HP Z820 Workstations

Chassis and form factor

HP lists the Z820 as a rackable minitower, 444 mm high, 203 mm wide and 525 mm deep, with three external 5.25-inch bays and four internal 3.5-inch bays. The datasheet highlights tool-free access and quiet running for a machine of this class. A barebone unit, as we stock it, is the chassis with system board, power supply and cooling, ready to receive processors, memory, drives and a graphics card. We can supply it bare for a customer who has their own parts, or build it to a specification.

Processors

The Z820 runs Intel Xeon E5-2600 series processors (the Sandy Bridge-EP generation) with two QuickPath links between the two sockets. The 2012 datasheet lists the following processors; all support Intel 64 and, apart from the two entry parts, Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost.

Two eight-core processors give the 16 cores HP quotes. Memory speed follows the processor: the six-core E5-2620 to E5-2640 run DDR3 at 1333 MHz and the entry E5-2603 and E5-2609 at 1066 MHz, whatever the modules are rated for. Later Z820 system boards also accepted the E5-2600 v2 series, which this datasheet predates; send us the serial number of an existing unit and we will confirm what its board supports before you buy processors.

Memory

Sixteen DIMM slots for ECC DDR3 at up to 1600 MHz, arranged as eight channels, four per processor, with a maximum of 512 GB. HP notes that at least one DIMM must be fitted in every channel to realise full memory performance, so eight matched modules is the sensible minimum for a two-processor machine and four for a single processor. The slots belonging to the second processor are only usable when that processor is installed. Registered ECC DDR3 for this generation is carried in our server memory collection.

Graphics

The Z820 was HP's platform for PCIe Gen3 professional graphics from NVIDIA and AMD, with support for two graphics processors driving up to eight displays, and for NVIDIA Maximus configurations that pair a Quadro with a Tesla compute card.

The Tesla C2075 requires the 1125 W power supply. These are the cards HP qualified at launch; newer professional cards are physically PCIe x16 and many buyers fit them, but power connectors, card length and driver support for the operating system decide whether a given card works. Browse the graphics cards range and ask us to check a pairing before ordering.

Storage

Four internal 3.5-inch bays and three external 5.25-inch bays, with the datasheet's maximum drive counts depending on drive type. Three controllers are integrated on the system board, and an LSI 9260-8i hardware RAID card was optional.

Optical options were DVD-ROM, DVD writer and Blu-ray writer. HP notes that SATA hardware RAID is not supported under Linux, where the kernel's software RAID is the alternative. Modern higher-capacity SATA SSDs and hard drives use the same 6 Gb/s interface and are the usual upgrade path for these machines.

Expansion slots and ports

Networking is two integrated Intel 82579LM Gigabit Ethernet ports, with optional Broadcom or Intel adapters, and an Infineon TPM 1.2 controller is on the board. Front ports: two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, one IEEE 1394a, microphone and headphone, with an optional 22-in-1 card reader. Rear ports: two USB 3.0, four USB 2.0, one IEEE 1394a, audio in, audio out and microphone, two PS/2, two RJ-45 and one serial. Three internal 2x5 headers provide six further USB 2.0 ports. Audio is integrated Realtek ALC262 HD.

Power supply

Two supplies were offered: 850 W at 88% efficiency or 1125 W at 90% efficiency, both wide-ranging with active power factor correction. The 1125 W unit is required for the Tesla C2075 and is the safer choice for two high-end graphics cards or a full complement of drives. Our barebone listing states which supply is fitted; ask if you need the other.

Physical specification

The datasheet gives no weight figure. Expect a heavy unit for one person: a dual-processor tower of this size with drives fitted needs two people or a trolley to move safely.

Supported operating systems

HP offered the Z820 with Windows 7 Professional in 32-bit and 64-bit editions, the HP Linux Installer Kit, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop or Workstation as a paper licence with no preinstalled OS. Windows 10 and current Linux distributions run on this hardware in practice, but they are not in HP's published list for the model, so confirm driver availability for your graphics card and any add-in controller before committing.

Buying a refurbished HP Z820 from ServerDove

We hold the Z820 as a dual-CPU barebone tower in Doha, tested before listing and covered by the ServerDove warranty, with extended cover quoted on request. Delivery across Qatar is typically one day from Doha stock. Tell us the processors, memory, drives and graphics you want and we will quote a complete build, or supply the parts for you to fit.

If you are weighing the Z820 against its successor, the HP Z840 moves to DDR4 and E5-2600 v3 and v4 processors in a similar chassis, while the HP Z420 is the single-socket model of the Z820's own generation. The full HP workstations range is listed together. Installation and base configuration are available as a service, bulk quotations are available to business customers, and you can reach us on WhatsApp (+974 5521 2108), at sales@serverdove.com or through the contact page.