Andy's Workshop Forums

General Category => Hardware projects => Topic started by: Andy Brown on November 01, 2014, 04:53:46 am

Title: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on November 01, 2014, 04:53:46 am
In a temporary departure from hacking little things I thought you all might like to see how I hacked a very large thing (the HP Z800 workstation dual Xeon motherboard) into a standard PC case:

http://andybrown.me.uk/wk/2014/11/01/z800/

Definitely not as straightforward as I thought it would be when I first ordered the board on ebay but I refuse to be beaten and the outcome was a good one.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on November 24, 2014, 02:32:27 pm
I've found on ebay some matching connectors that i will be using on my build so I've decided to share them

(http://i.imgur.com/uO3hDyN.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ObwriXf.jpg)

Just search for 18/0 Pin Male Power Cable PSU

I've ordered them and when they arrive i will give my feedback.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on November 27, 2014, 12:47:09 pm
Nice find Marco, look forward to hearing how you get on.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on November 29, 2014, 06:57:03 am
If anyone has an account on the Chinese Taobao site, this is the cable adaptor set that you need:

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.30.gZGz0F&id=40589333743&ns=1&abbucket=8#detail
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on December 06, 2014, 06:58:34 pm
I'm kinda happy because I've managed to finish successfully my test build.

2 Xeons X5650 and a revision 2 motherboard with the earlier boot blocker, i had a real hard time to boot for the first time but eventually it did boot   8)

Really apreciated for your wonderful article and support  :)

http://i.imgur.com/fVe81b2.png
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dieapy on December 07, 2014, 08:19:04 am
Hi every one this is just a natter to introduces myself and to Andy nice read Re: Hacking the HP Z800 dual socket motherboard, I was browsing the web on the look out for a manual or User Guide for that very same board when I stumbled on your topic.
Like always I jump into things with both feet without thinking, what happened was I had on the shelve a couple of Intel i7 1366/950 chips sorry CPU 3.06_MHz and there on eBay was this very nice looking Motherboard and cheap I’ll have that? Yep you guessed it the very one you worked on Andy… lol ok so I have a case every much as big as yours with two large red fans at top, single large red one in front blowing in on drive bays similar to your own and it has two push in, clip in Sata bays at the front ideal for testing and formatting spear drives and super large fan on the side. An 850Watt power supply at bottom like yours, cable hides and alike on and off switch on top front like yours it has a reset and Intergraph switch all glowing red and array of four USB ports sound out mic and HHD led across top front, two DVD RW and alike below needless to say it cost a lot of coin as did the guts within stacked out 2.TB AND 3.TB Drives. A perfectly good working server and all I get is your not going to rip that apart are you dad, why not it’s my second rig I mean computer. lol       
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 07, 2014, 10:17:34 am
Quote from: Marco Silva on December 06, 2014, 06:58:34 pm
I'm kinda happy because I've managed to finish successfully my test build.

2 Xeons X5650 and a revision 2 motherboard with the earlier boot blocker, i had a real hard time to boot for the first time but eventually it did boot   8)

Really apreciated for your wonderful article and support  :)

http://i.imgur.com/fVe81b2.png


Hi Marco, great news that you got it up and running with 2 westmere CPUs in a rev 2 board. How did you overcome the boot problems? Some users report that clearing the CMOS does the trick.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 07, 2014, 10:20:50 am
Quote from: Dieapy on December 07, 2014, 08:19:04 am
Hi every one this is just a natter to introduces myself and to Andy nice read Re: Hacking the HP Z800 dual socket motherboard, I was browsing the web on the look out for a manual or User Guide for that very same board when I stumbled on your topic.
Like always I jump into things with both feet without thinking, what happened was I had on the shelve a couple of Intel i7 1366/950 chips sorry CPU 3.06_MHz and there on eBay was this very nice looking Motherboard and cheap I’ll have that? Yep you guessed it the very one you worked on Andy… lol ok so I have a case every much as big as yours with two large red fans at top, single large red one in front blowing in on drive bays similar to your own and it has two push in, clip in Sata bays at the front ideal for testing and formatting spear drives and super large fan on the side. An 850Watt power supply at bottom like yours, cable hides and alike on and off switch on top front like yours it has a reset and Intergraph switch all glowing red and array of four USB ports sound out mic and HHD led across top front, two DVD RW and alike below needless to say it cost a lot of coin as did the guts within stacked out 2.TB AND 3.TB Drives. A perfectly good working server and all I get is your not going to rip that apart are you dad, why not it’s my second rig I mean computer. lol       


Hi and welcome to the forum. Are you planning to do a build with the Z800 motherboard? You mentioned that your CPUs are i7. They will not work in the Z800 motherboard - it's Xeons only for the Z800.

Regards
Andy
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on December 07, 2014, 11:19:04 am
QuoteHi Marco, great news that you got it up and running with 2 westmere CPUs in a rev 2 board. How did you overcome the boot problems? Some users report that clearing the CMOS does the trick.


Hi Andy, I just kept on powering it on and off  :P

At first it booted and it was great, installed windows did a bunch of reboots and not a single problem. After a while it started acting up, every reboot requires to do the on/off thing from a couple of times up to 30 or 40  >:(

There are issues with the bootblocker for sure, but after it starts it's really stable.

Here is a picture of my build

(http://i.imgur.com/7pOBtAnl.jpg)

Now still missing the real hard part...putting it in to the case :)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dieapy on December 07, 2014, 06:43:18 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on December 07, 2014, 10:20:50 am

Hi and welcome to the forum. Are you planning to do a build with the Z800 motherboard? You mentioned that your CPUs are i7. They will not work in the Z800 motherboard - it's Xeons only for the Z800.

Regards
Andy


Hi Andy and thanks for the gen on my i7 CPU’s, zods there go’s dreaming. And they looked great in there too… I’m leaving them in place for now for safe keeping and showing off to on-lookers. Lol… You’ll never get that up and running they report, seems they are right with my CPU’s. But I’m not a quitter Ho-No... I am thinking about taking the easy way out with the PSU lead kit for neatness. Not that I couldn’t have modify the leads as you have done myself being an OAP and a Ex-Technician with a dab-hand at soldering.

Had a look at the URL: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.30.gZGz0F&id=40589333743&ns=1&abbucket=8#detail “What all in China txt” lol… 20 yen it was 18 yesterday… wish it would make its mind up its back to 18 again now

Thinking about sign up here: http://chinabuyagency.com/ 

Nice pic Marco: is there a need for the bottom fan over heatsink? Not really a question just idle thinking, one gets like that at my age.

So I have to get: Two Xeons CPU for Z800… power lead conversion kit… bios flash software… and I never did find the HP-Z800 service manual? Spent most of the time reading your topic Andy… and a right riveting read it was to enjoyed it immensely
I have to smash my working server to bits for case… sort out a way of fixing motherboard in same.

I’m guessing my 1600 DDR3s will not work either but never mind I have to put the server set back in its old case a Tsunami Dream: (Thermaltake cool all your life case) such a shame our motherboard is so massive there’s no way it will fit in that.

It has blue led’s surrounding the first front door with a second locking door behind it to get at the array of clip in 5.¼ DVD bays with two 1.44 floppy’s below… also a five bay swing round or take out cradle for the hard drives, I’ve had as many as seven Sata drive in this case two in the floppy bays and one in a spare 5.1/4 bay… that’s as many onboard Sata ports it has it could also have four IDE drives combination of either DVDs and hard drive in the 5.1/4 with one spare

The reason for changing this case at the time was my purchasing a 2gig PCIe graphic card which took over two slots at back and to secure cards this case has drop down plastic clips. Needless to say the second clip would not lock down and it looked untidy

Any advice as to where to get BIOS Flash software and HP service manual will be appreciated
Thanks
Dieapy

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 08, 2014, 04:53:52 am
Quote from: Marco Silva on December 07, 2014, 11:19:04 am
QuoteHi Marco, great news that you got it up and running with 2 westmere CPUs in a rev 2 board. How did you overcome the boot problems? Some users report that clearing the CMOS does the trick.


Hi Andy, I just kept on powering it on and off  :P


With symptoms like that it does sound like a timing issue somewhere although without HP's inside knowledge we'll never know for sure.

I notice from your photo that you installed a fan above the chip set heat sink. I also noticed how hot that thing gets and have installed a fan blowing across it inside my case. It does surprise me that the original Z800 does not have active cooling for the chipset because it's positioned below a potentially very hot graphics card and they've had to crop some of the vanes on the heatsink to allow long graphics cards to fit.

Yes, fitting into a case is hard work, please let us know how you get on!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 08, 2014, 05:10:23 am
Quote from: Dieapy on December 07, 2014, 06:43:18 pm
Hi Andy and thanks for the gen on my i7 CPU’s, zods there go’s dreaming. And they looked great in there too… I’m leaving them in place for now for safe keeping and showing off to on-lookers. Lol… You’ll never get that up and running they report, seems they are right with my CPU’s. But I’m not a quitter Ho-No...


This generation of Xeon and the I7 are very similar but the Xeon has a second QPI link that is required for dual socket operation. That is why you will never see a dual i7 board (at least not with an Intel chip set). It allows Intel to have a cheaper i7 consumer line and a much more expensive Xeon enterprise line that are essentially the same core.

Quote
I am thinking about taking the easy way out with the PSU lead kit for neatness. Not that I couldn’t have modify the leads as you have done myself being an OAP and a Ex-Technician with a dab-hand at soldering.


I can't blame you for wanting to do that. If you do decide to mod a cable then it's not difficult just a bit time consuming really.

Quote
Any advice as to where to get BIOS Flash software and HP service manual will be appreciated


Google "z800 service guide" to get the reference manual PDF. You don't need software to flash the bios. It can be done from a USB stick using an option in the BIOS setup screen.

Regards
Andy
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dieapy on December 08, 2014, 11:00:31 am
Thanks Andy have down loaded all relevant pdf from ManualLib: will be going quiet for a bit.
Cya m8
Dieapy 
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dieapy on December 08, 2014, 05:50:25 pm
Andy I am beginning to have my doubts about this 02 board already the more I read the less I like regarding the Sata and Sata NAS onboard ports not being up for the job of running my high end high speed hard drives is it capable of running the specs below I think not… maybe I should go for the 03 motherboard now before I start, im not sure which CPU would be best for the 03 but I really do need to use the onboard NAS capabilities for my hard drives, is there anything better than the 03 go on quote me the best in this motherboard range and let me build it.

Technical Specification
Manufacturer:   Western Digital      Cache:   64MB
Capacity:   4000 GB      Access Time:   N/A
Edition:         Interface:   SATA III - 6Gb/s
Form Factor:   3.5"       Free-Fall Sensor:   No
Height:   26.1 mm       NCQ:   Yes
Rotation Speed:         Dimension:   101.6 x 26.1 x 147 (WxHxD mm)


Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dieapy on December 09, 2014, 09:27:29 pm
I have been checking out my tower case measurements it would be tight with 2 to 3 centimetres all round but what’s is upsetting is the ram at the top end, pushes all the ports at the back towards the centre, meaning I would have to cut a longer hole to access them, you might say what’s the problem well the darn thing is still under warranty I only bought it last year, and im under order not to mess with it because they all use the server through Wi-Fi. Who’s the boss here I ask myself lol… I got caught taking these pic’s, never mind I’ll buy myself a even bigger case most likely Hewlett Packard with a 1110W PS. And if I do that I might just as well go the whole hog and be done with it. Thought you might like to view a few of the pic's I took so here they are. 

If you are aloud to log into my other images up there no matter, they are only some old mod’s I done for Morrowind yonk’s ago and I made it user friendly so the forum could access them.

https://imageshack.com/i/p9Ldctilj (https://imageshack.com/i/p9Ldctilj)     
https://imageshack.com/i/eyyyaEyWj (https://imageshack.com/i/eyyyaEyWj)
https://imageshack.com/i/iq9BSDXpj (https://imageshack.com/i/iq9BSDXpj)
https://imageshack.com/i/p1rrT2m7j (https://imageshack.com/i/p1rrT2m7j)
https://imageshack.com/i/pchg6VJij (https://imageshack.com/i/pchg6VJij)
https://imageshack.com/i/exqHWao3j (https://imageshack.com/i/exqHWao3j)
https://imageshack.com/i/exB2dPaLj (https://imageshack.com/i/exB2dPaLj)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 13, 2014, 02:30:20 pm
Quote from: Dieapy on December 08, 2014, 05:50:25 pm
Andy I am beginning to have my doubts about this 02 board already the more I read the less I like regarding the Sata and Sata NAS onboard ports not being up for the job of running my high end high speed hard drives is it capable of running the specs below I think not… maybe I should go for the 03 motherboard now before I start, im not sure which CPU would be best for the 03 but I really do need to use the onboard NAS capabilities for my hard drives, is there anything better than the 03 go on quote me the best in this motherboard range and let me build it.


None of the Z800 board revisions will support SATA drives above 2TB using the onboard SATA or SAS controllers. To support those very large drives of yours you would need to use an add-in card such as those sold by LSI or Adaptec; and you'd need to check their specs carefully to ensure that your 4TB drives will work.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 13, 2014, 02:38:10 pm
Quote from: Dieapy on December 09, 2014, 09:27:29 pm
I have been checking out my tower case measurements it would be tight with 2 to 3 centimetres all round but what’s is upsetting is the ram at the top end, pushes all the ports at the back towards the centre, meaning I would have to cut a longer hole to access them, you might say what’s the problem well the darn thing is still under warranty I only bought it last year, and im under order not to mess with it because they all use the server through Wi-Fi. Who’s the boss here I ask myself lol… I got caught taking these pic’s, never mind I’ll buy myself a even bigger case most likely Hewlett Packard with a 1110W PS. And if I do that I might just as well go the whole hog and be done with it. Thought you might like to view a few of the pic's I took so here they are. 


Which ports get pushed towards the centre? I don't quite understand that part. Do ensure that when you are making measurements that you do it with a PCIe card (any card) inserted into a slot and aligned to the side of the case where it must screw in because that's what determines where the motherboard will sit. I'm sure you did that, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

If you can get hold of the official HP case then that will solve a lot of problems instantly but of course you will then have to use their power supply and make do with their drive bay limitations (it seems like you have a lot of hard disks).
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dieapy on December 13, 2014, 11:46:05 pm
Quote
None of the Z800 board revisions will support SATA drives above 2TB using the onboard SATA or SAS controllers. To support those very large drives of yours you would need to use an add-in card such as those sold by LSI or Adaptec; and you'd need to check their specs carefully to ensure that your 4TB drives will work


No problem Andy the 4TB WD Red’s are the upgrade for the 1TB or 2TB drives in the NAS Box weather it will run with the Z800 that’s another issue, im not to bothered now though because I have quite a few 1TB drives lead about the place and I think they should work. Seeing what you have just said on the subject. 

Quote
Which ports get pushed towards the centre? I don't quite understand that part. Do ensure that when you are making measurements that you do it with a PCIe card (any card) inserted into a slot and aligned to the side of the case where it must screw in because that's what determines where the motherboard will sit. I'm sure you did that, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.


Ok thanks Andy obviously my case is too small the Z800 board although it will fit in there, but the PCIe card lines up with say the third or fourth slot down not the first or second as it should, therefore to line up the Sound… USB ports… lands etc I would have to butcher the case because everything has move towards the middle, in fact im quite pleased it doesn’t fit… cause it save’s me a lot of bother from them indoors, im in the shed digging out some old 486 ATX full towers I should have something here that will work if not I’ll build a test bench for it.

Quote
If you can get hold of the official HP case then that will solve a lot of problems instantly but of course you will then have to use their power supply and make do with their drive bay limitations (it seems like you have a lot of hard disks).


Yes I do have quite a lot of gear probable more than average but then I have had a long time to accumulate it, I clear out two and a half small lorry loads back in summer now im wishing I hadn’t because there was definitely a case amongst that which would of done the job.

Anyway did you have a look at the picture on my imageshack website? That was the computer case I had in mind for the Z800 board… six of the internal hard drives would have gone back in the original case. Four WD_2TB and Two WD_3TBs the other two 3TB Seagate ST3000DM001 Barracuda 7200.14 SATA III 6GB/s 7200rpm 64MB Cache 8ms NCQ OEM in the front two drive bays has just been formatted as you can see by the screen pic shot. That’s the beauty of having push in Sata drive bays with no wires attached.

I have been browsing eBay for a suitable CPU and have found a few likely one’s all reasonably priced.

Question: will a six-core CPU work with the 02? Or do I have to stick with the Quad. I think the Intel Xeon E5520 2.26GHz/8MB/5.86GT/s SLBFD CPU Quad-Core, is recommended for our board. But I was hoping for something a little better like a Intel Xeon X5667 3.06Ghz 4C Quad Core HT 12MB L3 B1 LGA1366 Processor or (Intel Xeon W3530 2.80 GHz SLBKR 4-Core 8-T 130W TDP LGA1366 Processors = i7 930. I don’t know if this one will work?) But better still an Intel Xeon Six Core X5675 3.06GHz 12MB CPU Socket LGA 1366 â€" SLBYL.?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: badboy2 on December 16, 2014, 12:58:55 am
Hi Andy, thank for your tutorial about hacking hp z800.

I have mod psu cable from 24pin to 18 pin and 10 pin and it work. But When i try to power it on, psu fan, cpu fan and vga fan have active in 1 second and turn down all. I have no idea why is that.
Do you have any idea about trouble ?
My config:
dual xeon x5650
800w psu of Gigabyte Odin,
Quadro 4000,
24gb ram.

(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7562/15847862149_ab24bc425d_o.jpg)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8673/16033218672_7a8c65b488_o.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 17, 2014, 01:03:35 am
Quote from: badboy2 on December 16, 2014, 12:58:55 am
Do you have any idea about trouble ?
My config:
dual xeon x5650


Hi and welcome to the forum.

Do you have motherboard revision 001, 002 or 003? Let me summarise what we know so far about the different revisions and their compatibility with the Westmere (X56xx) CPUs. This information is gathered from this thread, my article and own experience and other threads on the HP forums.

001: No information yet but I assume it's the same as the 002 revision because the BIOS bootblock (the root cause of the issues) is the same as the 002.

002: Will not boot with X56xx CPUs unless the BIOS has been flashed to the latest revision. You will need to source an E55xx CPU to get it to boot once so you can flash the BIOS from a USB stick using the option in the BIOS setup. After flashing it will boot reliably with a single X56xx CPU. Dual CPU configurations are reputed to boot unreliably but are stable if you can get it to boot (see reports in this thread from Marco).

003: This is the one you want. It has the newer bootblock and will boot reliably with every CPU in HP's supported list.

In all scenarios I would only ever use a processor that is listed in the Z800 datasheet (http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/product_pdfs/Z800_datasheet_march.pdf). Using a CPU that's not in the list runs the risk of it not POST-ing at all.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: karim salah on January 10, 2015, 02:58:14 pm
That's right  :)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on January 12, 2015, 12:01:21 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on November 24, 2014, 02:32:27 pm
I've found on ebay some matching connectors that i will be using on my build so I've decided to share them

(http://i.imgur.com/uO3hDyN.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ObwriXf.jpg)

Just search for 18/0 Pin Male Power Cable PSU

I've ordered them and when they arrive i will give my feedback.


Just a little update on these connectors...they are not true atx connectors they are like 1/4 of the real size  :o

I've ordered the taobao kit, actually 3 of them because they were so cheap....i've used a tabao "agent" and like always i will give my feedback if i ever receive them  8)

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 12, 2015, 01:56:50 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on January 12, 2015, 12:01:21 pm
Just a little update on these connectors...they are not true atx connectors they are like 1/4 of the real size  :o

I've ordered the taobao kit, actually 3 of them because they were so cheap....i've used a tabao "agent" and like always i will give my feedback if i ever receive them  8)


Shame about the connectors but I'll be very interested to hear how the taobao agent thing works out. I've seen their advertisements but never got around to trying them. I'm sure you'll be able to offload the spares you get on ebay and cover all your costs.

Looking forward to hearing how it works out.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dieapy on January 14, 2015, 06:41:43 am
Andy I am about to order this Z820 motherboard it’s NEW and is HP's latest revision to the Z820 motherboard (708610-001, 618266-003). Compatible not only with the first generation E5-2600 XEON (Sandy Bridge) processors but also with the newer more efficient E5-2600 V2 XEON (Ivy Bridge) processors. (the url link below is to a picture of the new Z820 motherboard) 

http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=1579542&ppid=1122&image=756040889&images=756040889&formats=0&format=0 (http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=1579542&ppid=1122&image=756040889&images=756040889&formats=0&format=0)

Just though I’d check with you first before doing so and maybe I should purchase an HP Tower case to house it? Because it’s brand new and not cheap. 

I haven’t given up on the 02 motherboard yet because I am awaiting the arrival of a (Matched Pair Intel Quad Core Xeon E5520 2.26GHz 8M 5.86 CPU Socket 1366 SLBFD) and then hopefully I can start my build. I will try one CPU first and get it to post before trying the second. I will keep in touch and let you know how I get on

Click on small pic below Matched pair to resize, and you will see there’s just a little bit of heat sink past left on each and an over Celsius clean of same almost wiping out the particulars, still they were very cheap
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on January 15, 2015, 12:56:38 am
Why would you spend that kinda of money on proprietary HP motherboard when you can buy something like an Asus Z9PE-D8 WS for the same price and just put it on a box?!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 15, 2015, 01:58:33 pm
I think I would agree with Marco. The Z820 board is not the bargain that the Z800 is and the really desirable E5 Ivy Bridge CPUs are also very expensive. If you're going to lay out that sort of cash then the path of least resistance is the Asus board with everything else standard.

The dual E5520's ought to work in your 002 board with no issues.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 15, 2015, 02:02:42 pm
I just updated the main article (http://andybrown.me.uk/wk/2014/11/01/z800/) with my experiences of adding a second X5680 and taking it up to 48Gb of RAM.

(http://i2.wp.com/andybrown.me.uk/wk/wp-content/images/z800/dual_small.jpg)

(http://i0.wp.com/andybrown.me.uk/wk/wp-content/images//z800/ohm.png)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on January 15, 2015, 05:11:51 pm
I'm also in the process of upgrading my memory to 48GB currently i'm missing 3 sticks...i cant seem to find such good deals like yourself. 15UKP per stick it's the best i can find  :)

You did good with the storage....i'm running 7 seagate cheetah 15k6 from the onboard sas controller, but I've ordered an HP P400 with 512MB BBWC for 12$ usd!

(http://i.imgur.com/ICij1Ns.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: dimare on January 17, 2015, 02:11:49 am
Very cool Project! I have Luck to get some Z800 cases with the board, so i dont need extra Power supply. I have a mainboard Rev. A03 which i dont need anymore. Does somebody needs it? I also have 48 GB (each 4GB) of HP RAM which fits to the board.

Just let me know.

@Andy i hope its ok if i post this here, but i think its a shame to put the Stuff just in the basement.

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 17, 2015, 02:20:31 am
Hi, dimare and welcome to the forum. Yes it's OK to let people know you've got some parts to sell. Please conduct any negotiations by private message or use the private message facility to exchange your own email addresses and talk that way.

Of course I should add that neither myself nor the ISP that hosts this forum are in any way responsible for private sales negotiated between members. I should put that in the T's and C's somewhere  ;)

Good luck :)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on January 18, 2015, 01:05:06 pm
Andy, does your revision 3 board gives you turbo frequency under full load like mine?

My cpu is 2.66 GHz and 3 GHz turbo but under full load i'm always near the 3 GHz mark.


(http://i.imgur.com/NejNJO7.png)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 19, 2015, 12:39:33 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on January 18, 2015, 01:05:06 pm
Andy, does your revision 3 board gives you turbo frequency under full load like mine? My cpu is 2.66 GHz and 3 GHz turbo but under full load i'm always near the 3 GHz mark.

Funny you should mention that because I did a rendering session yesterday and noticed that I was getting 3.46GHz throughout. Turbo Boost gives you 133 or 266 extra depending on load. I sometimes see 3.6 and almost all other times get 3.46GHz. This is because of the great performance of the aftermarket fans. Even under full load the core temps don't get up to where the clock has to come back down to the stock level. I run Intel's free cute "turbo boost monitor" on my desktop to keep an eye on it.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 24, 2015, 10:01:56 am
I blew a DIMM!

I did a reboot this morning and the POST check reported a "failing" DIMM, and told me which one it was (nice, that). It was one of the second set of 24Gb that I'd fitted after installing the second CPU. This was from a cheap batch that I got on ebay so either they were dodgy to begin with or the additional heat generated since fully populating all the slots up to 48Gb was too much.

I'm back down to "only" 24Gb because I was running at that level for months without any problems and I'm going to devise a bracket to rig together a pair of 140mm fans to cool the memory before attempting to fully populate all the slots again.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on January 24, 2015, 01:02:20 pm
I just did a build with one of these! Picked up the Z800 with 1100w PSU and 5660 for $400 USD. 2x Xeon X5680's for 400USD. 12GB of RAM I already had and 2x AMD R9 280X GPUs for gaming!
(http://i.imgur.com/hUQgJFD.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 25, 2015, 02:12:18 am
Hi Jon and welcome to the forum. It's quite densely packed inside the official case isn't it? I see you've replaced the official CPU heatsink/fans with some nice looking replacements as well.

You certainly get your parts for great prices in the US. My total cost exc. storage/graphics is about GBP 800 (2x X5680, board, case, PSU, 48Gb RAM). It's the VAT (20%) and import duties that hurt us over here.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on January 25, 2015, 06:54:00 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on January 25, 2015, 02:12:18 am
Hi Jon and welcome to the forum. It's quite densely packed inside the official case isn't it? I see you've replaced the official CPU heatsink/fans with some nice looking replacements as well.

You certainly get your parts for great prices in the US. My total cost exc. storage/graphics is about GBP 800 (2x X5680, board, case, PSU, 48Gb RAM). It's the VAT (20%) and import duties that hurt us over here.

Not actually, there is room for 2 more expansion slots to be filled (which I'll be adding USB 3.0) and I just cleaned up the wiring some. I replaced the heatsinks with noctua units and had to but different screws so they would thread into the HP back-plates. works great though and still super quiet. Also the two drive bay power supplies I have keep the system running under heavy 3D load so it does not shut off like you were experiencing. These are just glorified 7970s.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Menno on January 29, 2015, 12:04:51 pm
This is how the motherboard fits in a Nanoxia DS5 case. First I made holes of 3 mm, then widened them to 4 mm. I used M3 nuts and bolts so there was a little space left for fitting the motherboard exactly. I used two M4 bolts as spacers between mobo and backplate.

It's not yet running, I have an issue with the main power cable. As soon as I connect it to the PSU it doesn't want to start anymore (that's the test fan option on the PSU). Currently I am kind of lost in the forest of wires (no colour coding), so there might be something wrong... I ordered these (http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ATX-24P-IDE-4P-Molex-to-18P-10P-Converter-Power-Lead-Cable-Cord-for-HP-Z800/32233459081.html) from China, but with a delivery time of up to 45 days further building is on hold...

(http://i.imgur.com/kmpBrYI.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/k8GFf2L.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 29, 2015, 12:53:11 pm
That looks excellent, it does fit very well in that case. Smart move with the nuts and bolts that allow you to nudge the board a few mm to get it perfectly positioned - I mentioned in the article that I should have done that with mine.

Is there any room for fans in the roof of the case? I notice that you have fully populated memory slots and that's going to generate some heat that'll need removing from that area.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Menno on January 29, 2015, 03:44:19 pm
I was planning to buy an M3 tap, but they had only an expensive set, then I remembered you wrote about the nuts and bolts... Much cheaper also.

For the memory cooling I have a spare 14 cm fan and want to put it next to the upper 3 drive slots, the 4th will be where the dvd goes. I know it fits, but not sure how to attach. Maybe some spare wires >:( The upper door can stay closed when idle and open when stressed. I have to say even then memory usage is quite low (about 5 GB of 24 installed under Linux), so I hope heating won't be much of a problem.

There might be some room for installing a cooler in the roof, I will check wence I'll put it together again. Though, I have a similar case,  Fractal Design R4, where the noise went up horribly when coolers are installed in the roof. For me that's a no go, since the whole point of this is to replace my noisy Z800 case.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on February 02, 2015, 01:25:38 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on January 24, 2015, 10:01:56 am
I blew a DIMM!

Hi Andy. Out of curiosity, was the faulty DIMM a genuine HP one, like those of your first batch? Did it have a heatsink like those original ones?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on February 02, 2015, 01:42:10 pm
It's been a while since I've placed my order for the connectors on the taobao agent....after some miscommunications the connectors finally arrived at the agent. Now I've paid the shipping and hopefully they wont be caught by the customs. I can tell you that this connectors as they sitt are already very expensive  :o

(http://i.imgur.com/VlBnieY.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/UQiyWde.jpg)

There are 2 type of connectors and I've ordered one of each! One uses the 24 pin + 2 molex connectors and the other uses the 24 pin connector plus the cpu 8 pin connector...i believe this ones makes for a cleaner build and most high end psu will have 2X 8 pin cpu connector. 
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 02, 2015, 02:05:48 pm
Quote from: digitaltrousers on February 02, 2015, 01:25:38 am
Hi Andy. Out of curiosity, was the faulty DIMM a genuine HP one, like those of your first batch? Did it have a heatsink like those original ones?


I've attached a photo of the faulty one. I think these are commonly installed into HP and Dell servers.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 02, 2015, 02:07:58 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on February 02, 2015, 01:42:10 pm
It's been a while since I've placed my order for the connectors on the taobao agent....after some miscommunications the connectors finally arrived at the agent. Now I've paid the shipping and hopefully they wont be caught by the customs. I can tell you that this connectors as they sitt are already very expensive  :o


Well, time passes and now these connectors have shown up on Ali Express. If you search for "z800 power cable" then there they are.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on February 02, 2015, 02:18:02 pm
Now it's too late for me, but it's good news for anyone else interested in a set :)

Looking forward to terminate this build, it has been a long journey and it's not finished yet.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 02, 2015, 02:31:16 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on February 02, 2015, 02:18:02 pm
Now it's too late for me, but it's good news for anyone else interested in a set :)

Looking forward to terminate this build, it has been a long journey and it's not finished yet.

I've ordered one; it can't hurt to have a spare. Besides I'm working on upgrading my 002 board to a full 003 BIOS and I'll need a cable to check out the results. Whether it works, or if I create an expensive brick with an HP label on it, I'll be sure to post the results and a how-to on my site.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on February 03, 2015, 06:30:12 am
Andy, what kind of temperatures were you seeing with your 48 GB's installed?  I'm asking this because I've started stress testing the memory with a synthetic benchmark and ram temperatures rapidly went over 50º Celcius..is this about right?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 03, 2015, 12:45:49 pm
I don't know what the temperature was when I had all 48Gb installed - where are you finding live RAM temperature readings and where's the sensor positioned? DDR3 DIMMs are rated for 85C at the case (the plastic IC case) so if your 50C is a true reading then you're some way off the maximum safe level.

This is a great presentation (https://www.micron.com/~/media/documents/products/presentation/ddr3_thermals_nonnda.pdf) from Micron on DDR3 thermal characteristics that's heavy on evidence and light on theory so it's easy to read. The most interesting part I thought was the effect of the heatspreaders in conjunction with airflow and DIMM spacing.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on February 03, 2015, 01:23:29 pm
I'm using HWmonitor to see the temperatures.

http://imgur.com/iMz4SlU

On that screeshot i had only started after 3 minutes they were really going into high's 50's so i've interrupted the test, because my memory doesn't have a heatsink neither any airflow as it sits now.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 03, 2015, 01:54:29 pm
Ah yes, HWmonitor shows mine as well and those sensors are actually on the DIMMS which is great. I'm getting mid 40's while idle with 24Gb (which fills all alternate slots). Half mine have heat spreaders and half don't.

For fun I just kicked off a video rendering session and the bare DIMMs are hovering at around 53/43/53. Those with spreaders are running at around 46/41/46 which does fit with Micron's presentation that indicates the spreaders are worth about 5C benefit. None of those temperatures concern me in the slightest. If I see them get into the 70s then I'd be concerned.

Before I go back up to 48Gb I'm going to rig up a pair of these (attached) to blow down on to the DIMMs from above. Not entirely sure how I'm going to fix them yet but it's probably going to involve fitting them with right-angle brackets to the roof of the case.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on February 03, 2015, 06:57:05 pm
Don't forget to check out HP Performance Advisor for in-depth information on your machine and this cool graphic  :D
http://i.imgur.com/BpxTp1r.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/BpxTp1r.jpg)

I also added USB 3.0 to my build with a PCIe card that has a USB3 header on it. That and a 5.25" hot swap bay (1 2.5" drive and 1 3.5" drive + 2 USB 3.0 Ports)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: badboy2 on February 06, 2015, 01:51:39 am
Hi Andy and everyone who love the way we hack z800.

From my last post, I try to use intel E5520 to boost in bios and hoping to upgrade for xeon x5650 but no avail.
I use dual power (800w and 650w) and mod cable as Andy's instruction. When I start, power is on, Video Card is on, but I couldn't boost in bios. Nothing on my screen. I just boost in bios 1 times, but system shut down after 2 minute.

@Andy: Do you have any idea for this problem?

HEre is my video: http://youtu.be/XivKqJJzofQ
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on February 06, 2015, 06:21:35 am
Quote from: badboy2 on February 06, 2015, 01:51:39 amI use dual power (800w and 650w) and mod cable as Andy's instruction.


That dual psu setup you use is completely unnecessary.


Quote from: badboy2 on February 06, 2015, 01:51:39 amI just boost in bios 1 times, but system shut down after 2 minute.


Did you use the cpu heatsink?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on February 06, 2015, 03:20:50 pm
Quote from: badboy2 on February 06, 2015, 01:51:39 am
Hi Andy and everyone who love the way we hack z800.

From my last post, I try to use intel E5520 to boost in bios and hoping to upgrade for xeon x5650 but no avail.
I use dual power (800w and 650w) and mod cable as Andy's instruction. When I start, power is on, Video Card is on, but I couldn't boost in bios. Nothing on my screen. I just boost in bios 1 times, but system shut down after 2 minute.

@Andy: Do you have any idea for this problem?

HEre is my video: http://youtu.be/XivKqJJzofQ


Please put a heatsink on that porocessor
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 06, 2015, 03:31:39 pm
QuotePlease put a heatsink on that porocessor

+100

That CPU is undoubtedly entering thermal shutdown and will eventually be permanently damaged. A heatsink with active cooling rated for at least the TDP of the CPU is mandatory.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: x2xx on February 16, 2015, 03:48:52 am
rear chasi fan 6pin connector picture (2x 4pin fans)
black = GND
blue = +12V
brown = PWM
gray = RPM

(http://i.imgur.com/Ler3Zca.jpg)

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: x2xx on February 16, 2015, 03:55:36 am
HP Z800 High Performance Heatsink Fan - 4PIN hack

(http://i.imgur.com/N4Yf9Bb.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on February 19, 2015, 03:04:52 pm
Nice info x2xx  :D

I also want to do a little update....already running the chinese wiring  :P
And I've also "upgraded" my cpu's to X5675 on revision 2 board.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 21, 2015, 08:17:19 am
I've had some more time to play around with the BIOS SPI header on an 002 motherboard. I've verified that when VSS and VDD are supplied with 0/3.3V then WP and HOLD are both high at the legs of the BIOS IC. This is good. It means that the SPI flash device is write enabled and should accept programming commands.

However, I've tried sending it the JEDEC RDID command and it's not responding, SO stubbornly stays high. I know my CE/SCK/SI protocol is correct because I've verified it with a logic analyser at the master end and I've communicated like this with dozens of SPI ICs before now. Not sure what's going on, maybe I'll probe it at the legs of the BIOS IC to see if the signals are not getting there intact.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 21, 2015, 10:40:12 am
Here's my attempt at memory cooling. I bought some right-angle brackets off ebay and used them to fix a Fractal Design 120mm fan to the roof of the DS6, angled in to direct air through the DIMMs. The fan is connected to one of the case's built-in controllers so I can manage the speed from the front of the case.

The DIMMs themselves don't need active cooling in the way that a CPU heatsink does. The aim here is to move hot air away from the DIMMs and out of the back of the case before that air can raise the temperature of a neighbouring DIMM. I've still only got 24 of my 48Gb installed in here, I plan to add the rest later.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: badboy2 on February 23, 2015, 09:05:29 pm
Hi all, me again >.<. I try to put the cpu heatsink on, use 1 cpu e5520 to make sure old bios could handle this. I try many time to turn my system on but computer power supply shuts down after a few seconds and I have no idea why's that. Anyone could give me a suggestion for this trouble?

Thank all ^^
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 24, 2015, 12:50:38 pm
Quote from: badboy2 on February 23, 2015, 09:05:29 pm
Hi all, me again >.<. I try to put the cpu heatsink on, use 1 cpu e5520 to make sure old bios could handle this. I try many time to turn my system on but computer power supply shuts down after a few seconds and I have no idea why's that. Anyone could give me a suggestion for this trouble?


Unfortunately those symptoms are associated with a wide range of issues. If your power supply is faulty or incorrectly fitted then this will happen. If your CPU is faulty then this will happen.

Are you certain that your PSU is wired correctly and that all connectors are fitted (board power, CPU power, memory power)?

Have you got the correct memory type installed in a supported configuration?

Is this the same CPU that was previously running without a heatsink? As you've discovered it has automatic thermal shutdown when the core temperature approaches damaging levels but this isn't a feature you'd want to test. It is possible that the CPU has been damaged.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on February 25, 2015, 03:03:30 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on February 21, 2015, 08:17:19 am
I've had some more time to play around with the BIOS SPI header on an 002 motherboard. I've verified that when VSS and VDD are supplied with 0/3.3V then WP and HOLD are both high at the legs of the BIOS IC. This is good. It means that the SPI flash device is write enabled and should accept programming commands.

However, I've tried sending it the JEDEC RDID command and it's not responding, SO stubbornly stays high. I know my CE/SCK/SI protocol is correct because I've verified it with a logic analyser at the master end and I've communicated like this with dozens of SPI ICs before now. Not sure what's going on, maybe I'll probe it at the legs of the BIOS IC to see if the signals are not getting there intact.


Have you tried both logic low and high on pin 1 of the SPI header (one with the square pad)? I'm not sure it's CE as in your graphic (at least on my board anyway).
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 25, 2015, 01:29:14 pm
Quote from: digitaltrousers on February 25, 2015, 03:03:30 amHave you tried both logic low and high on pin 1 of the SPI header (one with the square pad)? I'm not sure it's CE as in your graphic (at least on my board anyway).


Only active low, which follows the datasheet protocol. I've never yet seen an active high SPI IC, what did you have in mind? I also tried both the supported SPI modes with no change in response. Clearly something's amiss though so I'll be poking around a bit further with the logic analyser to get a closer look.

Pin 1 on the SPI header is a dead-short (<1 ohm resistance) to pin 1 on the BIOS IC on my board. Isn't it the same on yours?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on February 25, 2015, 06:57:17 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on February 25, 2015, 01:29:14 pm
Pin 1 on the SPI header is a dead-short (<1 ohm resistance) to pin 1 on the BIOS IC on my board. Isn't it the same on yours?

No, mine's different. I don't have the info in front of me right now, but the trace goes to one or two tiny (unpopulated) resistors nearby, the other side of which seems to be tied up with a FET which itself seems involved with #WP. I was actually getting an unusual reading from my multimeter re the FET (beeping for continuity but still showing open circuit on the display - which I'm not sure how to interpret), but definitely not a direct short to the CE pin on the SPI flash. Have you soldered pins to the pads? Could you have shorted pin 1 to the neighboring pin? It does seem strange to me that there would be two pins on the header for exactly the same thing.

Obviously though, it's a curiosity whether the -003 bootblock is only compatible with the more recent chipset stepping, i.e on the -003 version of the board. See http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/Z800-2nd-gen/m-p/2367973/highlight/true#M12100
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 28, 2015, 04:19:45 am
Quote from: digitaltrousers on February 25, 2015, 06:57:17 pm
I was actually getting an unusual reading from my multimeter re the FET (beeping for continuity but still showing open circuit on the display - which I'm not sure how to interpret),


If it's a logic level FET then you may have triggered the gate with the multimeter test current. They can be very sensitive.

Quote from: digitaltrousers
Have you soldered pins to the pads? Could you have shorted pin 1 to the neighboring pin? It does seem strange to me that there would be two pins on the header for exactly the same thing.

I've soldered some short solid core wires to each of the pads to allow easier hacking but all continuity tests were done before I did that so I am sure of the readings.

Quote from: digitaltrousers
Obviously though, it's a curiosity whether the -003 bootblock is only compatible with the more recent chipset stepping, i.e on the -003 version of the board. See http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/Z800-2nd-gen/m-p/2367973/highlight/true#M12100


Yes that is a concern. Before starting this I read the differences between the steppings in Intel's docs and there was nothing in there that I thought would affect a BIOS's ability to boot. Of course the bootblock could have code that looks at the stepping and flat-out refuses to proceed if it sees the wrong version.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on March 08, 2015, 11:37:56 pm
Andy, I had a play with the SPI chip today. What programmer are you using? My Bus Pirate doesn't seem strong enough to drive the decoupling capacitors / other circuitry connected to these lines. I am considering trying to communicate with the chip with the board powered up.
If you indeed have a programmer capable of powering the chip in situ, have you tried holding pin 1 of the SPI header high? I'm still not convinced it's a second CE pin. Interestingly, when I put 3.3V on it (and this pin only), I get just under a volt at the Vdd terminal on the SPI flash chip. I'm guessing the voltage would be higher if the Bus Pirate had more current capability. If you were treating it as a CE pin, and it instead had some other function, it might explain why you weren't able to get a response from the chip.
You wanna try with your better programmer?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on March 08, 2015, 11:46:41 pm
Also, did you ever try your 002 board with dual processors?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 09, 2015, 02:49:42 pm
QuoteWhat programmer are you using

I was using an Arduino clone running at 3.3V. 3.3V on that board (a Seeeduino) is provided by an LD1117 clone that should be up to the job. I haven't tried again since my first attempt but will set aside a few hours hopefully soon to have another go. This time I'll take some readings off the chip legs instead of at the Arduino pins.

QuoteAlso, did you ever try your 002 board with dual processors

No. The chance to get an 003 board came up at a price I couldn't pass on so I snapped it up and then bought and added the second CPU a few weeks later.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: x2xx on March 11, 2015, 10:26:07 am
quick info:

i was searching for max power output thought 6pin GPU connector and i find this pdf
http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf (http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf)
where they use  6-pin to 8-pin adaptors for tesla and quadro fx5xxx in Z800

because i want to try SLI GTX980 and dont want case full of molex conversion cables
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 11, 2015, 03:02:29 pm
Quote from: x2xx on March 11, 2015, 10:26:07 am
quick info:

i was searching for max power output thought 6pin GPU connector and i find this pdf
http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf (http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf)
where they use  6-pin to 8-pin adaptors for tesla and quadro fx5xxx in Z800

because i want to try SLI GTX980 and dont want case full of molex conversion cables



Good that they refer directly to the Z800 in that PDF, that is helpful. FYI: The limiting values for power that can be drawn down by a graphics card are:

75W from the PCIe slot
75W from a 6-pin GPU power cable
150W from an 8-pin GPU power cable

If you do use Molex conversion cables then look for nice fat wires and a good quality connector because 75W is around 6A from the 12V line which comes close Molex's own rating of 6.25A for the connector. Some of the flimsy clones may not be able to handle as much current.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on March 14, 2015, 07:41:45 pm
Quote from: x2xx on March 11, 2015, 10:26:07 am
quick info:

i was searching for max power output thought 6pin GPU connector and i find this pdf
http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf (http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf)
where they use  6-pin to 8-pin adaptors for tesla and quadro fx5xxx in Z800

because i want to try SLI GTX980 and dont want case full of molex conversion cables


Z800 board is not GeForce SLI certified so you will need to use an SLI hack to make it work. I did this back in the day on an Asus P5Q-E board. As far as powering them if you're using the standard Z800 case you can run dual 5.25" drive-bay PSUs (1 for each GPU) I'm doing this for my dual AMD R9 280X set up as Crossfire requires no certification. Here is a picture of my set up: (http://i.imgur.com/3QBHMed.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on March 16, 2015, 03:34:18 pm
Hi All,
I initially tried an -002 board with an X5672 processor - it didn't work, as expected. The processor fan just ran flat out, no video or other response. I then got hold of an E5504 in order to do the BIOS update and see if that would allow it to boot with the X5672 (or two hopefully). This datasheet lists it as an available processor, so shouldn't be a problem, I thought: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/product_pdfs/z800_datasheet_mar09_NoSkyRoom.pdf
However when I installed that one, same thing as with the X5672. I then noticed that in the more recent datasheet here: http://www.bbt.si/modules/uploader/uploads/s_product/file/hp-z800-1_copy3.pdf that processor is NOT listed as an option. I don't know which motherboard revisions relate to which datasheet (with there being three motherboard revisions). Maybe I've only ever put unsupported CPUs on my motherboard...
I thought it would be worth asking though, has anyone else had the same symptoms, and/or could shed any light on the problem?
PS, all the voltages at the motherboard test fine.
Thanks!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 16, 2015, 03:45:13 pm
Quote from: digitaltrousers on March 16, 2015, 03:34:18 pm
I thought it would be worth asking though, has anyone else had the same symptoms, and/or could shed any light on the problem?

Silly question: what's your memory configuration (type and slots used)?

Also, have you got a case speaker you can rig up to hear the diagnostic beeps? (the meaning is in the service manual under "Diagnostic LED and audible (beep) codes")
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on March 16, 2015, 05:45:44 pm
Good Day,
Thanks for your worklog. I have two issues:
1. How do you remove the motherboard standoffs that come with a new board and
3. How do you remove the CPU fan  brackets from the motherboard? The CM 212 Evo fan mount standoffs cannot fit.

This link has photos of my build log so far, including pics of the motherboard standoffs:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndo0kl2q4txi1v8/AAB4RlnKAWsvTB-CSYkwur9Da?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndo0kl2q4txi1v8/AAB4RlnKAWsvTB-CSYkwur9Da?dl=0).

Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on March 17, 2015, 12:07:21 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on March 16, 2015, 03:45:13 pm
Silly question: what's your memory configuration (type and slots used)?

Also, have you got a case speaker you can rig up to hear the diagnostic beeps? (the meaning is in the service manual under "Diagnostic LED and audible (beep) codes")


Not a silly question - I was actually wondering if my 1333MHz memory would clock down to 800MHz for the E5504 - I had assumed it would. I've got 3x4Gb sticks in the black slots for CPU0. It's genuine HP memory (registered I believe) with the part number 500203-061 (http://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?searchText=500203-061). I've also tried with just one stick installed. I have some "normal PC" memory that runs at 800MHz but I don't think one can install such memory in this one?
I have rigged up a little speaker and the HDD LED which is also involved in displaying the codes. I don't get any codes when I try to boot up, but if I turn the power supply off at its switch, it beeps/flashes four times, which is a power supply overload error. I had been chasing this, but then I thought it might be because of the hacked wiring (Chinese adaptor cable) or other differences from standard. I.e, standby lines staying active a little longer when the switch is turned off or something. It's a 1050W power supply and all voltages are normal at the connectors during "running".
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 17, 2015, 01:44:28 pm
Quote from: digitaltrousers on March 17, 2015, 12:07:21 am
Not a silly question - I was actually wondering if my 1333MHz memory would clock down to 800MHz for the E5504 - I had assumed it would.

PC3-10600R is the correct memory so you're OK there. No problems running it at 800MHz, that's exactly what I did early on.

QuoteI've got 3x4Gb sticks in the black slots for CPU0. It's genuine HP memory (registered I believe) with the part number 500203-061 (http://partsurfer.hp.com/Search.aspx?searchText=500203-061). I've also tried with just one stick

Same as me, I was running with 3x4Gb in those slots for the early tests.

Quote
I have some "normal PC" memory that runs at 800MHz but I don't think one can install such memory in this one?

You're right, you can't use those.

Quote
I have rigged up a little speaker and the HDD LED which is also involved in displaying the codes. I don't get any codes when I try to boot up, but if I turn the power supply off at its switch, it beeps/flashes four times, which is a power supply overload error. I had been chasing this, but then I thought it might be because of the hacked wiring (Chinese adaptor cable) or other differences from standard. I.e, standby lines staying active a little longer when the switch is turned off or something. It's a 1050W power supply and all voltages are normal at the connectors during "running".


That overload indicator is strange, though it may just be a symptom of the sudden uncontrolled loss of power.

Have you tried different graphics cards (the simpler the better) and in different PCIe slots? I seem to remember that when I was having trouble with my 7970 early on then the symptoms were similar to yours though I think the fan might have gone fast-slow-fast but can't remember exactly. I've never had a speaker or paid attention to any flashing that the power LED might have been doing so I can't confirm that it was identical.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 17, 2015, 02:08:44 pm
Quote from: BenGman on March 16, 2015, 05:45:44 pm
1. How do you remove the motherboard standoffs that come with a new board and

On both the boards that I've had I simply unscrewed them.

Quote
3. How do you remove the CPU fan  brackets from the motherboard? The CM 212 Evo fan mount standoffs cannot fit.

I haven't tried, and to be honest it looks like they might be epoxied on which would make it very hard to get them off without damage. Can you explain more about which parts do not fit? For me, the screws supplied with the CNPS10X were designed to screw straight down into the holes and into the existing backplane but they did not fit well. On my first CPU I simply replaced the screws with some that did fit well. On my second CPU I'd run out of replacement screws so first I screwed 4 of those little motherboard standoffs into the CPU holes. This gave me 4 little brass 'pillars' around the CPU. I then screwed the CNPS10X down into those pillars using standard motherboard screws. If you do this then you need short motherboard standoffs to make sure you get enough downward pressure on to the CPU.
[/quote]

Quote
This link has photos of my build log so far, including pics of the motherboard standoffs:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndo0kl2q4txi1v8/AAB4RlnKAWsvTB-CSYkwur9Da?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndo0kl2q4txi1v8/AAB4RlnKAWsvTB-CSYkwur9Da?dl=0).

Looks great, keep the photos coming!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on March 17, 2015, 03:29:23 pm
Quote from: BenGman on March 16, 2015, 05:45:44 pm
How do you remove the CPU fan  brackets from the motherboard? The CM 212 Evo fan mount standoffs cannot fit.


Hi There. I also have the Coolermaster 212 Evos. My build is stalled at the moment, and I haven't tried this. But the best idea I've come up with so far, is to remove the CPU brackets (4x Torx screws for each), and drill out those holes with the incompatible threads. Reinstall the modified brackets, then use the mounting parts that come with the cooler - after drilling out the holes you would be able to put the standoff through the hole and use the nuts on the underside.
You could also do what Andy suggested, but beware, those brass standoffs are available with different threads and lengths. You might need to combine some to do what you want. I prefer the other option as I'd like to use the nice beefy mounting kit that comes with the 212 Evo, but as I said, I haven't done it yet.

As for the motherboard standoffs, mine just unscrew also. You need a Torx bit though.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on March 17, 2015, 04:33:23 pm
The heat sink bracket is not tall enough to reach the motherboard so there is a top level standoff to place in the bracket. This standoff is too big to fit in the built in bracket so there isn't a way to fit the heat sink to the MB.

See pictures 01-04 attached. I also put some more photos on dropbox.

To test I just rested some flat AMD heatsinks on the CPUs and my first boot was successful, but I can't run long because I need proper CPU cooling.

Thanks in advance for more suggestions.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on March 17, 2015, 10:13:41 pm
6-32 screws thread right in. That is what I have holding my noctua coolers in place
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on March 19, 2015, 02:08:46 am
Here is another MOD i had to do to the cpu and chipset backplate to make room to fit with standard 6.5mm standoff's

http://i.imgur.com/vAEGPFu.jpg3

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on March 19, 2015, 03:29:32 pm
Quote from: BenGman on March 17, 2015, 04:33:23 pm
This standoff is too big to fit in the built in bracket so there isn't a way to fit the heat sink to the MB.

Quote from: digitaltrousers on March 17, 2015, 03:29:23 pm
after drilling out the holes you would be able to put the included standoff through the hole and use the included nuts on the underside

Why wouldn't this work?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on March 19, 2015, 07:32:19 pm
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the advice on the standoffs. I scrounged together all the brass standoffs I could and doubled them up to get the height. Two slots in particular kept popping totally off the motherboard when I was screwing in the heatsink but they are put for now. I do not however trust them as yet for holding the heatsinks sideways off the motherboard if the motherboard is standing in a case.

Pictures of me installing the fans are on dropbox, as well as my intermediate cardboard box case. I do not have security torx bits at the moment to remove the standard motherboard standoffs so having the system in a proper case is on hold at the moment. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndo0kl2q4txi1v8/AAB4RlnKAWsvTB-CSYkwur9Da?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndo0kl2q4txi1v8/AAB4RlnKAWsvTB-CSYkwur9Da?dl=0)

My first cheap 700W power supply popped and smoked when I attempted a stress test after installing the fans; I was almost certain I fried the MB as well. But the second 700W power supply which is a better quality is holding good so far with the easy swap cable.

Other than the case, all is left is finalising the host OS.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 21, 2015, 02:18:05 am
Quote from: BenGman on March 19, 2015, 07:32:19 pm
Pictures of me installing the fans are on dropbox, as well as my intermediate cardboard box case.

The pictures of that case made me smile. You even did cut outs for the ports and a fan!

Quote
I do not have security torx bits at the moment to remove the standard motherboard standoffs


If you can grip the top of them with pliers and rubber padding then you might be able to get some torque on to the bottom enough to loosen them enough to remove. It's risky if you slip though, particularly with the screws in the middle of the board.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: x2xx on March 23, 2015, 08:09:52 am
hello, if some have original Z800 PSU please take a look inside i need PSU FAN PN or model.
Thanks
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on March 27, 2015, 04:10:56 pm
Progress made - I'm out of the box and into a case. More pics uploaded.
But cannot install Windows 8.1 Pro with WMC. I use WMC w/ ServerWMC and Mediabrowser 2 to stream TV to devices. I like WMC best out of all media centres. The laptop that I had this on was Celeron level with 4GB RAM that couldn't keep up so the purpose of this HP Z800 build was firstly to use this as the TV server with 2+ HD streams, secondly as my RTL-SDR twin trunking decoder box streamer, scanner streamer, flight tracker(7 RTL-SDR USB devices), thirdly as a desktop with some VMs.

Is it that 8.1 Pro w/WMC doesn't like 24GB or it doesn't like the two Xeons?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on March 28, 2015, 12:41:57 am
Quote from: BenGman on March 27, 2015, 04:10:56 pm
Progress made - I'm out of the box and into a case. More pics uploaded.
But cannot install Windows 8.1 Pro with WMC. I use WMC w/ ServerWMC and Mediabrowser 2 to stream TV to devices. I like WMC best out of all media centres. The laptop that I had this on was Celeron level with 4GB RAM that couldn't keep up so the purpose of this HP Z800 build was firstly to use this as the TV server with 2+ HD streams, secondly as my RTL-SDR twin trunking decoder box streamer, scanner streamer, flight tracker(7 RTL-SDR USB devices), thirdly as a desktop with some VMs.

Is it that 8.1 Pro w/WMC doesn't like 24GB or it doesn't like the two Xeons?

Im running 8.1 Pro WMC with zero issues
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 28, 2015, 01:54:33 am
Quote from: BenGman on March 27, 2015, 04:10:56 pm
But cannot install Windows 8.1 Pro with WMC.


Can you give more detail about the problem? I'm running 8.1 pro (without WMC) on an SSD attached to a 3rd party SATA-3 card as you can see in the main article.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on March 29, 2015, 04:27:47 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on March 28, 2015, 01:54:33 am
Quote from: BenGman on March 27, 2015, 04:10:56 pm
But cannot install Windows 8.1 Pro with WMC.


Can you give more detail about the problem? I'm running 8.1 pro (without WMC) on an SSD attached to a 3rd party SATA-3 card as you can see in the main article.


I kept using a Professional key instead of a Pro WMC key so WMC was never an option, got it working now.

Re: AliExpress cable

I have been using under powered PSUs so I made the ATX (24 pin + 2 molex input) to generic (10 voltage/line screw terminal output) cable, I wired it so all the 12V lines are combined, ground lines, etc, hopefully combining all the rails if I used a multi-railed PSU for input. I am in the process of providing additional support for 2x 6 pin + 1x4 pin as input to make sure I got all the output rails of a PSU. With this cable my 700W PSU with only 26A combined on 12V was powering the MB, + 4 molex fans + 2HDs, 3/4 addin cards + 2/3 USB devices well (resets when I start prime95 but Turbo Boost worked under ~load).

I got the AliExpress cable and I tried to use the same PSU with it instead of my made ATX cable. I still needed modifications because my PSU does not have an 8pin CPU connector that the AliExpress cable did not have. The memory power with the AliExpress cable is supplied by 2 molex. When I used the AliExpress cable with the same PSU I got many memory errors on boot such that the same PSU could now only power the board (MB+CPU+Memory) and not any addin card, fan, nor Hard Drive. To continue using the AliExpress cable I am using a second 500W PSU (24A @ 12V) to power everything else, with it ~permanently jumpered on (still fails at prime95 though). I'm thinking now I should have bought a PSU instead of the SSD and Graphics card and continue using my 2 old 80GB HDs and 256MB GFX!

No additional funds to purchase a PSU for at least 4 months so I will try to make a multi ATX input cable to terminal block/bus bars to combine my best 4 PSUs (26A, 24A, 24A, 18A on 12V) without destroying those PSUs so some time later I could still use them in other systems. Power consumption and noise ~covered.

Re: Fans

Front fans are good.

I kept connecting different fans to the system/chassis fan and was annoyed by still getting fan not found then I saw that the MB wants 2 fans connected to the same pin. I think I could get 2 fans working by joining 12V and ground.

Anyone has the pinout for the memory fans? I want to make sure before I connect the wrong pins.

Re: Front I/O connectors/Startup messages

I kept trying different connectors, even bought a new 5.25" front controller and kept getting no front USB, no Audio and No Firewire, then I realised the MB has a different pinout for those. Anyone knows them so I could put together proper cables?

I also have no MB serial number so I get that invalid serial number message on startup. What is the format for the serial number?

I am really annoyed at those startup messages, I need this computer to be able to restart and login without me being there to press F1 to boot. Anyone with a hacked case solved these issues?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 30, 2015, 01:49:32 pm
Quote
I kept connecting different fans to the system/chassis fan and was annoyed by still getting fan not found then I saw that the MB wants 2 fans connected to the same pin. I think I could get 2 fans working by joining 12V and ground.


You don't mean shorting 12V to ground do you? I'm sure you must mean something else!

Quote
(still fails at prime95 though)


Have you watched the temps using "CPUID HWMonitor" while it's running? It'll show memory temperatures. Before I installed a fan above my memory it was running at 65C under load. Now it's down to 50C under full load for 20 minutes of video compression using Handbrake.

Quote
Anyone has the pinout for the memory fans? I want to make sure before I connect the wrong pins.


It should be safe to test the pins with a multimeter while the PC is on to find 12V and GND. I bet you find 2 pairs of 12V/GND adjacent to each other with the remaining two being shared PWM and TACH pins.

Quote
I also have no MB serial number so I get that invalid serial number message on startup. What is the format for the serial number?


If you do some googling for the serial number error message you can find someone who's posted theirs into a forum. It'll silence that warning.

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on March 31, 2015, 05:08:06 am
Prime95 now runs to completion with a 3 Power Supply setup with load memory temps ~63C.

PS1: 700W Dual rail,  26A (12A+14A) on 12V only supplying MB and RAM (through combined rail cable).
PS2: 500W Single rail, 28A on 12V only supplying CPU.
PS3: 500W Dual rail, 22A (8A + 14A) on 12V supplying DVDRW, SSD, 2.5" HD, 3.5" HD, USB 3 card + side LED fan.

QuoteYou don't mean shorting 12V to ground do you?
Taking the 12V lines of two fans to connect to the single 12V pin of the Chassis/Rear fan header, the ground lines of the two fans to the single ground pin on the header, then connect the TACH/PWM pins of each fan to the their own separate TACH/PWM pins on the header.

Getting the fan/front I/O pinouts is priority over cooling because I want to get rid of all the POST messages. For cooling I could always topup on molex fans.

Anyone had luck with those front I/O pins? I see the cable online but its US$45 and that will amount to US$100 for me to get it in hand with shipping/tax. This project is already WAY more $$$ and time than I expected. If I knew then what I know now I would have just paid the US$250 to have a complete US$400 HPZ800 shipped.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on April 08, 2015, 06:08:40 pm
I now have no POST messages relating to fans; my poking around caused several shorts resulting in multiple computer resets.

I used 2 optical drive cables to test the memory fan pinouts. Both memory fans are powered by a single 12V pin and ground pin. TACH1 and TACH2 are connected but the fans I used were the 3 pin variety but I believed the 2 unused pins are PWM (More pics uploaded with pinouts).

An adapter (dual 3 pin male to molex) was sourced from an old HD cooler that allowed me to use two fans without cutting/modifying their cables by connecting 12V+Ground from the fan pins directly to molex power and an optical cable so only 2 pins are used on the system/chassis header (TACH1 and TACH2).

The 14 fans (3 PSU fans, 2 CPU, 2 Memory, 2 Front, 2 System, 1 side LED + 2 molex intake) are small, 3 pins and loud, but probably the same volume as the AC unit when the AC is on. None have PWM so they all run at full speed (except CPU). In the future I will have to change out all the fans to ones with 4 pins so the system could control fans speeds resulting in a quieter system.

WRT front IO connectors... I realised that the yellow USB header controls 3 USB ports instead of the regular 2, but I still have not figured out the pinouts, neither for the Firewire nor Audio. When testing the memory fan pinouts I wished I had some Arduino expertise where I could just plug all the pins from the MB headers + pins from IO connectors into a breadboard and have a push button which cycled through all the combinations sequentially and show on a connected LCD/LED/computer monitor what the final working pinout result is when a connected device works, instead of the manually reconnecting alligator clips to tiny cables. Figuring out the memory fan pinout took around 40 alligator clip reconnects and that was just a 6 pin header and 4 hours total for the fans! I have to prepare myself mentally again to go tackle those front IO connectors.

Still no luck finding a serial # example.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on April 09, 2015, 11:53:35 pm
@BenGman, these may or may not help:
http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/Z800-Mystery-PC-Speaker-Connector/td-p/6026029
http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/XW-4400-Motherboard-Front-Audio-Schematic/m-p/5944537/highlight/true#M14308
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on April 10, 2015, 12:55:44 pm
Quote from: digitaltrousers on April 09, 2015, 11:53:35 pm@BenGman, these may or may not help:
http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/Z800-Mystery-PC-Speaker-Connector/td-p/6026029

Those are for a regular 2 Port USB Header and so far in my testing it is already different from the HP Z800 Yellow 3 Port USB because the ground pins are in different locations (see the attached image for voltages).
Quotehttp://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/XW-4400-Motherboard-Front-Audio-Schematic/m-p/5944537/highlight/true#M14308

I have not done testing here yet, but I just saw in Andy's photo that he has the Front Audio working; so I can't understand why my case audio jack (not sure if its AC97 or HD), nor the 2 different model/features 5.25" Multipurpose Panel Front Audio connections (but the specs on the newest say its HD Audio) are not recognised by the Z800 MB.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on April 11, 2015, 04:59:16 am
So I think I'm ready to give up on this Z800 board. I do appreciate the quality, active development, good documentation, support (etc) of the HP product, but I'm just about convinced mine is faulty. And there's no guarantee that getting another rev.2 Z800 board will work with those CPUs. I haven't seen any Rev.3 boards for under $300, and most of those are used... Does anyone have any opinions on this board? http://b2b.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3128#ov
This should allow me to use the two X5672 processors and 24G registered memory I already have. Should also allow me to use a smaller case. Any other suggestions for boards that would fit the bill?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 13, 2015, 01:49:49 pm
Quote from: digitaltrousers on April 11, 2015, 04:59:16 am
So I think I'm ready to give up on this Z800 board.


Before you give up on the board do you have access to another PSU that you can try? I know that yours is a 1050W and that ought to be more than enough if Watts are all that matter. The reason I ask is that someone else over in the article comments section just solved symptoms like yours (no POST) with another PSU and you did mention strange power supply behavior in one of your posts.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on April 13, 2015, 05:26:58 pm
I concur, not enough power was the reason for many of my resets (Prime95), system instability  and memory errors. After I added all the fans my 3 PSU setup failed with Prime95 again so it forced me to finally get a proper PSU. I now have a single 1000W CoolMax ZU-1000B PSU (83A on 12V, single rail) powering everything (11 fans, 4 HDs, DVDRW, PCI-E USB 3.0) with the Ali Express cable and passing Prime95. I do not see me needing more power in the near future.

Finals are within two weeks so I can not spend any more time on this project until May, then I'll have more time to address those pesky Front I/O errors.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: digitaltrousers on April 13, 2015, 08:38:45 pm
Thanks Guys. That's good advice :)
...Maybe the various outputs on my PSU aren't firing up in the right order or something. It's a single rail per voltage, but I guess if one rail was a few milliseconds too late or something, that may make the board uncomfortable.
Someone else started a new thread on the forum, saying that he got the same symptoms after moving CPUs around, on a system that had previously been working. I got to thinking, 2009 (date on the board) was around that time when manufacturers started going with lead-free solder, which initially they didn't seem to get quite right (remember all those PS3s and Xboxes with various "lights of death"?) The board may have brittle solder, being from that era, and I may have flexed it too much installing CPUs and RAM. Regardless, for all you others, I'd suggest that using the steel standoffs on a table is probably not a good idea for that reason as the board is not supported well in the centre...
But yeah, I'll try to borrow another PSU from somewhere. Thanks.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 14, 2015, 02:37:42 pm
Quote from: BenGman on April 10, 2015, 12:55:44 pm
I have not done testing here yet, but I just saw in Andy's photo that he has the Front Audio working; so I can't understand why my case audio jack (not sure if its AC97 or HD), nor the 2 different model/features 5.25" Multipurpose Panel Front Audio connections (but the specs on the newest say its HD Audio) are not recognised by the Z800 MB.


My front panel has both AC97 and HD audio connectors coming from it. I ignored the AC97 connector and plugged in the HD audio connector to the board. The default Windows 8.1 install gets me Microsoft drivers that only recognise the green speaker socket on the motherboard riser at the back.

To get the front panel jacks working I had to install the drivers from Realtek (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsview.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false) dated 2014/5/21. After installing those it gave me the "Realtek HD Audio Manager" (screenshot attached) that can be used to play around with the configuration and it automatically detected the insertion of headphones into the front panel with a system tray notification.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on April 15, 2015, 11:22:35 am
Hello can one of you measure your motherboard for me? I'm thinking about migrating my Z800 into a Corsair 900D and I need to know if the board will fit the tray. Thanks!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 15, 2015, 02:08:10 pm
Quote from: JonMS on April 15, 2015, 11:22:35 am
Hello can one of you measure your motherboard for me? I'm thinking about migrating my Z800 into a Corsair 900D and I need to know if the board will fit the tray. Thanks!


36x33cm.

Remember that the PCIe slots need to line up with the case slot fixings as well.

I just took a look at the 900D and I thought my DS6 was big - the 900D is enormous!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on April 17, 2015, 02:41:56 pm
I'm still plugging away at the USB header (see attached and signature link). Tried first to check GND and VCC alone but nothing worked. Then I started the route with the 504 permutations. Was about to take a break when the 10th try showed a power surge and the Windows device connected sound. The hope was to get a first port working, then try the other pins to get the other 2 ports, then solve the 1.734V pin.

This is too tedious, there must be a better way. Anyone else having any success?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 18, 2015, 03:35:08 am
Quote from: BenGman on April 17, 2015, 02:41:56 pm
This is too tedious, there must be a better way. Anyone else having any success?

If someone reading this has a real Z800 then they could buzz out the pins on the cable for you. Alternatively, cable assemblies do appear on ebay from time to time. e.g. this auction (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-468626-003-HP-COMPAQ-Z800-FRONT-I-O-ASSY-CABLE-KIT-INPUT-OUTPUT-CABLE-USB-/331469768958?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4d2d2348fe). The part number for the cable set is 468626-003.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on April 22, 2015, 02:20:06 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on April 15, 2015, 02:08:10 pm
Quote from: JonMS on April 15, 2015, 11:22:35 am
Hello can one of you measure your motherboard for me? I'm thinking about migrating my Z800 into a Corsair 900D and I need to know if the board will fit the tray. Thanks!


36x33cm.

Remember that the PCIe slots need to line up with the case slot fixings as well.



I just took a look at the 900D and I thought my DS6 was big - the 900D is enormous!


Yup I know. Thanks for measuring! It should fit as it's somewhat smaller than the SR-2 board from EVGA that's HPTX. Hoping they'll be material to drill standoffs in. Going to water cool both processors and go for a quad 280X set up using pcie ribbon extensions to drop the cards down a slot since the 900D has 10 expansion slots bs the Z800s 7
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 25, 2015, 03:19:41 am
Quote from: BenGman on April 08, 2015, 06:08:40 pm
Still no luck finding a serial # example.

This is mine: 2UA1210JMN. Someone posted it on an internet support forum ;D It has no actual use to us except to shut that startup warning up. I guess HP support would use it to link back to the actual unit that was shipped to the customer.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: dimare on April 25, 2015, 06:23:05 am
Hello there! Does anybody got Speedfan working with the Z800 Motherboard?

The case fans are freaking loud, and the Bios Setting Idle Fan Mode is already set to lowest level. Or is there an option to jump over Error Message on Post if you disconnect the fan? I already tried headless mode but this is maybe only for Graphic Cards...

Regards and an nice Weekend!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on April 26, 2015, 09:12:29 am
There must be something wrong with your fans as my Z800 is nearly silent but you can get speedfan working by going into advanced settings and selecting the controller. It doesnt work great but you can definitely quiet them down
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: dimare on April 26, 2015, 12:33:22 pm
I think everything is ok with my Z800...

Rear fans running with ~1600 UPM
Memory with ~ 1500 UPM
CPU about 1100 UPM in Idle

...how fast are your fans running?

I Only got CPU and the Quadro 5000 Fans controlled with Speedfan.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on April 27, 2015, 12:54:53 pm
Quote from: BenGman on April 08, 2015, 06:08:40 pm
WRT front IO connectors... I realised that the yellow USB header controls 3 USB ports instead of the regular 2, but I still have not figured out the pinouts


I'm confused about the USB headers on the motherboard. Are the two (well, 1 and a half) blue ones (P26 and P27) to the left of the yellow header not standard USB? Or are we trying to get more USB ports out through the yellow header labeled P24?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 27, 2015, 02:58:51 pm
Quote from: knightcrusader on April 27, 2015, 12:54:53 pm
Quote from: BenGman on April 08, 2015, 06:08:40 pm
WRT front IO connectors... I realised that the yellow USB header controls 3 USB ports instead of the regular 2, but I still have not figured out the pinouts


I'm confused about the USB headers on the motherboard. Are the two (well, 1 and a half) blue ones (P26 and P27) to the left of the yellow header not standard USB? Or are we trying to get more USB ports out through the yellow header labeled P24?


OK so I need to apologise to Ben for completely forgetting how I'd set my USB connectivity up. I'll bet he never wants to see another multimeter again by now  ;)

As you can see from the attached photograph I'm running one of my front panel 2-port cables to part of the yellow P24 connector and another double port cable to the P26 header. I'm not using the single port header - P27. Unfortunately I can't remember how I knew the pinout to P24 or whether I just got lucky with a hunch  :(

I also have a USB 3.0 add-in card in one of the PCI-e slots.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on April 27, 2015, 04:56:06 pm
So technically there are headers on the board for 6 USB 2.0 ports total... 1 normal 2-port header, a 1-port header, and the yellow one has 3 ports?

I also have a USB 3.0 card I plan to use as well for my USB 3.0 card reader... of course that depends on the case I get. I need 4 5.25" bays and a 3.5" bay and I am having trouble finding an HPTX case that can fit all that. The DS6 can handle 4 5.25" bays, so I might just forgo the card reader since I don't use it as much as I used to.

(Edit: I lied. I found a few just now on Newegg. This one looks the best - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811815046&cm_re=HPTX-_-11-815-046-_-Product)

Or..... perhaps I should just fab my own case instead?  8)

(btw this is Stephen from the comments section on the article - just trying to get all the technical stuff down before I start buying parts)   ;)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on April 30, 2015, 10:03:57 am
Quote from: BenGman on April 08, 2015, 06:08:40 pmWRT front IO connectors... I realised that the yellow USB header controls 3 USB ports instead of the regular 2, but I still have not figured out the pinouts


I think I have the pinout! My buddy has a Z600 with the same connector and he was nice enough to take a multimeter to the USB ports and the connector:

(http://i.imgur.com/ruBtDT7.png)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on May 01, 2015, 01:41:14 am
Quote from: knightcrusader on April 30, 2015, 10:03:57 am
Quote from: BenGman on April 08, 2015, 06:08:40 pmWRT front IO connectors... I realised that the yellow USB header controls 3 USB ports instead of the regular 2, but I still have not figured out the pinouts


I think I have the pinout! My buddy has a Z600 with the same connector and he was nice enough to take a multimeter to the USB ports and the connector:

(http://i.imgur.com/ruBtDT7.png)


That's good news. So from that it appears that HP's colour coding is:

Red = VBus (+5V)
Black = Ground
Green = D+
White = D-

Your diagram needs to be flipped to visualise it directly on to the motherboard header because pins 1 and 2 on the left of the yellow header are 5V (Red B/Red C on your diagram).
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 01, 2015, 08:21:46 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on May 01, 2015, 01:41:14 am
Quote from: knightcrusader on April 30, 2015, 10:03:57 am
Quote from: BenGman on April 08, 2015, 06:08:40 pmWRT front IO connectors... I realised that the yellow USB header controls 3 USB ports instead of the regular 2, but I still have not figured out the pinouts


I think I have the pinout! My buddy has a Z600 with the same connector and he was nice enough to take a multimeter to the USB ports and the connector:

(http://i.imgur.com/ruBtDT7.png)


That's good news. So from that it appears that HP's colour coding is:

Red = VBus (+5V)
Black = Ground
Green = D+
White = D-

Your diagram needs to be flipped to visualise it directly on to the motherboard header because pins 1 and 2 on the left of the yellow header are 5V (Red B/Red C on your diagram).


You are correct that it is mirrored - I assume my buddy laid it out in order from looking straight into the plug itself when it was disconnected, which would make sense since the plug is mirrored from the header on the board.

I am going to order some of my parts to start on the project today - when I get it all going and can verify the pin outs I will clean up my diagram for the motherboard side. I'm so excited to get this started!  8)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 12, 2015, 01:05:53 pm
Good news everyone! I got my system built!  8)

Z800 board - $88.95
2x Xeon W5590 - $99.90
24GB (6x4GB) DDR3-10600R - $108.00
2x Intel LGA 1366 DBX-D heatsinks* - $39.00
Premade Power adapter cord - $8.36
Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225)* - $189.99
5-pack Xeon stickers for the case  ;) - $4.44

Total cost of project: $538.64

Other items were recycled from my current computer: 750W EVGA SuperNOVA PSU, 2x EVGA GeForce 630 GT x16 video cards, USB 3.0 Card, Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 SSD, 1x Icy Dock 3-bay tool-less hot swap hard drive bay, LG Bluray Burner and LG DVD Burner, and a few hard drives.

The only thing I have left to do is to find the pinout of the Firewire and memory fan plugs so I can use them, and wire up things to the front panel 3-port USB header.

*Heatsink Notes = These heatsinks came with the Core i7 Extreme Edition and they are beasts, and I got them for $20 each brand new. But, like everything else on this build, they had to be modified. The screws that are built into them do not fit the brackets that HP uses. So, I was able to use a pair of pliers to break off the screw assembly (it was riveted to the feet of the heatsink) and then used thumb screws to hold the heatsinks on the board. In two places (one foot on each processor) the feet are way too big and actually hit surface mount components on the board. I had to use small little cardboard laminated washer things I found in a screwdriver kit to raise the metal off the board in those two places, and they work great! The only other thing I did was grind down the fan connector a little to help it slide into the motherboard ports easier.

**Case Notes = This is not an HPTX case, but it DOES work. I took a leap of faith after looking at many pictures on Newegg and was convinced it would work, and my gamble paid off. I was going to go with the DS6 case but I REALLY do not like cases with doors, plus I have always been a fan of Cooler Master case designs. My uncle has a metal machine shop and he fabricated special drill bits to make threaded holes in the case to line up with the Z800 board, and it came out PERFECT. The only other thing we had to do was use a Dremel to cut a small square hole in the hard drive cage to open up access to the power plug on the motherboard... its just a cosmetic thing.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on May 12, 2015, 01:24:07 pm
Memory fan is from top left to right:

PWM, PWM, TACH
TACH, 12V, Ground
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 12, 2015, 01:25:45 pm
Quote from: BenGman on May 12, 2015, 01:24:07 pm
Memory fan is from top left to right:

PWM, PWM, TACH
TACH, 12V, Ground


Awesome! Thanks! Now just the firewire port to figure out.  8)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on May 13, 2015, 09:52:22 am
Hello,

About the 5th pin "TACH2", it is reported [1] that by grounding it rather than leave it floating, the mainboard will recognize the heatsink as "high performance".
Now, I assume that when a high TDP CPU is detected at boot, the bios checks if the heatsink is a high performance one: if not, the bios wil display a warning message.
Now, by grounding TACH2 that warning should never display regardless of the installed CPU.
Could anyone with a high TDP cpu experiment and report here if my guess is correct ?

Thanks,

Attilio

[1] http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/Workstation-CPU-Temperatures/td-p/6456466#.VVNlK
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on May 15, 2015, 07:43:59 am
Quote from: dimare on April 25, 2015, 06:23:05 am
Hello there! Does anybody got Speedfan working with the Z800 Motherboard?


Yes I got speedfan working in so much as I was able to disconnect the CPU fans from automatic control and could ramp them up and down using the controls on the main screen. You have to go into the advanced tab and disconnect the fans from automatic sensor control. It was quite easy to guess the sensor names from the list. Apologies for the vague description but I'm away from my PC at the moment but can post replies here.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 15, 2015, 08:44:01 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on May 15, 2015, 07:43:59 am
You have to go into the advanced tab and disconnect the fans from automatic sensor control.


Yeah, that was the hardest part for me to figure out... that and figure out which fans were which in the list. I had a PWM1, PWM2, and then another PWM1 and PWM2 coupled with a PWM3. The ones that control the CPU are the second set of PWM1 and PWM2.

Right now I have Speedfan set to respond only to CPU0's temp for both fans, since the only time I stress them is when I transcode and that usually works both processors, but I really should set the fans to respond to their appropriate CPU... does CPU0-3 = Physical CPU 0 and CPU4-7 = Physical CPU 1?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 18, 2015, 12:37:35 pm
So after a week of not being able to find any info, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  :o

I found a front panel connector from a Z600 on eBay (they seem to share the same headers) and am going to use it to decode the firewire pin out.

I also bought various size headers, 0.1mm terminals, and a crimper to build my own adapter cables for the firewire, USB, as well as back and cpu fans. The only thing I have yet to order (but have located on Digikey) is the plug for the memory fans, as well as male 4-pin fan sockets. I want my cables to look professional so I am sparing no expense... that and I want the damn BIOS to shut up about the missing connectors.  ::)

I'll update when I get them done. If anyone is interested in some adapters for themselves, let me know and I can probably make some up for other people as well (once I get the hang of what I am doing of course).  8)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: tangram on May 28, 2015, 04:38:12 am
Hello,

I'm having really bad issues with a Z800 mobo. It's taken out of a working system so I'm sure the parts are ok.
Board revision is A02, it has 24Gb in 6x4gb modules. CPUs are X5550s. I've bought the adapter cable from the chinese guys :D
PSU is a 485W Enermax. I know it's low but I wanted to see it go into BIOS before investing in a new PSU.

My problem is that after connecting everything and starting the PSU, the board powers up(by itself, no pins or buttons), psu fans start spinning and it just hangs. No signal on video. Heatsinks, gpu, memory start to get warm but nothing else happens.

I've tried using only one cpu, one ram stick, with gpu, without gpu, nothing. I really don't know if it's the low power of the psu or it's the adapter cable or something else.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on May 28, 2015, 06:55:51 am
Quote from: tangram on May 28, 2015, 04:38:12 am
Hello,

I'm having really bad issues with a Z800 mobo. It's taken out of a working system so I'm sure the parts are ok.
Board revision is A02, it has 24Gb in 6x4gb modules. CPUs are X5550s. I've bought the adapter cable from the chinese guys :D
PSU is a 485W Enermax. I know it's low but I wanted to see it go into BIOS before investing in a new PSU.

My problem is that after connecting everything and starting the PSU, the board powers up(by itself, no pins or buttons), psu fans start spinning and it just hangs. No signal on video. Heatsinks, gpu, memory start to get warm but nothing else happens.

I've tried using only one cpu, one ram stick, with gpu, without gpu, nothing. I really don't know if it's the low power of the psu or it's the adapter cable or something else.


I suspect the power supply. The total wattage is far too low and how are the amp limits distributed across the rails? I reprinted HPs minimum limits for amps on each V12 line in my main article.

The PSU should not come on at all unless the ATX PS_ON_L signal is grounded and the front panel power switch normally does that. You say, "no pins or buttons". Does that include the front panel power switch?

I don't think you're going to get anywhere until you've got a PSU that's well within the minimum spec.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: tangram on May 28, 2015, 07:07:16 am
Yes, no front panel switch. On the board I have the cpus, ram and video card. No fans, usb headers, nothing. The mobo isn't mounted inside a case. I don't know why it starts when i flip the switch on the psu.


The psu is this one:
(http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-194-009-05.JPG)
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-194-009-05.JPG (http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-194-009-05.JPG)


Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 28, 2015, 08:23:54 am
Quote from: tangram on May 28, 2015, 07:07:16 am
Yes, no front panel switch. On the board I have the cpus, ram and video card. No fans, usb headers, nothing. The mobo isn't mounted inside a case. I don't know why it starts when i flip the switch on the psu.


The psu is this one:
(http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-194-009-05.JPG)
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-194-009-05.JPG (http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-194-009-05.JPG)


There is a setting in the BIOS for the board to power up if power has been restored to it, which is what you are doing when you flip the PSU switch. Mine does the same thing, which is what I prefer since I like to have it available to remote in from work when I need to.

As for the wattage, you definitely need more. I thought my spare 500W gold PSU I had on hand would be enough to power just the board and processors to test the core system, but boy was I wrong with that. It would keep rebooting when trying to power up because of the board was trying to pull too much power. It wasn't until I put in my 750W PSU that everything was peachy. I still would feel more comfortable getting a 1000W+ model PSU, but for now the 750W is doing just fine even with all my hard drives, fans, and peripherals connected.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on May 28, 2015, 04:17:12 pm
Its been a while since I wrote about my progress so here goes....

PWM Fans:
I swapped out all the fans for all PWM fans (Artic Cooler: 2x140mm, 1x120mm, 4x92mm).
Front Fan 1: 140mm
Front Fan 2: 140mm+92mm using a splitter (92mm on the chipset)
System Fan: 120mm+92mm using a splitter and breadboard wires
Memory Fans: 2x92mm using a splitter and audio wires (breadboard wires were to large for the Memory pins on the MB)
Side case fan: Non PWM molex LED fan that came with the case

The system is much quieter now, insomuch I do not hear it anymore when I am out of the room and it sounds like a regular desktop when I'm near it. If I had the computer on the ground under the desk instead of to the right of my monitor on the desk I doubt I will hear the fans at all. Cooling is the same or slightly less (I figure because the previous non-PWM fans were always blowing at max while the new fans just blow what is required).

Serial Number:
I made up my own serial number in the form of yyyy-mm-dd-<my_initials>-01 with the date being the date I bought the motherboard, and it worked!

Front Panel:
I caved and bought the HPZ800 front panel connectors. I tried and tried with the schematics that were posted, and the front USB ports DID work, but the main thing was I was still getting those BIOS errors. I wanted the BIOS errors to go away more than I wanted use of those front panel ports.

Full boot up/restart without any intervention, success!

Power Consumption:
A (generic) kilowatt meter says that the system alone uses 300W to boot, 250W on no load and 475W on load (Prime95). It is an 80+ Bronze 1000W Power supply. With a single 19" LCD monitor, USB Powered Hub, IR Blaster, 1 externally powered TV Tuner (plus another internal), 2 cable boxes and DSL Router, total power consumption on load reached 520W max. Over a 24 hour period the system uses 30kWh. That does not include 2xCRT monitors I use with the computer that is not connected to the meter (and that I would not connect to a UPS, if/when I do get a UPS). Electricity costs US$0.06 to US$0.20 per kWh right now so the overall power bill is not bad.

Other issues:
Every other hot restart recently I get an error at CPU0 DIMM3. If I pull the plug, let it rest for 5 seconds and power on it boots with no errors. I exchanged a stick from another location and I still get that error at the same location.. (so its location rather than the RAM stick). The 92mm fans are resting on the CPU heatsink (not tied down to anything) and are blowing right on the sticks. Temperature of the RAM never cross 52degC under load so I am thinking my power supply might need to be upped again. I previously got memory errors with underpowered power supplies.... or is it really that the memory is bad? Soon I will disconnect everything and run full memory tests.. I am dreading it because my RAM is no longer under warranty.

Again if I knew now about what it takes to do this hack I would skip it and just buy something already put together, even used. Sky box (Freight forwarder) charges for this build were US$350 with the total cost being US$1670 for only 24GB, Dual 5550s, 256GBSSD, 2x3TB HD, 2GB GT730 Video Card. A proper case, Monitor, KB+Mouse, and UPS is still not included in the cost. I can't resell unless I get a proper case. My fastest computer before this was a 4GB Core i3 Laptop that could barely handle a single SDR trunking decoding session. Before I had 3 dual core computers and a laptop running continuously. Now I only have this one so I could prepare the others for sale. The HP Z800 hasn't failed in any operation I have thrown at it. I use it mostly remotely for several VMware Workstations and dual TV streaming when I am away from home.

No pictures of most of these updates because I have no camera... I sold my phone to my dad to pay for the additions so all I have now is a non touch VGA camera phone with no flash!! I'll post more pics when I could get the phone borrowed.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 28, 2015, 04:36:56 pm
Quote from: BenGman on May 28, 2015, 04:17:12 pm
Serial Number:
I made up my own serial number in the form of yyyy-mm-dd-<my_initials>-01 with the date being the date I bought the motherboard, and it worked!


I don't think the serial number format even matters. Since my system hostname follows my convention of US state capitals, I just entered Z800_CONCORD and it took it and stopped complaining.

Quote
Front Panel:
I caved and bought the HPZ800 front panel connectors. I tried and tried with the schematics that were posted, and the front USB ports DID work, but the main thing was I was still getting those BIOS errors. I wanted the BIOS errors to go away more than I wanted use of those front panel ports.

Full boot up/restart without any intervention, success!

I did the same, but got the Z600 front panel since I could find one cheaper. Come to find out, the firewire pins are pretty much standard, except two pins are duplicated for ground and power. I assume that is what it uses to figure out if its connected or not. I made an adapter that plugs into that and then the standard firewire plugs into that, and it shut it up after one reboot.

Quote
Power Consumption:
A (generic) kilowatt meter says that the system alone uses 300W to boot, 250W on no load and 475W on load (Prime95). It is an 80+ Bronze 1000W Power supply. With a single 19" LCD monitor, USB Powered Hub, IR Blaster, 1 externally powered TV Tuner (plus another internal), 2 cable boxes and DSL Router, total power consumption on load reached 520W max. Over a 24 hour period the system uses 30kWh. That does not include 2xCRT monitors I use with the computer that is not connected to the meter (and that I would not connect to a UPS, if/when I do get a UPS). Electricity costs US$0.06 to US$0.20 per kWh right now so the overall power bill is not bad.


I am assuming that its not the total wattage that is killing the PSU but one of the rails is being overloaded at startup. I noticed that the 500W I used was a normal multi-rail PSU while my 750W was a single rail 12V, so I am not sure if that is helping it or not.

Quote
Other issues:
Every other hot restart recently I get an error at CPU0 DIMM3. If I pull the plug, let it rest for 5 seconds and power on it boots with no errors. I exchanged a stick from another location and I still get that error at the same location.. (so its location rather than the RAM stick). The 92mm fans are resting on the CPU heatsink (not tied down to anything) and are blowing right on the sticks. Temperature of the RAM never cross 52degC under load so I am thinking my power supply might need to be upped again. I previously got memory errors with underpowered power supplies.... or is it really that the memory is bad? Soon I will disconnect everything and run full memory tests.. I am dreading it because my RAM is no longer under warranty.

Again if I knew now about what it takes to do this hack I would skip it and just buy something already put together, even used. Sky box (Freight forwarder) charges for this build were US$350 with the total cost being US$1670 for only 24GB, Dual 5550s, 256GBSSD, 2x3TB HD, 2GB GT730 Video Card. A proper case, Monitor, KB+Mouse, and UPS is still not included in the cost. I can't resell unless I get a proper case. My fastest computer before this was a 4GB Core i3 Laptop that could barely handle a single SDR trunking decoding session. Before I had 3 dual core computers and a laptop running continuously. Now I only have this one so I could prepare the others for sale. The HP Z800 hasn't failed in any operation I have thrown at it. I use it mostly remotely for several VMware Workstations and dual TV streaming when I am away from home.

No pictures of most of these updates because I have no camera... I sold my phone to my dad to pay for the additions so all I have now is a non touch VGA camera phone with no flash!! I'll post more pics when I could get the phone borrowed.


Would be awesome to see what other people's builds look like. I got the proper molex connectors (even the memory fan connector) today from Digikey so I am going to redo my fan adapters to fit better and not be so "hacky", and in the process I am probably going to take it completely apart to try to get rid of the rat's nest of wires at the bottom of the case.

I still think it was worth the build for me, even with the custom parts. I learned quite a lot about motherboard power distribution and how fans interact with the computer that I never knew before.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on May 28, 2015, 08:11:19 pm
Quote from: knightcrusader on May 28, 2015, 04:36:56 pm
Come to find out, the firewire pins are pretty much standard, except two pins are duplicated for ground and power. I assume that is what it uses to figure out if its connected or not. I made an adapter that plugs into that and then the standard firewire plugs into that, and it shut it up after one reboot.


Which two pins? I had a new 5.25" front panel with firewire purchased 8 years ago, 2 different firewire MB adapters (which were underwater for sometime in a 3ft flood I had home) that didn't work... so because of age and possible water damage I still went and bought a new 5.25" front panel to try the firewire (and the new one had USB 3) and it still did not work. The case's front audio didn't work and neither did the audio on both front panels (still got the BIOS message). USB front ports worked but I still got the BIOS error. So all three USB, Firewire and Audio messages still appeared in the BIOS for me so that's why I got HPZ800 front headers. I purchased it from the UK (had it half the price as US) and I had it shipped straight to me instead of going through my US skybox. Purchases from the UK used to arrive within 1 week... this time it took 4 weeks. So to reach the no F1 prompt took 3.5 months!

If I lived in the US/UK it would have been cheaper. If I want to ship a paper clip it costs me US$10 + 3 weeks. I have to pay different freight+VAT+Tax on each small package. So all the different shipments from different suppliers that I needed to get parts.. plus the time to get them here cost too much time and money. If one supplier had the MB, RAM, CPU, MB power cable etc... then it would have been a lot cheaper. So for this project I should have just bought the refurbished 24GB, Dual 5550, in a proper HP case with everything in one package (MB, case, PS, front connectors, fans, etc)... that would have been US$400 for the unit then ~only US$220 freight+tax&vat.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 28, 2015, 11:26:05 pm
Quote from: BenGman on May 28, 2015, 08:11:19 pm
Which two pins? I had a new 5.25" front panel with firewire purchased 8 years ago, 2 different firewire MB adapters (which were underwater for sometime in a 3ft flood I had home) that didn't work... so because of age and possible water damage I still went and bought a new 5.25" front panel to try the firewire (and the new one had USB 3) and it still did not work. The case's front audio didn't work and neither did the audio on both front panels (still got the BIOS message). USB front ports worked but I still got the BIOS error. So all three USB, Firewire and Audio messages still appeared in the BIOS for me so that's why I got HPZ800 front headers. I purchased it from the UK (had it half the price as US) and I had it shipped straight to me instead of going through my US skybox. Purchases from the UK used to arrive within 1 week... this time it took 4 weeks. So to reach the no F1 prompt took 3.5 months!

If I lived in the US/UK it would have been cheaper. If I want to ship a paper clip it costs me US$10 + 3 weeks. I have to pay different freight+VAT+Tax on each small package. So all the different shipments from different suppliers that I needed to get parts.. plus the time to get them here cost too much time and money. If one supplier had the MB, RAM, CPU, MB power cable etc... then it would have been a lot cheaper. So for this project I should have just bought the refurbished 24GB, Dual 5550, in a proper HP case with everything in one package (MB, case, PS, front connectors, fans, etc)... that would have been US$400 for the unit then ~only US$220 freight+tax&vat.


Wow, that is horrible. I forget about things costing so much to ship overseas.

As for the firewire, reference this picture I found on the internet:
(http://i.imgur.com/eEI2qw1.gif)
Disregarding the key holes being blocked, If you were able to plug this into the 2x7 header on the motherboard with the RED-to-GRAY side up, it would fit directly center leaving a pin exposed on each side and the right connectors would be lined up. What would be missing is an extra ground in the row next to the BLACK wire (which my case's wire actually had populated), and the WHITE wire had a split off to a pin the row under it, and the GRAY wire had a split off to the pin under it (which is usually the blocked key hole on the standard plug).

I ordered a 2x7 header and crimped the wires to match this layout on one end and the standard firewire layout on the other, and the adapter was created. Plugged it in, rebooted once and it complained the first time, but after that it was fine with it (not sure why it complained the first time it was connected).

As for the audio, I connected the HD Audio directly to the motherboard and it stopped complaining, but it didn't work until the Realtek drivers were installed. I thought that was odd, but whatever.

As for the 3-port front-usb connector, I also made an adapter for that too that splits it off into a standard 2 port usb plug and a standard 1 port with the shield ground.

When I take the system down to make better adapters for the fans I am going to take some pictures of my build as I rewire it and share them. I would make some mockups of the pin outs but I haven't reinstalled Photoshop yet.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: tangram on May 30, 2015, 03:17:50 am
Hello,

I tried using another psu I had around. Same result, no video signal :(
The psu is from a server: Chenbro 820W Power Supply Module C2W-5820V
Output: +3.3V @ 32A, +5V @ 32A, +12V @ 67A, -12V @ 0.8A, +5Vsb @ 3.5A
I also noticed that the board no longer powers up by itself, I need to short the pins.

I'll try to borrow a 1000W PSU from a friend but I'm thinking something else might be wrong.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: alfamate89 on May 30, 2015, 07:31:30 am
What do You think about this case?
http://www.codegenworld.com/showDetails.asp?max_id_search=20&min_id_search=&pro_id_search=203 (http://www.codegenworld.com/showDetails.asp?max_id_search=20&min_id_search=&pro_id_search=203)
Will the motherboard fit in this case if I remove the internal stuffs and mount the PSU somewhere on the front side?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on May 31, 2015, 10:01:04 am
Quote from: alfamate89 on May 30, 2015, 07:31:30 am
What do You think about this case?
http://www.codegenworld.com/showDetails.asp?max_id_search=20&min_id_search=&pro_id_search=203 (http://www.codegenworld.com/showDetails.asp?max_id_search=20&min_id_search=&pro_id_search=203)
Will the motherboard fit in this case if I remove the internal stuffs and mount the PSU somewhere on the front side?


The motherboard won't fit, it's quite a bit larger than the maximum size quoted in the linked advert.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on May 31, 2015, 10:02:17 am
Quote from: tangram on May 30, 2015, 03:17:50 am
I tried using another psu I had around. Same result, no video signal :(


Do you have another graphics card that you could try? Your symptoms sound vaguely like what happened in my early tests with the 7970 though that card is now working perfectly.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: alfamate89 on May 31, 2015, 02:05:12 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on May 31, 2015, 10:01:04 am
Quote from: alfamate89 on May 30, 2015, 07:31:30 am
What do You think about this case?
http://www.codegenworld.com/showDetails.asp?max_id_search=20&min_id_search=&pro_id_search=203 (http://www.codegenworld.com/showDetails.asp?max_id_search=20&min_id_search=&pro_id_search=203)
Will the motherboard fit in this case if I remove the internal stuffs and mount the PSU somewhere on the front side?


The motherboard won't fit, it's quite a bit larger than the maximum size quoted in the linked advert.


Than I need to search an alternative cheap case. Thanks for the quick reply!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: tangram on June 02, 2015, 08:03:15 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on May 31, 2015, 10:02:17 am
Quote from: tangram on May 30, 2015, 03:17:50 am
I tried using another psu I had around. Same result, no video signal :(


Do you have another graphics card that you could try? Your symptoms sound vaguely like what happened in my early tests with the 7970 though that card is now working perfectly.


I tried yesterday with another card taken from a dell t5500, same thing. Could you please tell me a bit more clearly how to connect a speaker to the board. Maybe I can get some beeps to figure out where it's getting stuck.

I tested again the components on a server i got, board is a intel 5520UR and all worked perfect.
Maybe it's something wrong with the adapter cable for the PSU. It looks just like this:

(http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v1/32233459081/ATX-24P-IDE-4P-Molex-to-18P-10P-Converter-Power-Lead-Cable-Cord-for-HP-Z800.jpg_220x220.jpg)

There's purple wire between the 24p conversion and the 10p for the memory. I think that's for the 5V since I've seen it takes from molex only 12v and ground.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on June 02, 2015, 08:28:15 am
Thats the same PSU cable I am currently using.

The speaker connections are the furthest two pins (top and bottom) on the biggest bank of black connectors (closest to the capacitor).

I had my motherboard almost 2 weeks before I had any other component. I built my own HPZ800 power cable (took a day) using an ATX Extender cable and I took a chance and just hooked up that cable and speakers to see what happened. I was awed that I heard beeps (cause I had no CPUs, no RAM, no graphics card as yet).
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: tangram on June 02, 2015, 10:30:51 am
Quote from: BenGman on June 02, 2015, 08:28:15 am
Thats the same PSU cable I am currently using.

The speaker connections are the furthest two pins (top and bottom) on the biggest bank of black connectors (closest to the capacitor).

I had my motherboard almost 2 weeks before I had any other component. I built my own HPZ800 power cable (took a day) using an ATX Extender cable and I took a chance and just hooked up that cable and speakers to see what happened. I was awed that I heard beeps (cause I had no CPUs, no RAM, no graphics card as yet).



Considering the image below, the last pins (top/bottom from the left or from the right?

(http://compeve.com/Products/Motherboards/Z800/z800_motherboard_f_compeve.jpg)


And which one is + and which one ground ?

I'll test when i get home.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on June 02, 2015, 02:05:08 pm
(https://photos-3.dropbox.com/t/2/AACFz6k5xdXycvWq9e5aPCiXSjKCTDO4xkqOKn7x02J-gg/12/209772498/jpeg/32x32/1/1433278800/0/2/2015-03-16%2018.48.48.jpg/CNK_g2QgASACIAMgBCAFIAYgBygB/H-EBZRE-m_Fktf3KMang5kSwZSjXTrK9goI6w-3MfqI?size=1024x768&size_mode=2)

The speaker connections are the red & black wires in the image next to the capacitor. I am not sure what the polarity should be, but for POST beeps it should not matter. These speakers are also your default speakers in MS Windows if you do not have a connection plugged into the 3.5mm jack, but since it was just a single 4cm speaker I could not tell the left and right stereo apart.

I think my original source for the speaker pinouts was Andy's blog post.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: tangram on June 03, 2015, 02:50:44 am
Ok, with your help I got something :D

So, I have a beep after power-on then after about 20-25 seconds a sequence of 6 beeps, than nothing.
I read that 6 beeps is video card related. This card requires 6pin power cable and I'm thinking the psu may be too weak to power this mobo and graphics. The card is a Radeon HD3800.

With the other vga card I have from the dell i get 6 beeps right from the start, so i'm guessing that graphics card has some issues.

Also, with no graphics, i get 6 beeps.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vesuveus on June 03, 2015, 03:32:15 pm
Hey all,

I have picked up a rev 2 motherboard and a couple x5550 cpu's with the power adapter cables, all for around $130 (pretty much a steal for a 16 thread computer). I also bought a couple hyper t4 cpu coolers and 24 gb ram.  I have yet to build the computer (hoping the processors match and are supported).

My biggest issue is this. I am a huge fan of overclocking, but obviously this motherboards bios does not support raising the fsb or voltage. The only option I have been able to find is setfsb, but that doesnt sound like an ideal or even promising option because the motherboard has to have a supported pls. I havent checked yet, but I have heard that even if it does it probably still wont go beyond a 1 or 2 bump in fsb speed due to the raise in RAM, pcie and sata speed.

My question is this. What about modifying the bios?  I know the EVGA classified SR2 has the same chipset, and is an overclockable double lga 1366 motherboard. Is there a way to take the overclocking code and splice it into a modified bios for overclocking purposes?

I know basically nothing about coding, but it sounds possible. Please let me know if anyone here knows how/can/want to do this. It seams like there is a stupid high price tag for a mere .5mhz bump on these cpu's. Anyway, thanks. I will be posting pics of my build as it comes together in the next week or so, and will even be making video!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: alfamate89 on June 07, 2015, 05:18:24 am
I have one more question. The original HP PSU supplies only 5V standby. From where does the normal 5V comes from to power the HDD/SSD? I would like to use a server PSU like this:
(http://www.computerrecyclingllc.com/eBay_Inventory/images/20130619/4868-8024-20130619-7477.jpg)
It is very cheap and the 12V is on one rail.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: alfamate89 on June 07, 2015, 06:06:35 am
OK I find the answare to my quastion, in the service manual.
"+12 V-B Input to onboard regulators that supply 3.3V and 5V, system fans"
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: x2xx on June 17, 2015, 03:25:44 pm
only quick info for all original Z800 users, successfully running 2x X5687 + 2x R9 290 OC with stock 1110W PSU (no additional psu needed).

power to GPUs
V-G1 6pin -> 8pin
V-G2 6pin -> 8pin
1x molex -> 6pin
1x modified CPU power cable -> 6pin (1x +12 CPU0  1x +12 CPU1)
(Obsidian Series 800D 8-Pin Motherboard Power Extension Cable Corsair CC800D-8PIN)

all stable

Quote from: JonMS on March 14, 2015, 07:41:45 pm
Quote from: x2xx on March 11, 2015, 10:26:07 am
quick info:

i was searching for max power output thought 6pin GPU connector and i find this pdf
http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf (http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf)
where they use  6-pin to 8-pin adaptors for tesla and quadro fx5xxx in Z800

because i want to try SLI GTX980 and dont want case full of molex conversion cables


Z800 board is not GeForce SLI certified so you will need to use an SLI hack to make it work. I did this back in the day on an Asus P5Q-E board. As far as powering them if you're using the standard Z800 case you can run dual 5.25" drive-bay PSUs (1 for each GPU) I'm doing this for my dual AMD R9 280X set up as Crossfire requires no certification. Here is a picture of my set up: (http://i.imgur.com/3QBHMed.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vesuveus on June 17, 2015, 06:02:51 pm
So I got my rig up and running with windows 10 technical preview, dual xeon x5550, a gtx 295 and 24gb ram. My problem now is that hyperthreading isnt working. I have it enabled in the bios but it doesnt work when I am in the OS. If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated. If not I will try and install windows 7 on one of the other hard drives to see if it is a problem with the OS. Thanks.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on June 18, 2015, 12:56:44 am
Quote from: Vesuveus on June 17, 2015, 06:02:51 pm
So I got my rig up and running with windows 10 technical preview, dual xeon x5550, a gtx 295 and 24gb ram. My problem now is that hyperthreading isnt working. I have it enabled in the bios but it doesnt work when I am in the OS. If anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated. If not I will try and install windows 7 on one of the other hard drives to see if it is a problem with the OS. Thanks.


I strongly suspect the OS but have you run the Intel processor identification utility (http://www.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu/sb/CS-014921.htm) anyway? It should look something like this attached screenshot.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on June 19, 2015, 12:53:44 am
Hello,

While digging into the issue of the write protected bootblock preventing (dual) X56xx configs from working, I found out these links (the second one is in German only, sorry,)

http://austintovey.blogspot.it/2011/03/dell-r610-tylersburg-chipset-stepping.html
http://www.computerbase.de/2010-03/intel-16-32-nm-cpus-mit-vier-und-sechs-kernen/

it appears like the difference between -002 and -003 boards is not only in the BIOS, but goes down to the revision of the 5520 chips under the large black heatsink. Boards from the -002 gen include rev B3 5520's, whereas latter -003 boards include the C2 rev. It seems that C2 is required to enable advanced CPU features such as the AES-NI and TXT extensions. Myself I have two X5550 on a -002 and cannot tell, but it would be interesting to know what /proc/cpuinfo or similar under Win read on an X56xx with the 002 and 003 revs respectively.

Attilio
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on June 20, 2015, 07:22:30 am
Today I managed to assemble my mainboard into my Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000 [1]: it's a thing for gamers and I am not a big fan of fancy blue lighst and odd case designs, but I got it second hand for 70 Eur including a 600 W (2 x 18 A @ 12 V) PSU and other accessories. The very good thing about this case is that it is relatively small (60 cm tall) and the mainboard is hosted on a sliding tray which is almost exaclty the Z800 mainboard size and can be slid from the case: that was very convenient while drilling the backplate and checking the assembly on the testbench. I have installed 2 x X5550 @2.66 GHz and 12 GB of RAM in 6 banks (only two are displayed in the picture). I had to update the bios first as also mine was much behind and did some tests. First of all, operating this thing is like powering an electric heater: the two CPUs produce lots of heat, the black heatsink produces other heat and needs separate cooling, and finally also the memory and the rest of the electonics produces their fair share of enthropy. The PSU fan immediately starts spinning at its maximum and becomes noisy quickly and the exhaust air gets immediately warm. I did some rendering tests with the POV raytracer on 16 threads, hyperthreading and turbo boost enabled. The rendering was stunning fast compared to my old CoreDuo @ 2.13 GHz, but after a little while I could clearly feel the smell of overheated hairdryer coming out of the PSU, so quickly aborted the tests. Using a hardware monitor, I found out that with 16 rendering threads, turbo boost enabled, each core runs at about 3 GHz and each CPU consumes up to 108 W. By disabling turbo boost, the maximum clock speed drops down to the nominal 2.66 GHz and the power consumption to 95 W, which is enough to give the PSU some rest; it is however clear that my PSU is not really adequate for this configuration: either I drop a CPU or will have to look for a better PSU or power the CPUs via another PSU. Also, I found out that the CPU near to the back of the case was about 10 C degrees hotter than the other during the render session. The reason is most likely that the former intakes the hot exhaust air blown by the latter: I am considering rotating the 2nd CPU heatsing by 90 degrees, so that the hot air is expelled through the opening at the top of the case.
So, I am very impressed by the capabilities of this PC, but it is plagued by all those sort of issues related to power consumption and heat dissipation that one finds with rack servers. Add that I do not really have an use for it (my laptop is enough for almost everything I do, while heavy duty jobs I usually offload them to some of our servers), and that's enough to wonder why I got into this..  :o

[1] http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/products-model_gallery.aspx?id=C_00000091
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: colincoates on June 29, 2015, 07:44:36 am
Hi Guys,
I was hoping you could help me out?
I've got this PSU hooked up the the z800 motherboard "http://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-nzxt-hale82-hybrid-modular-80-plus-bronze-1x120mm-atx-psu"
I've had my multimeter out and tested all the connections at the MB side and they are all correct.
I've hooked up a pc speaker to hear the diagnostic beeps and it is complaining about power (system beeps 4 times (once per second), then a 2-second pause)
Do you think this PSU is powerful enough (70A on a single 12V Rail)

I've only got a single x5580 in at the moment to test.
It's a revision 002 board.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on June 29, 2015, 05:22:49 pm
Quote from: x2xx on June 17, 2015, 03:25:44 pm
only quick info for all original Z800 users, successfully running 2x X5687 + 2x R9 290 OC with stock 1110W PSU (no additional psu needed).

power to GPUs
V-G1 6pin -> 8pin
V-G2 6pin -> 8pin
1x molex -> 6pin
1x modified CPU power cable -> 6pin (1x +12 CPU0  1x +12 CPU1)
(Obsidian Series 800D 8-Pin Motherboard Power Extension Cable Corsair CC800D-8PIN)

all stable

Quote from: JonMS on March 14, 2015, 07:41:45 pm
Quote from: x2xx on March 11, 2015, 10:26:07 am
quick info:

i was searching for max power output thought 6pin GPU connector and i find this pdf
http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf (http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf)
where they use  6-pin to 8-pin adaptors for tesla and quadro fx5xxx in Z800

because i want to try SLI GTX980 and dont want case full of molex conversion cables


Z800 board is not GeForce SLI certified so you will need to use an SLI hack to make it work. I did this back in the day on an Asus P5Q-E board. As far as powering them if you're using the standard Z800 case you can run dual 5.25" drive-bay PSUs (1 for each GPU) I'm doing this for my dual AMD R9 280X set up as Crossfire requires no certification. Here is a picture of my set up: (http://i.imgur.com/3QBHMed.jpg)



Can you share pictures of your custom cable and how you have it connected?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: colincoates on July 03, 2015, 06:09:20 pm
Quote from: colincoates on June 29, 2015, 07:44:36 am
Hi Guys,
I was hoping you could help me out?
I've got this PSU hooked up the the z800 motherboard "http://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-nzxt-hale82-hybrid-modular-80-plus-bronze-1x120mm-atx-psu"
I've had my multimeter out and tested all the connections at the MB side and they are all correct.
I've hooked up a pc speaker to hear the diagnostic beeps and it is complaining about power (system beeps 4 times (once per second), then a 2-second pause)
Do you think this PSU is powerful enough (70A on a single 12V Rail)

I've only got a single x5580 in at the moment to test.
It's a revision 002 board.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Hi Guys,
turns out it was the psu. I RMAed it for a evga 1.3kw supernova g2. It starts up and recognises both processors.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on July 05, 2015, 01:02:24 am
Finally had time over the holiday weekend to make proper fan adapter cables. Woohoo!

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 05, 2015, 08:49:25 am
Hello,

Those adaptors look great: may I know where did you buy the connectors, espcially the female connectors that hook up onto the mainboard ?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 06, 2015, 12:57:19 am
For those looking for a powerful but cheap PSU, I found out that Delta PSUs from HP xw8600 workstations and similars are great candidates: they come basically in two versions: the DPS-1050CB (Max 84 A on 12 V, 8 12v rails) and Delta TDPS-825AB B (Max 64 A on 12 V - 6 12v rails between 18 and 10 A each). They can be found cheap used on ebay, are fully ATX compliant, come with the 8 pin EPS connector for powering the CPUs and the 10 pin memory power connector. I found a cheap TDP-825AB on ebay and it works great with my dual x5550 setup (no overheating, very quiet even under heavy load). Only, these PSUs are a bit bigger than standard ATX PSUs  -  (21.5cm)xW(16.25cm)xH(9.75cm) roughly. Also, the memory power cord is very short, and I had to extendit to have ot reach the mainboard with ease: here are some pictures of the extension. Otherwise, I am totally happy with my new PSU :-)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on July 06, 2015, 01:02:11 am
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 05, 2015, 08:49:25 am
Hello,

Those adaptors look great: may I know where did you buy the connectors, espcially the female connectors that hook up onto the mainboard ?


Thank you! I'll have to get the invoices tomorrow and get you item numbers and links, I had to get the stuff from a few different places to get all the pieces necessary to make these adapters correctly... it was quite a hunt tracking these things down, especially the 4-pin shrouded fan connectors. I had to scan through hundreds of parts to make sure I found the right one because I am all new to this and had no idea what any of this stuff is properly called.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on July 06, 2015, 04:45:51 am
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on June 19, 2015, 12:53:44 am
Myself I have two X5550 on a -002 and cannot tell, but it would be interesting to know what /proc/cpuinfo or similar under Win read on an X56xx with the 002 and 003 revs respectively.


It's identified correctly and works exactly like they should.

http://i.imgur.com/CoQZHqB.png
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on July 06, 2015, 01:53:42 pm
Quote from: colincoates on July 03, 2015, 06:09:20 pm
Hi Guys,
turns out it was the psu. I RMAed it for a evga 1.3kw supernova g2. It starts up and recognises both processors.

Good to hear that you got it working. It seems like the PSU specs are quite critical to get this board to boot reliably. My 1000W Superflower (EVGA in the US) is still completely stable with 2x X5680 and an ATI 7970.

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 07, 2015, 03:06:06 am
Quote from: knightcrusader on July 06, 2015, 01:02:11 am
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 05, 2015, 08:49:25 am
Hello,

Those adaptors look great: may I know where did you buy the connectors, espcially the female connectors that hook up onto the mainboard ?


Thank you! I'll have to get the invoices tomorrow and get you item numbers and links, I had to get the stuff from a few different places to get all the pieces necessary to make these adapters correctly... it was quite a hunt tracking these things down, especially the 4-pin shrouded fan connectors. I had to scan through hundreds of parts to make sure I found the right one because I am all new to this and had no idea what any of this stuff is properly called.


Great, thanks: that's much apreciated.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vesuveus on July 07, 2015, 03:09:39 am
BTW If people are looking for easy to install aftermarket CPU coolers, the coolermaster hyper t4 requires no modification. The screws go directly in the current plate for the CPU. I will be posting picture of my rig soon.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on July 07, 2015, 10:30:47 pm
Okay, this is going to be a long list of parts, so bear with me!  :-\

I had to get my parts from three different vendors. But, with all these parts, I was able to build adapters for all the fans, the front firewire, and the front USB... and most importantly, I have no POST errors on startup.

First of all, the firewire/usb. I got all the parts I needed for this from Polulu. I needed easy to make headers (which I found out are called DuPont connectors) and searches lead me here. They specialize in wiring for embedded systems and robotics, but it also works for us in this case. So, from Polulu, I bought:

Now, not all the connectors on these wires for the headers are straight through - it seems some of them have extra grounds split off to non-standard pins on the firewire header, and it uses this extra ground to detect if its plugged in or not to display the error on POST. So, for these, AND for crimping the wiring for the fan connectors, I got this AWESOME crimper tool:

AND... because we need to crimp some connectors, we are going to need terminals and wire, so I got the following:


So, with the wiring diagrams and those parts, you can have yourself USB and Firewire front headers and no POST error messages. But of course, that is only part of the customization. Next, we go to DigiKey to get the motherboard-side molex connectors for the fan adapters:



And, last but not least, since DigiKey didn't have the connectors I wanted for the fan-side of the adapters, I had to search high and low and finally found a company in China named modDIY that sells the shrouded housings I was looking for:



According to that page, and my order, each one of those connectors comes with the pin, but I wasn't sure how many came, so I ordered some extra just in case, which can be found here (http://www.moddiy.com/products/Shielded-Fan-Molex-Connector-Pins-%28Male%29.html). I also want to mention while Digikey has the unshrouded versions of these, I preferred to have the plastic shrouding in the cases that the PWM wire was unused on a fan and wasn't open to making contact with anything else in the machine.

Now, although I listed the minimum amount you need for them all, I ordered a ton of extras since the shipping was flat rate for most everything I got, and I didn't know if I'd mess any of the connectors up or end up building another machine, so I have plenty extras if anyone wants me to make them a set for a small fee.

I will admit it would probably would have been cheaper just to hack the connectors in, but this gave me much more satisfaction knowing that I have semi-professional looking adapters inside my system and not ones that may fall apart at any moment (like I did when I first built it).

If anyone has any questions, let me know. Now that my system is complete, I think I will post some pictures sometime this week when I am home during the day and there is better light.  8)

Edit: Forgot to mention I got a plastic case to put all my excess connector parts in, and took a pic to share. I also have a wire stripper tool I bought at Walmart (of all places) that makes stripping cable jackets a breeze, which I put in this photo.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on July 09, 2015, 07:02:17 am
Quote from: Vesuveus on July 07, 2015, 03:09:39 am
BTW If people are looking for easy to install aftermarket CPU coolers, the coolermaster hyper t4 requires no modification. The screws go directly in the current plate for the CPU. I will be posting picture of my rig soon.


Did you sort your hyperthreading issue out? I'll be eligible for the free upgrade to Win10 when it comes out and would like to know there's a smooth path ahead.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vesuveus on July 09, 2015, 03:38:42 pm
Yes I did. After a few reboots it just started working. I don't know why it ever didn't. It was always enabled in the bios. Oh well.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 10, 2015, 05:38:31 pm
@Vesuveus if only I came here sooner. I actually just ordered 2 after 2 weeks of looking for heat sinks at least I know they will work now :D

Here are some pics/specs of my current build
Case : Corsair Air 540 | Not HPTX but I made a few extra screw holes and it fits like a glove. A very very right glove.
CPU  : 2x Xeon x5570 4c|8t
MOBO : You know what it is ;)
Prices and Extra items >> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cTje3fwv5rIccsng_Tw6_zCu9C6rcPkYwlCD6NPt8-c/pubhtml

(http://i.imgur.com/932VrNo.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/dNPMjQw.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on July 11, 2015, 12:50:54 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on July 09, 2015, 07:02:17 am
Quote from: Vesuveus on July 07, 2015, 03:09:39 am
BTW If people are looking for easy to install aftermarket CPU coolers, the coolermaster hyper t4 requires no modification. The screws go directly in the current plate for the CPU. I will be posting picture of my rig soon.


Did you sort your hyperthreading issue out? I'll be eligible for the free upgrade to Win10 when it comes out and would like to know there's a smooth path ahead.




Hyperthreading issues? I've been running 12C/24T since day one with zero issues
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vesuveus on July 11, 2015, 06:36:42 am
Pretty sure the hyperthreading issue was in windows 10. It may have been fixed with an update. Definitely not related to hardware.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vesuveus on July 11, 2015, 02:10:06 pm
Quote from: LordOdin on July 10, 2015, 05:38:31 pm
@Vesuveus if only I came here sooner. I actually just ordered 2 after 2 weeks of looking for heat sinks at least I know they will work now :D

Here are some pics/specs of my current build
Case : Corsair Air 540 | Not HPTX but I made a few extra screw holes and it fits like a glove. A very very right glove.
CPU  : 2x Xeon x5570 4c|8t
MOBO : You know what it is ;)
Prices and Extra items >> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cTje3fwv5rIccsng_Tw6_zCu9C6rcPkYwlCD6NPt8-c/pubhtml

(http://i.imgur.com/932VrNo.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/dNPMjQw.jpg)


Looks like that Motherboard connector will be tight!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 11, 2015, 04:40:20 pm
^ Actually there is a little dip behind the fan mounts that you cant see in these images. Here is the best example I could find lol its a pretty bad example you will have to use a little imagination.

(http://i.imgur.com/I8Ipaap.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on July 11, 2015, 07:54:26 pm
Quote from: Vesuveus on July 11, 2015, 06:36:42 am
Pretty sure the hyperthreading issue was in windows 10. It may have been fixed with an update. Definitely not related to hardware.

I ran the early tech previews with no problems at all.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 16, 2015, 06:31:07 am
Hello, not sure if this topic has already been discussed before, but has anyone attempted to get correct ambient temperature readings so far ? It seems that the HP zx00 and xwxx00 (at least some) workstations read the ambient temperature via a sensor connected to pins 11-13 of the main connector. The sensor is embedded into the power cable assembly, at least for the xw8600 and similars (P/N: 349576-006). Here [1] is reported an equivalent schematic to build your own sensing circuit. It seems that the air temp sensor drives the speed at which the front fans spin, at least on xwxx00 workstation: getting correct temp readings should slow em without fancontrol. Another option would be getting a xw8600 cable and using the sensor contained therein.

Attilio

[1] http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Workstations-z-series-xw-series/xw4400-motherboard-front-control-panel-P5-Schematic/td-p/1139459?notmigrated#.Vaegqf7sxt8
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 16, 2015, 07:24:14 am
Got it up and running with non ecc ddr3, works flawlessly and the 2 x5570s put my FX 8350 to shame :D

Here is a little chart im working on comparing render times in Blenders render engine Cycles

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EBtZlioApDvo6vmRWeFbE2XF3A6B_9b7pKLMqWru3TA/pubhtml
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on July 16, 2015, 12:54:50 pm
Hi, your table doesn't seem too fair to me.

You shouldn't be comparing used cpu prices with brand new prices, it seems in an exaggerated way that you have really good value for the money.

Also i have an overclocked 4930K as my daily driver and it's faster than my dual X5675 in blender cycles, so your numbers seem way off to me...

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on July 16, 2015, 01:21:01 pm
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 16, 2015, 06:31:07 am
Hello, not sure if this topic has already been discussed before, but has anyone attempted to get correct ambient temperature readings so far ? It seems that the HP zx00 and xwxx00 (at least some) workstations read the ambient temperature via a sensor connected to pins 11-13 of the main connector. The sensor is embedded into the power cable assembly, at least for the xw8600 and similars (P/N: 349576-006). Here [1] is reported an equivalent schematic to build your own sensing circuit. It seems that the air temp sensor drives the speed at which the front fans spin, at least on xwxx00 workstation: getting correct temp readings should slow em without fancontrol. Another option would be getting a xw8600 cable and using the sensor contained therein.


I'm going to try building one of these. I've got a basket of parts that I need to order from Farnell within the next few weeks. I'll probably use the exact same MMBT3904 part in the SOT-23 surface mount package rather than hunting around for a through-hole transistor with the same characteristics.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 17, 2015, 04:51:36 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on July 16, 2015, 01:21:01 pm
I'm going to try building one of these. I've got a basket of parts that I need to order from Farnell within the next few weeks. I'll probably use the exact same MMBT3904 part in the SOT-23 surface mount package rather than hunting around for a through-hole transistor with the same characteristics.


Great, looking forward to the results of your experiment. As a poor man's solution to the subproblem of slowing down the front fans, maybe one could fool the logic controlling the fan speed by hooking up a simple resistor with proper impedence (assuming the logic reads on the current flowing through the sensor) ?

Attilio
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 18, 2015, 09:18:28 am
Quote from: Marco Silva on July 16, 2015, 12:54:50 pm
Hi, your table doesn't seem too fair to me.

You shouldn't be comparing used cpu prices with brand new prices, it seems in an exaggerated way that you have really good value for the money.

Also i have an overclocked 4930K as my daily driver and it's faster than my dual X5675 in blender cycles, so your numbers seem way off to me...


Im just reporting the times my friends told to me. The price part was added as a after though and I just did the prices from my memory.

But if there is something I know more about than computer hardware its Blender and Cycles.

https://mega.co.nz/#!fdonGKwI!6IBcEPDqmwjDaCzjfp7BpdjTUTmZj1vOy-jaC5-T8VA

Here are the scenes. If you want to have a go I could add you to the chart. I am using 2.75, dont change any settings just hit f12 tile sizes and all are set up already.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on July 18, 2015, 09:02:18 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on July 16, 2015, 12:54:50 pm
Hi, your table doesn't seem too fair to me.

You shouldn't be comparing used cpu prices with brand new prices, it seems in an exaggerated way that you have really good value for the money.

Also i have an overclocked 4930K as my daily driver and it's faster than my dual X5675 in blender cycles, so your numbers seem way off to me...


I think it's good to have the used prices because I would see if it's cost effective to buy used components over new/recent CPUs based on performance once the used components are available. I would have never started this project if I knew I was going to purchase new CPUs even though I bought my Z800 v3 board brand new.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on July 19, 2015, 06:23:26 am
Quote from: LordOdin on July 18, 2015, 09:18:28 am
Quote from: Marco Silva on July 16, 2015, 12:54:50 pm
Hi, your table doesn't seem too fair to me.

You shouldn't be comparing used cpu prices with brand new prices, it seems in an exaggerated way that you have really good value for the money.

Also i have an overclocked 4930K as my daily driver and it's faster than my dual X5675 in blender cycles, so your numbers seem way off to me...


Im just reporting the times my friends told to me. The price part was added as a after though and I just did the prices from my memory.

But if there is something I know more about than computer hardware its Blender and Cycles.

https://mega.co.nz/#!fdonGKwI!6IBcEPDqmwjDaCzjfp7BpdjTUTmZj1vOy-jaC5-T8VA

Here are the scenes. If you want to have a go I could add you to the chart. I am using 2.75, dont change any settings just hit f12 tile sizes and all are set up already.


Ok no problem, but the operating system also plays a big role with blender...it's faster with linux for cpu rendering.

I've got an older X58 system with a X5650@4GHz dual booting to see the differences between OS's

BMW

W10 - 45.39S (http://i.imgur.com/3FLrMLJ.png)   Ubuntu - 36.23S (http://i.imgur.com/ouzck8e.png)

CORNELL

W10 - 26.19S (http://i.imgur.com/R2NGfk3.png)  Ubuntu 19.65S (http://i.imgur.com/AK8DjW0.png)

HALLWAY

W10 - 2:46.21 (http://i.imgur.com/i0xkmJ8.png)   Ubuntu - 2:16.00 (http://i.imgur.com/2cpUnkk.png)

My 4930K @4.5GHz running W8.1 did on the BMW scene 37.64S (http://i.imgur.com/4zKLYix.png), on the CORNELL scene 21.14S (http://i.imgur.com/yCPWmMc.png) and on the WALLWAY scene 2:10.37. (http://i.imgur.com/vQ9a9rQ.png)

I decided to give it a go with the Z800 board and dual X5675 on linux and damn it was faster that i thought, need to check again under windows.

BMW scene 26.44S (http://i.imgur.com/PKlpCm6.png[/url), on the CORNELL scene 10.07S (http://i.imgur.com/n6yLZSb.png) and on the WALLWAY scene 1:45.17 (http://i.imgur.com/vvtjFTZ.png)


Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 19, 2015, 03:41:46 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on July 19, 2015, 06:23:26 am
Quote from: LordOdin on July 18, 2015, 09:18:28 am
Quote from: Marco Silva on July 16, 2015, 12:54:50 pm
Hi, your table doesn't seem too fair to me.

You shouldn't be comparing used cpu prices with brand new prices, it seems in an exaggerated way that you have really good value for the money.

Also i have an overclocked 4930K as my daily driver and it's faster than my dual X5675 in blender cycles, so your numbers seem way off to me...


Im just reporting the times my friends told to me. The price part was added as a after though and I just did the prices from my memory.

But if there is something I know more about than computer hardware its Blender and Cycles.

https://mega.co.nz/#!fdonGKwI!6IBcEPDqmwjDaCzjfp7BpdjTUTmZj1vOy-jaC5-T8VA

Here are the scenes. If you want to have a go I could add you to the chart. I am using 2.75, dont change any settings just hit f12 tile sizes and all are set up already.


Ok no problem, but the operating system also plays a big role with blender...it's faster with linux for cpu rendering.

I've got an older X58 system with a X5650@4GHz dual booting to see the differences between OS's

BMW

W10 - 45.39S (http://i.imgur.com/3FLrMLJ.png)   Ubuntu - 36.23S (http://i.imgur.com/ouzck8e.png)

CORNELL

W10 - 26.19S (http://i.imgur.com/R2NGfk3.png)  Ubuntu 19.65S (http://i.imgur.com/AK8DjW0.png)

HALLWAY

W10 - 2:46.21 (http://i.imgur.com/i0xkmJ8.png)   Ubuntu - 2:16.00 (http://i.imgur.com/2cpUnkk.png)

My 4930K @4.5GHz running W8.1 did on the BMW scene 37.64S (http://i.imgur.com/4zKLYix.png), on the CORNELL scene 21.14S (http://i.imgur.com/yCPWmMc.png) and on the WALLWAY scene 2:10.37. (http://i.imgur.com/vQ9a9rQ.png)

I decided to give it a go with the Z800 board and dual X5675 on linux and damn it was faster that i thought, need to check again under windows.

BMW scene 26.44S (http://i.imgur.com/PKlpCm6.png[/url), on the CORNELL scene 10.07S (http://i.imgur.com/n6yLZSb.png) and on the WALLWAY scene 1:45.17 (http://i.imgur.com/vvtjFTZ.png)



MinGW builds on Windows are near Linux speeds... Im not sure why they don't compile it with MinGW by default.

Ok so your tests, The ones that were done on 2.69 (the Z800) are completely destroyed im not even sure if we can consider those times seeing what the images look like but yeah windows times would be nice so we can directly compare it with all the others which are also on Windows :D

Nice times BTW on all the machines!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on July 20, 2015, 12:24:17 pm
I'm not sure what's going on...but  even on Windows the Z800 completely destroyed my X79 rig  8)

BMW 28.66S (http://i.imgur.com/FlcMlC1.png)  CORNELL 15.98S (http://i.imgur.com/up1PWCA.png) HALLWAY 1:41.79 (http://i.imgur.com/WGtAMZB.png)

I would be really interested to see other results from fellow Z800 hacker's  :)


Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 21, 2015, 11:25:44 am
Quote from: Marco Silva on July 20, 2015, 12:24:17 pm
I'm not sure what's going on...but  even on Windows the Z800 completely destroyed my X79 rig  8)

BMW 28.66S (http://i.imgur.com/FlcMlC1.png)  CORNELL 15.98S (http://i.imgur.com/up1PWCA.png) HALLWAY 1:41.79 (http://i.imgur.com/WGtAMZB.png)

I would be really interested to see other results from fellow Z800 hacker's  :)



Would be cool :D
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 23, 2015, 05:18:34 pm
My stuff is idling at super high temps. I plugged the 4 pin connector of the Hyper T4s in to the CPU fan headers and they turn on they are at super low RPMs though, Im sure I have missed a solution to the problem mentioned in the forum somewhere but I couldn't find one after 2 quick looks :P

(http://i.imgur.com/FytDuTo.png)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 24, 2015, 01:11:20 am
Same issue here: similar RPMs and same temps. My understanding is that  by default the two CPU fans PWM controller makes the fans spin at about 1/2 and 1/3 of the fan top RPMs respectively, where the fan top RPMs depends on the specific fan model you use. So, it seems to me there are two options i) you install fans rated at about 4000 RPMs  ii) you tweak the PWM controller to make the fans spins at a higher rate using fancontrol or so. Any other idea ?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 24, 2015, 07:55:51 am
I plugged my 3 pin fans (Case fans) in to the 5 pin CPU headers and my 4 pin (CPU fans) in to the 4 pin case fan headers and got these results.

(http://i.imgur.com/3RvFord.png)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on July 24, 2015, 10:35:09 am
Have you tried to adjust the fan speed in the bios?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 24, 2015, 12:54:50 pm
I only see case fan speeds in the bios and i have them turned up all the way
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 25, 2015, 01:41:02 am
This looks better already: you are below 40 when idle now. Fans 0 and 1 are the two CPU fans: if they are 3-pins fans, what you read is their maximum speed. About the fans connected to the front fans headers, assuming that you do not have an air temp sensors installed and that without it the fan controller makes the front fans spin at 100% via PWM, what you read as temp 2 and 3 is their maximum speed.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on July 27, 2015, 02:47:21 pm
Another question have is, Is there a way to software overclock CPUs since there is no way to do it in the bios.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 28, 2015, 01:11:45 am
Good point: the clock generator on the board seems to be the chip close to the black heatsink, which is an ICS 9FG1200DG [1].
I checked which ICS clock generators Set FSB supports [2], but our chip isn't among them.
any idea?

[1] http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/445825/IDT/9FG1200DG-1LF.html
[2] http://www.cpufsb.de/FSB.HTM
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: john-erik.krische on July 30, 2015, 09:03:38 pm
Here's how I mounted my hyper t4 screw the lga 1155 or whatever else standoff in upside down.
Just a little warning. Make sure to screw the posts into the backplate all the way. I actually ruined one of the posts by not tightening it fully. Other then that, it has been sturdy
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: ASELERT on August 04, 2015, 04:21:59 am
Hello... I'm a french designer, 2 month ago I've discover the Andy Workshop forum and especially this thread.  :)

I was immediately interested because I was looking for a high performance workstation (computing CPU / GPU for 3D rendering) but with a "small" budget.
I invested in an HP Z800 #02 which the seller indicated what works for XEON X56xx.

So I bought :

2x X5670 + Fans
3x GTX 780 Ti
48GB of RAM
Enermax 1500W PSU with an adapter for Z800:
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/171828272385?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I tested with different configurations but nothing happens, the mainboard seems unwilling to start. I have no display, no sound, nothing. Only fans run ... What to do?
Does that could come from the BIOS is not actually flashed to date? Or too much watt from the PSU?

Thank you to help me!! I'm confused and I need to work quickly...
Talk soon

Nicolas
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: john-erik.krische on August 04, 2015, 12:21:05 pm
Quote from: ASELERT on August 04, 2015, 04:21:59 am
Hello... I'm a french designer, 2 month ago I've discover the Andy Workshop forum and especially this thread.  :)

I was immediately interested because I was looking for a high performance workstation (computing CPU / GPU for 3D rendering) but with a "small" budget.
I invested in an HP Z800 #02 which the seller indicated what works for XEON X56xx.

So I bought :

2x X5670 + Fans
3x GTX 780 Ti
48GB of RAM
Enermax 1500W PSU with an adapter for Z800:
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/171828272385?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I tested with different configurations but nothing happens, the mainboard seems unwilling to start. I have no display, no sound, nothing. Only fans run ... What to do?
Does that could come from the BIOS is not actually flashed to date? Or too much watt from the PSU?

Thank you to help me!! I'm confused and I need to work quickly...
Talk soon

Nicolas
The 002 boards only work with a single x56xx processor, even if they are flashed to the latest image. you will need a 003 revision board. just wait on ebay. you should find one sooner or later
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: john-erik.krische on August 04, 2015, 12:25:37 pm
Ive also gotten my system booted with just a 600 watt psu. it even works with the 970. though i am currently using e5530s which are Pretty low power. can you also possibly give me a template for the drill holes, as i am getting the ds6 as well. also the adapters are avalable on ebay now. http://www.ebay.com/itm/381204131893?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on August 04, 2015, 12:40:03 pm
Quote from: ASELERT on August 04, 2015, 04:21:59 am
I invested in an HP Z800 #02 which the seller indicated what works for XEON X56xx.

So I bought :

2x X5670 + Fans


+1 on what John said. Your seller is wrong. You need an 003 board to work reliably with dual X56xx series. Try taking CPU #2 out and booting up.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on August 04, 2015, 05:30:56 pm
Quote from: ASELERT on August 04, 2015, 04:21:59 am
Hello... I'm a french designer, 2 month ago I've discover the Andy Workshop forum and especially this thread.  :)

I was immediately interested because I was looking for a high performance workstation (computing CPU / GPU for 3D rendering) but with a "small" budget.
I invested in an HP Z800 #02 which the seller indicated what works for XEON X56xx.

So I bought :

2x X5670 + Fans
3x GTX 780 Ti
48GB of RAM
Enermax 1500W PSU with an adapter for Z800:
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/171828272385?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I tested with different configurations but nothing happens, the mainboard seems unwilling to start. I have no display, no sound, nothing. Only fans run ... What to do?
Does that could come from the BIOS is not actually flashed to date? Or too much watt from the PSU?

Thank you to help me!! I'm confused and I need to work quickly...
Talk soon

Nicolas


You need to flash it first with a Xeon X55XX series to the latest bios. My revision 02 board is working just fine with 2 Xeon X5675, some times is hard to boot but 80% of the time it boots at first try. If you are not that lucky don't get a revision 03 board because they are absolutely  not worth it :)

There is no one selling 003 revision boards as surplus stock, you will just buy an used overpriced motherboard. There are better options for used dual xeon 1366 motherboads like the supermicro that are completely standard...no hacking required...just put it in a box, plug in psu with no adapters and your standard fan connectors and you're good to go  ;)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on August 05, 2015, 02:19:07 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on July 16, 2015, 01:21:01 pm
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on July 16, 2015, 06:31:07 am
Hello, not sure if this topic has already been discussed before, but has anyone attempted to get correct ambient temperature readings so far ? It seems that the HP zx00 and xwxx00 (at least some) workstations read the ambient temperature via a sensor connected to pins 11-13 of the main connector. The sensor is embedded into the power cable assembly, at least for the xw8600 and similars (P/N: 349576-006). Here [1] is reported an equivalent schematic to build your own sensing circuit. It seems that the air temp sensor drives the speed at which the front fans spin, at least on xwxx00 workstation: getting correct temp readings should slow em without fancontrol. Another option would be getting a xw8600 cable and using the sensor contained therein.


I'm going to try building one of these. I've got a basket of parts that I need to order from Farnell within the next few weeks. I'll probably use the exact same MMBT3904 part in the SOT-23 surface mount package rather than hunting around for a through-hole transistor with the same characteristics.


Back on the air temperature topic: a few days ago I bought an used xw 6400/6600 power cord (462787-001 349576-005 HP PN ) with embedded temp sensor and I do confirm now the bios reports a correct air temperature, plus the front fans now spin somewhat lower. I soldered a 3x2 header in place of the original butttons/leds, so that i can connect my ATX case switches to it. I will post some photos later on.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: ASELERT on August 05, 2015, 02:25:29 am
Thank you so much guys...  ;D

Indeed Marco, I just have found a Supermicro 1366 for a low price (even if it is higher than the Z800), which will be able to support 2x Xeon 5670 + 3x GTX780Ti...
Because first I don't have Xeon 55xx here to test and flash the BIOS and second, following what you said Marco about the "sometimes it boot, sometimes not" lol, I prefer to found a stable solution  :-\

So, I will keep you in touch for the evolution of the machine  ;)

Talk soon, thank you again!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: ASELERT on August 05, 2015, 06:51:57 am
So... finally, if somebody is interested, I have a HP Z800 "like new" for sale, with a adaptor cable to use a standard ATX PSU  ;)

MP please for transaction

Cheers
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Marco Silva on August 05, 2015, 08:29:09 am
Quote from: ASELERT on August 05, 2015, 02:25:29 am
Thank you so much guys...  ;D

Indeed Marco, I just have found a Supermicro 1366 for a low price (even if it is higher than the Z800), which will be able to support 2x Xeon 5670 + 3x GTX780Ti...
Because first I don't have Xeon 55xx here to test and flash the BIOS and second, following what you said Marco about the "sometimes it boot, sometimes not" lol, I prefer to found a stable solution  :-\

So, I will keep you in touch for the evolution of the machine  ;)

Talk soon, thank you again!


You could buy one xeon 55XX for cheap..they go for peanuts...and give it a try, maybe you would be surprised, i mean when i started my build there wasn't much information at all, and for the amount of money i originally spent that was 120$ for a couple of X5650 and 100$ for the board i took a gambling and i wasn't disappointed at all. 

you've already bought the board, now you're going to spend a lot of money  in another used/abused workstation board...damn for that amount of money i would have built a brand new X99 with an overclocked 5820K and would have a really sweet rig that would run lap's around that system in 90% of the situations and with 2 years warranty  ;)

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: ASELERT on August 06, 2015, 03:03:49 am
I know it Marco, but I'm in a context to be pressed by time  :P
The HP Z800 was my first goal but finally when I see the barrier to have a full stable system... It's for my society, not for me, so...
I'm pretty sure that with a correct flash etc I have chance to work with my dual Xeon 5670 and my 48Gb ECC RAM, but the doubt is still here. And even cheap (I known it) the Xeon 55xx will take time to come. :/

As you said with the Supermicro MBD-X8DAH-F-B, there is no hack and the full price (inclu taxes and shipment) was 210â,¬, so cheap, and the same as HP Z800. Re-buy, re-sell, it's a "white operation" at the end  ;)

The board:
http://www.rdrelectronics.com/russ/apr14/cpu1.JPG

Cheers
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: john-erik.krische on August 09, 2015, 07:47:40 am
well i got the board inside of my nanoxia deep silence 6. I had a few problems, none really stopped me though my first problem was drilling the holes. the first one went fine, but the second one was slanted because my drill is too fat. i aso accidentally drilled into the board. but it only drilled into the pad around the screwhole, so i should be fine. i decided i shouldent try drilling anymore holes so i used a standoff and a ziptie to secure the top of the board.next i had the same problem as mentioned inn the original article. my pcie cards needed to be bent to fit. but aside frm that i am fine. I am typing this on my "Mostly" completed system now in fact. it is runnning lubuntu, as i didnt know windows home didnt support dual processors.
currently i have a rev 3 motherboard, nanoxia deep sinlence 6, gtx 970, 600 watt thermaltake(will be upgraded to a 1000 watt corsair), dual e5530(will be upgraded to x5680s), two cooler master t4, wireless card, combo usb 3 and sata 6 card(running a 120gb 850 evo and a wd blue 1tb).
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: JonMS on August 09, 2015, 03:17:09 pm
Quote from: ASELERT on August 06, 2015, 03:03:49 am
I know it Marco, but I'm in a context to be pressed by time  :P
The HP Z800 was my first goal but finally when I see the barrier to have a full stable system... It's for my society, not for me, so...
I'm pretty sure that with a correct flash etc I have chance to work with my dual Xeon 5670 and my 48Gb ECC RAM, but the doubt is still here. And even cheap (I known it) the Xeon 55xx will take time to come. :/

As you said with the Supermicro MBD-X8DAH-F-B, there is no hack and the full price (inclu taxes and shipment) was 210â,¬, so cheap, and the same as HP Z800. Re-buy, re-sell, it's a "white operation" at the end  ;)

The board:
http://www.rdrelectronics.com/russ/apr14/cpu1.JPG

Cheers

I highly doubt that board is SLI certified so you will not be able to run three 780 ti connected to one another.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: ASELERT on August 12, 2015, 04:29:42 am
Thank you for the advice  ;)
But in fact, it's for CUDA computing, so no SLI is required  :)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 07, 2015, 01:32:39 am
Here are more pics showing my Z800 MB fitted into a Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000 case with some fancy blue leds. The PSU is a TDPS-825AB from an xw serie desktop. The setup includes the temp sensor, firewire, usb connections to the front panel which silence many POST warnings about missing cables.  Now, only a back panel is missing, plus some fans providing input so to silence the POST warning about missing memory and rear fans. Job almost done :-)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on September 09, 2015, 10:01:36 am
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 07, 2015, 01:32:39 am
Here are more pics showing my Z800 MB fitted into a Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000 case with some fancy blue leds. The PSU is a TDPS-825AB from an xw serie desktop. The setup includes the temp sensor, firewire, usb connections to the front panel which silence many POST warnings about missing cables.  Now, only a back panel is missing, plus some fans providing input so to silence the POST warning about missing memory and rear fans. Job almost done :-)


Nice job, especially with the cables. The motherboard itself looks like a tight fit into the case. Did you drill your own holes in the motherboard tray to get it to line up correctly?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 11, 2015, 03:29:24 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on September 09, 2015, 10:01:36 am
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 07, 2015, 01:32:39 am
Here are more pics showing my Z800 MB fitted into a Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000 case with some fancy blue leds. The PSU is a TDPS-825AB from an xw serie desktop. The setup includes the temp sensor, firewire, usb connections to the front panel which silence many POST warnings about missing cables.  Now, only a back panel is missing, plus some fans providing input so to silence the POST warning about missing memory and rear fans. Job almost done :-)


Nice job, especially with the cables. The motherboard itself looks like a tight fit into the case. Did you drill your own holes in the motherboard tray to get it to line up correctly?


Thanks a lot: none of the original mainboard holes matched those on the case. First, I made myself a paper mask where i marked with a pencil the position of the holes in the MB, then I taped the mask to the case and drilled the metal. The result was a more or less good match of the 6 holes.

Now, this evening I fixed also the issue with the bios complaining about the missing memory fan. The original Z800 case had 2 rear fans, and the bios will complain if at least one of the TACH1 and TACH2 signals is absent. As my case has only room for one (big) fan, I modified the fan connector so that the TACH signal is split and reported to both TACH1 and TACH2 on the mainboard. The attached picture is taken from the rear, through an empty expansion slot, and shows the hacked fan connector (did something similar with the DASH connector) to silence another warning). FYI, the rear fan conn pinout is GND, +5V, TACH1, PWM1, TACH2,PWM2 from pin 1 to 6, where pin 1 is that closer to the expansion slots.Notice how pins 3 and 5 are connected together, whereas pins 4 and 6 are left unconnected as my rear fan is not PWM capable.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 13, 2015, 12:17:29 pm
And this is the adaptor I built to connect a standard 4-pin fan to the memory fan socket. it takes +12V, GND, two TACH signals and one PWM (one is left unused) from the mainboard. The two TACH inputs to the mainboard are driven by the same TACH output of the fan. That was enough to silence the BIOS warning about the missing  mem fan. And this was the last warning: now I boot straight into the OS without need to press F1 no more :-)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: malefic on September 25, 2015, 08:22:57 am
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 11, 2015, 03:29:24 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on September 09, 2015, 10:01:36 am
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 07, 2015, 01:32:39 am
Here are more pics showing my Z800 MB fitted into a Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000 case with some fancy blue leds. The PSU is a TDPS-825AB from an xw serie desktop. The setup includes the temp sensor, firewire, usb connections to the front panel which silence many POST warnings about missing cables.  Now, only a back panel is missing, plus some fans providing input so to silence the POST warning about missing memory and rear fans. Job almost done :-)


Nice job, especially with the cables. The motherboard itself looks like a tight fit into the case. Did you drill your own holes in the motherboard tray to get it to line up correctly?


Thanks a lot: none of the original mainboard holes matched those on the case.


With a case that supports eatx boards 2 holes will align, but it requires you to align the first pcie slot correctly.

Here is my case to add to the list....nzxt phantom red! Doesn't  really fit you have to make it fit :)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 29, 2015, 04:57:38 am
The next step in my building project is doing a proper shield for the mainboard: here is a preliminary drawing in ODG format (OpenOffice-Draw) for a shield that fits my case. I had problems in printing exactly the same size it should be on screen, but a test on paper fits almost perfectly. Next step is drilling a metal or plastic plate according to the markings. Feel free to correct or integrate.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: malefic on September 29, 2015, 06:09:35 am
I did mine with PCB board  8)

PIC (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/51749937/WP_20141121_009.jpg)

PIC (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/51749937/WP_20141121_017.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 29, 2015, 06:25:05 am
Quote from: malefic on September 29, 2015, 06:09:35 am
I did mine with PCB board  8)

PIC (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/51749937/WP_20141121_009.jpg)

PIC (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/51749937/WP_20141121_017.jpg)


If you haven't drilled the holes yet, you could test my scheme: there is a hidden layer showing all expected connectors quotes as measured on my MB.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on October 01, 2015, 01:41:18 pm
I found out that the previous version of the drawings were slightly inaccurate (a couple of mm overall, which is however enough to prevent the shield to match the sockets): here is a revision of the drawings which should hopefully be more accurate.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on October 13, 2015, 02:29:02 am
This is the revised version of the shield drawings: now all the slits with the sockets and the results is as in the attached pics. The next step is carving out a mask from a piece of transparent plexiglas to match on the side panel :-)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on October 13, 2015, 12:51:56 pm
Looks nice. Did you cut it from metal and stick on a paper overlay afterwards?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Attilio Fiandrotti on October 14, 2015, 04:16:38 am
So far I have only printed it on a regular sheet of paper and cut the slits. The idea is to tape the mask over a sheet of plexiglas and mark where to cut with a dremel or some similar tool. A thin sheet of metal may also do, but my experience is that plastics are easier to work with.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Picco on November 14, 2015, 02:10:23 am
Hi Andy and everyone,


and thanks for creating the forum i'm reading the whole thing as we speak.
I've already found the information i was after with the forum, kudos!
I've got a HP Z800 from my workplace(we refurbish computers in UK) and i love it.
I have one question which i couldn't find the answer to:
When i took home the Z800 had active adaptive cooling depending on load, now first thing i did was putting in my SSD and reinstall Win7Prox64.

Since then i've also got a hot-headed graphics card and after realised the chassis fans are not adaptive anymore, i decided to take off the side and use it like that for a while. Does anyone know what driver/program i have to install in order to have adaptive cooling active again?


Thank you in advance!
Have a great weekend everyone.


MOD: I installed the HP Performance Advisor which let me know i wasn't in high perf. power mode in windows. Now i ran a stability test, and noticed that sensors are reporting the CPU bein 39 celsius under load, but the cores are 80+ while the CPU heatsinks(origi HP) and chassis fans stay on constant rpm. In the power settings, cooling set to active.
Any ideas what's the problem can be?

MOD2: Here is a picture from AIDA64, maybe will help http://imgur.com/EFvASXV
My config:
Z800 V3 Mobo
2x X5675 + HP Heatsink
12x 4GB HP Mem with heatsink
R9 280X
Some SSD+HDD
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on November 15, 2015, 12:02:42 pm
Quote from: Picco on November 14, 2015, 02:10:23 am
When i took home the Z800 had active adaptive cooling depending on load, now first thing i did was putting in my SSD and reinstall Win7Prox64.

Since then i've also got a hot-headed graphics card and after realised the chassis fans are not adaptive anymore, i decided to take off the side and use it like that for a while. Does anyone know what driver/program i have to install in order to have adaptive cooling active again?


Do you have access to any more Z800s at your place of work? If so you could perhaps compare installed drivers to see if there's anything HP specific in there that looks interesting.

If you don't manage to find out what it is then you can always use the SpeedFan utility to set up a link between the CPU temperature and the case fans. There's a good tutorial here (http://unitstep.net/blog/2007/11/02/using-speedfan-to-automatically-control-your-pcs-fan-speeds/).

You'll need to find out which controller is responsible for your fans by selecting "Configure" then the "Advanced" tab. For example, the two CPU fans are on the "ADT7490" controller with properties "PWM 1 mode" and "PWM 2 mode". You can verify that by changing their values from "Auto on PECI0/1" to "Always on full" and listening for the obvious change in noise level.

My case fans are controlled by sliders on the front of the case so I don't know which controller they would appear on if they were plugged into the motherboard.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Picco on November 22, 2015, 05:18:25 am
Thank You for your reply Andy, now i have control over the two CPU Fan and the memory fans(PWM3). 8)
Cannot seem to be able to control the chassis fan's.....yet  ;)


"Do you have access to any more Z800s at your place of work? If so you could perhaps compare installed drivers to see if there's anything HP specific in there that looks interesting."

Haha, great minds think alike...
You are right, this is the first thing i should check.
I've already asked for the standard ghost on an SSD twice, both times forgot to actually take it home with me and try it, when i remembered they were in a build to a customer already.
Once i had some time I'll come back to you with the results to share, please allow me some time, Christmas hit us this week...hard.


"My case fans are controlled by sliders on the front of the case so I don't know which controller they would appear on if they were plugged into the motherboard."
This is plan B, currently i'm trying to buy some Z800 Slot In CD's from a USA sellerhttp://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KvizgvOhL._SX425_.jpg (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KvizgvOhL._SX425_.jpg) as many of our customers have been asking for it.
I would love to have this Slot in CD myself too, as i'm planning to mod this workstation to my my taste.


Thank you for creating this forum and thanks for all the people who took the time and shared their knowledge. Big respect!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Picco on December 07, 2015, 11:19:51 pm
Looks like it's the temperature sensor issue, we've had a return from one of our customer, does the exact same thing as mine.
Now i cannot seem to find any information regarding the CPU thermal sensor, but will keep digging.

You can see while all the cores are skyrocketing, the CPU thermal sensor flatlines at 28 Celsius, so same issue with my workstation and we have quiet a few other too. :/

(http://scr.hu/0q4p2/4k393)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on December 13, 2015, 12:00:34 am
So i bought a Z600 computer off ebay fully working for 150 i was wondering if it supports 2 x5575s. It came with a single E5630
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on December 18, 2015, 08:46:07 am
Yup The x5670s do work in the z600 :D
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Horus on December 29, 2015, 01:21:38 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on December 07, 2014, 11:19:04 am
every reboot requires to do the on/off thing from a couple of times up to 30 or 40  >:(

Quote from: Marco Silva on August 04, 2015, 05:30:56 pm
My revision 02 board is working just fine with 2 Xeon X5675, some times is hard to boot but 80% of the time it boots at first try.

Hi Marco.
Could you please describe changes which have led to better boot results?
Can you share yours hardware configuration?
Can you share yours BIOS settings configuration? (Easy to do - just download utility, run, share Z800Config file)
BIOS Configuration Utility (http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ads/clientmanagement/download.html?404m=rt404Mb,newcclltow1en)
BiosConfigUtility64.exe /getconfig:Z800Config
Or maybe you have another potentially important observations?

Now to avoid restarting and boot problems I use suspend sleep mode (psshutdown.exe (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/psshutdown.aspx) -d -t 1). It works perfect until power losing or restart requiring.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Horus on December 29, 2015, 01:31:03 pm
One more hint.
To suppress F1 Fan errors you don't need to connect real fan to all connector - you just need to connect Tach pins on motherboard with any Tach pin of working fan.
(also my motherboard thinks that rear chassis fan is fan of CPU 1)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: nemorus on December 30, 2015, 04:48:19 am
Hello. I ordered on ebay z800 board revision 02. And 2x xeon e5649 processor and 48gb dd3,GTX 970 video . Motherboard start immediately , everything works fine . Only sometimes when I have to restart the computer this does not happen after reboot it shows a black screen.Helps just disable and re-enable it the computer. But he always turns on first time with no problems. The case I purchased the NZXT Switch 810 Black, had to modify slightly.
(On the photo test video card)
PS. Sorry for my English. ;)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: malefic on January 31, 2016, 04:34:57 am
Quote from: Horus on December 29, 2015, 01:21:38 pm
Quote from: Marco Silva on December 07, 2014, 11:19:04 am
every reboot requires to do the on/off thing from a couple of times up to 30 or 40  >:(

Quote from: Marco Silva on August 04, 2015, 05:30:56 pm
My revision 02 board is working just fine with 2 Xeon X5675, some times is hard to boot but 80% of the time it boots at first try.

Hi Marco.
Could you please describe changes which have led to better boot results?
Can you share yours hardware configuration?
Can you share yours BIOS settings configuration? (Easy to do - just download utility, run, share Z800Config file)
BIOS Configuration Utility (http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ads/clientmanagement/download.html?404m=rt404Mb,newcclltow1en)
BiosConfigUtility64.exe /getconfig:Z800Config
Or maybe you have another potentially important observations?

Now to avoid restarting and boot problems I use suspend sleep mode (psshutdown.exe (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/psshutdown.aspx) -d -t 1). It works perfect until power losing or restart requiring.


Hi, I'm Marco...just cant login no more with that account for some strange reason.

I didn't do nothing to improve it.
My hardware was a Revision 2 board, i had it running first with a couple of X5650 and after that upgraded for X5675. Started with 24GB of ram and latter upgraded to 48GB.
I had a bunch of different GPU's installed..HP 410 raid card with 512MB cache with the battery and 7 SAS 15K HDD in raid 0 :) SSD for the OS, OLD X-FI sound card and an HP quad nic picie card.

But my board is dead now, started with issues with missing ram sticks on CPU 0 till it register none...so I've upgraded recently for dual E5-2670 they are very powerfull and cheap cpu's and one can buy new motherboards for less than 250$ and there is still an upgrade path to deca core Ivy bridge cpu's when they become more affordable.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on February 19, 2016, 01:34:04 pm
New to the forum and thanks to Andy and others for great info on the Z800. I have a couple Z400 work stations from work and currently using them as NAS/Server for storage and a Plex Media Server. I was given an opportunity to pick up a non working Dell Precision 690 and starting looking into building a dual processor PC.
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/dell-precision-690.jpg)
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/Dell_690_inside.jpg)

Looking into the 690 boards and lack of processors they could handle, I started to think about the HP Z800 motherboard and ran across Andy's article. This got me thinking....having a Dell 690 case with an HP Z800 motherboard inside.  Not sure it will fit but I am pretty sure I can make it work. If not I have a Antec Lanboy Air I know I can make work. Anyway I thought it would be cool to see if I can make it work. Plus I plan to put stickers next to the Dell logo on the sides..."Dell, powered by HP" or like the older Intel inside logo "HP Z800 Inside!"

So I bought a rev 3 Z800 motherboard, two X5680 CPU's, and 48 gig of HP ram off ebay yesterday and a few other parts from Amazon and I will get started on the project soon.
I am not new to modding and I hope to have fun with this project as I love to build things. One of my project from several years ago: http://mbppg.com/media/photoalbums/fly_n_high_pc_mod/index.html (http://mbppg.com/media/photoalbums/fly_n_high_pc_mod/index.html)
Another more recent project called Black-n-White http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Black_n_White%20PC%20build/ (http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Black_n_White%20PC%20build/)

Looking forward to this build and working with guys on the group.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 20, 2016, 01:23:13 am
Hi Mike and welcome to the forum. The CPU/memory configuration that you've bought pretty much mirrors my own setup and I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the performance that's for sure. I guess you already know the dimensions of the Z800 board and given your previous experience with modding I'm sure that you'll just make it work whatever it takes. I checked out your photo build log of the two-tone green/blue case and it's amazing, so much attention to detail and to getting the professional finish.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on February 22, 2016, 09:57:07 am
Thanks Andy, parts have started to arrive. The motherboard had a few slightly bent pins on the first CPU socket. Pretty sure I have them bent back correctly but I do not have CPU's yet to test with, they should arrive tomorrow.

I worked on the case this weekend and took it all down to do measurements for the motherboard. Looks like I have just enough room (14.25 x 13 inches) without having to cut anything out. I will have to remove the stock Dell I/O back panel by drilling out the rivets as the Dell I/O ports do not match up with the HP motherboard. The Dell motherboard tray is removable which will be nice to work with outside of the case to retro fit the new motherboard including proper motherboard mounting holes and possibly cutting out part of the tray to make room CPU fan mount plates on the bottom of the HP motherboard.

Parts going into the system include five Hitachi 3.0TB hard drives in RAID 5, PNY 240 GB SSD boot drive, (dual boot windows 8.1 and Mint 17.3),  LG Blu-ray rewriter, MSI GTX 970 gaming video card, two Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU coolers and an iStar tray-less hot swap hard drive cage.
http://www.amazon.com/iStarUSA-BPN-DE350SS-SILVER-Silver-Trayless-Hot-Swap/dp/B00CW31H5A (http://www.amazon.com/iStarUSA-BPN-DE350SS-SILVER-Silver-Trayless-Hot-Swap/dp/B00CW31H5A)

Plan is gaming/video encoding rig. I like old school PC's kinda like old muscle cars heavy iron and lots of power. Nice thing is the Dell has big fans that move a lot of air without being loud. I know this may seem a bit obnoxious but hey why not.

Project Pictures link:
http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/ (http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/)

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: desune on February 23, 2016, 12:40:04 am
Hi Guys,

Great article and info here!  I was hoping someone here could answer a couple of questions for me.  Here's my situation:

I have a water-cooled z800 that has a failing pump.  The stock replacement parts, be it water or air cooling are absurdly expensive so I am looking at alternatives. 

No one seems to make dual-CPU closed-loop water cooling solutions and I'm not interested in a custom loop, so that leaves air.  I see that a number of people have adapted large tower coolers, but I would like to retain the fan bracket over the RAM slots.

So the question:  Does anyone know if the Intel BXSTS100C cooler will fit on this motherboard?  Is there another option that I am not aware of?

Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on February 23, 2016, 09:51:16 pm
I used a sawzall to remove the middle plate on the front CD/DVD drive bays to allow the iStarUSA drive cage to fit. Nice thing with the dell case...it has four CD/DVD drive slots. The iStarUSA drive cage allows five SATA or SAS 3.5 hard drives and only takes up three of the CD/DVD slots and the remaining fourth still allows the Blu-ray burner I plan to use.
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20mods/thumbnails/017-drive%20cage%202.jpeg.small.jpeg)

I removed the motherboard tray to cut out all the Dell mount points and any other protruding metal that would interfere with the Z800 motherboard. I also cut some tabs at the bottom of the case that might have interfered as well.
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20mods/thumbnails/009-tray%20mod%203.jpeg.small.jpeg)


More parts came in like the hard drive cage, the video card and the two port SATA III PCIe card for the boot drive so the SSD will boot at the 6.0gb speed. Dual booting Mint 17.3 for day to day operations and Windows 7 for gaming and Adobe CS6 video encoding. The five drives will be motherboard RAID 5 so both OS's can read/share the data plus reads and write will be faster than stock drives since it is RAID 5 as well as some data protection.

Long night, now working on thinking about how to mount z800 MB on the tray and keep it lined up with the PCIe connectors to match the back panel alignment slots.
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20mods/thumbnails/015-mb%20layout%201.jpeg.small.jpeg)

Pictures for todays work on my site:
Case teardown: http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/dell%20690%20teardown/ (http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/dell%20690%20teardown/)
For case mods: http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20mods/ (http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20mods/)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 24, 2016, 12:32:26 am
Mike, have you checked that the raid chipset supports 3TB drives? It might be limited to 2TB.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on February 24, 2016, 05:16:24 am
The Hitachi 0F12450 hard drives I have a server class drives. I have three HP Z400 PC's one with six drives in it and the others with four drives each and they work just fine. One PC is running Linux RAID. Two are Plex servers and are running FreeNAS in a fault tolerant ZFS2 RAID configuration. The one with six drives shows up with 16.4 TB of storage (currently 9.4 TB used). That being said, if I remember right the RAID screens on boot shows the 3 TB drives but the BIOS only showed 728 gig in SATA mode. I am pretty sure they will work as long as the RAID controller can see them as 3TB.
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/FreeNAZ1.png)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on February 25, 2016, 11:36:13 pm
Well after doing a little welding on the motherboard tray and looking at it a little closer I decided to scrap the stock dell tray and just make a new one. I grabbed a router blank card from work. A router card blank is a big cover with a metal back that slides into a card slot of a router so there are no holes for better cooling. The nice flat metal back was big enough to give me a 14.5 inch wide and 17 inch long piece after cutting off both ends to become a new motherboard tray. Best thing is... it cost $0.00.

I had thought about using Plexiglas for a tray but they generate static electricity and also really hold in the heat. Then I stopped at Home Depot and was looking at building/welding a aluminum tray but I remembered that the card blanks at work just might be big enough. I got lucky.

I cut the card blank down to the proper dimensions and test fit it a couple of times to determine it will work very well.

Next because one screw is close to the edge in the lower back corner, I needed to cut the case corner. On the Dell case there is a diagonal brace that runs the length of the top and bottom on both sides. By cutting the bracket this allowed me to move the motherboard mounting screw a little closer to the bottom of the case to better line up the line cards on the motherboard with the case alignment slots for the PCI and PCIe slots.

Next I needed to get the motherboard mounting holes marked, drilled and tapped for the motherboard mounting screws. I had some motherboard screws left over from other PC builds that have the 6-32 screw threads on the bottom and the 6-32 coupler on top. They allow the motherboard to stand off the motherboard tray approximately .250 inches.

The next step is to mark and drill holes to mount the tray to the side of the case. I plan on using very low button head screws for any holes under the motherboard so they sit low enough to not touch any of the motherboard wire leads poking though on the underside of the motherboard. Also there was enough room and use a couple of the previous motherboard tray holes around  the outside of the mounted motherboard. I did all this reverifying the alignment of the PCI/PCIe slots with the back plate slots before drilling holes to make sure it was going to work. One thing, even though the Dell case is big, I ended up losing the last motherboard PCIe slot as I did not want to rework the case back slots to move it over one to be able to use all the motherboard slots. Which is okay since I did not plan on using that one anyway. Drill pictures coming later.

Pictures from todays work: http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20cut/ (http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20cut/)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LordOdin on February 26, 2016, 08:05:28 pm
Quote from: mbppg on February 24, 2016, 05:16:24 am
The Hitachi 0F12450 hard drives I have a server class drives. I have three HP Z400 PC's one with six drives in it and the others with four drives each and they work just fine. One PC is running Linux RAID. Two are Plex servers and are running FreeNAS in a fault tolerant ZFS2 RAID configuration. The one with six drives shows up with 16.4 TB of storage (currently 9.4 TB used). That being said, if I remember right the RAID screens on boot shows the 3 TB drives but the BIOS only showed 728 gig in SATA mode. I am pretty sure they will work as long as the RAID controller can see them as 3TB.
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/FreeNAZ1.png)


Yeah you need a UEFI bios to see over 746GB

Also good job hiding that local IP xD
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 27, 2016, 01:43:22 am
Quote from: mbppg on February 25, 2016, 11:36:13 pm
One thing, even though the Dell case is big, I ended up losing the last motherboard PCIe slot as I did not want to rework the case back slots to move it over one to be able to use all the motherboard slots. Which is okay since I did not plan on using that one anyway.

Yeah this is the issue I warn people about when selecting a case. It's not enough to just fit versus the motherboard physical dimensions, it has to fit when the board is inserted and aligned against the expansion slot apertures in the case.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: obnauticus on February 28, 2016, 03:31:58 pm
Is anyone here able to provide a dimensioned holed pattern for the Z800 motherboard? Please include/callout any CPU HS/Fan assy. holes in the drawing.

I want to figure out which server cases I can fit this thing inside of.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on February 29, 2016, 02:14:23 am
Quote from: obnauticus on February 28, 2016, 03:31:58 pm
Is anyone here able to provide a dimensioned holed pattern for the Z800 motherboard? Please include/callout any CPU HS/Fan assy. holes in the drawing.

I want to figure out which server cases I can fit this thing inside of.


I still have my board out so I will try to remember to get those dimensions tonight.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on February 29, 2016, 09:50:57 pm
Here are the dimensions. I did not get the CPU heatsinks or the chip-set heatsink on the bottom side but that should be pretty easy to figure out and just cut out around the entire assembly. Hope this helps.

(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/hole%20template1.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on February 29, 2016, 09:52:38 pm
Quote from: LordOdin on February 26, 2016, 08:05:28 pm
Yeah you need a UEFI bios to see over 746GB


This is not a correct statement. There are many non-UEFI BIOS's that can see and properly report hard drives larger than 2.2 TB, the issue is Windows and MBR limitation. MBR has the 2.2 TB limit and Windows cannot use GPT without UEFI but Linux can use GPT without UEFI BIOS.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on March 02, 2016, 07:53:29 am
Updated: 03/02/2016

Well I received my z800 motherboard cable and that was the last part I was waiting for. So I decided to test out the motherboard, memory and CPU I bought (all used). After checking several power supply calculators I decided to go with an EVGA 850 watt B2 +80 PSU. My total wattage including both processors, video card, hard drives and all the fans etc came out to about 630 watts. That still gives me more than a 20% buffer for in-rush power on startup and will not overload the PSU.

I first started with just one CPU which also happened to be the socket where I had to bend back a few CPU pins. And I only put in a couple sticks of RAM. Then I powered up the board and right away the CPU fan can on, a really good sign. It took about 30 seconds before I got a video screen and started going through the error it saw like date was incorrect, no rear fans, no memory fans, no front usb connections, no front sound connections etc. Good thing is no sparks, no smoke and the motherboard was mounted on the new tray.

Then I got into the BIOS screen and yes, it saw the correct CPU and amount of memory....woohoo. So I powered down the system and unplugged the PSU. Time to fully load this thing up. I installed the other CPU and fan and all the RAM, just to be safe I pulled the battery and shorted the terminals to clear the BIOS. Then I plugged in the power supply and it came to life again with the CPU fans...yes another good sign. This time it took longer before I saw the first video screen. It had me a little worried but as it counted through the errors again I was pretty sure it was going to work. The BIOS screen popped up and I hit system info....YES both CPU's reported correctly as well as the amount of RAM. One happy camper here. I set the date and time as well as the other settings, did a save and exit and now it is booting properly. Now back to the psychical hard labor....the mounting the new motherboard tray.

Pictures from the test setup: http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20test%20setup/ (http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20test%20setup/)

I got to looking at the stock CPU fan brackets on the underside of the motherboard and I liked the thickness and stability of them much better than the bottom brackets that come with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo's. Since I had the tools an the tall nuts the come with the cool master are bigger I needed to drill the current holes on the stock brackets bigger and tap them using a 4mm x .07 tap. Once I got the holes drilled and tapped I test fit the nuts and then the top mount bracket for the CPU cooler, perfect fit. I reinstalled the brackets onto the motherboard and made sure the CPU socket covers were opening and closing correctly with no restrictions.

Back to the tray. I marked and drilled the motherboard mounting holes and marked areas to cut out below the CPU fan brackets and the chipset cooler brackets since they hang down lower than the standard ¼ inch bass stand-off's I was using. This also allows some air flow around the brackets from the bottom and will clear the motherboard tray without touching. I used some metal cutting hole saws to make the holes for the brackets but could also be done using a drill and a jig-saw with a metal cutting blade. Next I test fit the motherboard to make sure the riser cards would be lined up in the back and drilled a few holes to mount the motherboard tray to the bottom of the case. Then I removed the motherboard and finished drilling the rest of the holes (ten in all).

Then I test fit everything again and I found that the hight of the new motherboard tray will have to be raised by 3/16 of an inch. I noticed that the riser cards where not fully seating down and raising the tray up 3/16 of an inch would fix that problem. So I will be out later today to get ten 3/16 inch nylon spacers and ten #6-32 x 3/8 button head machine bolts to finish mounting the motherboard tray.

Pictures for tray build: http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20new%20tray/ (http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20new%20tray/)

P.S. Hey Andy I think I might have a fix for the 5th CPU fan pin. I will do some testing and get back with an answer in a few days.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on March 03, 2016, 09:20:50 am
Well I ran into an issue last night while I was installing the rest of the components into the case. While inserting the hard drive cage I noticed that it was about the hit the first SAS port on the corner of the motherboard. Let me back up here a bit. When I first started this build, I test fit everything to make sure it was going to work/fit. At the time the hard drive cage cleared the SAS port because I was using the standard 1/4 inch stand-offs for the motherboard. As the build went on I had the new custom motherboard tray installed and saw that the PCI(e) slot box (I call it that since it is removable) was too tall and not allowing the PCI cards to fully seat into the motherboard. The solution was simple, raise the entire motherboard and additional 3/16 of an inch so the PCI cards fully seat. After looking at the original motherboard tray I see that Dell used a taller stand-off than the common 1/4inch but I had forgot about the hard drive cage until last night. Normally I would just say "screw it" and just install the hard drives in the stock hard drive slots and not use the cage. I had two problems with that. One, I really wanted to use the external drive cage because it looks cool and "chicks really dig it" and and two I had already cut out the stock hard drive slots to make room for the wider motherboard.

So as I was pulling my last few hairs out of the top of my head, tired and a little frustrated, I was ready to just buy a case and be done with it. Well I got some sleep and came to work. I was speaking with a colleague of mine at work and we got to talking about my issue. Then we took a close look at the slot box and we came up with the idea to bend the slot box to drop 3/16 of an inch redrill some mounting holes. Then remove the currently 3/16 nylon bushings I have under the motherboard tray and the problem should be solved. The PCI cards should fully seat and the cage should just clear the SAS port and life will be good again. Looking at a donor case here at work I am pretty sure it can be done. I can't wait to get home and try it out. Pictures and outcome, coming soon.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on March 03, 2016, 11:18:23 pm
Update 3/3/16:

Well the idea worked...WOOHOO! I removed the 3/16 spacers and I was able to drop the new motherboard tray back down I was also able to slightly bend the rear PCI slot bracket down to match the new motherboard height. Just to be on the safe side I also used a small grinder to the hard drive cage to make sure that it was not touching the SAS port. Once I knew everything was going to fit I re-drilled new screw holes for the back bracket since it was lowered. Everything now fits!

Now the fun part, installing components and WIRING....yea...not. But I took my time to keep the wire routing clean and to allow the best air flow for the motherboard and all the parts I installed. I am still waiting for a three 140 mm Noctua case fans (two in the front and one rear) for extreme quiet and but actual real air flow. Anyway check out my progress so far: http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20build/ (http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20case%20build/)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on March 04, 2016, 06:02:43 am
Also found a picture of the high capacity CPU fan for the z800, pin 5 is just a short jumper to ground. I have not had a chance to check it but I am pretty sure it will work and turn off the CPU fan message.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: x2xx on March 09, 2016, 12:42:38 pm
Quote from: JonMS on June 29, 2015, 05:22:49 pm
Quote from: x2xx on June 17, 2015, 03:25:44 pm
only quick info for all original Z800 users, successfully running 2x X5687 + 2x R9 290 OC with stock 1110W PSU (no additional psu needed).

power to GPUs
V-G1 6pin -> 8pin
V-G2 6pin -> 8pin
1x molex -> 6pin
1x modified CPU power cable -> 6pin (1x +12 CPU0  1x +12 CPU1)
(Obsidian Series 800D 8-Pin Motherboard Power Extension Cable Corsair CC800D-8PIN)

all stable

Quote from: JonMS on March 14, 2015, 07:41:45 pm
Quote from: x2xx on March 11, 2015, 10:26:07 am
quick info:

i was searching for max power output thought 6pin GPU connector and i find this pdf
http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf (http://www.nvidia.com/content/quadro/maximus/di-06471-001_v02.pdf)
where they use  6-pin to 8-pin adaptors for tesla and quadro fx5xxx in Z800

because i want to try SLI GTX980 and dont want case full of molex conversion cables


Z800 board is not GeForce SLI certified so you will need to use an SLI hack to make it work. I did this back in the day on an Asus P5Q-E board. As far as powering them if you're using the standard Z800 case you can run dual 5.25" drive-bay PSUs (1 for each GPU) I'm doing this for my dual AMD R9 280X set up as Crossfire requires no certification. Here is a picture of my set up:



Can you share pictures of your custom cable and how you have it connected?


hi, this is it

https://i.imgur.com/wuz7kUy.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/wuz7kUy.jpg)
https://i.imgur.com/a261xS1.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/a261xS1.jpg)
https://i.imgur.com/flOGUhC.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/flOGUhC.jpg)
https://i.imgur.com/dUrssRY.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/dUrssRY.jpg)
https://i.imgur.com/vnaXsf1.jpg (https://i.imgur.com/vnaXsf1.jpg)

best regards
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Picco on March 13, 2016, 04:47:12 am
x2xx, thank you so much mate, just found a pair of 290x-s on gumtree.
I also have a borderline-lunatic idea of passive cooling the two cpu/vga with two separate loops, but this is only on the drawing board at the moment.
1x Zalmasn Reserator 1 v2 -> CPU_0 + 290x_0
1x Zalmasn Reserator 1 v2 -> CPU_1 + 290x_1

MOD: actually if i search for the part number it comes up as a 1x8 pin male + 1x8pin female + 1x4pin male.
Did you have to mod the cable somehow?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on March 13, 2016, 09:39:40 pm
Well it has been a little while and I have been super busy. With little pockets of time I had a worked on the PC build but I did not take pictures nor did I really journal my steps. So here is the finished product. I fit an HP Z800 motherboard into a Dell Precision 690 case. So here is a short list of major issues steps:
Customized the case to fit motherboard and drive cage
Custom motherboard tray
Drilled stock motherboard CPU brackets to work with Cool Master CPU fans
Everything was off the shelf items purchased for the build.

Here are the specs/parts:
Dell Precision 690 case (free from work)
Z800 rev 3 motherboard (ebay)
(2) Xeon X5680 CPUs (ebay)
(12) 4 gig ECC samsung ram 48gig total (ebay)
MSI 4gig GTX 970 millennium gaming video card (amazon)
EVGA 850 B2 Bronze +80 power supply (amazon)
Adaptec ASR-6805 Raid controller (512 meg) (ebay)
Marvell 4 port 9200 series 6 gig SATA controller (amazon)
iStarUSA 5 bay hard drive cage (amazon)
(5) Hitachi 3.0 TB hard drives (work)
PNY 240 gig SSD boot drive (amazon)
(2) Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU coolers (amazon)
LG super blu-ray burned (amazon)
(2) Cougar 140mm PWM fans (newegg)
Couger 120mm PWM fan (microcenter)
Noctua 80mm fan (amazon)
Noctua 40mm fan (amazon)
Bulgin anti vandal switch (amazon)
Original z800 front panel connector including audio, usb and firewire cables (ebay)
Z600 power switch cable just for the temp sensor (ebay)

This PC build was fun to do and presented a few challenges but turn out to be a great setup and a great looking PC. The really cool thing is this is unique, one of a kind PC that is super fast and super quiet (no benchmarks yet). None of the high quality fans run over 20 dB but yet still move a lot of air. Just installing software and dual booting Windows 10 and Mint 17.3 Linux. Yes a havea couple cables to clean up but I wanted to get some testing completed and some software loaded first.
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20finished/front%20panel1.jpg)
(http://mbppg.com/media/PC%20Builds/Dell%20690/690%20finished/inside1.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 26, 2016, 01:54:24 am
Just a quick pointer for people monitoring this thread that I've posted a guide to setting up SpeedFan (http://andybrown.me.uk/forum/index.php/topic,113.0.html) on the Z800 to automatically ramp up the CPU fan speeds when the core temperatures get hot.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: desune on March 31, 2016, 12:19:24 am
Quote from: mbppg on March 04, 2016, 06:02:43 am
Also found a picture of the high capacity CPU fan for the z800, pin 5 is just a short jumper to ground. I have not had a chance to check it but I am pretty sure it will work and turn off the CPU fan message.



Hi mbppg,

Have you had a chance to try this yet?  Did it work?

Thanks.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mbppg on March 31, 2016, 04:56:10 am
Quote from: desune on March 31, 2016, 12:19:24 am
Hi mbppg,

Have you had a chance to try this yet?  Did it work?

Thanks.


Yes I did this to the cooler master fans that came with the CPU cooler and it works great.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Chris on April 11, 2016, 04:53:14 pm
Hi all,

I lucked into a Z800 with a gen 2 motherboard and the proprietary 850w power supply. I'd like to put a modern video card into it, but I'm wary about the power consumption. Has anyone had any luck using their z800 with a new Radeon R9-3xx series? I see that a few people have posted using the 290 series - did you find that there was any instability playing modern fps games? (I'm thinking of things like R6 Siege).

Thanks!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 13, 2016, 01:26:49 pm
Quote from: Chris on April 11, 2016, 04:53:14 pm
Hi all,

I lucked into a Z800 with a gen 2 motherboard and the proprietary 850w power supply. I'd like to put a modern video card into it, but I'm wary about the power consumption. Has anyone had any luck using their z800 with a new Radeon R9-3xx series? I see that a few people have posted using the 290 series - did you find that there was any instability playing modern fps games? (I'm thinking of things like R6 Siege).

Thanks!


Hi Chris, check out the new post in the comments section from user "ujt 80".
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Chris on April 13, 2016, 02:39:56 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on April 13, 2016, 01:26:49 pm

Hi Chris, check out the new post in the comments section from user "ujt 80".


Much obliged! Fingers crossed (s)he is using the original hp 850w power supply.

Edit: Hopefully this will help others in the future - I went out and bought a Radeon R9-380 video card. The original 850w power supply runs it just fine.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: lvoigt on April 20, 2016, 03:09:43 pm
Hi all,

Can anyone help me with determining what temperature sensor is used in Z800 (thermistor) power switch/speaker cable assembly? I don't want to have to buy a full cable assembly just for the temperature sensor... Much appreciated if someone could help. That is the only piece now missing from my setup and it is causing all my fans to spin at max speed (ambient temperature showing 0C in bios).

Andy, great blog that I used as reference, same cabinet/case :-)

Regards,
LV
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 23, 2016, 12:51:51 am
Quote from: lvoigt on April 20, 2016, 03:09:43 pm
Can anyone help me with determining what temperature sensor is used in Z800 (thermistor) power switch/speaker cable assembly?

Hi, Check out this post (http://andybrown.me.uk/forum/index.php/topic,14.msg368.html#msg368) further back in the thread.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on May 01, 2016, 06:16:02 pm
Hi Everyone, its been a year since I've made any major changes to this computer which has been powered up virtually 100% of the time. My memory errors (memory in slot 1 reported an error, when memory was swapped from different locations the error was still only reported at slot 1) assumed to be due to overheating, have disappeared on its own .

Today I added a second video card so now I have the following:
Geforce GT 730 2GB and
Geforce 210 1GB (an old one added today).

This is my first time running 2 video cards in a single computer, didn't think it would work without SLI/Crossfire. I had to downgrade the NVidia drivers of the GT 730 to the latest version for the 210, and I can't update them any further without blue screening, so I have 6 displays operational (DVI, HDMI and VGA) x 2. If I find another NVidia card around I'll try adding it as well.

Maybe this year I'll finally build that custom case.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: obnauticus on May 25, 2016, 02:24:37 pm
I recently purchased a Corsair Carbide 540 http://www.corsair.com/en-us/carbide-series-air-540-high-airflow-atx-cube-case (http://www.corsair.com/en-us/carbide-series-air-540-high-airflow-atx-cube-case) and the adapters necessary to connect an ATX power supply to my Z800 mb.

I've run into a problem and I am wondering if anyone here can assist:
After hooking up the PSU to the motherboard, the computer won't POST (no VGA, no beeping). Fans are running and I am not sure what additional debugging steps I can do since I have not video output.  I have tried removing devices to root-cause the problem, but nothing seems to get me VGA output. I am wondering if anyone here has run into this problem with the z800->ATX adapters from aliexpress, or if anyone has any ideas with what may be wrong with my configuration. I'm thinking it could possibly be the power supply?

I'm running two Xeon X5650 (http://ark.intel.com/products/47922/Intel-Xeon-Processor-X5650-12M-Cache-2_66-GHz-6_40-GTs-Intel-QPI (http://ark.intel.com/products/47922/Intel-Xeon-Processor-X5650-12M-Cache-2_66-GHz-6_40-GTs-Intel-QPI)) and one nVidia GTX970 using this power supply: http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Crossfire-Warranty-110-B2-0850-V1/dp/B00KYK1CC6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00 (http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Crossfire-Warranty-110-B2-0850-V1/dp/B00KYK1CC6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00).

Maybe my PSU isn't big enough?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: BenGman on September 06, 2016, 03:18:33 am
NEW BIOS AVAILABLE - 14th APRIL 2016 3.60 Rev A

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=3912036&swItemId=wk_164134_1&swEnvOid=2104#


Anyone tried it yet? I have a V3 Motherboard that works decent right now... I don't want to spoil a good thing.

Update:
The BIOS was listed as a critical so I ran it, the update was pain less.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on September 06, 2016, 02:54:20 pm
I was going to give it a miss because it looks like just a single bug fix. But then you say it's critical so I'll probably install it at the weekend.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: comptv on September 21, 2016, 12:15:51 pm
Wow! I'm excited to see that this is still active!!

I'm wondering if anyone has tried this on the Z600 motherboard?
It seems really similar, but the main difference (PSU wise) is the 10-pin memory connector is only *8-pin on the Z600 rev 03

I have 2 X5650 and a GTX 1060, along with a 650W PSU, that will be upgraded once I can test that all the hardware is working.

My main question is regarding the wiring of the PSU. Is it possible to just rearrange the pins on my old PSU instead of cutting and resoldering. I can successfully insert my PCI-E 6 + 2 into the memory slot no problem, but I'm guessing the wire configuration is wrong, and same goes for my 20+4 pin. I mean, I can solder if I have to, but I'm trying to avoid it. And I don't think waiting a month for the Z600/Z800 extensions from China is worth it. Any thoughts?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on September 21, 2016, 12:40:55 pm
Still active, yes. I'm still happily using my build with the same 2x X5680 and 48Gb RAM. It runs everything I throw at it and still remains responsive. The only dodgy part is the Windows 10 AMD drivers for the 7970. Sometimes rarely the driver stops responding and Windows resets it.

Quote
Is it possible to just rearrange the pins on my old PSU instead of cutting and resoldering

I'm afraid I don't understand this part. How do you re-arrange pins on a PSU? I've never seen one that allows you to reconfigure the pinout.

Quote
I can successfully insert my PCI-E 6 + 2 into the memory slot no problem, but I'm guessing the wire configuration is wrong

Yes definitely wrong, and also missing a 5V line. You're best off configuring that one from a molex connector like I did.

More importantly, do you know that the Z600 shares the same pinouts for the main board and memory power connectors as the Z800?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: comptv on September 21, 2016, 12:54:25 pm
Sorry, I meant physically pushing out the pins with one of those tools (http://www.frozencpu.com/images/products/main/slt-04.jpg), and just rearranging them as needed. I'd still have to buy extensions either way, unless I planned on modding the actual PSU cable which seems a little risky.

I'm guessing there isn't some way to buy a z600 compatible PSU? hahaha, why did you do this to us HP?

I actually loved your guide, I found the Z600 manual and compared the pin-outs and I think I may have noticed a few differences, but I'll concede to you because you're definitely more experienced. To be honest, however, your images were great, but not necessarily comprehensive enough for my small brain. I'll have to study your examples a bit more to see how to properly arrange the extensions once I get my hands on some. Half of me wants to throw up my hands and just purchase a super micro board (I got my HP one on a whim without proper research), but I already have all my components on hand.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: comptv on September 22, 2016, 01:22:54 pm
Would anyone be willing to possibly post a short video or series of images detailing how you did your PSU power cables? I get that I basically need 2 ATX 24 pin extensions and I need to resolder them in the correct configuration, but I don't understand the translation from standard ATX to the HP boards, or the Molex to the 8-pin swap.

Thanks everyone!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on September 24, 2016, 01:51:11 am
If you're in any doubt about the correct wiring then I'd definitely recommend one of the cheap pre-made cables (http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-18-to-24-Pins-HP-Z800-Workstation-PC-Power-Supply-PSU-Connector-Adapter-Cable-/322254194931?hash=item4b07d8c8f3:g:2G8AAOSwBahVgHxo). If you do it yourself and you get it wrong then at best it won't work and at worst you'll damage the expensive motherboard beyond repair. If those adaptor cables had been available when I started my build then I would certainly have bought one.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on September 27, 2016, 02:35:54 pm
My Zalman CPU fans have reached the end of their useful life and I've replaced them with some shiny new ones. I've updated the main article (http://andybrown.me.uk/2014/11/01/z800/) with all the details including audio recordings of the failing fans and some pictures of the new ones.

(http://andybrown.me.uk/wp-content/images//z800/cpu-fan-upgrade-out.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 10, 2016, 07:18:13 pm
Thanks for this great project.

I went nuts and spent quiet a bit on this project already.

$300 Full Z800 system with X5645 and 12Gb + LSI Raid 8i
$145 2x X5675
$270 144GB DDR3 10600R
$5     PSU Cable

Now I need the Heatsink and Case


What the list for good options for Cases and Heatsink?

PS: It would be great if the first message is edited to contain those resumed information. It would help a lot


This is the Chassis list I found so far ...

Rosewill BLACKHAWK-ULTRA
Eermax Fulmo GT ECA1092AG-BL
Xigmatek Elysium Black Server Edition (non window) CCC-HSA0DS-U03
Xigmatek Elysium Black CCC-HSA0DS-U01
Lian Li PC-P80NB
Lian Li PC-90
Lian Li PC-Z70B
Lian Li PC-V2120B
Lian Li PC-V2120X
XSPC H1 "Hive" Cube Case
XSPC H2 "Hive" Tower Case
Little Devil Cooling LD PC-V8
Aerocool Strike-X ST
Cubitek Tank Series CB-TDE-B510
Case Labs STH10
Case Labs Magnum MH10
Case Labs Magnum TH10
Case Labs Magnum TX10-D
Case Labs Magnum TX10-V
Xilence Interceptor Pro
Mountain Mods Pinnacle 18 - CYO
Mountain Mods Pinnacle 24 - CYO
Mountain Mods Extended U2-UFO CYO
Mountain Mods Extended Ascension CYO
Thermaltake Armor+
Nanoxia Deep Silence 6
Corsair 900D
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 11, 2016, 02:40:29 pm
Has anyone tried water cooling the CPU with AIO?

While I can wait to buy a new case (till I find a cheap one) I need a cooling solution ASAP. Computer arrive in a week :)
----------------------------

Edit: found one ENERMAX ETS-T40F-RF for $20. Will try that one. TDP is 200W. Plenty for a 95W cpu. hope it fits well
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 11, 2016, 06:14:07 pm
And found a corsair 900D locally for $50. Made arrangements to pick up this weekend. He modded the case for watercooling so drive bays are missing. It was just perfect for my needs.
Im set now and soon will be a new member of modded z800 :)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on October 12, 2016, 01:25:02 pm
You did very well to get a 900D for just $50. That's one heck of a case. It would be nice to see photographs of it with the Z800 board inside.

Quote
144GB DDR3 10600R

8)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 12, 2016, 03:52:25 pm
Well ... about the memory ... I'm still bidding on ebay for the rest to net 192gb ;)

I currently own a 5820K rig with 64Gb RAM. I could expand it to 128Gb if I sell all my modules and buy 8x16Gb. Those are very expensive. $80 for the slowest one to $120 to fastest. Id also have to change the CPU as the 5820 only supports 64gb. A 6800K for example would cost $450 or so. Dual x5675 has about the same multi core passmark than 6800k. They cost me around $150.

In average I am buying $16Gb for $30 each.

I use Photoscan and it uses  lot of RAM. For some projects, 64gb is not enough!!

I also wanted to setup a remote desktop to fully use OpenGL. It happens HP has one that costs $250 but it is free for Z machines.

So I thought .. I buy one machine for the cost of this software and could put more, and cheaper, memory. And .. the Z800 was the answer :) Eventually I will migrate to Z820 and all I will need would be a new mobo and cpus. And someone to figure it out the PSU cable as I am not the right person to do the job.

After selling my z800 psu, LSI 9260-8i, x2645 and 12gb RAM I will end up having a free motherboard :)

Bought the x5675 instead of x5680 or x5690 cause they are not much better than the x5675 and uses less power (95 instead of 130) making some room for more video cards and less heating issues.

I don't have the photo of the case anymore. I will get it from craiglist. The owner removed all the bays for hardcore water cooling. I probably will leave as is as I will not need HDD cages. Case I need, I can still buy a cage from corsair for around $30.I will place a PCIe to M.2 card and install my 512gb M.2 on it. I have external RAID for my storage.

I will sure post when I build my machine.

saves from going z800 instead of upgrading my rig
CPU: $300
Memory:$250 to $500
Remote Desktop: $250

case and motherboard will possibly be free after I sell my z800 components.

After selling my rig I could end up having the upgrade for free!!!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 12, 2016, 03:58:07 pm
Side note about Memory

16gb 850R all uses 4 ranks. After reading many documentation about memory on 1366 motherboard the assumption is that each channel can only have 4 ranks. If more than 4 ranks are used then ALL memories will run at the lowest speed. And that speed is pretty crap.

so .. I bought faster modules using only 2 ranks!!! They will run at their original speed. I think .. I hope ...
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: malefic on October 13, 2016, 12:34:08 pm
Quote from: comptv on September 21, 2016, 12:54:25 pm
Sorry, I meant physically pushing out the pins with one of those tools (http://www.frozencpu.com/images/products/main/slt-04.jpg), and just rearranging them as needed. I'd still have to buy extensions either way, unless I planned on modding the actual PSU cable which seems a little risky.

I'm guessing there isn't some way to buy a z600 compatible PSU? hahaha, why did you do this to us HP?

I actually loved your guide, I found the Z600 manual and compared the pin-outs and I think I may have noticed a few differences, but I'll concede to you because you're definitely more experienced. To be honest, however, your images were great, but not necessarily comprehensive enough for my small brain. I'll have to study your examples a bit more to see how to properly arrange the extensions once I get my hands on some. Half of me wants to throw up my hands and just purchase a super micro board (I got my HP one on a whim without proper research), but I already have all my components on hand.


I did my first custom cabling for the Z800 board with a tool just like that one that I had laying around it was a breeze :)   
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: malefic on October 13, 2016, 12:44:19 pm
Quote from: bulls4ever on October 12, 2016, 03:52:25 pm
Well ... about the memory ... I'm still bidding on ebay for the rest to net 192gb ;)

I currently own a 5820K rig with 64Gb RAM. I could expand it to 128Gb if I sell all my modules and buy 8x16Gb. Those are very expensive. $80 for the slowest one to $120 to fastest. Id also have to change the CPU as the 5820 only supports 64gb. A 6800K for example would cost $450 or so. Dual x5675 has about the same multi core passmark than 6800k. They cost me around $150.

In average I am buying $16Gb for $30 each.

I use Photoscan and it uses  lot of RAM. For some projects, 64gb is not enough!!

I also wanted to setup a remote desktop to fully use OpenGL. It happens HP has one that costs $250 but it is free for Z machines.

So I thought .. I buy one machine for the cost of this software and could put more, and cheaper, memory. And .. the Z800 was the answer :) Eventually I will migrate to Z820 and all I will need would be a new mobo and cpus. And someone to figure it out the PSU cable as I am not the right person to do the job.

After selling my z800 psu, LSI 9260-8i, x2645 and 12gb RAM I will end up having a free motherboard :)

Bought the x5675 instead of x5680 or x5690 cause they are not much better than the x5675 and uses less power (95 instead of 130) making some room for more video cards and less heating issues.

I don't have the photo of the case anymore. I will get it from craiglist. The owner removed all the bays for hardcore water cooling. I probably will leave as is as I will not need HDD cages. Case I need, I can still buy a cage from corsair for around $30.I will place a PCIe to M.2 card and install my 512gb M.2 on it. I have external RAID for my storage.

I will sure post when I build my machine.

saves from going z800 instead of upgrading my rig
CPU: $300
Memory:$250 to $500
Remote Desktop: $250

case and motherboard will possibly be free after I sell my z800 components.

After selling my rig I could end up having the upgrade for free!!!


You made some really good deals along the way!

I remember when my Z800 board died i sold a couple of  X5675 for 300$ and bought a couple of E5-2670 for 150!  8)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 13, 2016, 03:43:13 pm
Yeah, ill wait till the xeons v2 (or v3 with ddr3) are cheaper and its motherboard. Those r very powerful.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 15, 2016, 12:40:38 pm
looks like the seller messed up on description .. LSI Raid didn't come but we ended up agreeing on $75 discount. So I paid $225 for the computer. Its confirmed to be V3 motherboard. cheaper I found on ebay was $170. I can still sell the memories and cpu (and luckily the case) but it wasn't the great deal I expected.

96 gb ram installed and working!!!

Now I'm waiting on my cpu, heatsink and the psu cable to arrive to install on the 900D. z800 case is smaller than my define R5!! I was expecting a huge case. its very heavy though.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 16, 2016, 09:26:47 pm
This is the case I bought (900D) with z800 on it. Previous owner modded it for mad watercooling and removed all drive bays.

before ...(http://oi66.tinypic.com/141jyxk.jpg)

and here is my mod to add a 5.25" bay from an old cooler master case.
(http://oi65.tinypic.com/14jsv9w.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on October 17, 2016, 11:47:47 am
If you've already modded the motherboard tray with holes to accept the screws from the odd positions on the Z800 motherboard then the hard bit's out of the way in my opinion. By the way I forgot to mention that with all memory slots full you will need a fan directing airflow through the memory slots. When there are so many so close together they tend to heat each other up.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on October 17, 2016, 03:47:01 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on October 17, 2016, 11:47:47 am
If you've already modded the motherboard tray with holes to accept the screws from the odd positions on the Z800 motherboard then the hard bit's out of the way in my opinion. By the way I forgot to mention that with all memory slots full you will need a fan directing airflow through the memory slots. When there are so many so close together they tend to heat each other up.


No kidding. It was a pain. none of the positions matched. You can see I missed one in the bottom cause there is a hole in there and I can't drill on it.

My memory my not heat as much as they are Low voltage: 1.35v instead of 1.5v. I'm not sure how i will setup my fans but there are space for tons of them ;)

Waiting for my PSU cable (and CPUs) to arrive to complete the project.


Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on November 13, 2016, 08:57:44 pm
Took almost a month for the cable to arrive. If I knew it would be that late I'd make myself...

Well, it works. Going to build this week. I'm thinking on using the holiday memory cooler assembly. It sits fine. Id likely to have to use different CPU cooler for 2nd cpu
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on November 14, 2016, 12:03:18 am
The memory assembly sits nicely.
I was able to use the original back fans (so no need to mess up with the the fan pins.
however .. I noticed the bios will not report any temperature and thus the fans run at highest speed. Don't need to say it is super loud!!!

I will need to investigate it. I will also take a picture of the setup soon
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on November 15, 2016, 02:04:46 pm
Quote from: bulls4ever on November 14, 2016, 12:03:18 am
I noticed the bios will not report any temperature and thus the fans run at highest speed. Don't need to say it is super loud!!!

Do you mean the CPU fans? With mine they run at minimum speed all the time so I run SpeedFan to dynamically control the speed based on temperature. You've probably seen my post on how to do this, but here's the link (http://andybrown.me.uk/forum/index.php/topic,113.0.html) anyway.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on November 16, 2016, 12:42:07 pm

WARNING / CAUTION:  Dell PERC H310 Will Probably Not Work With HP Z800

I am hacking together my system as Andy did. I do not see a way to search within this thread for h310.  I did search the forum and it came back with nothing; so, sorry if this is a duplicate post...

I am wanting to run 3 large SAS disks in RAID 5.  The on-board SAS controller does not support RAID 5; so, I bought a Dell PERC H310 raid controller.

Running Memtest 4 from a usb dvd drive, my 12 sticks of ecc memory pass with flying colors.

When I install the H310, though, I get a series of boot errors from the BIOS about Slots 1 & 2 on both CPUs:

207--Incompatible DIMMs detected
203--Memory module failed self-test and failing rank was disabled
204--Memory module failed and user rank was disabled

Slots 1 & 2 on both CPUs

The power of google shows me that I am not the first to have this problem.  This German thread (http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f242/hp-z800-problem-mit-raid-karte-und-dimms-1026839.html) documents the same problem.

I can report that this problem occurs on my Rev 3 board.
I can report that upgrading the firmware on the Dell PERC H310 to 20.13.0-0007 does not fix this problem.
I can also report that upgrading the BIOS on the Z800 to 3.6 does not fix the problem.

MemTest 4 reports that the RAM is only running at 533.  I let it run for several passes with no errors.  The German thread noted that the original error changes to an invalid memory configuration detected if you remove the 4 dimms noted.  MemTest shows exactly the same info with or without them.  To clarify, any DIMMs in those slots are not counted in your total RAM. 

Now, the weirdest thing:

If I remove all of the DIMMs in the white slots (2,4,6) on each processor, I get exactly the same series of errors, including the squawks about DIMM2 on each CPU that are now empty.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on November 16, 2016, 01:51:53 pm
Quote from: LambdaFox on November 16, 2016, 12:42:07 pm
When I install the H310, though, I get a series of boot errors from the BIOS about Slots 1 & 2 on both CPUs:

207--Incompatible DIMMs detected
203--Memory module failed self-test and failing rank was disabled
204--Memory module failed and user rank was disabled

I'm assuming that you've disabled the onboard SAS controller and it made no difference. If you don't need to boot from this card, can you try going into the BIOS 'Advanced' menu and select the PCIe slot containing your card. There will be an option 'Download option ROM'. Try disabling it.

I also assume that the Dell card has its own BIOS that you can get into during bootup. Look for anything in there related to how it interacts with the computer BIOS during the boot phase that you can change. This option ROM setup will not be visible if you've disabled 'download option ROM' as my first suggestion.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on November 16, 2016, 11:21:03 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on November 16, 2016, 01:51:53 pm
I'm assuming that you've disabled the onboard SAS controller and it made no difference. If you don't need to boot from this card, can you try going into the BIOS 'Advanced' menu and select the PCIe slot containing your card. There will be an option 'Download option ROM'. Try disabling it.

I also assume that the Dell card has its own BIOS that you can get into during bootup. Look for anything in there related to how it interacts with the computer BIOS during the boot phase that you can change. This option ROM setup will not be visible if you've disabled 'download option ROM' as my first suggestion.


Hey, Andy.  My OS is on sata hard drives running RAID0.  I have had them connected to the h310, but I will try moving them over to the Intel controller on the motherboard and try the tweaks you suggest.  It will be a couple of days before I can set aside a big chunk of time.  Thank you for the ideas, I will report back early next week!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on November 26, 2016, 07:09:40 pm
Following up on my Dell PERC h310 ...

I had disabled the on-board SAS controller using the Security menu in the BIOS.

I re-enabled it, checked do not download option ROM on it, then rebooted and disabled it again.

I then disalbed download option ROM on the h310.

Then I powered down, waited 30 seconds and powered back up.

The bad behavior is the same.

I wiped my SATA drives and did a fresh install of Windows 7 using the on-board SATA controller.

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on November 26, 2016, 09:00:40 pm
Hoping the HP Smart Array P410 RAID Controller will work.

It will use the same cables I bought for the H310.  I was able to buy one with 512 MB write back cache on ebay for $16 US.

I googled before buying and found one server supplier that offers it as a "premium" upgrade for the low low price of $550 US, LOL...

I will post back to report success and/or glitches with the P410 when I get it...



Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on November 27, 2016, 12:36:22 am
Guard Your Sockets

This is my first motherboard with a gazillion microscopic pins on the board instead of the CPU.  At age 53, "microscopic" is not an overstatement, LOL... I am on my third motherboard with this build, raising my cost a lot.  I hope this cautionary note will help someone avoid my naive mistakes!  All three of the motherboards I purchased arrived with zero protective caps on the sockets, like the socket on the left in this picture:

(https://s5.postimg.org/8bcu1i20j/z800_Dual_Sockets.png) (https://postimg.org/image/8bcu1i20j/)

I dropped my heatsink on the socket for CPU0, and bent pins in it:

(https://s5.postimg.org/n61ffoblf/Z800_Bent_Pins_Socket1.png) (https://postimg.org/image/n61ffoblf/)

I tried, but failed to get it to post with only 1 CPU in the second socket.

You can buy the Socket LGA-1366 caps very cheap.  I bought 2 before I started fiddling with motherboard #2...

I replaced the backs on both of my sockets.  When I did, I worked on only one at a time.  I let the clamp keep the protector on one.  I was VERY carefull to keep the other in place with my hand whenever I moved the motherboard.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on November 27, 2016, 02:40:16 am
A Little Clarity on Socket LGA-1366 Cooling

Technical specs for the socket (http://www.te.com/commerce/DocumentDelivery/DDEController?Action=srchrtrv&DocNm=3-1773455-9_LGA_1366_SOCKETS&DocType=DS&DocLang=EN) list two different backplate part numbers.  The document shows an image of 1939739-1 Desktop Backplate:

(https://s5.postimg.org/rmtsecptf/Z800_Destktop_Socket_1939739_1.png) (https://postimg.org/image/rmtsecptf/)

They are not so kind as to show one of the 1981467-1 Server Backplates.  This is a picture I took of the parts separated:

(https://s5.postimg.org/he5wm9r5f/Z800_Server_Back_Plate_1981467_1.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/he5wm9r5f/)

I took a lot of time trying to find a cooling solution designed to fit the 1981467-1 Server Backplate.  I did not find any.  The notes here in Andy's forum about modding for heat sinks / fans are, really only necessary if you keep the Server Backplates in your build.

I bought two Desktop Backplates.  I was then able to install 2 ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKWh24l5-tQ) into my system.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on November 27, 2016, 03:11:30 am
Chips Overheating

I have seen many people mention the chips getting really hot.  You should consider replacing the thermal compound on them.

I have gotten three boards in the process of my build.  All three, after unscrewing the four screws on the chips' heat-sink took almost zero force to remove the heat-sink from the chips.  This was because the thermal compound was completely desiccated.

(https://s5.postimg.org/ujlesdl0z/Z800_Chips_Heatsink.png) (https://postimg.org/image/ujlesdl0z/)

I used 90% rubbing alcohol to clean both chips and the back of the heat-sink.  Then I used the same thermal compound I bought for my cpu's to tint the back of the heat-sink.  I then applied a thin coat to each chip.  Finally, I screwed the heatsink back in place.

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: malefic on December 04, 2016, 04:51:49 am
HP P410 works fine, i used it on my build with the 512MB and battery backed cache, also used a HP P400 and the standard LSI controller...all worked with my SAS 15K HDD's.

There was no need to buy backplates if you studied the standard backplate design and the cpu cooler retention system, mine was pretty much plug and play just didn't' have to install the standard plastic backplate worst case scenario you would have to use different screws because of the thread.

If the heatskink is getting hot is actually a good thing, it shows that there is good thermal conductivity between the chips and the heatsink, problem with that piece is that those 2 chip's have a TDP of 27W each.... http://ark.intel.com/products/36783/Intel-5520-IO-Hub
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on December 05, 2016, 11:47:23 am
Update:  The DELL PERC H310 Can Be Hacked Into the Z800!  :)

Quote from: malefic on December 04, 2016, 04:51:49 am
HP P410 works fine, i used it on my build with the 512MB and battery backed cache, also used a HP P400 and the standard LSI controller...all worked with my SAS 15K HDD's....


While waiting for my new P410, I installed Windows on my hard drive RAID using the on-board controller.  That was slow slow slow.  Noticably slower than the H310 had been.  Did I mention it was SLOW???

This made me leary about using the P410 since it drops SATA down to SATA2.  So, I did a little more digging on the H310.

I found this discussion (http://yannickdekoeijer.blogspot.com/2012/04/modding-dell-perc-6-sas-raidcontroller.html) about the H310 preventing machines from booting.  Covering pins B5 and B6 with electrical tape solved my problem.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-prxE3A7XKhE/T5Mm8HIyE2I/AAAAAAAAATY/7E9roXHMrr4/s1600/2.png)

Some people in several discussions I saw were trying to change the firmware to LSI or other versions.  I am using the standard latest firmware and drivers from Dell.

The errors regarding the bad memory are now gone.  When I installed Windows 7 in spite of the errors, I noticed that the Intel controller did not show up in Device Manager.  I originally thought this was probably because I had all the SATA ports and the option ROM for the controller disabled in the BIOS.  This turns out not to be correct.  With this hack the Intel Controller now shows in Device Manager, where I have Windows disable it after boot.

I will report any glitches I find, but so far it looks good!

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on December 14, 2016, 03:50:18 pm
Has anyone tried adapting M.2 drive for use as a boot drive on the Z800? 

I plan on approaching this using two different methods:

Method 1:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=12K-017B-00001. 
Purchase a fast m.2 drive, use the adapter (or an equivalent). 
Potential issue, z800 Bios is non-UEFI.  if it doesn't work, switch to Method 2. 

Method 2:  http://mrlithium.blogspot.ca/2015/12/how-to-boot-nvme-ssd-from-legacy-bios.html
Using hardware from Method 1, follow steps from link or use a USB to boot to nvme ssd

Any thoughts?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on December 15, 2016, 12:17:40 pm
Quote from: denj on December 14, 2016, 03:50:18 pm
Has anyone tried adapting M.2 drive for use as a boot drive on the Z800? 


Yes, I am currently using an M.2 PCI Express SSD as my boot drive in my machine, however, my SSD came already installed with the PCI Express adapter card. It's a 240GB Kingston HyperX Predator. Since the Z800 board doesn't know what M.2 is, it can't boot from it, so the SSD or the card (I am not sure which) has a boot option ROM that the bios reads like its a regular storage controller, and lists it as a bootable device.

Been using it for over a year and its worked perfectly well for me.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on December 15, 2016, 12:51:24 pm
Also - I finally found me a Revision 003 board at a great price. www.ebay.com/itm/132031033325

I offered $80 and they accepted. Now I will probably get 2x X5680's to replace my 2x W5590's.

I would get 2x X5690 but jeesh why the huge price jump from 3.33Ghz to 3.47Ghz? $200 for a 0.16Ghz bump is insane.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on December 15, 2016, 03:03:05 pm
Quote from: knightcrusader on December 15, 2016, 12:17:40 pm
Quote from: denj on December 14, 2016, 03:50:18 pm
Has anyone tried adapting M.2 drive for use as a boot drive on the Z800? 


Yes, I am currently using an M.2 PCI Express SSD as my boot drive in my machine, however, my SSD came already installed with the PCI Express adapter card. It's a 240GB Kingston HyperX Predator. Since the Z800 board doesn't know what M.2 is, it can't boot from it, so the SSD or the card (I am not sure which) has a boot option ROM that the bios reads like its a regular storage controller, and lists it as a bootable device.

Been using it for over a year and its worked perfectly well for me.


Could you post your make and model of your pci card please?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on December 15, 2016, 03:12:31 pm
Quote from: denj on December 15, 2016, 03:03:05 pm
Could you post your make and model of your pci card please?


Sure! Here it is at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820104544

Man, I'm jealous that its $160 now. I paid $250 for it.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dan on December 16, 2016, 05:37:33 pm
Hello guys!

I was was impressed with the capabilities of the HP Z800/820  in video production. At first, I was looking on ebay for a barebone Z820 to build up.  After some Googling I came across Andy's Z800 build blog, which is amazing. Now I'm leaning toward going this route--using a Z820 motherboard and 2x E6-2670.    I saw some ES version CPUs on ebay, should I stay away from them? TIA
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 17, 2016, 01:05:18 am
Quote from: Dan on December 16, 2016, 05:37:33 pm
Hello guys!

I was was impressed with the capabilities of the HP Z800/820  in video production. At first, I was looking on ebay for a barebone Z820 to build up.  After some Googling I came across Andy's Z800 build blog, which is amazing. Now I'm leaning toward going this route--using a Z820 motherboard and 2x E6-2670.    I saw some ES version CPUs on ebay, should I stay away from them? TIA


I haven't heard any good reason to not use the engineering samples. As long as there are no critical bug fixes in the later steppings you should be fine.

I am monitoring the ebay prices of C612 chipset boards. They are still expensive and the Z820 board is not yet a bargain amongst them, plus you have to mod your case to fit it. If I were to buy right now then I'd probably get a Gigabyte MD70 or Asus Z10PE.

The E5 V3 CPUs are starting to fall in price and there's some great deals around from HK/Chinese sellers on the 12/14/16 core models. If the motherboards weren't holding their prices so well then I'd be sorely tempted myself.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 pemotherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dan on December 17, 2016, 03:37:12 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on December 17, 2016, 01:05:18 am
I haven't heard any good reason to not use the engineering samples. As long as there are no critical bug fixes in the later steppings you should be fine.

I am monitoring the ebay prices of C612 chipset boards. They are still expensive and the Z820 board is not yet a bargain amongst them, plus you have to mod your case to fit it. If I were to buy right now then I'd probably get a Gigabyte MD70 or Asus Z10PE.

The E5 V3 CPUs are starting to fall in price and there's some great deals around from HK/Chinese sellers on the 12/14/16 core models. If the motherboards weren't holding their prices so well then I'd be sorely tempted myself.


Last night I was also looking at this Dell T7810 barebone, at $468 USD shipped; its motherboard supports E5 V3 and has chipset C612. ( EBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-PRECISION-T7810-Barebone-Workstation-build-your-own-gaming-computer-/182225542500?hash=item2a6d7d1d64:g:2agAAOSwTZ1XnTYR )The downside is it only have 8 memory slots. Video encoding is CPU intensive, so I am still entertaining various options.  I am also monitoring some 12-Cores E5 V3's; I am not sure which stepping is the ones right before production release.  Thanks for pointing out the Gigabyte MD70 board & Asus Z10PE, it's quite enticing, especially with the 2x 10GbE, unfortunately it's no longer budget build :-)

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mtothaj on December 17, 2016, 11:03:39 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on December 17, 2016, 01:05:18 am
Quote from: Dan on December 16, 2016, 05:37:33 pm
Hello guys!

I was was impressed with the capabilities of the HP Z800/820  in video production. At first, I was looking on ebay for a barebone Z820 to build up.  After some Googling I came across Andy's Z800 build blog, which is amazing. Now I'm leaning toward going this route--using a Z820 motherboard and 2x E6-2670.    I saw some ES version CPUs on ebay, should I stay away from them? TIA


I haven't heard any good reason to not use the engineering samples. As long as there are no critical bug fixes in the later steppings you should be fine.

I am monitoring the ebay prices of C612 chipset boards. They are still expensive and the Z820 board is not yet a bargain amongst them, plus you have to mod your case to fit it. If I were to buy right now then I'd probably get a Gigabyte MD70 or Asus Z10PE.

The E5 V3 CPUs are starting to fall in price and there's some great deals around from HK/Chinese sellers on the 12/14/16 core models. If the motherboards weren't holding their prices so well then I'd be sorely tempted myself.


FYI below is a dump of the microcodes contained in the latest (v3.91) bios for the Z420/620/820:

CPUID=306E4 Rev=427 2014/04/10 CRC=A73DF352 Off=580060 Size=3000 Plat=0,2,3,5,6,7
CPUID=206D7 Rev=710 2013/06/17 CRC=30EAA2E5 Off=583060 Size=4400 Plat=0,2,3,5,6
CPUID=206D6 Rev=61A 2013/01/25 CRC=BC4B0272 Off=587860 Size=4000 Plat=0,2,3,5,6
CPUID=206D5 Rev=513 2011/10/13 CRC=BDB805CB Off=58B860 Size=4800 Plat=0,2,3,5,6

If the ES sample is covered under these then you are good to go, if not then it may be necessary to inject the appropriate microcode into the UEFI bios (tools such as UEFI BIOS Updater). Obviously to run the 306E4 Ivy Bridge chips you need a machine with the newer 2013 bootblock (or to change the bootblock from 2011 to 2013 with an external programmer).
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 pemotherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 18, 2016, 12:19:02 am
Quote from: Dan on December 17, 2016, 03:37:12 pm
Video encoding is CPU intensive,

It certainly is. For fun I recently wrote a Premiere Pro VP9 exporter plugin that drives the libvpx encoder in a novel way so as to get 100% CPU usage out of it and it still takes much longer to export than H.264.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mtothaj on December 22, 2016, 06:30:21 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on December 17, 2016, 01:05:18 am
I am monitoring the ebay prices of C612 chipset boards. They are still expensive and the Z820 board is not yet a bargain amongst them, plus you have to mod your case to fit it. If I were to buy right now then I'd probably get a Gigabyte MD70 or Asus Z10PE.



The Z420/620/820 boards use the C602 / X79 chipset. To be honest they are very cheap as compared to the prices of X79 boards from Asus, Gigabyte etc. which - if at all available new and most often used - go for far more than the more current new X99 chipset boards.
The only new X79 boards which appear to be widely availalbe at the moment are two China made 'no name' boards - an ATX and mATX version but I would be hesistant to purchase either of these.

The X99 boards generally work with Xeon E5 V3/V4 CPU's and ECC RAM e.g. http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Gigabyte/GA-X99-UD4(rev._1.0).html but its best to do some research on a given board to see if there aren't any issues specific to a given board.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on December 24, 2016, 02:41:58 pm
I bought an original case z800 case/mobo with a PSU and I got everything work.  After 2 days, http://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/power-integrations/TOP249YN/596-1080-5-ND/865356 (http://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/power-integrations/TOP249YN/596-1080-5-ND/865356) blew up.  I didn't even know this was possible.  Luckily, I can get another PSU, but now I'm debating of buying a regular PSU's and adapting it to the z800 mobo/case. 

I'm running 2x 5675 with 96 gb of ram, ati 7850 and 2 ssds so I think I need 850W.  Online calculators show I need 300-350W?  I'm not sure that's correct though. 

A new standard PSU is 140-180 CDN and I'm not sure if they're all compatible. 
A z800 PSU would cost me $200-$400 CDN at 1110W.   

Budget is $200 CDN :(

Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dan on December 27, 2016, 02:00:41 pm
Quote from: denj on December 24, 2016, 02:41:58 pm
I bought an original case z800 case/mobo with a PSU and I got everything work.  After 2 days, http://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/power-integrations/TOP249YN/596-1080-5-ND/865356 (http://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/power-integrations/TOP249YN/596-1080-5-ND/865356) blew up.  I didn't even know this was possible.  Luckily, I can get another PSU, but now I'm debating of buying a regular PSU's and adapting it to the z800 mobo/case. 

I'm running 2x 5675 with 96 gb of ram, ati 7850 and 2 ssds so I think I need 850W.  Online calculators show I need 300-350W?  I'm not sure that's correct though. 

A new standard PSU is 140-180 CDN and I'm not sure if they're all compatible. 
A z800 PSU would cost me $200-$400 CDN at 1110W.   

Budget is $200 CDN :(

Any suggestions?



I ended up buying the barebone Z820 and a pair of E5-2670 to be my primary editing workstation.Hopefully your situation doesn't happen to mine. Fingers crossed.
Also purchasing a V3 Z800 motherboard for $80, and a pair of E5-2650 for $60-- so I can hack it into a standard case and ATX PSU, this will be a replacement to my old FreeNAS. I found some pre-made ATX-Z800 power adapter on Ebay. Hope to have all this rigged up soon.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on December 28, 2016, 07:53:35 am
Quote from: Dan on December 27, 2016, 02:00:41 pm
Also purchasing a V3 Z800 motherboard for $80, and a pair of E5-2650 for $60


Did you mean to say Z820?  As far as I know, a z800 motherboard supports LGA1366 cpus.  The Z820 supports LGA2011-1 cpus.   
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dan on December 29, 2016, 09:06:39 am
Quote from: denj on December 28, 2016, 07:53:35 am
Did you mean to say Z820?  As far as I know, a z800 motherboard supports LGA1366 cpus.  The Z820 supports LGA2011-1 cpus.
It's the Z800 MB, You're right about the compatible CPUs
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on December 31, 2016, 01:36:19 am
$80 is a great price for a V3 board though. You can build a powerful workstation around that.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 03, 2017, 01:22:27 am
My Experiences so far ...
1. Temperature Sensor: HP has a temperature sensor in the power button thingy. Without it will report 0C room temperature and the fans will run at max speed. I modded my case to attach it in the bay cover. So now my board can read the room temperature and I don't need to mess with fan speed.

2. Ram fan: I did not experience any issue with memory temperature even though I filled all 6 slots. I decided to use the RAM fan gadget that came with the original case and it sits perfectly

3. Heatsink: because I decided to use the original ram cooler I am limited to the heatsinks. I bought a second one (performance) for cheap: $30

4. PCIe SSD. I bought a PCIe adapter for my Samsung. Did not work. it will display missing BIOS. I didn't know SSD had such thing as "option ROM". It happens that my very nice and fast SSD wont have it. I purchased a Kingston HyperX Predator that has it and should work.

5. IBM Raid. I bought a nice RAID card with battery and memory BUT it caused memory issues. I have not tried yet but will try to tape pins 5 and 6 and see if works. Regardles, as is it will cause DIMM1 and 2 error and I will be limited with ram.

6. Noise. After solving the temperature sensor the system runs very quietly.

7. Ram speed: I was right about using DDR3 low voltage. It will not cause the system to drastically reduce speed when filling all slots. Low voltage is the way to go.

What I don't like:
Lack of PCIe 3.0 and more important: unable to boot PCIE SSD without option ROM. the ssd will work, just wont boot from it.
I miss M.2 socket.
Crap LSI onboard raid (HBA) and issues with addin RAID card.
slow boot, but much faster after disabling onboard lsi raid

What I like: 192Gb RAM pretty cheap. Able to reuse those ddr3 memory for the next xeon generation (LGA 2011)
More CPU cores


Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 03, 2017, 01:24:48 am
Quote from: Andy Brown on November 15, 2016, 02:04:46 pm
Quote from: bulls4ever on November 14, 2016, 12:03:18 am
I noticed the bios will not report any temperature and thus the fans run at highest speed. Don't need to say it is super loud!!!

Do you mean the CPU fans? With mine they run at minimum speed all the time so I run SpeedFan to dynamically control the speed based on temperature. You've probably seen my post on how to do this, but here's the link (http://andybrown.me.uk/forum/index.php/topic,113.0.html) anyway.


no, I meant the case fans. they would run at max speed because there was no ambient temperature sensor present. Once I installed the one that came with the original case it solved the problem.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 03, 2017, 01:31:36 am
btw, my RAID card is IBM ServeRaid M5110
lsi 9260 equivalent

system will boot but causes RAM errors. always on DIMM 1 and will cause the entire channel to be disabled.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mtothaj on January 03, 2017, 06:06:49 am
Quote from: bulls4ever on January 03, 2017, 01:22:27 am
My Experiences so far ...
4. PCIe SSD. I bought a PCIe adapter for my Samsung. Did not work. it will display missing BIOS. I didn't know SSD had such thing as "option ROM". It happens that my very nice and fast SSD wont have it. I purchased a Kingston HyperX Predator that has it and should work.


I have no experience with the Z800 but can confirm a Samsung 950 Pro NVMe works fine on a Z420 with a cheap M.2 to PCIe adapter card from Ali Express. That said AFAIR the Zx20 bios has been updated to include the NVMe functionality, which the Zx00 line is most likely lacking.
However, there is still a high chance that this drive would also work on the Z800, since it has the legacy option roms included. AFAIR the Z800 bios is not UEFI based so there is no possibility of injecting these roms into the bios for disks which do not have these onboard, so choice of drives is very important. 

Regarding some of your other points, IMO the Z800 is still a very robust platform. There are of course areas where it is showing its age e.g. lack of USB3, no SATA 3 suport, limited suport for disks larger than 2TB but these can be easily remedied with add on cards. That said, with prices of dual CPU Z620 and Z820 dropping, going forward these should be at the forefront of interest.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 03, 2017, 11:38:02 am
Quote from: mtothaj on January 03, 2017, 06:06:49 am
I have no experience with the Z800 but can confirm a Samsung 950 Pro NVMe works fine on a Z420 with a cheap M.2 to PCIe adapter card from Ali Express. That said AFAIR the Zx20 bios has been updated to include the NVMe functionality, which the Zx00 line is most likely lacking.
However, there is still a high chance that this drive would also work on the Z800, since it has the legacy option roms included. AFAIR the Z800 bios is not UEFI based so there is no possibility of injecting these roms into the bios for disks which do not have these onboard, so choice of drives is very important. 

Regarding some of your other points, IMO the Z800 is still a very robust platform. There are of course areas where it is showing its age e.g. lack of USB3, no SATA 3 suport, limited suport for disks larger than 2TB but these can be easily remedied with add on cards. That said, with prices of dual CPU Z620 and Z820 dropping, going forward these should be at the forefront of interest.


If Z800 had EFI it would be possible to "hack" the Samsung SSD to allow booting. I read forums about it. Granted, I never had to deal with it with my X99 motherboard. My understanding is that NVMe requires EFI to work thus the Samsung Pro would not work on z800 regardless of having the option ROM.

My SSD, SM951, would also work on Zx20 and Zx40 as similar (but PCIe 2.0: XP941) version is used on HP Z Turbo card. Yours is used on HP Z Turbo G2

BTW, I didn't buy the SSD after the motherboard. It happens I already had it. In fact I have 2 SM951 (512gb and 256gb) simple because they are (or at least were) the fastest in the market and very cheap. I placed one in my HP Elite X2 Tablet.

Lack of USB I didn't mention cause it is not really a big deal and can be solved easily by installing a PCIe card. 2 TB disks well ..... hum didn't even know the limitation as my big disks are in external network RAID. Honestly, lack of EFI is the only big issue. Lack of SATA3 is the other one but minimized if you can live with a single PCIe SSD instead of bunch of SATA3 SSD Raid. IMO PCIe is best option than SSD Raid0

Price of "real" LGA 2011-1 cpus (v2) has not dropped yet to a point it is worth. The ones that really matter are still at $1000+ range (used). Yes, it is possible to grab a low end 12 cores or V1 CPU for $200 and a "low end" motherboard as ASROCK for another $300. But to grab a motherboard with tons of PCIe and 16+ ram slots still cost $700+

As far as Z820 nobody has yet tried to mod it, afaik. I hope it can be done as Id want it to be my next upgrade.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on January 03, 2017, 08:33:56 pm
Can you not still boot into a NVMe with a UEFI emulator?  The disadvantage is that you would have a usb stick hanging out but i'm sure there's a way to get around that too...
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 04, 2017, 10:29:09 am
there is no EFI on Z800 so it wont work.
You can buy an USB adapter for M.2 (I have one), install windows to go and boot from it. But then you are stuck with the amazing USB2 speed (or USB3 if you add a PCIE card) For that it is just better not to do it.

The best/fast way to boot is buying the Kingston Digital HyperX Predator. It uses 4 lanes. It is rated at 1400/1000 MB/s

The other way is to add a RAID card and having a few SSDS on RAID0

The cheaper and faster than USB would be to buy one of those cheap PCIe cards that will provide SATA3. It will use one lane and cap at the SATA3 speed: 500 MB/s max depending on the quality of your SSD.


Note: Not sure if you can raid using the PCIe to SATA3. If it is possible, you could get similar performance than the Predator using 2 SSDs on RAID0
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 04, 2017, 01:51:13 pm
Quote from: bulls4ever on January 04, 2017, 10:29:09 amThe cheaper and faster than USB would be to buy one of those cheap PCIe cards that will provide SATA3. It will use one lane and cap at the SATA3 speed: 500 MB/s max depending on the quality of your SSD.

That's what I did - there's a photo of it in the article. I chose it specifically because it allows you to boot from devices attached to it, which is what I'm doing.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 04, 2017, 02:02:10 pm
Quote from: bulls4ever on January 03, 2017, 11:38:02 am
Price of "real" LGA 2011-1 cpus (v2) has not dropped yet to a point it is worth. The ones that really matter are still at $1000+ range (used). Yes, it is possible to grab a low end 12 cores or V1 CPU for $200 and a "low end" motherboard as ASROCK for another $300. But to grab a motherboard with tons of PCIe and 16+ ram slots still cost $700+


Have you seen the stocklist from seller xtrememicro (http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/CPUs-Processors/164/m.html?item=272483964167&hash=item3f714f5507%3Ag%3AJXsAAOSwOtdYT02W&_ssn=xtrememicro&_sop=16) on ebay? They're mostly ES/QS but that wouldn't bother me.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 04, 2017, 04:46:31 pm
yes I have. I've seen some high end 2011-1 for as little as $200-300 but like you I'd not touch them.
I think it will take 2 years before it will be really worth upgrading this system and a year to start considering.




Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mtothaj on January 05, 2017, 01:56:10 am
Quote from: bulls4ever on January 03, 2017, 11:38:02 am
Lack of SATA3 is the other one but minimized if you can live with a single PCIe SSD instead of bunch of SATA3 SSD Raid. IMO PCIe is best option than SSD Raid0

Price of "real" LGA 2011-1 cpus (v2) has not dropped yet to a point it is worth. The ones that really matter are still at $1000+ range (used). Yes, it is possible to grab a low end 12 cores or V1 CPU for $200 and a "low end" motherboard as ASROCK for another $300. But to grab a motherboard with tons of PCIe and 16+ ram slots still cost $700+


For the Z800 a nice option is an Apricorn Velocity Duo PCIe card - this allows you to have the best of both worlds since you can attach 2x SATA3 SSD's to the card and use these in RAID0 (the card has a built in controller) for speeds of up to 800MB/s.

Regarding E5 v2 CPU's you are right - prices for the better SKU's are still very high. In the Z420 I currently have a E5-1650 v1 and since for my uses clock speed is more important than absolute core count I would like to update at some point to either the E5-1660 v2 or E5-2687W v2. However with current prices in the c.a. 1000 USD range I will just have to wait. In the meantime I have upgraded my RAM (full 64GB @ 1866mhz) but to be able to run at that speed I need a v2 CPU. The only decent enough deal at the moment is the E5-1650 v2 - in the 300 USD range, mostly out of the cylinder Mac Pro's, but this is a little too close in specs to what I have already.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dan on January 05, 2017, 05:09:27 pm
Quote from: mtothaj on January 05, 2017, 01:56:10 am
For the Z800 a nice option is an Apricorn Velocity Duo PCIe card - this allows you to have the best of both worlds since you can attach 2x SATA3 SSD's to the card and use these in RAID0 (the card has a built in controller) for speeds of up to 800MB/s.

Interesting find!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 05, 2017, 10:55:32 pm
My system is almost completed.
Waiting for 2x16gb RAM arriving Monday and my PCIe SSD

Other thing to mention is that video card placement is .. tricky .
I had to sandwich my Quadro K2200 between the GTX 1080 and the Titan X as it will not fit into the 1st slot and the last one causes issues with the plugs.

Also, the GTX 1080 on the bottom made the sata connections pretty hard.

I will resell my RAID card and buy a USB 3.1 card instead for the last slot.

Note 2: I bought the performance heatsink for the Z400. It fit nicely but I think its a bit wider making the RAM fan not sit as nice as it was before. Before it was very tight secured. Now it is a bit loose.

I will take a pic of the system this weekend.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dan on January 06, 2017, 03:34:07 pm
Big price drop on V2 Z800 board, if anyone want one. @$59
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Z800-WORKSTATION-SYSTEM-MOTHERBOARD-576202-001-MAIN-SYSTEM-BOARD-460838-002-/361853119728?hash=item5440206cf0:g:G-4AAOSwCEdYUBJE
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 07, 2017, 11:15:28 am
wow, $60 is a great deal.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 07, 2017, 11:20:33 am
I saw a z820 motherboard on ebay for $280. not too bad. then I read the seller comment ..

HP Assembly Part Number: 618266-001
Please note: per this HP part number, this system board does not support V2 Processors 

Is the z820 motherboard the same as z800 where some wont take V2 and some will?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mtothaj on January 07, 2017, 03:14:17 pm
Quote from: bulls4ever on January 07, 2017, 11:20:33 am
I saw a z820 motherboard on ebay for $280. not too bad. then I read the seller comment ..

HP Assembly Part Number: 618266-001
Please note: per this HP part number, this system board does not support V2 Processors

Is the z820 motherboard the same as z800 where some wont take V2 and some will?


Yes, all Z420, Z620, Z820 share this 'feature'.
In essence, hardware wise they are all the same. To run the V2 CPU's you would need to update the bios with an external programmer, taking both the ME and bootblock code from the latest version of bios (AFAIR its v. 3.91). The ME update is also needed, since from v. 3.88 HP added a 'functionality' where even if you have the 2013 boot block but the older 7.xxxx ME firmware the machine will fail to boot.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Dan on January 07, 2017, 09:32:22 pm
Quote from: bulls4ever on January 07, 2017, 11:20:33 am
I saw a z820 motherboard on ebay for $280. not too bad. then I read the seller comment ..

HP Assembly Part Number: 618266-001
Please note: per this HP part number, this system board does not support V2 Processors

Is the z820 motherboard the same as z800 where some wont take V2 and some will?


there's a seller from Taiwan has new Rev.3 z820 MB at same price; it should take v2 CPUs

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 07, 2017, 10:57:11 pm
tempting lol
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on January 12, 2017, 05:03:52 pm
Quote from: Chris on April 13, 2016, 02:39:56 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on April 13, 2016, 01:26:49 pm

Hi Chris, check out the new post in the comments section from user "ujt 80".


Much obliged! Fingers crossed (s)he is using the original hp 850w power supply.

Edit: Hopefully this will help others in the future - I went out and bought a Radeon R9-380 video card. The original 850w power supply runs it just fine.


I got an R9-290x on 2x 5675 + 96 gigs of ram.  No matter what I do (just 1 cpu/1ram/1gpu) it won't post.  but it posts fine with a 7850

I have everything in an original z800 case plus PSU.  Is the TDP on the r9-290x (250W) the issue?

Edit:  I tested the R9 290x out in my old system and it works flawlessly with a 650W PSU
Edit2:  The 850W isn't providing the 75W across the molex connectors provided
Edit3:  I will try to get sata to pci 6 pin adapters and try connecting it via the hardrive cage sata
Edit4:  No luck   :(. 

The r9 290x works perfectly fine in my old system but in the z800 it won't even post.  the 290x has a 8 pin to 2x 6 pin + 6 pin to 2x molex connectors which I plugged in.  In my old computer, my PSU already had dedicated wiring for a card like this. 
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 13, 2017, 08:53:33 pm
What is your CPU? With one 95w CPU a GTX 1080 was working on the original case
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on January 13, 2017, 10:45:41 pm
my CPU is an X5675.  I don't know if this matters or not but the GTX 1080 has a TDP of 180W. 

The R9 290X has a TDP of 250W. 

I'm assuming your GTX 1080 is only using the 8 pin or 2 x 6 pin since PCI interface provides 75W, 8 pin pci provides 150W and 6 pin pci provides 75W.   

Question for you all: Is it possible for me to run a 250W GPU (like my r9 290x) on 850W? 
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mtothaj on January 14, 2017, 12:06:37 pm
Quote from: denj on January 13, 2017, 10:45:41 pm
my CPU is an X5675.  I don't know if this matters or not but the GTX 1080 has a TDP of 180W. 

The R9 290X has a TDP of 250W. 

I'm assuming your GTX 1080 is only using the 8 pin or 2 x 6 pin since PCI interface provides 75W, 8 pin pci provides 150W and 6 pin pci provides 75W.   

Question for you all: Is it possible for me to run a 250W GPU (like my r9 290x) on 850W? 



What you are quoting is peak power draw figures. Even if the PSU was not man enough for the job (which I doubt is the case), the machine should still POST since power draw at that point is next to nothing.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on January 15, 2017, 04:45:47 pm
You're absolutely right!  But when I press the power button, the fans spin up to the highest rpm, it does a system check and just hangs...I don't see the bios load up as usual.  All I know at this point is that it's not receiving enough power to power the gpu. 

When I used the connectors from the gpu card box (2x 6 pin into and 8 pin pci + 2x molex into 6 pin), I noticed that one of the 6 pin molex connectors was loose.  I made sure it was firmly in place and plugged the molex connector into the wiring hanging by CPU 1.  A few of the times the PC turned on, it immediately shutdown and the molex connector with two (12V + ground) was extremely hot to the touch. 

My old card the 7850 would post and load up the bios after a little bit of delay which I assume is for checking the system stability




Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on January 16, 2017, 02:19:46 pm
Quote
A few of the times the PC turned on, it immediately shutdown and the molex connector with two (12V + ground) was extremely hot to the touch. 

That actually sounds like a short to ground which definitely results in immediate shutdown (done it myself while messing with a modified USB connector and accidentally shorted 5V to ground. Oops.). If you have a multimeter you could probe the resistance from 12V to ground as a check.

Quote
My old card the 7850 would post and load up the bios after a little bit of delay which I assume is for checking the system stability

Yes a fairly large startup delay is normal with this board. I guess it's belt-and-braces checks for workstation-class boards.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on January 16, 2017, 06:21:53 pm
Well I've tried everything I could possibly think of... DPS-850DB /// 850W cannot support a 250W GPU....no matter how many kinds of connectors I throw at it. 

:( >:( >:( :( :( >:( :( >:( :( >:( :( >:( :( >:( :( >:( :( :( >:(
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 19, 2017, 03:26:30 pm
On a hacked system I run GTX 1080, Titan X Pascal and a Quadro K2200 without any issues. System load isn't that much. I measure the watts and 850W should be fine. My PSU is 1000W but it doesn't even come close to it on usage.

The original PSU has different amps than my "hacked" one . I believe the 850W cant power dual 100W+ CPU
I think the problem is the GPU Power and PSU incompatibility: the connector wont give enough power to the GPU.

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on January 19, 2017, 03:30:15 pm
Quote from: denj on January 15, 2017, 04:45:47 pm
You're absolutely right!  But when I press the power button, the fans spin up to the highest rpm, it does a system check and just hangs...I don't see the bios load up as usual.  All I know at this point is that it's not receiving enough power to power the gpu. 


weird, Id only have the fans run at max speed when I moved the motherboard to a hacked case and didn't have the main cable attached: It does have a temperature sensor and without it the fans would spin at max speed no matter what. to solve the issue, I grabbed the cable and hacked it into my case.
I got busy and didn't take the pictures, but I will do it soon :)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on January 27, 2017, 12:14:51 pm
Quote from: bulls4ever on January 19, 2017, 03:26:30 pm
On a hacked system I run GTX 1080, Titan X Pascal and a Quadro K2200 without any issues. System load isn't that much. I measure the watts and 850W should be fine. My PSU is 1000W but it doesn't even come close to it on usage.

The original PSU has different amps than my "hacked" one . I believe the 850W cant power dual 100W+ CPU
I think the problem is the GPU Power and PSU incompatibility: the connector wont give enough power to the GPU.


Confirmed.  I didn't get a chance but I checked the manual thoroughly regarding the matter: 

http://h50146.www5.hp.com/lib/doc/manual/workstation/hp_workstation/504632_001.pdf

Page 157:

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: napkin_man on January 30, 2017, 03:32:19 pm
Hi all!  I thought I would share an album of my Z800 build.  Looking forward to checking out the rest of the forum and meeting other Z800 enthusiasts!

http://imgur.com/a/Uj6ts

Specs:
Chieftec Dragon Case
HP Z800 workstation motherboard
Dual Xeon X5677 processors (4 cores, 8 threads, 3.46GHz with 3.73 turbo)
Deep Cool Gammaxx 400 heatsinks
Apevia 80mm case fans
48GB 8500R ECC RAM
Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Reference
Corsair RM1000x PSU
Two Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Four Seagate 2.5" 500GB HDD
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: mtothaj on February 02, 2017, 07:50:58 am
Quote from: napkin_man on January 30, 2017, 03:32:19 pm
Hi all!  I thought I would share an album of my Z800 build.  Looking forward to checking out the rest of the forum and meeting other Z800 enthusiasts!

http://imgur.com/a/Uj6ts

Specs:
Chieftec Dragon Case
HP Z800 workstation motherboard
Dual Xeon X5677 processors (4 cores, 8 threads, 3.46GHz with 3.73 turbo)
Deep Cool Gammaxx 400 heatsinks
Apevia 80mm case fans
48GB 8500R ECC RAM
Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Reference
Corsair RM1000x PSU
Two Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Four Seagate 2.5" 500GB HDD


Looking good! Can ou advise where you ordered the custom I/O shield / back plate?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bulls4ever on February 03, 2017, 03:50:59 pm
custom I/O shield is pretty much the only thing left on my project.
If I were you Id dump the 48GB 8500R ECC RAM and get faster ones. It is just too slow and will bottleneck your CPUs

The Low Voltage ones are best as you can fill all the slots and not reduce their speed.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: napkin_man on February 06, 2017, 04:32:20 pm
www.ponoko.com is where I ordered the I/O shield from.

I'm on the lookout for faster RAM.  I was on a budget and didn't want to go over.  Plus, I got it all for $50 shipped.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vtinh0Souza on February 14, 2017, 02:34:08 pm
Hello
I looked at your design with the Z800 motherboard and I loved it.
I am Brazilian and I live in Brazil, here these dual socket cards are very expensive and the ECC memories are also, I wanted to know if it is possible to use non-ECC memories on this motherboard, my idea is to use two Xeon X5660 and 24GB of ram.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on February 15, 2017, 01:55:49 am
Quote from: Vtinh0Souza on February 14, 2017, 02:34:08 pm
I am Brazilian and I live in Brazil, here these dual socket cards are very expensive and the ECC memories are also, I wanted to know if it is possible to use non-ECC memories on this motherboard, my idea is to use two Xeon X5660 and 24GB of ram.

Hi, do a google search for "HP Z800 Memory Configuration and Optimization" and the first PDF result tells you the types of memory supported, which appears to be ECC and registered. 24Gb of PC10600 ECC is available for about US$50-70 on ebay with international shipping. Is there a problem with customs charges importing into Brazil?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vtinh0Souza on February 15, 2017, 02:06:44 am
It depends, sometimes it passes and they do not charge taxes, sometimes for and they charge pretty much the same value of the product.
Damn taxes
This motherboard is cheap here for selling little, since only those who have a Z800 buy it.
But the memories are absurdly expensive.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Vtinh0Souza on February 15, 2017, 02:26:51 am
Does this card fit the Thermaltake Core P3 or P5 enclosure?
Could someone pass me the motherboard bores? Maybe I'll design my office.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: LambdaFox on March 14, 2017, 11:19:44 am
You can upgrade to USB 3.1!

I bought a new ZTC ASMedia ASM1142 USB 3.1 pci-e card. I put it in slot 7.  When I booted up, I saw those old familiar memory errors from my H310 install. Covering pins 5 & 6 on the USB 3.1 card made the errors vanish.

I was then able to install the drivers in Windows 7 Pro 64-bit using the included mini CD.

Device Manager shows the driver to be version 1.16.23.0. 

I will post back if I notice any bugs.

Quote from: LambdaFox on December 05, 2016, 11:47:23 am
Update:  The DELL PERC H310 Can Be Hacked Into the Z800!  :)

Quote from: malefic on December 04, 2016, 04:51:49 am
HP P410 works fine, i used it on my build with the 512MB and battery backed cache, also used a HP P400 and the standard LSI controller...all worked with my SAS 15K HDD's....


While waiting for my new P410, I installed Windows on my hard drive RAID using the on-board controller.  That was slow slow slow.  Noticably slower than the H310 had been.  Did I mention it was SLOW???

This made me leary about using the P410 since it drops SATA down to SATA2.  So, I did a little more digging on the H310.

I found this discussion (http://yannickdekoeijer.blogspot.com/2012/04/modding-dell-perc-6-sas-raidcontroller.html) about the H310 preventing machines from booting.  Covering pins B5 and B6 with electrical tape solved my problem.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-prxE3A7XKhE/T5Mm8HIyE2I/AAAAAAAAATY/7E9roXHMrr4/s1600/2.png)

Some people in several discussions I saw were trying to change the firmware to LSI or other versions.  I am using the standard latest firmware and drivers from Dell.

The errors regarding the bad memory are now gone.  When I installed Windows 7 in spite of the errors, I noticed that the Intel controller did not show up in Device Manager.  I originally thought this was probably because I had all the SATA ports and the option ROM for the controller disabled in the BIOS.  This turns out not to be correct.  With this hack the Intel Controller now shows in Device Manager, where I have Windows disable it after boot.

I will report any glitches I find, but so far it looks good!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on March 18, 2017, 01:30:51 pm
If anyone's in the market for an internal USB 3.0 card that works without any glitches then I can recommend this one (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Port-19Pin-USB-3-0-Card-PCI-e-to-Internal-20Pin-Male-Ports-PCI-Adapter-Express-/272281859040?hash=item3f654373e0:g:rvgAAOSwjXRXafZM) from ebay. I use it to hook up the front panel ports on my case.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on April 14, 2017, 11:12:07 pm
Hi !

I'm wondering these post messages make pressing F1 a requirement: (http://andybrown.me.uk/wp-content/images/z800/warnings.jpg) ???

If yes, has anyone managed to get these ports "sensed".

I've just ordered a Z800 board and I need to get this problem solved, It'll be used as a server!
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Helgaiden on April 19, 2017, 02:30:54 pm
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 11, 2015, 03:29:24 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on September 09, 2015, 10:01:36 am
Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 07, 2015, 01:32:39 am
Here are more pics showing my Z800 MB fitted into a Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000 case with some fancy blue leds. The PSU is a TDPS-825AB from an xw serie desktop. The setup includes the temp sensor, firewire, usb connections to the front panel which silence many POST warnings about missing cables.  Now, only a back panel is missing, plus some fans providing input so to silence the POST warning about missing memory and rear fans. Job almost done :-)


Nice job, especially with the cables. The motherboard itself looks like a tight fit into the case. Did you drill your own holes in the motherboard tray to get it to line up correctly?


Thanks a lot: none of the original mainboard holes matched those on the case. First, I made myself a paper mask where i marked with a pencil the position of the holes in the MB, then I taped the mask to the case and drilled the metal. The result was a more or less good match of the 6 holes.

Now, this evening I fixed also the issue with the bios complaining about the missing memory fan. The original Z800 case had 2 rear fans, and the bios will complain if at least one of the TACH1 and TACH2 signals is absent. As my case has only room for one (big) fan, I modified the fan connector so that the TACH signal is split and reported to both TACH1 and TACH2 on the mainboard. The attached picture is taken from the rear, through an empty expansion slot, and shows the hacked fan connector (did something similar with the DASH connector) to silence another warning). FYI, the rear fan conn pinout is GND, +5V, TACH1, PWM1, TACH2,PWM2 from pin 1 to 6, where pin 1 is that closer to the expansion slots.Notice how pins 3 and 5 are connected together, whereas pins 4 and 6 are left unconnected as my rear fan is not PWM capable.


Quote from: Attilio Fiandrotti on September 13, 2015, 12:17:29 pm
And this is the adaptor I built to connect a standard 4-pin fan to the memory fan socket. it takes +12V, GND, two TACH signals and one PWM (one is left unused) from the mainboard. The two TACH inputs to the mainboard are driven by the same TACH output of the fan. That was enough to silence the BIOS warning about the missing  mem fan. And this was the last warning: now I boot straight into the OS without need to press F1 no more :-)


Hi Attilio. I have this same issue with the F1 errors as everyone else experiences but with a different motherboard. The Z620/Z420 model, to be specific. The 6 pin "fan header" on the rear of the board is for a two fan kit and the weird memory fan connector is a 6 pin type. Here is a picture of the board:

(http://imgur.com/a/XIWZB)

[heres the link in case the picture doesn't work]
http://imgur.com/a/XIWZB

Would this be something you can maybe help me with? I'd happily buy adapters like you made from you, that would be awesome.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Helgaiden on April 19, 2017, 02:39:19 pm
Quote from: msilveira on April 14, 2017, 11:12:07 pm
Hi !

I'm wondering these post messages make pressing F1 a requirement: (http://andybrown.me.uk/wp-content/images/z800/warnings.jpg) ???

If yes, has anyone managed to get these ports "sensed".

I've just ordered a Z800 board and I need to get this problem solved, It'll be used as a server!


Have a look at Attilio's posts on page 14
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on April 22, 2017, 11:37:55 pm
Quote from: Helgaiden on April 19, 2017, 02:39:19 pm
Quote from: msilveira on April 14, 2017, 11:12:07 pm
Hi !

I'm wondering these post messages make pressing F1 a requirement: (http://andybrown.me.uk/wp-content/images/z800/warnings.jpg) ???

If yes, has anyone managed to get these ports "sensed".

I've just ordered a Z800 board and I need to get this problem solved, It'll be used as a server!


Have a look at Attilio's posts on page 14


Thanks a lot Helgaiden.

I've just looked into Attilo's posts and I wonder:
1.) How the heck does the MB sense the Front USB connection?
2.) Any pictures of this thermistor? Any specs? Type? NTC ? PTC ?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on April 22, 2017, 11:43:55 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on April 23, 2016, 12:51:51 am
Quote from: lvoigt on April 20, 2016, 03:09:43 pm
Can anyone help me with determining what temperature sensor is used in Z800 (thermistor) power switch/speaker cable assembly?

Hi, Check out this post (http://andybrown.me.uk/forum/index.php/topic,14.msg368.html#msg368) further back in the thread.


Hi Andy, I think the url reference is invalid.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on April 23, 2017, 12:10:54 am
About the cable sensing, I know it's by grounding the "detect cable" pin...
About the thermal sensor, here's some insight: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/HP-xw-SERIES-THERMAL-SENSOR-TRANSISTOR-SWAP-TUTORIAL/td-p/5156011 (http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/HP-xw-SERIES-THERMAL-SENSOR-TRANSISTOR-SWAP-TUTORIAL/td-p/5156011)
Pretty simple, huh? I just have to check for pinout in xw series service manual.

I've just got my board, it had some bent socket pins on CPU1, I'll fix it later when I get my hands on some test CPUs...
BTW, it's rev 03 :)

But I'll try to find a way to disable the BIOS BootBlock WP, I have all the tools to hack it and get it back in one piece. ;)

Of course I'll get it running before messing around  :P
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on April 23, 2017, 04:25:45 am
Quote from: msilveira on April 22, 2017, 11:43:55 pm
Quote from: Andy Brown on April 23, 2016, 12:51:51 am
Quote from: lvoigt on April 20, 2016, 03:09:43 pm
Can anyone help me with determining what temperature sensor is used in Z800 (thermistor) power switch/speaker cable assembly?

Hi, Check out this post (http://andybrown.me.uk/forum/index.php/topic,14.msg368.html#msg368) further back in the thread.


Hi Andy, I think the url reference is invalid.


Yes it's invalid. It's Attilio's post on page 11.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Helgaiden on May 03, 2017, 04:18:53 pm
Quote from: msilveira on April 23, 2017, 12:10:54 am
About the cable sensing, I know it's by grounding the "detect cable" pin...
About the thermal sensor, here's some insight: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/HP-xw-SERIES-THERMAL-SENSOR-TRANSISTOR-SWAP-TUTORIAL/td-p/5156011 (http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/HP-xw-SERIES-THERMAL-SENSOR-TRANSISTOR-SWAP-TUTORIAL/td-p/5156011)
Pretty simple, huh? I just have to check for pinout in xw series service manual.

I've just got my board, it had some bent socket pins on CPU1, I'll fix it later when I get my hands on some test CPUs...
BTW, it's rev 03 :)

But I'll try to find a way to disable the BIOS BootBlock WP, I have all the tools to hack it and get it back in one piece. ;)

Of course I'll get it running before messing around  :P


All the tools to hack it? Like to modify the BIOS and flash a modded BIOS back to the board?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on May 06, 2017, 03:32:07 pm
Quote from: Helgaiden on May 03, 2017, 04:18:53 pm
Quote from: msilveira on April 23, 2017, 12:10:54 am
About the cable sensing, I know it's by grounding the "detect cable" pin...
About the thermal sensor, here's some insight: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/HP-xw-SERIES-THERMAL-SENSOR-TRANSISTOR-SWAP-TUTORIAL/td-p/5156011 (http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/HP-xw-SERIES-THERMAL-SENSOR-TRANSISTOR-SWAP-TUTORIAL/td-p/5156011)
Pretty simple, huh? I just have to check for pinout in xw series service manual.

I've just got my board, it had some bent socket pins on CPU1, I'll fix it later when I get my hands on some test CPUs...
BTW, it's rev 03 :)

But I'll try to find a way to disable the BIOS BootBlock WP, I have all the tools to hack it and get it back in one piece. ;)

Of course I'll get it running before messing around  :P


All the tools to hack it? Like to modify the BIOS and flash a modded BIOS back to the board?


Yup. But there's another topic about the BIOS hacking. I'm a bit inclined to give up on this because, unfortunately, even a second hand board is very expensive in Brazil.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on May 06, 2017, 03:48:43 pm
About the Main Power connector....
Did you notice that the manual's connector drawing doesn't match the official molex pins? ( Square / Chamfered )
Open the "HP Z800 Workstation Maintenance and Service guide" at page 220 and compare with molex's official 3d drawing for the 18 pin mini fit: http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/adobe3D/39-01-2180.pdf (http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/adobe3D/39-01-2180.pdf)
Should we reallly discard HP's drawings?

I'm a bit paranoid about this....
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 28, 2017, 01:13:33 am
Just wanted to point this out incase other people missed it, but after lots of research into wondering why one of my USB 3.0 cards wasn't achieving full speed I finally discovered that PCI Express Slot 3 is NOT PCI Express 2.0. It is 1.1, so it runs at half the speed.

All the other PCI Express slots on the board are 2.0... just not that one. Very weird.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: knightcrusader on May 28, 2017, 12:54:48 pm
Quote from: knightcrusader on May 28, 2017, 01:13:33 am
Just wanted to point this out incase other people missed it, but after lots of research into wondering why one of my USB 3.0 cards wasn't achieving full speed I finally discovered that PCI Express Slot 3 is NOT PCI Express 2.0. It is 1.1, so it runs at half the speed.

All the other PCI Express slots on the board are 2.0... just not that one. Very weird.


So after pouring through the Intel schematics and docs, I finally figured it out. Others might have already known but it didn't really click until just now.

Our board is a Dual IOH board, which means it has two I/O Hub controllers (the 5520 chipsets). I only thought boards could have one chipset like this, but I guess I learned differently now.  ???

Each Intel 5520 can support 36 PCI Express 2.0 Lanes in x16/x16/x4 configuration. The ICH10R (southbridge) I/O Hub provides an additional PCIe 1.1 interface at x8 width and a traditional PCI bus, not to mention 12x USB 2.0 ports, 6x SATA II, and audio.

On our machines, the gigabit ports are connected to the southbridge I/O hub via PCI Express x1 for each port, and the firewire is attached to the traditional PCI bus.

I found a block diagram in a publication that HP released comparing the Z800 to the Z820. I modified it to add which slot is which on the diagram and am attaching it to this post.

There are a few things I found puzzling about the design:
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: roadrage99 on June 18, 2017, 08:56:01 am
I am piecing together this project now,  i have everything in the case and hooked up.  my issue is that when i plug in the PSU, the CPU heatsink fans immediately kick on and never go off, power button is unresponsive.  i have tried removing the power button cable and the same issue persists.  The PSA is an EVGA 850 G2.  Anyone have a suggestion for this one?

Thanks
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bobdj_Z800 on June 28, 2017, 09:50:22 am
Hacked Z800 in its "own" case

Unfortanely long before Andy's great article I started hacking my Z800 in its own case.
I had a problem with the loud sound of the machine when I bought it. I like very quiet machines.

These are my mods that I made long time ago.

- CPU coolers 2 Noctua CPU coolers NF-B9-1600
adjusted the existing screws too lenght too fit the noctua
also I had to cut the memory fan holder plastic so the Noctua coolers could fit.
- 2 fans Coolink 92mm SWiF2-92P for back
- 2 fans Coolink 92mm SWiF2-92P for HD case
- 2 fans Coolink 80mm SWiF2-80P for power
- the memory fans are still factory, because of the pins and no color of the fan cables.
(This is something I still need to change. If somebody has an idea how too fit them in please let me know. see image about connector diagram)
(http://i.imgur.com/HWe3UgVl.png)

The system works many years very stable without any issues.
After this mod the machine noise was acceptable. Nevertheless when in idle (from BIOS setting) the sound is actually what I want.

So I checked the ambient sensor temperature, it seems ok, in BIOS it shows some temperature.


Therefore I am not sure wether to change the transistor in the front cable.

So when the Fan Idle Mode in Thermal setting in BIOS is the highest (7 blocks) that is the fan speed all the time.
Only at startup the system is sounding like 1 block in Fan Idle Mode in Thermal.
After 30 seconds when the OS is loaded the fans start speeding full speed and sound like the 7 blocks in BIOS.

Doe anybody have a suggestion for lowering the speed of the fans.

I have read about the Noctua na-src7 Low-Noise Adaptor, or should I still be changing the ambient temp transistor?
Noctua low-noise-adapters link: http://noctua.at/en/products/accessories/na-src7/specification (http://noctua.at/en/products/accessories/na-src7/specification)
ambient transistor post: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktops-Archive-Read-Only/HP-xw-SERIES-THERMAL-SENSOR-TRANSISTOR-SWAP-TUTORIAL/td-p/5156011 (https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktops-Archive-Read-Only/HP-xw-SERIES-THERMAL-SENSOR-TRANSISTOR-SWAP-TUTORIAL/td-p/5156011)

The images of the hacks speak for them self.

BIOS Settings
(http://i.imgur.com/mvo664Jl.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/A9ChW0gl.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Q2t6YYDl.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/YGLqcDXl.jpg)

Sensor temps
(http://i.imgur.com/w82pd5ul.jpg)


HD case fans
(http://i.imgur.com/js4miYdl.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/i4wqPECl.jpg)

Adjusted screws CPU cooler
(http://i.imgur.com/Zi4BrYzl.jpg)

Back fans
(http://i.imgur.com/PaAtDQBl.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/rQSsUlLl.jpg)

Fans used Coolink SWiF2-80P and SWiF2-92P
(http://i.imgur.com/pvuYs3zl.jpg)

Memory fans with cut-to-fit plastic
(http://i.imgur.com/w7gaIlBl.jpg)

Noctua CPU coolers
(http://i.imgur.com/TxbR6kBl.jpg)


Thanks!

My System:


System:    Host: archz800 Kernel: 4.9.29-1-lts x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:   Device: desktop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Z800 Workstation
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 0AECh v: D BIOS: Hewlett-Packard v: 786G5 v03.57 date: 07/15/2013
CPU(s):    2 Hexa core Intel Xeon X5650s (-HT-MCP-SMP-) cache: 24576 KB
           clock speeds: max: 2661 MHz 1: 1596 MHz 2: 1596 MHz 3: 1596 MHz 4: 1596 MHz 5: 1596 MHz 6: 1596 MHz
           7: 1596 MHz 8: 1596 MHz 9: 1596 MHz 10: 1596 MHz 11: 1596 MHz 12: 1596 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GT200GL [Quadro FX 4800]
           Display Server: N/A driver: nvidia Resolution: 209x55
Audio:     Card Intel 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.9.29-1-lts
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom Limited NetXtreme BCM5764M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe driver: tg3
           Card-2: Broadcom Limited NetXtreme BCM5764M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe driver: tg3
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 6001.2GB (2.7% used)
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0C mobo: 33.0C gpu: 52C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 683 fan-2: 1980 fan-3: 1878 fan-4: 1982
Info:      Processes: 252 Uptime: 13 min Memory: 1514.4/48286.4MB Init: systemd Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.8

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on June 28, 2017, 12:37:08 pm
Quote from: bobdj_Z800 on June 28, 2017, 09:50:22 am
Unfortanely long before Andy's great article I started hacking my Z800 in its own case.
I had a problem with the loud sound of the machine when I bought it. I like very quiet machines.

[...]

Does anybody have a suggestion for lowering the speed of the fans.


Hi, have you tried setting up a SpeedFan profile? Instructions here:

http://andybrown.me.uk/forum/index.php/topic,113.0.html
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: bobdj_Z800 on June 28, 2017, 11:03:07 pm
Forgot to mention, the machine is a multi OS setup. Windows 7 & 10, archlinux and macos(hackintosh). So I was looking for a more low level solution.
(Your links are not working.)
Thanks
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: jesustadeo850 on July 08, 2017, 03:04:39 pm
Hi everyone, i've been following this post and forum (Thanks Andy!) to build my setup, I did almost two years ago, it's a modest build, -002 board, 2x E5540, 24GB RAM, Quadro 2000. Everything worked fine at first except for the PSU, I was using a Delta Electronics 1050W (DPS-1050CB A), it was defective and couldn't hold the current at first, so I had to turn my system on several times until it remained on, when it was working it was completely stable. This situation worked for about 6-7 months, until the PSU finally died, the 12V rails started to raise up to +12.5V and then turned off completely.

My system remained unusable until now when I was able to buy another PSU, this time a Delta Electronics 800W (TDPS-825AB), which I saw in the forum, someone was using and it worked great. The problem I have right now is, my system boots and works for some time and suddenly shutdowns, using or not using the CPU/GPU power, just happens randomly, I've discarded the PSU, also removed one set of CPU/RAM (swapped them too) and also tested with another basic GPU.

Finally I was testing with the PSU_ID signal, adding a small load, but after I removed it, a MOSFET (presumably) exploded. I wonder if anyone could let me know the part of this component (Q150) on the board -002. Also if anyone had a problem similar to this.

Also have to mention my board seems to be sulfated in some areas, which is weird, anyone had the board sulfated? I live in Venezuela, maybe is something related to the humidity in the air.

Thanks!

(http://i.imgur.com/upkwcw9.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/4XZIDD3.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7LPUMm6.jpg)
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Andy Brown on July 09, 2017, 02:57:20 pm
I think the destroyed part is probably an OnSemi NTD4809N - photo attached of the same part on my V2 board. I'm not sure about that residue on some of the other parts. My first reaction would be to say that its stuff that was thrown out by the explosion but it looks from your photo like those parts were shielded from the blast by one of those inductors or maybe more things have exploded than we can see here.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on July 10, 2017, 06:57:51 pm
Anyone tried to flash the onboard SAS controller to IT mode?
I
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on July 21, 2017, 02:09:32 pm
Quote from: msilveira on July 10, 2017, 06:57:51 pm
Anyone tried to flash the onboard SAS controller to IT mode?
I


I have created a zip with the necessary files to flash the onboard 1068E to IT mode.
Here: https://www.livreti.com.br/itfiles/1068E-Z800.zip

Just unzip this file to any DOS bootable usb and run hbaFlash.bat.
It will start a menu based flash process, you need to answer some questions:

Y - for backup
2 - for 3081 ( this is the same as LSI SAS1068E)
e - for pciexpress
t - for ti mode
6 - for B3 rev.( I bet all Z800 use the B3 rev. )
F - to confirm flash
Y - mismatch vendor id or product
Y - write IT over IR firmware

Or rather simply type: "sasflash -o -f  3081ETB3.fw -b mptsas.rom"
AFAIK, the mptsas rom is not really necessary ( I know it is troublesome with M1015 / PERCH200/300 9211-81 crossflashing ), unless you really want to boot off from a HDD connected to the onboard 1068E.

And it's done, now you have a total of 8 SAS ports working in HBA mode, or 14 SATA in HBA mode  ( 8 LSI1068E + 6 Intel AHCI ) 8)

Now you can play a bit with FreeNAS and lots of disks ;D
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on July 26, 2017, 06:40:19 pm
Hi all.
I'll soon post my build, in a week or two.

But now, I REALLY NEED an information about the DPS-1050CB PSU.
I just got one, used, and I need to know a simple thing: Is it normal for this PSU ( or DELTA/HP's PSUs  ) to turn on when powered without the 24pin ATX connected to a Mb?
If I plug mains without a mb connected, it turns on, as if shorted GND + PSU_ON pins.
If I plug mains, with the 24pin ATX connected to the mb, it works as expected.

Is this behavior correct? I need to know before I pay the dealer.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on August 02, 2017, 09:02:34 pm
Hi all, I'm working on an "not-so-official" pinouts guide for the Z800 mb and I'd like you attention to P91: MEMORY FANs: fisrt attachment

Please help me fulfill the "P91 MEM FANS" pinout and I'll post the complete pinout guide WIP for review.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: msilveira on August 02, 2017, 11:03:10 pm
Here's the final WIP, awaiting for review/P91 pinout confirmation.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: denj on September 06, 2017, 06:33:06 pm
Quote from: bobdj_Z800 on June 28, 2017, 09:50:22 am
Hacked Z800 in its "own" case

Unfortanely long before Andy's great article I started hacking my Z800 in its own case.
I had a problem with the loud sound of the machine when I bought it. I like very quiet machines....


Great mod!  I was looking forward to doing this to my own case as well!  How is the noise profile under 100% cpu and gpu load?  And do you have sufficient airflow?
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Urschnak on September 26, 2017, 01:26:35 pm
Quote from: msilveira on August 02, 2017, 11:03:10 pm
Here's the final WIP, awaiting for review/P91 pinout confirmation.


I found the information you are looking for on page 8 in this thread:

Memory fan is from top left to right:

PWM, PWM, TACH
TACH, 12V, Ground

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Urschnak on November 10, 2017, 11:25:56 am
Hi

Does anybody know, how to regulate the fans: front, rear and ram with fanspeed?
The cpu-Fans work perfekt, but i can not get access to the other fans.

Thanks for help

Tom
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: cpudreamer on December 15, 2017, 03:43:09 pm
Quote from: msilveira on July 21, 2017, 02:09:32 pm
Quote from: msilveira on July 10, 2017, 06:57:51 pm
Anyone tried to flash the onboard SAS controller to IT mode?
I


I have created a zip with the necessary files to flash the onboard 1068E to IT mode.
Here: https://www.livreti.com.br/itfiles/1068E-Z800.zip

Just unzip this file to any DOS bootable usb and run hbaFlash.bat.
It will start a menu based flash process, you need to answer some questions:

Y - for backup
2 - for 3081 ( this is the same as LSI SAS1068E)
e - for pciexpress
t - for ti mode
6 - for B3 rev.( I bet all Z800 use the B3 rev. )
F - to confirm flash
Y - mismatch vendor id or product
Y - write IT over IR firmware

Or rather simply type: "sasflash -o -f  3081ETB3.fw -b mptsas.rom"
AFAIK, the mptsas rom is not really necessary ( I know it is troublesome with M1015 / PERCH200/300 9211-81 crossflashing ), unless you really want to boot off from a HDD connected to the onboard 1068E.

And it's done, now you have a total of 8 SAS ports working in HBA mode, or 14 SATA in HBA mode  ( 8 LSI1068E + 6 Intel AHCI ) 8)

Now you can play a bit with FreeNAS and lots of disks ;D


This is an impressive batch file. Im most curious about 6- for B3 Rev.  Is this going to take my Rev-002 board and make it a Rev-003 ?
If so i am full of glee ;D Let me know for certin.  id love to be able to pop in some X56xx Westimere chips in my bad boy 
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: b1Ack on July 03, 2018, 09:42:52 am
In case somebody try to repeat process stated in main article and will go this far to read.
This info can save you a good PSU or MOBO, just your luck decides what will burn if do things wrong.
And this can be related to lot of other brand PCs, Z600 definitely too, lot of HPs and some DELLs maybe.

!!! NEVER CONNECT 5V (pins 1 and 10, direct on one side of 18 pin connector) FROM 18 PIN MAIN POWER TO YOUR PSU OUTPUT !!!
Just because that's not a power input, but output from DC-DC converter on board. To power HDDs, I guess.
If your PSU is modern and have separate DC-DC converters for 5 and 3.3V and you connect it to that 5V - sooner or later something will die. Your PSU or board. And it will happen anyway. If it's something older with ferrites-based stabilization - ok, PSU most likely can withstand this, but I will not sure about board. Just because it's very bad idea to connect different switching power supplies in parallel, without synchronization, without balancing load (just thick wires in this case - not enough), especially two push-pull DC-DC based on MOSFETS (just like one already present on board).
What to do right? Just not connect that 5V to ATX PSU in any way. You don't need it. Your drives will get power from another place.

About memory 5V power - I'll think it's better to feed it from 5Vsb (if you have it power enough) or at least via schottky diodes to not get current back to your PSU in any way (and potentially get not working some sleep modes).

How update bootblock ?
I'm surprised that lot of people was looking for right rev.003 full image, not looking what we have - a /B option for DOS flasher. Just used it and my bootblock became a new one with 2018 BIOS version in some time. And - process look really long and looks like it hang. For more than minute. No progress, no numlock reaction - nothing. Don't panic, read what you have on screen, all fine, obey and go make some tea and not look on this f***ing thing - and it will end and be ok.

About other stuff (F1 warnings, right type speaker, ambient temperature sensor) - here is some pictures how to make it think all is fine.
Just needed two fans of any type (3-4pins) for front and rear.
https://imgur.com/a/Yhf95RC
Yep, that's chieftec LBX/LCX chassis, board fit there good enough, but will need few extra holes for HPTX standoffs and some metal cut out for fit power connector and maybe one side of COM port.

In text brief:
USB 8+10        |    Front Audio 2+4    |    1394 11+12 (and pull out pin 11 to use default case header)
Rear fans 3+5   |   Mem fans - thke both TACH and solder it to pin 3 of front fan 2 (2nd show itself in BIOS monitor, 1st - not, so I choose 2nd).

Front panel 2+4 Power LED - put there 2pin opposite dual color LED matching your case size. Just for errors indication. Simple way to see how it works - pull out video card and turn on without it. And wait few dozens of seconds.

Ambient sensor - just take TO-92 2N2222A (or any modern low-power single NPN transistor in TO-2 case without resistors inside) and connect its emitter to pin 12 and soldered together base and collector to pin 11. What profit? You will may use simple PWM case fans and it will rule them. Only PWM, here is no voltage control at all. Picture is for DELL, HP looks like have already onboard all other little stuff except transistor.

Why big speaker? This thing have audio amplifier onboard. You don't need anything additional to watch youtube now xD
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: fisk on September 11, 2018, 06:33:55 am
New user on the forum and new owner of a bargain HP Z800 002 in HP case(850w psu), boot block date 01-30-09.

did the HP bios update through HP's Windows tool (v3.61) and now running 2x X5650 without further mods. so far boots up every time.

build breakdown
HP Z800 with 2x X5550 and 40gb picked up @~£110
16gb extra ram (was cheaper than just buying 8 ) £30
2x x5570 (for safety) and 2x x5650 shipped @~£55
6x 1tb sata drives @£35
GPU nvidia 740 (free, from the stash)


now all i need is recommendation on a better cheapish GPU as it wont boot with HD6970, HD 6950, HD4890x2, GTX 280, GTX 280.
im thinking something like 1050 maybe a rx560, what would be the max tpd i can use with the 850w psu

kind regards
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: redeyeninja on November 18, 2018, 07:19:09 pm
Thanks to Andy and this forum, I've embarked on refitting a Z800 into a larger case with room for 17 HDD + 2 SSD and NVME PVI-e boot from a m.2 drive, for a total of 20 drives, hosting a 75tb [physical] Windows Storage Spaces single node array.

I have written out a how-to on booting from a generic/amazon PCI-e/NVME adapter and m.2 drive:

https://steemit.com/hp/@fobio/load-win10-on-nvme-pci-e-on-hp-z800

Currently, I'm tackling the F1 boot prompt for various missing pieces from knightcrusader's post:

http://andybrown.me.uk/forum/index.php/topic,14.msg351.html?PHPSESSID=mi0vs2bst08m691utbni83qka6#msg351

One of the first hurdles was to tame the fans that I have migrated over for now from the Z800 case, namely front chassis and memory.  I plan to eventually swapping them out once I finish wiring the adapters but for the long term, I would still have to solve the temperature sensor issue.  Instead of hacking and wasting the oem front panel cable, I bought some  2n2222a temperature sensors off amazon in TO-92 size and arduino crimping set.  And instead of wiring and soldering, I was able to just crimp C and B together for Pin # 11 [grey] and crimp E for Pin #12 [brown] and pushed them into a 2-pin Dupont housing...plugged it in and the fans are spinning normally now.  Here's a pic of the transistors:

https://www.digikey.ca/en/articles/techzone/2017/dec/transistor-basics

Once I get the rest of the parts, I'll tackle the memory, fron chassis, rear chassis and maybe the heatsinks.

Also, by hiding the 1394 port in BIOS under Security, I was able to eliminate it from alerting in the F1 prompt.  I may do that for the USB headers as well, since I have a USB3 card that can power/connect to the front USB3 port on my case.  Btw, I'm using a Fractal Design XL R2.

Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: plattfuss1972 on January 29, 2019, 07:46:44 am
Hello everyone.
After rescuing old Z800 from being dumped (bad PSU), I decied to give It a go with something new.
How to fit ATX PSU into HP Z800 on top.
After cable and case mod, this is what came out:

Plattfuss & Bigfoot co.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: plattfuss1972 on January 30, 2019, 08:38:31 am
Quote from: b1Ack on July 03, 2018, 09:42:52 am

How update bootblock ?
I'm surprised that lot of people was looking for right rev.003 full image, not looking what we have - a /B option for DOS flasher. Just used it and my bootblock became a new one with 2018 BIOS version in some time. And - process look really long and looks like it hang. For more than minute. No progress, no numlock reaction - nothing. Don't panic, read what you have on screen, all fine, obey and go make some tea and not look on this f***ing thing - and it will end and be ok.




No luck for me.
BootBlock remains 01/30/09.
What CMD line must I use to upgrade bootblock with flashbin.exe?  :-\ :-\

Regards
Plattfuss & Bigfoot co.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: plattfuss1972 on February 13, 2019, 08:07:56 am
CPU Cooler alternative for HP Z800.
LC-Power's LC-CC-120-LiCo Liquid cooling fits like a glove on original CPU heatsink nuts.
https://www.lc-power.com/en/product/cpu-cooler/lc-cc-120-lico/
Same goes for normal Air cooling LC-CC-120.
https://www.lc-power.com/en/product/cpu-cooler/lc-cc-120/
Using It's standofs for AMD fit and 3mm washer on top, then using bracket for Intel 115x, It works perfectly.
Combinig standofs from LC-CC-120-LiCo and everything else from LC-CC-120, I got this...
Temperature droped from 47C (stock cooler) to 34C (LC-CC-120) in idle, and from 59C (stock cooler) to 48C (LC-CC-120) under full load...
Running 2x Xeon E5520.
Next step, BIOS chip change (rev 001 BootBlock to 003 BootBlock) for 2x E5645.
Title: Re: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: gio321 on March 13, 2019, 04:49:02 am
First of all, many thanks to Andy and everyone here for the great tips that helped me build my own hacked Z800 based machine.

It's housed in a Nanoxia Deep Silence 5 and it's happily running 2 x x5680's with the 003 M/B.

Corsair H55 AIO liquid coolers fit perfectly without any mods.
I got 2 Corsair factory refurbished ones for £35 each (for the UK based people) and they are running fine.

The PSU is the COOLERMASTER SILENT PRO 1000W and I made my own memory and M/B cables by following Andy's and b1Ack's instructions (a few posts above) and did not connect the +5V pins on the 18pin cable. It's running fine with 48GB of RAM.

I'm running a Mojave osx based Hackintosh system with 2 x PCIe NVME drives and 9 x HDDs all working fine both on Intel and the SAS controller (plenty of drives in apple soft raid config as I'm using it as a music studio workstation).
Graphics is the Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB and I also got a USB 3.0 PCIe card.

Again thanks all.
Title: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Kamswomy on August 06, 2019, 05:30:29 pm
Oh Really important The ICSP header on the dev board is NOT the standard Microchip pin out. Youll need to know how to wire a cable.

ISCP connector details
   Code:
Title: Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case
Post by: Kamswomy on August 07, 2019, 02:38:10 pm
Oh Really important The ICSP header on the dev board is NOT the standard Microchip pin out. Youll need to know how to wire a cable.

ISCP connector details
   Code: