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Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

I found a 5.25" to 3.5" drive bay adapter for a card reader but firstly.... Is there a connection point on the mainboard for this old card reader?

The manual shows a Item 17 - "Internal USB 1/DASH" is this where i plug it in? (Sorry i don't want to pull the machine out of its location and pop it open to do a visual).

ThanksItem 17 HP Z400.PNG!
Dynes All-In-One Card ReaderDynes All-In-One Card Reader

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

Looks like you're making good progress!

 

A number of us here use the PassMark CPU Benchmarks archive of user's results for processor performance comparisons. If you enter in google the processor name the Intel ark site is near the top of results and CPU Benchmarks is close behind. These result the average of many users running the same suite of speed tests for each processor you look up. The bigger number is overall performance including multicores. The smaller number below that is for fastest single core performance which is what you "feel" most in day to day use. Both count. Here, in order of performance is your processor vs what I used vs what is the fastest HP ever officially listed as supported in the last Z400 QuickSpecs, attached:

 

...you can do better......you can do better...

 

...never officially listed by HP as supported...never officially listed by HP as supported

 

...fastest HP ever listed for the Z400 v2...fastest HP ever listed for the Z400 v2

 

I did not know about the W3690 when I got my X5690. I'd recommend getting the W3690 because it has only 1 QPI link. The X5690 has two QPI links because it could be run as a pair... that slows down a processor a little bit. So, the best is what HP officially listed. All 3 of these have max TDP of 130W and you have the high cooling capacity Z400 heatsink/fan that can handle that. All 3 have only one sSpec code so there is only 1 stepping. That makes it easy. I look these up on eBay by both name and sSpec code... sometimes you find a better deal one way vs the other. The W3690 is SLBW2, laser etched into the stainless steel heat spreader top, about $45.00 USD. I only use the original Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste because it spreads so well. Use less than a baby pea size... spread it so you barely cannot see through it.

 

I'm assuming you're using a SATA 2.5" form factor SSD as your boot drive. The Zx00 generation is SATA2 technology so you can use a SATA2 SSD without loss of speed by theory. However other technology inside the drives marches ahead so getting a SATA3 SSD newer Samsung EVO SSD drive is what I'd do now if you still are running a 3.5" HDD.

 

I've been somewhat taken aback by how fast my still-running Z600 v2 workstation is, booting off a Kingston HyperX Predator AHCI-controller M.2 drive... see attached for part numbers to help in search. These are not being made any more, but if you can find one even at the lowest 240GB size it is worth getting as your boot drive. They have a very long life but show up rarely now. They need to be fed into a PCIe2 slot to maintain their best bandwidth. The bottom x16 slot in your case is where I'd put it. I'm using a "Q1-out" modified HP Z Turbo Drive G2 for that in my Z600... the Q1 transistor has to be removed for the ZTD G1 or G2 card to work in a Zx00. The Kingston card is very good but not as good as a ZTD G2. These were sold originally both as a M.2 stick only and as a kit with a PCIe card.

 

It turns out that there are some BIOS setting changes to reduce boot times if you have done the hardware improvements already... but often a clean install of the OS is actually what is needed. It is a PITA but that is what I'd do (a clean W10Pro64 install) if I was you. Make sure to set BIOS to factory defaults first because if they're wrong you may miss getting some important install parts during the clean install. You'd need to use google to find my old posts on reducing boot times with the Zx00... our search engine here is quite a bit anemic, sad to say.

 

Regarding memory... a fast processor won't help much if you have slow memory... the processor will throttle back to that slower value. You need 1333 MHz memory... check that. For the Z400 it is ECC unbuffered. The Z600 can take ECC buffered, and even the 1866 MHz server memory we use in the Zx20 workstations (but it will be throttled back to 1333 MHz).

 

Keep us posted. I bet you're liking USB3. Below is that v58 QuickSpecs for your archive, plus a bit on the Predator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View solution in original post

15 REPLIES 15
HP Recommended

Yours is a Z400 v2, which has 6 memory sockets. The v1 has only 4. You can go to eBay and search for Z400 motherboard and see both types. The bottom front corner of the motherboard is what you're interested in. That area is the same for both the v1 and the v2. Below is a pic of that area, and I added in a few position numbers to correlate with your HP motherboard diagram. Note the blue SATA0 port where ideally your boot drive attaches to. Note the reddish brown front chassis fan 4-pin header, #15. Note the black 2-pin header #16 where a drive activity 2-wire cable could be attached:Z400 motherboard bottom front cornerZ400 motherboard bottom front corner

 

#17 is your header of interest. It has a blue plastic base and is called a 2 x 5 pin header. Note that the top row has 5 pins, and the bottom row has 4. You can look up the standard colors of USB2 wires, and each set of 4 or 5 pins is for one USB channel. You only need 4 wires for full USB2 speed and a complete single USB2 channel. The wire conventions are Red = +5VDC, Black = ground, White = positive data wire D+, Green = negative data wire D-.

 

A 2 x 5 plug to go onto that header would normally have one side with 5 open holes and the other side with 4 open holes and one plastic-filled hole (the "blank"). That "blank" forces you to only attach the plug in one orientation, and provides 2 equal USB2 channels. You don't need to use both channels for one device, however...

 

Your Dynex brand media card device has single-channel wiring, with only 4 wires (and 5 holes) in its single-width 1 x 5 plug. I don't think it has a plastic-filled "blank" hole at hole 5... I think it is just empty. Regardless, you likely could hook up your 1 x 5 plug to either side of that double-channel blue base motherboard header... just use pins/holes 1-4. Note that pin 1 will have a white tiny triangle printed on the motherboard pointing to it. Get a flashlight and a magnifying glass. I'd personally hook up to that top row of 5 pins unless there is a "blank" (filled) hole at your media card plug's 5th hole. You can look up the standard USB wiring and see what hooks up to pins 1,2,3, and 4. It will all make sense because HP uses the standard pin order. Just plug it in correctly and all should work fine.

 

USB 3 gets you faster speeds and I've posted in this forum on how to use the HP Texas Instruments chipset based "2x2" PCIe card to get full USB3 speeds via two ports both front and back on the Z400/Z600 workstations. That is where the "2x2" name came from. Media card readers generally are relatively slow, and in this era only needed USB2 speeds. They are getting faster and some now can use full USB3 speeds and the larger 2x10 USB3 "motherboard" header (which provides two separate USB3 channels).

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Thank you for the detailed information! OK I see the triangle on the card reader plug and will look for same on the motherboard should I go this route.

In hindsight I am looking at a different option that uses the full 5.25" bay. Could you please take a look and let me know I can install this Kingwin-Powered-USB-C-Reader in the full 5.25" bay? This way I will not have to purchase the 5.25" to 3.5" bay adapter. Wait - Hmmmm....seems you have already answered this question in your other detailed post "Add HP USB 3.0 card to Z and xw workstations" so I dont have the USB 3.0 connector unless I go the PCIe route but the only 3.0 USB PCIe I can find does not seem to have the aux 5V power connection.

Looks like Im back to the old Dynex but with that said....how the heck do I remove the front 5.25" dummy panels come out?

Does this 5.25" to 3.5" Bay Converter look like it will work?

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Read that POST again on how to use the 2x2 HP card. Up front you'd just use the HP USB3 media card reader from the Alan guys in their kit instead of the two front USB3 ports I device I showed. Power and  USB data comes through the USB3 cable from the 2 x 10 USB3 port on the back of that card. Extensions for that type of cable are easy to find if you need. 5 VDC power comes into the card via the power-in port at the top rear of the card. Get that card into a proper PCIe port as described so you maintain full USB3 bandwidth.

 

The Alan guys are trustworthy... HERE is a very good price and even better shipping costs HERE . However, I like the adapter you showed better than the one in that full kit. See if they'll get you the first set plus that other adapter shipped together. The USB3 PCIe card shown is the same as I used... it is based on the same Texas Instruments chipset used in all the Zx20 on-motherboard USB3 ports. As such the Microsoft W10/W11 installers slap in the correct drivers when they see that card id via Windows Update.

 

That 5.25 to 3.5 HP adapter with the green plastic release button is excellent, and a very good price. That's what I like if it can be found. No drilling needed.

HP Recommended

Related... HERE .

 

Note the input from DGroves HERE . There is only so much you can do with a Zx00 workstation. His best/favorite USB3/C cards would provide their best performance in the next generation of workstations, the Zx20 family, which have PCIe spare gen3 slots available and thus much higher bandwidth potential.

 

The Zx00 generation maxes out at PCIe gen2 instead. However, use of the HP Texas Instruments based "2x2" cards has given me years of fast USB3 service in my old Z400 and Z600 "vintage" workstations even with W11 23H2. I'll get his recommended cards to bring USB-C to the Z420/Z620 workstations we still have as needed... even to the Zx40 and Zx G4 families.

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Thanks again for the details. I know this machine is old and has its limits so im not really trying to push the envelope to much.

The card reader kit doesnt look like it has the micro TF reader and thats what my gopro has.

Would these plug and play with my application? (also Ive ead folks have trouble finding/installing a driver?)

HP USB 3.0 SuperSpeed PCIe x1 Card 663212-001 Standard and LP 609885-001  

StarTech Cable 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K0RPTN0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1W36NGWLHYVQ3&th=1 

Using a 5.25 bay reader eliminated need for the bay adapter.

Thank you for your help!

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I realize the Z400 is limited but it does well in my workshop!

The card reader in the kit doesn't seem to have a micro SD (TF) that I need for my GoPro.

With that said would there be any issue if buy/install the following?

PCIe - Ships from Alan 

Power Cable 

USB 3 Kingwin Card Reader 

(By using a 5.25" reader I wont need the 3.5 bay adapter)

 

HP Recommended

You may have missed this. Turns out most power connectors don't fit as well as these ones from the OEM (Molex) that HP picked for their original kit... a hassle worth avoiding if possible:

 

This is the one I found that HP uses and fits perfectlyThis is the one I found that HP uses and fits perfectly

 

You need to make sure the USB3 cable to the card is long enough. Find some pics to do some homework on that.

 

Good luck on your project..

HP Recommended

Thanks again for your help on this topic. I ordered the Kingwin Powered USB Hub Card Reader not realizing it uses the 4 pin header which is same as the old Dynex card reader I  already have so I returned it. With that said I also ordered Vantec USB 3.0 Front Panel with 5.25" HDD/SSD Bracket as I really didnt need a multitude of additional USB slots.

Edit* Also to note the Vantec 5.25" did not fill the bay slot and there was a ~1/8"  gap between the HP "filler" face plate filler so I ran a strip of electrical tape inside the faceplate to "hide" it.

Anyway the HP PCIe USB 3.0 card was plug-and-play and everything seems to work very well!

I do have two other questions and will submit new posts on these topic if you feel I should.

1) I read one of your other posts where I believe you stated the Xeon 5690 will work on my V2 motherboard.

Can you confirm that, and if so, would I see a noticeable difference compared to my existing Xeon W3520?

2) My Z400 seems very slow to boot. I upgraded the BIOS to what I believe is the most current version Version 786G3 v03.61Date 3/5/2018.

Is slow to boot just normal for this machine or is there settings I should look into in the BIOS?

Thanks again for your expert advice!

z400 pcie 3.0 usb.JPG

 

z400 usb.jpg

HP Recommended

Looks like you're making good progress!

 

A number of us here use the PassMark CPU Benchmarks archive of user's results for processor performance comparisons. If you enter in google the processor name the Intel ark site is near the top of results and CPU Benchmarks is close behind. These result the average of many users running the same suite of speed tests for each processor you look up. The bigger number is overall performance including multicores. The smaller number below that is for fastest single core performance which is what you "feel" most in day to day use. Both count. Here, in order of performance is your processor vs what I used vs what is the fastest HP ever officially listed as supported in the last Z400 QuickSpecs, attached:

 

...you can do better......you can do better...

 

...never officially listed by HP as supported...never officially listed by HP as supported

 

...fastest HP ever listed for the Z400 v2...fastest HP ever listed for the Z400 v2

 

I did not know about the W3690 when I got my X5690. I'd recommend getting the W3690 because it has only 1 QPI link. The X5690 has two QPI links because it could be run as a pair... that slows down a processor a little bit. So, the best is what HP officially listed. All 3 of these have max TDP of 130W and you have the high cooling capacity Z400 heatsink/fan that can handle that. All 3 have only one sSpec code so there is only 1 stepping. That makes it easy. I look these up on eBay by both name and sSpec code... sometimes you find a better deal one way vs the other. The W3690 is SLBW2, laser etched into the stainless steel heat spreader top, about $45.00 USD. I only use the original Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste because it spreads so well. Use less than a baby pea size... spread it so you barely cannot see through it.

 

I'm assuming you're using a SATA 2.5" form factor SSD as your boot drive. The Zx00 generation is SATA2 technology so you can use a SATA2 SSD without loss of speed by theory. However other technology inside the drives marches ahead so getting a SATA3 SSD newer Samsung EVO SSD drive is what I'd do now if you still are running a 3.5" HDD.

 

I've been somewhat taken aback by how fast my still-running Z600 v2 workstation is, booting off a Kingston HyperX Predator AHCI-controller M.2 drive... see attached for part numbers to help in search. These are not being made any more, but if you can find one even at the lowest 240GB size it is worth getting as your boot drive. They have a very long life but show up rarely now. They need to be fed into a PCIe2 slot to maintain their best bandwidth. The bottom x16 slot in your case is where I'd put it. I'm using a "Q1-out" modified HP Z Turbo Drive G2 for that in my Z600... the Q1 transistor has to be removed for the ZTD G1 or G2 card to work in a Zx00. The Kingston card is very good but not as good as a ZTD G2. These were sold originally both as a M.2 stick only and as a kit with a PCIe card.

 

It turns out that there are some BIOS setting changes to reduce boot times if you have done the hardware improvements already... but often a clean install of the OS is actually what is needed. It is a PITA but that is what I'd do (a clean W10Pro64 install) if I was you. Make sure to set BIOS to factory defaults first because if they're wrong you may miss getting some important install parts during the clean install. You'd need to use google to find my old posts on reducing boot times with the Zx00... our search engine here is quite a bit anemic, sad to say.

 

Regarding memory... a fast processor won't help much if you have slow memory... the processor will throttle back to that slower value. You need 1333 MHz memory... check that. For the Z400 it is ECC unbuffered. The Z600 can take ECC buffered, and even the 1866 MHz server memory we use in the Zx20 workstations (but it will be throttled back to 1333 MHz).

 

Keep us posted. I bet you're liking USB3. Below is that v58 QuickSpecs for your archive, plus a bit on the Predator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the <a href="https://www8.hp.com/us/en/terms-of-use.html" class="udrlinesmall">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="/t5/custom/page/page-id/hp.rulespage" class="udrlinesmall"> Rules of Participation</a>.