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16 Core 32 Thread HP Z820 Workstation Build

ah no nevermind, that's a shot of it upside down... coffee still kicking in.
Yeah I should have mentioned that though...

Here is what it looks like from the top with the cooler installed (and the entire case is 100% completely tool-less).

You can see the CPU cooler section forms a complete "hood" around the memory, both CPUs and your power delivery system (mosfets).

The lower cover exposes the PCI-E area for your video cards and other add on cards.

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Well, I finally found my calling in life. Putting old and obscure CPUs in modern rigs and then validating them for points at HWBOT. It's usually good for a podium finish. In this case, Gold. Because, well, I'm the ONLY entry! :D Yes, so it seems I have a fairly "rare" hardware configuration here. And I do kind of like that. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

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Well, in my haste to get back home last night, the RX 580 took a big hit. One of those times when you should of used the elevator but you went for the stairs instead... you know what I'm talking about... At least it gives me a reason to upgrade to an MSI 5700 XT Gaming 8GB GPU. Ordering now.... lets hope they can get it to my door, because that will complete this project.






 
Not to worry guys. I just pulled the trigger on this one...


Ouch... That was a good card. Are you sure it's not repairable?
It's possible that it would still work. But I tried it in a test bench and it doesn't post... I think that's because of the huge gash in the PCI contact points. All the other damage could be repaired, but that would take a good bit of time and effort and energy and I simply cannot afford to waste time right now. I think that goes without saying for all of us.

So the card could be repaired with the right tools, but I simply do not want to deal with that headache. Besides, The RX 580 runs HOT. The incoming GPU does not. Not that that matters a z820... but I still prefer the cooler running card. I was nearly ready to order before this happened, so it's not so bad...
 
It's possible that it would still work. But I tried it in a test bench and it doesn't post... I think that's because of the huge gash in the PCI contact points. All the other damage could be repaired, but that would take a good bit of time and effort and energy and I simply cannot afford to waste time right now. I think that goes without saying for all of us.

So the card could be repaired with the right tools, but I simply do not want to deal with that headache. Besides, The RX 580 runs HOT. The incoming GPU does not. Not that that matters a z820... but I still prefer the cooler running card. I was nearly ready to order before this happened, so it's not so bad...
Fair enough.
 
Here is my new setup at home.... (temporarily running a 2GB Nvidia GPU)(and I built the desk on the left side there)

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Very nice man.
 
Okay guys, more progress has been made!

The second z820 rig is now rocking an E5 2650 v2 CPU... an 8 core / 16 thread CPU with a base clock of 2.6GHz and a boost clock of 3.4GHz. But remember, this is only a temporary configuration. We will be getting a better GPU and more ram, and more importantly, this rig will get TWO E5 2673 v2 CPUs with a turbo clock of 4.0GHz... So that will be 16 cores and 32 threads. Expect an update when they arrive in about two weeks.

This is my secondary work area / shop / garage, all in one, and I basically have the whole ground floor to myself, with a wood burning stove that I usually fire up on cold nights that sits right out of view of my desk. I can work on cars here and also telecommute as the internet connection is actually pretty decent here.







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So I've been very busy buying more tech :D





 
You seem to have quite the disposable income brother. Care to send me a Z820 my way :p

I am sorry to hear about your 580 as those are still solid GPU's even now. But at least it will get a mighty new GPU!

You definitely making me jealous. If it wasn't for my wife demanding me to spend some money (now no more savings) and this Covid issue, I cant live out my dream of such a machine :(

Once you get that 5700xt please do gaming benchmarks. I would really appreciate it!
 
I am sorry to hear about your 580 as those are still solid GPU's even now.
Oh how right you are. I was pretty devastated when it happened. It's honestly the first time (that I can remember at least) I've ever broken a computer part. I'm usually super careful with everything, especially expensive hardware. Since I was going full throttle, awake for 48 hours straight and trying to keep up with news and the potential death of our nation... it was a combination: just dog tired and careless. And that's really key. Everyone feels better with more sleep... matter of fact, in brutal survival situations it's usually the people that sleep that have a better chance of making it out alive. Something to think about.

That's okay though. You just need to go online and order away, just pull the trigger because it's really now or never. To hell with the consequences!That's how fun it can be! At least that's my take on it.

And I say that because our monetary system is under major attack. Our economic engine has been shut down. So money might not be worth anything in a few weeks or months. Like they say with a thread ban: In before the lock!

I'm a computer collector now - so there is no end in sight for this tech buying spree I'm on.
I have about 9 computers here that are not to be sold, or given away. These belong to me and I will continue to add to that list as I see fit. I will continue to tinker with them on a daily basis. Definitely seeking out rare or impressive hardware, that's sorta my goal right now.... Any suggestions for rare or unique computers that you can think of? Ultimately I want to be surrounded by technology, as in filling this ground level of the house with all sorts of computers and hardware. But I have to build the shelves first.
 
Care to send me a Z820 my way
I can't send you a z820 but I'd be more than happy to send you something else.. pm me with your address and I'll send you a "mystery" computer from within my collection, that you can have some fun with. I ask is that you treat her well, and keep the machine intact, as we want to preserve this particular combination of hardware for historical reasons. Only thing I ask is that when you are done playing around with it that you pass it on to another forum member so he can do the same. And don't think you have rush. This is something you want to take your time with.

If you are interested, just let me know.... because I'm not pulling your leg here, I'll do it if you are game. I've actually been wanting to do something like this for some time but up until now I really didn't have a good opportunity to represent.
 
I can't send you a z820 but I'd be more than happy to send you something else.. pm me with your address and I'll send you a "mystery" computer from within my collection, that you can have some fun with. I ask is that you treat her well, and keep the machine intact, as we want to preserve this particular combination of hardware for historical reasons. Only thing I ask is that when you are done playing around with it that you pass it on to another forum member so he can do the same. And don't think you have rush. This is something you want to take your time with.

If you are interested, just let me know.... because I'm not pulling your leg here, I'll do it if you are game. I've actually been wanting to do something like this for some time but up until now I really didn't have a good opportunity to represent.

I was just joking but I will think about your offer. The issue is that you would have to ship to Canada. And these days I lack spare time anyway. But let me think about it and i'll get back to you. You threw me off guard with this offer lol.

But I look forward to more of your benchmarks and comparisons. Keep it up brother, I am really enjoying this. Do you have a capture card or something so you can make a video of the tests?

Oh how right you are. I was pretty devastated when it happened. It's honestly the first time (that I can remember at least) I've ever broken a computer part. I'm usually super careful with everything, especially expensive hardware. Since I was going full throttle, awake for 48 hours straight and trying to keep up with news and the potential death of our nation... it was a combination: just dog tired and careless. And that's really key. Everyone feels better with more sleep... matter of fact, in brutal survival situations it's usually the people that sleep that have a better chance of making it out alive. Something to think about.

That's okay though. You just need to go online and order away, just pull the trigger because it's really now or never. To hell with the consequences!That's how fun it can be! At least that's my take on it.

And I say that because our monetary system is under major attack. Our economic engine has been shut down. So money might not be worth anything in a few weeks or months. Like they say with a thread ban: In before the lock!

I'm a computer collector now - so there is no end in sight for this tech buying spree I'm on.
I have about 9 computers here that are not to be sold, or given away. These belong to me and I will continue to add to that list as I see fit. I will continue to tinker with them on a daily basis. Definitely seeking out rare or impressive hardware, that's sorta my goal right now.... Any suggestions for rare or unique computers that you can think of? Ultimately I want to be surrounded by technology, as in filling this ground level of the house with all sorts of computers and hardware. But I have to build the shelves first.

I studied economics to a point. Not a major or anything but its something I like to read.

Your economy is going to be fine overall because while you guys print money in a form of QE similarly like what Rhodesia/Zimbabwe did, you guys got the lucky stature of having the world trading currency. So your currency will be fine. At least much more than what ours is up here as the Canadian Peso is going to become more tied to oil and gas prices than not since its our only real export next to automotives.
 
I was just joking but I will think about your offer. The issue is that you would have to ship to Canada. And these days I lack spare time anyway. But let me think about it and i'll get back to you. You threw me off guard with this offer lol.
Okay, just let me know... The offer still stands even if you are in Canada, but yeah, with this virus problem (Obama did it) we may have a showstopper. Might get held up in shipping for a long time... still though, I will give it a shot if you want. Don't feel any pressure if you don't want to do it.. Again this is totally up to you and I'm offering because I assume you like to tweak and tune and overclock… Slightly older hardware, but will still offer a great challenge for you to get to something like 4.5GHz all core... that's all I'm going to tell you because I want it to remain a mystery until you get it. I think some people get caught up in the brand new tech syndrome, where one obsessively buys new hardware for fear of running obsolete hardware. But one who does this has lost the great challenge and fun of tweaking and tuning older platforms. But I assure you, the rig is still pretty quick... you can boot to windows in about 10 seconds (because it has an SSD drive).

I studied economics to a point. Not a major or anything but its something I like to read.
Our economic system is the cornerstone of our civilization. If one wanted to destroy America, one should target our economy. And that's exactly what Obama has done. Make no mistake, the coronavirus is biological warfare created by the so called "deep state" to END constitutional rule in America. This is the real attack and we are facing it on multiple fronts. There is no quick "fix" for having what are now totally non-existent supply chains. Combine that with a total loss of global trade, and a loss of imports and exports, and you are in a very bad situation. And that is only the "external" part of the crisis. Internally, we cannot hemorrhage blood like this for more than a few weeks without dire consequences. Core services are still running, but we are sold out to China and other nations, we are dependent upon them for the majority of our pharmaceuticals, for example. So this insidious attack is a multi pronged approach aimed squarely at the total destruction of the American economy, and with that will come the death of the American dream. You might ask yourself why... why would someone do this... its not worth it, right? No. America has been under attack since world war two. Gotta remember, there are a lot of powerful people out there who seek the destruction of our great nation. But people get complacent (not saying you, just in general) and they simply ignore the notion that powerful forces seek the COMPLETE destruction of our nation. So when it actually happens, like right now, it's going to blindside many of those who failed to see the original threat for what it was. Because it's been as clear as day since Obama took office. I knew the end was close when he got elected. And after winning is second term, I knew the end of the American dream was close at hand. Gotta remember I've been saying there would be no 2020 election for almost a year now, yet everyone laughed at me and just disregarded it as political paranoia... Well now it seems we are going down that road after all. And those that didn't take me seriously are now exposed for lacking the true understanding of the world around them.

Your economy is going to be fine overall because while you guys print money in a form of QE similarly like what Rhodesia/Zimbabwe did, you guys got the lucky stature of having the world trading currency. So your currency will be fine. At least much more than what ours is up here as the Canadian Peso is going to become more tied to oil and gas prices than not since its our only real export next to automotives.

But the value of money is rapidly decreasing. We can print money, but it's going to be worthless pretty soon. That's an inevitable consequence of attempting to prop up an economy that has ground to a halt at nearly every level. The dow will continue to fall. The feds are doing everything possible to salvage this wreckage, but I'm afraid there is no recorse for what has happened here. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, because I'm an optimist at heart. It really breaks my heart to write posts like this.

So I suggest you go out and buy things that you need RIGHT NOW (and that goes for everyone else as well). Because you never know what tomorrow will bring. One thing is for certain: America will never recover from this. And that's just the cold hard truth.


(true story)
 
But I look forward to more of your benchmarks and comparisons. Keep it up brother, I am really enjoying this. Do you have a capture card or something so you can make a video of the tests?

No but I can get a capture card... that's probably a good idea for documentation purposes... Its pretty sick to watch two Xeon processors mop the floor with Cinebench in a matter of seconds....

EDIT:
Just ordered 4 SSD drives for my second z820 workstation. It has one SSD now but I figured I should go for maximum performance on the storage solution as well to suite the rest of the build. So each drive is 128GB, and when I put them all in a raid 0 configuration, that will give me 512GB of high performance storage, plenty for my uses. And don't worry about data loss. I have all my important data backed up on my NAS. These new drives are the Samsung MZ-7PC128D model. I bought them used on eBay for about $100 in total... not a bad deal at all..
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Eyeing a 64GB 1866MHz ECC memory kit (I would get one for each z820 rig that I have). The problem is timings. I need tighter timings to get my latency in order, however, with server ram, it's not really geared for that kind of thing... So I am stuck with using CL 13.... but it's okay, the system still feels very snappy and responsive... cant really notice a difference between this system and my 5GHz overclocked six core 9600KF, which is a 9th Gen Coffee Lake CPU paired with a Samsung 970 PRO 512GB SSD.

It would be great to boot to a m.2. NVMe drive, and I would go for that, make no mistake, but I don't think that's possible with this system.
 
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I have an HP z820 (G1), for work (Autodesk Inventor). I use a Xeon 2687W, 48GB 1333Mhz. Simple Cooler Box. I use a R9 270X Devil
I really liked HP due to the possibility of many upgrades.
 
It would be great to boot to a m.2. NVMe drive, and I would go for that, make no mistake, but I don't think that's possible with this system.

Meh, they are somewhat overated. A standard sad is generally good enough.
 
It would be great to boot to a m.2. NVMe drive, and I would go for that, make no mistake, but I don't think that's possible with this system.


It is possible, but only has 2 units that start in the Z820.
950 Pro and the HP Z Turbo Drive (G1).
They say that the Intel 750 Series also works but I find it difficult just testing.
Those 2 Nvme. work because they have an internal ahci virtualizer.
 
Any update? Would like to know if you got the new GPU and what games you tested.
 
Any update? Would like to know if you got the new GPU and what games you tested.

So I've been running on the MSI RX 5700XT GPU for about a week now. First impressions: I love it. Every aspect of it. It stays frosty. Zero complaints or concerns. MSI did great things with the GPU cooling system (MSI Gaming X 8GB) it might actually be one of the best cooling system ever developed for the 5700 XT and I kid you not, you can stick your hand on the back of the video card after playing an intense game for hours and you'll notice the 5700 XT doesn't even break a sweat. It's luke warm.

Of course, I am coming over from the RX 580, which is one of the hottest running cards on the market. Sure, it offers decent performance at a lower cost, but the thing runs insanely hot. They say that's fine, and I would agree them, but I tend not to want to have a nuclear reactor melting down right next to the CPU and CPU cooler. Heat goes up, so this piping hot air from the GPU floats A good GPU is a cool GPU. And the 5700 XT does not disappoint. Temps should be one of your main requirement in purchasing a new video card. Lots of people tend to overlook this or ignore it altogether.

In some games I can intentionally peg the GPU and even then, I've yet to hear the fans spool up. Fact of the matter is MSI nailed in on this one.

And for gaming? The experience is incredible. The GPU has never missed a beat.

I went so far as to go out and purchase the latest call of duty Modern warfare (2019). FPS

I have all the graphic settings configured for high detail. Everything else set to ultra.

You might even mistake some of the battle scenes in the game as live video from the front lines.

Modern Warfare 2019 has some of the most incredible graphics I've seen to date.

And working in concert with my z820 workstation? It's flawless.
 
I managed to get my hands on 64GB of RAM for the HP z820 project rig. What we have done is maximize memory bandwidth to the limit.

What I mean by that is I now have an effective 8 channels of memory with all 16 RAM slots populated.

At a slight latency penalty, but that's to be expected when you are addressing eight channels of memory.

I chose 4GB modules across all 16 slots for a total of 64GB registered SDRAM running at 1866MHz.
I searched high and low, but it's very difficult to find ECC/ registered memory at this speed with tighter timings.

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After:
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New 4GB memory modules. We are populating all 16 slots to take full advantage of 8 channels of memory

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tbh i cant stand at one fo your monitor you have a great computer and it need a good monitor companion! So replace that acer monitor please!
 
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