New video card to Z420 (Base Model ) work station

[BambiBoomZ]

uiblog,

It's a mystery. I have a V1 z420 (E5-1620) and that does have two PCIe GPU power connections "G1" and "G2". That V1 z420 does not have the front fan either, both of the V2 z420's do.

Those wires are in a thick bundle, tied together. Perhaps trace back from the one 6-pin into that bundle and see if it's hidden.

It's also possible that on certain specification z420's - I remember there was a version called: "Workstation" and one called the "Base" model, that may have had some features deleted.

However, I think the cables purchased will work: connect the Molex 4-pin to PCIe 6-pin to the Molex 4-pin > connect one lead of the 2X 6-pin to 1X 8 pin to the Molex 4-pin to PCIe 6-pin and > the other 2X 6-pin to 1X 8-pin lead to the HP internal 6- pin lead. The PCIe slot should contribute 75W, the Molex can supply up to ~132W and the 6-pin any more if needed.

Let us know how it goes.

BambiBoomZ

[uiblog]

I had taken this workstation second hand at the beginning of the year, again on ebay, and on the title of the ad it was written:

"HP Z420 Xeon Workstation E5-1650v2, 32GB RAM, 256GB HDD SSD 1TB Quadro K2000 W10"

then I do not know if from the serial we can deduce which version it belongs to. Another thing I noticed is that the G2 is mentioned in the power supply label.

[BambiBoomZ]

uiblog,

In the two z420's, one V1 and the other V2, both the G1 and G2 connection is hard wired to the power supply:

At the lower center, there are G1 and G2 connected to the GTX 660 Ti.  These wires are continuous all the way into the power supply. However, this is a tight bundle with all the wires looking alike.

The V2 z420's  (z420_2 and z420_3) have the front fan but the V1 (z420_1) does not. Starting at G1, trace back to the bundle and see if there is a set of wires, probably below the drive bays, that separate off towards the front of case. When this system arrived, G2 was placed into the front fan casing on the lower right.

I may be wrong, but it's possible the G2 may be hiding somewhere as it was for z420_3. Just a chance,..

BambiBoomZ

[SDH]

I agree with Bambi. 

Uiblog, take a minute and look on ebay for:

1.  Z420 power supply 600

2.  Z420 power supply 400

Look at the exposed "rear" of these two power supplies.... the cheaper looking one is the 400W version (shown below) and the nicer one is the 600W version.  You don't even need to open your case to check using this method.  There are only two models of the Z420 power supplies, and the 400W one has zero PCIe supplemental power cables, while the 600W one has two of those.  Look on the labels shown for those 600W ones.... they all have G1 and G2, representing the two graphics supplemental cables.   Some sellers, however, mix up pictures of the two in the same ad.

The same power supplies are used in both the v1 and v2 versions of the Z420.  You already are running a v2 processor so you must have the v2 of the Z420.  You always can also check the boot block date shown in the System Info section of BIOS.... 2013 = v2; 2011 = v1.  Don't forget that each of the G1 and G2 cables is rated to 18A by HP, and that 18A x 12VDC = 192 watts.

My budget Z420 v2 project has the 400W power supply, and I'll be using two Quadro 2000 cards because our software includes medical grayscale capabilities that have drivers only in the Quadro ODE version of the nVidia drivers.  My two cards will have to draw all of their current up from their PCIe x16 slots, which will be no problem (62W each).  Add in a nice current fast SSD and the processor (not yet chosen), and should be good to go.

Of note.... the more costly but faster/newer/2GB VRAM instead of 1 GB VRAM K2000 draws only 51W each instead of 62W each.  That is a good example of the next generation cards getting better and faster but using significantly less power.

[uiblog]

Hello SDH, I can confirm that I have a 600W as a power supply, I have attached the image of the label. Unfortunately, at the level of PCIe cables there is only the G1.

I noticed among other things that looking at the ads on ebay about the 600W power supply, some seem (as evidenced by the photos you see), as in my case only the G1, others seem to have them both.

https://www.ebay.it/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Z420+power+supply+600&_sacat=0

I was thinking, is not that the seller (I bought from workstation4u) from where I took the workstation, may have "removed" the G2 cable?

[BambiBoomZ]

uiblog,

1. The photo attached in your previous post lists the power supply having both G1 and G2.

2. Did you make a complete search for the G2 pushed in between, behind, inside, or under something else? Did you trace the G1 back to the power supply?

3. I can not think of any possible reason the previous owner or the seller would remove the G2 connection.  That would be done by cutting wires off at or inside the power supply. Also, it would have cost HP far more to make both a G1 only and a G1 + G2 version power supply than to simply have all 600W z420's have both connections. < Very unlikely.

4.  If you are convinced your system does not have he G2, then the Molex to 6-pin plus the 2X 6-pin to 1X 8-pin should work.

BambiBoomZ

[BambiBoomZ]

uiblog,

I've received the GTX 1070 Ti (ASUS Strix), which uses 1X 8-pin connector. Using the 2X 6-pin to 1X 8-pin connector works well:

This card has a light show:

This give the impression of great heat although the card runs very cool. My next task is to turn the lights off which is done using "GPU Tweak II. That also controls the overclocking.

BambiBoomZ

[uiblog]

hi BambiBoomZ,  

From the photos I see that it seems to work great, I'm happy for you.

My 2 cables are still traveling, the 2x6pin to 1x8pin cable has not yet left the US (in fact it is stopped at the Global Shipping Center in Kentucky); the other cable (from 4 pin molex to 6pin pcie) seems to have left China on 27th August.

Below you can find the link of the short video I uploaded on my youtube channel, where you can see the cables present:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKWnhFKNcoI

I can not wait for the 2 cables to be able to test if everything goes ok

[BambiBoomZ]

uiblog,

Thank you for the video. I ran this several times and of course did not see G2.  While watching, I kept thinking, that might be it, no-  that might be it. If you added mysterious music and made it darker, it could be the sequel to the "The Blair Witch Project" called "The Missing G2 Project." These small details can be surprisingly difficult.

I also had a slight panic when I saw the Molex 4-pin was being used, but it appears to have a Molex 4-pin to SATA power adapter:

> and fortunately, it is not connected.

Yes, let us know what happens when the connectors arrive.

BambiBoomZ

[uiblog]

Hi BambiBoomZ,

As I told you, strangely there is no trace of the famous G2; for the molex was a test that I had done on the fly without being there to become crazy with cables, then obviously the molex will go only to power the part that goes to the video card that I will put :).

When the cables arrive, I'll have some fun 🙂