Upgrading HP Z840 with a GT710 Fanless GPU

[alirezadigi]

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to upgrade the GPU in my HP Z840 workstation. Currently, it has an ARKTEK GT610 2GB 64-bit GPU with a noisy fan, and I want to replace it with a fanless card to reduce noise. I have Proxmox installed on this machine and mostly connect to it remotely to run and manage my VMs.

I’m considering buying the ASUS GT710-SL-2GD5 graphics card since it is fanless and meets my basic needs, such as occasionally accessing BIOS settings.

A few questions:

• Can I install the GT710 on the Z840 without any compatibility issues?

• Does the Z840 support this card properly?

• Will the GT710 run safely without overheating inside the Z840’s case?

• Also, I’m planning to use Jellyfin for media streaming in the future. Does this card support hardware encoding for Jellyfin?

Thanks in advance for your insights!

[NonSequitur777]

@alirezadigi,

Hi there, and thanks for your detailed question about upgrading the GPU in your HP Z840!

You're on the right track looking for a fanless GPU for a workstation primarily accessed remotely via Proxmox, and the ASUS GT710-SL-2GD5 is a popular quiet option. Here's a breakdown of your concerns:

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1. Is the GT710-SL-2GD5 compatible with the Z840?

Yes, it is.

The HP Z840 supports standard PCIe x16 GPUs, and the GT 710 is a low-power (sub-20W), single-slot card that works well in this platform. No extra power connectors are required.

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2. Will the Z840 support it properly?

Absolutely. The GT 710 is a simple, UEFI-compatible card that works well for:

• Display output (BIOS access, local GUI)

• Low-demand graphical tasks
  It’s ideal for systems like yours that are mostly managed headlessly or remotely.

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3. Is fanless operation safe in the Z840 case?

Yes.

The Z840 has excellent internal airflow, designed for high-performance hardware. As long as the surrounding PCIe area isn’t packed with heat-generating cards and the system fans are functional, the fanless GT 710 will run safely and silently.

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4. Can the GT 710 be used for Jellyfin hardware encoding?

This is where things get a bit nuanced.

• Technically: Some GT 710 variants based on the Kepler GK208 GPU may expose NVENC support under certain Linux configurations.

• Realistically: The ASUS GT710-SL-2GD5 you're considering does not offer usable NVENC. Even if detected, encoding performance is severely limited and not practical for real-world H.264 or HEVC transcoding, especially at higher bitrates or resolutions.

• Also: The GT 710 does not support HEVC (H.265) decoding or encoding, which is increasingly important for modern media.

• The GT 710 lacks hardware encoding support for HEVC. This means you can't use the GT 710 to quickly compress video into the HEVC format. Instead, you would need to rely on your CPU for encoding, which can be slow and resource-intensive.

Bottom line: While the GT 710 might be detected as NVENC-capable in Linux, it’s not recommended for Jellyfin hardware transcoding due to limited support and poor performance.

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5. Better Alternatives (still quiet and low-power):

If Jellyfin hardware encoding is in your future, consider these:

GPU                       NVENC Support HEVC Support Fanless Option Notes

GT 710	❌Limited	❌No	✅Yes	Usable only for display tasks
GT 1030 GDDR5	✅Yes	✅Yes	⚠️Some SKUs	Great low-power choice
Quadro P400	✅Yes	✅Yes	⚠️Aftermarket	Compact, workstation-grade

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Final Thoughts:

• ✅GT 710 is compatible, fanless, and silent, perfect for headless/basic use

• ❌Not really suitable for media transcoding (especially HEVC)

• ⚠️If you want to use Jellyfin with hardware acceleration, go with a GT 1030 GDDR5 or Quadro P400

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[DGroves]

the z820 z840 systems can run fanless cards,  but the pci-e slot used may come into play

the normal topmost pci-e video slot is close to the main cpu fan shroud and not ideal for a fanless video card

using one of the lower pci-e slots might be a better choice

(note that the white pci-e slots are only active if a sec cpu is installed)

these slots sit directly in front of the two  92x25mm front mounted case fans and will receive the moving airflow from the case fans