Upgrade my Z Turbo Drive G2- Gb M2, with more memory

[Radar8]

Hi 

I Have a Z Turbo Drive G2- Gb M2,  

and am wondering if I can swap the factory Samsung 256 MB module with a "Intel 660p SSD M.2 NVMe - 2TB"

And put it in my HP Z840?

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

it's difficult to say 100% it will work without any issue.

Reading the Z840 Quick Specs I see that HP was supporting 1TB M.2 NVME SSD, so in theory even 2TB M.2 NMVE should work.

it's up to you if you want to the take the risk to buy such 2TB M.2 NVME SSD and after discover an issue.

bye

[SDH]

Likelihood of success is very low.... there is a special HP firmware on the M.2 form factor drive.... it is not on the PCIe card.  Those M.2 drives on the ZTD I and II are HP modified.  Plus, there is the special BIOS features that HP built in to the motherboard so that the two types of firmware can work together..

[DGroves]

yes, the z840 (and newer) fully support the nvme spec and can boot a system from any nvme or SATA type ssd drive

while the HP drives use HP custom firmware, any Retail and most OEM SSD's will also work the main difference is that since HP wrote their firmware, they are aware of any bugs/issues and can either update the firmware or work around it and as such the HP drives are certified to work with ISV's software packages

when using 3rd party ssd's you have to wait for the ssd maker  (not HP) to release a fix and the system is not certified by the ISV and they will refuse support in some cases

the form factor only comes into play in regards to the physical size/form factor the system supports,... IE- not all systems have a m.2 connector, or room to mount a 3.5/2.5 in SSD

[BambiBoomZ]

Radar8,

I agree with DGroves comments to proceed with caution and accept the possibility of a replacement not working and/or having poor performance.

That said, if adventurous and can find a shop with a liberal return policy, the chances of a replacement working should be increased if the replacement drive is the same make and series as the original.  For example the Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB  AHCI that I use in a z620 contains a Samsung SM951 AHCI drive, so in my example the best chance of a replacement working would be to try a larger capacity Samsung SM951 AHCI. 

Of course, if HP issues updated firmware for the current drive, that would help as well as the replacement may well be a newer version.

If time is a factor, consider that Z Turbo Drives retain their value very well and as prices have dropped on drives, it may be possible to buy a new, larger capacity MVMe and good quality M.2 PCIe card for a lesser total investment than adding a new drive to the Z Turbo card.  There are M.2 heatskink/thermal pads and PCIe cards with fans, but I seem to never hear mention of NVMe drives running hot these days. I am a great fan of the Z Turbo, but as new drives are reasonably prices and run cooler than was the case when the Z Turbo was new, an alternative is possible.  The I/O optimization and cooling solution of the Z Turbo is fantastic, but as drives progressed, I was able to buy a nearly new (2.1TB writes) Samsung 970EVO M.2 500GB NVMe for $100 and LT-120 PCIe card for $22 with extremely very good results:

The Specifications from Samsung:

• Form Factor  M.2

• Capacity:   250 GB, 500 GB, 1,000 GB, 2,000 GB

• Sequential Read Speed:  Max. 3,500 MB/s

• Sequential Write Speed: Max. 2,500 MB/s

That drive is therefore running very slightly above the maximum spec on a system with a disk subsystem designed before the invention of NMVe drives. That drive is not under load at the moment, but is idling at 43C.

The 970 EVO has at least double the Z Turbo performance. Checking Ebahhh US today there is only one Z Turbo Drive 256GB G1 AHCI for $198.00.  that means that if I were replacing the Z Turbo with the Samsung 970EVO, I could be $+70. Unfortunately, the zX20 series WS's can not boot from NVMe without a fuss with adding a BIOS module.

If your second GPU x16 slot is open, you could add a quad M.2 card- it has to I/O divided, that is, capable of running each drive completely independently, with full performance.

BambiBoomZ

HP z620_2 (2017) (R7) > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8-core@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid Cooling / 64GB DDR3-1866 ECC Reg / Quadro P2000 5GB _ GTX 1070 Ti 8GB / HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB AHCI + Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe 500GB + HGST 7K6000 4TB / Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 sound interface + 2X Mackie MR824 / 825W PSU /> HP OEM Windows 7 Prof.’l 64-bit > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)

[ Passmark Rating = 6280 / CPU rating = 17178 / 2D = 819 / 3D= 12629 / Mem = 3002 / Disk = 13751* / Single Thread Mark = 2368 [10.23.18]

*The Passmark average for the SM951 256 AHCI is 10975

HP z420_3: (2015)(R 10) Xeon E5-1650 v2 (6C@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid cooling / 32GB (4X 8GB DDR3-1866 ECC registered / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB/ Samsung 850 EVO 250GB + HGST 4TB / ASUS Essence STX / Logitech z2300 2.1 / 600W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (HP OEM ) > Samsung 40" 4K
[Passmark System Rating: = 5600 / CPU = 15120 / 2D = 842 / 3D = 10652 / Mem = 2920 Disk = 4975 /Single Thread Mark = 2385 [6.1.19]

[pcuser64]

I just installed Windows 10 on a 1tb 970 EVO m.2 in my z Turbo g2 z840 slot 1

IMPORTANT: for UEFI AHCI setup SSD drive must be formatted GPT NOT MBR

and my install was from Windows Pro USB stick

Note: SSD wont been seen in BIOS Boot Options - UEFI Boot Order until after Windows 10 install

           (SLOT1: Windows Boot Manager)

HTH

[DGroves]

while you could do this, i'm curious as to why you want to replace a very fast boot SSD with a slower midrange one?

leave the fast ssd as the boot drive, and install the other in a pci-e m.2 card for use as a data drive