Double the processing power of your HP server

Jan 26, 2016 12:00 GMT  ·  By

HP Microserver Gen8 is a hardware jewel as far as construction, options and price are concerned. It's perfect for a small business or a personal NAS.

It is officially equipped with two Intel Pentium Celeron Processors (G1610T and G2020T) and a Xeon E3-1220L v2.

The Celeron version got very cheap last year, but the Xeon one is still an expensive option. The good news is that, at the end of 2015, HP released a new BIOS version and official support for a new processor: Intel i3 3240.

This is a powerful processor compared to Celeron and even Xeon, and you can find it at a rather low price on eBay. It has four cores and it supports ECC Memory, contrary to the official Intel Ark information.

The thing is that the original processors have passive cooling, and the Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 35W (Celeron) or 17W (Xeon), but the i3 has a TDP of 55W!

You might wonder how powerful the i3 3240 is compared with Celeron and Xeon. Well, the i3 3240 is 65% more powerful than the G160T and 18% more powerful than the Xeon.

Other Hp Gen8 Microserver Processors
Other Hp Gen8 Microserver Processors

Other supported processors and their performance can be studied here (source: Homeservershow)

I've used the original passive heat sink on my Celeron, and in idle state, the temperatures rise to 35 degrees Celsius. On high load, I've reached 60 degrees, which posed no trouble for me. You can always increase the case fan speed via BIOS settings. I run on minimum fan speed.

Warning: This will void your warranty!

Let's swap the processor

1. Download the latest BIOS (J06 07/16/2015) and the latest iLo4 v2.44.

In order to upgrade BIOS and iLo, you must connect the iLo interface via Ethernet and use the login information on the label attached to your server.

Go to Administration - Firmware. Use the same form to upgrade iLO and BIOS. After that, restart the server!

HP Gen8 BIOS and Ilo Upgrade
HP Gen8 BIOS and Ilo Upgrade
2. Read the HP Microserver Gen8 Service Manual on how to detach the motherboard.

It's pretty easy, but if you have any doubts, be a man and read the manual. It is the safe way to go and could spare you some headaches.

3. Detach the Heat sink and the original processor.

As you can see in the image, the contact between the heat sink and the processor is imperfect. It can be improved, if you have the skills to lap the heat sink.

4. Clean the heat sink, the original and the new processor with isopropyl alcohol, Articlean or even the ordinary sanitary alcohol. It will do the job.

i3 3240 processor
i3 3240 processor

I've used sanitary alcohol and, in the end, some glasses tissues that contained isopropyl alcohol.

5. Apply the thermal paste. Use a good one, I used Arctic Silver 5 (3.5gr) for instance.

There is an entire debate regarding the proper way to apply the paste: line, X, central point pattern etc. I prefer using a spatula to try and spread the paste evenly. I'm old school.

Apply thermic paste
Apply thermic paste

6. Put back the heat sink and connect the wires. Start the server.

It should work perfectly with your new processor. Watch the temperatures. If you need to increase the case fan speed, don't forget to save those settings as the new Defaults in BIOS!

7. If you want active cooling on the new processor, there are some options, but you need more than average skills with the wires.

I use HP microserver Gen8 as a personal NAS. I've installed Xpenology and encountered no problems in the last two years. I do not use the B120i software RAID option.

Updated 23.03.2017 with new supported processors.

Photo Gallery (9 Images)

i3 3240
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