HPZ420 with E5-1680v2 underperforming on single thread rating!

[Rhothgar]

@BambiBoomz et al provided me with valuable insights into how to max out my Z420's in this thread:-

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/HELP-required-to-m...

In particular, BambiBoomz spec for one of his builds showed these ratings:-

HP z420_3 (2014) (Rev 5) > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8-core@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid cooling / 64GB DDR3-1866 ECC Reg / Quadro P2000 5GB / HP Z Turbo Drive 256GB AHCI + Intel 730 480GB + HGST 7K6000 4TB / 600W PSU /> Windows 7 Prof.’l 64-bit > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) / Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB interface
[ Passmark Rating = 6227 / CPU rating = 17006 / 2D = 826 / 3D= 8877 / Mem = 3025 / Disk = 14577 / Single Thread Mark = 2373 [5.28.18]

According to CPU Benchmark, an E5-1680v2 should produce, unclocked, around 2024 on the single thread mark.

I happened to drop on some sensibly priced 1680 CPU's but they are only producing 1500 on the single thread mark so I am a bit miffed especially as it was over a month ago and I now have no right to return them.

Is it likely to have been clocked and fried?  I've only found time to try one so far.

[SDH]

I've not heard of processors wearing out and slowing down. There are both BIOS and OS settings to optimize speed. In OS Control Panel/ Power Options app, make sure the preferred plan is set to high performance.

Regarding BIOS probably due to regulatory pressures some speed controlling defaults are power saving but can be changed to faster less power saving settings. I can send you a BIOS replicated setup file from a souped up Z420 here if you wish.

Hardware: The E5-1680 v2 has max memory speed of 1866. If even one of your sticks is less than that the processor and all the other sticks will be dragged down to that same slower speed.

Finally, very rare, have you probed with CPUz to confirm you actually have one? There were cases of fraudsters popping the stainless lid off of expensive defective real ones and transferring that over onto cheaper processors. That processor went for $1723.00 from Intel on release. 

[DGroves]

from personal experience i dislike most computer benchmark programs as i find them to be unreliable either in how they test a system  or making numerous changes to the testing program without posting a clear program revision number and documenting the changes making a apple to apple comparison impossible

next consider the differences between systems such as ram speeds/timings or the thermal effectiveness of the  cpu's heatsink not to mention hardware differences such as optional factory case fans or  number of installed drives adding cards generating more heat or if the installed video card is a blower that exhaust's heat out the rear or  fans that dump the heat inside the case changing the cards max allowed speed and also possibly raising the internal temp which might also raise the cpu temp

the above is why i place little faith in benchmarking results between two systems i own being accurate  much a system that i've never seen

if you think i'm against benchmarking i'm not, it's just most benchmarks should be used only for general testing such as seeing if a change on your system results in a different benchmark number and should not be used as a  "my system is defective"  because i can't reach the same benchmark numbers someone else posted

[Rhothgar]

Hi.

Thanks for prompt response.  I have now changed to High Performance but no change so a replicated file setup might prove useful to clinch it.

There are definitely 8 cores currently running at 3 Ghz.

The RAM on this one is strange in that it states DDR-1775? (Internet says it is 1866):-

Total Size

32768 MB

Type

Quad Channel (256 bit) DDR3-SDRAM

Frequency

930.9 MHz (DDR3-1862) - Ratio 1:14

Timings

13-13-13-32-2 (tCAS-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tCR)

Slot #1 Module

SK Hynix 4096 MB (DDR3-1775) - P/N: HMT451U7BFR8C-RD

Slot #2 Module

SK Hynix 4096 MB (DDR3-1775) - P/N: HMT451U7BFR8C-RD

Slot #3 Module

SK Hynix 4096 MB (DDR3-1775) - P/N: HMT451U7BFR8C-RD

Slot #4 Module

SK Hynix 4096 MB (DDR3-1775) - P/N: HMT451U7BFR8C-RD

Slot #5 Module

SK Hynix 4096 MB (DDR3-1775) - P/N: HMT451U7BFR8C-RD

Slot #6 Module

SK Hynix 4096 MB (DDR3-1775) - P/N: HMT451U7BFR8C-RD

Slot #7 Module

SK Hynix 4096 MB (DDR3-1775) - P/N: HMT451U7BFR8C-RD

Slot #8 Module

SK Hynix 4096 MB (DDR3-1775) - P/N: HMT451U7BFR8C-RD

[SDH]

Rhothgar,

That memory looks good, plus you're getting Quad Channel benefit from it. Your prober is a little off, but that is zero problem. It is "1866" memory and HP used exactly those sticks in the ZX20 family. I've posted here on retired server memory that also works perfectly, low cost if you ever wanted to upgrade to 8 or 16GB sticks.

Regarding Replicated Setup.... I just rechecked my Z420 v2 optimized BIOS settings and did a capture. I use a somewhat smaller FAT32 thumb drive and a USB2 port. These come out as a small .txt file with all the settings shown and an Asterix by each chosen option. You could capture your file, print out both and compare side by side to see the differences. We use this for cloning of BIOS settings between same type workstations. 

I know Bambi and Brian1965 were overclocking back then... might have something to do with Bambi's score. I'm using a E5-1660 v2 processor here on that Z420. For better speed, also, you can use the better later 512GB AHCI-controller M.2 stick from HP in a Z Turbo Drive G2 PCIe card, and we've posted all about that here. HP used 2 AHCI-controller sticks and the later Samsung SM951 one is much better. You can still find those used, with the 512GB version having HP part number 788613-001. It has to be the AHCI (not NVMe) version to work in the ZX20.

I'm also liking the from-Intel (not OEM branded) P3700 data center add-in-card (with its firmware upgraded to the latest) and the ZX20's BIOS gets changed a bit to utilize the NVMe supplemental OPROM boot code contained inside the card's controller to allow NVMe booting from that. Those seem to last forever, are very fast, and I have a long thread here on how to do that... just search for OPROM. The ones we're using are 700GB.

For what it is worth... a souped up Z440 beats all that by quite a bit, plus it can also run the P3700 cards without need for OPROM supplement.

See attached CPQSETUP.TXT file... they all have that same name and it needs to be exactly that to work... so I put each in a separate folder but add an notepad.txt file to explain what it is.  I had to zip it to attach it... for some reason the forum won't attach .txt files.

[Rhothgar]

Thank for your the file, SDH.

I downloaded my setup yesterday as a reference on my machine. This machine is my partner's.  I do have 64Gb in mine but only 32Gb in hers as we have different needs.

I did manage to score a 256Gb Samsung 950 Pro NVMe drive which is in this machine - her machine and it is running Windows 11.  The boot time is ridiculously fast compared to the SM951 AHCI drive I removed.  I also missed on scoring a 512Gb 950 Pro for mine yesterday that was opened but unused for £64.

I am also mindful of the P3700.  Have been offered a couple of 800Gb ones for £85 a piece but that feels a bit steep.  Missed scoring a 1.6Tb one for £94 yesterday.  It was on bids the other day for £36 or buy it now for £94.  I should have just bought it.   Same seller had also sold some for £36, £57 and £77 over the last few months.  I'm hoping he will have move to shift and try and that I can drop on one at the £36 start bid!!!

Not sure from memory without going back if we communicated over the OPROM stuff a few months ago but that was a game changer for drive speed.  I feel sure the Samsung 950 Pro was your suggestion.  I'll check.

Rightio! I'll have scan of the BIOS.  I did manage to get it running at 1813 on single thread yesterday and above 2000 at one point or very close.

I tried some Intel XTU tweaks but for some reason that kept crashing out.  I need to check which version of XTU is on here because it needs to be something like 5.2.1.4 from memory.  It didn't like ANY change I made and I got BSOD with iocbios2.sys System Service Exception Stop Code.

[SDH]

Yes, we worked together back then too. The SM951 (AHCI version) and the 950 Pro (NVMe) use different methods to work as M.2 drives on the ZX20 workstations. The 950 Pro is faster probably due to using NVMe technology. Both interface over a x4 lanes PCIe bus. Both of those top out at 500-512GB size. The nice thing about the P3700 add-in-cards is that 400GB is the smallest and those go up from there quite a bit, and they're NVMe technology. The key thing is that you need to get a from-Intel one so you can use the Intel firmware updater I posted about in my OPROM posts.  If you can see the firmware version on their top edge label then you can tell if you're looking at one straight from Intel. All those can be easily firmware updated to the best latest. Not so much for the OEM versions.

Ones from Intel but through an OEM have their own firmware which may never be as recent/good as the latest straight from Intel, and often the OEM firmware updater software are long gone or not given out by the OEMs. I provide the links to download the right Intel one to use for our x64 HP workstations. That one has never failed me.

The main OPROM post is HERE and the link to download the firmware updater is on page 2, and the post even shows the exact commands to use to trigger the firmware update a few pages later.