Upgrading an HP Z400 Workstation

[NonSequitur777]

Dear Community,

Nostalgia aside, I plan to have fun upgrading a vintage Workstation, the HP Z400 Workstation.

To that end, just for kicks, I submitted a bid for an HP Z400 Workstation motherboard (in order to save a few bucks -hmm, why the heck did I just do that?) since I got a nice empty HP Tower case for it waiting:

And ordered the mighty (at least in 2011!) Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition (6-Cores, 12-Threads, 3.46 GHz up to 3.73 GHz, 130-watt TDP, LGA1366), because it is the fastest/best non-Xeon processor available for socket LGA1366:

And no one else has yet fitted this top-legacy i7-Core processor in an HP Z400 Workstation: UserBenchmark: HP Z400 Workstation Compatible Components.

Also ordered 4 x 4GB Samsung dual-rank (2Rx8) DDR3-1600 MHz (M378B5273DH0-CK0) RAM sticks:

Which probably will down throttle to 1333 MHz.  [EDIT:] And yes, I know that an HP Z400 Workstation can handle up to 6 x 4GB RAM.  Actually, I corrected myself: this Workstation can be fitted, depending on if you got the 4-RAM slot motherboard or 6-RAM slot motherboard, with either 4 x 8GB or 6 x 8GB DDR3-1600 MHz RAM, as shown by this User: HP Z400 Workstation Performance Results - UserBenchmark.

And last but not least, for now, a decent LGA1366 compatible heatsink:

[EDIT:] The stock HP Z400 Workstation high-performance heatsink is actually performing remarkably well, even with an overclocked i7-990X processor, so I haven't felt the need to install this high-end air cooler yet.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Have fun with your upgrade.

Just a friendly reminder that if the PC's motherboard had not been previously upgraded to W10, you will have to stay on the native OS (Windows Vista) it came with or pay for a W10 license and product key since Microsoft closed the loophole last October that allowed us to continue to get free upgrades to W10 well beyond the advertised July 2016 end date.

That is unless you have available Windows OS's/product keys you can use, or you plan to use Linux, etc.

[NonSequitur777]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

That is a very helpful reminder indeed, but purchasing an inexpensive but legal new Windows license is not a problem. As a matter of fact -come to think of it, I may have one or two free licenses available on my Microsoft account anyway.

Thank you as always for your feedback and insights!

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Esteemed Forum,

Update: Seller accepted my $20 offer for the HP Z400 Workstation motherboard:

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Dear Community,

Based in part because of @Paul_Tikkanen's comment, I ordered a complete HP Z400 Workstation with W10 Pro already installed for under a $100:

Meaning, I'll have a $20 spare HP Z400 Workstation motherboard in reserve.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Now you can upgrade it to W11 24H2 using that YouTube video...since you will be installing an Intel 1st Gen Core processor--the new minimum Intel processor requirement to go beyond W11 23H2 (unless some genius figures out a way to bring the Pentium Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad and older processors back into the mix).

[jkomarek]

Come on, experts, such a machine calls for a Linux-installation! The HP business computers have excellent Linux-support since there are so many of them! I use Zorin OS (www.zorin.com) on four of my my HP machines (the fifth runs Proxmox which is Debian-based which is also the base for Zorin OS), and it works just fantastic!

[NonSequitur777]

@jkomarek,

I am not categorically opposed to (eventually) dabble with a Linux based OS, such as Linux Mint.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Dear Forum,

In order to upgrade the HP Z400 Workstation's power supply with an industry standard ATX power supply, you'll need a "24-pin ATX to HP Z400 24-pin Non-Standard ATX pinout main power adapter cable", such as the one I just ordered via a trusted eBay Seller:

Also, once I get the HP Z400 Workstation, the BIOS version should be the most recent: 3.61 Rev. A:

Link: HP Z400 Workstation Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support.

[EDIT:] Also ordered 6 x 8GB of DDR3-1600 MHz ECC (Server) RAM:

[EDIT:] Somewhat unexpectantly, this 6 x 8GB EEC server RAM did not work: repeated 5-beeps error code which means a RAM issue.  Replaced with 4 x 8GB of Patriot Viper DDR3 PC3-14900, 1866 MHz, Non-ECC, UDIMM, 240-pin RAM sticks (p/n: PV316G186C0K), running at 1600 MHz.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Esteemed Forum,

The HP Z400 Workstation arrived and commenced working on it.

As advertised, this PC came with Windows 10 Pro preinstalled. The motherboard is the earlier version with 4 RAM slots, instead of 6 RAM slots.  I had also purchased an additional 6-RAM slot model HP Z400 Workstation motherboard, so I probably will swap motherboards before I conclude this upgrade project, since I got 6 x 8GB of Micron MT36JSF1G72PZ-1G6K1FE, DDR3 PC3-12800, 1600 MHz, 2Rx4, ECC, UDIMM, 240-pin RAM sticks.

The HP Z400 Workstation had/has the following installed components:

1.) A Xeon W3565 (4-Cores, 8-Threads, 3.20 GHz up to 3.46 GHz, 130-watt TDP), to be replaced with an i9-990X.

2.) 2 x 4GB of Kingston KTH-PL313E/4G server RAM sticks (DDR3 PC3-10600, 1333 MHz, 2Rx8, ECC, UDIMM, 240-pin)

which I already replaced with 4 x 4GB of Samsung M378B5273DHO-CKO, DDR3 PC3-12800, 1600 MHz, 2Rx8, ECC, UDIMM, 240-pin RAM, which is running in "Triple Channel" and "Dual Mode".

3.) A Nvidia Quadro K2200 4GB, replaced temporarily with an RX 5500 4GB, eventually to be fitted with an HP RTX 2080 8GB.

4.) A 1TB Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX, 7200 RPM, 64MB Cache size, to be replaced with a 1TB Samsung SSD.

5.) A 475-watt power supply, with p/n: 468930-001, to be replaced with a higher-wattage ATX power supply once the 24-pin ATX adapter cable arrives.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777