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Hacking an HP Z800 motherboard into a standard PC case

Started by Andy Brown, November 01, 2014, 04:53:46 am

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Andy Brown

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.
It's worse than that, it's physics Jim!

Andy Brown

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).
It's worse than that, it's physics Jim!

Dieapy

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.?

badboy2

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.



Andy Brown

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. Using a CPU that's not in the list runs the risk of it not POST-ing at all.
It's worse than that, it's physics Jim!


Marco Silva

January 12, 2015, 12:01:21 pm #21 Last Edit: January 12, 2015, 12:03:44 pm by Marco Silva
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




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)


Andy Brown

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.
It's worse than that, it's physics Jim!

Dieapy

January 14, 2015, 06:41:43 am #23 Last Edit: January 14, 2015, 07:52:43 pm by Dieapy
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

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

Marco Silva

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?!

Andy Brown

January 15, 2015, 01:58:33 pm #25 Last Edit: January 15, 2015, 02:04:55 pm by Andy Brown
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.
It's worse than that, it's physics Jim!

Andy Brown

I just updated the main article with my experiences of adding a second X5680 and taking it up to 48Gb of RAM.



It's worse than that, it's physics Jim!

Marco Silva

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!



dimare

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.


Andy Brown

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 :)
It's worse than that, it's physics Jim!