HP Z1 Workstaion: MXM fan/heatsink

[RogerWilco]

Yeah, I couldn't find squat on the Internet either. LIke you said, they were people just guessing. I spole to an HP enginner who told me the Z1 does not restrict cards so I just gave it a shot. I also have ditched the CPU for an i5 3470S and added an Intel 520 SSD - works a treat. Somewhere else on the internet, a fellow has whacked in more than the 8GB non-ECC supported limit and works fine. I'm guessing HP only support what they have tested and are reluctant to test more.

did you have to jump through hacked ini fle hoops to get your card to work?

Yep. It wasn't being detected at all. Manually pointing to the files didn't work. The main thing with those driver mods is Nvidia not making proper drivers to cover all cards and relying on OEMs to make tweaks (internet rumour).

The drivers I used were back ion the early 300.xx last year sometime - might have changed since then.

btw, have you checked out your z1 temps using hwmonitor?

They were low. HP did make a great cooling system in the Z1! I did not that the fan speed on the lower setting causes on 1 of the 2 CPU fans to run. Not an issue so far on low. I belive the MXM fan is independent of the system fan settings and is controlled from temps from the MXM card.

hwmonitor for me doesn't work properly. My GPU and HDD don't show up. System is 28 and my CPU is 51 though.

the x-bracket on the back can be removed afaik

Yes. The HP silver plate though has one built onto it. The area the X covers on an AMD card is different to a Nvidia card by nearly 1cm. The HP plate can't site correctly where the X bracket was due to SMD transistors on the AMD card getting on the way.

Apart from that, the cards are the same shape and size and both MXM type III/b. I did loosely fit an AMD on to test if it would work but the screen on the HP is black and the system does not boot. Could have just been the way I did it though. If it would work, the X could be grinded off the plate easily enough.

Not sure if they are locked in though to Nvidia as Nvidia themselves designed the MXM cooling part in the Z1.

btw i recently posted about my install process in the hp buisness forum:

Very nice writeup. HP should state on their site that 3rd-party gear works. The Z1 is a great machine and I'm sure more people would buy it.

[aeneas1]

> two different hp tech guys told me the same thing, that there was nothing proprietray about the quadro cards hp uses in the z1, and that hp does not mess with the quadro gpu or the system bios in order to restrcit other card use, so other cards should work, but wouldn't be supported. however accoring to this hp notice announcing additional card support, it does appear that something might be going on in terms of hp doing something with video cards:

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c03697611&lang=en&cc=u...

> correct, no problem running non-ecc memory with the z1, i currently have 16gb installed and running fine.

> i hear ya about nvidia drivers not covering a lot of their cards, i think that's one reason for their new release that i mentioned, it covers a lot of different cards.

> yes, no prob switching out hard drives, i ditched the stock drive and put in two drives, one samsung ssd (for os) and one wd hybrid, very happy with the setup.

> so you also had success putting in a cpu as well? good for you. as with graphics cards and the z1, seems that there is a lot of bad info out there about this process as well.

> yes, the z1 airflow design is pretty impressive, a couple of the zones in my z1 are always at 28-30c, hard drives are always nice and cool. would like my gpu to run a little cooler, my cpu average is 45c under average use.

> gotcha on the amd bracket, makes sense.

> doubt hp would be at all interested in letting folks know that a lot of other hardware would work just fine in the z1 given its target is business/workstation use, a very specific niche. i'm guessing the way the z1 is setup when shipped makes it much easier for hp to maintain quality control and trouble shoot. btw, i will say this, it's great owning an hp business class machine given the excellent phone support you get along with it - you can always get a tech guy on the phone quickly, 24/7, who is typically knowledgeable and, in my experience, very helpful, as opposed to a sourced out tech farm that reads from bullet points and knows just the basics about the product.

[RogerWilco]

The Z1 is a great computer, that's for sure.

According to some PDF HP had up (now gone), the Intel chipset C206 support Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs just fine.

The only thing that is a negative., not HPs fault, is MXM cards cost a fortune! Esp. HP branded ones if you use those.

[aeneas1]

agree with you 100%, the z1 is a great pc, couldn't be happier with my purchase - i live in northern cal, mac/apple country, and most folks here look at pcs as a joke, but my mac friends that have seen my z1 can't believe it, can't believe its great look and speed, they're blown away. one thing is for sure, there is nothing cheap about z1 machines, pure quality, built like tanks.

re "unsupported" hardware - the hp tech guys i've spoken to have all told me that a lot of different hardware will work with these machines, but that it just won't be "supported", as in tech or warranty supported, which is different than it won't work - i think this confuses a lot of folks, and for good reason, in that when they see "not supported" in the lit they assume it won't work. memory is a good example - if you look at the hp z1 spec pdf it states that up to 8gb of non-ecc ram (2gb per slot) is the max amount that's "supported".  when i asked an hp guy about this he told that there's no reason why more non-ecc wouldn't work, it just wouldn't be supported.

yeah, mxm cards are pricey, especially considering their capability compared to full versions, but what are ya gonna do? at least ebay exists, where you can find a nice selection at different price points and bargain with sellers as well - it would be tough trying to locate these things at retail, at firm prices. my only negative is the custom mobo, you're prertty much married to it and to what can go on it when you buy a z1 - but, hey, i've never been one to swap out mobos often and, given that it's a relatively recent chipset and can take, as we know, a lot of different hardware, it's tough to complain about.

[BDOArchitect]

Have tried the HP parts store, thier tech support, and all the resellers, cannot find a heatsink/fan assembly available for purchase. Any suggestions?

[RogerWilco]

I think that is because the new refresh, the Z1 G2: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/workstations/z1-g2.html

The part numbers may have changed or the new one compatiable.

[aeneas1]

i have two in like new condition, with or without mxm cards (q1000 or 675m),  that i plan on selling, pm me if interested... 

[bilgola]

Hi,

I'm in Australia and having problems buying the GPU fan / Heatsink units for my Z1.

Do you still have yours  for sale....?

I don't need the mxm cards, just the body.

Andrew.

[RogerWilco]

The part numbers are  682304-001 ($153.47) and 709555-001 ($195.19). The former has less thermal pads pre-applied but apart from that the are the same.

To buy one, go to http://h20141.www2.hp.com/Hpparts/ and change your country to Australia and search for either on of those parts.

Here is a direct link to the Australian page, not sure it will work though.

http://h20141.www2.hp.com/Hpparts/CountryChoice.aspx?cc=AU&lang=EN

[Mister_Tad]

Further to the previous post, I've just had additional confirmation from HP support that the equivalent part numbers for the Z1 G2 are compatible also with the G1 - i.e. P/N 709555-001 is a suitable replacement for P/N 682305-001.

I wonder if the system board is compatible? Hmmm...