HP Z800 Gaming Computer Blog
The HP Z800 Workstation has all the base components to be converted in to a solid gaming computer. HP Z800's are a dual socket Xeon based workstations. The Z800 supports up to 192GB of DDR3 memory and 4 Internal SAS/SATA Hard Drives. It is important to note that it has an optional 1100W Power Supply, which gives you endless options for high end Graphics Cards. Let us show you how you can build an effective HP Z800 Gaming PC.
Where to buy?
If you haven't already acquired a HP Z800 Workstation we'd recommend checking out a company called Serverworlds. They sell the Z800's cheap and they provide free ground shipping to the lower 48 states. You can custom configure an HP Z800 using this link: HP Z800. You can also try to snag them cheap on Ebay. However, Ebay can be a bit of a gamble because you never know what you are going to get.
The goal is to purchase the Z800 with a good processor(s) and memory already installed and then you can source the graphics cards, hard drives, and other optional components from other sources.
What Processor(s) should I get?
High Clock speed cpu's are the way to go.
In most cases you can get by with a single processor listed below. If you plan to stream your gaming on youtube or twitch, we recommend getting 2 processors.
Up to 2 x QC Xeon X5667 3.06Ghz 12MB 6.40GTs Processors | 3.46 Max Turbo Frequency (SLBVA)
Up to 2 x QC Xeon X5677 3.46Ghz 12MB 6.40GTs Processors | 3.73 Max Turbo Frequency (SLBV9)
Up to 2 x QC Xeon X5687 3.6Ghz 12MB 6.40GTs Processors | 3.86Ghz Max Turbo Frequency (SLBVY)
Up to 2 x 6C Xeon X5680 3.33Ghz 12MB 6.40GTs Processors | 3.60Ghz Max Turbo Frequency (SLBV5)
Up to 2 x 6C Xeon X5690 3.46Ghz 12MB 6.40GTs Processors | 3.73Ghz Max Turbo Frequency (SLBVX)
How much Memory should I get?
The base line should be a minimum of 16GB of memory. However, 16GB to 32GB would be ideal.
4GB PC10600R 2Rx4 ECC Reg Shielded (NN876)
4GB PC10600R 2Rx8 ECC Reg (7H8J8)
4GB PC10600R 2Rx8 PC3L ECC Reg (9J5WF or H5DDH)
8GB PC10600R 2Rx4 PC3L ECC Reg (P9RN2)
8GB PC10600R 2Rx4 ECC Reg Shielded (X3R5M)
16GB PC10600R 2Rx4 PC3L ECC Reg (MGY5T)
*12800r modules will work as well, they will just clock down to 1333Mhz depending on the CPU speed*
Recommended Memory configurations:
4 x 4GB PC10600 ECC Reg Modules (16GB)
6 x 4GB PC10600R ECC Reg Modules (24GB)
4 x 8GB PC10600R ECC Reg Modules (32GB)
6 x 8GB PC10600R ECC Reg Modules (48GB)
It's very important to use 10600R modules because they will run at the max speed supported by the system board and processor.
What Hard Drive should I get?
Ideally you would want to have a Solid State Drive as your boot device as well an NVME.2 SSD to store your game libraries/large programs on. If you are limited on budget you could go with a small SSD for your boot device and a larger capacity 7.2K SATA drive to hold your larger files/programs/games.
Recommended SSD Drives:
Samsung 860 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E1T0B/AM)
Samsung 860 Evo 500GB 2.5 inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E500B/AM)
Recommended large Capacity SATA Drives:
Seagate 2TB BarraCuda SATA 6 Gb/s 7200 RPM 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch Desktop Hard Drive (ST2000DM006)
*NVME.2 Drives cannot be used as a boot device with this model workstation*
NVME.2 PCIe Adapter (You need this if you plan to install an NVME.2 Drive in to this system):
NVME.2 SSD Adapter *Required to Install NVME.2*
Recommended NVME.2 SSDs:
WD Black 512GB M.2 2280 PCIe NVME SSD (WDS512G1X0C)
Samsung 960 EVO Series - 500GB NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E500BW)
Samsung 960 EVO Series - 1TB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E1T0BW)
What Graphics Card should I get?
The HP Z800 has a 1100W Power Supply. This means you can install pretty much any Graphics Card that you want depending on your budget.
Recommended Graphics Cards:
NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB Graphics Card
NVIDIA GTX1660 Ti 6GB Graphics Card
NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB Graphics Card
NVIDIA GTX 1070 TI 8GB Graphics Card
NVIDIA GTX 1080 8GB Graphics Card
NVIDIA GTX 1080 TI w/11GB Graphics Card
NVIDIA RTX 2080 w/8GB Graphics Card
Graphics Card Power Adapters:
What type of Monitor should I get?
Ideally it would be nice to get a monitor with a 144Hz or 244hz refresh rate or better monitor. However, it really depends on the games you play. If you play first person shooter games a 144hz or 240Hz or better monitor is a must. If you play other games that do not require quick response time then a 60hz monitor should work fine.
ASUS PG248Q Full HD 144Hz 1MS 24" Gaming Monitor
ASUS VG278Q Full HD 1080P 144Hz 1MS 27" Gaming Monitor
ASUS XG258Q ROG Strix 24.5" 1080P 240Hz 1MS Gaming Monitor
Using the criteria above you can build a good to borderline high end gaming system using a HP Z800 Workstation.
HP Z800 Workstation
1 x 6C Xeon X5690 3.46Ghz 12MB 6.40GTs
32GB PC10600R (4 x 8GB)
Samsung 256GB 6GBPS SSD + Samsung Evo 970 NVME.2 SSD
GTX1080 w/8GB Graphics Card
1 x 10/100/1000 Network Port
1100W Power Supply
10 Pro 64Bit
We have tested this system with games like Dota 2, CS Go, PubG, and The Division. The frames can range from 60FPS to 200FPS depending on the game and settings that you choose. The system was tested using a 144Hz 27" Acer Monitor.
Thanks I was looking to do casual gaming with my hp z800 but after grabbing 2 gpu cards and they weren't compatible now I'm seeking gpu that work with this pc
I haven't changed anything with pc besides adding more ram grabbed 4 Samsung 8gb
Actually just looking for a descent 4gb gpu atm I'm stuck don't know which ones to get I also have this gpu I'm stuck with cause pc wasn't compatible
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti this gpu gave me errors beeped 6 times and power button was red once I removed it was fine
Found this gddr3 radeon at a good price is this one compatible as well
I saw the video with 384GB of RAM. Wow. I'm not a gamer, more into design and engineering, simulation. Just got a Z800 and was trying to figure out how to effectively and cheaply configure the RAM. From the HP config. guide it looks like 12x16GB 1333MHz cards will only run at 800MHz. Your 32MB cards did the same in the video. For now I am opting for 12x8GB 1333MHz cards that will run at 1333MHz. Cheap. The 8 cards I needed were USD130. Cheers from NZ. Gregg.
Hi guys, loved the Z800 guide an video, right now I'm upgrading mine with faster CPUs and a 1080Ti. I just wanted to point out, there might be different mainboards on Z800 machines. The older ones do not support the 56 series Xeon processors and I guess that should be included in the Blog post. Here's some more info on the topic: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktops-Archive-Read-Only/Will-HPZ800-take-Intel-Xeon-X5690-CPU/td-p/5084614
If you have enough money to buy RTX 2080 why didn’t you got the Z620/820 or Z640/840 series? They come with the Xeon E5 series they have USB3.0The Z640/840 have the PCIE GEN3 and DDR4 which make your RTX run much more better.
Any how this Xeon X5687 can be found cheap on eBay about $35.
This high performance fans on eBay are very expensive you can buy a new system with the price they asking for.
I never actually thought about it and not sure what are the fans in my Z800.
I saving my buck for Z840 in few years time they going to be sell for much cheaper.
Which part of the world are you?
I wonder how much RTX2080 Sell in your country?
Over here in Australia is double the price from the US I watching Tech deal video say you can get RTX2060 for $350us when here the starting price is $578AUD and the RTX2080 start from $1099aud.
Same I Have a HP Z840 2 x 2690V4, 128GB DDR4 2400MHz, HP512 NVMe ,2T Firecuda but I was running it with GTX1060.
Running 3Dmark Port Royal could only do 1-3 FPS and fail the test
I upgrade the GPU to MSI RTX 3070 OC 8GB Ventus 2x the card so big could not install the GPU covering back to connect power used 2 x 6 pin to 8pin.
Running Port Royal again got 7617 point better than 64% of all results in the middle between high end PC’s and premium PC’s.
Runing Fortnite above 240 FPS easy.
I had one of these workstations for years and I was using it a VM host, but I will upgrade it to be a gaming PC as well
2x Intel Xeon X5670 2.93ghz 6-Core CPU (Max Turbo to 3.3GHz)
6 x 8gb 10600R DDR3 Registered Memory at 1333Mhz
240gb SSD Drive - Boot
1x 2Tb 6gb/s SAS Hard Drive
Radeon 7470 1GB Video card
I have made the following purchases according to this website. I just want to be sure on compatibility:
6 MORE 8gb 10600R DDR3 modules to make 96GB (will using all 12 DIMMS keep it at 1333 or will it drop to 1066 or 800)?
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super Graphics Card linked from the blog
2x Molex to Male 6pin power
Dual 6pin female to 8pin power
PCIe to Nvme
1GB Crucial M.2 SSD (planned extra spare drive for VM Partitioning)
This was a big expense for a PC this old, but cheaper than this would be on a larger rig. So, What do people think?
I read your article of HPZ800 Gamim PC configuration with interest and wondered if you could help with a technical query?
My HPZ800 has a Nvidea FX4800 in slot 2 and a Matrox M9140 Quad Powerdesk Graphics Card Pcie 16x in slot 5. Both work ok.
When I insert a third Matrox GPU in any of the other slots it's not recognized in Window 10 device manager. Could you please tell me if and how a third card can be configured, alternatively two Matrox M9140s.
I tried with just two Matrox M9140s, but again they aren't recognized. Any assistance would be appreciated, thanks for your time.
So I upgraded to 12 of the exact same samsung 8gb 10600r 1333mhz ram. And CPU1 Dimm3 has an error and i cannot use any slot from there or beyond. Yet it shows on my cpu that I have 96gb memory installed I still get all the errors on the boot screen and have to press f1 to boot. I checked the ram repositioned them, switch different ones in other slots and its still that slot. I guess im screwed unless someone nows a fix. I tried loosening up the fan screws cuz i read somewhere that that motherboard may have a bend in it. Nope. I have dual x5690's that work great. Guess i need to part it out or get a new motherboard?
So an update on my situation. I'm all good and it's working 100%. After a little more research about the dimm3 error on the boot screen but still showing up as usable in my operating system, I was led to investigate the pins under my cpu. With very careful observation and a magnifying spot light, I did notice one of the pins was crooked. Grounding myself, I used a long sharp needle with a self bend at the tip and was able to perfectly reposition the pin, gave it a subtle blow, properly replaced my clean 5690. Started it up and the bios immediately recognized the new install and successfully updated to 96gb of ram with zero problems now. And Samsung server ram is very good ram. Samsung is known for quality control and making top of the line components. Thanks so much for all your input. I'm so happy I didn't have to resort to a new MOBO. It's not the $85 really, just the hassle. I'm most happy about.