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Eh, if you want H265 and on the relative cheap, that’s either one of the HP Ryzen thin clients (540/640/740) or the Wyse 5070. The GPU on the t730 is GCN2 and doesn’t do H265 decoding in hardware.
No flipping idea - the ASM1806 is, what, a PCIe to SATA bridge chip, so it's a multi-SATA drive setup?
Okay, but what does the actual card look like? it's a PCIe 3.0x2 Key M slot, but there's no guarantee that it'll work.
I’m actually looking into doing the same thing. Running multiple HDDs with one of these cards: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNoTxkC
It has a Marvell chip in it which is both a SATA to PCIe bridge and a SATA controller. The one I linked to actually supports up to 8 drives which is bonkers.
Yeah, but where do you plan to get power for the 8 drives? There's no molex or SATA power in the thin client, and considering that this is a low wattage, passively cooled thin client sitting on a non-standard board, you'll be lucky to tap the power rails for more than a single drive without impacting stability. Those port multiplier boards also require a heatsink (with decent airflow) to stay viable in a small box.
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I've been using two of these as HTPCs for a while now and I'm very very happy with them.
Had some eBay gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, and just managed to snag another one of these for $64 (sans PSU and OS). Not sure what I'll do with it, lol, but couldn't pass it up.
Had some eBay gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, and just managed to snag another one of these for $64 (sans PSU and OS). Not sure what I'll do with it, lol, but couldn't pass it up.
Yeah, it's a nice little machine to mess around with. I gave mine away to a buddy of mine, but am contemplating buying another one.
LOL, I had forgotten that I bought another one a few months ago and have no idea where I've stashed it away. Going to have do some hunting tonight, I guess.
Anyway, I noticed that the option port is listed in the guide as "HP FlexIO for the option port" - does that mean the "HP 10GBase-T Flex IO (56Q71AA)" module from the "Perfect Project TinyMiniMicro Pushing a 1L PC as a Server Concept" article would work in the T640? Anyone able to test this or brave enough to give it a try?
No. Different model series, different form factor - the connector on the port is not compatible.
Yeah, I got a little too excited reading that. I've tried many times over the last couple of years, but I've never been able to turn up a model number or part number for the T640's HDMI option port. Nor even any units on eBay that had it already installed. Not that I actually need it for my HTPC use case, since a DP to HDMI cable works just fine (once I found the right kind to use to get 4K HDR passthrough to work).
I did a (very silly) thing...
That's an SK hynix 128GB NVMe SSD, in an M.2 Key A+E to Key M adapter, in the Wifi card position.
And then that's a M.2 NGFF to 7-pin SATA adapter in the SSD slot, connected to a 4 TB SATA SSD that's been stripped of its usual 2.5" plastic casing, with a USB to SATA Power cable routed from a USB port in through the Kensington Security slot (this particular SSD uses 5V only).
The main purpose of this will be as an in-car, self-contained Plex media server and Plex HTPC player to keep the kids occupied on long road trips. The 128GB SSD is for the OS, the 4 TB SSD is for media.
Why didn't I just use a 4 TB NVMe SSD and call it good? That's a good question, which I don't have a good answer for, other than "I wanted to see if I could do it..." (well, that, and I had the SATA SSD on hand already and 4 TB NVMe SSDs are still a bit too pricy for this project).
That's an SK hynix 128GB NVMe SSD, in an M.2 Key A+E to Key M adapter, in the Wifi card position.
And then that's a M.2 NGFF to 7-pin SATA adapter in the SSD slot, connected to a 4 TB SATA SSD that's been stripped of its usual 2.5" plastic casing, with a USB to SATA Power cable routed from a USB port in through the Kensington Security slot (this particular SSD uses 5V only).
The main purpose of this will be as an in-car, self-contained Plex media server and Plex HTPC player to keep the kids occupied on long road trips. The 128GB SSD is for the OS, the 4 TB SSD is for media.
Why didn't I just use a 4 TB NVMe SSD and call it good? That's a good question, which I don't have a good answer for, other than "I wanted to see if I could do it..." (well, that, and I had the SATA SSD on hand already and 4 TB NVMe SSDs are still a bit too pricy for this project).
I just snagged another T640 on eBay. The listing pictures show that it has the elusive HDMI option port module, which is why I jumped on it (got the last one). I'll do some testing with it when it gets here and post more info on it in case anyone is still curious about it for these little guys.
Just arrived! Initial pic:
More shots when I find the right screwdriver...
Has anyone successfully installed an HP Flex IO 1GbE NIC (L04211-001 / L19376-001) into an HP t640 Thin Client?
I'm trying to determine whether the HP PCA FlexIO NIC 1P 1GbE module (spare L04211-001, PCB L19376-001) is compatible with the HP t640.
What I already verified:
Thanks!
Bonus question: are all HP Flex IO Ethernet modules electrically compatible across EliteDesk/ProDesk Mini and Thin Client platforms, or does the t640 use a different implementation despite the identical 100-pin connector?
I'm trying to determine whether the HP PCA FlexIO NIC 1P 1GbE module (spare L04211-001, PCB L19376-001) is compatible with the HP t640.
What I already verified:
- The t640 motherboard has a 100-pin internal expansion connector labeled COM1_DP.
- The Flex IO NIC module also uses a 100-pin connector.
- Mounting hole locations appear to match the t640 standoffs.
- Physically, the module looks like it should fit the rear expansion area of the t640.
- Whether the t640 BIOS officially supports this module.
- Whether anyone has actually tested this exact combination.
- Whether the module enumerates correctly under Linux, Windows, Proxmox, ESXi, etc.
- Installed L04211-001 (or L19376-001) in a t640.
- Seen it detected by BIOS/OS.
- Confirmed whether it works as a second Ethernet interface.
Thanks!
Bonus question: are all HP Flex IO Ethernet modules electrically compatible across EliteDesk/ProDesk Mini and Thin Client platforms, or does the t640 use a different implementation despite the identical 100-pin connector?
Unfortunately, the mounting holes for the Flex IO modules and the T640 modules are not the same. You can see in the photo in the post above yours that the two on the T640 module are both the same distance back from the edge of the board, but on the Flex IO module, they are different. This auction has a good shot of the underside of the board where you can see that: NEW SPS PCA FLEX IO NIC 1P 1GBE for HP 405 705 Z2 G4 L04211-003 L19378-001 AMD | eBay
Edit: reference photos (T640 module is the USB-C module from the T640 sitting in my desk drawer, FYI):