Can I use this system for gaming?

[nickwindowz]

I was recently given a HP Z600 Workstation with 2 x Quad-Core CPUs (Intel Xeon E5520) / 24 GB RAM (6 x 4GB modules of 1333MHZ DDR3) / Samsung 850 Pro SSD 128GB for System Drive / Second Hard Drive is a 1TB non-SSD as a storage drive.
Is it worth buying a decent GPU (GeForce 960 or 970) for this setup or will it not matter because of old processors (bottleneck) ?

 

[yumri]

yeah it will make for a decent gaming rig just 1 of the 2 CPUs will not be even used is all because games are made with 1 standard CPU in mind of a quad core CPU in mind to do computing with multiple CPUs special coding has to be used and/or just special parameters when compiled depending on how the mutli CPU computing is done.
Your CPUs will not be a problem you might see some excessive RAM usage just because of how it is coded into the OS but it shouldn't slow down anything.

 

[damric]

Let me look up some things. Pretty sure this is jackpot.

 

[damric]

Can you link me the motherboard model?

If the motherboard allows it, the FSB on these Xeons can be overclocked quite a bit.

 

[yumri]

well the E5520 is a LGA 1366 CPU so it should be on a board which is overclockable or at least to some extent anyways then you do run into the problem of having 133MHz DDR3 is already overclocked to get to 1333MHz as normal for Xeon E5520s is 800MHz or 1066MHz officially anyways so it should be a overclockable board if the RAM was running at 1333MHz though them being 1333MHz modules and running at only 1066MHz is a possiablity too.