Upgrading to an HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT

[NonSequitur777]

Dear Forum,

Decided to upgrade my HP ProDesk 600 G3 MT (see: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Upgrading-HP-ProDesk-600-G3-MT/...) -hence the Subject name: "Upgrading to an HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT", by swapping its motherboard with an HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT motherboard as purchased through eBay:

The two M.2 NVMe SSDs, the SATA SSD, the four Samsung 8GB DDR4 M378A1K43CB2-CRC 2400 MHz RAM sticks, 400-watt power supply and the HP Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6 graphics card from the HP ProDesk 600 G3 MT platform will be reused/repurposed on the HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT motherboard and will install an i7-8700K (3.70 to max 4.70 GHz, 6-Cores, 12-Threads) processor.

[02/04/2023] First phase completed: successfully installed motherboard, CPU, drives, RAM, GPU, PSU & Windows 11 install, Intel, Windows and HP (drivers) updates, and initial benchmark/performance tests showed no issues.

To be continued.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Dear Forum,

I have run into a curious -at least to me, issue.

Upon powering up my HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT, shortly after the initial BIOS startup, this screen appears for 4 seconds:

After which Windows starts without any problems.

I am trying to get rid of/skip this useless startup step.

Any ideas how to do this would be helpful and appreciated.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Dear Forum,

Never mind: figured it out almost as soon as I posted my previous post:

1.) Typed: msconfig in my Windows search bar and Entered,
2.) Selected the Boot tab,
3.) Deleted the "Windows 11 (E:\Windows)" entry as highlighted above,
4.) Restarted my HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT and it booted straight to the correct Windows config.

5.) Reformatted (quick NTFS) the (secondary) E:\ drive to get rid of any Windows OS files.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777 · Accepted solution]

Dear Forum,

Performed my latest UserBenchMark test a few minutes ago after completion of final software tweaking/optimizations, and was quite pleased with the results -see link https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/58982376:

Looking at the previous #1 HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT benchmark here: https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/HP-ProDesk-600-G4-MT/96509, my scores easily outperformed it.  Yea, busted yet another legacy HP desktop ranking.

But as is unfortunately sometimes the case, UserBenchMark is either slow to record individual bench scores on their website or does not show them at all for reasons unknown to me.

Anyways, showed yet again that one can go where few have gone before -aim high.

[EDIT:] Also the PassMark comprehensive performance test went well:

Link: https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V10/display.php?id=173829149315.

Live long and prosper, my friends.

🖖

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

Attempted as I most certainly did, but could not make any PCIe WiFi card to work on the second PCIe x1 slot (X1PCIEXP2).

The first PCIe x1 slot is inaccessible due to the fact that the HP RTX 3060 graphics card is a dual-slot sized card and covers it over, and the PCIe x4 (white) slot is in use as my primary (boot) M.2 NVMe drive through a PCIe adapter card:

To be able to connect to the internet, that either leaves me using a USB 3.0 WiFi adapter, or to utilize the M.2 2230 WLAN slot. I decided to try out the latter:

Link: Amazon.com: AX210NGW DTK WiFi Card WiFi 6E Supports 6GHz, 2230, 2x2 AX+BT 5.2+Tri-Band, Includes RF ....

Since you know more about WLAN/WiFi than I do, what is your assessment of this product?

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I believe that I recommended that very same kit to another forum member that has a HP Z1 G1/G2 and it worked great for that person.

I would definitely spring for it.

[NonSequitur777]

@Paul_Tikkanen,

This kit is supposed to arrive this Saturday/Sunday, will update.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Looking forward to reading the results.

Cheers,

Paul

[NonSequitur777]

Dear Forum,

Since as explained I am one PCIe x1 slot short (slot: X1PCIEXP1) because it is covered up by the dual-slot sized graphics card, I wondered if I could fit an PCIe x1 adapter + extension cable on it and thus be able to utilize this otherwise inaccessible slot.

To that end, I just ordered a "PCIE X1 Riser Cable Dual 90 Degree Right Angle PCIe 3.0 X1 to X1 Extension Cable":

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[NonSequitur777]

Esteemed Forum,

Because of the installation of an oversized CPU heatsink/fan combo as described in this thread, I had to remove the internal drives bay and optical drive, the front of the HP ProDesk 600 G4 had a gaping rectangular void which I intended to cover up.

To that end, purchased a matching ODD bezel cover:

Which fitted perfectly and improved the overall aesthetics of this HP ProDesk 600 G4 MT desktop:

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777