Workstation rebuild, proprietary PSU mobo issues, heeelp

[DisscoStu]

Recently bought an HP Z220 workstation dirt cheap, mostly because it had an almost new 3570 in it. Since I've been slowly upgrading it, working great, no issues, until my new PSU arrived today (in prep fora new GPU, currently 400W, new EVGA 600W bronze), and noticed my mobo and psu have an 18 pin power connection, never seen this, looked it up, totally proprietary BS. So as I see it....

1. Buy an 18 to 20 connection (worried this new psu is going to blow up my whole rig)
2. I can put the 20 pin on it, with 2 sliding off to the side ( this seems crazy, blow up the rig issue)
3. Deal with it, maaaybe get a GTX 960 under 400W (not the up to 390 i want, or who knows down the line)
4. Take out the cpu, buy a new mobo (and at that point most likely a new case). I've never taken a cpu out of a mobo after heatsink etc, is this risky?

any advice would be great, things were going so well for diiirt cheap, now I hit this huge bottleneck, tear =(

 

[Suppressor1137]

News to me on the 18 pin bit.

That said, 400 watts is plenty for a 960, so long as the psu has the extra plugs that clip into the gpu.

No, it is not risky to remove a cpu from a mobo unless it is BGA(soldered to the board), in which case it is impossible without extensive knowledge of the hardware.

If it is LGA(Which it probably is.), take proper anti-static measures, plop off the heatsink, pull out the cpu by the edges, avoid contact with the heatspreader and the pads on the bottom to reduce the chance of oil on your skin from increasing thermal levels. Place it on a non conductive surface*such as plastic or wood* while you get your new motherboard installed. Plop in, plaster on thermal paste or pad, install heatsink, make sure heatsink doesn't wobble, and start up the pc. Check temps to ensure proper Heatsink installation.

A reformat is recommended when installing new hardware to reduce the amount of potential issues involving the OS and registry, but not required. In your case, you have a new gpu coming, and potentially a new mobo, so I recommend a fresh OS install.


idk what workstation it is, but they do sell things like this

check to see if one exists for you!

 

[DisscoStu]

Thanks for the reply, never heard of an 18 pin either until a few days ago. My original goal here was to build the worlds cheapest 1080p gaming pc, and run some media servers, the original workstation (HP z220) was just under 150, so was well on my way. (i5 3570, xmas gifted 850 evo, xmas gifted cruical ballistix sport 16gb).
My thought about taking the cpu out and starting fresh makes this lil experiment sort of null, and i might as well start from scratch. Not to mention I forgot to say that the physical hole for the old psu is big,strange,and proprietary also (so if I installed any new psu, there is going to be some gap in the plastic, not a huge deal, but another reason to maybe use the orig psu). However like you said, I found several 3rd party adapters (24->18, so I cooould make it work)

I wanted the new psu mostly to allow for wider array of cards (380/390s need more than the 400W), but if Ican get away with an OC 960 at 400w total, I'm fine with not replacing.) My worry is I've heard you should never get toooo close to max watts, meaning if the 960 brings me up over 300-350ish, I'm worried about risking stability

 

[HankB]

That's one reason I stay away from AIO style PCs from the big manufacturers. They're big enough to manufacture custom components like PSU, motherboard and perhaps even video adapters. It saves them $$$ compared to using standard components. You'll spend a little more up front purchasing standard components but you'll have a lot more flexibility when it comes time to upgrade parts. You may also have fewer options for BIOS settings as they will typically be preconfigured for the components available at time of manufacture.

Of course there are always situations where technology changes and upgrading one part requires upgrades of others. Can't upgrade to a Skylake CPU without a new motherboard and (from what I hear, if you're smart) DDR4 RAM. And my small collection of AGP video cards are not so useful today. OTOH the 8 1/2 year old PC Power and Cooling PSU is still working well and has carried me through several Mobo/CPU generations. And I just purchased a modular replacement for it. It just has more cables than I need and they just get in the way.

Good luck with your upgrade!

 

[DisscoStu]

thanks man, you are more right than you know. I checked alooot about this before I bought and everything seemed unproprietary, all components anyway. Never thought to check out the damn psu size and pin connection, who heard of 18???

but you're totally right, buyer beware, do that research. Ive decided I'm going to get the adapter and fit the psu I bought, going to be a hassle, but worth it to avoid stability

 

[xrror]

So possibly good news for you. I did a quick image search for HP z220, and the few pics that showed the side off it looks like the OEM power supply is built by Delta... which is a (VERY) good thing.

So the stock PSU is probably a very solidly rated 400w. Which in my experience with Delta OEM supplies... means it's probably overrated so that's 400w 100% at 50c lol. This was HP's workstation market afterall... OEM's tend to actually care about those, vs. the "race to the bottom Wal-Mart box."

Just my 2 cents. Take a look at the OEM PSU, tell us if it says who made it. If it's the Black Triangle it's probably Delta.