HP Z820 Workstation

Description

Two-sockets supporting next-gen Xeon processors, tons of memory, and generous storage make this one of HP’s most expandable and powerful tower workstations. There are also plenty of USB ports both front and back and a generous helping of PCie slots to suit your work requirements. As with most of the Z-Series appliances the Z820 featured tool-less serviceability and upgrades with a multitude of green touch points inside the case to identify removable components. Sturdy handles on the front and back of the system simplify moving the system to another location but it does get quite heavy when fully outfitted with components. Newer systems, like the Z840, have replaced the Z820 but this system still delivers top notch performance.

Performance

The Z820 features the C602 chipset and can be outfitted with one or two E5-2600 or E5-2600 v2 processors with up to 12 cores each for a total of 24 cores in a two processor configuration. The system also supports Hyper-Threading and Intel Turbo Boost technology. Dual Quick Path Interconnects between processors ensures the two CPUs work well together. An optional Thunderbolt 2.0 PCIe card ensures rapid transfer of data between the Z820 and external devices or for a high-resolution display. Power is supplied by either an 850W or 1125W PSU. An optional Xeon processor E5-2687W processor is specifically designed for workstations but does require the optional liquid cooling solution and 1125W power supply. Several other CPUs also require the 1125W power supply.

Memory

There are 16 DIMM slots total with each processor supporting eight DIMMs each. Each processor supports four memory channels and eight slots of DDR3 memory, either Unbuffered, Registered or Load Reduced DIMMS. Up to 256GB of memory can be installed with a single processor or 512GB with two processors and all 16 memory slots loaded with 32GB DIMMS. The system will support memory speeds up to 1866MT/s with the appropriate processors and memory modules that support this transfer speed. NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Allocation) is supported on this system but requires two processors. LRDIMMS enable higher memory capacity that Registered or Unbuffered memory modules.

Storage

The system features 4 internal drive bays and 3 external 5.25-inch bays. Up to two additional drives can be installed in the middle and lower external 5.25-inch media bays using an optional drive carrier. Users can install up to five 3.5-inch drives or up to six 2.5-inch SATA or SAS HDDs or SSDs drives. The Z820 supports a maximum of 15TB of storage using 3.5-inch 3TB SATA drives. Several other storage capacities are listed for both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch HDDs and SSDs. It also supports one SATA self-encrypting solid state boot drive (SED SSD). The other media bay supports either a DVD or Blue Ray writer or 15-1 Media Card Reader. An optional PCIe SSD Fusion ioFX 410GB drive or an HP Z Turbo Drive with up to 1TB max can be installed in a PCIe slot. A 6-channel SATA controller with 2 6GB/s ports plus 4 3GB/s ports supports limited RAID functionality of 0, 1, 5, and 10. The system also supports several other SAS drive controllers depending on your needs and budget like the LSI9217 4i4e for SAS/SATA at 6GB/s with 8-ports. Also, the LSI9270-8i SAS/SATA 8-port 6 GB/s hardware RAID capable module.

ISV Certification

The HP Z820 is ISV certified to perform effortlessly running intensive software applications used by design professionals, financial analysts, and geologists. ISV is an acronym for Independent Software Vendor, This means independent software vendors have tested the software, hardware, and components to ensure stable and reliable performance.

Expansion

Eight PCI slots total are supported on the system including, five PCIe Gen3, one PCIe Gen2, and one legacy PCI slot. There’s also a mechanical-only slot to support cards that can only be mounted to the I0O bulkhead, not the motherboard. Clearly there are options for expansion cards including SAS/SATA HD controllers, additional super-fast M.2 PCIe drives, NICs, and graphics cards. It can also support up to eight displays with dual graphics support. With an 1125W 90% efficient power supply, you have a few options here as well. There’s also an 850W power supply if you don’t plan on loading up on external devices and high-end graphics cards. Several entry-level to high-end graphics cards can be installed including the entry 3D Nvidia Quadro K600 and AMD FirePro V3900 to the high-end Nvidia Quadro K6000 and AMD FirePro W7000. You can install up to 2 GPUs for just about everything except the Quadro K6000. If you’re just doing 2D work you can install up to four 2D professional GPUs.

Management

Managing the Z820 is made easy by the Performance Advisor which automates updates and new configurations. Intel’s Active Management Technology increases the efficiency of network synchronizations. Remote configuration and graceful shutdown is supported.

Summary

The HP Z820 may be a generation removed at this point but still offers tremendous performance, expandability, and options. In addition to the performance offered by Xeon E5-2600 v2 processors, abundant memory, loads of storage and numerous PCie slots, there’s also a generous supply of USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports located on the front and back of the system to support even more external devices, not to mention six internal ports. This is an extremely well-engineered system and with ISV Certification for professional software applications you can tackle just about any challenge.