Intel Xeon E5-1603 RAM Speed Question

[trogdor796]

So, we are looking to buy some new workstations for one of our departments, and we are looking at the HP Z420 machines:

http://gem.compaq.com/gemstore/ctobases.asp?ProductLineId=2&SubFamilyId=3137&familyID=2830&oi=E9CED&nTab=1&DisplayType=Y&BuyIt=N

However, after looking at the CPU and RAM, something seems odd. According to Intel's page on the CPU here, the 1603's highest speed ram supported is 1066mhz, so why do they have 1866mhz RAM in there? Am I correct in assuming that the RAM will simply clock down to 1066 and run at that speed with this cpu?

Also, with that socket, quad channel RAM would be the best configuration correct? Would it be a good idea to order another 2x2GB sticks so we have 8GB total running in quad-channel? How much of a performance loss would it be leaving it as it is with only dual-channel?

Finally, I'm looking at the CPU options available. For an extra $80 I could configure it with an Xeon E5-1620v2, which bumps the speed from 2.8Ghz to 3.7Ghz, along with adding hypethreading, support for 1866mhz RAM, and turbo boost(to 3.9Ghz). Would that be worth it? According to some CPU benches it looked like a good bump in performance.

Anyways, just wanted some thoughts on my questions and on the system overall, if it was a good value. I don't have a lot of experience with Xeon CPU's and these chipsets, which is why I made this post.

 

[SlayZombi]

You could probably get 2x more performance homebuild at the same price.

 

[hunter315]

The HP Z series is decent, and not obscenely priced for what it is. I'd definitely do the extra 80 and step it up to the E5-1620V2, it brings you from Sandy to Ivy and should net you greater than a 30% performance boost just on clock speed and architecture changes, the hyper threading could add up to notably more.

Memory is relatively cheap these days, and I really don't feel that anything called a "workstation" should be existing with less than about 16GB of ram. You either need it for image work or engineering work, either application will try to chew up a lot of ram and you really don't want it throwing back to page files on the hard drive. Also, if you are heavily based on network storage get an SSD for active stuff to be on and use the network drive for bulk storage, it will make life much nicer than being based on a standard hard drive.

 

[SlayZombi]

32 GB of RAM is ideal, and I'd honestly say build it yourself. Opetrons are pretty cheap and so is a server motherboard.

 

[trogdor796]

I will for sure be upgrading the RAM. After talking to my supervisor, these machines will be used for AutoCAD, so we are gonna want at least 16GB of RAM in them. The website that we will get these from overcharges for RAM so we will likely order 4x4GB sticks from newegg.

As for building it on my own, I've built all my home computers myself, but I'm not sure if it's the best idea for this. We will be ordering a few of these workstations, so it's more than one I would be building, and I'm paid hourly, so build time would simply add to the cost for my work, since it would be taking away my time from doing other things.

Can you guys see the price on the link I posted? Another forum that I posted this on said they were not able to see the price...Anyways, after upgrading the CPU to the 1620v2 and paying an extra $80 for that, total price is $946. After taking into account all the parts, and the time it would take me to build each machine, I don't see money being saved by me building them. The cpu is worth quite a bit, as is an LGA 2011 motherboard, then throw in a good power supply, case, 7200rpm drive like it has configured, and a gpu, and the time for me to build it, probably would be spending the same if not more than the machine I linked costs.

Still gonna look up some benchmarks for AutoCAD though and see what the best configuartion would be with CPU, RAM, and GPU.

 

[SlayZombi]

Oh.... workstations... I was under the impression that these would be used in huge server configurations. lol If I can make a good RAM suggestion, I would say get 2x8GB sticks. It's a lot less complicated and faster then 4. Specifically, I would recommend Corasir Vengence RAM. More specifically, the low profile edition. It rarely gives off any heat, low to the board so it wont interfere with any other components, and it has one of the fastest latencies on the market! This is what I use in my gaming PC. Link is below:

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Desktop-Memory-CML16GX3M2A1600C10/dp/B007TG8QRW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1406307117&sr=8-2&keywords=corsair+vengeance+low+profile

 

[trogdor796]

I also love Corsair's Vengeance RAM, in fact, I'm running 8GB of it in my home gaming PC. The thing with these machines, is that they support quad-channel RAM, so to have them running the most optimal, we want to use 4 sticks, which is why I was gonna go with 4x4GB sticks. It would still function in dual channel, but I think having 4 sticks and running in quad channel is the best setup if we can do it.

 

[SlayZombi]

I also love Corsair's Vengeance RAM, in fact, I'm running 8GB of it in my home gaming PC. The thing with these machines, is that they support quad-channel RAM, so to have them running the most optimal, we want to use 4 sticks, which is why I was gonna go with 4x4GB sticks. It would still function in dual channel, but I think having 4 sticks and running in quad channel is the best setup if we can do it.

Very true, very true.. Well I suppose you figured it out! Good luck with the machines!