 I powered a GTX970 using a dual 6-pin to 8-pin and two molex to 6-pin connector without issue.
Hi Wasif. The simple answer: No, that combination isn't recommended because the sata power cable normally only delivers ~54W. The more complex answer: Yes, it is technically possible (I am actually doing that on a Z420 to power a GTX 970, but I am using a 1000W Seasonic PSU - 2x 6-pins into 1x 8-pin and 2x sata power cables into 1x 6-pin). Each 6-pin is rated to 75W (except for the HP PSU 6-pin, they deliver up to 216W (12V @ 18Amps = 216W, on most models), each 8 pin is normally rated to 150W. The sapphire nitro+ rx 590 requires 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin (so 150W + 75W, but keep in mind the PCIe slot can provide up to 75W also). Checking online the sapphire nitro+ rx 590 can use up to ~220W. Combining 2x 6-pins to 1x 8-pin and 2x independent sata power cables (so two separate SATA power connections from the PSU - not combining two SATA power ports from one SATA power cable) can in theory cover the power requirements. There is a safety risk though because the sata power cables are not designed to carry high current. To conclude, the best solution if you have a HP PSU is to convert each 6-pin to 1x 8-pin (6+2pin ideal; I am doing this on my Z840 to power a RTX 3090 Ti, 3x 6-pins to 3x 8pins). Just make sure your PSU output on the 6-pin is 12V @ 18Amps (check the PSU sticker), if it is less this method may not work and can burn out components in your PSU.
I will receive my z420 model today but without gpu for time being. You said 6 pin of few hp models' psu provide 215w. How to check this? If i findout that one available, would i able be run rx 590?
@@wasifshabbir2432 Check your PSU model number on the side of your Z420 PSU. There is normally a sticker that will specify the output on each cable from the PSU (the sticker is somewhat complex but normally there should be something like a label that states "V12 G1-18A", meaning cable G1 (6-pin) which is rated to 12V and can supply up to 18Amps). The 215W is theoretical max but I doubt the PSU can safely produce that. But the 6-pin should output 150W safely which is what a 8-pin normally requires. One 6-pin will not be able to power both a 8-pin and a 6-pin (I doubt an adapter exists for that also). Hopefully your PSU has 2x 6-pins. Mine only had 1x 6-pin and hence I switched in a ATX PSU (1000W Seasonic with an ATX to Z420 power adapter).
@@wasifshabbir2432 @Wasif Shabbir If there is only one 8-pin on the GPU then that should work with a 6-pin to 8-pin converter cable. Keep in mind the PCIe slot will provide some of the power (e.g. 75W from PCIe + 150W from 8-Pin = 225W max).
Hi there. I am sure the Z420's will serve you well. The most optimal CPU for the Z420 will depend on your end use for the machine. If you are just looking for core clock speed something like the 6 Core Intel Xeon E5-1660 v2 with 3.7GHz Base and 4GHz Boost is decent and cheap. A more expensive but higher core count CPU is the 8 Core Intel Xeon E5-2687W v2 (3.4GHz Base, 4GHz Boost). If you just want all out cores at a high clock speed the 12 Core Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 is a solid option with 2.7GHz Base and 3.5GHz Boost. Check Intel's webpage for more "Ivy Bridge EP" CPU options (link may break over time: ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/68926/products-formerly-ivy-bridge-ep.html ). The Z420 V2 is ideally matched with the E5-16xx V2 or E5-26xx V2 CPUs. Make sure to update your BIOS to the latest version also to ensure the best CPU compatibility.
@@racerrrz thanks for the quick reply. I’ve had these computers for years and they’re great. I recently was experiencing slowdowns so I bumped up the ram. One computer had 16 the other 32, now both are running at 48 or higher. At this, I’m doing a lot of video processing so I realized after the RAM upgrade that the CPU became the bottleneck. I have already ordered one cpu, a 2667, which is an 8-core and one of the fastest listed for my PCs. I plan to buy another, so zI can update both PCs. My specific question to you wasn’t really answered, and that is, can these V2 PCs run the 10-core and 12-core CPUs without issue? I ask because it appears you have done so, although the HP info page for my PCs doesn’t specifically mention any CPUs above 8-core.
@@livemeyer Great job on the troubleshooting there. Once you start editing video you really discover those bottlenecks! I am quite happy with my 256GB of RAM right now, but even then if the project is large enough I manage to push up to ~230GB of RAM in use! What software are you using? I can recommend DaVinci Resolve - very powerful. It helps to know the end use and for video editing I can recommend for you to lean towards my setup - aim for the highest core count with the highest clock speed - which for my Z840 (does all my video editing) ended up being the E5-2697 V3's (V4's fit the Z840 but they were pricey when I made my upgrade). Regarding the CPUs, I stand by my answer, any of the E5-26xx V2 CPUs will work well in the V2 motherboard. Most of the HP documentation was written around the time of release for the system, and thus they were not always updated. The latest BIOS update may specify which CPUs are supported. As some proof of concept, check out UserBenchMark "User Benches" - I often check there to see what the most popular configurations are or what the most powerful configurations are for a given system (and yes, I am aware of the bad rep. / Intel bias on UserBenchMark). Z420 with E5-2667 V2: www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/61548809 Z420 with E5-2690 V2: www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/61515938 Z420 with E5-2697 V2: www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/51048111 I would recommend making the CPU decision based on pricing also. Often the E5-2690 V2 or E5-2697's V2 are really expensive (likely due to being rare). The E5-2667 V2 seems popular on UserBenchMark and it has a high clock speed - albeit with lower cores. A quick look on Amazon suggests that all three are priced around the same point ~$50USD. You might be able to source them cheaper though. Also, don't overlook GPU VRAM. I found that to be the biggest bottleneck in my process but right now it's smooth operation.
@racerrrz So the 2667 wouldn't post in one of my Z420's but it's running great in the other one. I've read that the z420 can have either a V1 or V2 motherboard and that the V1 won't allow some CPUs to work, i.e. the 2667 and higher 8-core, 10-core and 12-core processors. What I haven't found out is how to determine what motherboard this one has. Are you supposed to physically look at the mobo somewhere? Or can you find the serial number or part number electronically? If I have to look for it physically, where is it located?
@@livemeyer You have more or less confirmed the challenge with the Z420's CPU compatibility. I briefly mentioned this early in the Z420 segment in the video. In terms of Z420 motherboard CPU options, the motherboard version will determine what specification of CPU you can support: P/N: 619557-001 can support E5-16xx V1 or E5-26xx V1 P/N: 708615-001 can support E5-16xx V2 or E5-26xx V2 I mentioned the part numbers in the video but I didn’t point out where to find the part number sticker. The best quick capture of the part number sticker I could spot was at 25:50 (pause there - the sticker is a large white one that will have one of the two P/N’s. If the E5-2667 CPU you have is V1 then that is a different issue. It should work just fine but there may be need to update the BIOS to the latest version if it isn't functioning as expected.
@@ajartaslife Hi. Is it the 18Pin mobo power adapter that has ended up too short or the 6-pin GPU power supply? I presume the 18-pin cable. Obvious things: Can you reroute the cable or modify the case to give better access? The challenge: Extending the 18-pin cable will be a bit more of a challenge because I doubt that there are any adapters to give you more reach on the 18-Pin cable. There is only one method which would be to cut and extend each wire in the loom, which requires soldering, heat shrink and patience. If you systematically cut one wire at a time, solder in extra wire and then heat shrink, it will leave you with less scope for error. Quicker solution: The easier solution would be to sell the HP 750PSU and get 18-Pin to 24-Pin ATX adapter cables and a suitable ATX PSU. I am using a Deepcool 750W (DQ750-M-V2L) in my Z240 case swap and I am hunting for a PSU for my Z440 case swap. I made a data table of the parts I have used here: www.reddit.com/r/HSpecWorkstations/comments/v7dek1/hspec_data_table/ , the Z440 ATX cable description / amazon search link is there also in case that is of use to you.
@RACERRRZ everything fits except the 18pin over to the motherboard... that chord just won't reach. Was hoping there was a simple extension I could buy, but that would be too easy. Lol. What 750w psu is known to meet the form factor of the z440? Shipping this one back because I'm at my wits end.
Hi Gurukant. The simple answer is no, the Zx20 range of Workstations did not support booting from PCIe in the BIOS (not even in the most recent BIOS Update). The more complication answer is that there are ways to get the Zx20 series to boot from PCIe NVMes. I have tested this "hack/work-around" on my Z420 but I never had success (I tried to get an internal USB port to boot to the NVMe boot loader). With some patience and testing it should be possible. Example link: h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Updated-quot-Add-NVME-as-Boot-Drive-using-DUET-REFIND-method/td-p/7745966
@@gurukantdesai4225 Thank you for the feedback! I am glad you are enjoying the videos. The next one is in process (Z240 Motherboard case swap) but the editing process comes with challenges, like powercuts! (expect a future video on why a UPS could be of use! lol)
We custom-ordered a Z240 Tower from "PC Server and Parts" in Michigan, USA, and they pre-installed Windows 10 Pro x64 on an NVMe SSD installed in the M.2 socket at the lower right corner of that motherboard. You could always ask them if a similar configuration will boot the Z420 and Z820 from an NVMe SSD, e.g. using an M.2-to-x4 PCIe 3.0 adapter. Highpoint are also selling a variety of bootable PCIe 3.0 RAID cards now, e.g. supporting both 4 x M.2 and 2 x M.2. We have had lots of success using the "Migrate OS" feature in the Partition Wizard software. Typically the motherboard BIOS needs to be changed to boot from such a RAID add-in card.
Ahhh, I see you are skilled in every nuance of grammar. You are the first to successfully point out a nuance detail that has gone unnoticed, until now! Thank you!
These are great. I just picked up a z440 with a 1620 v4 and 980 ti in it for $100. I spent $20 on a 1650 v4 to swap in and threw I. A spare ssd I had. I’m amazed how well it actually plays some modern games.
They really are the value sweet-spot right now. 1080p gaming on a budget - especially with that GTX 980 Ti (still an absolute trooper of a GPU). You can also get cheap CPU and RAM upgrades. I settled on a E5-2697 V4 in my Z440 - ample cores at a decent clock speed. Add in say 64GB of DDR4 2400MHz ECC Registered RAM and you have a system that can handle most modern titles while solving complex calculations and browsing TH-cam - all at the same time lol.
@@racerrrz Thanks for the 2697 v4 recommendation. I just saw a listing up on eBay for that cpu for $40. I have another z440 that I got for $60 shipped without a gpu. I threw my old EVGA 1080 ti ftw3 in there (the door barely closes; it’s kind of a giant card). I might pop for the 2697 v4 in that one to get the most out of the gpu 👍🏼
That E5-2697 V4 is a really well rounded CPU. $60 for a Z440 base machine is ridiculously cheap given the hardware they are packing. Interesting that you ran into clearance issues with the GTX 1080 Ti (they were really solid cards! I had clearance issues with a RTX 3090 Ti in my Z840). The E5-2697 V4 will be well matched with the GTX 1080 Ti and I would expect some decent frame rates in most modern titles. If you haven't already, look towards a solid NVMe for your system. I found the Asus Hyper M.2 V2 adapter to be a really solid option for running quad NVMes on a x16 PCIe slot (the Z440 supports PCIe slot bifurcation). Combine 4x NVMes with RAID 0 and you have an ultra fast drive on these systems (my highest transfer speeds was 7500MB/s read and 6500MB/s write!)
I got a 400 and a 420. Woked for years with these as a CAD Administrator. Need to add a 440 to my collection. Love these Machines!
Nice. The Z400 and Z420 are well proven machines now. Now is a good time to grab a Z440, they are really well priced at the moment, and obtaining upgrades for them - like Haswell or Broadwell Xeons - is cheaper now than ever! I suspect I'll hold onto my Z440 for many years to come.
In the future, you might want to check the documentation carefully where it describes each PCIe expansion slot. For example, the Z420 documentation says the third PCIe slot (counting from top down) is "PCIe2 x8 (4)". That means this slot has x8 mechanical lanes, but only x4 electrical lanes. By comparison, the Z440 documentation says the third PCIe slot is "PCIe2 x4". In both workstations, if a RAID controller with an x8 edge connector is installed in that third PCIe slot, its raw bandwidth will only be one-half because only x4 electrical lanes are assigned by the chipset to such an expansion slot. Similarly, NVMe SSDs are designed to inter-operate with PCIe 3.0 chipsets and expansion slots: x4 lanes per M.2 SSD @ 8G clock and 128b/130b jumbo frames. Therefore, if NVMe SSDs are installed in PCIe 2.0 expansion slots, they either not work at all, or if they do work their throughput will be significantly slower than NVMe SSDs installed in PCIe 3.0 slots. Lastly, you might want to do a very close comparison of the Z240 Tower: for Users who are happy with integrated graphics, that saves one full expansion slot by eliminating the need for a discrete graphics card. Also, the Z240 has an integrated M.2 socket at the lower right corner, which frees up another PCIe expansion slot. And, all PCIe expansion slots on the Z240 are Gen3 (there are no Gen2 expansion slots whatsoever on the Z240 Tower). Because of the latter features, it appears that the Z240 Tower was designed AFTER the Z400 series workstations. Hope this helps.
Thank you for the feedback. I usually refer to the technical white-paper from HPE and I would recommend All to do so. Due to the nature of the video (covering x3 generations of workstation in one video) I wasn’t able to go into detail on the PCIe lane configuration of each model. But you are absolutely correct, the lanes need to be carefully matched with the desired specification / adapter output. For more detail on the PCIe config. you can check some of my newer videos: Z420 PCIe lanes th-cam.com/video/D9uYjdXOnKM/w-d-xo.html (1:22) ; Z240 PCIe Lanes th-cam.com/video/cAca0iz9sFQ/w-d-xo.html (0:56) ; Z840 PCIe Lanes th-cam.com/video/pWS9hGgSo-4/w-d-xo.html (2:57), but none of them do a detailed analysis of the optimal usage of the PCIe lanes because that wasn’t the goal for those videos.
In terms of the mechanical vs electrical lanes, I would agree that some clarity is needed to make sure individuals assign the right PCIe adapters to each PCIe lane. In addition to referring to the HPE technical whitepapers and your description above, I’ll do a brief summary here: The mechanical lanes (x1, x4, x8, x16) refers to the physical connections on the PCIe slot (i.e. x1, x4, x8 or x16 lanes of communication). However, electrical lanes (x1, x4, x8, x16) refer to the actual number of data lanes that are equipped on the physical PCIe connector. So a PCIe x8 mechanical with only x4 electrical can hold a x8 adapter (unless open-ended, then you could fit a x16 mechanical, but it would only support up to x4 speeds. (e.g. Most NVMe adapters are x16 mechanical but only x4 electrical).
In terms of NVMe operation, you are correct that they require x4 electrical lanes to operate optimally, although the clock frequency (data transfer speed) and jumbo frames (overhead on smaller data packets) are not directly related to the PCIe 2.0 (5GT/s) vs PCIe 3.0 (8GT/s) bandwidth. I have tested NVMes on PCIe 2.0 (e.g. HP Z800 + Samsung 970 Evo Plus on PCIe x4 electrical slot) and I obtained peak read/write speeds ~2000MB/s (near 2GT/s). The same adapter and NVMe on PCIe 3.0 (e.g. HP Z840 + Samsung 970 Evo Plus on x4 electrical slot) obtained ~3500MB/s Read (near 3.5GT/s). PCIe 2.0 is limited to ~500MB/s per lane (x4 lanes), and PCIe 3.0 is limited to ~985 MB/s per lane (x4 lanes) [not considering hardware overheads].
I absolutely agree that the Z240 is more modern than the Z400 / Z420 (did I make an error in the video? Apologies if I did!) I have done a HP Z240 case swap (th-cam.com/video/ORdZLAYHemk/w-d-xo.html ) and I am very impressed with the functionality, so much so that I was contemplating replacing my Z420 NAS build with a Z240 as well. However, the Z420 still provides better PCIe bandwidth because the Z240’s PCIe configuration will be limiting due to PCIe Slot 1 being only x1 electrical and PCIe Slot 4 (the second x16 mechanical slot) being limited to x4 electrical. The native M.2 NVMe slot is a great add-on, something the Z440, Z640 & Z840 lack! Although, there are NVMe slots on the Z2 G4, Z4 G4, or Z6 G4 (not Z8 G4; has the HP M.2 Personality Module Carrier), and now even the Z2 G5, Z4 G5 & Z6 G5 (Z8 G5 has the HP M.2 Personality Module Carrier!). Quite cool to see the HP Z8 G5 can support 5.25” Drive Bay removable M.2 carriers! Don’t forget about the HP Z Turbo Drive & Turbo Quad Pro fulfilling this role also (future video in the works, Head-to-head between AORUS GEN4 vs ASUS Hyper M.2 vs HP Z Turbo Drive Quad Pro NVMe adapters, on the Z840!).
@@racerrrz GREAT details in your Reply: MANY THANKS!!
We just finished upgrading 3 x PCs with PCIe Gen1 chipsets to 2.5GbE, and boy was that an adventure. The most troublesome PC was an "ancient" ASUS P5W64 WS Professional motherboard. The ONLY way to get all 4 x16 slots working is to start installing AICs in the bottom slot #4, then slot #3, then slot #2 and then finally slot #1. Starting at x16 slot #1 (from top down) guaranteed that only 3 x16 slots would function, and the fourth slot was simply not recognized by the motherboard BIOS. We also tried installing USB 3.0 adapters, to connect 2.5GbE USB "dongles", but many simply did not work DESPITE advertising claims that they were compatible with PCIe 1.0a chipsets. Vantec got us working with their model UGT-PC345. We endured a lot of trial-and-error, and I'm stuck with 2 x USB 3.0 AICs that will remain in spare parts, awaiting a new home. THANKS AGAIN for your excellent coverage of these HP workstations, with high quality close-ups: they are superbly engineered, and refurbished models are terrific deals: with Windows 10 Pro x64 pre-installed, the hardware is almost totally free, and there are plenty of HP-compatible parts to be had on eBay.
or just get z440, not much more expensive but a lot better
I gotta Z440. Old but gold at $240 au. Basic E5 1620 v3 32g 256 ssd and a K2200 Quadro. Probably upgrade the cpu and gpu for video rendering. Nvme pcie as well. This will cost me a further $150. Good considering its robust build and performance. Cool video bro.
Cheers Honah, I am glad you found the video useful. The Z440 a solid machine, and you got your one at an awesome price. They come up for a low price every so often, but most of the time they are closer to $600 USD! If you haven't already got these, keep an eye out for the Z Cooler (P/N: 828230-001) and Memory Cooler (P/N: J2R52AA), but that's only if you want to push it to the limits. The K2200 is a solid GPU but it is getting along in age. If you are aiming for video rendering I would recommend something like the RTX 3070 (uses ~250W peak) or RTX A4000 (~140W peak). CPU wise, the best V4 CPUs in terms of value is the E5-2697V4 (16 Core, 2.6GHz Base), E5-2683 (16 Core, 2.1GHz Base) and E5-2680 (14 Core, 2.4GHz Base). More cores help a heap during rendering, but that will depend on the software you use also.
@@racerrrz It cam without the ram cooler but only has 2 16 g modules. Thank you for the advice. I saw a used E52683 v3 for $79 au on ebay and a E52680 v3 brand new for $80 au. Cheers bro.
I have decided a z440 will do very well for our needs and price range. Great video!
Hi. Perfect choice, the Z440 workstation is well priced these days and it can support some very capable hardware. I have converted a Z440 into my NAS server and I am quite pleased with it's expand-ability and overall performance. I have a video in-production that will outline how to case swap the Z440 motherboard (into a Fractal Define 7XL case) - along with all the supporting hardware that I used to get my NAS setup complete.
On the Z400 you can rotate the 5.25" bay (and the logo) and you have a desktop PC like old time!
Aren't the 5.25" bays normally just a rectangular box? I guess the 5.25" bays will be good for that hardware throwback - but I only ever had CD players/writers in them - the floppy disk readers were a bit smaller at least lol.
@@racerrrz There's rail on each side so you can slide in 5.25" device (like a CD). I uses mine for a card reader and a 4 X 2.5" SSD removable rack
@@racerrrz in fact you rotate the bezel in the front plate, and to unlock the 5.25" device you push the yellow button with a green arrow.
I just bought a Z420, mainly for adding a bunch of storage. Won't be using it for much else.
Nice, that's the way to go with them. I was using the Z420 for quite a while as my file server but I eventually needed more storage which lead me to the Z440 case swap into a Fractal Define 7XL. Ample room to really make use of the motherboard for storage.
At 42:08 you see the 2x4 screw just above your disc? You take 4 of them, screws them on the side of the disk and Magic! insert the disk with the screw sliding in the green rail...
I do like how HP supplies drive screws with their case, but not all used cases still have them all in place!
@@racerrrz In fact I was a little wrong... The black screws are for the 5.25" bays. For the 3.5" bays, as you said, the screws in your Z400 are missing, sorry...
just ordered a z440 with 1650v4, 32gb or ram, 512SSD and 700 watt psu for $220. I will be putting in more ssds from my current system and my current rx 6650 xt!
Hi there. Great choice with that system. The Z440 will remain a solid value machine for a long while yet. The RX 6650 XT should give you a solid gaming experience in the Z440.
If you haven't already, look into NVMe drives to further boost your system's speed. NVMe prices have dropped to where they nearly match SSDs prices per TB, but you get the benefit of more speed. If you are interested, check my most recent video: th-cam.com/video/xqg0uQ93KTg/w-d-xo.html
@@racerrrz Just ordered the hp z turbo drive g2 for $14 and 2tb Intel 670p Series M.2 for $68. The next question is do I make that the boot drive or keep the boot on the SSD it comes with and use the m.2 for games and applications? The total cost for this build is under $350!
@@scupking Great job there. I can't believe you sourced a Turbo Drive G2 for $14! Locally for me they are like $150 USD (rare here in NZ). The Intel 670p would make for a solid boot drive, but being 2TB you could use it more as a storage library. I am running off a 500GB 970 Evo Plus right now but I am considering upgrading to a 1TB (space issues).
I would say boot from the NVMe over SSD. Both the NVMe and SSD will slow as they fill-up over time, but the NVMe will remain fast in comparison. I tend to install critical software onto the boot drive and any less critical software onto a second NVMe (Steam game library etc.). Seems to work well enough.
@@racerrrz Got the system setup yesterday! It even came with the front case fan and memory fan! Slapped in my rx 6650 xt and it's a monster of a budget gaming system!! CPUz bench puts my 1650v4 as equivalent to an i7 8700k! I'm still waiting on the Turbo Drive and I'm going to put in more SSDs from my old system.
@@scupking You got a great deal there by the sounds of it. Having the front case fan and a memory fan is a huge plus, and it should keep your system operating at ideal temps. The E5-1650V4, with its 3.6GHz Base and 4GHz boost frequency, is a well specified CPU and it should handle everything you can throw it. No doubt your RX 6650 XT slotted right in and you are well on your way to making the most of the system. Hopefully the Turbo Drive arrives soon so you can get your build finalised, then you just need to enjoy the performance.
I have a Z440 with the 1650 v4 and 32Gb DDR4 in quad-channel. It boots from the HP Z Turbo drive (m.2)and has an SSD and a hard drive.
It games well with the 2060.
The Z440 has really held onto that sweet spot of best value workstation. Your system sounds well setup and I am sure the 4GHz boost on the E5-1650 V4 CPU keeps the gaming experience solid, especially with the RTX 2060. What are your future upgrade plans for your system?
@@racerrrz I'm still contemplating the 8 core 1680. The base speed is slightly slower but it benefits in other applications with the extra two cores. I also like to get another 32 GB of memory and more hard drive space for storage and serving. My main rig is a P520 with an 8 core W-2245
@@neopolaris Nice, the P520 might be one of the best systems for the price point. The extra cores should help - especially if not your main machine. I have mine set up as a dedicated TrueNAS server - I settled on the E5-2697A V4 for the high clock speed and high core count. The extra memory is well worth it. I have 4x 16GB modules loaded into mine at the moment - but I will need to expand it soon enough (it's recommended to have 1GB of RAM per 1TB of storage for TrueNAS).
From where I am from this and mac pros are at least 250$ and up. Lucky if you find 150 $ with the 200,400,800 models. A z800 goes for cheap at 200$
Indeed. The prices are wildly variable depending on where you are located. I do like using Ebay and Amazon pricing as a baseline for the purchasing decision. If the local prices are double the Ebay prices I would rather consider importing it - with taxes and customs fees generally still making it cheaper than local prices. The Z440 has actually retained it's value relatively well but the motherboards can be sourced cheaply. I have done a guide for how to case swap the Z440 motherboard which would make obtaining the system more viable - pending being able to source all the individual components to get the system running.
Sadly getting these in canada is far too expensive as far as i have seen. A dell or lenovo workstation is the only budget friendly ones here.
How much is shipping cost from the USA? That's probably the best way to get one. I would expect the Z420 and Z440 to be on second hand market places in Canada, but I guess they are getting on the old side now. It's good to hear you have Dell and Lenovo workstations at least, they are really solid also (sometimes even better, check the Lenovo P520 - great performer for the dollars).
Which would you suggest me I’m really on a tight budget.😊
Out of these three workstations the Z420 is the best option in terms of price.
The best budget entry that has a heap of power is the Z240 Workstation: th-cam.com/video/GJqKfCG2Up8/w-d-xo.html
If you want even cheaper, the next most powerful option would be the Z600, but it's an older system now.
My favorite pc brother good information
Thank you! The Z420 is a great value machine.
@@racerrrz
i have z440 , and change the motherboard twice! . an excelent machine and fast 90GB RAM and SSD - but the BIOS has a weak Firmware , doeas anyone with same problem?
That's interesting to hear. I have not had any issues my Z440's BIOS - its been quite reliable. What issues did you run into on your system? The BIOS update process can cause issues if it fails to complete. Other than that it should run well.
Great review only channel showing the internals of these. How do these compare to Lenovo p500 for nas Proxmox setup. Please can you advise if the older ones support bifurcation on the pcie.
Hi there. Thank you. From the hardware perspective it was a decent overview of three generations. This overview was a memorable video to render, it took 7 hours of DaVinci Resolve processing and it crashed many times during creation (insufficient VRAM at the time!).
In some ways the Lenovo and Dell workstations offer more bang for buck (model dependent, but generally for the same budget balance second hand you can obtain a higher spec. workstation for less than the HP counter part; e.g. Lenovo ThinkStation P720 (~2017) vs Precision 7920 (~2017) vs HP Z840 (~2015; the HP Z8 G4 has a steeper price tag).
In terms of the Lenovo P500, it stacks up well to the HP Z440 and they tend to be quite similar in over specification. Right now, I am building a HP Z440 (case swap into Fractal Define 7-XL) as a dedicated TrueNAS Core file server. What I liked about the Z440 was the bifurcation support (so I can add in 4x NVMes on a x16 slot) and 8x memory DIMMs. In terms of bifurcation, only the more recent Zx40 (but not the Z240) workstations and newer have bifurcation (I did an overview on it recently: th-cam.com/video/PRMWIpscDCg/w-d-xo.html . I have read about PCIe adapters that contain a PLX chip for management of bifurcation independent of the motherboard. Those may open possibilities to use the older workstations with bifurcation (sadly I haven't tested that yet).
I acquired an HP z440, and it looks through the video especially at the HBA SAS controller. I'm confused because when I bought this machine I read through the documentation and said that it was compatible with SAS hard drives Do you need the controller to plug in SAS hard drives? Or do you need a special adapter to go from the SATA drives to the SAS?
Hi there. That's a fair question and it is somewhat confusing when the hardware is "SAS compatible * Conditions apply".
The simple answer:
The Z440 does not have a SAS chipset on the motherboard and hence it can't support SAS HDDs directly. However, with the HP recommended H240 HBA, the Z440 can be made compatible with SAS drives when connected to the H240's SAS controller via the SFF-8087 connector which is normally split into 4x SATA/SAS cables.
The technical explanation:
The Z440 has the hardware to manage the SAS interface but it lacks a dedicated SAS chipset on the motherboard like what is seen on the Z840. The Z440's SATA ports are driven through the SATA chipset on the motherboard for the most part. For comparison, I initially had in mind the Z640 could handle SAS but I noticed the Z440 and Z640 have essentially the same motherboard PCB and both require a PCIe SAS controller to communicate with SAS drives.
Hence, your Z440 can handle SAS drives but only with the PCIe SAS controller like the HPE H240 HBA (which is specifically recommend for the HP Z440 and Z640, and even Z840 if that way inclined). The other benefit with the H240 HBA is that it can be adapted to use SATA / SAS cables with the SFF (SFF-8087) to 4x SAS port converter cable. That makes the end use the same as the Z840 which has a dedicated number of SATA ports and SAS ports on the motherboard - with each port communicating with the respective SATA or SAS chipset. For the Z840, the data cables that connect to the HDD bays can be switched between the SATA and SAS chipset - depending on desired use.
I wish TH-cam's comments function allowed sharing image - it would be easier to show than tell! Hopefully that was helpful.
Ok, so I did all this, I installed h240 hba and now I can't get post. If I pull it out I can get into the OS. But I get this error and I have googled the heck out of this trying to find a solution. So I can't even get into bios I get this error.
Slot ?? HPE Smart HBA HAUController
(256M8, v6.88) 0Logical Drives
Hardware RAID support is disabled via controller NVRAM configuration setti
1805-Slot 22 Dri ve Array- Cache Module Super-Cap is not installed:
IMPORTANT: Unsupported Configuration: Cache Module
functionality is limited.
Action: Install the Super-Cap to remove these limitations.
@@qem888 I am sorry to hear you are having issues with your H240 HBA.
The error message you're encountering indicates that there's a problem related to the RAID controller cache module. The system is reporting that the Cache Module Super-Cap (super capacitor) is not installed in Slot 22 of the Drive Array. The cache module is important for enhancing the performance and reliability of the RAID setup.
However, I do not believe my H240 HBA has the Super-Cap module either. Checking online I found this post: www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/6k3fxr/hp_h240_unknown_error/
But this issue did not appear to be resolved by the OP.
At a best guess, I would conclude your H240 HBA was used in a RAID configuration with a Super-Cap module by the previous owner and now the controller is causing a POST error from the lack of the Super-Cap module, preventing your machine from reaching the BIOS when installed. A firmware reflash or firmware settings adjustment may clear the issue, but that is beyond what I have experience with.
Are you able to contact the seller of your HBA? If they are a business, they should be able to provide support and likely even modify the HBA firmware to support your end-use of data pass-through in IT mode (unless you wanted to use the H240’s hardware RAID functions?). In IT mode, the HBA essentially acts as a pass-through device, allowing the attached storage drives to be directly recognized by the operating system without any hardware-level RAID or caching functionality.
If your seller can’t provide any help to clear the issue, I would recommend that you send TheArtOfServer a message (he is on TH-cam and on Ebay): www.ebay.com/str/theartofserver He specialises in server hardware and I would be confident that he would be able to help out, but there would be a fee for this type of service.
Hopefully it can be solved! As an example of what is needed (but note this is a risky procedure since it can brick the HBA if an error occurs): www.truenas.com/community/threads/how-to-flashing-lsi-sas-hba-controller-efi-uefi.78457/
@@qem888 I am sorry to hear you are having issues with your H240 HBA.
The error message you're encountering indicates that there's a problem related to the RAID controller cache module. The system is reporting that the Cache Module Super-Cap (super capacitor) is not installed in Slot 22 of the Drive Array. The cache module is important for enhancing the performance and reliability of the RAID setup.
However, I do not believe my H240 HBA has the Super-Cap module either. Checking online I found this post: www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/6k3fxr/hp_h240_unknown_error/
But this issue did not appear to be resolved by the OP.
At a best guess, I would conclude your H240 HBA was used in a RAID configuration with a Super-Cap module by the previous owner and now the controller is causing a POST error from the lack of the Super-Cap module, preventing your machine from reaching the BIOS when installed. A firmware reflash or firmware settings adjustment may clear the issue, but that is beyond what I have experience with.
Are you able to contact the seller of your HBA? If they are a business, they should be able to provide support and likely even modify the HBA firmware to support your end-use of data pass-through in IT mode (unless you wanted to use the H240’s hardware RAID functions?). In IT mode, the HBA essentially acts as a pass-through device, allowing the attached storage drives to be directly recognized by the operating system without any hardware-level RAID or caching functionality.
Hopefully it can be solved! As an example of what is needed (but note this is a risky procedure since it can brick the HBA also if an error occurs): www.truenas.com/community/threads/how-to-flashing-lsi-sas-hba-controller-efi-uefi.78457/
Running a Z440 Here
Xeon 22 core @ 2.2ghz
128GB DDR4
RTX 3090TI
1000 WATT CUSTOM PSU (With Adapters)
and 2 x 8TB SSD's (Samsung)
A MONSTER in 4K gaming.
That's a nice system you have there. The RTX 3090Ti is a solid addition. How are you finding the 22 Core CPU speeds for 4K gaming? My e5-2697 V3's held up well for 4K gaming with a RTX3090 Ti, with their boost speeds being between 2.9GHz to 3.6GHz. Nice, the Samsung 8TB SSDs are well and truly retiring HDDs.lol
@@racerrrz CPU idles at 1.9ghz and normal usage 2.2ghz
But second I play cyberpunk or star citizen etc it vamps up to 3.6ghz turbo boost.
So all good
3090ti can just about fit... but also have to use 2 adapters for it as well lol
@@xMandalorex Nice! My E5-2697 V3's tend to cap out around 2.9GHz in titles like Cyberpunk. These Xeons remain impressive - despite their age they continue to play modern titles at 4K 60 FPS without capping out!
The RTX3090 Ti is a worth wild upgrade. Mine lives on the 24GB of VRAM limit daily and despite the workloads it never crashes. I am also impressed with the good thermals - mine hovers around 55'C and basically never goes much higher than 63'C. Exceptional cooler on the 3090 Ti.
@@xMandalorex Nice! Getting to 3.6Ghz sure does iron-out any clock speed troubles during high load tasks. Adding in some extra performance from the RTX 3090ti could be worth wild, but they are a little more power hungry. They do manage to handle 4K gaming a bit better. The RTX 4080 could be a solid option also, pending prices and the power output on your PSU.
The PSU is a 1600 Watt so got plenty! pain in the ass to fit that though as it's HEAVY the 3090ti runs 4k in some games ok but i think we'll be hitting the limits on gpu if we get a 4090? lol because it's MASSIVE and i think the 4090 is a 16 pin connector? so i'll have to buy more adapters.
Still pc will last me a good while anyway long as it does what i need it to do.
I might move to the HP ZG4/8 Series at some point. @@racerrrz
Have you looked into the HP Z840? that can hold TWO processors so imagine two cpu's @ 22 cores each and i believe it can also hold 512gb of ram.. total madness.
One day buy Z420
I hope you'll find a well priced item!
Stupid question can you use a z420 on a 4k monitor
That's not silly at all. Most modern GPUs will handle 4K 60FPS without too much complaint. I have used a 4k monitor with my Z420 with a GTX 970. It worked well enough, but it does run out of steam on demanding gaming titles. Make sure to pair it with a high boost clock CPU for the best performance (e.g. Xeon E5 2697 v2). Which GPU were you planning on using?
Hey Racerrz,
Can I upgrade my TPM from 1.2 to 2.0 in Z420? Is there any method available in terms of software or hardware wise? Please explain it to us!
Hey Wasif, I presume you are asking for a reason? Win 11 maybe? The Z420 is not going to be able to update to TPM 2.0 due to hardware age, and even with a work-around, the hardware will be too old to fully support the specification.
HP has a full list of TPM updates here: support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05792935
The Z420 isn't listed because they are more aged. The Z240 is listed and has the option of TPM 1.2 and 2.0.
Now, regarding what it is. Think of Trusted Platform Module (TPM) as a hardware 'safe' on the motherboard - a secure box (computer chip technically) where you can place sensitive codes that validate the hardware (things like Secure Boot, Data Authentication and Encryption etc.). Over time the hardware chip specification gets updated with more features and better encryption (thus limiting older motherboards because their TPM chip is dated). Windows 11, as an example, needs TPM 2.0 to fully support it's new security features.
I wonder if Nvidia Tesla P40 can work with HP z440? In specification they recommend K40.
Hi there.
Yes, the HP Z440 workstation can support a NVIDIA P40 GPU (which will need ~250 watts to run optimally), but you will require an adapter cable to convert the 2x 6-pins to 1x 8-pin for GPU power.
The HP Z440 is a capable workstation that can easily accommodate high-performance GPUs like the P40 or even other never GPUs (RTX 3070 etc.; but 6-pin to 8-pin adapters are needed).
The Z440 was released around 2014 and the P40 is closer to 2016 - likely the HP documentation doesn’t mention the P40 due to being a newer edition GPU vs the K40 which was era matched (2014 ish).
Hey, quick question for the HP Z440: can i use any type ddr4 ram or does it have to be a type of special ecc server ram? Thanks!
Hi. For the Z440 your options will be limited to a max speed of 2133MHz or 2400 MHz of DDR4 ECC Registered Server memory.
The memory type that suits the system is dependent on the CPUs that are supported by the motherboard. For the Z440 only Xeons from the Haswell and Broadwell generations are supported and they require server memory. The Z240 is a little different in that it can support both Intel Desktop and Server CPUs in the same motherboard - but even there the Xeon CPU options require server memory.
@@racerrrz Thanks for the reply. Another quick question: can I just use two sticks and would that be considered dual channel ram? Should I place 2 on the right 4 dimm slots or 1 on the right 4 dimms and 1 on the left 4 dims?
@@Ramble1234 The most optimal configuration for the RAM can be found in the HP manual. In a quick search I tracked this version: www.manualslib.com/manual/891915/Hp-Z440.html?page=18#manual . There is a very specific load order on these systems which helps optimize the performance of the Xeon CPU.
The most optimal configuration is to have all the DIMM slots filled with memory. Two RAM modules should work if you place them in the slots furthest away from the CPU, but it doesn't appear to be a supported configuration in the Z440's manual. Make sure to update the BIOS to the latest version also - that should help with improving your upgrade process. I have 4 modules in mine, all populating the black DIMM slots.
At 49:19 that is a pretty neat case swap the only thing I do have to say is has anyone case swapped the Hp Z440? How so can they do it?
Thank you. I have basically got the case swap done, but the video is still a little while off. I am not aware of any Z440 case swaps (or at least none documented on TH-cam), but I can't see any reason why it can't be done. The same issues will present where not all of the ATX motherboard standoffs will match with the HP Z440 motherboard's positions. I have run into other issues with my Z240 case swap, mainly the CPU cooler is not clearing the Lian Li case side cover (Lian Li PC-O11; it was meant to allow 155mm CPU coolers but it's not working! haha). I'll have to see if I can find shorter motherboard standoffs, or just go without the case lid and get the biggest cooler I can find...
@@racerrrz I hope so I remember commenting this a while ago but honestly nowadays the Hp Z4 G4 might be better to case swap.
@@EliezYT The HP Z4 G4 will be the more recent spec but they tend to still cost quite a bit and upgrades still prove expensive. If you can source a machine for a good price, maybe one that's not running (like PSU issues; perfect case swap candidate!), then that would make it very viable over the Z440. My only hesitation would be the added cost to get one running. When I priced up a HP Z8 G4 that could get close to my Z840 I had to spend about 4x the amount I put into the Z840 (this was back in April 2022).
Doing a quick ebay scan:
HP Z440 (e5-2680 V4 14Core, 64GB RAM, 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD, M4000 GPU) = 947.86 USD
HP Z4 G4 (W-2295 18Core, 64GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Quadro NVS310 = 1509.88 USD.
(Both not including shipping or taxes).
Give or take ~2x the cost. Keep in mind the Z4 G4 will have a faster CPU and faster RAM, so quite possible if you have the cash on hand.
I am quite happy with my Z240 Case Swap. I'll see where the limits on it are soon enough, and I am hoping to put the Z240 through some benchmarks and game tests for a video.
@@racerrrz In your Reddit community I posted a link to what I found on the Hp Z440 case swap which seems like the answer.
@@EliezYT Nice find! It looks like a good summary of the common challenges with a case swap. On the Reddit page, right down the bottom I have a data table that I update with any parts that I run into. I have a link there to the HP Z440's PSU adapter (ATX converter; ATX 24Pin to 18Pin + 8pin to 12pin power adapter). I'll bookmark a video idea - general case swap guide. The most challenging part of the case swap will be the power button wiring, resolving BIOS/posting errors (I just hit F1 to bypass!), and getting your motherboard happy with inputs - like the thermal sensor for fan speed control. The rear I/O plate may not be easy to do if there are no options on marketplaces. e.g. I have not found a Z240 rear I/O plate.
Lol, my SSD hangs out of my Z440 the exact same way…
I am glad to hear I am not the only one with exceptional SSD mounting skills.lol. My best one yet was gaining perfect geometry with an Apacer Panther SSD tilted at 45 degrees to simulate the panther leaping. The effect was quite striking when the case fans rammed up and made the SSD float around (around 0:50sec here: th-cam.com/video/D9uYjdXOnKM/w-d-xo.html .lol)
@@racerrrzlooked good to me! Have you ever case swapped a Z440? I’ve done just about everything you can do to upgrade a Z440 except the processor, which is next, and potentially the case
You are in the right place, because I have case swapped my Z440 and I have filmed the process. I also posted the motherboard pinouts recently: www.reddit.com/r/HSpecWorkstations/comments/16mffe4/hp_z440_front_io_pinout/. I am a bit slow with the video editing (I have 7 hours of raw footage to cut down to ~20min, who knew filming a case swap could make it all take so long lol). The best I have for now is a short video of the Z440 case swap: th-cam.com/video/6szIfBMfDLs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Yo65iRRctZymC1Wc . Hands-down, the case swap gave me the best possible outcome for my Z440. All 6 PCIe slots are in use, I have over 60TB of HDD space and it's all housed in the Fractal Define 7XL case.
@@racerrrz I’ll check it out, thank you! BTW, video editing is fun (when you don’t have to do it) lol. At least that’s how it’s always been for me.
dear friend , can you explain me how the memory ram have 2666 mhz can work in z440 , because the max clock speed of ram is 2400 mhz ?
Hi there. You are correct, the Z440's range of CPUs are limited to either 2166MHz (V3 CPUs) or 2400MHz (V4 CPUs). The 2666MHz memory is compatible with the V4 CPUs but it will clock down to 2400MHz. This makes it a more future-proof upgrade since most of the newer HP Z Workstations can use 2666MHz also. But yes, the speed limit remains in place and it's not cost effective to run fast memory in a slow system.
Hola señor, es esta fuente de alimentación. Es compatible con otros modelos de ordenadores HP. aparte de HP Z400
DPS-475CB-1A 475W
Hola. Please check my reply below. Nos vemos
@@racerrrz I want to try it . match the cables for use in a dell optiplex 7010 . Do you know where I can find more information on how to do it?
What is the power draw at the socket for the Z440 when idle? What is the draw when fully active?
That will vary a bit pending the CPU fitted in the machine and operating conditions. As an example, the E5-2697 V3 uses ~20W to 120W during normal use in Windows 10 (its TDP is 145 W). It usually sits around 60W-80W during normal use. So heavy on the power when fully loaded, but reasonable during normal use.
Are the hard drive mounting rails standard? ie. 3rd party ones like coolermaster ones work?
Hi Meng. The HP Workstations have proprietary HDD caddies. I believe it will be difficult to find a 3rd party HDD caddy that will fit unless they were designed for the HP workstations. Each range of workstation (Z2xx, Z4xx, Z6xx, Z8xx etc.) have their own system for mounting the drives. I can switch HDD between a Z800 and the Z840, but not from a Z420 into the Z840 (not without changing the caddy), as an example. The option that could work is the 5.25" Bay adapters (Like the Olmaster Adapter that I used here: th-cam.com/video/VCQYljpl5Ec/w-d-xo.html ). The 5.25"Bay is standardized. The Z420 could take a 3 x 5.25" Slot adapter - like the Icy Dock FlexCage MB973SP-2B 5.25-inch HDD Bay, but there are many other options also.
Grabbed a z640 for £350 speced out this week, is that good?
Nice job! They are rare for me on my local market place. Yes, the Z640 is solid value at that price - pending the hardware that it came with. I can recommend the E5-2687W V4 or E5-2697 V4 or E5-2696 V4 CPUs as the best applications in the Z640. What are your plans for the machine? They handle most situations without trouble.
I am planning to buy HP Z420 with 1650 v2, 16 gb ddr3 ram and RX 5500XT 8gb.
The whole deal costs me 215 USD.
Is it a good deal for a gaming/editing pc?
Hi Wasif. Yes with the GPU in there that will be a solid machine. The e5-1650 V2 is decent, but if you find you need more performance you could upgrade that pending cash. The E5-2687w v2 is one of the best for the Z420. DDR3 RAM is cheap, you could aim to get a little more (64GB is solid for editing).
The only downside to the Z420 is age. If you can find one, the Z440 is the better value at this stage, but you may not find one cheap. The Z420 could be a good starting point, especially if you can sell that system again, maybe without the GPU. (You could slot in a Quadro K600 or so for resale). Then upgrade later.
@@racerrrz thank you for your swift response. I dropped the plan of buying z440 because of buying from the used market. It will be a huge loss for me if it malfunctions in future.
My only concern right now is 5500xt 8gb msi mech. It is a 128 bit card. I want to do 1080p video editing in da Vinci. Will the combination give me a satisfying performance?
@@wasifshabbir2432 Both the Z420 and the Z440 will be a super reliable machines. The most common failure point is the PSU, but they are relatively cheap to replace. The Z440 is the more powerful option and adds some future proofing, but the cost goes up! I still use a Z420 daily for light tasks, great value machine.
The GPU will be touch and go and there will be limits on what you can do. For just editing 1080p footage, the 5500XT 8GB will handle the task. Rendering will take some time but it should get there (keep videos shorter if you can - 10-20min, longer might mean crashes become more frequent).
If you add in any effects you will run into issues (e.g. noise reduction, green screen removal, AI object tracking etc.). Off memory, the free version of DaVinci Resolve does not include effects, but if you go for the paid version and you want to make use of the extra functionality then you may want to work towards a more powerful GPU. I found 24GB of VRAM a must for my videos but I aim to add extra effects which are quite taxing on my system. The worst I have had it was when rendering this Z4x0 review video. It took ~ 6hours to render and failed several times due to insufficient VRAM (I had 12GB). I have since found ways to compartmentalize the editing process to reduce rendering time but it means applying effects in batches instead of having everything processed in the final render.
@@racerrrz let me tell you what I want to do with the z420 machine:
-Wordpress blogging (Mostly)
-Video Editing: Opening a TH-cam channel (Use only stock footages and desktop recordings, make 5-10 minutes long videos)
-1080p Gaming (eSports, rdr2, forza, gtav, etc)
-Streaming Rarely (if it can handle)
I don't know such things about video editing that you have said. I have researched on internet that da Vinci is the best free software for beginners and RX 5500xt takes a lot of time in video rendering.
Should I stay with 5500xt or go with 1660 super? Or one more option of RX 590 sapphire nitro+ blue edition.
@@wasifshabbir2432 The Z420 should handle that workload well. 1080p gaming will be no issue, but I found that recording gameplay on the same machine that is being used to create the footage doesn't work so well. You need to drop settings a decent amount to allow the footage to be recorded in the background.
I initially built a Z420 in a gaming case to be a secondary capture machine and I paired it with the Elgato 4K Pro capture card. However, you need a decent GPU to manage 4K footage (I aimed to record 4K gameplay) and I only had a GTX 970 at the time for that (it does not do 4K well).
In terms of GPU, I would go for the 5500XT (GTX1660 Super is solid also but likely costs more). The 5500XT / 1660 Super memory is faster than the RX 590 which will come in handy. The 1660 Super has only 6GB VRAM which makes it less useful. The RX 590 might render slightly faster but overall the 5500XT should be a stable GPU for your needs.
Don't worry about the advanced editing options just yet, but keep them in mind. As you become more confident with DaVinci Resolve you'll find you will need more hardware performance - but take your time to get there. I upgrade my system each time I find something that slows my process. Right now my editing process is running smoothly and I hope it will stay like that!
Hello sir, is this power supply. It is compatible with other models of HP computers. apart from hp z400
DPS-475CB-1A 475W
Hi there. The simple answer is no. The Z400's power supply is best suited to the Z400 motherboard. The complicated answer is yes. The power supply can be rewired to suit any PC but it would require checking the pin-outs carefully and matching them with your target motherboard. Generally it would be easier to get a new PSU or one that matches your system. Which HP computer do you want the Z400 PSU to run?
Hp Z240. An dell optiplex 7010
@@elcapi2280 What was your end goal for the machine / PSU swap? It would technically be possible to adapt the PSU to work but it would require some research. The easiest way I can think of to do something like this would be to adapt the Z400 PSU to ATX power (with an adapter), and convert the Z240 or Optiplex 7010 to ATX power (with an adapter), and then get a male to male ATX power joiner to join all into one circuit. But that turns into a lot of wire mess! Doing a quick search I tracked this which you will find useful: linustechtips.com/topic/987783-optiplex-70109010-front-io-panel-pinout/ But I do not see much on the Dell 7010 (mostly 7020).
@@racerrrz Get the hp z400 power supply working on a dell optiplex 7010.modify the 24 pin cable. it works perfectly.
18 AWG 6 pin female to 8 pin male would be sufficient to power rx 580 pulse?
Yes you should be able to power the RX 580 pulse with the single 6-pin from your Z420 PSU.
You need a single 6-pin female to single 8-pin male converter. The x16 PCIe slot (Slot #2) on the Z420 will be ideal for the GPU and with the 6-pin to 8-pin adapter you'll have enough power to meet the ~ 225W max needs (~150W from the 6-pin and 75W from the slot, but the 6-pin is capable of delivering more than 150W if there were power spikes etc.).
@@racerrrz thank you! One more thing, my 3 sticks are from samsung and 1 from HP but all 4 are 8gigs, 1600mhz, Rdimm pc3l 12800r, 2Rx4. Would there be any performance issue as 3 from samsung and 1 from HP. Btw I inserted them into all 4 black slots first.
@@wasifshabbir2432 No, you should be ok on performance if they are all the same specifications. The most important aspect to check is the CAS Latency which should ideally be the same (they are likely all CL11). The black slots will give you the most optimal memory configuration. If you haven't already, the HP technical whitenotes on the Z420 will be handy to download. The "HP Z420 Memory Configurations
and Optimization" document is one of the first to check - especially if you end up getting more memory eventually etc.
Whatever you do- do NOT buy a Z230 workstation! I bought one a few years back to use as my main driver. I fully regret doing so, I should've done more research. The Z200 line of computers is outdated and overpriced.
Hi there. I am sorry to hear you had a negative experience with a Workstation! You are correct that the Z230 is dated with its technology (4th Gen Intel, DDR3 RAM, 1x PCIe 3.0 slot). I would hope you didn't over pay too much. I obtained a Z240 (7th Gen Intel, 2133MHz DDR4 RAM, PCIe 3.0, 1x NVMe slot; also dated by today's standards) for ~$200 USD. In my experience the ability to create a high core workstation for a "low price" pulled me in. My Z840 has 28 Cores and 52 Threads (2x Xeon e5-2697v3's), 256GB DDR4 RAM etc. and the entire machine with its hardware (second-hand; minus GPU) cost less than a new Ryzen Threadripper 3970X CPU (32 Core, 64 Threads). The Z840's hardware is aged, but it performs well (all my videos are rendered on my Z840).
How long is your export/render times?
@@TheCrooksandCastle Hi there. It really depends on the load I place on the GPU with DaVinci Resolve. The most intensive processing is a noise reduction filter. A 40min 4k H.265 video takes ~2hours to render with just that effect on (compared to ~20minutes without the effect). The longest render time to-date was this Z440/Z420/Z400 video which took 7 hours to render but this was for the full video with all effects and processing. I aim to avoid that load now because once the GPU reaches 12GB of VRAM in-use DaVinci crashes and I loose the render (I have ~128GB virtual memory / RAM there but I presume the memory speeds are too slow to match the GPU requirement when in full use).
@@racerrrz
Re: "do NOT buy a Z230 workstation!"
AGREED!
PCI slots are almost totally / 100% OBSOLETE. 32 bits @ 33 MHz ~= 1,056 Mbps
1,056 / 8 = 132 MBps a/k/a ATA-133
A single x1 PCIe 1.0a expansion slot has a raw clock rate of 2.5Gbps, i.e. almost TWICE the raw bandwidth of a single PCI expansion slot.
Also, PCIe Gen1 and Gen2 both used the old 8b/10b "legacy frame": 1 start bit + 8 data bits + 1 stop bit = 10 bits per byte. 2.5G / 10 = 250 MBps MAX HEADROOM.
PCIe Gen3 increased the clock to 8G and implemented a 128b/130b "jumbo frame" -- both of which became the standard for PCIe chipsets ever since.
This paved the way for storage devices to "sync" with chipsets e.g. M.2 x4 PCIe 3.0 sockets.
The Z240 Tower has an optional PCB that adds a PCI slot at the bottom of the motherboard.
We used that space to install a Vantec dual slot fan there: works great!
I can purchase a z440 cheap but it has no 6 pin plug for my 6 pin pcie gpu , Is it possible to use a generic psu with an adapter ?
Hi there. Yes it is possible!
I have done this and more on my Z440 case swap. I opted for a 750W PSU but it was more power than what I needed for my Z440. I have links in the video description of related video for the cables that I used in my system to power the new PSU: th-cam.com/video/K4RalaEbRI4/w-d-xo.html .
Note, if you wish to fit a new PSU in the Z440's stock case there may be some mounting holes that do not align.
This picture would give you some idea of the issue:
imgbox.com/2qVVgbXd
@@racerrrz Awesome 💯 subbed 😊
@@pagey007 Thank you for the support!
If you run into any issues with the upgrade just leave a message and I can help troubleshoot.
@@racerrrz It has a 600 watt psu ,What are your thoughts on using a molex to 6 pin adapter?
@@pagey007 That will usually not deliver enough power but it depends on the GPU you are trying to fit.
A PCIe slot delivers 75W and the GPU 6-pins typically deliver 75W and 8-pins deliver 150W. HP over-engineers their GPU 6-pin cables so that it can deliver 216W max (12 Volts at 18 Amps = 216W).
The molex cables are only rated for safely delivering ~50W (5V wire) - 130W (12V wire) per connector, but their max power would depend on the 12V rail that's supplying them (so volts multiplied by amps as indicated on the actual PSU's sticker for that wire).
If your GPU was rated to say 300W with 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin you could power the 8-pin with the PSU's 6-pin cable using a 6-pin to 8-pin adapter. The remaining 6-pin could be powered by a 2x molex to 1x 6-pin adapter (75W from slot, 216W from 6-pin, ~130W from dual molex), but this is generally not recommended because modern GPUs have transient power spikes. e.g. my RTX 3090 Ti is rated to 450W but others have measured transient spikes as high as 670W! Hence, it's best to leave as much over-head as possible to avoid burning-out your PSU.
As an example, in my old Z800 I powered a GTX970 using a dual 6-pin to 8-pin and two molex to 6-pin connector without issue.
To run sapphire nitro+ rx 590
Can I use the combination of:
Dual 6 pin to 8 pin + dual sata to 6 pin
Hi Wasif.
The simple answer:
No, that combination isn't recommended because the sata power cable normally only delivers ~54W.
The more complex answer:
Yes, it is technically possible (I am actually doing that on a Z420 to power a GTX 970, but I am using a 1000W Seasonic PSU - 2x 6-pins into 1x 8-pin and 2x sata power cables into 1x 6-pin).
Each 6-pin is rated to 75W (except for the HP PSU 6-pin, they deliver up to 216W (12V @ 18Amps = 216W, on most models), each 8 pin is normally rated to 150W. The sapphire nitro+ rx 590 requires 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin (so 150W + 75W, but keep in mind the PCIe slot can provide up to 75W also). Checking online the sapphire nitro+ rx 590 can use up to ~220W.
Combining 2x 6-pins to 1x 8-pin and 2x independent sata power cables (so two separate SATA power connections from the PSU - not combining two SATA power ports from one SATA power cable) can in theory cover the power requirements. There is a safety risk though because the sata power cables are not designed to carry high current.
To conclude, the best solution if you have a HP PSU is to convert each 6-pin to 1x 8-pin (6+2pin ideal; I am doing this on my Z840 to power a RTX 3090 Ti, 3x 6-pins to 3x 8pins). Just make sure your PSU output on the 6-pin is 12V @ 18Amps (check the PSU sticker), if it is less this method may not work and can burn out components in your PSU.
@@racerrrz One more option, Sapphire Rx 580 pulse edition. Its has only one 8-pin. Can I run it as the website mentioned its power consumption is
I will receive my z420 model today but without gpu for time being. You said 6 pin of few hp models' psu provide 215w. How to check this? If i findout that one available, would i able be run rx 590?
@@wasifshabbir2432 Check your PSU model number on the side of your Z420 PSU.
There is normally a sticker that will specify the output on each cable from the PSU (the sticker is somewhat complex but normally there should be something like a label that states "V12 G1-18A", meaning cable G1 (6-pin) which is rated to 12V and can supply up to 18Amps).
The 215W is theoretical max but I doubt the PSU can safely produce that. But the 6-pin should output 150W safely which is what a 8-pin normally requires. One 6-pin will not be able to power both a 8-pin and a 6-pin (I doubt an adapter exists for that also). Hopefully your PSU has 2x 6-pins. Mine only had 1x 6-pin and hence I switched in a ATX PSU (1000W Seasonic with an ATX to Z420 power adapter).
@@wasifshabbir2432 @Wasif Shabbir If there is only one 8-pin on the GPU then that should work with a 6-pin to 8-pin converter cable. Keep in mind the PCIe slot will provide some of the power (e.g. 75W from PCIe + 150W from 8-Pin = 225W max).
I have two V2 Z420s. What are the fastest processors I can install into each of these?
Hi there. I am sure the Z420's will serve you well. The most optimal CPU for the Z420 will depend on your end use for the machine.
If you are just looking for core clock speed something like the 6 Core Intel Xeon E5-1660 v2 with 3.7GHz Base and 4GHz Boost is decent and cheap.
A more expensive but higher core count CPU is the 8 Core Intel Xeon E5-2687W v2 (3.4GHz Base, 4GHz Boost).
If you just want all out cores at a high clock speed the 12 Core Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 is a solid option with 2.7GHz Base and 3.5GHz Boost.
Check Intel's webpage for more "Ivy Bridge EP" CPU options (link may break over time: ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/68926/products-formerly-ivy-bridge-ep.html ). The Z420 V2 is ideally matched with the E5-16xx V2 or E5-26xx V2 CPUs. Make sure to update your BIOS to the latest version also to ensure the best CPU compatibility.
@@racerrrz thanks for the quick reply. I’ve had these computers for years and they’re great. I recently was experiencing slowdowns so I bumped up the ram. One computer had 16 the other 32, now both are running at 48 or higher. At this, I’m doing a lot of video processing so I realized after the RAM upgrade that the CPU became the bottleneck. I have already ordered one cpu, a 2667, which is an 8-core and one of the fastest listed for my PCs. I plan to buy another, so zI can update both PCs. My specific question to you wasn’t really answered, and that is, can these V2 PCs run the 10-core and 12-core CPUs without issue? I ask because it appears you have done so, although the HP info page for my PCs doesn’t specifically mention any CPUs above 8-core.
@@livemeyer Great job on the troubleshooting there. Once you start editing video you really discover those bottlenecks! I am quite happy with my 256GB of RAM right now, but even then if the project is large enough I manage to push up to ~230GB of RAM in use! What software are you using? I can recommend DaVinci Resolve - very powerful.
It helps to know the end use and for video editing I can recommend for you to lean towards my setup - aim for the highest core count with the highest clock speed - which for my Z840 (does all my video editing) ended up being the E5-2697 V3's (V4's fit the Z840 but they were pricey when I made my upgrade).
Regarding the CPUs, I stand by my answer, any of the E5-26xx V2 CPUs will work well in the V2 motherboard. Most of the HP documentation was written around the time of release for the system, and thus they were not always updated. The latest BIOS update may specify which CPUs are supported.
As some proof of concept, check out UserBenchMark "User Benches" - I often check there to see what the most popular configurations are or what the most powerful configurations are for a given system (and yes, I am aware of the bad rep. / Intel bias on UserBenchMark).
Z420 with E5-2667 V2: www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/61548809
Z420 with E5-2690 V2: www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/61515938
Z420 with E5-2697 V2: www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/51048111
I would recommend making the CPU decision based on pricing also. Often the E5-2690 V2 or E5-2697's V2 are really expensive (likely due to being rare). The E5-2667 V2 seems popular on UserBenchMark and it has a high clock speed - albeit with lower cores. A quick look on Amazon suggests that all three are priced around the same point ~$50USD. You might be able to source them cheaper though.
Also, don't overlook GPU VRAM. I found that to be the biggest bottleneck in my process but right now it's smooth operation.
@racerrrz So the 2667 wouldn't post in one of my Z420's but it's running great in the other one. I've read that the z420 can have either a V1 or V2 motherboard and that the V1 won't allow some CPUs to work, i.e. the 2667 and higher 8-core, 10-core and 12-core processors. What I haven't found out is how to determine what motherboard this one has. Are you supposed to physically look at the mobo somewhere? Or can you find the serial number or part number electronically? If I have to look for it physically, where is it located?
@@livemeyer You have more or less confirmed the challenge with the Z420's CPU compatibility. I briefly mentioned this early in the Z420 segment in the video. In terms of Z420 motherboard CPU options, the motherboard version will determine what specification of CPU you can support:
P/N: 619557-001 can support E5-16xx V1 or E5-26xx V1
P/N: 708615-001 can support E5-16xx V2 or E5-26xx V2
I mentioned the part numbers in the video but I didn’t point out where to find the part number sticker.
The best quick capture of the part number sticker I could spot was at 25:50 (pause there - the sticker is a large white one that will have one of the two P/N’s.
If the E5-2667 CPU you have is V1 then that is a different issue. It should work just fine but there may be need to update the BIOS to the latest version if it isn't functioning as expected.
How would i go about getting 750w psu (hp) with an 18pin mobo connection that wont reach installed? Any ideas?
Z440. I'm trying to get a Rtx 3070 installed.
@@ajartaslife Hi. Is it the 18Pin mobo power adapter that has ended up too short or the 6-pin GPU power supply? I presume the 18-pin cable.
Obvious things: Can you reroute the cable or modify the case to give better access?
The challenge: Extending the 18-pin cable will be a bit more of a challenge because I doubt that there are any adapters to give you more reach on the 18-Pin cable. There is only one method which would be to cut and extend each wire in the loom, which requires soldering, heat shrink and patience. If you systematically cut one wire at a time, solder in extra wire and then heat shrink, it will leave you with less scope for error.
Quicker solution: The easier solution would be to sell the HP 750PSU and get 18-Pin to 24-Pin ATX adapter cables and a suitable ATX PSU. I am using a Deepcool 750W (DQ750-M-V2L) in my Z240 case swap and I am hunting for a PSU for my Z440 case swap. I made a data table of the parts I have used here: www.reddit.com/r/HSpecWorkstations/comments/v7dek1/hspec_data_table/ , the Z440 ATX cable description / amazon search link is there also in case that is of use to you.
@RACERRRZ everything fits except the 18pin over to the motherboard... that chord just won't reach. Was hoping there was a simple extension I could buy, but that would be too easy. Lol. What 750w psu is known to meet the form factor of the z440? Shipping this one back because I'm at my wits end.
Z440 user here with an RTX 3090TI installed + 1000 watt psu with adapters 24-pin to 18-pin@@ajartaslife
@@xMandalorex can you post some photos of ATX PSU instalation to z440 case?
does nvme booting work in z420/z820?
Hi Gurukant. The simple answer is no, the Zx20 range of Workstations did not support booting from PCIe in the BIOS (not even in the most recent BIOS Update). The more complication answer is that there are ways to get the Zx20 series to boot from PCIe NVMes. I have tested this "hack/work-around" on my Z420 but I never had success (I tried to get an internal USB port to boot to the NVMe boot loader). With some patience and testing it should be possible. Example link: h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Updated-quot-Add-NVME-as-Boot-Drive-using-DUET-REFIND-method/td-p/7745966
@@racerrrz appreciate it bro. loving your videos.
@@gurukantdesai4225 Thank you for the feedback! I am glad you are enjoying the videos. The next one is in process (Z240 Motherboard case swap) but the editing process comes with challenges, like powercuts! (expect a future video on why a UPS could be of use! lol)
We custom-ordered a Z240 Tower from "PC Server and Parts" in Michigan, USA, and they pre-installed Windows 10 Pro x64 on an NVMe SSD installed in the M.2 socket at the lower right corner of that motherboard. You could always ask them if a similar configuration will boot the Z420 and Z820 from an NVMe SSD, e.g. using an M.2-to-x4 PCIe 3.0 adapter. Highpoint are also selling a variety of bootable PCIe 3.0 RAID cards now, e.g. supporting both 4 x M.2 and 2 x M.2. We have had lots of success using the "Migrate OS" feature in the Partition Wizard software. Typically the motherboard BIOS needs to be changed to boot from such a RAID add-in card.
An hp workstation *
Ahhh, I see you are skilled in every nuance of grammar. You are the first to successfully point out a nuance detail that has gone unnoticed, until now! Thank you!