CPU exchange for HP Elitedesk 800 G5 SFF - swap i5-9500 against i7-9700t

[jkomarek]

Hello, has anybody tried to exchange the i5-9500 against an i7-9700t in the HP Elitedesk 800 G5 SFF? The i7-9700, but not the i7-9700t is mentioned in HP's list of allowed CPUs for the computer, see here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06403431

And I would like to know if anybody has successfully built in a t-type CPU into an SFF machine. The problem I am trying to tackle is to reduce the heat which builds up in the machine when I encode videos. Thanks!

[NonSequitur777 · Accepted solution]

@jkomarek,

Welcome to our HP community forum!

Yes, an i7-9700T (25-watt TDP) is compatible with your HP EliteDesk 800 G5 SFF, just like other 8th and 9th gen Intel "T" processors, such as the i5-8500T: HP EliteDesk 800 G5 SFF Performance Results - UserBenchmark.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[jkomarek]

Thanks for the reply, I will start looking for this CPU now. 

[NonSequitur777]

@jkomarek,

You are welcome -glad I could assist.

Here is an eBay-Germany purchase option for an i7-9700T: Intel Core i7-9700T 8C/8T 2,00 - 4,30GHz LGA1151 CPU 35W SR3WX | eBay.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[jkomarek]

Thank you! Insane me has even purchased an i9-9900t from this seller - they seem very reputable. For encoding videos, you cannot have too many CPU cores and this thing has 8C/16T vs. 6C/6T that I currently have. But the main part will be (I think) that it uses only 35 watts instead of the 65 watts of the i5-9500 (without the "t"). I will keep the forum updated. 

[NonSequitur777]

@jkomarek,

Please do inform us, as the documentation you are adding may very well help out somebody else.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[jkomarek]

As promised, here is my result: I exchanged the i5-9500 against an i9-9900t. No changes required, it is recognized right away, the computer boots, Linux comes up, btop shows me each of the 16 threads and Psensor displays all 8 cores and their temperature. 

As a first demanding task, I encoded a DVD-backup from MKV to m4v using the H.265 codec. Yes, this goes faster, by roughly 30%. But most of the work is done by the GPU anyway, so the total 2.5 times of the larger processing-power does not fully come into effect. But (and this is most important too me) the CPU temperature never comes close to 80°C, rather stays between 60 and 70°C most of the time, and the CPU's cooling fan never turns up to higher speeds. Remember: The t-models only have a TDP of 35 watts against the 65 watts of the standard model (without the "t").

My little lab is setup more or less right next to the desk I use for my day job. And where I could previously only encode DVDs after office hours (it was simply too loud when the coolers came up to max. speed after a minute of encoding) or only make use of the less loud but much slower AMD-powered machine (Ryzen 5 3400G), I can now encode all day long without getting disturbed. 

One sad result of this entire procedure: When the case of my SFF is open, the CPU stays even cooler. The CPU temperature rose by almost 10°C when I closed the case. I had always assumed that the cooling design of the EliteDesk SFF case is not the best for ongoing high CPU loads, now I know. 

After the encoding, the CPU cores cool down to 52 to 55°C with the case closed. After taking the case off, the temperature sank to 46 to 48°C within two minutes and down to 40 to 42°C after five and even lower after ten. 

So all in all, it was absolutely worth it to me. If you need the increase in CPU power, get an i9-9900 for the EliteDesk 800 G5. And if you need the lower noise of the slower fans, get a t-model CPU. 

Best regards and thanks for the help

Jo

[NonSequitur777]

@jkomarek,

Thank you for your additional feedback/documentation!

I am very happy that your upgrade project worked out so well!

Good luck and best wishes,

NonSequitur777