Processor upgrade recommendation for HPZ600 Workstation

[JonathanAtInox]

Looking for a processor upgrade for a HPZ600 Workstation, currently have an Intel Xeon Processor X5570, does anyone have any recommendations? 

[SDH]

Is it a Z600 v1 or a Z600 v2? If you don't know what that means then read up on that via google and get us your boot block date from BIOS.

Are you running one or two processors?

What is the model number from your heatsink(s)?

[JonathanAtInox]

Hi,

Can confirm it's V1 running on only one processor.  Not sure about the heat sink code though?

[DGroves]

in my opinion you will be better served by replacing the system with one that supports nve booting sata 6GBps USB 3.0 or 3.1 and newer faster ram/cpu

on Ebay, you can find HP z240 towers (not win 11 compatible without modding the installer) or the lenovo p 520 or the p520c (a lower feature version of the full p520) both p520 systems are win 11 compatible and faster than the HP 240 which is quite a bit faster than the z600 

[SDH]

Take a look at my old post in this link:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/hp-z600-does-X5647...

Since you have a v1 you can only run the earlier processors... a v2 can run the earlier and the later processors. I need to post later a mid-era Z600 QuickSpecs from near the end of the v1 time frame that only includes the v1 processors... later today after I dig one out.

Obviously you'd like to have a v2, and you could transplant in a recycled eBay v2 motherboard to get that. The Z600 v2 can run the same 1866 speed memory sticks (but at 1333) that are the fastest a Zx20 v2 can run; the Z600 v1 cannot. The "Performance" heatsink/fans to handle the hotter processors for either a Z600 v1 or v2 are relatively rare and expensive, but the "Mainstream" ones are common and quite inexpensive.  That is why I did not shift to the 130W processors in mine. Here's the part numbers:

130W processors need the rare "Performance" heatsink/fan in the Z600 v1 and v2:
KEY: 3 heat tubes
535588-001
463991-001

Lower wattage processors only need the common "Maninstream" one:
KEY: 2 heat tubes
535586-001
463990-001

I've seen eBay listings wrong for the Performance ones so you want to really review the details carefully if you buy one or two of those. In my mind they are not worth buying... I'd put my money now into building up a nice Z440 (or single processor Z640, even). Much better faster workstations and there is no v1 vs v2 issue with those. You can also run very fast NVMe M.2 drives in those in a Z Turbo Drive G2 or ZTD Dual Pro. A carefully selected Z440 build rivals my Z4 G4 build, at significantly lower cost.

EDIT: Agree fully with DGroves...

[SDH]

I'll still get you that QuickSpecs but let me add in a bit on M.2/NVMe drives.

DGroves has helped me on those quite a bit. I've posted some deep dives into them. Some key things that will apply to shifting up to the Zx40 or P520 workstations are:

1. The boot/applications drive being a NVMe M.2 stick helps you day in and day out vs a SATA SSD.

2. Your documents drive can also be a NVMe M.2 stick even in the Zx20 and even the Zx00 workstations, and those M.2 drives are getting cheaper with higher capacities over time.

3. With the ZTD Dual Pro in a Zx40 you can have 2 NVMe M.2 sticks on one card in a PCIe3 x8 slot if bifurcation is turned on to x4x4. I know how to mod the ZTD G1 and G2 to let it work on a P520 but not the ZTD Dual Pro. The P520 has two motherboard M.2 sockets, however.

4. This surprised me: A NVMe M.2 stick that has a PCIe4 controller is significantly faster as a documents drive than expected in both the Zx20 workstations and the Zx40 workstations (both of which have only PCIe3 bus technology... as does the Zx G4). The Zx20 needs a special relatively rare Samsung SM981 AHCI-controller M.2 stick to boot from, but that one is almost as fast as the more common SM981 with a NVMe-controller... both can use PCIe3 bandwidth. Another earlier M.2 stick HP used in the Zx20 in the ZTD was a PM941 also with an AHCI-controller but that can only use PCIe2 bandwidth.

5. By doing a slight "Q1-out" mod to a Z Turbo Drive G1 or G2 card used in a PCIe2 slot in a Z600 v2 you can run a common NVMe PCIe3-controller M.2 stick at very fast speeds as your documents drive... have not tested a PCIe4 stick. You don't get the same big boost from running a NVMe M.2 PCIe4 drive as you do in the Zx20 or Zx40 workstations but still get a very big boost vs using a SATA HDD or SSD as your documents drive (which can only run at SATA2 speeds in the Zx00 workstations, not SATA3). Note: I have not tested this in a Z600 v1.

I agree with DGroves that your time and money spent on upgrading to a more modern platform is your best bet unless you are attached to what you have and dink with it as a bit of a hobby.

[SDH]

I've attached the v17 and the v51 Z600 QuickSpecs. The v17 is the one I've found from the past that first included both v1 and v2 processors. The v51 is the latest I've ever found for the Z600.

The best for the Z600 v2 workstations is two X5675 or two 5672, in my opinion. Both are 95W max TDP and both can use the "Mainstream" easy to find inexpensive heatsink/fan. One has more cores and is a bit slower on a single thread; the other has fewer cores and is a bit faster. I found the faster single thread one felt a bit faster overall, as expected.

I'd not spend too much time on a Z600 v1 single processor upgrade other than to look at the HP-approved 55xx processors and use the CPUbenchmark.net site to get stats for those, easy to find via google. To see dual processor results just search, for example, for "Xeon X5667 dual". One of those processors gets you an average CPU Mark of 4649; two together gets you 8511.

I'd rather put my energy into a souped up Z440 or Z640 with at least one Z Turbo Drive G2 or, better, one Z Turbo Drive Dual Pro running two NVMe M.2 drives side by side, bifurcation turned on to x4x4. Prices have really come down on those given the advent of the Zx G4 and Zx G5 next two HP workstation generations. A single processor build I've done in a Z440 using a E5-1660 v4 gives an average CPU Mark score of 13575 instead.

Your current single X5570 gets you a CPU Mark score of 3263...