Z400 & 8GB DIMM - Am I screwed?

[BrianA012]

Hi

I recently decided to upgrade my RAM for a Z400

Coming to the board it was decided that I would pop out one of my 2GB DIMM, and I would buy 3X4GB to join my remaining 3X2GB for a total of 18GB, 3X4GB in the first 3 black slots and 3X2GB for the 3 white slots

I wanted to get RAM that matched my 2GB DIMM in specs and manufacturer, Micron, 2RX8, etc etc

I was able to buy from one store 2X4GB and from another 1X4GB of 4GB DIMM that would match my 2GB sticks

Well knowing there is always a problem, the store that I bought two sticks from decided to send a substitute, because they sold the 4GBs I had ordered already...yeah

He instead sent Microns, 2RX8s, 10-600s, DDR3-1333 etc etc everything I wanted EXCEPT they are 8GB DIMM and not 4GB DIMM

He was like, why not just throw them in and see if they work

well I thought I'd come here first before I 1. try them and 2. start trying to get this guy to admit he was wrong and have him send the right RAM or refund

the problems of this post/question

1. Has anyone ever heard of 8GB DIMM working in a Z400 or is this totally impossible? 

2. The other 4GB I bought was very expense, so I'm not just going to toss that, so would I be able to put the 2X8GB and 1x4GB together in the 1-3 black slots to maybe have them all work at the 4GB performance while using the other 3X2GB woorking in the last 4-6 white slots? 

or am I totally screwed here and need to put my project on hold and start fighting this guy for a refund (there's alwasy a fight it seems with returns) or should I take a chance and pop everything in and see what happens?

[e170ar]

Lucky guy - potentially. While officially supported memory is up to 4GB HP sourced modules, Z400 will work with up to 6 pcs 8GB ECC Unbuffered DIMMs! Check Link and Link for proper installation order / additional info. Now you got a small collection of different memory and you must put them together in correct way. A bit difficult now.

I would upgrade BIOS first (if not done already). Then I would try 8GB modules in DIMM 1 and 4 slots, with 4x 2GB modules in all other slots. Skip 4GB DIMM. Report back if ok.

[BrianA012]

So I'm going to go ahead and try what you suggested out tonight

so like I said in the thread my plan was to use 3x4GB in the black slots and 3X2GB in the white

But a dealer screwed me on an order of 2x4GB and sent 8GB instead, so I had 1X4GB and 2X8GB

the 8GB matched up with the 2GB and 4GB RAM, 2RX8, PC3-10600E DDR3 and all that

In the thread you mentioned to update the BIOS, so I would just go to HP's support tab and I should be able to find updates and downloads for a Z400 and just download and update using the most recent BIOS?

the bigger question 

so I gave up on resolvong things with the dealer, still working out my refund, but it's been such a hold up and it looks like I'm totally not getting the 2X4GB I ordered from them

So I'm going to try your set up

so after I update the BIOS you said to put the 8GB in the 1st and 4th slot? I see the 1th and 4th slot are actually the 1st two slots since they  are listed 1 4 2 5 3 6

now I noticed on links you provided they have preformace set ups that are good better and best, where would doing 8GB in the 1st and 4th and everything esle 2GB end up as good, better, or best? Just curious 

I mean if this works I'll be aiming to soon just put 8GB in all 6 slots, I'm using this as a part of a larger home recording studio, so the more memory the better for all the plugins and such, keeping all the sounds going in real time and with freezing

I still have the 1 4GB, if 2X8GB and 4X2GB work, maybe I'll try and grab 3 more 4GB and do your set up with 2X8GB and 4x4GB replacing the 4X2GB you know? Though I guess if I'm going to spend the money, I might as well go all 8GB right?

Well anyway, was wondering about the BIOS and good better best aspect of it all, many thanks for helping me out of my current jam

[BrianA012]

Ok so e170ar and anyone else watching and reading

went ahead and updated BIOS

then I went ahead and installed 8GB in the 1st and 4th slots (actually the 1st two slots) 2GBs all in the remaining 4 slots

everything seems to be working fine, haven't started doing any major recording yet, still hooking up other software and hardware, but like I said nothing seems to be causing havok

it DID accept the 8GB RAM which was a surprise as HP says 1GB, 2 GB, and 4GB

I wasn't excited about trying this, as I had ordered a 4GB RAM which is now not in use, and I was really worried about things not working

BUT it seems the 8GB werein fact excepted, so now I'm 180 degrees, I'm VERY excited lol

It's says I have 24GB of memory...here's exactl what it says using 8GB  8GB 2GB 2GB 2GB 2GB

Installed Physical memory RAM 24GB

Total Physical Memory 24GB

Available Physical Memory 22GB

Total Virtual Memory 48GB

Available Viral Memory 45.9GB

Page File Space 24GB

So does anybodsy know if and how I can tell if things are running at good, better, or best performance RAM wise?

Everything seems pretty good now but I'd hate to start recording and using all kinds of plugins and software and suddenly the computer starts acting like it has 250MB of RAM hahahahaha but no seriously

[M82016M8]

Hi,

encountering something very similar at the moment, got 3x8gb ram now and wondering if that works with the Z400?

Do you have one of the links posted here earlier maybe saved somewhere as its not available anymore?

Is the BIOS update necessary to run 8GB ram modules?

Many thanks

Martin

[Dan_WGBU]

Tutor wrote:

now I noticed on links you provided they have preformace set ups that are good better and best, where would doing 8GB in the 1st and 4th and everything esle 2GB end up as good, better, or best? Just curious 

Near the bottom of another thread, here, I wrote a reply explaining how to install memory in systems with multiple memory channels and how to get the best performance.  In short:

   - The Z400 has 3 memory channels.  Each channel has 2 DIMM slots, one black and one white.  

   - For best performance, load the same memory in all 3 channels.  Start putting memory in the black connectors, then load the white ones. 

   - In your case, your original plan of 3 x 4GB in the black and 3 x 2GB in the white was the "best" configuration.  This puts the same memory in all the black and white connectors. 

8GB DIMMs were not readily available when the Z400 was released in 2009.  Adding 1 or 2 8GB DIMMs to the system will (probably) work, but unmatched channels can reduce performance.  Whether it matters with your application depends.  Sometimes memory bandwidth is not the limiting factor in performance, maybe having more memory will matter more.  FYI.  

[Tomerrr]

Following on this 8gb in z400 discussion - why not have then 48gb?!
6 units of 8gb each?
Will that work essentially?

And in case it appears to be that it's more cost effective to get three 8gb ram unites, install them only in the black slots, and get the officially supported 24gb.

Would love to hear tour thoughts/experience regarding these 2 options.....:robottongue:

[yshibata]

Recently, I bought an used Z400 on which 48GB memory (8gb x 6) are  already being installed.

It seems to work fine. Since I have not installed any OS to it yet, I have no more information now (I'm waiting for SSD that I ordered separately).

"System Information" of BIOS shows next memory related information:

"Memory Size (Total): 49152 MB DDR3/ECC/1066MHz (49152 MB)"

and

"DIMMs (MB): D1:8192 D2:8192 D3: 8192 D4: 8192 D5:8192 D6: 8192".

[SDH]

One thing you could do is take the sticks out noting what slot they were in and scan their face that has the labels.... all 6 on one scan.  Then we could see exactly what works.  That is above and beyond the call of duty, however.  If you could let us know your boot block date that would be handy, from BIOS, also.

Thanks.... you have something working that it would be very valuable to document in more detail.....

[yshibata]

The CPU attached to my system  is W3565. According to Intel ark web site, supported maximum memory capacity of it is 24BG.

(http://ark.intel.com/products/39721/Intel-Xeon-Processor-W3565-8M-Cache-3_20-GHz-4_80-GTs-Intel-QPI)

However, before I decided to buy this used Z400, I found many web pages of used PC shop or auction sites that advertise used Z400 that has 48GB memory in it. Why don't you try to search by google with 2 keywords of "z400" and "48gb"?

The next pages were found today, for example:

eBay: http://www.ebay.it/itm/HP-Z400-Workstation-PC-Intel-Xeon-6-Core-E5645-RAM-48GB-HDD-2TB-Quadro-NVS-30...

amazon Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%80%90%E4%B8%AD%E5%8F%A4%E3%80%91-6DIMM-XeonW3565-3-2GHz-MULTI-NVS295/dp/...

CompuRAM: https://www.compuram.biz/memory,hp+(-compaq),desktop-1-workstation,hp+workstation,z400.htm (see Tech Specs note).

Anyway, I confirmed it works fine without problem until now after I installed Win7 Pro x64 (ja-JP) yesterday. (only 1-2 hours has passed though...) I will test further more from now on. I will post here if I encountered any issues.