Why my Hp Z620 has missing pin on the PCIe GPU power connector

[514GT]

I bought a used z620 and noticed it has 2 x 6pin GPU PCIe power connector.  Both have the 6th 12v pin missing.

Will it underpower a GPU?

The other day I plugged a GTX 1060 and got 2/3 of regular PassMark score (6000s instead of 9000s).  Is the card underpowered or it's a faulty unit?

Why did HP removed the 6th pin in each connection on the z620?

Cheers,

Z620

Xeon 2667v2

64GB PC14900R

Win10x64 on SSD

[BambiBoomZ]

514GT,

The standard pinout for the 6-pin PCIe connector is:

6 pin PCIe power connector at the cable.

Pin Name Color Description

1	12V	yellow	+12 V
2	12V or NC	yellow	+12 V or not connected
3	12V	yellow	+12 V
4	GND	black	Ground
5	GND	black	Ground
6	GND	black	Ground

Therefore, the blanked pin 6 is an unused ground.

The lower than average Passmark 3D rating for the GTX 1060 is not related to reduced power.  It's anecdotal, but using a GTX 1070 Ti in a z620 (Xeon E5-1680 v2 8C@4.3GHz), having a 6-pin and 8 pin connector, the Passmark 3D of 12629 is a bit above the average for the 1070 Ti of 12250.

The Passmark average 3D for the GTX 1060 3GB is 8935 and for the 6Gb version 9035. The results in the 6000's is somewhat surprising as the Xeon 2667 v2 has among the highest clock frequencies of Xeon E5-2600's @ 3.3 /4.0GHz.  With GTX GPU's , it's possible that the Passmark ratings are significantly skewed by the number of gamers using highly overclocked  CPU's.  The highest result for a GTX 1060 (20,674 tested) is 15595 with an i7-6700K @ 4.3 / 4.7GHz and becuase Passmark doesn't report the number of GPU's, that figure might represent 2 or even 3 GPU's. Passmark is also skewed by the number of anomalous very low marks There are 500+ testing at 0.00. The  lowest 3D score is only 329 using a Xeon X5670 the second lowest is 339 with an i5-8600K  at 4.7 base clock speed. 

This is not to say that the GTX 1060 in your z629 is not underperformaing however. The bottom 2,350 marks for 1060 are under 6000 so that particular example is in the bottom ~10%.  Suggestions:

1.  z620_2  had such a signifigant drop in 3D performance for a Quadro P2000 5GB: from 9030 to 7664 that the P2000 was sent to PNY as failing.  However, it seems that the drop was in fact due to the HP v3.92 BIOS  Spectre / Meltdown mitigations.  When Ithe BIOS was reverted to v3.91, the performance was restored.  That is a calculated security risk and that system runs on a VPN, files are fully backed up on a drive run only when backing up and there is a system restore file on a USB drive. >  If the decision is to revert to an earlier BIOS, be exceedingly careful in that procedure. See our friend SDH posts on this forum for instructions using the BIOS .bin file on a small USB drive partition.

2.  Only to eliminate thermal throttilng as a possibility, using HWMonitor or similar, check the GTX 1060 temperature while running the Passmark 2D and 3D tests.

3.  Unistall the GPU driver, run a driver cleaner to remove remants of old drivers, download the latest driver from NVIDIA and check "Performa c lean install" when reinstalling. Do not install any driver component that are not necessary.  I install the driver only, no PHysX, Experiemnace o3D vision, etc.

4.  Check settings for hardware acceleration.  In Windows 10:

a. On the desktop, press Windows key + X and select Control Panel.

b. In Large Icons View, click on Display and click on Change Display Settings, in the left pane.

c. Click on Advanced Settings.

In the Advanced Settings window, if Troubleshooting tab is present, then the graphics card supports hardware acceleration.

d. Click on the Troubleshooting tab and move the Hardware Acceleration slider to Full.

e. Click on OK and restart the computer to save the settings.

Let us know what you find out.

BambiBoomZ

HP z620_2 (2017) (R7) > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8-core@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid Cooling / 64GB DDR3-1866 ECC Reg / GTX 1070 Ti 8GB / HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB AHCI + Samsung 860 EVO 500GB + HGST 7K6000 4TB / Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 sound interface > 2X Mackie MR824 / 825W PSU /> 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]

[514GT]

---

@BambiBoomZ wrote:

514GT,

The standard pinout for the 6-pin PCIe connector is:

6 pin PCIe power connector at the cable.

Pin Name Color Description

1 12V yellow +12 V 2 12V or NC yellow +12 V or not connected 3 12V yellow +12 V 4 GND black Ground 5 GND black Ground 6 GND black Ground

Therefore, the blanked pin 6 is an unused ground.

The lower than average Passmark 3D rating for the GTX 1060 is not related to reduced power.  It's anecdotal, but using a GTX 1070 Ti in a z620 (Xeon E5-1680 v2 8C@4.3GHz), having a 6-pin and 8 pin connector, the Passmark 3D of 12629 is a bit above the average for the 1070 Ti of 12250.

@the Passmark average 3D for the GTX 1060 3GB is 8935 and for the 6Gb version 9035. The results in the 6000's is somewhat surprising as the Xeon 2667 v2 has among the highest clock frequencies of Xeon E5-2600's @ 3.3 /4.0GHz.  With GTX GPU's , it's possible that the Passmark ratings are significantly skewed by the number of gamers using highly overclocked  CPU's.  The highest result for a GTX 1060 (20,674 tested) is 15595@ with an i7-6700K @ 4.3 / 4.7GHz and becuase Passmark doesn't report the number of GPU's, that figure might represent 2 or even 3 GPU's. Passmark is also skewed by the number of anomalous very low marks There are 500+ testing at 0.00. The  lowest 3D score is only 329 using a Xeon X5670 the second lowest is 339 with an i5-8600K  at 4.7 base clock speed. 

This is not to say that the GTX 1060 in your z629 is not underperformaing however. The bottom 2,350 marks for 1060 are under 6000 so that particular example is in the bottom ~10%.  Suggestions:

1.  z620_2  had such a signifigant drop in 3D performance for a Quadro P2000 5GB: from 9030 to 7664 that the P2000 was sent to PNY as failing.  However, it seems that the drop was in fact due to the HP v3.92 BIOS  Spectre / Meltdown mitigations.  When Ithe BIOS was reverted to v3.91, the performance was restored.  That is a calculated security risk and that system runs on a VPN, files are fully backed up on a drive run only when backing up and there is a system restore file on a USB drive. >  If the decision is to revert to an earlier BIOS, be exceedingly careful in that procedure. See our friend SDH posts on this forum for instructions using the BIOS .bin file on a small USB drive partition.

2.  Only to eliminate thermal throttilng as a possibility, using HWMonitor or similar, check the GTX 1060 temperature while running the Passmark 2D and 3D tests.

3.  Unistall the GPU driver, run a driver cleaner to remove remants of old drivers, download the latest driver from NVIDIA and check "Performa c lean install" when reinstalling. Do not install any driver component that are not necessary.  I install the driver only, no PHysX, Experiemnace o3D vision, etc.

4.  Check settings for hardware acceleration.  In Windows 10:

a. On the desktop, press Windows key + X and select Control Panel.

b. In Large Icons View, click on Display and click on Change Display Settings, in the left pane.

c. Click on Advanced Settings.

In the Advanced Settings window, if Troubleshooting tab is present, then the graphics card supports hardware acceleration.

d. Click on the Troubleshooting tab and move the Hardware Acceleration slider to Full.

e. Click on OK and restart the computer to save the settings.

Let us know what you find out.

BambiBoomZ

HP z620_2 (2017) (R7) > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8-core@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid Cooling / 64GB DDR3-1866 ECC Reg / GTX 1070 Ti 8GB / HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB AHCI + Samsung 860 EVO 500GB + HGST 7K6000 4TB / Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 sound interface > 2X Mackie MR824 / 825W PSU /> 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]

---

I did a quick test this afternoon.

I swapped my GTX 1060 for 1050ti and got 7070 PassMark...

1000 more than my 1060!

Even Tested a GTX 960 and got 6986! 

I think I have a defective 1060 unit...

My current Bios is v3.94 rev.A

Thanks for clarifying the 6th pin3 being an unused ground.

Why HP not using it? All my Dell precision at the office use it but the HP z series.  Does it have an engineering advantage?

When I look at this diagram it seems to be 12v pin#3 not used.  I'm a bit confused now.

pin layout peg

https://goo.gl/images/RqYcvj

[SDH]

It has been posted in this forum that the HP PCIe supplemental power cables are engineered by HP to a higher standard than the ATX standard for 6 pin cables, which is 75W max TDP.  The HP amperage for each of the two in your Z620 is 18A.  The voltage is 12VDC, so the HP wattage is 18 x 12.

And, HP makes their own adapters to utilize that higher wattage.... there is a single HP PCIe cable to two 6-pin cables adapter, and a single HP PCIe cable to one 8-pin cable adapter.

It is worth taking the time and spending the money to get the HP adapter you need.  There are many non-HP ones out there that are cheaper but none better.   The HP part numbers can be found in this forum and via google searching.

[514GT]

Thanks for the clarification SDH.

I'll find another GTX 1060 to confirm that I have a defective unit.

I'll find those HP cables so I can upgrade to a 1080 or RTX series soon.

I'll come back with my results soon!

Cheers,

[SDH]

This should help, from my prior notes:

There are two HP adapters:

1.  HP 6-pin to 8-pin PCIe supplemental video power supply cable adapter:

ATX standard for 6-pin PCIe supplemental power cable is 75W (6.25A x 12VDC).  From HP Z620 power supply label the same cable is rated significantly higher amperage,... 18A x 12VDC = 216W.

N1G35AA = SP P/N 683867-001 = most recent version

There was an earlier 460621-002.... OK, but generally best to get the most recent version

2.  There also is a HP 6 pin to dual 6 pin adapter..... F5J05AA

You will need to do some searching but you can find these via google.  HP Parts Store should have them too.