Z440 memory modules question

[1patriotofmany]

Hi everyone: I just purchased a Z440 workstation, the specs say up to 16GB memory modules can be used for a total of 128GB.    The computer came with two 32GB memory modules installed and it works fine. So my question is: will this motherboard work with all the slots full(8) of 32GB modules for a total of 256GB even though the specs say 128GB?  If not why is it working with 32GB modules in the first place?  Or will it work fine with 32GB modules just up to 128GB?

[NonSequitur777 · Accepted solution]

@1patriotofmany,

The HP Z440 Workstation was one of my legacy HP upgrade projects: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Upgrading-an-HP-Z440-Workstatio..., and yes, you can indeed fit your rig with 8 x 32GB DDR4 PC4-19200, 2400 MHz, ECC Registered DIMM (Server RDIMM), 288-pin RAM modules.

Not sure what you want to do with 256GB of RAM, but nothing is going to stop you from doing so.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[1patriotofmany]

Thanks for the reply NonSequitur777!   Just for gaming, i assume games would take advantage of the vast memory? Or am I just wasting money? It's so cheap, a little over $100 brand new Kingston modules for 128GB. Adding to the 64GB the machine came with. I bought a GTX3600 OC 12GB gpu for the machine, and a 4TB M.2 drive and PCIE card to see how fast they are using the pcie lanes.

I have a Z420 and Z620, but wanted to take advantage of pcie bifurcation that they don't offer for M.2 drives. I've found too that these workstations make economical gaming rigs. Of course not for the more modern intensive games I imagine or the latest microsoft Flight simulator, but they do fine for all the ones I have. I'll probably give flight simulator a try once they iron out the bugs, but I've got the previous and Xplane 10.

The machine I bought does have the E5-2699V3.  What kind of gains over my processor did you get or figure on? I noticed it's much faster speeds but not anywhere near the cores and threads the 2699 has so was there substantial gains to be had?  BTW I looked at the specs for the I7 you put in, It says it doesn't support ECC memory, so what did you use?  Anyway very interesting project!  

Does it matter much on the M.2 to PCIE card? I just bought a cheap 10Gtek x8 card and

TEAMGROUP MP44Q 4TB SLC Cache Gen 4x4 M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0

[NonSequitur777]

@1patriotofmany,

The difference between a Xeon E3-2699 v3 and the Intel Core i7-6900K according to Userbenchmark appears to be quite profound:

Link: https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E5-2699-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-6900K/m31670vs3605.

BUT only because UserBenchmark tends to favor consumer (gaming) CPUs and isn't always the best representation of real-world workstation performance, especially for heavily multithreaded applications. The aforementioned benchmark aggregates various types of performance, with a bias toward gaming and general desktop responsiveness, which is why the i7-6900K appears to compete well with the Xeon E5-2699 v3 in their rankings.

Gaming was the reason why I picked the i7-6900K over Xeon processors in the first place, because the i7-6900K has a much faster per-core performance and better support for high-speed DDR4 (2400 MHz) RAM memory -all good for gaming purposes, and most games and consumer apps won’t benefit from the Xeon’s extra cores anyway.

However, the Xeon E5-2699 v3 with 18 Cores & 36 Threads dominates in rendering, virtualization, and scientific computing.

As a matter of fact, in software applications like Blender, 3D rendering, video encoding, MATLAB, Cinebench R15 multi-core and VMs, the Xeon vastly outperforms the i7-6900K.  -Anyway, I digress.

As I found out in my upgrade thread, the DDR4 Server ECC RDIMM RAM ran fine with the i7-6900K!  You are correct: I did not expect that to be the case, but it was.

Don't think it matters much if at all on the M.2 to PCIe card.  You should be good to go.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[1patriotofmany]

Funny I was just looking on the site at the same benchmarks LOL. Yeah in real world the I7 outdoes the 2699v3 by like 25%. I think I'll pick one up and give it a go. I read somewhere along the line the I7 will run the 2400 modules at 2400 vs the 2699 at 2133 or something, I suppose that helps a bit.  As i don't do any of the rendering aside of some gopro footage a couple times a year average, I'll be gaming and general browsing ect, so it looks like a no brainer to pick up the I7. $100 or less I saw on ebay hell yeah! Thanks for all the help and what a great project you came up with, shot in the dark almost.  cool beans!

[NonSequitur777]

@1patriotofmany,

You are most welcome -and best wishes!

Here is a clean-looking i7-6900K for sale for less than $90: https://www.ebay.com/itm/276883868399?_skw=i7-6900K&itmmeta=01JMPFRDWP22BE54RXHSZKENFY&hash=item4077....

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[1patriotofmany]

I grabbed it. i was looking at one that was new open box according to the seller, but it was in China. Thanks again.

[NonSequitur777]

@1patriotofmany,

Yes, better to buy computer parts closer to home these days.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[1patriotofmany]

Okay So now I'm stuck. Installed extra memory was running fine 128GB +64 already in.   Next, Installed The I7-6900 with new thermal paste, . 5 beeps nothing beyond the 5 beeps repeating a few times. Do I need to clear cmos NonSequitur777? I never get to upgrade without issues.

[NonSequitur777]

@1patriotofmany,

According to HP, 5 beeps mean there is a RAM error.

It could be a bad memory module, or did you mix a UDIMM with the RDIMM RAM, or you just may have to remove and reseat the RAM sticks.

First thing I would do is to remove and reseat all memory modules to see if that fixes your problem.

If this fails to resolve your issue, remove all the memory modules and test them one at a time in the primary memory slot or RDIMM#1 -the RAM slot closest to your processor.

If you got a bad RAM stick, hopefully this will isolate the bad RAM module.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777