How does your HP workstation matchup at Passmark Software ?

[AnthonyK]

BambiBoomZ

I have a few options that fall within my budget:

An 

HP Z620 Workstation Xeon E5-2620 Hexa-Core (single CPU)+ RAM 8GB *Reg, ECC + HDD 250GB + Quadro nvs300

For 465 USD 

or a

HP Z420 Workstation Xeon E5-2660 Octa Core +RAM 24GB * Reg, ECC+HDD 160GB 10K +Quadro 600

For 526.33 USD

or a 

HP Z420 Workstation Xeon E5-2660 Octa Core +RAM 16GB *Reg, ECC +HDD 500GB +Quadro 295 +W10

For 470.96 USD

and finally a used

HP Z600 Workstation Xeon X5650 Hexa Core + RAM 16GB DDR3, ECC unbuffered, HDD 500GB + Quadro NVS 450 + W10

What would you recommend ?

Yours truly,

Anthony

[BambiBoomZ]

Athony,

All of these systems will need some hardware upgrades- RAM, drives, possibly the GPU.  What is your budget for the finished system? 

If you amenable to a bit more of a project, for example a CPU change, it may be desirable to purchase a low specification system at a lower price. 

My first, generic choice would be to buy the z620 as it has the most potential for expansion. The E5-2660 could be tried first and a CPU change could be done if the performance was lacking.  Video editing is very demanding. In that case.  I would suggest changing the CPU to a Xeon E5-2680 - which is 8-core @ 2.7 /3.5GHz (about $100), add RAM to have  32GB (about $120), and an SSD 250GB of more- (about $100), and the minimum GPU I'd use in that kind of system would be a Quadro K620 (about $110) to have a least a moderate 3D capability.  That would be a versatile system with some 3D capability and of course a 2nd E5-2680 could be added (requires a CPU/RAM, fan riser board- about $150 + 2nd CPU- +$100).  The wild card is that Premiere may run about as well or better on a single 8-core t as it appears to peak at about 5-6 cores abd actually slows down with dual CPU's.  In that case a z420 might be the better choice.

Here's an auction in which the buyer can choose components:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Build-Your-Own-HP-Z420-Workstation-8C-CPU-No-OS-Save-A-Lot-of-Money-/1823303...

> and a system with an E5-2680, 32GB of RAM, 1TB drive, and a Quadro K600 costs $545.

Cheers,

BambiBoomZ

[AnthonyK]

Sure

The main things I will be using the workstation for is

1. photo editing incase of product photography

2. video editing for my upcoming vlog

3. audio editing for my upcoming vlog / podcast to be uploaded to Soundcloud for instance or Stitcher

4. web content management, testing webapplication locally or remote, web design

5. financial administration, accounting etc.

6. perhaps some gaming

I have one spare Samsung 512 GB 840 Pro SSD and I have some 4 strips of DDR 3 ECC, Reg memory of 4 Gig stored in my spare parts collection.

My budget is finished around 480 USD max and perhaps with some stretching but then I would need a really decent system that atleast allows me to render video's for my vlog and audio footage for my podcast pretty darn quick.

Currently I use for Adobe Photoshop CS6 - 64 plus Adobe Illustrator CS4 for foto editing and product label design (dietary supplements), have used in the past Cyberlink Power Director 64bit for video editing - I hate the interface and the performance of Adobe Premier and am frankly very much not interested in paying for any od Adobe's programs unless  they really improve a lot more.

Microsoft Hyperlapse, the trial is certainly very promising.

I hope to sell my HP 8470p and my HP xw6600 dual qc E5450 machine at a decent price to provide me with the budget I need to get a new system.

[AnthonyK]

---

@BambiBoomZ wrote:

Anthony,

All of these systems will need some hardware upgrades- RAM, drives, possibly the GPU.  What is your budget for the finished system? 

If you amenable to a bit more of a project, for example a CPU change, it may be desirable to purchase a low specification system at a lower price. 

@MY first, generic choice would be to buy the z620 as it has the most potential for expansion. The E5-2660 could be tried first and a CPU change could be done if the performance was lacking.  Video editing is very demanding. In that case.  I would suggest changing the CPU to a Xeon E5-2680 - which is 8-core @ 2.7 /3.5GHz (about $100), add RAM to have  32GB (about $120), and an SSD 250GB of more- (about $100), and the minimum GPU I'd use in that kind of system would be a Quadro K620 (about $110) to have a least a moderate 3D capability.  That would be a versatile system with some 3D capability and of course a 2nd E5-2680 could be added (requires a CPU/RAM, fan riser board- about $150 + 2nd CPU- +$100).  The wild card is that Premiere may run about as well or better on a single 8-core t as it appears to peak at about 5-6 cores abd actually slows down with dual CPU's.  In that case a z420 might be the better choice.

Here's an auction in which the buyer can choose components:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Build-Your-Own-HP-Z420-Workstation-8C-CPU-No-OS-Save-A-Lot-of-Money-/1823303...

> and a system with an E5-2680, 32GB of RAM, 1TB drive, and a Quadro K600 costs $545.

Cheers,

BambiBoomZ

---

PS thanks for input the auction however is not much of an option for me due to custom duties and value added tax in addition to the shipping fee that I would have to pay.

I am looking now at auctions for similar offerings from Germany

PS would I really need a Quadro and if not what non pro card can you recommend ? A Nvidia GTX 750  ??

[BambiBoomZ]

Anthony,

In these circumstances, consider a lower specification z420, e.g.,:

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon Quad Core 3.6GHz, No RAM, No HDD, 600W, Win 7 COA     > $279 or Offer

That arrives with an E5-1620 which can be sold for about $60, so the net price is about $220.  If the seller accepts $250, then it = $190.

To that system, add:

1.  Xeon E5-2670 or E5-2680- about $70-$110

2.  Add 32GB DDR3-1600 unbuffered - about $140

3. Reuse the Samsung 840 512GB SSD

4. 1TB WD Blue- $50

5. GTX 580 3GB - about $80

That will still cost $530-$580.

Another one, from a slightly different angle:

HP Z420 Workstation Desktop Computer Xeon E5-2670 OctaCore 2.6GHz 16GB 2TB W7P > $550 or offer

That one has Quadro FX1800, which, as it happens is quite good in 2D, but would of course, quickly need something stronger.

Looking at  a number of scenarios, the $480 budget would probably only purchase a system one generation newer than

the xw6600 - more in the vein of your earlier listings  It's possible with patience though to do a bit better, a z600 with a Xeon X5670 for example:

HP Z600 Workstation 2.93GHz Xeon X5670 6 Core 2.93GHz/ 24GB/ 2TB/ WI-FI WIN 10 > sold for $270

That would leave a good amount for a GPU, perhap GTX 770.

Overall, if the budget could be $600, an E5 8-core system- with SATAIII and USB 3 and etc, would represent a better, and longer-term investment.

This little study did make the z620 (E5-2620) look better and it might work  to buy it and replace the CPU with an E5-2670 for $70-90  when possible.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

[AnthonyK]

BambiBoomZ  and others who participated in this thread but a specially BambiBoomZ  

I had to announce that I have sold my xw6600 dual QC E5450 machine and purchased myself a refurbished or slightly used HP z620 with one CPU setup  a E5 2650 8 core Xeon, 24 Gb of memory and a Quadro 4000 GPU pre-installed.

I used the Samsung SSD 840 Pro 512 GB now as my main C:\  SSD drive and a separate OCZ drive for my virtual machines.

I went for a clean UEFI - Windows 10 installation in my since it will be my main productivity computer.

At any rate thanks for the purchase advice and I am glad now even after just a few days that I gotten my new system.

Now just adding some additional hardware and some software upgrades.

[BambiBoomZ]

Anthony K,

That appears to be a very good choice for your use. 

Because that series of Xeon E5 first version are so inexpensive, it is worthwhile to consider an E5-2680 (2.7 /3.5GHz).  I think the supply of these will gradually decrease and prices rise over time. 

When you receive the system, check the bootblock date and if it is after 6 /2013, it can use Xeon E5-2600 v2.  This is worth knowing. The v2 processors will have more cores and higher clock speeds and the system will have a longer future and better value when sold. 

It would be fun to know the Passmark test results as received.

My z620 as received:

HP z620 (Original) Xeon E5-1620 (4-core @ 3.6 /3.8GHz) / 8GB (1X 8GB DDR3-1333) / AMD Firepro V5900 (2GB) / Seagate Barracuda 750GB + Samsung 500GB + WD 500GB
[ Passmark System Rating= 2408 / CPU= 8361 / 2D= 846 / 3D = 1613 / Mem =1584 / Disk = 574 ] 7.13.16

And after upgrading:

HP z620 (2012) (Revision 3) 2X Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 / 3.8GHz) / 64GB DDR3-1600 ECC reg) / Quadro K2200 (4GB) + Tesla M2090 (6GB) / HP Z Turbo Drive (256GB)  + Seagate Constellation ES.3 (1TB) / 800W > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > HP 2711x  (27"  1980 X 1080)
[ Passmark System Rating= 5675 / CPU= 22625 / 2D= 815 / 3D = 3580 / Mem = 2522 / Disk = 12640 ] 9.25.16

Ausgezeichnet!

Cheers,

BambiBoomZ

[AnthonyK]

---

@BambiBoomZ wrote:

Anthony K,

That appears to be a very good choice for your use. 

Because that series of Xeon E5 first version are so inexpensive, it is worthwhile to consider an E5-2680 (2.7 /3.5GHz).  I think the supply of these will gradually decrease and prices rise over time. 

When you receive the system, check the bootblock date and if it is after 6 /2013, it can use Xeon E5-2600 v2.  This is worth knowing. The v2 processors will have more cores and higher clock speeds and the system will have a longer future and better value when sold. 

It would be fun to know the Passmark test results as received.

My z620 as received:

HP z620 (Original@) Xeon E5-1620 (4-core @ 3.6 /3.8GHz) / 8GB (1X 8GB DDR3-1333) / AMD Firepro V5900 (2GB) / Seagate Barracuda 750GB + Samsung 500GB + WD 500GB
[ Passmark System Rating= 2408 / CPU= 8361 / 2D= 846 / 3D = 1613 / Mem =1584 / Disk = 574 ] 7.13.16

And after upgrading:

HP z620 (2012) (Revision 3@) 2X Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 / 3.8GHz) / 64GB DDR3-1600 ECC reg) / Quadro K2200 (4GB) + Tesla M2090 (6GB) / HP Z Turbo Drive (256GB)  + Seagate Constellation ES.3 (1TB) / 800W > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > HP 2711x  (27"  1980 X 1080)
[ Passmark System Rating= 5675 / CPU= 22625 / 2D= 815 / 3D = 3580 / Mem = 2522 / Disk = 12640 ] 9.25.16

Ausgezeichnet!

Cheers,

BambiBoomZ

---

Check the bootclock ? I presume I must check that in the BIOS then. Let me reboot and check.

PS does something similar apply to an z600 that of my wife ? She runs a z600 but her system does not accept registered ECC just plain unbuffered.

[MtothaJ]

I wanted to attach a picture but external linking of images does not seem to be working on this forum and any uploaded pictures need to be approved - rather awkward.

So here goes the typing:

Passmark rating: for my HP Z420:    5255.1

   CPU                   12427.0

   2d graphics         716.1

   3d graphics    10105.9

   Memory              2687.2

   Disc                    10293.9

[AnthonyK]

---

@MtothaJ wrote:

I wanted to attach a picture but external linking of images does not seem to be working on this forum and any uploaded pictures need to be approved - rather awkward.

So here goes the typing:

Passmark rating: for my HP Z420:    5255.1

   CPU                   12427.0

   2d graphics         716.1

   3d graphics    10105.9

   Memory              2687.2

   Disc                    10293.9

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Nice and what CPU and GPU are you using ?