Need help on Z240/Z440 purchase - spec related

[aztec506]

Hey folks - In the past I've built my own workstation/desktops.  My last build was my best -X58 chip, powerful, but quiet with large fans.  However I realized a few months ago it was 7 years old and has been running 24/7 since I built it.

Because of a disability most of my time is spent standing up and also because of that I want to move my computer into our living room so I'm not standing in a vacant room while my wife is in the other room.  Also because of that disability I'd prefer to not build my own this time.  I used to redo every 3 years, but time has gotten away from me.

Due to budget I will be limited to a Z240 or Z440, single video card.  So I have some questions about those:

Is one more quiet than the other?  Room to add fans or replace the HPs for larger quieter fans? 

I've never used a Xeon chip.  I know ECC ram is required and that Xeon doesn't have video on it.  Are there any other benefits/disadvantages/heads up about using a Xeon instead of an i7 that I should know ?

My main CPU stressing work is Photoshop and dozens of filters/plugins and audio editing using Adobe Audition, Reaper.  Are Xeon chips better/worse for those uses?
Are the power supplies used on these two models standard size that could be swapped if needed in the future?

I like the idea of a small form factor but I fear any upgrading in the future might be difficult - is the SFF quieter than the other models? Fans easily replaceable?

Thanks for your help.  Ready to pull the trigger on this, buy my own memory and secondary storage and start enjoying a new machine.

[BNN1]

Hi aztec506,

Greetings!

When talking about processors it comes to core versus core and frequency versus frequency - Xeon CPUs are just as fast as Core i7 CPUs.

1. Core i7-5XXX and Xeon E5 v3 CPUs have identical performance.

2. Xeon E5 v3 CPUs have a much wider range of models than Core i7-5XXX CPUs allowing for higher (and lower) core counts and a wider range of operating frequencies.

3. Xeon E5 v3 CPUs have much higher RAM capacity through the use of Registered ECC memory (768GB versus 64GB).

What it comes down to is that Core i7 CPUs are usually slightly cheaper than their Xeon E5 v3 counterparts.

Please find the links mentiond below for the unit specification.

HP Z240 Tower Workstation

https://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04760707.pdf

HP Z440 Workstation

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04400038.pdf

Regards,

BNN1

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