is it possible to activate RAID 0 and install windows on it? (HP COMPAQ 8200 ELITE SFF)

[Tamirmp4]

Hello, few days ago i bought refebished HP COMPAQ 8200 ELITE SFF PC, ive seen that theres a RAID option in the BIOS so i tried to do (RAID 0) (2 samsung evo 870 SSDs 500gb installed on the device) i managed to make 2 of the samsungs to be reccognized on windows 10 installer as 1 disk (1TB), i tried to install the WINDOWS normally but when the installation was complete the pc was restarted (normal windows installer restart) windows didnt load. the PC showed me  black screen with blinking under line icon (like this  _  ) and nothing happend. i tried to do it many times and i failed so i just gave up.. right now i use only one samsung evo 870 on the device.. i wanted to know if it is actually possible to do what i wanted to do? also the pc has 4 sata ports on the motherboad with diffrent colors so today i was thinking maybe the ssds were plugged on wrong plugs thats maybe why it failed?

please someone can help me and clerify that for me / guide me?

also i would like to get explaination on the sata ports that the my compaq 8200 elite has (like which one is which and whats thier speed and what they are supported)

also a little unrelated quesstion but i will ask it here anyway.. the pc has i5 2400 cpu i am thinking to maybe upgrade it in the future i wanted to ask like what is the absolute  best of the line cpu that this pc can accept in terms of upgrade?

help would be appriciated! 

thank you.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I recommend that you read this guide for how to set up a RAID configuration in your PC.

Technical Whitepaper (hp.com)

The SATA 0 and SATA 1 ports are SATA III (6.0 GB/S).

The SATA 2 port is SATA II (3.0 GB/S.

That information can be found in the service manual, chapter 8 page 176.

c04224518.pdf (hp.com)

HP offered processors up to the i7-2600 for the model series (see page 9)

HP Compaq 8200 Elite Series (levnapc.cz)

The absolute best processor not offered by HP appears to be the i7-2600K according to this benchmarking site which is a database of users that uploaded their configurations to the website.

UserBenchmark: HP Compaq 8200 Elite SFF PC Compatible Components

Some folks have installed Xeon processors, but somewhere along the line, if you are running a certain BIOS version or newer, those will no longer work.

Folks were running Xeons with earlier BIOS revisions and when they updated the BIOS, the processors were no longer supported.

[Tamirmp4]

hi, thanks for the reply, i will try to do  the raid 0 i guess but ive seen that you need to get driver or something for the windows installer and im not sure how also ,i wanted to say something my motherboard does have 4 sata ports, and i was planning to raid my 2 samsung ssds in to raid zero (to get maximum preformance in to 1 in the bios and make it my windows disk) and to raid 1 two more WD golds 8 tb drives (for mass backup) on to the other 2 sata ports (using windows disk manager)  i wanted to know if its possible and whats the speed of the other missing port? i have seen something in the bios i guess maybe its eSata but i have no idea what it is..

also i wanted to know if that 3gb/s sata ports are noticiably slower ? (because i have 2 new WD GOLDS 7200 RPM 256 MB That i wanted to put inside but maybe i will get bottle necked because of the sata 3gb speed?) i also have 2 more WD Blue drives 5400 rpm 256MB maybe i should use these instead?

and also i wanted to ask does this pc support USB 3.0 Connector on the motherboard? 

and last thing the bios version. i dont know what version i have and if its good or bad version for lets say i7 2600k

[Tamirmp4]

also my 2 samsung disks were detected as 1tb in windows setup (after i bios raid 0 them) everything was going very well in the installer then the pc did 1st restart and then i got this ( _   underline screen) im suck and not sure what to do next in order to boot to windows  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

If your PC has 4 SATA ports, then SATA2 and SATA3 are SATA 2.0 (3 GB/S)

There is no option to add USB3 to your PC unless you buy a PCIe x1 USB3 expansion card.

Here is a comparison between the i7-2600 and i7-2600K:

Doing a cursory review, I don't see much of a difference.

Intel® Product Specification Comparison

I have a SATA 3 SSD in my HP 8000 Elite CMT which only has SATA 2 ports and the drive is still pretty fast.

Unfortunately, I don't know the answers to any of your other questions and can't help you with those.

Doesn't the guide at the end of the document (starting on page 15) I posted provide all of the steps you need to set up RAID?

I've never set up RAID, and have never used more than one drive in any of my PC's.

[Tamirmp4]

Hey ok so i have few updates 

i ran speccy on my HP 8200 SFF to check the bios version and thats what it says:

Brand Hewlett-Packard

Version J01 v02.24

Date 20/09/2013

i was checking on ebay and on aliexpress i7 2600 and 2600k (they both have almost same prices) i have seen an offer of i7 2600k in cheap price  and it is in my country too i asked the seller he told me that he has hp 8200 too and it supported but he told me to check the version of bios (as you said Paul) so ye speccy says its  J01 v02.24, i wanted to know if it is supported.

about the USB 3 thing ye i orderd pcie card from aliexpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004709314577.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.45.107118...) it looked decent enough for me (please tell me what you think and if its legit because it require no external power)

also about the raid i havent tried yet to use the raid zero for windows  in the bios with the 2 samsung ssds (im still not fully understand what to do after the windows 10 installer is finishing..) i was trying to look for videos on youtube too but no luck...

In the other hand at least i ,managed to do the raid 1 no probblem in windows disk manager with 1tb disks just for testing and it worked flawlessly (all 4 of the sata ports are in use and working by the way)

i would still need a guidance about the raid 0 from somebody to understand how to do it because im alittle lost in the instructions and also i have never done raid 0 before on any pc using the bios.. only raid 1 (on windows disk manager) but i belive i came close on my hp 8200 sff last time i attempted to raid zero it.. im just missing something..

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, that USB 3 card should work.

Glad it came with the low-profile bracket so you can switch it from the standard profile bracket.

I'm pretty sure that any BIOS revision will work for the i7-2600K, it is the Xeon's that have a problem after the BIOS is updated.

I think that happened if a person went beyond v2.15.

[Tamirmp4]

Thanks for the reply .

About the usb yeah i felt like its the right one for me i just wanted to be sure, 

About the cpu so do you say should i go for the deal? (Im scared it wont be compatible since its not supported officialy if i understood correctly what you said before)

But seems like im on the right bios version?

Anyway i have one more thing to ask about the 8200 elite, my pc came with 2gbx4 ddr3 1033 samsung ram sticks, and today i did some cleaning and found that i have 1 stick of ram (1600 8gb stick) i wanted to ask is jt ok to remove one of the sticks of 2gb and put this random unknown memory sick in my pc? Will it effect preformance? (I think its skhynix memoery but not sure

 

 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I'd give the 1600 MHz memory a try, but you probably would have to remove the 1066 MHz memory because I'm not sure the 1600 MHz memory will bridge down two clock speeds.  I know it will do one, but not sure about two.

Why is there 1066 MHz memory in your PC?

DDR3-1333 memory is supported, so the 1066 MHz memory is bottlenecking the processor's performance.

Regarding the i7-2600K.  I cannot find any posts where anyone actually installed one in an 8200 Elite..

They all decided to play it safe and went with the i7-2600.

Search - HP Support Community

[Tamirmp4]

i might be wrong and my pc memory speed is 1333 i need to check it later, so theoretically it should work fine and i wont feel negative impact?

About the cpu i sent the seller my bios version (he asked me the version) im waiting for a reply from him

Im interested on the 2600k because the seller is on ebay and his shipping says 3-10 days he is living where i live too and its even cheaper then the non k 2600