Issues aside, the new HP Z820 is the most powerful system I’ve ever tested and I highly recommend it, budget permitting. Obviously a new workstation is no small consideration when budgeting for new purchases. If you’ve got a 2010 Z800 you can probably hold off until next year. However, if you’ve got the 2009 model it may be time to seriously consider an upgrade.

-- Editor's Note

After conferring with HP once the review was published, they solved the mystery of the noisy Z820. Once the HP team got the test unit back, they found that the noise was due to a bent retention tab on the bottom bracket of the liquid cooling assemblies. They were able to eliminate the noise by bending the tabs into their proper positions and reinstalling the liquid cooling assemblies. The model sent to Bryan was a pre-production unit since we wanted to get a Z820 in his hands as fast as possible - close to a final production model but not 100%.  It's probably safe to assume that final production models work without such noise issues.

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Bryan Hoff is a multifaceted artist and writer. A web designer, digital artist and animator, his credits include movie and television effects, online games, 3D corporate animation, Flash and traditional Web site design. His writing credits include articles for LinuxWorld, Element K Journals and InformIT, covering topics like Photoshop effects, Linux 3D graphics applications, Web and HTML design, RSS feeds and painting with a graphics tablet. Bryan has written ebooks on blogging and Web site creation for beginners and co-authored the book, “Moving from Windows to Linux”.