Upgrading an HP Z440 Workstation's CPU

[mm1808]

Hi! I  want to apologize ahead of time if my reasoning and my questions are juvenile. I am not a hardware savvy user and this will be my first time installing a CPU.

Background: So I currently have an E5-2640 v3 @ 2.60GHz Intel Xeon CPU installed in my HP Z440. However I want to upgrade CPUs to something that can help speed up the time it takes to process a lot of tabular data (5GB to 20GB at a time).

Goal:  I was thinking of upgrading to an E5-2687W v3  cpu or a Xeon E5-2690 v3 12core after doing a google search for HP Z440 compatible CPUs and checking out some websites of vendors selling custom configurations for HP Z440 workstations for confirmation. I don't expect great improvements, but noticeable enough that I don't have to wait 4 to 5 minutes in between function calls.

However: My (potentially dangerous reasoning) is that if a vendor is selling the same workstation with X or Y as CPU options, then surely installing X and Y by myself should be alright. But I remain hesitant because I do not know what I should take into account before making such upgrades.

Questions:

1. I was wondering if there are other installation system pre-requisites I should take into account like making changes to BIOS or upgrading stuff?

2. Are there additional tools you recommend that I would need to purchase along with the CPU to do a proper installation? I already have a screw driver set meant for computers but nothing else.

Optional Question:

1. If you think my CPU choices for my workload could be improved, by all means, I am open to hearing suggestions. 

Thank you.

[DGroves]

workstation related questions should be posted in the workstation/business forum

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/bd-p/Business-PC-W...

ram will show some gains (the more the better in your case)

a faster cpu will help, unless your application is multi core aware if so then a cpu with more cores is recommended

note that the faster cpu's can make use of faster ram the 2687w will support  DDR4 1600/1866/2133/19200 speeds 

note that while HP never validated the faster 19200 speed, it will work fine in the z440

your current 2640 cpu only supports DDR4 1600/1866 ram speeds

cooling, the 2687w is a 150 watt cpu vs the 2640's 90 watt cpu as such you need to have the correct cooler 

the best one is the:

HP Z440 Z Cooler SILENT W 3D Vapor P/N N3R51AV (HP SP : 828230-001 / MPN : 781907-001)  for the others i have seen the stock HP 3 tube and a upgraded 4 tube heatpipe CPU cooler

replacing your current hard drive(s) with a fast "MLC" based SSD will make a big difference due to the type of work you do i do not recommend a "TLC/QLC" based SSD for your stated use, the older "MLC" ssd's are what you want if possible however some "TLC" ssd's are also suitable

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000056670/memory-and-storage/client-ssds.ht....

https://blog.purestorage.com/purely-informational/mlc-vs-tlc-which-is-the-better-ssd/#:~:text=Accord....

this link may prove useful, while being gaming orienteered it still applies to systems used in non gaming applications

https://www.greenpcgamers.com/mfg/hp/hp-z440-gaming-computer-and-other-hardware-upgrades/