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HP t540: Hardware 

HP t540 Thin Client

I do not own a t540 and it'll be few years before they drop into my price range. The photographs and most of the information presented here have been provided by April or taken from HP literature. (Thank you April for the majority of the write-up).

HP Marketing: "Simple, secure virtual desktop solution."

The t540 was released in December 2020 to replace the outgoing t530, and modernizes the insides a bit with components similar to the t640 while largely keeping the t530's existing design.

A User View

"I think HP was trying to make a slightly cheaper version of the t640 here, and that's more or less exactly what they delivered. " - April, May 2022

Specifications

Processor & Graphics
   Type
   Speed
   Graphics		 AMD Ryzen Embedded R1305G (dual core)
1.5-2.8GHz
Radeon Vega 3 Graphics
Memory
   Flash
   RAM		16/32/64/128/256/512GB
4/8/16GB (Max 32GB?)
Ports
   Network
   USB (front)
   USB (rear)
   Serial
   Parallel
   PS/2
   Video Ports		 10/100/1000
1x USB 3.1 Gen1, 1x USB 3.1 Type C Gen1
2x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.1 Gen2
Optional 0/1
0
0
2 x Display Port: Resolution 3840 x 2160 @60Hz
Power
   Power
   Plug
   Off
   Idle
   Running		 19.5V 2.31A (label)
Coax male 4.5mm/3.0mm + centre pin
?W (0.77-0.78W Claimed)
?W (6.63-7.04W Claimed)
?W
Dimensions
H x W x D (mm)210 x 50 x 210 (Excluding Stand)

The embedded operating system is one of:

  • HP ThinPro
  • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019

Optional Ports

t540 Option Port By the display ports on the back panel of the t540 is an "Option Port". This is shown in the photo (right). As you can see it is not much larger than a single serial port. This can be configured for one of the following options:

  • Blank (no optional configured port)
  • VGA analog video output
  • HDMI digital video output
  • DisplayPort over USB-C
  • Serial port with configurable power
  • External Wi-Fi antenna connector (requires Wi-Fi adapter option)
  • (2) USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports

Note: The t540 only supports two displays. Adding one of the display options above does not change this.

Power Supply

The power supply is identical to and interchangeable with the one which is supplied with the t420, t430, and t640. Additionally, the larger power supply from the t740 will also power the t540.

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

CPU

The t540 has an AMD Ryzen Embedded R1305G system-on-chip. The CPU has two cores and supports four threads. It runs at a base frequency of 1.5GHz, with a boost frequency of up to 2.8GHz.

This part has a configurable TDP from 8W to 10W, and HP seems to have set it for 8W.

CPU op-mode(s) :32-bit, 64-bit
vendor_id :AuthenticAMD
cpu family :23
model :32
model name :AMD Ryzen Embedded R1305G with Radeon Vega Gfx
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 nopl nonstop_tsc cpuid extd_apicid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 fma 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 skinit wdt tce topoext perfctr_core perfctr_nb bpext perfctr_llc mwaitx cpb hw_pstate sme ssbd sev ibpb stibp vmmcall sev_es fsgsbase bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 rdseed adx smap clflushopt sha_ni xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves clzero irperf xsaveerptr arat npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale vmcb_clean flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold avic v_vmsave_vmload vgif overflow_recov succor smca

PCI

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Root Complex
00:01.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:01.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 PCIe GPP Bridge [6:0]
00:01.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 PCIe GPP Bridge [6:0]
00:08.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge
00:08.1 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus A
00:08.2 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus B
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller (rev 61)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge (rev 51)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 0
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 1
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 2
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 3
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 4
00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 5
00:18.6 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 6
00:18.7 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2 Device 24: Function 7
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM951/PM951 (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Picasso (rev cf)
03:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio Controller
03:00.2 Encryption controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) Platform Security Processor
03:00.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven2 USB 3.1
03:00.5 Multimedia controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Audio Processor
03:00.6 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 10h-1fh) HD Audio Controller
04:00.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 61)

Expansion

HP t540 circuit board
As usual click on the photo for a larger photo of the motherboard.

Flash: The flash memory is easily replaceable as it is just an M.2 SSD. The slot has an M key, and only 2230 and 2280 sizes will fit as there are no screw holes for the 2242 or 2260 size. SATA SSDs do NOT work in this slot, it has to be an NVMe SSD. Mine came with a HP 16GB eMMC board in this slot.

These days, depending on the size, HP thin clients may ship with M.2 SSD boards based around (cheap) eMMC memory. These boards include an SD card reader device to interface the eMMC chip to the PCIe bus used by the NVMe interface. The t540 spec sheet indicates that the 16GB, 32GB or 64GB SSDs are eMMC based whilst those with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB use NVMe flash.

RAM: There is one slot for a DDR4-2400 SODIMM. Mine came fitted with a 4GB stick. HP ship the t540 with either 4GB, 8GB or 16GB fitted. It is likely that 32GB may work as well.

Second M.2 slot: There is another M.2 slot next to the SSD mounting, intended for the WLAN option. This slot has an E key and accepts the 2230 size only. I did try my 3040 microSD adapter in this slot and it didn't work.

USB: There are two USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors (one of them Type-C) on the front panel, while the rear panel has two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.1 Gen2 connectors. One of the available options adds two additional USB 3.1 Gen1 connectors in the rear.

Display: There are two dual-mode DisplayPort 1.2 outputs on the rear panel. They can be used simultaneously. From the t540 QuickSpecs document: Note: adding an optional output does not increase the number of displays supported.

Links

HP's usual BBR, FDO, and PSW (I'm assuming the latter is the same as PSWD on other models) links are present in the bottom right corner of the board.

There is a small yellow push button in the top left labelled "CMOS" that I assume clears the NVRAM ("CMOS memory").