Z420 RAM upgrade compatibility and performance concerns

[frighten98]

     - If the Z420 has a boot block date of 12/28/2011, it supports only the v1 CPUs

     - If the Z420 has a boot block block of 03/06/2013, it supports both the v1 and v2 CPUs. 

The motherboard I buyed was released in October 2013, so I think it is going to have the adecuate boot block. 

[frighten98]

I already have both the RAM and CPU, motherboard will be sent in just a few days, and if for some reason it does't work, I will buy another CPU and sell both the motherboard and CPU.

[MtothaJ]

I just ordered a 64GB 1866mhz ECC Registered RAM kit for the Z420 with the intention to upgrade to a v2 Ivy Bridge processor in the future.

I am presently running a v1 processor (E5-1650) - is my understanding correct that until I upgrade to one of the higher v2 processors the new RAM will still be running at 1600mhz?

[MtothaJ]

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@MtothaJ wrote:

I just ordered a 64GB 1866mhz ECC Registered RAM kit for the Z420 with the intention to upgrade to a v2 Ivy Bridge processor in the future.

I am presently running a v1 processor (E5-1650) - is my understanding correct that until I upgrade to one of the higher v2 processors the new RAM will still be running at 1600mhz?

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OK, so just finished installation of a 64GB kit of 1866mhz ECC Registered RAM kit (Samsung memory) in the Z420.

System booted up and POST'ed just fine, needed to press F1 to save the new memory values.

@since I am running a Xeon 1650 v1, BIOS is showing RAM speed @ 1600mhz.

Going into HP Performance Advisor it shows rated speed at 1866mhz and configured speed at 1600mhz.

So with the RAM maxed out and with 1866mhz speed attainable, the machine is ready for a nice Xeon v2 CPU upgrade sometime in the future 😉  

[Anu0512]

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@MtothaJ wrote:

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@MtothaJ wrote:

I just ordered a 64GB 1866mhz ECC Registered RAM kit for the Z420 with the intention to upgrade to a v2 Ivy Bridge processor in the future.

I am presently running a v1 processor (E5-1650) - is my understanding correct that until I upgrade to one of the higher v2 processors the new RAM will still be running at 1600mhz?

---

OK, so just finished installation of a 64GB kit of 1866mhz ECC Registered RAM kit (Samsung memory) in the Z420.

System booted up and POST'ed just fine, needed to press F1 to save the new memory values.

@since I am running a Xeon 1650 v1, BIOS is showing RAM speed @ 1600mhz.

Going into HP Performance Advisor it shows rated speed at 1866mhz and configured speed at 1600mhz.

So with the RAM maxed out and with 1866mhz speed attainable, the machine is ready for a nice Xeon v2 CPU upgrade sometime in the future 😉  

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Great bro finallly I got all the thing working.

Spoiler

[yannara]

Could it really be so, that this Z420 works on 12800 memory but not with 10600 memory banks? With 10600, screen stays plackm with 12800 it startsup fine. Bios has been cleared.

[yannara]

It seems to work only with 12800E. I can´t start it with 12800U.

[SDH]

Here is info for the Z620, and I don't know if this would work for the Z420.  Both the buffered and the unbuffered memory HP has rated for these is ECC.  The memory for the Version 2 Z600 and Z400 can also be either buffered or unbuffered, and also are all ECC.  In all cases you are not supposed to mix types, and I've always gone for filling all memory slots with identical RAM sticks.  I've gotten experienced at buying used HP memory off eBay to experiment with.

The top memory speed went up on the Z620 when compared to the Z600.... the Z620 can run the 12800 memory at full speed  **if it has a processor also rated to that speed**.  Otherwise the memory controller will default it back to 10600.  With that in mind I thought I'd try an experiment.... fill my Z620 with identical ECC buffered 10600 memory from my Z600 stash of used eBay memory, and give it a try.  Why?  I found those memory sticks at low cost for some Z600 builds I was doing, and had extra.

Worked fine.  Might be a source of cheap used HP memory for those of you students on a budget with a slower processor in a Z420 or Z620. 

[jpaul2]

Bonjour

Tout cela m'intéresse, car, j'avais demande a la hotline SAV HP si il était possible d'installer de la mémoire 12800 R dans un Z230 moins chère que la 12800 E . Et on m'a répondu OUI .  J'ai donc acheté 32 gb de 12800R et installé sur mon Z230. Et bien ça ne fonctionne pas. Impossible de démarrer. j'ai essayé aussi avec des  10600R, idem.

Je viens d'acheté un Z420 e5-1620 v0 3.6/3.8,  que je vais recevoir bientot et je souhaitais installer mes 32 gb de 12800 R (voir 64 puisque j'ai 4x16gb). Ou bien resortir mes vieilles barrettes 10600 R. 

Donc pour vous, sur votre Z420 personnel, de la DDR3 1333ECC  10600 R  cela fonctionne ?? et vous avez testé de la 12800 R sans rencontrer de problème.

Merci. Je ferai part de mon expérience

[Duane_D]

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