Upgrading system HP Z8 G4 Workstation

[Kefdesignn]

I am gonna upgrade my machine HP Z8 G840, I wanna add 32*4 Ram 3600mhz which is existed ram 2666mhz so is it possible to insert a different Mhz ram ? also is it possible to add different memory rams ..?

and I wanna insert 3 more GPU is it possible to use 4 Gpu ..? if yes,, is it possible to use a different type of GPU ..?

LIKE currently I am using RTX2080ti  so i wanna add RTX 3090*3

if i am having another 3 GPU Should i change the power supply ..?

Should i add any cooling system ..?

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

it is "STRONGLY" recommended that you use ram that has been qualified for use in your workstation using non qualified ram may possibly cause issues visit Crucial for compatible ram

unless you have the upgraded power supply, multiple video cards will not be supported, and even with the upgraded supply your not going to be able to run three 3090's which would draw around 1000 watts and close to 1400 watts for 4

and what program would you be using that supports multiple video cards?...............

[Kefdesignn]

for video rendering, using AutoCAD  (auto desk all applications) 3DS Max , Vray, Lumion , Corona Render, Unreal Engine 4 Arch, Adob After Effect, D5 render

[BambiBoomZ]

Kefdesignn,

The applications listed present a combination of both CPU-intensive: 3D CAD, animation VRay, GPU-intensive: Lumion, memory, and drive intensive applications. This suggests that, for professional use, the system needs to be extremely capable in all departments: CPU- both single threaded and multi-threaded, GPU- a lot of CUDA cores/ high clock speeds, a lot of memory, and fast drives.

Consider:

1.  2X Xeon Gold 6146 / 12-core @3.2/4.2GHz  > That presents a healthy 24 cores /48 threads and the 4.2GHz turbo clock speed is the highest of any CPU used in the Z8 G4 and the Passmark average single-thread rating is 2,477. About 2,500  means a quite competent gaming processor. If there is a budget, start with 1X 6146.

2.  Rendering is memory intensive. Configure the system with 128GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, but use modules sized to allow change to 256GB. NOTE: The 2666MHz RAM speed is the highest supported in a Z8. Workstations are particular about memory; consider using only HP-labelled RAM.

3.  A single RTX 3090 should be quite sufficient= 24GB GDDDR6X / 384-bit memory bus /10496 CUDA cores or consider 2X RTX 3080 =  20GB  GDDDR6X / 320-bit memory bus /17,408 CUDA cores.  There is a diminishing return on more than one GPU. One of the reasons to consider a single GPU is that, for one, the memory bus of the RTX 3090 is higher plus as far as I know, there is no blower fan cooler version of these GPU's, meaning quite a lot of extra heat will be put into the case over long rendering slogs and two of anything will probably cost more than one of the higher model. Regardless of choice, the Z8 will need to be run on a higher case fan profile to compensate and will be noisier. Be aware of the current very high cost and very low availability of any 3rd series RTX GPU's  due to cryptominers.  There is also the question of the size especially of the RTX 3090; there are models that extremely large W X L and some are almost 3X slot height.  NOTE: Verfiy that the exact model of GPU will fit in the Z8.

4. Consider a 1TB or 2TB TB  Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 boot drive and a second one to contain the current projects. These will need to be in PCIe 3.0 x4 or higher slots. In the office z620_2, the boot drive is an HP Z Turbo Drive 256 GB AHCI- soon to be a 512GB AHCI and the current projects drive is a Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 500GB that occupies the second GPU slot. 

5.  Worksations are such carefully integrated designs adding liquid cooling beyond the HP proprietary models mean an external cooler. There is one such cooler available:

https://www.alphacool.com/shop/neue-produkte/21360/alphacool-eiswand-360-cpu-black

But these are difficult to find now and as is rather expensive. Forum friend Brian1965, whose is an engineer, designed and built a custom external cooler, and I had a go at some designs for z620_2, both horizontal and vertical:

I ended up buying an Alphacool Eiswand and then never using it after discovering that the optional HP z420 AIO liquid cooler works well in the z620 as well.

That however does not solve the GPU cooling which the external cooler will.

In my view, the first priority would be to have the high single-thread processor(s) In Passmark baselines, 2X Xeon Gold 6146 has the highest CPU score of the 31X Z8 G4's tested of 27,884 and the excellent single thread rating of 2,477.  The GPU is the second priority, but as the RTX 2080 is a very capable GPU, and RTX are so difficult to obtain- an RTX 3090 can be $2,500- 3,000, the second priority would be to 128GB or greater system RAM, co-equal third are the M.2 boot and project drives. If all can be done at once, all the better.

BambiBoomZ

HP z620_2 (2017) (R7) > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8C@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid Cooling / 64GB (HP/Samsung 8X 8GB DDR3-1866 ECC registered) / Quadro P2000 5GB _ GTX 1070 Ti 8GB / HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB AHCI + Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe 500GB + HGST 7K6000 4TB + HP/HGST Enterprise 6TB / Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 sound interface + 2X Mackie MR824 / 825W PSU / Windows 7 Prof.’l 64-bit (HP OEM) > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)

[ Passmark Rating = 6280 / CPU rating = 17178 / 2D = 819 / 3D= 12629 / Mem = 3002 / Disk = 13751 / Single Thread Mark = 2368 [10.23.18]

HP z420_3: (2015) (R11) Xeon E5-1650 v2 (6C@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid cooling / 64GB (HP/Samsung 8X 8GB DDR3-1866 ECC registered) / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/ HP/LSI 9212-4i > Samsung 860 EVO 500GB + HGST 4TB / ASUS Essence STX + Logitech z2300 2.1 / 600W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (HP OEM ) > Samsung 40" 4K

[Passmark System Rating: = 5644 / CPU = 15293 / 2D = 847 / 3D = 10953 / Mem = 2997 Disk = 4858 /Single Thread Mark = 2384 [6.27.19]

HP ZBook 17 G2: (2015 ) i7-4940MX Extreme (4C@3.1/ 4.0GHz) / 32GB / Quadro K3100M 4GB / Kingston 480GB SATA SSD > 17.3" LCD 1920 X1080 panel > HP docking station> video externally to HP 2711x 27" LCD + Dell 17" (2007) / Logitech 533 _2.1 speaker system

[Passmark System Rating: = 3980 / CPU = 10140 / 2D = 618 / 3D = 2779 / Mem = 2559 Disk = 4662 / Single Thread Mark = 2387 [1.3.20]

[joselso]

Two updates FYI:

According to HP latest quickspecs for Z8 G4, URL:
https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c05527763.pdf

Xeon Gold 6246 / 12-core @3.7/4.2GHz / 2933MHz memory Speed replaces 6146 which is no longer offered by HP for Z8 G4 customization, URL:
https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/ConfigureView?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&catEntryId=30744...

Accordingly, the 2933MHz RAM speed is now the highest supported in a Z8.

[BambiBoomZ]

Joselso,

Slight correction: the Xeon Gold 6246 base clock speed is 3.3GHz rather than 3.7GHz mentioned.  The current version of the Gold 6246 is the  Xeon Gold 6246R Processor (16C @ 3.4 GHz / 4.1 GHz ).

The  Z8 G4 may use the Xeon Gold 6246 / 12-core, which has a base clock that is 100MHz higher than the Xeon Gold 6146 / 12-core and the same 4.2 Turbo clock. The price new was the same @ about $3,200 each.  A new Xeon Gold 6246R Processor 16C  costs about  $3,450 each. No used 6246R were found in a brief search. 

It seems far more likely that the OP may find a good used Gold 6146 12C at about $1,600 each  as compared to the current minimum of $2,600 for a used 6246 12C. In my view, $1,000 is quite a bit for a +100MHz base clock and spending about $6,900 for a pair of Xeon Gold 6246R's is quite a bit. All in all, that is about +$3,700 but that does provide +8-cores / +16 threads and the processors will be new.  If the system is mission critical, new processors and more cores are preferable, but the Gold 6146 suggestion was in consideration of the possibility of a budget limit on upgrading.

Interesting project and complex cost/benefit equation.

BambiBoomZ