Recommended PCIe to M.2 adapter for Z640 Workstation

[MM166]

What is the recommended PCIe to M.2 adapter to install a Samsung 980 Pro in a Z640 workstations?

Also will it be possible to boot a Linux installation from the NVMe M.2 drive with such a setup?  In this question https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-MS-4365-SSD-PCIe-to-M-2-Cont... it is stated that the NVMe M.2 drive can only be used as a data drive with a Z620 workstation.

[Brian1965]

The HP recommended PCIe adapter card for M.2 drives is the HP Z Turbo Drive G2.

Since the HP Zx20 series workstations have a hybrid BIOS, they don't have a full implementation of the UEFI BIOS code. Consequently, these workstations can only natively boot from very specific M.2 drives, e.g. AHCI type, or a very few (early) NVMe drives. Most newer M.2 drives can also be used as boot drives in these workstations, but this requires the use of a legacy 'boot' device, (e.g. USB stick or SSD), which the workstation reads first in order to see the NVMe OS drive at boot, (e.g. using the DUET/REFIND method). If you don't use this method of booting, then newer NVMe drives can only be used as data drives in these workstations.  

The HP Zx40 series workstations have a full implementation of the UEFI BIOS code and therefor will boot with your 980 pro drive without any issues.

Other brands of M.2 PCIe cards will also work in these workstations, but stick to a high quality card, preferably with a heatsink. The HP Z Turbo drives can be easily purchased from the likes of eBay.

FYI - The HP Zx40 workstations also support bifurcation in the BIOS, i.e. you can treat a 16 lane PCIe slot as 4off 4 lane PCIe slots. This means you can also use M.2 PCIe cards that support multiple M.2 drives, e.g. the ASUS HYPER M.2 x16 GEN 4 Card (PCIe 4.0/3.0). All NVMe M.2 drives use a maximum of 4 PCIe lanes.

[NonSequitur777]

@MM166,

Even though @Brian1965 may be correct on only to be able to fit a single M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD on your Z640 Workstation, I have seen nothing yet in the proverbial literature that would persuade me to believe that an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD cannot be fitted in a PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD adapter card such as this one:

Link: Amazon.com: AODUKE M.2 NVMe SSD Adapter Expansion Card to PCI-E4.0/3.0 x4/x8/x16 Converter Card for ...

-on one of your available PCIe x4 or PCIe x8 slots (see picture below) and made into your Primary (boot) drive.  Once installed as described, your Z640 should have no trouble detecting it, and therefore you should be able to access BIOS to make the PCI x4 or x8 fitted M.2 NVMe SSD your primary drive.

However (you knew that would be coming) -to be able to boot in Windows installed on an NVMe drive, it must comply with the following:

1.) Your Z640 must be able to be set in UEFI mode.

2.) The M.2 NVMe SSD must be formatted using GPT, not MBR.

3.) Your Z640 must support so-called native booting from an NVMe drive.

But wait, do I have good news for you!

The answer to the previous three prerequisites is a resounding: YES.

Consider this HP Z640 Workstation UserBenchMark entry -one of many here: UserBenchmark: HP Z640 Workstation Compatible Components:

Link: HP Z640 Workstation Performance Results - UserBenchmark.

I rest my case.

Hope this was helpful.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Brian1965]

My Samsung 256GB SM951 (AHCI) M.2 drive boot drive is mounted on an ASUS Hyper M.2 x4 Mini PCI card. My 1TB Sabrent Rocket (NVMe) M.2 drive is mounted on a Lycom DT-120 M.2 PCI card.

Both the HP Zx20 and HP Zx40 series workstations support multiple M.2 drives. However, only the Zx40 series support multiple M.2 cards in the same PCIe slot (bifurcation).

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/HP-Z-Turbo-Dual-Pro-PCIe-Add-in...

You can also configure multiple M.2 cards in a RAID configuration (cloned or striped).

[NonSequitur777]

@MM166,

And digging just a smidgen deeper, imagine that you CAN install multiple M.2 NVMe SSDs on your HP Z640 Workstation -that is, if you so choose.  The one advantage is of course substantial increased I/O aka read/write speeds compared with SATA based SSDs.

Please consider this Z640, for example: HP Z640 Workstation Performance Results - UserBenchmark.

This Z640 User fitted two (2) 1TB Samsung PM981 Polaris M.2 NGFF PCIe Gen3 x4 SSDs.

Btw, "M.2" used to be formally named "NGFF" (Next Generation Form Factor) before it was formally renamed M.2.  These M.2s are a little dated, but performance wise they still rock & roll: scoring an "outstanding" 306% rating from UserBenchMark.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

@Brian1965,

Thank you for the clarification, quote: "However, only the Zx40 series support multiple M.2 cards in the same PCIe slot (bifurcation)." (emphasis added) -and I misread the discussion thread provided by @MM166 which pertained to the Z620, and not the Z640 as I assumed -my bad.

Yes, indeed.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777