HP Z620 CPU Riser upgrade

[riley234]

Hi all.

I am planning on upgrading my Z620 Workstation (LJ450AV) for an increase in processing capacity (for media transcoding, virtualization, various server roles). 

Presently the machine has an E5-2620v2 with 32gb @1600MHz (4x8) of Memory. I was hoping to move up to an E5-2697v2 - or explore the option of having 2xE5-2697v2's with a CPU riser. 

My questions are:

- Is my model workstation compatible with the E5-2697v2?

- Is there anything to look out for with getting a CPU riser (are there particular revisions which may/may not be compatible?)

- Is the maximum system memory for the z620 96gb?

Cheers

[SDH · Accepted solution]

Finding a later version of the Z620 QuickSpecs gets you the latest information, and those later ones include info on the v2 workstations (with the later boot block date seen in BIOS).  HP sold v1 processors for those also, so it is possible to find a v2 motherboard in a later Z620 that came from the factory with a slow v1 processor inside.  Those are always fun to buy at an excellent price off eBay, and upgrade.  They're all built to accept the 2nd processor riser.

I believe that DGroves posted that the second CPU riser from a Z640 is compatible with the Z620 workstations.  He may confirm that for you, but I currently don't know if my recall is accurate because I thought the v3/v4 socket/pin pattern used in a Z640 processor socket is different from the v1/v2 Z620 socket, internally.  To my knowledge, based on quite a few years now of experience, I have never heard there is more than one type of Z620 processor riser.  The ones we have all seem the same.  They are pretty much a plug-and-play device in my experience.

The E5-2697 v2 is listed in the later Z620 QuickSpecs as a HP certified processor for that workstation, and it has only one sSpec code (SR19H), currently costing on eBay about $220.00 each with shipping, from good US sellers.  Or, straight from Intel for about $2615.00 USD, new, each.  I go eBay, and US high-rated sellers only for processors.  Don't buy a processor that starts with Q.... a Qualification sample.

HERE is an easy link for your QuickSpecs:

http://www.usedcomp.de/pdf/HP-Z620-Workstation-QuickSpecs-2014.pdf

From that:  "Supports up to 192GB with two processors and (12) 16 GB DIMMs"

You'd only want to use the 1866 DIMMS to match the highest speed of your processor, and it is best to fill all sockets with the same fast memory.  We don't need so much memory/box so we've been loading these up with 8GB retired server sticks, at about 11.00/stick with careful eBay shopping.   12 x 11.00 = 132.00.... pretty attractive cost for 96GB of good DDR3 ECC buffered RAM... you just need to know what to look for, courtesy of our friend Bambi.  Different server OEMs often use the same sticks.  I have tested that approach also with 1866 ECC buffered 16GB sticks, which worked fine too but our needs for memory don't justify it.  When you're one step down from the max it does get you a price break on $/GB.

[DGroves]

regarding the 620/640 riser boards "SDH" is correct that the cpu sockets are different between the 620/640 and will not swap even though the riser board design appears to quite close between the two workstation series