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HP t520: Hardware 

HP t520 Thin Client

A User View

"I find this best with Linux or Windows 7. This one is quite impressively powerful for how little heat it puts out - it'll run The Sims 2 under Windows 7 no problem at all, barely getting warm in the slightest despite the small heatsink and no fan. Since it runs so cool, it has no problem boosting to its maximum of 1.4GHz all you want and the 1.2GHz base number is practically meaningless." - April, November 2020.

History

Originally the information here was provided by Jan. A while ago I got my hands on a (cheap) t520 and have eventually got around to updating the entry.

The t520 was launched by HP in June 2014.

Specifications

Processor
   Type
   Speed
   Chipset
AMD GX-212JC (dual core)
1.2GHz
Integrated
Memory
   Flash
   RAM
8GB/16GB/32GB/64GB
2GB/4GB/8GB (max 8GB)
Video
   Chip
   Max resolution
Radeon R2E
2560 x 1600 (Display Port)
Ports
   Network
   USB
   Serial
   Parallel
   PS/2
   Video
10/100/1000
4 x USB2.0, 2 x USB3.0
0
0
0
Display Port 1.2 & VGA
Power
   Power
   Plug
   Off
   Idle
   Running
19.5V 3.33A (label)
7.4mm/5mm Coax with central pin
0.5W
~6W
10W
Dimensions
H x W x D (mm)200 x 45.1 x 200 (Excluding Stand)

The embedded operating system is one of:

  • HP Smart Zero Core (32-bit)
  • HP ThinPro (32-bit)
  • Windows Embedded 8 Standard (64-bit)
  • Windows Embedded Standard 7P (64-bit)
  • Windows Embedded Standard 7E (32-bit)
  • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise (64-bit)

depending on the exact model.

Power Supplyt520 power plug

The unit requires a 19.5V DC supply with a coax connector with a central pin. The outer sleeve of the connector would appear to be 7.4mm/5mm. There appear to plenty for sale on eBay. The standard PSU is rated at 19.5V 3.33A.

If you don't have an HP PSU/charger and are thinking of using a non-HP PSU see this page.

[July 2018] My thanks to Marcus for providing the power measurements in the summary table above.

CPU

The t520 is based on an AMD System-On-a-Chip (SOC) processor with a TDP of 6W. It has a host of onboard features. The CPU is a dual core 64-bit processor and is supposed to run between 1GHz and 1.4GHz in 100MHz steps. Jan found that with Windows 7 embedded it seemed to run at 1.4GHz all the time.

From the linux cpuinfo data:

vendor_id :AuthenticAMD
cpu family :22
model :48
model name :AMD GX-212JC SOC with Radeon(TM) R2E Graphics
stepping :1
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good acc_power nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt topoext perfctr_nb bpext ptsc perfctr_l2 cpb hw_pstate vmmcall bmi1 xsaveopt arat npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold overflow_recov

PCI

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1566
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R1E/R2E Graphics] (rev 01)
00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio
00:02.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 156b
00:02.3 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1
00:08.0 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1537
00:10.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller (rev 11)
00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 40)
00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 39)
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller (rev 39)
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 42)
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller (rev 02)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 11)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1580
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1581
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1582
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1583
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1584
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device 1585
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0c)

Expansion

HP t520 circuit board

Click on the photo for a larger version.

The t520 motherboard is slightly unusual in that there are hardly any internal connectors or unpopulated sections of the board.

Flash: The Flash memory is easily replaceable. It's an M.2 SSD. It's the white label towards the top left in the photograph. NB There are no standard SATA sockets on the board. My t520 came with a faulty 16GB SSD. I've replaced it with a 32GB SSD. The board has mounting holes for 2242 and 2260 SSDs. I have heard that if you remove/move the speaker there is just enough space for a 2280 unit, but you'll have to devise your own way of securing it.

In November 2020 I heard from April who commented: "I tried putting a PCIe SSD in mine and it didn't work, so the M.2 slot seems to only have SATA routed to it. Not a big deal as the M.2 SATA drives tend to be cheaper anyway."

In January 2021 I heard from Christian who had installed a 2280 SSD (photo below). He confirmed that the M.2 interface was SATA and that NVME SSDs were not supported.

RAM: The RAM is a standard 204-pin DDR3 SODIMM.

An HP document lists the following details for the SODIMM:

  • industry-standard 204-pin
  • unbuffered non-ECC PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 MHz-compliant or non-ECC PC3L-12800 DDR3L-1600 MHz-compliant
  • DDR3-SDRAM SODIMM
    • 1.35 volt DDR3L-SDRAM (preferred)
    • 1.5 volt DDR3-SDRAM
  • support CAS latency 9 DDR3 1333 MHz (9-9-9 timing)

It goes on to add that the thin client supports the following:

  • 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB non-ECC memory technologies
  • single-sided and double-sided SODIMMS
  • SODIMMs constructed with x8 and x16 devices; SODIMMs constructed with x4 SDRAM are not supported

t520 pci connector Mini PCI-E: The t520 has a Mini-PCIe 1x Slot adjacent to the M.2 connector. The mPCIe connector is pointing towards the edge of the board and will only accept boards no more than 28mm deep. It's obviously there to take typical small Wireless LAN cards.

In June 2021 I heard from Paolo who had fitted an Azure Wave AR5B95. I also had my t520 out at the time and tried out a Qualcomm Atheros AR928X and a Broadcom BCM94313HMG2L both of which were recognised.

USB: There are two USB3.0 sockets on the front panel and four USB2.0 sockets on the rear panel.

Display: There are two dual-mode DisplayPort 1.2 ports and a VGA socket on the rear panel. The t520 supports two independent displays. The hardware manual reads:

The devices connected at boot up or subsequently disconnected determine which video ports are enabled and which is disabled.

  • If a VGA device is connected at boot up, then only one DisplayPort port may be used. If the VGA device is subsequently disconnected, then both DisplayPort ports are enabled.
  • If a VGA device and one DisplayPort device are connected at boot up, then the other DisplayPort port is disabled. If the VGA device is subsequently disconnected, then that DisplayPort port is enabled.
  • If two DisplayPort devices are connected at boot up, then the VGA port is disabled. If one or both DisplayPort devices are subsequently disconnected, the VGA port is enabled.

t520 links
Links: There are a number of links on the board. I assume the one with the blue jumper on it (labelled PSWD) is there to clear any set password. The usual HP procedure is to power off, remove the link, power up briefly, power off and replace the jumper.

There are also:

  • FDO - Flash Descriptor Override apparently used for updating on the Intel Management Engine.
  • BB and BBR - Boot Block and Boot Block Recovery. A BIOS recovery mechanism?

t520 unpopulated connector
Unpopulated There is an unpopulated connector near the RAM socket. The designation P54 gives us no clue as to its purpose.

The footprint isn't right for a standard USB connector.

t520 unpopulated connector
At the other end of the SODIMM socket there is another unpopulated connector. This one is labelled LPC which implies it's an internal bus, maybe for a Trusted Platform Module? (LPC -> Low Pin Count bus).

Additional Photos

2280 SSD fitted to HP t520 In January 2021 I heard from Christian who had moved the t520's speaker and installed a 2280 sized SSD.

 


Any comments? email me. Added February 2017    Last update June 2021