outperforming z230 e3 1225V3 3,2 GHZ vs older z600 dual quad core L5620 V1 - B

[AnthonyK]

Well  budget is tight so in all good other not sure if a newer v2 board is worth it instead of selling this machine and get her (my wife) an later z230 or z240 v2 or later. 

[DGroves]

i was going to upgrade to a z640/840 x99 chipset based system, but the prices are still rather high for me

so i bought a asus v1 x99-deluxe motherboard with all accessories for under 100.00 and will be using a xw8200 case

while ram.cpu are still expensive, it will be much cheaper than buying a x99 based hp workstation right now

the reasion i'm doing this is because the HP xw8200 case is a quality case with proven cooling ability, and internal bays for 5 3.5 drives, and space to fit a new internal 4/8 bay cage that fits 2.5 drives,  all that is required is to remove the existing cpu mounting standoffs from the case and drill/mount one new standoff mounting,   i also get to reuse the custom HP motherboard mounting standoffs on the new board, the xw8200 power supply is removed and replaced with a new 750 watt ATX supply that again uses the existing power supply mounting holes in the case. the existing  power buttion/HD/pwr light cable that went to the hp motherboard was simply rewired to match the asus board by swapping the wires in the existing  HP header

front panel I/O was updated by removing the existing usb 2.0/audio-mic/firewire module and replacing it with a front panel I/O from a HP Prodesk part#  804290-001 and some USB 2/3 cable extenders so it reaches the asus motherboard

the xw8200 case is perfered for two reasions, 

1. later xw8400/8600 cases no longer used the replacable backplate I/O, the back ports were punched out of the case without using a replaceable I/O plate

2. the xw8x00 series uses one rear 120mm case cooling fan, that will accept the corsair H80i series water cooling kit

if any one is interested, let me know and i'll try to post picts of the conversion progress on this forum)

[Ro808]

It's my guess the OP meant the Intel  Xeon L5520  instead of L5620.

The L5520 is a 60Watt QuadCore running at 2.26 GHz with a Max Turbo Frequency of 2.48 GHz and would work in a V1 Z600.

While this is not a processor I would use to analyze large data sets or render video content, it should be more than adequate to run financial software for medium sized to even large companies. 

I have worked as a project manager for a company that develops such software (target market  was 100 - 10.000 employees).

Although the Z600 is 8 years old, it's still a very capable workstation, even with this L5520 processor and even more so with a SSD.

The majority of financial software packages run in the cloud, even further diminishing local hardware requirements.

I wouldn't be surprised if its specs would be considered "overkill" by the IT department in many companies, even today. 

[Ro808]

While I was typing, the OP posted the actual processor: the venerable Xeon 5520 

[Ro808]

DGroves, nice to read your post about re-using a xw8200 case.

I have a brand new xw6200 in its original box, from which one processor was removed to be used in another system.

It's my intention to use it for a similar project as yours.

I actually prefer these older HP cases to those of the Z-series.

So, yes I would definately be interested in images of the conversion progress.

[AnthonyK]

Hi you all, I appreciate each contribution into this topic. The x99 route and the route of reconsidering the current setup instead of replacing it.

I am now weighing in three options.

1. since most of the excel files that my wife runs her computational work on as well as still working with a non-cloud based Dutch proprietary financial (book keeping) software and doing some day to day maintenance of our webstores the excel files are being stored on our private network on a 2 TB mirrored WD enterprise HDD which is connected to a HP ML110 G5 running Windows 2008 R2 Server (64 bit)  8 GB of non DDR2 ram and just a Samsung HDD for the OS (Windows 2008 R2.

I might upgrade this file server with an Samsung 840 Pro SSD as well with the existing 2008 R2 Server on it or replace the aging server all together with a newer one and or go cloud based  (no US Constitutional Rights for Dutch ciitizens iike my wife and I so.... very hesitant to do so.

2. Try an X55xx to replace the current dual E5520 setup in her z600 or get a V2 revision motherboard.... for it (not sure if this would support UEFI booting or a SATA 600 connnector

3. Replace her or mine HP with a z620 v2 model I can get on eBay for 390 EUR plus 25 EUR shipping.  Although I am sympathetic with the X99 Asus option I just feel that this is a HP community and not a Asus one so I have to weighinin the HP only option.

If the third then would that be a good Idea to get me a v2 z620 or better shop for a z440 later this year before Christmas>>

Your thoughts ?

[Ro808]

It's "proprietary", so it's not Exact, King, AFAS or similar? 

I wouldn't advise to build a custom system in your (wife's) case.

You could buy a used Z620 or Z420 for a few hundred €.

What is your budget?

[DGroves]

 does a z620 which costs around 400/500 on us ebay give you anything that makes the purchase worthwhile over the z600 you now use? from what you have described it seems not

upgrading the server, apply the same reasioning, will a new server give you anything that the current one can not?

normally a major reasion to upgrade is warranty and support for a system, neither of which seems to apply since the models you are looking at are no longer under mfgr warranty

if you simply want to upgrade from the z600 because you can,....nothing wrong with that it's your money and you get to decide how to spend it

my personal thinking is that if i had to choose i would upgrade the server before i did the workstation, and or upgrade/get a  NAS box for data backups if data redundancy is important to you

as for going with asus branded board, while asus is a major OEM for HP and makes many of their motherboards, the x99 series board i chose  is not one of them and as such not a recomended upgrade for people who want a turnkey system with vender support  on the entire package. as i said for my use the Return on investment between a non hp x99 based system or a z640 based x99 system comes down to cost, and at the current time it's much cheaper for me to go the route i've chosen, but i still might get a z640/840 in the future when they come down in price as my z800/820 systems are finally becoming a bit slower than current systems and lack bootable nvme support

[DGroves]

Ro808 ,......in reguards to the xw8200 modding PM me and i'll go into details on what's needed

[SDH · Accepted solution]

OK, here is my proposal:

AnthonyK has finally told us what his processors truly are.... E5520, two of them.  So, he also has two heatsink/fans that are rated to 95W max TDP.  Those processors are not as bad as it gets for the version 1 Z600, but close.  See attached picture from the second QuickSpecs for the Z600 (this early QuickSpecs only includes the v1 Z600 processors).  However, note the top dog for your v1 Z600.... the X5570.  It can run the 24GB of 1333 MHz memory you already own at full speed.  You'll be able to see the image when a moderator releases it:

Cost:  I looked up the single sSpec code for this processon on eBay (SLBF3) and I found a lot of 2 of these for $19.00 USD total, shipping included.

Also, add in my recommended nVidia Quadro 2000 for $35.00 USD.  Roughly 60.00 gets her a totally different user experience.

SATA II versus SATA III..... I work with them all in the real world, including AHCI and NVMe based M.2 SSDs..... almost never, ever, notice a difference.  And, I pay attention to such things.  The USB3 card I mentioned.... it is the single thing that I'd consider adding to the items above, but only if she really uses USB sticks to a significant degree.

I think DGroves and I are thinking alike on this issue..... spend 60 bucks, have a happy wife, and get on with your life.