Question Converting HP Workstation Z2 G4 Desktop to an emulation machine

[JS3516]

Hi All,

I'm getting an HP Z2 G4 for free and wanted to turn it into an emulation machine, mostly for Dolphin. The exact spec is a 5DU92UT#ABA. I'm familiar with the concept of PC building but have never built one myself or done any work with PC hardware besides changing RAM. The plan is to be able to run at least 4K60, preferably 4K120 on my living room TV.

From what I can tell it comes equipped with:

i7-8700
Nvidia Quadro P1000
500W Power Supply
16GB DDR4 2666MHz Ram
512GB SSD

After doing some reading it seems like the P1000 only has mini-display port and I'd need a mini-display port to HDMI adapter to run it on my TV. Researching these adapters, they can push 4K30 at best. My TV does not play nice with games if the signal is under 120HZ, so while I'd prefer the signal is 120hz I can deal with playing at 60hz

For that reason, my thoughts were:

Sell the P1000 and get a used or open box GPU
I have 16GB of old 3200 MHz Corsair RAM that I was going to try and use, not sure if compatible
Get a Thermalright Assassin X120 cooler for the CPU (I assume it will fit but will need to measure)

Does anyone have thoughts or suggestions for anything different? I don't know if the PSU has a 6 pin or 6+2 connector to run a powered card, so I've been looking at used 1650's and open box 3050 6GB cards. It looks like I can get a 1650 for $80 and saw a couple open box 3050 6GB for around $130. I'd ideally like to spend under $100 total after accounting for selling the P1000. I've read that Nvidia plays nicer with Dolphin than AMD but if that's not true I could look at some AMD options

any help or advice is appreciated, thanks!

 

[TerryLaze]

If the mobo has video output I would try with the iGPU first, fewer parts to deal with less heat and noise. It can do 4k@60FPS but it won't be able to run dolphin games "upscaled" to that resolution, I don't think a 1650 could either, maybe the 3050.

 

[NedSmelly]

P1000 is capable of driving 4x displays at 4K 60Hz. It's not specced to go above 60Hz though. The trick is finding a good quality mini-DP to DP 1.4a adapter *and* DP to HDMI2.1 cable - but it can be done.

 

[JS3516]

If the mobo has video output I would try with the iGPU first, fewer parts to deal with less heat and noise. It can do 4k@60FPS but it won't be able to run dolphin games "upscaled" to that resolution, I don't think a 1650 could either, maybe the 3050.

yeah I might try that first and see how it looks/feels. Ideally I'd like to play upscaled but it might not be a dealbreaker.

 

[JS3516]

P1000 is capable of driving 4x displays at 4K 60Hz. It's not specced to go above 60Hz though. The trick is finding a good quality mini-DP to DP 1.4a adapter *and* DP to HDMI2.1 cable - but it can be done.

OK good to know. It looks like I could do that for about $40. I'm thinking I might be better off just getting a 75W card since at that point I'm already buying things I don't have, while I do have a few HDMI 2.1 cables. I have my regular PC currently hooked up by a 25' powered HDMI cable and it took me 3 tries to find a cable that would actually do 4k120. im not sure if I want to deal with the trial and error again on an adapter and cable.

I'm hoping the PSU still has a 6 pin or 6+2 so I have a few more options, I should have the PC later this week and I'll find out. They have 3-4 machines so I might just see if I can take them all and just sell them or the CPUs and GPUs to increase my budget a bit.

 

[NedSmelly]

I have my regular PC currently hooked up by a 25' powered HDMI cable and it took me 3 tries to find a cable that would actually do 4k120.

Yep - at that length, an active cable is pretty much mandatory.

I'm hoping the PSU still has a 6 pin or 6+2 so I have a few more options, I should have the PC later this week and I'll find out. They have 3-4 machines so I might just see if I can take them all and just sell them or the CPUs and GPUs to increase my budget a bit.

I have a Quadro, and when new they came with miniDP-to-DP adapter dongles in the box. So I'd pester the seller to throw in a couple. Then all you'd need is something like this ($30 USD).

 

[JS3516]

Alright so I got the PC yesterday and it does have a 6 pin and a 6+2. So of course I went over budget.

OEM HP New Old Stock 2060 - $125
3 Thermalright Case Fans -$11
2 Magnetic Dust Filters for 120mm Fans -$7
Coolermaster i30 CPU Cooler -$13

Total with tax and shipping: $165

I plan on modding the case this weekend for the fans. I'm going to lay the PC on its side so it fits in my media console. I'm thinking one fan on the front and one on the "side panel" as exhaust. I'll keep the third fan as a spare

I was going to go with a used RX6600 to get hmdi 2.1 support but I'll just roll with 4K60.

 

[JS3516]

Well it works

Top down
https://ibb.co/PFr7VSY

Speed holes for extra horsepower
https://ibb.co/7Q2Tk9v

Bigger speed hole
https://ibb.co/Lxnq2xg

A little jank but I'm happy with it. I cut the holes with the mobo in so I was a little worried I'd end up bricking it. I just put a piece of wood behind the panel when drilling and was as careful as I could be. Downloading Cyberpunk to check temps now. GPU is idling at 36C

I left the stock HP cooler on because the cooler I bought didn't look any better. I'll see how it does and then reevaluate.

edit: OK it's getting the new cooler tomorrow. 90C in the Cyberpunk menu lol

 

[artk2219]

Well it works

Top down
https://ibb.co/PFr7VSY

Speed holes for extra horsepower
https://ibb.co/7Q2Tk9v

Bigger speed hole
https://ibb.co/Lxnq2xg

A little jank but I'm happy with it. I cut the holes with the mobo in so I was a little worried I'd end up bricking it. I just put a piece of wood behind the panel when drilling and was as careful as I could be. Downloading Cyberpunk to check temps now. GPU is idling at 36C

I left the stock HP cooler on because the cooler I bought didn't look any better. I'll see how it does and then reevaluate.

edit: OK it's getting the new cooler tomorrow. 90C in the Cyberpunk menu lol

Hah, it looks good, you could probably find a grill or something to put over that hole you cut in the front. But it seems like it's gotten some good upgrades from when you got it.

 

[JS3516]

Hah, it looks good, you could probably find a grill or something to put over that hole you cut in the front. But it seems like it's gotten some good upgrades from when you got it.

Thanks! I'll probably leave the front alone since I'm not too concerned about the looks.

I didn't realize I'd have to remove the motherboard to put another cooler on it -_- I don't feel like taking it apart so I just repasted it. Got the Cyberpunk menu down to 70C at least. Hits 100C with a lot of NPCs and action, though. GPU temps are great, didn't go over 70C and was mostly low 60s.

Temps in Dolphin aren't too bad. Mid 70s to low 80s for most titles. Wind Waker sits at 72. NFSMW got up to 93C though.

I have another fan leftover so I'm debating putting it directly over the CPU as intake but I'm not sure if that will just make things worse. I thought about cutting a hole over the existing cooler and throwing a mesh guard over it but even with the side panel off it doesn't run much cooler. I should probably just learn how to take the motherboard apart and get a real cooler.

I'm also going to look into undervolting. I'm not sure if I'll be able to because of the BIOS. I tried using FanControl and a couple other programs to ramp up the CPU and case fans but they don't show anywhere and there's no fan settings in the BIOS. HWinfo doesn't even read the fan headers

 

[JS3516]

Well I think the hardware portion is finally situated. I cut a hole in the side panel and added an exhaust fan, and flipped the original exhaust fan to intake. So I'm pulling in fresh air from 3 sides and expelling it through the new "top"

Down to 93C peak during heavy gameplay. I might still try and learn about undervolting to see if I can get that down into the 80s.

As a computer to just play emulated games it's not a bad system. Definitely would not recommend anyone to try and convert one as their main gaming rig, though. Not being able to set the fan speeds is definitely holding it back a bit.

 

[Daniel9033]

Well I think the hardware portion is finally situated. I cut a hole in the side panel and added an exhaust fan, and flipped the original exhaust fan to intake. So I'm pulling in fresh air from 3 sides and expelling it through the new "top"

Down to 93C peak during heavy gameplay. I might still try and learn about undervolting to see if I can get that down into the 80s.

As a computer to just play emulated games it's not a bad system. Definitely would not recommend anyone to try and convert one as their main gaming rig, though. Not being able to set the fan speeds is definitely holding it back a bit.

I did the same thing also I think you can change the idle fan speed in the bios what I did with my upgrade was I got a 650watt psu then I bought a rtx 3060ti the temps are pretty high so I put the power limit on 80% now it’s only at 75c but the one thing that bothers me is that the cpu doesn’t boost to 4,6 ghz