I have an HP Z2 G4 Mid-Tower Workstation. I'm in the process of maxing it out. It has:

CPU - Intel Core i9-9900 (8C/16T)
Power Supply - HP 500 W 90% Efficient
Graphics Card - AMD Radeon RX 560X 4 GB
Memory - 64 GB DDR4-2666
Storage - WD_BLACK SN7100 2 TB NVMe + Micron 3400 512 GB NVMe
BIOS - Q50 Ver. 01.08.13 (Dated 9/1/2025, likely the final one for this machine)
Windows 11 Pro for Workstations

I took it to the shop yesterday to have a new 650 watt power supply and NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti GPU installed. These are my last two upgrades. The interior of the PC is HP proprietary, and I didn't want to deal with running the cables myself, etc (why I went to a shop).

After installing the new PSU and GPU, the tech started my PC. He got three long beeps and three short beeps. A video error. He then put my AMD Radeon RX 560X 4 GB back in, and the machine booted. I had him put the 500 watt PSU back in and try the NVIDIA GPU (recommends 550 watt minimum PSU) off of that PSU. It produced video and didn't beep. It showed the HP BIOS splash screen, and then we powered the machine off before Windows started loading. He put the 650 watt PSU back in, and got the 3/3 beep code again. I've left the machine the with the shop.

I'm perplexed. I can't say that the GPU doesn't work or it too new for the PC and it's BIOS/firmware because it worked on the 500 watt PSU on this "old" hardware. I have a hard time saying that the 650 watt PSU is defective as all of the fans spin off of it, and the little AMD GPU booted off of it. I have asked the shop to run proper diagnostics on the new PSU, as they have the equipment to do it, and I don't. It's a brand new PSU, and it's statistically unlikely to be defective.

I've found someone else with my exact problem, but I have a hard time accepting that it's a simple PC age/compatibility issue, when the GPU worked off of my 500 watt PSU.
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Issue-installing-an-RTX-5060-in-a-Z2-Tower-G4-Workstation/td-p/9568735?utm_source=chatgpt.com

I'm also very confident that I've ordered the correct PSU.


I've not been able to come up with an explanation that makes sense of all of these things...

Latest BIOS installed?
GPU have any firmware updates?
Does the GPU have an extra power input and was it plugged in?

1 - Yes, BIOS is the newest release
2 - Don't know. I don't currently have a machine that will run the GPU, so I know nothing about it's firmware revision.
3 - It looked like a pretty standard 8-pin power connector. The same connection worked on the 500 watt PSU. That's not technically enough to power the GPU, but I ran it long enough to get the BIOS splash screen.

5060ti should be fine on a 500w PS as long as you aren't completely pushing it to the limit or have the CPU heavily overclocked. It will definitely work well enough to let it fully boot and update drivers.

Are we sure the errors are not driver related? did you run DDU before swapping the GPUs?

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5060ti should be fine on a 500w PS as long as you aren't completely pushing it to the limit or have the CPU heavily overclocked. It will definitely work well enough to let it fully boot and update drivers.

Are we sure the errors are not driver related? did you run DDU before swapping the GPUs?

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With the 650 watt unit, it isn't making it to Windows. It produces a three long/three short beep code without producing any video. I never even get to the BIOS.

I did not use DDU. I uninstalled the AMD driver and powered off the machine.

I'd use the 500w PSU with the 5060ti, let it fully boot up. update/clean up the drivers and if it is working then the issue is probably with the 12v rail on the 650 watt.

It is entirely possible that your current card is able to run off the power from the MB or it doesn't draw enough power to trip whatever the issue it , and thus it "works" with the 650 installed.

There's no adapter. This is an HP-branded PSU designed and marketed for this machine. I'm still convinced something like disabling Legacy support in the BIOS or forcing a 3rd generation PCIe connection in the BIOS instead of letting it negotiate is going to be the solution to this.

I'm ready for them to properly test the new power supply. If it's good, install it with the old GPU, and I'll get to work on fixing it.

I'm saving a TON of money by not buying a new PC, and for AI work, I've read that the GPU is overwhelmingly the most important component.

EDIT - Also, because I want this for GPU work, I'm not at all comfortable running it long-term off of a 500W PSU.

dabo man said:

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There's no adapter. This is an HP-branded PSU designed and marketed for this machine. I'm still convinced something like disabling Legacy support in the BIOS or forcing a 3rd generation PCIe connection in the BIOS instead of letting it negotiate is going to be the solution to this.

I'm ready for them to properly test the new power supply. If it's good, install it with the old GPU, and I'll get to work on fixing it.

I'm saving a TON of money by not buying a new PC, and for AI work, I've read that the GPU is overwhelmingly the most important component.

EDIT - Also, because I want this for GPU work, I'm not at all comfortable running it long-term off of a 500W PSU.

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Definitely a weird one. Does the shop have a similar 650W PSU they can try? Beyond testing yours, I'd want to see whether a second PSU produces the same behavior. There could be something about startup/transient power delivery with that particular PSU and GPU combination that a basic PSU test won't reveal.

I'd try forcing PCIe Gen 3 since it's easy enough to test, but I doubt that's the cause. The 5060 Ti already posted with the 500W PSU, which suggests the motherboard and BIOS are capable of initializing it. The fact that changing only the PSU produces the 3/3 error keeps pointing back toward the 650W PSU or its GPU power delivery.

Unfortunately, the shop has no other HP PSUs. They can't even rig up a standard ATX PSU as the motherboard connectors are HP-proprietary.

Searching online it appears that other folks have had these issues as well. looks like you aren't the only person with this issue. Seems like there might be some motherboard variations and pin differences on the power supply which could also explain your problems..

Given your storage and ram have you considered either buying a new motherboard and regular atx power supply? Could even do a swap to AM4.

That being said if it boots off of the 500w, id stress test it and as long as it was stable, I would feel perfectly fine running the system off of that. My experience my chips are severely underclocked on OEM systems and won't be drawing the full power.

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Given your storage and ram have you considered either buying a new motherboard and regular atx power supply? Could even do a swap to AM4.

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It's an HP proprietary case. It can't take a regular ATX motherboard.

Is this your case?



If so here is an adapter just for that. https://www.ebay.com/itm/146743429280?itmmeta=01KNWYQSQ274M7AV0G2X3M30R8&hash=item222a9708a0:g:kjgAAeSwUzRoIPPz

Even the a decent mid tower case is pretty cheap.

Edit - looking at the HP motherboard, there is no way that the VRM on it is handling a large powerload. I would assume that the CPU is drawing no where near to max. I'd really consider just using the 5060ti with the 500w PSU.

Yes, that is my case.

THIS is very cool!!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/146743429280?itmmeta=01KNWYQSQ274M7AV0G2X3M30R8&hash=item222a9708a0:g:kjgAAeSwUzRoIPPz

If I'm unable to get the proprietary PSU to work, I will likely but a generic ATX PSU and this converter. I'm not yet willing to concede that point though.

As I plan to do AI work with this GPU, I'm really not comfortable under-powering it.

Got a call from the local shop just now, and the tech was drunk. I'm certain of it. This is getting even weirder.

EDIT - With heavily-slurred speech he told me that:
1 - All diagnostics on the new PSU showed that it was delivering good power.
2 - Despite the diagnostics, the tech was never able to get any video while using the 650W PSU. He only got the 3/3 beep code. He said he tried every combination of BIOS settings imaginable.
3 - The 500 watt PSU allowed him into the BIOS (presumably how he changed all the settings). He could boot into Windows with the 500W PSU, but it "blacked out" if he tried anything stressful on the GPU.
4 - I've ordered the bracket conversion kit off of ebay and the shop has an 850 watt PSU they're going to try with it.
5 - Hopefully this dude has sobered up by then. Everything he said made sense, but I have a long history of dealing with alcoholics in my own family, and this guy was 100% loaded at work early on a Saturday afternoon...

dabo man said:

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Hopefully this dude has sobered up by then. Everything he said made sense, but I have a long history of dealing with alcoholics in my own family, and this guy was 100% loaded at work early on a Sunday afternoon...

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Does the shop have another tech who can help you? I'd be wary of dealing with someone who drinks on the job.

AgDev01 said:

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Is this your case?



If so here is an adapter just for that. https://www.ebay.com/itm/146743429280?itmmeta=01KNWYQSQ274M7AV0G2X3M30R8&hash=item222a9708a0:g:kjgAAeSwUzRoIPPz

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I ordered this part on 8/15. It took weeks for the guy to print it. I got it yesterday afternoon, and it's a poor print job. Tons of plastic threads everywhere. The shop is going to use the converter to test the GPU with a standard 850 watt ATX power suppply. Fingers crossed that it works (once they've cleaned the part).

Sorry to hear about the poor print job. Hopefully it works.

Shop #1 could not get my machine to work with the new GPU, and after their employee called me drunk on a Saturday, I'm done with them. I got my machine back from them yesterday and wasn't charged at all for their work. Then I took the machine to shop #2. The owner of this place was SHARP!!

He put the 650 watt HP PSU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB in my machine, and got into the BIOS. This was more than shop #1 accomplished in the four weeks that they had the machine. He was not able to get Windows to load with the GPU as the primary device in the BIOS. He did set the onboard video as primary, kept the GPU in the case, booted to Windows, and then switched the video to the GPU. That worked fine, but he was never able to boot to Windows with the GPU as the primary device. It got past the BIOS splash screen. Windows simply never started loading. I have the newest BIOS installed on the machine.

He had a spare RTX 3090 (only PCIe 4 instead of PCIe 5), and the card worked perfectly in my machine. My motherboard is only PCIe 3. 5 is supposed to be backwards compatible with 4 which is backwards compatible with 3, but apparently the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti is just too new for my PC. It stinks, but this guy impressed me, and I appreciated his help.

I bought the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti new on Amazon on 7/27 for $573.31 plus shipping and tax. Amazon has since raised the price on that listing to $809.99. I just sold the GPU on ebay as an open box for $689. This market is crazy! I also bought an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB from ebay. I've found several people online with my PC who are using this GPU. I found one guy in Sweden who is selling my PC with this GPU installed. It's PCIe 4, and I feel much better about it working than I do the 5060 Ti.

What a mess.

From what i recall the difference between the 4060ti and the 5060ti is very minimal as far as pure power goes. I think it should suit you just fine.

NVIDIA recommends a minimum 550 watt PSU for the 4060 Ti, and I have a 650. The end is, finally, in sight!!