Z620 2x CPU and heatsinks upgrade

[RentedDreams]

SDH, I don't have 8 sockets, I have 12.  8 on the main board and 4 on the riser. All are full. I have 4GB modules in the 8 on the main board and 8GB modules in the 4 sockets of the 2nd CPU. All of them are PC3-10600E.

Bambi,   the HP data sheets state that 96GB is max Ram and requires 8GB modules in all 12 sockets. I assume that when all of this documentation was written, 16GB modules didn't exist or were so rare they didn't factor into HP certifying the system with that capacity.  I used the links you provided to download the latest BIOS and GPU driver. I think I'm up to date. I'll also do like you said and run Passmark Performance Test 9 now before I do any changes and then after each step and save the results in Excel. Be nice to see how it changes.

My plan was to sell my existing RAM, and purchse PC3-12800E  modules.  Whatever size I use, I want to utilize all 12 sockets. So SDH will that work?

Once again, Bambi and SDH , I appreciate your assistance  and patience in providing me guidance on this decade old workstation.   I've been writing code for a long time. Started out writing Macintosh software on a $10,000 Apple Lisa that had an external hard disk with an unheard capacity of 5MBs. Cost almost as the whole computer. And countless other HP minis and countless big servers systems. But these were all company machines maintained by IT techs. I've had my own personal computers of course, but this is the first real powerhouse workstation I've ever owned.  I'd like to make sure I don't screw it up, but I want to hot rod it as much as I can afford.

[BambiBoomZ]

Rented Dreams,

Yes, sorry, it's the z620  v2 that can use up to 192GB of RAM.

Withe dual processors, the RAM must be ECC Registered signified by an "R", not ECC Unbuffered which is signified by an "E".  The registered memory adds a parity check to sort of synchronize the data streams between the two processors, so it's not quite as fast as unbuffered, but it a few ms difference and there's no choice  in the matter with two CPU's.

If the manual says 96GB maximum and that equals 12X 8GB to utilize all the RAM slots, then that must be the configuration to use.

> Sorry to introduce a wild card after such a lot of discussion, but if the processors and RAM are being changed, consider the substantial advantages of changing the motherboard to a second version, for example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/373411884763?epid=901257099&hash=item56f1152edb:g:MTAAAOSwSYVf8084

I didn't realize how inexpensive z620 v2 motherboards have become lately.

Besides the 192GB total RAM potential, the v2 processors have higher clock speeds and the system can use up to 12-core CPU's. See:

https://zworkstations.com/site/assets/files/7051/hp-z620-datasheet.pdf

The Xeon E5-2697 v2 (12C @ 2.7 / 3.5 GHz )

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154523338575?hash=item23fa4f074f:g:IoIAAOSwespg5xtM

> has a Passmark single CPU average score of 14,288 and Single Thread Mark of 1,788.  For comparison, the E5-2690 8C @ 2.9/3.8GHz)  = 9,973 and 1,675.  The less expensive E5-2680 v2 (10-core @ 2.8 /3.6GHz) = 12,852 and STM= 1,791.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234065283633?epid=1756886460&hash=item367f60ca31:g:Qe4AAOSwfYJg1jaW

That's a pair of E5-2680 v2's for $125.  Yes, nearly double the cost = +$59 of the pair of E5-2690's but +4 cores / +8 threads, +30% performance, a 12% higher STM, plus up to 192GB of 1866 memory. In my view, it's a very good investment and the extra performance may add a couple of years to the useful life.

A nice feature is that the system could initially  run the E5-2690 first version processors on the v2 board using 96GB (6 X 16GB) 1866 speed RAM that will run at 1600. The E5-2680 v2's can be added later and run 192GB of the 1866 RAM at full speed. However, consider the performance advantages of a symmetrical memory configuration of 4X 16GB + 4X 16GB of identical HP-labelled modules.  There is a latency when the modules are of a different rank configuration and different amount between processors as there has to be a buffering when there is a write to the second memory channel and/or CPU.  In the office here, z420_1 had better memory performance with 16GB (4X 4GB) than 24GB (2X8GB  + 2X4GB):

HP z420_1 (2013) (Rev 1) > Xeon E5-1620 four core @ 3.6 /3.8GHz > 24GB DDR3 (4x4GB + 4X2GB) ECC 1600 RAM > AMD V4900 (1GB) > Seagate 500GB > M-Audio 192 soundcard > Linksys WMP600N WiFi
[Passmark system rating = 2372 / CPU = 9001 / 2D= 712 / 3D= 1353/ Mem= 2261 / Disk= 712]

HP z420_1 (2013) (Rev 4) > Xeon E5-1620 four core @ 3.6 /3.8GHz > 16GB DDR3 ECC 1600 RAM (4X 4GB) > Firepro V5900 (2GB) / Seagate ST500DM002-1BD142 > Creative Audigy2 soundcard
[Passmark system rating = 2152 / CPU = 9631 / 2D= 722 / 3D= 2057/ Mem= 2513 / Disk= 497

What is the plan for the drives?

BambiBoomZ

[SDH]

A little warning to others thinking of adding a second "mini-motherboard" to the Z620 via buying a used "riser" off eBay.  Make sure you do your homework.  Remember that the socket for the processor(s) used in a Z620 are for the v1 and v2 processors.  The socket used in a Z640 is different... they are for v3 and v4 processors.  Also, the memory sockets on the Z640's riser are DDR4, not the DDR3 sockets that the Z620 uses.

FCLGA2011 for v1 and v2 (Z620)

FCLGA2011-3 for v3 and v4 (Z640)

The Z640 riser looks very much like the Z620 riser, but its socket pinout is different.. only use a Z620 riser in a Z620.  I have seen Z640 risers sold on eBay under Z620 riser listings.

Here is some edited input from Wiki:

LGA 2011-v3 (Socket R3, also referred to as LGA 2011-3) is another updated generation of the socket, used for v3 and v4 processors which were released in August and September 2014. Updated socket generations are physically similar to LGA 2011, but different electrical signals, ILM keying and integration of the DDR4 memory controller rather than DDR3, which prevents backward compatibility with older v1 and v2 CPUs.

[RentedDreams]

Just wanted to follow up now that I have completed all of my upgrades.

Bambi thanks again for recommending the E5-2690 processors and SDH I appreciated your help in trying to figure out how to cool them. Since I have the 2nd CPU riser board, I went with stock Z620 heat sinks and MX-5 thermal compound.

I loaded up all 12 memory slots with Hynix 8GB  PC3-12800R for a total of 96GB. I added two SATA SSDs, 1 is an HP 500GB that I cloned the OS onto and it is my main drive. The 2nd is a 1TB SSD that I use to tore all of my MRI and X-ray imagery files. Data retrieval used to be painfully slow, not now. I can't believe the difference this system has made in my productivity, plus it is actually fun to see how fast it now operates.   It's hard to believe that I once used to program commercial applications on a Lisa 2 with 1MB RAM and a 5MG hard drive. Wow am I getting old.

One last question before I move on. My brother has  been offered a Z820 workstation with a single E5-2680 2.70GHz  and 32GB RAM  for $125. It has a DVD but no hard drives. Even the hard drive enclosures are gone.

Questions:    Its an early system I think with  Mar 2013 BIOS.  Are these  good machines. Will the drive enclosures from a Z620 work?

thanks again for everyone's help.

[BambiBoomZ]

Rented Dreams,

The project appears to be progressing nicely- well done. The specification will allow for a high level of large-scale CPU based compiling /development,r computational projects, or tile-based rendering, e.g.,Blender.

The drive choices are good, if that all the files to have normal use may be stored in 1TB.   In the main system here, z620_2, the drives are : Samsung SM951 M.2 512GB AHCI + Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe 500GB + HP/HGST Enterprise 6TB in a USB external enclosure.  The C: drive is about 170GB, on the 512GB SM951 AHCI, all the files that are active or might be referenced equal about 320GB, and the 6TB drive has everything done on the computer since 1993, including some WordPerfect files in DOS. In my experience, in ordinary use, the M.2 drives do start more quickly, but only by a few seconds, perhaps ten, and  save and transfer amazingly quickly faster between them, but if the 6TB HD is involved, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link and a full backup of files requires about one and quarter hours, slowing them.  I tried  running an eSATA cable from the z620_2 motherboard out of an open PCIe slot back panel opening to the enclosure, but as it was running at 6Gb/s instead of 5GB/s, it was not much faster.

The z820 for that price is extraordinarily good.  I  would think a used power supply would cost that much. The drive caddies are the same for: z620, z640, z820 (4X), and  z840 Workstations (= 663074-001).

If the Boot Block Date is 2013 and not 2011, the system can use Xeon 1X E5-16XX v2 or 1X or 2X E5-X6XX v2 processors. If the work is single-thread orientated, consider 1X or 2X Xeon E5-2687w v2 (8C @ 3.3  /4.0GHz) 1X or 2X Xeon E5-2667 v2 (8C @ 3.4 /4.0GHz). If there are heavy core use applications /server uses, consider 2X Xeon E5-2680 v2 (10C @ 2.8 /3.6GHz) and adding a good LSI SAS /SATA RAID controller. SAS drives will be much faster in large data transfers and the total number of drives can be very high. 

Consider though that the z820 while of careful engineering design and of the highest quality and reliability, it is large, extremely  heavy, has an enormous power supply, dual processor systems mean 2X the CPU's and RAM, plus the X20 systems as terrific as they are, are one generations behind native NVMe drives, faster RAM, and 18-core CPU's.  A system that is missing important components is likely to be more costly and will certainly be more time-consuming before it's usable. However, if the workload needs that scale of cores, memory , and shear capacity of drives, it could be brought up to a highly competent and reliable system. If the single-thread performance is predominant, then consider a less elaborate system closer to immediate usability, and that can add no-fuss NVMe boot drives, for example this completed listing:

HP Z440 WORKSTATION / E5-1650v3 / 32GB-RAM / 240GB-SSD / 1TB /QUADRO K620  (£331.60)

Not the ultimate specification drives and GPU, but it could be up and running in two/three  hours.  The E5-1650 v3 is 6-cores but there is a z440 on Passmark running one at 4.7GHz,...

BambiBoomZ