HP EliteDesk 705 Mini G3 Notes

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Patrick

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Just putting together some notes.
  • AMD A6-8570E is a dual core two thread CPU. Very slow.
  • Inside, there is an AM4 socket
  • There are two SODIMM DDR4 slots. I have 2x 8GB DDR4-2400 modules installed for 16GB in these units
  • Networking is Broadcom NetXtreme 1GbE. I do not have Wi-Fi on these
  • Two DP outputs plus a VGA output. I would have preferred a HDMI to make TV as monitor usage easier
  • USB 3 with charging on some ports, but no USB-C. The EliteDesk 800 G2 had USB-C
  • Inside there is a 2.5" SATA bay that is easy to access
  • There is a small WLAN M.2 slot as well as a M.2 storage slot
  • Fans spin up at boot, but I have not heard the fans sitting 4 feet away from three of them
  • For me, Windows 10 Pro license worked and activated no problem using the embedded license. That means RDP is working (see below)
Upgraded to Windows 10 Pro 1909 and working on the Windows May 2020 2004 update over RDP:
1591380094511.png
 
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PigLover

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The second DP port on that should be on a replaceable FlexIO card - easily replaced by an HDMI module. Assuming you can find the right part number it should be available for ~$20 or less.

Also - you could always use a DP-HDMI cable...
 

Patrick

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@PigLover DP-HDMI is what I will do, just a pain to have to grab one of those cables.

@BoredSysadmin there are a lot of applications that really do not need that much performance. A good example is sometimes I just need little cluster nodes. I was thinking of using three of these to setup a basic Proxmox or k8s cluster. My thought now is actually using WSL2 and seeing if I can get a Windows Desktop for browser testing plus a 3-node k8s cluster started.
 

Marsh

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Not the same. Similar concepts, my tiny cluster using HP 800 / 600 G2 mini

Here is my BOM
HP 800 / 600 G2 dm mini , $35 barebone without PS ( if you lucky, seller give you a PS )
I5-6500T $75
2 x 16gb DDR4 SODIMM , $40 each total $80 for 32GB ram
1 x nvme 256 SSD , $20 each
total: $210

Extra USB-C to 1 gb network adapter , $15 at amazon, will try the USB-C to 2.5 gb network
Extra 2.5 SSD

Nice about the HP 800 /600 G2 series, It comes with vPRO for remote management.
For G1 series , HP 600 G1 does not have vPRO , only HP 800 G1 elitedesk models has vPRO

My tiny cluster,
Old pictures showing mix HP 800 G1 and HP G2 mini , the one with USB-C is G2 model.
I just replaced all the HP 800 G1 with G2 model.
TinyCluster.jpg
 
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Patrick

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I think that is the right idea I ordered a few different units today. I will see how this goes.
 

Patrick

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Got a Ryzen 3 or 5 APU hanging around? Would love to see if they can be upgraded down the line.
I don't! I had one that I sent to @William I believe a long time ago. Going to see if I can buy one. May need the "pro" version though. I did also order a Ryzen 3 PRO 2200GE based G4 so maybe I will try that too.
 
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WANg

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Ok, so this project has expanded slightly.

On the EliteDesk 705 side:
  • EliteDesk 705 G3 Mini with the A10-8770E is inbound for comparison purposes
  • Athlon 200GE arriving today to try out in the 705 G3's
  • EliteDesk 705 G4 Mini with Ryzen 3 Pro is inbound
Expanding a bit EliteDesk 800's:
  • EliteDesk 800 G2 Mini inbound
  • EliteDesk 800 G3 Mini inbound
  • EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini arrived. It had a 500GB hard drive, however, it also had a HDMI port so that was a big win.
Lenovo as well:
  • Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q Tiny is inbound (@William reviewed the M720q)
Hm...interesting. Why an m710q Tiny instead of a similar m715q tiny Gen 2? Figure you would want to do a like-for-like comparison of 2 Ryzen corporate NUCs...Also, wanna include the HP t630, t640, and t740 thin clients in this project as well? The t630 is ridiculously cheap (around 70-100 USD with best offers accepted) and compares well with the 705G3 (assuming that the 705G3 can't be upgraded to Ryzen), assuming that you have spare laptop RAM and M2 SATA SSDs lying around. The t640 is faster than the t730 (around the same as a Ryzen 3 3200U) and can be had for 175-200 on best offers. It can also be a good deal. The t730 was on offer for about 120 earlier last month, but those offers seemed to have dried up - for the current offer price of 175-200, that's not worth it.
The t740 performs similar to a Ryzen 5 2400GE model (Vega 8 instead of Vega 11, though) but with a PCIe slot and limited SRIOV capabilities. Previously known best offers on evilBay is 350-400, with a previous CDW offer going for ~275. There is a clearance now on CDW for 420 or so.
You are more than welcome to use my writeup on the t740 as a comparison point...
 
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Patrick

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@WANg just going to see if we can make interesting content from this at all. If so, will turn it into a series and can keep doing them.

After Cooper there is not much else until Ice/ Milan which I am guessing is Q4. So have to figure out some content for Q3. Few will want 1st/ 2nd gen servers reviewed the quarter before Ice/ Milan platforms launch. Cooper I just do not think is going to be huge for STH reviews.
 

WANg

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@WANg just going to see if we can make interesting content from this at all. If so, will turn it into a series and can keep doing them.

After Cooper there is not much else until Ice/ Milan which I am guessing is Q4. So have to figure out some content for Q3. Few will want 1st/ 2nd gen servers reviewed the quarter before Ice/ Milan platforms launch. Cooper I just do not think is going to be huge for STH reviews.
Oh no, this is actually fascinating. Data center equipment is a no-go in my home, and the smaller/cheaper/more efficient the gear I bring home, the better it is for my overall sanity. That's why I like the idea of running things off thin clients and corporate NUCs, especially if they punch above their weights in the size/price/performance categories. I am pretty sure I am not the only one...
 
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Patrick

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Three of these units arrived today, two HP and one Lenovo.

Added Dell.
 
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Patrick

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Sorry for the smartphone picture. 8 units are now in.

Mini Nodes Project.jpg

The top ElitDesk is the 800 G4 model. The bottom ones are the 705 G3's except the top left with the USB-C port. That is an 800 G2. So we have USB-C on the 800 G2 but not the 705 G3.

I wonder if this now needs a new thread/ project name?

Going to cover this all now in Project MiniMicro
 
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PigLover

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Yes - you need a project thread for this. I'd love to see you build (and document) a k8s cluster, complete with HA controllers and rook/ceph for persistent storage. Yes, I know that with a single 1G NIC ceph would be less than ideal for performance.
 

PigLover

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BTW - can you run them stacked this way w/out overheating? IIRC, the primary vent panel is on the top.