HP Z1 - Upgrading Graphics Card!! PLEASE HELP!!

[Skylarking]

dutchbuilt, the Z1 quickspec version 12 (15Jan2013) lists Xeon CPUs (e3-1280 & e3-1245 both @ v1 & v2 and e3-1225 @ v2) and the desktop CPUs i5-3470, i3-3220 and i3-2120. There is no i7 CPUs listed hence the machine may not boot with an unlisted CPU installed as it all depends on what the BIOS allows.

Unfortunately HP seems uninterested in updating the BIOS of what they consider an old Z210. As such I can't upgrade to the better Xeon v2 CPUs but who would have thought the Z210 would be considered so old so quickly !!

Anyway, I had understood that all the supported Z1 CPU's allowed for ECC memory should it be installed in the system, despite the Intel ARK site specifying nothing about the i3-2120 supporting ECC. But the Intel ARK site does state the i7-3370 does not support ECC memory, so this may be a reason why such a processor is not supported by the Z1. Who knows if the ARK site is indeed 100% accurate or if such a HP design choice could be the reason the i7 is not supported, HP won't tell us :?

And FYI, some of the supported CPUs features can be seen here. Note that the e3-1275v2 has a slightly higher clock speed for the on die HD4000 graphics so this may allow slightly higher performance that the other compared chips.

Now to the real point, whether HD4000 will provide you with the performance you need can't be know as you have not specified what you are trying to achieve. A quick Google search of "HD4000 compared to discrete graphics" may give you some info to digest and may better answer the real question

Because one can't expect that the graphics of a $300 Xeon will replace a $1000 K1000M $500 Quadro 1000M GPU in terms of graphics performance. $300 CPU graphics may be enough but it depending on what you expect

Seems the HD4000 is about 1/2 the performance of a Nvidia GeForce GT430 PCIe card according to this review site.

[Edited to add last paragraph regarding performance comparison to GT430 & corrected second last paragraph re expected price for 1000M]

[Chippy_boy]

The Z1 supports both ECC and non-ECC memory and with some Xeons you can run either.  The i3 does not support ECC and requires non-ECC ram.

Lack of support for newer (or different) processors is down to lack of effort from HP, nothing else.  The chipset supports pretty much anything, so there's really no reason why anything with 1155 pins should not work, if HP would just spend 10 minutes on tweaking the bios.  Presumably they don't see much of a market for this, although they have added an i5 to the supported line up for some strange reason.

Similarly it would be dead simple for them to add a couple of GeForce graphics options if they wanted to.  I think that would be a great idea and they would sell loads, but that's just my opinion, and not shared by HP presumably.

But I think a top end CPU and decent GeForce would make a great gaming machine, with all the upgrade appeal that the Z1 offers.

[john_kahng]

The bottleneck to upgrading to a big gun - top of the line graphics card would be the power supply.

Power requirements for a GTX680 will be much greater than the 400W proprietary unit in the Z210. There is no way to upgrade to a bigger capacity without modification.

With that being said, I have installed a MSI GTX650 that works like a charm.  (typing from that machine now).  It requires one 6pin PCIe power connector which our power supply has.

Any decent dedicated graphics card will trump an on chip solution.

[aeneas1]

i think you might have posted to the wrong thread, the graphics cards being discussed here, for the z1 all-in-one workstation, are mobile cards, i.e. xxxM cards, (the gtx 675m for example), not desktop cards, which can't be used the z1. that said, the z1 has plenty of psu power to handle a mobile card.

[Z1_Engineer]

Hello gents! There is an option for a higher performning DX card for the Z1. It is not a widely advertised product (unfortunatelly), but was made specifically for Z1 by PNY in collaboration with HP. Google for "PNY GeForce GTX 680M Graphics card - 4 GB - GDDR5 SDRAM". 

For roughly $700 you will get a very capable gaming card, I am sporting one in my Z1 and play DOTA2, SC2, and Skyrim.

Couple of notes:

1. Download the "Desktop" driver from Nvidia.com. The mobile driver (aka notebooks) will not install due to not having the proper IDs.

2. If you have the $ and desire, upgrade to an Ivy-Bridge CPU (those that have V2 at the end of the name). It will enable PCIe GEN3 capability, which the 680M can take an advantage of, and a faster CPU does not hurt in gaming.

- Z1_engineer

[BDOArchitect]

Anyone know where to get a Heat Sink Fan module? The HP Parts store and all the resellers say it is unavailable, makes the addition of a graphics card impossible according to what the forums are saying.

[Mister_Tad]

I've just had a confirmation from HP support that the equivalent heatsinks for the Z1 G2 are suitable replacements for the parts in the G1, and the G1 P/Ns have just gone EOA on account of the G2 being around.

So P/N 709555-001 is a suitable replacement for P/N 682305-001 and should be readily available.

The same goes for the Type A heatsink as well, but we've already had it confirmed on these boards that the Type A and the Type B are the same thing, with Type B just having a few more thermal pads included/

[Casual_Gamer]

Hey there Z1_Engineer, Just wondering what else you may have upgraded in your Z1?  I too have purchased a "PNY GeForce GTX 680M Graphics card - 4 GB - GDDR5 SDRAM" and installed it, but i have found that it makes a heck of a noise and eventually it closes the screen down (BLACK)...so i then place the Quadro 500 back in. My intent is to play WoW...and on the couple of occaisions i have been able to (with new card) WOW 🙂 makes a world of difference...Could there be a need to upgrade fans at all...your thoughts?

Casual_Gamer

[RogerWilco]

It sounds like the card is overheating. Did you peroperly apply the thermal paste and made sure the thermal pads align corrently?

[aeneas1]

when there is a system problem, the z1 will often kick in all system fans at max speed as a precaution, it's quite an impressive sound, especially with the chasis open, sounds like that might be what you're hearing...