Z-workstation E5-1680 v2 Upgrades

[BambiBoomZ]

Lastmile77,

The incorrect z420 shipment is of course a lot of bother,  but here is now the possibility of what seems a much better long term solution, which is to keep the z620 and buy, install, and configure a  2013 boot block z620 motherboard plus the E5-1660 v2.  The cash outlay of only a  motherboard rather a whole system means the difference pays for the CPU and this saves the fuss of listing, selling, packing, and shipping the z620.  The Ebahh fees too can eat a good portion of the motherboard cost. More importantly, the z620 has a larger capacity power supply that can handle a uprated CPU, two strong GPU's , has very good air circulation, and higher level build quality. The z420 is very quiet, but the z620 is the quietest system I've ever been around.  By far, the noisiest thing about z620_2 is the HGST 7K6000 4TB HD and that's not audible more than a foot away.

The E5-1660 v2 I think is one of the best Xeons ever (others are: E5-2690, E5-1650 v2, E5-2687W v2, and E5-2667 v2).  As it is 3.7/4.0GHz, the resulting higher all-core speed is an advantage.  Using the z420 fluid cooler consider starting at 4.2, progressing to 4.3GHz, and then try 4.4GHz.  Each 100Mhz has a worthwhile single thread advantage. On Passmark baselines there is an E5-1660 v2 running at 4.6Ghz using ASUS Rampage IV Black motherboards with a CPU score of 17104  and the Passmark single -thread rating calculates to 2643.  For comparison, the highest average single thread rating ever for a Xeon is the current Xeon W-2145 8-core which averages CPU at 19679 and single thread at 2526, but for $1,300. The other thing is, at 4.6GHz , the Passmark CPU mark is 17104, very similar to the 17113 CPU mark for the z620_2 E5-1680 v2 at 4.3GHz, meaning that the E5-1660 v2 is capable at a higher clock speed of producing about the same number of clock cycles per unit time.  At 100% CPU utilization,  that 6-core is doing as much work as the 8-core at 100%.  The advanrage of the faster 6-core is with the single threaded performance. The 2643  single threaded rated 1660 v2 is doing more than the 2526 rated W-2145 at a cost of only 13% ($170 to $1,300).  At 4.3Gh on an HP z420, the CPU mark is 15240 and single thread rate calculates to about 2350.  My E5-1660 v2 at 4.2GHz  scored 15129  and single threaded was 2327. I was not able to go over 4.2GHz on the air cooler.  I believe that at 4.3, the E5-1660 v2 will exceed the 2364 single thread of the 1680 v2 at 4.3GHz as the 1660 v2 case all core speed is 3.8 Ghz instead of 3.4HGz.

As for delidding the 1660 v2, or any E5- v2 Xeon, I don't know of any specific example, but would be very interested to know results. Delidding is common for gaming CPU's and, as well, I've read of gamers having the lids on CPU's such as i7-8700K Copper plated in some way. I suppose one could do this at home on a hobbyist battery plating kit, then lapping with jeweler's rouge. I would think also lapping both the 1660 v2 and the CPU cooler would be in order as well. The HP cooler bases do have slight, concentric ridges, acquire tiny scratches over time, and as a result the thermal paste distribution is not as even and as thin as possible.  Delidding and a careful lapping conceivably might open the door to 4.4GHz on the z420 liquid cooler.  As usual, experimentation has risks, and needs to be methodical and incremental, but Xeon E5 are rugged and the automatic shutdown protection seems completely effective.

Please let us know how you progress- it's a very interesting project.

BambiBoomZ 

[SDH]

I had the same concerns about the HP memory labels.  Getting the ones with the holographic label is nice but not necessary.  HP does put out their installed memory also with those more plain looking labels on them as DGroves said.  I just pulled some like that this morning from a HP workstation bought straight from HP.  If you look a bit you'll see the plain labels have the same font, etc.

Regarding Z620..... pretty darn easy to upgrade the MB to v2.  I have one coming that ends in -003 instead of -002 (which is fine too).  You don't want -001.  The 1, 2 and 3 reference the number on the right of the label, and the ones on the left of the label tell you it can be configured for HP Linux or HP W7-8 (that depends on how the motherboard was tattood/branded, by HP).  A used Z620 2 or 3 motherboard will be one or the other, and you can't know that until you get it and try an install from W7/W8 HP Restore media.  If it was flashed for W7-8 you can load from the HP OEM COA self-activating cloneable-build media.  If it was flashed for Linux you can't get that success with that media and would need to do a W7/8/10 load the old fashioned way.  If it is a virgin motherboard then there is a learning curve on how to tattoo/brand it yourself (not trivial).  Since your box already is W7Pro64 licensed you could use the special codes on its outside labels to tattoo/brand it to that type.  It would be rare to find a brand new v2 motherboard that is inexpensive on eBay, but it has happened.

I'm with Bambi on his advice.  That eBay seller did not do you or himself any favors.  Your processor choice is excellent for either the Z420v2 or Z620v2.  Get the fastest (1866) memory to match it...... 8 x 4GB is what I'm finding to be the sweet spot for us, and for many 8 x 2GB would be just fine.  But get the fast stuff to match your processor.