Xeon e5-2696 v2 to z620?

[valda99]

Hi,

will xeon e5-2696 v2 work in z620 boot block v2? It is not listed in QuickSpecs cpu support list, but neighbour cpus (2695, 2697) are. I found some question about it somewhere in the forum, but there was just general answer - it may not work or smth like this. Does this cpu have some incompatibility with z620 mobo?

Thank you.

[Brian1965 · Accepted solution]

As you may be aware, the BIOS in these workstations contain a white-list of compatible CPU's in the BIOS microcode. Subsequent BIOS updates (after the product launch) will from time-to-time add additional CPU models. From my own experience, there is about a 99.9% chance that if the CPU isn't listed in the white-list, (as detailed in the quickspecs), the CPU will not even boot on these machines. Admittedly, there is the odd surprise that shows up when a non-listed CPU will in fact boot on these machines, but often with strange behaviour, e.g. reduced ram speed, etc. I would recommend you stick with the CPU's listed in the quickspecs.