hp z840 upgrade

[radu3]

Hi!

I'd recently noticed some good prices on hp z840. Having experience with hp z600/800, I know (this is somehow supported by the wikipedia article on the hp z series) that there are different generations with specific restrictions (for example, on the 1st generation hp z600/800 motherboards, dual 2nd generation CPUs cannot work; also some cpus need performance heatsinks, etc)... I would like to customize these z840 to have the most cpu and gpu computing power and I would need your help with these questions:

1. how many generations for hp z840 are there? (please give me some bootblock dates/PN/SN; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Z suggest at least 2 generations, but I don't have any clue on how to differentiate them: 

- the 1st gen / announced in September 2017/ supports Skylake Xeon Scalable or W-series processors

- the 2nd gen / available since April 2019 / supports Cascade Laek cpus.

(I don't want to buy a 1st generation, and when I would like to update it, to see the mobo is not supporting the latests cpus)

2. could you please show me the high and the low wattage heatsinks? (their PN/SN/even images with them)

3. what power-supplies are supported? (some documents tell about 850/1125/1275/1450 W; are these powers, actually labeled and visible on the PSUs?)

Thank you!

R

[SDH]

I can help with your first question, and it is good news... the answer is one.

Unlike with the Zx00 and Zx20 generations of HP workstations the Zx40 generation does not have two versions. It is the HP-approved processors that changed (from v3 to v4), and BIOS. Each of the Zx40 workstations with the appropriate BIOS update will work well with either of those types of processors. Old BIOS will support only the v3 processors; new BIOS will support both the HP-certified v3 and v4 processors. Same good news with the Zx G4 workstations. The key to success is that if you're going to upgrade from a v3 to a v4 processor you want to get the BIOS updated to the latest before you put in your newer v4 processor(s). If you are running on an old BIOS version that knows nothing about the new processors HP has approved for that workstation you really can get painted into a corner.  Updating BIOS is different on these... BIOS is significantly more complex in them.

I've been working on some Zx G4 workstation projects lately. Finely tuned Zx40 workstations with v4 processors and the later BIOS versions are quite amazing. You can get much of the G4 benefits at an excellent price point by being one generation back. Don't forget that the Zx40 v4 processors can run faster memory, and that old slow memory will hold a fast v4 processor back to its same slower speed. I did some testing based on a hunch and found that our Zx G4 Xeon version official HP memory would run just fine in our Zx40 workstations. Core memory won't. I've had the 2933 version of the Xeon Zx G4 memory running fine in my home Z440 under a fast v4 processor until that experiment was done. It auto-downclocks to the fastest the Z440 v4 processor can go, but it is nice to know that if you plan to upgrade later to a Zx G4 you can buy 2933 memory that would work great in both your current Zx40 v4 and your later Xeon Zx G4.

Of interest the Zx40 workstations with newer BIOS can fully support PCIe slot electrical lane bifurcation. For example, a HP Z Turbo Drive Dual Pro put into a PCIe3 x8 electrical lane slot with bifurcation set at x4x4 (you can't just leave BIOS at Auto for that) can run two adjacent NVMe M.2 SSDs... the upper primary M.2 socket being for your fastest boot/applications drive, and the lower secondary M.2 socket being for your big very fast documents drive. The two NVMe drives running on the same card is quite impressive. HP is clearing out brand new v1 ones on eBay via their resellers. Those run great in the Zx G4 also and might even yield PCIe Gen4 performance in a Zx G5 workstation.

DGroves has a lot of personal and enterprise experience with the HP 8 series workstations and I'd bet he'll help you too.

p.s. Go dig via google for Z840 QuickSpecs. You'll see there are numerous versions, up to about v38, and the older ones only show the v3 processors and the newer ones show both v3 and v4 processors. Some old processors get dropped off the listings over time, but the newest BIOS supports all the old and new HP-approved processors regardless.

Also, spend some time on eBay searching for Z840 power supplies. You'll see all the different wattage ones and can get their part numbers from the ads easily. Many of the ads show the on-supply HP/Delta labels. You need to do some easy work.

[DGroves]

there are only two power supply models for the z840, (just like the z820 and z800 models)

for the usa it's 850 watt or 1125 watts

with 719799-002/001 or 623196-001/002  being the most common part numbers for the high power unit

the 850 watt unit numbers are  719798-001 or 758469-001

the stock 850 (used for single cpu or dual low power cpu's)and the optional high wattage 1125 used in dual high wattage or configurations that draw more power such as all drive bays filled and dual video devices installed

the max wattage listed for each power supply will differ slightly depending on the input voltage 115v/125v     or 220 volt this is clearly mentioned in the HP documentation in the specs section

HP also clearly labels each power supply with it's rated specs on the power supplies label along with the supplies part number on the top of the unit (you need to remove the unit from the workstation to see it)

from the HP quickspecs:

Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2643v3 REQUIRES the 1125W (1450W at 200V Input Voltage) Power Supply Option.

Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2637v4, E5-2643v4, E5-2680v4, E5-2683v4, E5-2667v4, E5-2687Wv4, E5-2690v4, E5-2695v4, E5-2697v4 and E5-2699v4 REQUIRE the 1125W (1450W at 200V Input Voltage) Power Supply Option.

https://www.dectrader.com/pdf/quickspecs/15098_na/15098_na.html

Power Supply

Choice of: 850W 88% Efficient wide-ranging, active Power Factor Correction 1125W 90% Efficient wide-ranging, active Power Factor Correction Includes three 6-pin graphics power cables.  NOTE: The 1125W (1450W at 200V Input Voltage) power supply can also supply 1275W of output power when the input voltage is greater than 105V. If the input voltage is less than 105V, but greater than 90V for any reason, the maximum power that can be drawn is 1125W. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is highly recommended if 1275W output power is desired. The 1125W Power Supply can also supply 1450W of output power when the input voltage is greater than 200V under all conditions.

[radu3]

Okay! So just to be sure I understood correctly:

1. (thank you SDH) there are no longer v1 and/or v2 blocked main-boards: you no longer need to change the main-board (because it's a v1 and doesn't support v2 cpus) when you add the latest cpus. If you want the newest cpus, you first update the BIOS and then you physically change the cpus.

2. (I hope I will receive some notes on the heatsinks too)

3. (thank you DGroves) there are 2 power-supplies with visible labels on them, to know exactly what you have:

3.1. you either have the 850W (719798-001 or 758469-001)

3.2. or the 1125W (719799-002/001 or 623196-001/002). This can also supply 1275W/1450W if the input voltages are greater than 105V/200V, respectively. (It gives 1125W if the input voltage is 90V) This is required for: E5-2643v3, E5-2637v4, E5-2643v4, E5-2680v4, E5-2683v4, E5-2667v4, E5-2687Wv4, E5-2690v4, E5-2695v4, E5-2697v4 and E5-2699v4