Upgrading an HP Z420 Workstation (v2 motherboard)

[SDH]

Nice work, as usual. Will follow along.

A little correction for your viewers. The Z Turbo Drive G1 and the Z Turbo Drive G2 are functionally identical except for the addition of the nicely engineered heatsink on the G2. You can swap those two ZTD types back and forth between a Z420 and a Z440 with no issue and no mods. Single slot width is maintained with both. The two AHCI-controller M.2 SSDs HP certified for the ZX20 workstations work very well, but when the Z440 came out HP could run hotter faster NVMe-controller M.2 SSDs in that next generation of workstations. Hence the ZTD G2 was released, with its generous heatsink. Both use the same high-quality capacitors to help maintain data integrity (not seen on most M.2 PCIe interface cards).

Modification to the ZTD (G1 or G2) is not needed for use in a ZX20. It is the ZX00 such as the Z400/Z600/Z800 that need that "Q1 transistor out" tiny mod. HP used those ZTD cards as a loss leader to sell M.2 SSDs at high profit, and engineered into the card a "kill-switch" that keeps them from working in a non-HP workstation (or earlier HP workstation) unless the Q1 transistor is removed. That Q1 has 3 tiny PCB pads and you just Xacto-cut the soft copper alloy single one and bend up and down briefly on the top two, and it falls right off. A Q1-out card works just as well in the later HP workstations too. I've posted on that method, which takes me about 10-15 seconds to do. I like the ZTD G2 best, and both versions let you easily get drive activity signals to the proper 2-pin motherboard header on HP workstations.

Added tip: The Z440 heatsink/fan works great also on a Z420 or a single-processor Z620 workstation, costs about 15.00 USD recycled from eBay, and offers about twice the cooling capacity as the original heatsink/fans. The socket base contacts are different but the stainless superstructure for the two types of workstations has exact same specs. Thus, fits perfectly... been using those for years and HP even uses them in a "Premium" heatsink/fan/wiring adapter kit for use with hot (>140W max TDP) Z4 G4 Xeon and Core processors.

[NonSequitur777]

@SDH,

Thank you for your contribution and for the HP Z440 Workstation heatsink/fan combo reminder!

I thought I had this heatsink in storage, but upon looking for it I realized I had modified this heatsink for use in my HP ProDesk 600 G3 (later G4) upgrade project: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Upgrading-HP-ProDesk-600-G3-MT/....

Therefore, sans further ado:

Btw, I found the following HP Z440 Workstation 6-pin pinout information from @Snoopmasta in this link:

And found this HP Z420 Workstation 5-pin PWM pinout:

I assume that no modifications to the 6-pin PWM connector are necessary when you plug it in the 5-pin PWM HP Z420 Workstation motherboard connector -just allow pin #6 to hang out?

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[SDH]

That post from Snoop has it all... and HP has been using the conventional order of pins for PWM cooling fans for years (for the first 4 pins). But HP also does bridging of tacho signals from pin 3 to pin 5, or ground from pin 1 to pin 5 in different ways to let the motherboard know what type of device is attached. To my knowledge there is no mechanism for the motherboard to know otherwise... and this enables HP to have its 3 classes of Mainstream/Performance/Premium CPU coolers. Once you know this wiring you can spoof but it is unwise to run a Premium level hot processor by spoofing, especially when it costs only about $15 on eBay to do it right.

The Z440's big double-cooling heatsink that comes standard (it is in the "Performance" class) is that way... ground/ 12VDC/ Tacho out to motherboard from rotor/ PWM control signals in to rotor/ ground jumper from pin 1 to pin 5/ and another ground jumper from pin 5 to pin 6. The 5-pin Z420 and Z620 CPU header just needs to be plugged into the first 5 holes of the white Z440 cooler's fan plug to pull that all off correctly. For a short while I swapped in spare 5-hole HP fan plugs but, doh, it was easier to just hang that 6th plug hole out is space. There is room.

When you're souping these up everything will be running faster and hotter so I'm a big fan of the memory cooling saddle plus the front added case fan (plus you're adding more memory). The memory cooling saddle for the Z420 also fits perfectly in a single- processor-build Z620 and the big Z440 heatsink/fan fits under that saddle in both cases with about 1/64" to spare. 

[NonSequitur777]

@SDH,

My friend, if it is not too much to ask, do you mind posting a picture showing to which end the #6 pin is hanging out?

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Forum,

Installed a front panel air-intake cooling fan: an ADDA 90x90x25mm 4-pin PWM 0.50A chassis server cooling fan 3900 RPM 50.0 CFM (p/n: AD0912UX-A7BGL):

Granted, not exactly my finest 'slice & dice' cutting job as one can observe, but what the heck -it will do.  The fan happily spins unimpeded and blowing in lots of cooling air, and the front panel bezel fits as snug as a bug.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[SDH]

I'll get you a high resolution pic from a spare Z420 or Z620 motherboard of the upper midline cpu heatsink fan header shortly and add it here, but the Z620 and Z420 I have here are production workstations with all my bells and whistles and I don't want to tear them down to get a pic. Below are some related pics for you now, however:

Some little clarifications for the main post:

I've found going into BIOS and looking at the boot block date of a running workstation is the easiest accurate way to differentiate between a v1 vs a v2 Z420, shown here:

Later v2 boot block date...

But what if the computer is fixable but not currently running, or you are looking on eBay for a v2 motherboard to upgrade your Z420 v1 to a v2? In that case review the motherboard's bar code label and look at the right-hand side numbers. Don't use the left side number that you mentioned up above earlier ending in -601). You want to look on the right for an assembly part number ending in either -002 or -003. If it ends in -001 it is a v1. Both of those later ones are v2. There also is a bottom right corner 2-alphanumeric you want to be at or above, explained in the pic just below:

From an older post...Ignore the left side numbers...

Now you likely want to know about those left side numbers... Those have to do with what the "virgin" motherboard could be branded for. They tell you what it's options were but not what the actual branding was. So, they are virtually worthless to pay attention to... -001 means it could be branded for Linux and -006 means it could be branded for Windows Pro. Note there is no checkbox to tell you what it actually was branded for... you just need to try a Windows Pro install and see if the motherboard will activate with its in-Firmware license, or if you need to buy a Win Pro license to get it to activate.

So, when you buy a v2 used motherboard from eBay make sure the pics in the ad show the barcode label to have the right-hand side Assembly P/N ending in -002 or -003. Also make sure to specifically inform the seller that is the only one you'll accept (because only the v2 can run the Xeon v2 Ivy Bridge faster better processors). Sometimes the pics used are generic, and sometimes the packer is not paying attention.

It is a crap shoot for whether you'll get a Linux branded one or one that is Windows Pro licensed (but you can currently find genuine W10 Pro license codes for under $20.00). Those W10Pro license codes also work for W11Pro... I use the latest Rufus 4.6 for installing W11Pro 24H2 on our Z420 v2 and Z620 v2 workstations.

[NonSequitur777]

@SDH,

Your information is most welcome!

My HP Z420 Workstation's motherboard AS# is: 618263-003:

Also, this motherboard has a Windows 7 Pro license associated with it.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[SDH]

Excellent motherboard. We used to be able to upgrade for free from W7Pro64 to W10Pro64, and then to W11Pro, but I think that path from Microsoft has closed.

Below is an added pic of the wiring of the 6-hole plug end used in the Z440 high cooling capacity heatsink/fan, and one showing how you hang the plug's 6th hole out in space to the left of the Z420 motherboard's 5-pin CPU cooler header. The short side ridges and clip edge make it so you can only slip the white fan plug onto the header one way, but you are right... the extra plug hole could be shifted left or right, so this will solve that question:

Pins 1-4 have conventional PWM order...

No need for plug hole #6...

I left the plug not fully seated for this picture so you could partially see the Z420 motherboard's CPU cooler header pins below (pin #1 is hidden behind that capacitor. There is no lack of spare room for that plug's end to stick out leftward over this area of the motherboard. That header is along the top edge of the motherboard. Works perfectly.

[NonSequitur777]

@SDH,

Outstanding! -Thank you for taking the time and effort to provide these visuals!

I will try the W7Pro license number once I install W11, but if that doesn't work, getting a legit W11Pro license will cost me only -let's check: $4.99 for a Windows 11 Pro Retail Key.

One more thing, considering this PCIe slots illustration:

Link: Exploring the Inner Workings of the HP Z420 Motherboard: A Comprehensive Diagram.

I would imagine that PCIe slots #4 (x8) or #5 (x16) would be the best slots to install the 800GB Intel P3700 NVMe PCIe SSD, since slot #3 (x4) is not available because of the width of the graphics card. Thoughts?

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[SDH]

HP officially recommended use of slot 4 (the PCIe3 x8 electrical lanes) for running their high-speed Z Turbo Drive G1 or G2 cards in to get full bandwidth, but you also can run those at full speed in slot 5 (the PCIe3 x16 electrical lanes). Those ZTD cards are x4 electrical... that is all they need to run a M.2 drive at full speed. Same idea with your Intel DC P3700... it is a x4 electrical lanes card too, engineered for PCIe generation 3. It will also work in a gen 4 slot which is backwards compatible. I've posted in the workstation section of the forum on how I investigated those and learned how to upgrade their firmware. My final post on all that is coming soon. I'm also personally using the Intel DC P3700 in the Add-In Card (AIC) form factor, plus also in its 2.5" U2 form factor. That is mounted on a U2-to-PCIe slot StarTech interface card (stick with the AIC).

Regarding your slot 3 question... not a good idea. That is only a PCIe2 x4 electrical lanes slot. It would function but you want to run your very fast NVMe P3700 in a PCIe3 slot. Running that card in slot 3 (PCIe2) will cost you 1/2 its potential speed. Slot 3 is for something like a PCIe wireless/bluetooth card.

The later ZX40 and Z4 G4 workstations have more advanced BIOS with the ability to do bifurcation. For example, taking a x8 electrical lane slot and splitting that into two x4 sets of lanes. Or, taking a x16 slot and splitting that into four x4 sets of lanes. That is exactly how the HP Z Turbo Drive Dual Pro and the HP Z Turbo Drive Quad Pro cards work to run 2 (or 4) NVMe M.2 SSDs side by side from one PCIe card (respectively). The ZX20 workstations cannot do BIOS bifurcation.

EDIT: Since you'll be buying a Z440 heatsink/fan CPU cooler I edited the pic to focus on the type I like best.... same part number but HP improved the design a bit by having the 2 base plate screws split front and back. The earlier slightly weaker design had both 2 screws at the rear. Look instead for that front screw I've highlighted. No biggie if you happen to get the older design, however. Type I like best...