HP Z600 graphic card upgrade

[GregoZ600]

Hello there,

i'm happy user of HP Z600 with 1quadro 4000 inside :

right now i'm changing the way i work with 3d - by doing more and more real time 3d rendering using Graphic card power via the octane render software solution.

i plan to upgrade my GC : i got 3 solutions and questions about each one :

solution 1 : 

the existing quadro 4000 

+ a new quadro 4000 using SLI

QUESTION : does SLI works with 2 quadro 4000 in a HP Z600 ?

solution 2 : 

the existing quadro 4000 

+ a new quadro 5000

QUESTION : does the HP Z600 support 2 differents cards ?

                       does the quadro 5000 can be "sloted" inside a HP Z600 ? i think the quadro 5000 has a larger size ???

solution 3 : 

the existing quadro 4000 

+ a Geforce GTX TITAN

QUESTION : does the HP Z600 support 2 differents cards ?

                       does the Geforce GTX TITAN can be "sloted" inside a HP Z600 ? i think the Geforce GTX TITAN has a larger size ???

thanks

[Skylarking]

The Z600 QuickSpecs indicates you can only have a single high end graphics card in the Z600.

That is either one Quadro 4000 (142W) card or one Quadro 5000 (152W) card or one FirePro V7900 (<150W) card can be installed in the Z600. However, you can have two Quadro 2000 (62W) cards or two FirePro V5800 (74W) cards or two FirePro V5900 (<75W) cards in the system as this is supported (not that this will help with your graphics processing needs).

The Z600 Maintenance and Services Guide also states you can have one 150W graphics card in either PCIe slot 2 or 4 (leaving the adjacent slot empty) OR you can have 2 75W graphics cards in PCIe slot 2 and 4.

So SLI or crossfire is not a supported configuration with high end 3D cards due, in part to the 650W 80% efficient HP proprietary PSU used in the Z600 (which can't supply the needed power) and in part to the lack of system cooling validation for these more powerful 'heaters'.

And as the HP PSU is a proprietary design, it is not a simple swap to an of the shelf standard ATX supply. Some cabling modifications would be needed and it still may not mechanically fit or work (as others have experienced no boot issues when attempting to use a modified standard ATX swap in their HP workstation -  some have even damaged their system board so be warned).

As for mixing cards in SLI configuration, IIRC, Nvidia allows mixing cards from the same family. So, presumably a Q4000 & Q5000 would work as would a GeForce 760 with a Titan, should the PSU have supported the load (which it doesn't).

Mixing Q4000 with GeForce Titan in SLI configuration will fail as they would be considered a different family. And you can't use a Quadro driver with a GeForce card or a  GeForce driver with Quadro card which creates a driver issue if you try such SLI mixes.

So you may need to buy a more capable system (or do some development work to find a more powerful HP PSU you can fit into the Z600 or instead modify a standard ATX PSU to fit and resolve any issues this creates while also modifying the Z600 chassis cooling system to better cope with the extra heat).

Good luck.

[edited to add underlined text]

[Kian_Meng]

Hi, Skylarking

Do you think HP Z600 is able to support dual NVIDIA Quadro FX3700 in SLI modes ?

Your kind reply and advise will be much appreciate.

Best regards

[Skylarking]

As a disclaimer, I don't own a Z600 (or a Quadro FX3700) and should have made it clear in my previous post

The HP Quadro FX3700 (part KD506AA) is not listed in the Z600 quickspecs so it's not certified for use on that system. This fact does not mean such a card wont work within your Z600, only that HP has not certified it.

According to the FX3700 quickspec, the card has an SLI link so it should work in tandem with another FX3700 (if you have an SLI bridge connector)...

The quickspec makes no mention of power consumption or if it has an auxilary power connectors but searching the internet indicates the card uses a maximum around 78W, which is more than a PCIe slot can provide. As such the card must have an auxiliary power connector, presumably a 6 pin connector to provide that little extra juice.

So I can't see why a Quadro FX3700 would not work in tandem with another FX3700 in your Z600 but obviously i can't say for certain as i don't have a Z600 or 2x FX3700's to play with... 

Do note that the FX3700 (112 cuda cores, 78W) is an old card, circa 2009, which sells today for 100-300USD on ebay (= no warranty). A much newer Quadro 4000 (256 cuda cores, 142W), which is certified on Z600, sells for around 500USD on amazon (= real warranty). The Q4000 may (or may not?) be a better solution in the longer term depending on your priorities. Something to consider...

[Kian_Meng]

Hi, Skylarking

Appreciate your prompt reply.

Yes, there is a 6 pin power input for the FX3700. And it can be supplied from the HP PSU, which is in 650W (80Plus certified).

My concern will be, if i slot in another FX3700, is it existing PSU could supply sufficient to the entire Z600.

Thanks for your kind reply and advise

best regards

[SDH]

I can throw in a few added details:

The two PCIe x16 video card slots in the xw6600 and the Z600 workstations are PCIe generation 2 slots, and feed an inserted video card 75 watts directly from each slot.  The FX3700 cards, drawing just over 75 watts max each, demand having a 6-pin PCIe supplemental power cable inserted, or they screech at you.

Currently my 4 monitor xw6600 workstation builds run 2 color monitors off the top video card slot (that by default is the primary video slot, and the left hand color monitor is fed from the "bottom" primary DVI port of the FX3700 (nearest to the motherboard) as the BIOS boot screen (the primary port on the primary card will show the BIOS screen).  Left color is landscape; right is portrait orientaton.  I feed the card from a spare molex power port on the least used set of power cables coming out of the HP power supply, using a molex-to-PCIe supplemental video power adapter.

The second FX3700 is in the bottom PCIe x16 slot, feeds two central 5MP medical grayscale monitors (portrait orientation both), also gets the 3 extra watts via the dedicated PCIe supplemental power cable coming directly out of the power supply.  I feed it this way because I figured the workload on that card would be higher than on the two 2MP color monitors.  Primary port from that FX3700 feeds the left hand 5MP Dome monitor.

I have had no problems at all running two FX3700s, and believe your Z600's power supply should be more capable than the xw6600's.  I don't use SLI.  I have chosen to shift from RAID to a single SSD for this type of build, and can rebuild from saved image to a fresh SSD in about 10 minutes if I ever need to.  I'm not running large numbers of added internal drives; generally one documents spindle drive inside.

Price is right for those FX3700s on eBay, and they have been rock solid for us..... I did a big project a few months back and averaged about $75.00 USD for each with careful shopping.

The xw6600 builds with two E5450 quad cores are working great off W7Pro64, and also W8.1.1Pro, and recently W10TP with some fiddling.