Cracking Open the HP Z820 Workstation

HP Z820 Workstation teardown

\n\tDesigned for mission-critical, high-end computing tasks, the HP Z820 Workstation is one of the most power computers you can fit under your desk. In this gallery, I show you how HP packed all that tech into a near tool-less case.

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\n\tFor a detailed analysis of the teardown, check out my article and video, HP Z820 Workstation: Tool-less case makes teardown a snap.

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\n\tPhoto by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
\n\tCaption by: Bill Detwiler

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Hardware specifications, dimensions, and pricing

\n\tPricing starts at $2,299 (US), but the final cost depends heavily on how you configure the machine–512GB of RAM isn’t cheap.

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\n\tOur test unit had two 2.0 GHz Intel Xeon E5-2620 processors with liquid cooling, two NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB graphics cards, 32GB DDR3-1600 (16x2GB), a 500GB 7200RPM SATA HDD, and a 16X SuperMulti DVDRW SATA optical drive.
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\n\tPhoto by: Bill Detwiler / TechRepublic
\n\tCaption by: Bill Detwiler

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Front

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Rear ports

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Top handles

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Holding a handle

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Bottom skids

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Side panel latch

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Side panel latch key

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Opening the case

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Motherboard diagram on side panel

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Memory installation diagram on side panel

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Internal hardware

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Removing the power supply unit (PSU)

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: 1,150W power supply

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Power supply cooling fans

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: I/O section shroud

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Removing the I/O section shroud

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: I/O section shroud removed

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Graphics cards and expansion slots in the I/O section

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Motherboard and memory cooling assembly in the case

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Removing the motherboard and memory cooling assembly

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Motherboard and memory cooling assembly removed

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Motherboard and memory cooling assembly (six separate fans)

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Removing the HDD rails

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Storage rails removed

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Optical and upper drive bay latch

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Disconnecting the optical drive cables

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Releasing the optical drive and upper drive bay latch

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Sliding out the optical drive and empty drive bays

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Optical drive and upper drive bays removed

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Removing the graphics cards

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: NVIDIA Quadro 4000 video cards

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Removing the I/O cooling zone fans

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: I/O cooling zone fans removed

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: I/O cooling zone fans

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Motherboard, processors, memory, cables and a near empty case

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: 2.00Ghz Intel Xeon E5-2620 processors

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: HP Liquid Cooling Solution

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Four memory banks (up to 512GB of RAM)

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Expansion slots

Cracking Open HP Z820 Workstation: Completely disassembled