Case Swap HP Z4 G4 Workstation

[GeistInDerMaschine]

Budget (including currency): $200ish (but I am frugal)

Country: USA

Games, programs, or workloads that it will be used for: Adobe Photoshop, Video editing, Streaming Audio and Movies, Games - Call of Cthulhu, Forza Horizon 4/5, No Mans Sky. Dungeon & Dragons Online, Minecraft, HALO, and more

Other details Its pretty Stock: 1080 GPU, 8 8GB DDR4, 3 HDD - 2 500gb and 1 1tb (No SSD or NVME yet), slimline DVDRW, and front panel media hub w/power switch

I have a HP Z4 G4 Workstation that I am looking for economical suggestions to replace the OEM case due to its very poor cooling and the steal case being as heavy as a boat anchor. Has anyone rehomed one of these and can give me advice on things like PSU fit? Cable extensions? Motherboard mounting problems. Or if the components of this PC are just too specialized to fit in a OTS case.

One more thing, the two M.2 slots on this motherboard are on the lower righthand corner of the motherboard. Causing the NVME to stick out. Are M.2 slot extension cables a viable option?

[jaslion]

This case is so full of proprietary crap it is basically impossible levels of difficult. So just don't it's basically impossible to do so.

 

Want more cooling? Add a fan in the front if there isn't one yet.

[GeistInDerMaschine]

3 minutes ago, jaslion said:

This case is so full of proprietary crap it is basically impossible levels of difficult. So just don't it's basically impossible to do so.

 

Want more cooling? Add a fan in the front if there isn't one yet.

Thanks! That's very insightful.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Actually you may wanna try a mesh sidepanel, i did it myself with some magnets since my case vented sidepanel has ass shit airflow and yes temps are the same as when i run it without a sidepanel at all

 

I used some mosquito mesh with ~4mm holes along with ~50 small neodymium magnets, magnets cost me 1$ and the mesh cost me around 2$

 

Though before you do this just run it without the case sidepanel see if theres a noticable temp improvement

 

And for me atleast i dont need any fans to keep temps cool cause of the mesh sidepanel

 

Spoiler

 

Heres a pic of my mesh sidepanel, its pretty uneven but thats just because im an idiot, the extra back fan isnt even connected and im abit lazy to remove it rn

 

Personally theres a 5c diff with the crappy stock sidepanel and mesh panel/no panel

Mesh sidepanel seems to work best with downdraft coolers and judjing by the photo of your pc they are downdraft coolers

 

 

Or you can just do the simple solution and just run the freaking thing without a sidepanel at all

[manikyath]

dont bother...

 

if you want to customize this thing, as someone who sells HP desktops on a daily basis, i'll tell you that you've bought the wrong device.

 

HP Z2 desktops do a lot of things, fitting into standard desktop parts is not one of those things, which is also why i presume you're having thermal problems.. that GTX 1080 isnt a blower card is it?

 

if you want to migrate to a standard ATX case, from experience: here's your shopping list:

- a case (obviously)

- an ATX power supply

- a new motherboard, compatible with whatever CPU and RAM you have

- a CPU cooler, because i'm pretty sure they bolt into the case across the entire range of HP desktops. (aside from omen maybe..)

[GeistInDerMaschine]

This sound great for keeping it cool. I have a Dremel and a pop rivet gun so I night have to get creative here. And by cutting out some of the sheet steal from the side panel I am reducing its tonnage by a little! Did you swap any of the OEM fans out?