Retrofit modern aftermarket PSU in a Z440.

[eRelics]

Hello,

I know this question has been asked here before. However after days of scouring the internet, various forums, and watching dozens of YouTube videos, I haven't seen anyone replacing the OEM 700W PSU with a modern one that has enough power for high end graphics cards. The two 6-pin connectors that come with the original PSU can just deliver 75 Watts each. And many modern GPUs have 2x8-pin connectors and even 12-pins now.

I really like the HP case and don't want to migrate the system to a new case. I've been using PCs from the late 90s up until now. However, I stopped building custom PCs ever since halfway the 2000s they started looking like christmas trees. I always hoped it would be a fad that would end sooner or later. But now 20 years later, it only has gotten worse. Looking at modern custom builds, feels like a heavy night out clubbing at a rave party. All the RGB stuff just isn't for me.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for fitting an aftermarket PSU without dramatically altering the original case? I found this Corsair HX1000i that would physically fit in the spot with only minimal mods like bending up a small piece of metal on the inside of the case and drilling out of few rivets to remove the small metal piece above the original PSU. Perhaps routing away some metal. I'll attach the unit to the upper panel using Tec7 Extreme Tack. That should keep it firmly in place and the case wouldn't be very altered at all. There is just one problem that stops me from doing this. I have the optional RAM cooling fan assembly fitted. And these new PSUs don't have a straight airflow anymore i.e. from front to back. If I would install this unit the air intake would be right above the black plastic piece from the RAM cooling assembly that bridges over the processor cooling. Would it hurt to remove the memory cooling assembly and rely on the airflow generated from the PSU? Keep in mind that I will install a Nvidia RTX Ti graphics card that will probably has 3 cooling fans as well and will produce quite some heat itself. I have 128 GB of RAM installed in 4 slots. I wouldn't like anything overheating. Perhaps I could cut away a part of the plasic bridge that goes over the processor cooler? Or is this all just a bad idea?

Has anyone done something similar? Or does anyone know of a modern ATX PSU that has an airflow that goes straight through?

I would like to get some opinions, ideas, or even reasons not to proceed with this.

Greetings.

[NonSequitur777]

@eRelics,

Welcome to our peer-to-peer HP Community Forum!

You raised an excellent question.  In your shoes, so to speak, I would be inclined to look into this 1,000-watt ATX 18-pin HP power supply, intended for an HP Z4 Z6 G4 Workstation, with p/n: 851383-001.

Granted, this power supply isn't exactly what you may had in mind, but it is mostly 'squarish-rectangular' and has its air intake/exhaust front to back.  Its dimensions: 120mm x 86mm x 214mm may be something you could make fit.  Also, this PSU is equipped with 2 x 6+2-pin PCIe power cables:

Hope this was helpful.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[eRelics]

@NonSequitur777 I wish I saw your solution before I bought another PSU. I've done some minimal cutaways of which I will post pictures later. The new power supply draws 10 Watt less on idle, so that's a small gain. I also didn't modify the case too much so I can always put the original PSU in again.

Now I haven't decided if I want to make this machine a gaming rig or a homelab server. Since there are multiple ways to boot it up, I can do both. Plenty of options. I can copy the BIOS settings to USB if I want it to run in server mode. Or load another BIOS profile if I want to boot it into Windows 11.

Here's something I'm reluctant to do. If I disable PCIe slot 2 in which currently my Quadro K1200 resides, the only graphics card installed at this time, is it possible to boot up the machine as a NAS? Will it get past POST? And if so, is there any way to enable it again when I want to use the Z440 for another task? Disabling the slot for the GPU will result in no video output. So I won't be able to see anything. Will disabling PCIe slot 2 also cut the power to the GPU in there? Or do I physically have to take it out of the slot? Just out of curiosity. The system idles at around 80-90 Watt now booting into the NVME card in slot 5. (No SATA or PATA drives atttached yet) So if I want to run it as a server, I won't need the graphics card. I want to check how much power it will save. Or is this negligible?

[NonSequitur777 · Accepted solution]

@eRelics,

I would not disable any PCIe slot.  Not sure about your other questions.  If your processor doesn't have integrated graphics, and you want to (drastically) cut PCIe power output/demand, I would recommend installing a very low power graphics card, such as a GT 1030 (30-watt TDP). 

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777