Dual channel for the use-cases stated above isn’t important. Typically it’s more important to have the extra capacity.
I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Some of my HP 290s are in dual channel, some are in single channel.
Since around Westmere or so, dual channel generally works with mismatched DIMMs; e.g., with 4GB + 8GB the first 8GB of RAM would be in dual-channel, and the leftover 4GB on the larger stick would be accessed single-channel. The JEDEC standard is pretty thorough about backwards compatibility; the memory controller falls back to lowest common denominator for speed and timings.
Dual-channel improves bandwidth and latency over single, but for NAS/Plex workload the difference won’t be noticeable.
TIL, “Flex Mode” is what Intel markets this as. I stand corrected!
1 Like
I see ODD uses normal SATA for data and SATA Slimline for power (5V). Is there any chance to get some adapter to normal SATA for data AND power, and use usual SSD instead of M.2 pci-e ? This? https://aliexpress.com/item/33040655521.html / https://aliexpress.com/item/1000002948061.html
It’s probably easier just to get a SATA splitter to split off the other SATA power port.
Good to know about this “Flex Mode”.
Anyone know if the memory bandwidth for the memory allocated to the intel igpu affect quicksync transcode performance?
Not as far as I’ve been able to tell.
Can I install Windows 10 onto a brand new drive using an installation image thumb drive created using an official Win10 ISO image downloaded from Download Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO File)?
I removed the 500gb HD and installed a 256GB NVME drive. I disabled secure boot and UEFI boot sources as shown in the attached pix. When I try to install Windows from the thumb drive, setup says “Windows can not open the required C:\Sources\install.win.”
Any clues for the clueless? Could this be because I created the thumb drive using “unetbootin”
on Linux rather than running the media creation tool on Windows? Do I need to have the original drive connected in order to install onto the NVME drive?
Rufus should work but you’ll need to use it on a windows machine. I’ve never had much luck with unetbootin. Otherwise it’s probably best to use the media creation tool.
I would also pay attention to where you place the usb flash drive. Avoid usb 3.0 ports…some devices prefer the upper left most port on the rear panel.
There is no reason to turn off UEFI and revert to legacy to install Win10. No need to disable secure boot. Change the UEFI boot order to put USB devices over OS Boot Manager and you are good to go. No need to download an iso and create a bootable device afterwards, just use the Windows Media Creation tool, it downloads and creates the bootable drive all at once: Download Windows 10
Thanks – I’m running the media creation tool now.
1 Like
OK, good to know. As I recall, the devices listed in the UEFI list had odd names (including something like “boot manager”) and that “boot manager” would always be entered and then complain. I know next to nothing about UEFI, so it’s quite possible I misunderstood the entries displayed.
1 Like
The WiFi didn’t work in Linux Mint when I first installed. I followed the directions on the link below and was able to get it working. Hope this helps someone else.
I received my 290 today, however I can’t find the HP upgrade assistant needed to update the systems firmware. I’d like to get that done before I put a fresh install of windows on there.
Am i looking for the wrong thing? Is it not it’s own application?
You have to download it separately, at least I had to on my machines. You can get it from here: https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html
2 Likes
Observation: It only recognizes one DIMM slot (or 4GB RAM - not sure) when I have the 16xPCie populated with a HP OEM version of a Mellanox ConnectX-3 dual port 10/40/56GB network card installed. This is repeatable over many tests. I also have the M.2 NVME populated as a boot device. I will have to look at the motherboard block diagram and the processor data sheet. Maybe I don’t have enough resources/PCie lanes between the CPU and the motherboard for M.2 NVME+Dual RAM DIMMS+Mellanox 8x PCIE card? Also M.2 wifi card?
Time to educate myself and conduct more testing.
Update:
After much hardware testing, it looks like two of my Mellanox ConnectX-3 cards cause some sort of conflict with the motherboard and cause DIMM1 to not be recognized to the BIOS. I was thinking it was a motherboard flex issue, but I loosened up the motherboard screws to free float the board and took off the card bracket and still had this exact repeatable problem with two of the same cards on two identical machines. Other network cards did not have this issue. I even flashed the NIC’s to the latest firmware. Hopefully a future HP BIOS update will fix it, or I will have to choose a different NIC or live with one DIMM slot. Am playing with 10G/40G fiber, so thought I might as well deploy fiber to these machines and my UNRAID NAS box.
Solution: Its a SMBUS conflict and it is fairly common on “OEM” hardware used outside of its scope. On the PCIe card there are two pins B5/B6 that send the SMBUS signal/data to the motherboard which is supposed to be a standard form of hardware state communication. If the signal is not standard (Like in my OEM HP NIC) it can conflict with the motherboard BIOS/operation. Fix is to insulate those two pins on the PCIe card edge with nail polish or tape. I cut and applied extra brother label maker tape (2mm wide) to insulate those pins. Working great, everything back to normal. See here: Yannick's Tech Blog: Modding a Dell Perc 6 / Dell H310 / Dell H710 (other LSI 1078 or 9223-8i based) SAS Raidcontroller
I̶ ̶s̶p̶o̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶ ̶s̶o̶o̶n̶.̶ ̶A̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶e̶w̶ ̶r̶e̶b̶o̶o̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶D̶I̶M̶M̶1̶ ̶s̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶.̶ ̶G̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶w̶a̶r̶e̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶R̶M̶A̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶
̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶,̶ ̶m̶e̶m̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶s̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶#̶1̶ ̶(̶D̶I̶M̶M̶ ̶1̶)̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶o̶g̶n̶i̶z̶e̶ ̶r̶a̶m̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶i̶d̶e̶n̶t̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶m̶a̶c̶h̶i̶n̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶w̶a̶p̶p̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶e̶m̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶w̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶,̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶l̶u̶c̶k̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶s̶c̶h̶e̶d̶u̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶R̶M̶A̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶H̶P̶ ̶(̶T̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶p̶a̶y̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶p̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶w̶a̶r̶r̶a̶n̶t̶y̶)̶.̶ ̶O̶n̶e̶ ̶l̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶d̶i̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶e̶f̶f̶o̶r̶t̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶p̶u̶l̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶B̶I̶O̶S̶/̶C̶M̶O̶S̶ ̶b̶a̶t̶t̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶1̶0̶ ̶m̶i̶n̶u̶t̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶b̶o̶o̶t̶e̶d̶.̶ ̶B̶I̶O̶S̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶a̶i̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶c̶h̶e̶c̶k̶s̶u̶m̶ ̶e̶r̶r̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶b̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶.̶ ̶N̶o̶w̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶ ̶D̶I̶M̶M̶ ̶s̶l̶o̶t̶s̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶o̶g̶n̶i̶z̶e̶d̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶u̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶B̶I̶O̶S̶ ̶c̶o̶r̶r̶u̶p̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶B̶I̶O̶S̶ ̶u̶p̶d̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶.̶ ̶T̶r̶y̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶.̶
̶
1 Like
I am confused between this and HP t730($120) , Both are at the same price.
I planinng to use it for Pfsense,Openhab and NAS.
Any suggestion?
HP290 is available for about $102 right now with the coupon PLUGGEDIN
The CPU in the 290 is several generations newer than in the T730. The 290’s main claim to fame for us is cheap QuickSync transcoding, however it would be a very capable PFSense box and/or NAS.
For PFsense, pick up a $20 half-height Intel gigabit NIC. For NAS, a half-height LSI card flashed to IT mode, and connect to a DAS. The 290 only has room for one 3.5" drive and an m.2 NVMe. It is also easy to upgrade the CPU to any 8th/9th gen.
I wouldn’t advise putting PFSense and NAS on the same box, although I suppose both PFSense and FreeNAS are FreeBSD-based, you could use jails, or you could run Unraid and put PFSense in a VM.
3 Likes
Ordered one tonight for a fun winter project. How much ram have people been able to put in these little boxes? Are they 8 max 16 max or 32 max? HP site is not clear and Crucial site says 32*. Not that I am going to need more than 4 or 8 for plex.