Z420 RAM upgrade compatibility and performance concerns

[jpaul2]

So full OK ! Thank you Sir

[sallybotz]

For others interested, while I was very happy to read in this thread that others were able to get their Z420s to run with 128GB, I was having difficulty determining what *exactly* people were having success with.

So after reading as much as I could find, I took a chance on a deal I couldn't pass up and although I was not optomistic, I am SUPER STOKED to report that I had success with:

  **  QTY 8x 16GB Samsung DDR3 4Rx4 PC3-8500R ECC Registered DIMMs  **

I checked my boot ROM and I do have a E5-26xx v2 capable motherboard which I believe means I have the newer of the 2 rev's that the Z420 can ship with (may or may not matter but wanted to put that detail in here).

It's only been about 2 hours of up time but my Z420 is an ESXi server and in the past 2 hours I have started back  up the 41 virtual machines I had running on 64G earlier today and all is running smoothly with zero issues thus far so I'm hopeful to be able to call this success in the long run. 

Keep in mind that while it's fantastic to be able to get a Z420 to 128G at all, the above DIMMs are the absolute least expensive 16G DIMMs you can find.  I got a screaming deal @ $180 for eight on CL but these can easily be had any day of the week for $300 on eBay as of this writing and prices will only continue to fall.

Hope this helps someone else as I was not expecting high-density ECC registered DIMMs to work!

[MtothaJ]

---

@sallybotz wrote:

For others interested, while I was very happy to read in this thread that others were able to get their Z420s to run with 128GB, I was having difficulty determining what *exactly* people were having success with.

So after reading as much as I could find, I took a chance on a deal I couldn't pass up and although I was not optomistic, I am SUPER STOKED to report that I had success with:

  **  QTY 8x 16GB Samsung DDR3 4Rx4 PC3-8500R ECC Registered DIMMs  **

I checked my boot ROM and I do have a E5-26xx v2 capable motherboard which I believe means I have the newer of the 2 rev's that the Z420 can ship with (may or may not matter but wanted to put that detail in here).

It's only been about 2 hours of up time but my Z420 is an ESXi server and in the past 2 hours I have started back  up the 41 virtual machines I had running on 64G earlier today and all is running smoothly with zero issues thus far so I'm hopeful to be able to call this success in the long run. 

@keep in mind that while it's fantastic to be able to get a Z420 to 128G at all, the above DIMMs are the absolute least expensive 16G DIMMs you can find.  I got a screaming deal @ $180 for eight on CL but these can easily be had any day of the week for $300 on eBay as of this writing and prices will only continue to fall.

Hope this helps someone else as I was not expecting high-density ECC registered DIMMs to work!

---

Congrats on getting 128GB of RAM to work and thanks for the confirmation.

Yes, to go over 64GB of RAM you need to use ECC Reg memory, but even if one wants 'just' 64GB or less, ECC Reg is still the way to go due to far lower prices vs unbuffered and ECC unbuffered memory.

[jpaul2]

Pour ma part, j'ai un Z420 qui fonctionne parfaitement avec 4x 16GB PC3 12800R Cordialement

[MtekMtek1]

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Compaq-Workstation-Registered-PC3-12800-Tech/dp/B00WFDN6QU/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc...