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HP Recommended
HP 8200 Elite SFF
Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

I am adding a SSD to my 8200 and making it the primary boot drive with windows.  I will then clean and use the current HDD for data.  I want the SSD to be the "C" drive and obviously I want it to operate as fast as possible.  It is a Samsung 860 EVO 500GB.  The mother board has 2 options to plug the SATA connector in.  

"SATA0 1st hard drive (SATA 3.0) / PCI1 / PCI slot
&
SATA1 2nd HDD, or 2nd ODD if ESATA Adapter Cable exists (SATA 3.0) / CMOS / CMOS header"

 

Does this mean I should use the SATA0 connector to get the highest speed out of the SSD?  Right now the HDD is on SATA0.

 

Also...should I update my BIOS?  Right now it is

BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard J01 v02.09, 7/1/2011

 

Thanks in advance.  Justin

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

Hi, @Justin1111 

 

Do not update the BIOS to the latest version if you did not install W10 in EFI mode.

 

If you installed W10 in legacy mode, the PC will take over 2 minutes to restart from a warm boot.

 

Do not upgrade beyond v2.28 and use the F10 setup flashing method to safely update the BIOS.

 

You can go directly to v.2.28 from where you are at now, or v.2.33 if you installed W10 in EFI mode.

 

The SATA 1 port is also SATA III speed, but the SATA 0 port is the one you need to boot from, as SDH indicated.

 

The SATA 2 and SATA 3 ports are SATA II speeds.

 

I have the Nvidia GT1030 2 GB low profile card running in mine.

 

View solution in original post

12 REPLIES 12
HP Recommended

 

EDIT:  Sorry, my mistake... I was recalling from the 8100 Elite SFF... should have gone back to my notes first.

Justin.... good choice on the SSD.  Yes, you want it plugged into the SATA gen 3 port.... that SATA0 one.  The slower hard drive can go into the SATA1 port which is SATA gen 2 speed.  Yes, you want to upgrade to the latest BIOS from that old one from 2011.  I can't recall if there is a need to "step up" from what you have to a later level, and thereafter jump up to the latest.  I have that in my notes at home.    If you are running W7 currently is is pretty safe to use the Windows BIOS upgrader that comes with the latest BIOS.  If running W10 you really need to learn how to upgrade BIOS from within BIOS, which is very safe in all circumstances and what I use exclusively in all cases because you are working on the most prima OS when you do that (BIOS is a primitive OS).

 

We have one of those at home and use it still quite a lot in the kitchen area.  You could also consider upgrading your processor depending on what you are running currently.  We're using a small form factor Quadro K620 2GB card which is very reasonable off eBay used.  It is very snappy and, still, driver updates come from nVidia.  Get that over the QK600.....

HP Recommended

Hi, @Justin1111 

 

Do not update the BIOS to the latest version if you did not install W10 in EFI mode.

 

If you installed W10 in legacy mode, the PC will take over 2 minutes to restart from a warm boot.

 

Do not upgrade beyond v2.28 and use the F10 setup flashing method to safely update the BIOS.

 

You can go directly to v.2.28 from where you are at now, or v.2.33 if you installed W10 in EFI mode.

 

The SATA 1 port is also SATA III speed, but the SATA 0 port is the one you need to boot from, as SDH indicated.

 

The SATA 2 and SATA 3 ports are SATA II speeds.

 

I have the Nvidia GT1030 2 GB low profile card running in mine.

 

HP Recommended

Thanks.  I am going to do a fresh install of windows 10 pro on the ssd.  I have the Gigabyte gtx 1050ti for my graphics card.  So with the fresh windows 10 pro install what Bios should i update to?  Thanks again!  Greatly appreciated.

Justin

HP Recommended

You're very welcome.

 

If you want to update the BIOS and you are clean installing W10, install W10 in EFI mode (boot from the EFI DVD or USB flash drive in the boot options menu).

 

Then you can update the BIOS to v2.33 after you clean install W10.

 

There is no real need to update the BIOS-at least performance wise, though I don't know if you need to update the BIOS prior to installing the gtx 1050ti graphics card.  If you have it installed now, then no need to rush into things.

 

My PC was already on v.2.28 when I installed the GT 1030.

 

I have not reinstalled W10 since.  If I ever do, I will reinstall in EFI mode.

 

There were some Intel processor security issues that the BIOS updates were released to address.

 

Several months ago, I got a 6200 Pro MT for free, so I installed a WD Blue SSD and on that, I installed W10 in EFI mode.

 

The 6200 Pro uses the same BIOS as the 8200 Elite, has the Q65 chipset instead of the Q67, and does not support Raid. 

 

That is the only difference between the two model series.

HP Recommended

Thanks again for your help. 

Not to ask a dumb question but...What is EFI mode?  Why is it better?

thanks again, Justin

HP Recommended

The only advantage EFI mode has on that model is that if you need to use a drive greater than 2 TB, you can boot from it in EFI mode and Windows will see the entire drive, because the drive is formatted in GPT

 

If you install a drive greater than 2 TB in legacy mode, it will only see part of the drive because the drive will be formatted with the MBR partition table.

 

See this HP whitepaper for further info on that.

 

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02826744

 

The only reason you would want to install W10 in EFI mode is if you want to update the BIOS to the latest version.

 

As I wrote earlier, if you update the BIOS to v2.33 in legacy mode with W10, the PC will take well over 2 minutes to restart from a warm boot.

 

The only way around that issue would be to:

 

1. Install W10 in EFI mode.

 

2. Hide the TPM security device in the BIOS' security menu, but if you use Bitlocker, then that would not be an option.

HP Recommended

one last thing to consider, the Elite 8300 SFF motherboard is a drop in replacement for your 8200 SFF

 

and it supports four  sata ports, two of which are sata III 6GBps

 

these boards can be found on ebay for around 15.00 usd and should be considered if you need to replace a dead 6200/6300 pro or a  elite 8100/8200 as the rear I/O are the same  for all these models

HP Recommended

Thank you so much for the help!!!!  I won't ever put a HDD over 2TB in this comp.  That being said I will do a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro.  Would you do EFI mode and BIOS to 2.33 or not EFI and BIOS to 2.28?

 

Final system will be 

Stock PC with 8GB RAM except...

Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1050ti

Samsung 860 EVO

and for now the stock Seagate 250gb HDD(possible future upgrade but not above 2TB)

 

Thanks again!!  

HP Recommended

You're very welcome.

 

In today's day and age, I would install W10 EFI mode and update the BIOS to v2.33.

 

You can use either a DVD or USB flash drive to install W10 in EFI mode on your model.

 

Just select the one of the devices from the EFI boot selection, and not the legacy one.

 

There is no problem with the PC running that BIOS update in W7. 

 

It's only W10 that I know of where you get the delay on the warm boot with W10 in non-EFI mode.

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