Z400 Workstation Performance Upgrade

[theOne77]

You can install 8GB sticks but it has to be E RAM not R

i.e. DDR3 PC3-10600E or PC3-14900E

This is his response.. can someone assure this will work?

[BambiBoomZ]

theOne77,

The X58 chipset supports 800, 1066, and 1333 RAM. The HP z400 product specification reads: "Only unbuffered DDR3 DIMMs are supported. " And they mean ECC unbuffered. And see:

http://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/content/specifications/z400_datasheet.pdf

Lower end LGA1366 CPU's use 1066 but the W3690 supports 1333. Apparently the z400 doesn't support registered RAM.  Registered is typical for dual processor systems, as it adds a parity check that synchonizes the threads between the two processors. 

It appears that the maximum memory capacity for a 6-slot z400 system will be 6X 4GB.  The dual proecssor z600 however appears to support 8GB DIMMs.  This is the case with the contemporary Dell Precisons. I had a dual CPU T5500 (2X X5680) with 6X 8GB but the T3500 (X5687) was limited to 6X 4GB.

I don't know if you have decided on all your upgrades,  but consider adding a PCIe RAID controller (such as LSI 9240) to upgrade to an SATAIII  disk sub system- and possibly a controller having an eSATa port to run an external backup drive. Ordinary mechanical  HD's do not saturate SATAII but SATAIII will provide the full benefit of SSD's.  Also, consider the performance enhancement of a PCIe USB 3.0 card.

BambiBoomZ