New video card to Z420 (Base Model ) work station

[talibmohammed81]

Zotac GT 710 2GB DDR3 Zone Edition Graphics Card . Supports in hp z420 work station or doesn't saport please tell

[uiblog]

Hello guys, it was a while that I was not writing to you, as the 4pin molex 6-pin pcie cable, if you take it very easy to get there, I decided to take the quickest route:

I always bought on ebay a replacement power supply (used) for the 600W always Z420 hp (not before obviously asking the seller to confirm or not the presence of both the G1 and G2 :)); feeder who arrived today safe and sound.
Last week in the meantime the 2 6-pin PCIe cable came to 1 8pin PCIe from the US.

[url=https://imgur.com/FjX4DfT][img]http://i.imgur.com/FjX4DfT.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://imgur.com/Tqt7K1I][img]http://i.imgur.com/Tqt7K1I.jpg[/img][/url]

I have already replaced the power supply and in the next days as soon as I have some time available, I will remove the k2000 and I will put the cable indicated a little while ago and the gigabyte gtx 1070 G1 gaming I told you some time ago.

Hoping that they do not jump out smoothly :).

See you soon.

[jadutoit]

I'm currently running an Asus Geforce 1080 TI Turbo in my Z420.  I'm using G1 for the 6 pin and G2 plus a molex for the 8 pin power. It should handle any of the previously mentioned cards as long as you have the 600w power supply.

[KwadGuy]

Howdy:

I can clear up this confusion. On Oct 31 2013 HP changed the configuration of the 600W power supply in the Z420 to remove the second 6 pin PCIe connection. The reason? "Cost reduction. No figurations sold by HP use the second auxiliary power cable."

See this obscure declaration from HP here:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04104066

(Honestly, this sucks. Considering how much HP was charging for the Z420, they saved, what, 25 cents and pissed/confused users...)

This means that if you have a v2 Z420 workstation with the 600W power supply, there's a good chance you don't have a second 6pin PCIe power connection, since the change to the power supply came near to the time the switch to V2 happened.

Now, configurations sold by HP do include video cards that have both 6 and 8 pin connectors, like the Tesla cards. 

The HP 6 pin PCIe connector can run WAY more current than your standard PCIe cable--it's powered way above spec. So they just use a 6-> 8 pin adapter on ONE 6-pin cable into the 8-pin port on the video card and don't attach the second (6-pin) header on the video card at all. 

The Tesla card install kit included a 6-to-8 pin connector, as well as a sticker covering the 6-pin connection on the Tesla card saying not to attach that port. 

See, e.g. here:

https://support.hp.com/nz-en/product/hp-z800-workstation/3718645/document/c03123473/

All the people saying that your 600W Z420 workstation has a hidden second PCIe connector are wrong. 

[gabornico]

Many Z420s came with a single graphics card like quadro 4000 or k4000 which only need one auxiliary power connection, not to mention all those systems which needed even less power (Quadro 400, 600, K400, K600, 2000, K2000, NVS cards).

this is what HP says:

Reason for change

Cost reduction. No configurations sold by HP use the second auxiliary power cable.

They also provided a solution for those who might get pissed off:

Customers requiring dual 6-pin connectors can install the following HP part onto the remaining 6-pin auxiliary power cable: Aftermarket Option: F5J05AA / Configure to Order: F4T38AV / Spare P/N: 729088-001

The better solution IMO is to get a Rev.04 or earlier PSU off ebay, as those did not vanish when HP decided to change the wiring.

[KwadGuy]

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@gabornico wrote:

Many Z420s came with a single graphics card like quadro 4000 or k4000 which only need one auxiliary power connection, not to mention all those systems which needed even less power (Quadro 400, 600, K400, K600, 2000, K2000, NVS cards).

this is what HP says:

Reason for change

Cost reduction. No configurations sold by HP use the second auxiliary power cable.

They also provided a solution for those who might get pissed off:

Customers requiring dual 6-pin connectors can install the following HP part onto the remaining 6-pin auxiliary power cable: Aftermarket Option: F5J05AA / Configure to Order: F4T38AV / Spare P/N: 729088-001

The better solution IMO is to get a Rev.04 or earlier PSU off ebay, as those did not vanish when HP decided to change the wiring.

---

These are multi-thousand dollar systems. Just because some people didn't need both 6 pin connectors isn't an excuse to remove the second connector to save less than a buck.

And either of the solutions you suggest: replace the power supply with an older used model on eBay or pay for an overpriced adapter from HP is also not a satisfactory solution/answer to someone who already paid a lot of money for the system. 

There's no excuse for this kind of penny ante stuff on a professional server. 

[Sindriss]

I found this:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04104066

Which confirms that it was a cost reduction by Hp. In any case, as is mentioned there - The aux 6-pin is over the normal 75w spec by a large margin, so a 6pin to dual-6pin should work (mine is on the way in the mail). Or 6pin to 8pin. I wonder if 6pin to 6pin AND 8pin could work as well?

[SDH]

The HP 6-pin PCIe supplemental power plug wiring has an 18A max amperage rating and the wires are only  ground or 12VDC.  So, 18A x 12V = 216 Watts max draw through that cable.  This is well above the ATX standards of 75W for such cables.... HP engineers it that way on purpose.

Also, the lower ATX standards for a 6-pin and an 8-pin PCIe auxiliary plug are 75W and 150W, respectively.  In contrast, HP sells adapters that can take the output from their 6-pin cable and feed a 6-pin to 8-pin adapter or a 6-pin to two 6-pin adapters.  ATX power supplies could not do that safely, but these HP workstation ones can.

75 + 150 = 225 Watts..... so getting a 6-pin HP to a "6-pin ATX plus 8-pin ATX" adapter is a bit of a stretch..... but if you really needed to I'd give that a try.  Better to tap into a spare Molex 4-pin power plug or SATA power plug for your 6-pin plug to feed the video card 6-pin power receptacle.  Plus, run the 8-pin plug into the video card's 8-pin receptacle from the HP 6-pin PCIe 18A cable straight from the power supply.  The idea is to balance the power draw from 12VDC rails that are being least used.

[larry7771]

Apologies for entering this thread, but I am not a hardware guru. With the same configuration as described in the initial post, how many GTX 1060 nvidia card can I fit in my hp z420?

I need more than one for some GPU computing project.

Thanks!