some HP Z4 G4 and Z6 G4 questions...

[Twice_Shy]

So i've finally entered the 'closer to modern' era having gotten a couple used workstations that aren't from decrepit past eras. And i'm considering going back for another Z4 maybe in a few days depending what I find out.

First computer is an HP Z4 G4 workstation from 2019, had a 4 core xeon w-2123 and 32gig ram 2666 speed and a p4000 quadro in it.

Second computer is an HP Z6 G4 workstation unknown year, has the 2nd cpu/memory assembly, a pair of xeon gold 5118 12 core cpus, 64gigs of ram 2400 speed (4 of 12 slots), and a p4000 quadro.

I'd seen other Z4's on the shelf using the consumer i7 cpu's as well though it was confusing me because several of them were using an older cpu NOT on the HP QuickSpecs - i7-7820x. All the computers seem bought as a lot/arrived together so it made me wonder whether this is like some other workstation motherboards which had v1 and later v2 motherboards with different support/that may or may not be fixed by a BIOS update. (and yes i'm aware there are two different Z4 mobos in terms of workstation xeon cpu or HEDT consumer-ish cpu)

Looking at HP QuickSpecs https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c05527757.pdf for the G4 I first note that the X-series cpu (for the Z4's I dont have) doesn't even LIST a 7th gen intel as supported yet thats in there. I'm pretty sure there are v1 and v2 motherboard revisions because someone else had this problem https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Busin...-Systems/Z4-G4-Processor-upgrade/td-p/9372400 and the only reason i'm not posting on the HP boards is a few times i've tried in the past seems to have a difficulty being seen and responded at times so I figured i'd try here if someone has more experience. I don't actually see a v1 of HP specs linked from there/they all seem to link to the newer v2 model with comet lake cpus and such.


Is there someone here more of an expert in the Z4 by chance to get up to speed faster? My biggest questions were both not being 100% sure what I got (hard to find v1 info on the Z4, no idea if the Z6 also had multiple mobo revisions) and therefore not sure what I can potentially upgrade things to in terms of cpu, memory, and all that. I didn't know if the v1/v2 mobo also applies to the W-series workstation xeon board which I have of the Z4 or only the X-series version with the X299 chipset.

 

[zachj]

I’ve got the z6 g4

It can run all manner of awesome stuff. What do you want to know?

 

[Twice_Shy]

Mine is a G4. I guess my top questions are, do you know if there are different revisions of motherboard which in any way affect compatibility with cpu/mem/etc? It seems older HP's (z440 I think) had v1 and v2 motherboards, and someone suggested that may be the case for Z4 but I can't verify that because others on the HP forums haven't heard of that.

Are there not officially supported but working cpu's, memory speeds, or memory sizes? (i'm more familiar with Dell than HP but it was a thing where certain older workstations could run 64gig chips even tho they only said 32gig was tested and similar)

Any great forums or sites besides the HP forums themself to use to learn more?

Any PSU upgrades or wierdness to be aware of? Like some Dell Precisions used a proprietary PSU physically the same but there was an internal wiring difference where you could slide in a 1300w psu but the internal wiring was different on the higher wattage 7000 series workstations.


I'm wanting to use this for Proxmox for 2-4 users and stuffing it full of cards - with dual x16, one x8, and three x4 I dont know if it will be gpus, SSD cards, or if I can put anything in any available slot vs if there are internal limits where you run out of pcie lanes just like the consumer boards where an SSD disables a certain slot or something.

 

[zachj]

Inside of the side panel you’ll see a motherboard diagram and it’ll tell you how many lanes each slot gets. I think it may also tell you power limits per slot but in general you should trust the PCIe standard (ex: an x16 slot provides 75w).

I can’t comment on the power supply being custom pinout but I’m certain the internet could tell you. The fans do use custom pinouts.

The g4 definitely does support undocumented configs. In my Z6 I’m currently running a Xeon Gold 6268CL, 4x512GB optane pmem dimms and 2x128gb 2666mhz lrdimms. I’ve got an nvidia tesla A10, two U.2 drives and a fistful of SATA ssds. I’ve got the 2x10gb x710 add-in module for networking as well as the thunderbolt add-in card.

this thing is a total beast.

 

[cageek]

I have both Z4 and Z6 G4. Both have custom PSUs.

The Z4 for the X-series (less common) is a different motherboard than the Skylake-W. The Z4 G4 takes the W-21x0B cpus from the Apple Mac Pro 2017? - which have gone for cheap on eBay from time to time. Z4 goes up to 128GB memory (8x16GB) without a memory fan.

If you're planning to run 2 processors on a Z6 definitely try to buy an existing dual CPU setup as the extra parts tend to be very expensive separately. Same goes for running over 32GB on the Z6 - the memory fan is required and costs $s to get separately.

 

[Twice_Shy]

The Z6 came with a dual cpu setup which is one of the reasons that I got it. If I never do anything useful with the extra cores I might even part that out or sell that part of it while keeping the rest of it.

I’ve got the 2x10gb x710 add-in module for networking as well as the thunderbolt add-in card.

Could you tell me about the thunderbolt card? Did it come with it when you got it or did you add it later? I can't remember if it was Dells or HP's that I read about 'needing' a thunderbolt card to come from the factory or something disabled in the bios that wont allow it later... could be BS... could've been older models/hard to keep track of everything i've read for years and then I can never find where I read it again it seems. : P

Adding TB to either Z4 or Z6 would be highly desirable to me, if I could find what I needed. (it's a card, and a special cable I think which is harder to find maybe, and.. anything else?)

 

[zachj]

I believe this is it. I didn’t pay nearly this much for it—I paid $58–and at the current prices there’s no way in hell I’d buy it…needs a cable. Not sure this comes with one and lord knows by itself the cable is a gazillion dollars.

Pardon Our Interruption...

The part number is L83263-001