Source
r/buildapc•
TimAtamlibtoim

SSD compatibility with z400 workstation

Solved!

First off, apologies if this isn’t the best place to ask.

I have an HP z400 workstation that I’d like to install an ssd in as my boot drive. As the board doesn’t support SATA 3 natively I understand I’d need to use PCIe.

A person in this thread appears to have had success using a PCIe SATA control board. I have found what I assume to be the same thing here - am I correct in thinking this will work?

Assuming it would work (and I have the mounting screws and a 2.5-3.5 adapter for the drive bay) is there anything I need to look for/avoid specifically when selecting the ssd itself or will any 2.5” ssd work?

Finally, I’m looking for a ~500Gb drive, any recommendations?

Thank you in advance

Posted Mar 28, 2020, 5:49 PM UTC

56
jakepi84•

Should work, but not 100% sure it would be bootable. Worst case return the adapter and use the onboard SATA II. You might lose out in raw bandwidth but an SSD will still perform much faster then a regular HDD.

I've had good luck with Samsung, Western Digital, and Intel SSD. Bad luck with PNY and Adata. They are all pretty good now a days, good luck!

2
TimAtamlibtoimOP•

Thanks for your help, think I’ll see how I fare with the onboard SATA. Cheers

1
Grover786•

I have one of these at work and I put my 2.5" evo in it. It saw it as just another normal drive.

2
silva5•

I have 2 SATA3 SSD (Crucial MX500) installed on my Z400 without any issue. You do not need to utilize PCIe at all.

2
TimAtamlibtoimOP•

Sorry I should have been clearer, the board is only capable of SATA2 speeds, around 3Gb/s as far as I can tell. In order to utilise the full 6Gb/s of SATA3 I believe you need to go via PCIe or some other method. But I’m happy to be proven wrong as I imagine it’ll be much less of a headache.

1
TimAtamlibtoimOP•

I have done some more research and it seems that it won’t make much difference for my use so think I’ll avoid the headache and go straight to the onboard SATA. Thanks for your help.

1