z600 - help figuring out the correct revision

[pmacvx]

Hi,

I need some help figuring out the correct revision for my z600 (used), i´m planing on some memory upgrades.

The question is unbuffered or registered? Ive got unbuffered installed.

Dual x5650

Bios block date: 04/23/2010

However the board is: HP 0AE8h

I did a lot of searching/reading about this, but i´m lost... bios block date seems right for the C2 revision, on the other hand i´m getting 0AE8h wich is for the B3 revision......

Thanks for the help.

Regards.

[BambiBoomZ]

Pmacvx,

With dual processors, the memory needs to be ECC registered.  Registered memory makes a 1-bit parity check to synchronize the data streams between the two processors. 

The Xeon x5650  memory controller recognizes up to DDR3-1333

Consider using only HP labelled and matching modules. The older the system, and with registered in dual processor systems the more fickle the memory seems to be. If used, they will most likely be time-cycled out of servers. In this office, using quite a number of used HP ECC registered modules over several years,  there was never a failure. Registered memory is completely useful in single processor systems as well.

For reference, according to Passmark Performance Test baselines, the best performance in each test parameter for the z600/ 0AE8h motherboard are:

System rating:  3700 CPU= 8683 (2X Xeon X5550) / 2D =523 (RTX 2070) / 3D= 8278 / Mem = 1747 (24GB) / Disk= 6937 (Kingston SHP2280P2H) 

CPU: 11926  =2X Xeon X5670 /Win10

2D:  649  = Radeon HD 6870

3D:  8278  = RTX 2070 (!) This is wasted in the z600 as the average 3D for the RTX 2070 = 16104. The best 3D in any z600 =10449 (GTX 1070) on an X5675 system.

Mem:   1870   =24GB  (Remember that LGA1366 is triple channel and the best results are modules in sets of 3)

Disk:  19398  = SoftPerfect Virtual  (?)  / Second is  13000   =Samsung 840 EVO 250GB

For comparison, the highest performing LGA1366 system in this office:

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (R2): 2X Xeon X5680 (6-core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 ECC 1333 registered / Quadro 4000 (2GB ) / Dell PERC H310 > Samsung 840 250GB + WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB / 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[Passmark system rating = 3692 / CPU = 14379 / 2D= 651 / 3D= 2285 / Mem= 1792 / Disk= 2934] 8.9.17

The addition of the PERC H310 raid controller (=LSI 9211-8i) was a substantial improvement as it changes the drive rating from 3GB/s to 6GB/s, the modern standard.

Note that the Precision T5500 is using Xeon X5600-series processors.  These have higher clock speeds and improve IPC. In a z600, however, these require an HP 0B54h motherboard.  If the processors are ever considered for upgrade, also consider changing to the 0B54h motherboard.

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/ 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]

[SDH]

You're looking at the date your old version of the BIOS was compiled, back in 2010.  That usually is earlier than the day HP actually released it after testing.  To see what you need related to version of the workstation (v1 or v2) go into BIOS to see your "Boot Block Date" which is found under the first tab of BIOS, and below is a link to a post that includes a picture of what to look for.  Here also is that picture, with the Boot Block Date of 01/07/10 highlighted.  That never changes but the release date of your current version of BIOS does when you update it.  You can't see the pic until a moderator releases it.  Here is the pic:

There is a good forum post about this:  HERE 

By the way, the most recent version of BIOS is 3.61, released 3/6/18.  You need to learn how to update BIOS from within BIOS if you are using W10 on that workstation now.  Google Z600 drivers, go to the top result, change the OS to Windows/ W7 even if you are not using W7.  The BIOS updater SoftPaq is not listed under the W8.x drivers but you can use the one listed under W7 to harvest the .bin file.  You can brick your motherboard if you don't do the update from within BIOS if you are running W10 now.

[pmacvx]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, i´ll will take a closer look on the supplied link.

Took some pictures, bios info and also the board serial - i´ve read on another topic that with this sp number, its a rev b board - unbeffered ram only...

Thanks all for the help.

Regards.

Edit: bios photo 

[pmacvx]

Thanks for the reply.

I got this machine mainly for video post, CAD/3D modelling/render, but i got it with 8gb - 4 hp brand and 1 elpida.

On my country i can only find registered memory, not unbuffered.

Regards.

[SDH]

You want ECC registered server type memory.  There is ECC registered and ECC unregistered.  Also known as ECC buffered and ECC unbuffered.   You can get back in touch with me if you want some info on 8GB sticks that are 1866MHz rated that are from retired servers.  Turns out when I did the experiment on a version 2 Z600 these sticks (which I use in all our version 2 Z420/Z620 builds) that those worked fine also in the Z600 v2.  About $15.00 USD each, used from eBay.  The Z600 v2 has 6 memory slots and for best performance the sticks should be matched and all slots filled.

Bambi introduced me to these specific 1866 sticks for the ZX20 v2, and I later tested them also in the Z600 v2... worked fine.  They won't work in a Z400 v2.  They get automatically down-shifted in speed to 1333MHz in a Z600 v2 with two 1333MHz FSB HP-certified processors.  For that list you want to look at late versions of the Z600 QuickSpecs.  I can post the very latest one as a PDF if you wish.

[pmacvx]

I did not mention ecc but yes, they should be ecc...

Before I buy the modules I wanted to be sure which revision I've got, to buy the right ones.

I've got access to 8gb samsung ecc registered modules on my country for 15€.

Thanks.

Regards.