BambiBoomZ wrote:Brian1965,
The E5-2673 v2 is an OEM CPU, interesting as it's an 8-core @ 3.3 /4.0GHz, only rated at 110W , and 22nm lithography whereas the other V2's are 32nm. In my experience, a different lithography scale can be trouble and as well, rarity triggers other worries: there is only one E5-2673 v2 tested on all of Passmark, on a Gigabyte X79 motherboard. Scores well: 16320 and a very healthy Single Thread Mark of 2009. Perhaps they were fabulously expensive and/or very soon after the v3's appeared. Hmmmm,..
My understanding is that all the Ivy Bridge (v2) chips are 22nm. The Sandy Bridge (v1) chips are the ones which are 32nm.
On a purely microcode basis there is no reason any of the production E5 v1 and v2 chips would not work in a Zx20 with the 2013 bootblock. With the ES the situation may not be that straightforward, since there are actually stand alone microcode updates for these, which I do not believe HP has incorporated into their bioses.
The HP quickspecs simply show the configurations that were sold by HP. Some configurations were not offered since there was little rationale (e.g. including CPU's from the more expensive two-CPU capable range in the one CPU-capable Z420), in other cases there may have been little point and more confusion arising from offering the full range of CPU's, some being pretty much identical to one another. At the end of the day the qucikspecs were a product offer and not a compatibility list for CPU's.
I am hoping to get a 1660 v2 at some point for the Z420 but availability is sketchy and prices high. I see the 1650 v2 has reached a c.a. 300 USD point which is tempting (especially since I already got the 1866mhz capable RAM) but given that I am on a 1650 v1 I am fearing that it might not be enough of an upgrade to be worth pursuing.
