HP Z820 Motherboard & NVMe Compatibility?

[JohnBA]

Hello,

I currently have an HP Z800 with dual physical processors.  They are Intel Xeon 6 cores + hyperthreading.  It yields 24 effective cores including the 12 virtual ones.  It is not compatible with NVMe, and therefore it will not work with the Intel 750 1.2 TB SSD Add in Card.  To solve this problem, I am seriously considering swapping out the HP Z800 mother board for the HP Z820 mother boad.

Do any of you know if:

1) An HP Z820 motherboard will fit into the HP Z800 case?  I know the back panel will require some minor modification, my main concerns are general fitment.

2) Will the RAM, Processors, Power Supply, and Liquid Cooling System from the HP Z800 work with the HP Z820 motherboard?  I know the HP Z800 processors use 3 channels for RAM, and the HP Z820 uses 4.  Are the Intel 6 channel + hyperthreading able to use 4 channels of RAM, or will they just ignore the extra channel?

3) Is the HP Z820 motherboard compatible with NVMe?

I am hoping that swapping out the HP Z800 motherboard with the HP Z820 motherboard will permit the use of the Intel 750 1.2 TB SSD Add In Card that works with NVMe. The added benefit will be increasing speed in other areas.

Any knowledgeable input will be greatly appreciated!

Best, John

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Unless you know how to boot Windows 7 in UEFI mode then NVMe is a moot point.

BTW---very few motherboards ever get swapped on the consumer forum since a new Windows license is generally required.

[JohnBA]

Thanks for your comments here Dave.

Great heads up about the booting issue.  Fortunately, I am not trying to do this work myself.  I have an excllent tech (owns a top rated repair shop) who is doing the work for me.  That said, he was the one that let me know there was a serious compatibility issue between the HP Z800 and the Intel 750 SSD.  My efforts here are to try and figure out the best resolution so we can move forward.

At the very least it appears that moving to Windows 10 will be required to support the Intel 750 SSD with NVMe.  I should be ok with licensing, because it is actually the case that is stamped (stickered) with the licence, and I am keeping the same case.

I have an open ticket with Intel Tech Support to work out the 750 SSD questions from that side, and since they were the ones who said the HP Z800 does not support NVMe, they should also be able to tell me of the HP Z820 does.  I am hoping they can also answer the questions about the Xeon 6 core processors 3 vs. 4 channels of Ram usage while they are on the line!

As this is an HP machine, it made sense to me that checking with you guys should be done first.  If however you are "stumped" I will continue working the problem through Intel.  I really appreciate your efforts!

Best,

John

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

You might want to review these HP Quick Specifications.  PCIe version 3 is supported which is good.

I don't see support for W10.  W8.1 is supported.  I suspect W10 would work although some drivers may be needed.

These specifications indicate 4 memory channels of DDR3 per CPU.

HP does offer a Z Turbo option for Z820.  This information states NVMe support for Z Turbo.

HP is known for not publishing information BIOS functionality. I haven't looked at the BIOS documentation but if it's like most then there might be any mention of NVMe support.

[JohnBA]

Hello Dave,

I really appreciate this input.

Intel should be able to tell me if the HP Z820 BIOS supports NVMe, so that should solve that one.

I am aware the HP Z820 uses four channels for RAM, and that the HP Z800 used 3.  My question is whether or not the Intel 6 core CPUs (two of them, which both have hyperthreading as well) from the Z800 are capable of using 4 channels of RAM, or if they will only use 3.  If the latter is the case, can the 4th channel simply be ignored and the RAM be installed into the other three channels, and how do you determine which three are correct?

It is also a question on a more basic level if the HP Z820 CPU sockets will receive the CPUs from the HP Z800.

Thoughts?

John

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

I didn't find any informational details for NVMe support for the motherboard in the Z820.  Industry wide, most manufacturers had issued a BIOS update for NVMe support. HP ? Now if the motherboard was a 2011-v3 then NVMe would more than likely be supported.  I just got rid of my 2011-v3 motherboard. The POST time of 12-14 seconds was not to my liking which was mainly due to inefficient memory training.

You had asked a question about which processor was #1 on one of your posts.  Open up your PC and look for a 1 by the processor socket.

As far and memory goes,I would keep the installed memory distributed equally between the processors and keep and dimm channels populated.  My experience with triple and quad channel memory configurations in consumer PCs indicates that while dropping a channel is not fatal but it will cause performance degradation.  More or less this would mean that memory interleaving is not optimal as an unbalanced situation would exist.

[JohnBA]

Hello Dave,

I really appreciate your willingness to dig in on this issue.  The information you have uncovered confirms what I was hoping to be the case.  I will further confirm your findings with Intel when I speak with them tomorrow.  I will also share with you what they say in the event you might find the information helpful yourself!

Thanks again,

John

[soccer_dan]

Z800 and Z820 motherboards are physically different and can not be swapped. HP added support for HP's nvme ssd card on the z820 to allow booting from it with a BIOS rev. Earlier BIOS revs allow the SSD to be seen as data drives only. The Z840 (current model) supports HP's nvme ssd cards, including the quad model as both boot and data

[Big_Dave]

@soccer_dan

Where is the documentation indicating that the 820 has NVMe support?

[soccer_dan]

typing, chewey fingers, mistake... the 20 series ONLY support Turbo Drive 1.0 (non-NVME) ssd card. 40 series support Turbo Drive 1.0 and 2.0 (nvme) ssd cards

apologies