2x intel xeon 5520 + a graphics card

[shayandon02]

Hey , I needed some help so I thought this would be a good place to get some. I am getting a new pc. I found a Dell precision T5500 with 2x Intel Xeon 5520, 8 GB ram and a Intel motherboard (not sure which one) at a great price. I know its a work station but all the cores might help in gaming and stuff. I am not a very tech guy. I was confused on which graphics card should i get which will be optimal for my cause. And I want some information about overclocking this dual processor machine. I would really appreciate any kind of help regarding this topic. Thanks.

 

[GhislainG]

You can't overclock a Dell workstation, particularly one with dual processors. Games don't use 8 cores / 16 threads; therefore having so many isn't as good as fewer and faster cores. A GTX 750 Ti or an equivalent AMD based GPU would probably be a good match. Honestly an i3-4170 probably would have been a better gaming system.

 

[shayandon02]

You can't overclock a Dell workstation, particularly one with dual processors. Games don't use 8 cores / 16 threads; therefore having so many isn't as good as fewer and faster cores. A GTX 750 Ti or an equivalent AMD based GPU would probably be a good match. Honestly an i3-4170 probably would have been a better gaming system.

Thanks man for this info it really helped me alot. How much ram should I use with something like an i3-4170. Is 8 gb good enough?

 

[GhislainG]

8 GB definitely is good enough, but if you decide to build a new system and budget permits, you could consider a more powerful CPU like the i5-4460 or a Skylake i3 along with a better GPU. I used the i3-4170 as an example because it's faster than the Xeon processors in most games (probably all except if you can find one that uses 6 or more cores). I'm now building a budget gaming PC with the i3-4170; it's a good match for the GTX 660 Ti and a more expensive CPU wasn't justified. You could read this if interested: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2729891/bottlenecking-guide-chart-2015.html An i5 is better than an i3; you'll also see that the recommended GPUs for the i3 are more powerful and they cost more than a GTX 750 Ti, but they also provide better performance. You need to determine your budget and if really interested in a new build, then create a new thread and provide as much info as possible about your requirements.

 

[shayandon02]

8 GB definitely is good enough, but if you decide to build a new system and budget permits, you could consider a more powerful CPU like the i5-4460 or a Skylake i3 along with a better GPU. I used the i3-4170 as an example because it's faster than the Xeon processors in most games (probably all except if you can find one that uses 6 or more cores). I'm now building a budget gaming PC with the i3-4170; it's a good match for the GTX 660 Ti and a more expensive CPU wasn't justified. You could read this if interested: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2729891/bottlenecking-guide-chart-2015.html An i5 is better than an i3; you'll also see that the recommended GPUs for the i3 are more powerful and they cost more than a GTX 750 Ti, but they also provide better performance. You need to determine your budget and if really interested in a new build, then create a new thread and provide as much info as possible about your requirements.

I have found a pc at a really great price:-
Model: HP 500-327nl
Processor: AMD A8 Quad Core 3.5Ghz Turbo Boost 3.9Ghz
Power Supply: 550 Watt (Supports all video cards)
DVD: DVD Super Combo reader+writer
Ram: 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz
Hard Disk: 250GB Sata
Video Card: 1GB 128Bits DDR5
If this is good enough for games like battlefield 4, GTA 5, CS GO, Witcher 3, Crysis 3, fifa 16 and far cry 4 at medium to high settings at 720p or 900p with atleast 30 fps then I am fine. The other choice I have is that I can get a core 2 quad Q9650 with the same specs as above except for the case and there is no graphics card. If all this does not work then I will have to look into building a new pc.

 

[GhislainG]

The A8 (which one?) should be slightly faster than the Q9650, but I honestly can't recommend a system without a good GPU to run games like BF 4, GTA V, etc. The HP includes an R7 240, but it obviously isn't a gaming card: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2616139/6500-overclock-ghz.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r7-240-and-250,3717-7.html An entry level GTX 750 Ti or the slightly more expensive R7 370 are several times faster. You can compare them here (check the results for the games and resolution you'll be playing): http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/02/18/nvidia-geforce-gtx-750-ti-review/1 If you buy the HP, then you'd need to replace the GPU, but the external 180W PSU is too weak and a more powerful PSU may not be available. Unles it's realy cheap, don't bother with the old socket 775 Q9650. Based on your selection of the HP I presume your budget is very low, but you should be happy with an i3 and a GTX 750 Ti or an R7 370. If you really can't even afford an i3, then consider an Athlon X4 860K, but then you won't be able to upgrade to a much more powerful CPU in the future.

 

[shayandon02]

The A8 (which one?) should be slightly faster than the Q9650, but I honestly can't recommend a system without a good GPU to run games like BF 4, GTA V, etc. The HP includes an R7 240, but it obviously isn't a gaming card: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2616139/6500-overclock-ghz.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r7-240-and-250,3717-7.html An entry level GTX 750 Ti or the slightly more expensive R7 370 are several times faster. You can compare them here (check the results for the games and resolution you'll be playing): http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/02/18/nvidia-geforce-gtx-750-ti-review/1 If you buy the HP, then you'd need to replace the GPU, but the external 180W PSU is too weak and a more powerful PSU may not be available. Unles it's realy cheap, don't bother with the old socket 775 Q9650. Based on your selection of the HP I presume your budget is very low, but you should be happy with an i3 and a GTX 750 Ti or an R7 370. If you really can't even afford an i3, then consider an Athlon X4 860K, but then you won't be able to upgrade to a much more powerful CPU in the future.

I first looked into getting an i3 but I am from Pakistan where new computer parts are not very cheap so I have to go with these types of processors. I will buy a sapphire r9 270 dual x with either one of these. Right now I have a core 2 duo E8400 with a pretty bad graphics card. If I could just get a good graphics card for now and wait for prices to come down or I could try and order something from other countries or I could just save more money.

 

[GhislainG]

You wrote "I will buy a sapphire r9 270 dual x with either one of these." You mean the A6 or the Q9650? If your motherboard supports it, you could upgrade the CPU to a Q9650. Don't buy the HP HP 500-327nl, find another system with similar specs or build it yourself with an 860K if that's all you can afford.

Edit: I presume that you already know that a Q9650 is better than the E8400 only if a game can use more than 2 cores.

 

[shayandon02]

You wrote "I will buy a sapphire r9 270 dual x with either one of these." You mean the A6 or the Q9650? If your motherboard supports it, you could upgrade the CPU to a Q9650. Don't buy the HP HP 500-327nl, find another system with similar specs or build it yourself with an 860K if that's all you can afford.

Is it OK to buy used components. I could get a i5 2100 for a pretty good price. If I look into buying other used components like motherboard , GPU and ram then I might be able to afford to build an i5 gaming machine. Yeah I know that. I have done some research.

 

[GhislainG]

There is no such thing as an i5-2100. There's an i3-2100 or an i5-2300, i5-2400, etc. Buying used components that couldn't be overclocked is fine; I've done it several times without issues. However you should ask for some warranty just in case something doesn't work properly.

 

[shayandon02]

There is no such thing as an i5-2100. There's an i3-2100 or an i5-2300, i5-2400, etc. Buying used components that couldn't be overclocked is fine; I've done it several times without issues. However you should ask for some warranty just in case something doesn't work properly.

I wanted to write i5-2400. I wrote i5-2100 by mistake. Those components are unlocked so they can be overclocked which I plan on doing. Most of the sellers are giving 1 week checking warranty. I hope that it is enough. The graphics card I plan on getting will be a GTX 950 storm X dual, will it be ok with the i5? I know that it has 2gb gddr5 vram so it can run all of my preferred games at 1080p. I was just not sure whether it will bottleneck the cpu or not.

edit : will the graphics card fit and work in MSi H61M-E3 motherboard??

 

[GhislainG]

I presume the used motherboard is the MSI H61M-E33 (B3); if so, then it should be rather inexpensive. Would a brand new MSI H61M-P31/W8 be much more expensive?

Unlike the i5-2500K, the i5-2400 is locked and its performance will be slightly lower (an H61 motherboard can't overclock the i5-2500K). An i5-2400 is a good match for the GTX 950 and it should perform as good or better than an i3-4170 when playing games that can use 4 cores.

 

[shayandon02]

I presume the used motherboard is the MSI H61M-E33 (B3); if so, then it should be rather inexpensive. Would a brand new MSI H61M-P31/W8 be much more expensive?

Unlike the i5-2500K, the i5-2400 is locked and its performance will be slightly lower (an H61 motherboard can't overclock the i5-2500K). An i5-2400 is a good match for the GTX 950 and it should perform as good or better than an i3-4170 when playing games that can use 4 cores.

I cant find MSI H61M-P31/W8 on trusted websites that I usually buy from. which power supply and case should I use with all this.

 

[GhislainG]

The case has to be Micro-ATX or larger, but I can't make recommendations since I have no clue what type of case you like. The whole system will not draw more than 250W at peak load; therefore a quality 380-450W PSU is plenty. If you want a more specific PSU recommendation, then provide a link to the site you could buy it from. For a stable system, you need a quality PSU.

 

[shayandon02]

The case has to be Micro-ATX or larger, but I can't make recommendations since I have no clue what type of case you like. The whole system will not draw more than 250W at peak load; therefore a quality 380-450W PSU is plenty. If you want a more specific PSU recommendation, then provide a link to the site you could buy it from. For a stable system, you need a quality PSU.

So I think a corsair or cooler master psu would be good right?

 

[GhislainG]

It depends on the model; they both offer good and not so good PSUs.

 

[shayandon02]

It depends on the model; they both offer good and not so good PSUs.

How about the corsair vs450 watt psu. It will also support the graphics card I think

 

[GhislainG]

It meets both your requirements and somewhat limited budget. http://www.hardwareinsights.com/wp/corsair-vs450-review/

 

[shayandon02]

It meets both your requirements and somewhat limited budget. http://www.hardwareinsights.com/wp/corsair-vs450-review/

So the pc is now finalized. I know what I need to buy thanks to you. Hopefully I will buy all of this stuff that we decided in a couple of days. Thank you very much for helping me out. I pray that you always stay happy and blessed.

 

[GhislainG]

Please let us know how well the system works is once you're done building it.

 

[shayandon02]

Please let us know how well the system works is once you're done building it.

Sure.