How does your HP workstation matchup at Passmark Software ?

[AnthonyK]

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@MtothaJ wrote:

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@AnthonyK wrote:

Well I now do not intend to invest more in this system than a few bucks and since I already have a spare LSI 9212-4i SAS 6Gb 4-port RAID Card laying around I presume I could get the same results which I could with your suggested Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 card to connect to this Samsung 850 Evo SSD drive.

Correct me please if I am not reading this right.

Also I do already a USB3 controller card which I have to build in this PC Workstation later tonight.

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The LSI card will be fine and you will acheive the same result as the Apricorn cards - obviously since you have this card already using it is the smart move.

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Not sure though if I should do a fresh installation of Windows on this machine after I build in the LSI card. Or just find out the hard way. 

[MtothaJ]

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@AnthonyK wrote:

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@MtothaJ wrote:

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@AnthonyK wrote:

Well I now do not intend to invest more in this system than a few bucks and since I already have a spare LSI 9212-4i SAS 6Gb 4-port RAID Card laying around I presume I could get the same results which I could with your suggested Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 card to connect to this Samsung 850 Evo SSD drive.

Correct me please if I am not reading this right.

Also I do already a USB3 controller card which I have to build in this PC Workstation later tonight.

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The LSI card will be fine and you will acheive the same result as the Apricorn cards - obviously since you have this card already using it is the smart move.

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Not sure though if I should do a fresh installation of Windows on this machine after I build in the LSI card. Or just find out the hard way. 

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If you are not configuring RAID and just connecting the drive to the card for SATA3 speed then I wouldn't think you would need to do a fresh install. But I guess there is only one way to find out 😉

[Brian1965]

My latest Passmark 9.0 score;

And Passmark 8.0 score;

 

Summary;

[MtothaJ]

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@Brian1965 wrote:

My latest Passmark 9.0 score;

And Passmark 8.0 score;

 

Summary;

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Great overclocking results for the E-5 1680 v2 - congrats.

What liquid cooling solution are you using? Do you have any pics of your system with the cooling installed?

@Presently I am running a E5-1650 v2 in a Asus P9X79 Pro board @ 4.4Ghz on all cores with custom liquid loop cooling - temps are c.a. 32C idle and 61C at max stress (Prime 95 max cpu load test). In the Z420 I run that @ 4.0Ghz mainly due to the stock HP air cooler limitations.   

[Brian1965]

Hi MtothaJ,

Like yourself, I'm using a custom / DIY liquid cooling set-up. As you will be aware, the HP Z620 was never really designed for modding. Trying to find a 'closed-loop' solution to install internally is virtually impossible. I'm still only part way through the liquid cooling build as I'm currently awaiting the delivery of a waterblock for the GTX 1080Ti. I'm planning on adding this to the loop and upgrading the current single 140mm fan/radiator block to a triple 140mm fan radiator block. I should hopefully have the build finished towards to end of next week and I was planning on posting a more detail description and Xeon tuning guide. I'm interested in overclocking the 1080 as well - going for gold. Here's a couple of images as it currently stands;

Note: The HP motherboard has a custom 5-pin CPU fan connector and will not accept 3 or 4-pin fan plugs, hence the reason I removed the fan from the stock HP CPU cooler and managed to locate it behind the PSU. This was to prevent any BIOS/boot issues. Subsequently, I used a seperate temperature controller PCB, (with a thermocouple on the back of the Thermatake CPU waterblock), to monitor/control the radiator fan and pump.

[MtothaJ]

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@Brian1965 wrote:

Hi MtothaJ,

Like yourself, I'm using a custom / DIY liquid cooling set-up. As you will be aware, the HP Z620 was never really designed for modding. Trying to find a 'closed-loop' solution to install internally is virtually impossible. I'm still only part way through the liquid cooling build as I'm currently awaiting the delivery of a waterblock for the GTX 1080Ti. I'm planning on adding this to the loop and upgrading the current single 140mm fan/radiator block to a triple 140mm fan radiator block. I should hopefully have the build finished towards to end of next week and I was planning on posting a more detail description and Xeon tuning guide. I'm interested in overclocking the 1080 as well - going for gold. Here's a couple of images as it currently stands;

Note: The HP motherboard has a custom 5-pin CPU fan connector and will not accept 3 or 4-pin fan plugs, hence the reason I removed the fan from the stock HP CPU cooler and managed to locate it behind the PSU. This was to prevent any BIOS/boot issues. Subsequently, I used a seperate temperature controller PCB, (with a thermocouple on the back of the Thermatake CPU waterblock), to monitor/control the radiator fan and pump.

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Hi Brian1965,

Many thanks for the pics, the setup looks very smart. I previosuly had a Z420 and after finding out about the possibility of XTU overclocking was contemplating adding liquid cooling to that machine - as internal space was limited my thoughts at the time was to go either for the HP liquid cooler or - exactly as you had done - a custom liquid cooling loop with an external radiator / pump  rez. Ultimately however, since the overclocking possibilities via XTU are somewhat limited vs bios based overclocking, when a brand new Asus P9X79 Pro board came up for sale I decided to move on, selling the Z420 but not before taking out the best parts from it into my new build.

Currently I am running the following system:

Corsair 300R case, Corsair fans: 4xAF140 + 1xAF120, side window, lighting etc.  

Asus P9X79 Pro motherboard, modded bios to support NVMe
@E5-1650 v2 @4.4Ghz
16GB DDR3 ECC 1886Mhz
GTX 1070 Gigabyte G1 Gaming
Samsung 950 Pro 256GB + Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
BeQuiet! 600W PSU

The Corsair case was something I took from a previous build and it wasn't particularly well suited to water cooling. I had to remove the HDD drive cage to fit the reservoir and radiator - no big loss, since I am using a QNAP 253 Pro with 2x4TB in Raid 1 for my mass storage.

The cooling setup is as folows:

EK Supremacy EVO Elite CPU waterblock
EK DuraClear tubing
EK compression fittings
EK drain valve with associated fittings
Magicool DCP450 pump reservoir
Magicool 2.5cm thick 240mm radiator with 2x140mm push & 2x120mm pull fans

As for watercooling the graphics card - I am definietly tempted, since a dedicated EK waterblock / backplate is available, although I would be more inclined if I had a 1080 or 1080Ti. The Pascal cards run pretty cool anyway, so strictly speaking this is not something of utmost importance but it is definietly something I am contemplating since the whole water cooling experience is pretty addictive.

For your build, I would definietly change the red SATA cables for black ones - just a minor thing but it will look even more smart then it already does. I think you also did the right thing with leaving the CPU fan - bearing in mind the 5 pin HP wiring and possibility of 'press F1' errors at startup had this fan been disconnected its the smart thing to do, and at the temps your CPU is running I would imagine that fan spins pretty slowly 🙂

Since you are using an external radiator and not limited by case size, I would say that 360mm or 2x240mm in a nice stand is definietly the way to go.

I am very impressed that you managed to get the E5-1680v2 to 4.6Ghz using XTU - as mentioned, XTU tuning options there are pretty limited, my E5-1650v2 is most comfortable at 4.4Ghz - I can go to 4.6Ghz but that requires considerable more voltage than I am comfortable with. But I guess a lot of this has to do with the silicon lottery and binning, which is no doubt more tight on the E5-1680v2.

Really nice to see people taking these systems to the next level - congrats once again.

[Brian1965]

Sorry for the delayed response but I've been waiting for your images to be approved by the moderators.

That's a very neat liquid cooling solution you've built. I did look at other possible routes for my OC project such as the ASUS and SuperMIcro boards but I eventually decided to stay with the Z620 platform. I think HP have one of the best chassis designs on the market though a bit limited in space internally. The robustness of the HP workstations (in terms of driver support and compatibility) was the main deciding factor.

I 've already ordered a Black Ice SR-1 420 radiator and 3x Corsair ML140  fans, (and 2 black SATA cables!). This should definitely supply ample cooling. The new radiator is also 55mm thick which is twice as thick as my current 27mm thick single 140mm radiator.

In XTU I'm currently running at x46 on the multiplier and +250mV. Checking in HWMonitor shows I'm still not hitting the maximum power or voltage limits for this CPU. (Maximum Power = 121.39W).

FYI, some temperature data I recorded last week;

Untill the images are approved . . . thats 76°C on the stock CPU fan cooler @ 4.2GHz compared with 49°C on the liquid cooling @ 4.2GHz, and 58°C @ 4.6GHz. These tests were on full load.

I'll post my results for the liquid cooling 'V2' CPU cooler next week.

[MtothaJ]

I definietly agree that the Zx20 chassis has a lot going for it and is one of the better chassis out there for a user looking for a high performance out of the box system.  However, I feel that if one needs or just plainly wants to modify the system in one regard or other, there are just too many limiting factors - case size, various propriatery design features (PSU, CPU fan connector), limited bios etc. That said you done a great job of keeping the original look of the system and at the same time injecting a phenomenal amount of performance with the OC-ed E5-1680v2

I am very impressed with you package power figures - they seem incredibly low. Have you tried running Prime 95 torture test in the 'small FFT's (max CPU heat)' mode? Would be interested what figures you have, becasue my E5-1650v2 @4.4Ghz at 1.36V shows a package power figure of close to 190W when running this test. I previously had a Be Quiet! Dark Rock 3 air cooler (rated to 180 TDP) and this simply wasn't cutting it when performing this test. Standard Prime 95 mixed CPU / RAM test shows a package power figure of c.a. 150W. 

From what I recall with my experiences with the E5-1650v2 in the Z420, when using XTU it was most comfortable at 40x multiplier, no additional power was required and it was 100% stable. The power settings in XTU for these CPU's are very basic - from what I recall there was just one slider ('additional turbo power) and while increasing this I succeeded to get progressivly higher CPU speeds, cooling became a major issue. That said the stock HP CPU cooler is pretty good for what it is, since these machines were never designed to be run at anything other than stock speeds. FOr XTU what I find interesting is that in the Z420 it did not work for the E5-1650v1 (all tuning options were grayed out) but it worked fine for the E5-1650v2.

Just to mention, for my EK waterblock I got the LGA 2011 dedicated model - the difference is that is comes with a liquid metal pad designed for this socket which is supposed to lower temps by c.a. 2C - I havent yet got around to installing this and I just using THermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste. If I find the time and the urge I will probably beef up my liquid cooling loop - from what I see, there are even chipset and VRM water cooling blocks available, but this may be taking things a little too far.

FOr the liquid cooling, I would definietly recommend the EK duraclear tubing - this is very elastic / bendy and has a clear glass like look. In general I feel that EK stuff is highlt recommended. THe Magicool stuff is a bit hit and miss - the radiator is a standard copper rad - no better or  worse then other products of comparable dimensions / thickness, the pump is actually rather good - extremelly quiet and competively priced, also using just constant 12V  power - straightforward and relaible.  THe tubing and fittings from the MAgicool kit on the other hand are complete junk. If I were to upgrade, I would probably get an EK D5 pump with the glass reservoir, a waterblock+ backplate kit for the GTX 1070 and perhaps also another smaller radiator to put just after the CPU and before the graphics card in the loop.

Will deinietly be interested in reading on your v2 cooling system results. I think the way you have it set up outside the case if really handy since you are ulimately not limited by case size dimensions and can go with pretty much any radiator you wish. THe other obvious advantage is that any potential leaks apart from the CPU block (and GPU block one you get that installed) are not really an issue since these are ultimately outside of the case so a lot lower risk of any possible damage. I was a bit anxious that I would get leaks but thankfully it worked out fine and while I still inspect the PC every so often (side window is a good feature in this regard) after the initial week or two of running the system without any problems it is no longer something that is giving me concerns.

[Brian1965]

I'm not so much an enthusiast overclocker, more of an opportunist overclocker. This is the first time I have even dabbled in over clocking in general, and only my second attempt at water cooling, (the first was converting a Tesla M2090 to run in the HP Z620 which was successful). I also prefer the challenge of getting a computer system which was never really designed with water cooling or overclocking in mind to work on. As you rightly pointed out, propriety or bespoke motherboard connectors and limited space present their own challenges to overcome.

I haven't got round to trying the prime 95 torture test yet but I will definitely be addressing this with the V1 and V2 water cooling versions. V3 of the cooling project will be adding the 1080Ti to the loop, (the Alphacool GTX 1080Ti water block arrived today which is the same brand I used for the Tesla M2090 project). I appreciate the comments regarding the tubing and CPU block and will look into these further. I'm currently using laboratory/FDA grade silicon tubing for my plumbing. I've looked at the specification for the Duraclear tubing and noticed it is made from PVC. Silicon tubing is far superior in terms of thermal stability, chemical/environmental resistance, and mechanical stability. As an engineer, I work with a lot of metals, polymers and elastomers. Generally, performance wise, silicon is at the top of the tree. Aesthetically, perhaps not as pleasing to the eye but functional and will last a lifetime.

Regarding thermal paste, I always use Silver thermal paste. It's thermal conductivity is significantly better than any of the alternatives, (unless you're using diamong paste). Of course the downside is that Silver it is an excellent electrical conductor so you need to be extra vigilant when using it.

Most of the non-silver thermal pastes are either Aluminium/Zinc oxide or Boron nitride based, (nitrides being the better of the 2).

Here's a couple of images of a Solidworks model I've done, concept design, so to speak.

Still a work in progress. . . I'm going to laser cut the shroud at work and simply fold it to shape. The hp logo cut-out is actually so that I can monitor the coolant level. I'm putting a piece of polished metal behind the Z620 logo cut-out part to hide the pump and tubing, etc. I've also got a 140 x 420mm magnetic dust screen that will completely hide the radiator grill. Should look tidy from the front, the back is purely functional. I'm going to look for some flexible conduit at work to tidy the tubes and wires from the back, (or just buy some on ebay).

[MtothaJ]

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@Brian1965 wrote:

I'm not so much an enthusiast overclocker, more of an opportunist overclocker. This is the first time I have even dabbled in over clocking in general, and only my second attempt at water cooling, (the first was converting a Tesla M2090 to run in the HP Z620 which was successful). I also prefer the challenge of getting a computer system which was never really designed with water cooling or overclocking in mind to work on. As you rightly pointed out, propriety or bespoke motherboard connectors and limited space present their own challenges to overcome.

I haven't got round to trying the prime 95 torture test yet but I will definitely be addressing this with the V1 and V2 water cooling versions. V3 of the cooling project will be adding the 1080Ti to the loop, (the Alphacool GTX 1080Ti water block arrived today which is the same brand I used for the Tesla M2090 project). I appreciate the comments regarding the tubing and CPU block and will look into these further. I'm currently using laboratory/FDA grade silicon tubing for my plumbing. I've looked at the specification for the Duraclear tubing and noticed it is made from PVC. Silicon tubing is far superior in terms of thermal stability, chemical/environmental resistance, and mechanical stability. As an engineer, I work with a lot of metals, polymers and elastomers. Generally, performance wise, silicon is at the top of the tree. Aesthetically, perhaps not as pleasing to the eye but functional and will last a lifetime.

Regarding thermal paste, I always use Silver thermal paste. It's thermal conductivity is significantly better than any of the alternatives, (unless you're using diamong paste). Of course the downside is that Silver it is an excellent electrical conductor so you need to be extra vigilant when using it.

Most of the non-silver thermal pastes are either Aluminium/Zinc oxide or Boron nitride based, (nitrides being the better of the 2).

Here's a couple of images of a Solidworks model I've done, concept design, so to speak.

Still a work in progress. . . I'm going to laser cut the shroud at work and simply fold it to shape. The hp logo cut-out is actually so that I can monitor the coolant level. I'm putting a piece of polished metal behind the Z620 logo cut-out part to hide the pump and tubing, etc. I've also got a 140 x 420mm magnetic dust screen that will completely hide the radiator grill. Should look tidy from the front, the back is purely functional. I'm going to look for some flexible conduit at work to tidy the tubes and wires from the back, (or just buy some on ebay).

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That radiator housing / stand looks great and nicely complements the industrial design look of the Z620.

As for the tubing, my primary goal was to get no leaks, so I went with the tubing recommended by EK for the particular type of fittings I am using. But as you pointed out there are no doubt better alternatives out there, as far as I know Tygon is considered one of the better and more costlier options, and is also used in healthcare / industry etc.

My understanding is that you are running the tubing out of the Z620 through the top PCIe slot - if you havent done so already you may want to look at PCie slot covers with integrated quick disconnects for the tubing. This would allow you to safely seperate the radiator tower from the Z620 without the need to drain the system should you e.g. need to move the system to a new location.

Also for monitoring of system specs / temps, I recently came across a pretty handy free program -  Open Hardware Monitor. It functions much the same as HWInfo and other such programs but the key advantage for me is that you can have your parameters on the desktop at all times in the form of a customizable gadget:

For the Asus P9X79 Pro board I use bios based overcloking and not XTU but I had a look in XTU anyway - the only difference vs the Z420 is that the various turbo sliders which were grayed out on the Z420 are now customizable (no added value from an overclocking perspective) but there are no additional options like you would find with e.g. the i7 variant of this CPU (i7-4930K).

Bearing in mind how well XTU overclocking works on the Zx20 (on the selected CPU's that support it), the fact that it can be easily turned on / off just by closing XTU and current (low) Z workstation prices there is definietly a strong case for sticking with the Zx20 vs building a X79 system.