[SOLVED] Upgrading from Xeon e5-1620 v2 3.7ghz HELP!!!

[Maximus.TheGamer]

Hi, made an account just for this haha someone pls help me solve this!!

So, i have a HP Z420 Workstation, Rx480 Sapphire Nitro+ 4gb and 16gb ram.
I've been using this PC for gaming but this CPU falls short for almost all mainstream games this year. Can not afford to spend more than 300$'s atm but can get good condition used CPU's & GPU's cheaper from the local market.

I get an unstable 28-38fps on ultra-settings on a game like FFXV. Would like to be able to play above 50, or an fps that never falls below 40 at least. Please help, i'm not very tech savvy. Have no clue which CPU's can fit into this rig, let alone which one to choose from. Also, if i upgrade my Rx480 to something newer, would this GPU i have now be able to handle it?

Open to all suggestions. Don't need this pc for anything other than gaming.

Thanks

 

[jeremyj_83]

Hi, made an account just for this haha someone pls help me solve this!!

So, i have a HP Z420 Workstation, Rx480 Sapphire Nitro+ 4gb and 16gb ram.
I've been using this PC for gaming but this CPU falls short for almost all mainstream games this year. Can not afford to spend more than 300$'s atm but can get good condition used CPU's & GPU's cheaper from the local market.

I get an unstable 28-38fps on ultra-settings on a game like FFXV. Would like to be able to play above 50, or an fps that never falls below 40 at least. Please help, i'm not very tech savvy. Have no clue which CPU's can fit into this rig, let alone which one to choose from. Also, if i upgrade my Rx480 to something newer, would this GPU i have now be able to handle it?

Open to all suggestions. Don't need this pc for anything other than gaming.

Thanks

The CPU you have is getting a little old, but still should be alright for gaming as it has 4c/8t with a 3.7/3.9 clock speed. The "best" CPU that will fit into that system is the E5-1680-v2 with is 8c/16t with a 3.0/3.9 clock speed. Unless you are going to be playing games that can use more than 8t, right now there aren't any AFAIK, the 4c/8t with the higher base clock will be better. Not to mention there is little reason to upgrade the CPU on that old of a platform.

For a GPU your hits the recommended spec for 1080p/30fps. Yes your CPU is in the same spot, but I wouldn't worry about that. In terms of getting a new GPU, for $300 you are in the area of a 1660 Super, RX5600XT, and maybe a RTX2060. Again that is is you were to buy new. Going from a 480 8GB to a 5600XT (with the vBIOS update, ie Sapphire Pulse) or RTX2060 will result is a 50+% increase in performance. Going with a 1660Ti/Super will be a 25ish% increase in performance. Based on that information I would be more inclined to go with the 5600XT or RTX2060 to get the most for my money. Then when you have enough money saved up you could upgrade your CPU, Motherboard, RAM, PSU, & case.

 

[william p]

1-The RX480 is a low powered GPU. A couple steps below even the budget GTX1050. A gtx 1060 6GB, or 2060 would be a huge improvement. The workstation PSU should be good for powering a 6 pin PCIe card.
2-There are people having success overclocking those systems using Intel XTU. It costs nothing to try it. Look in this thread.
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Busin...Sale-Systems/z420-z620-overcklock/m-p/6853518
3- You need to find out how many cores those newer games need to run well. Do you have Hyperthreading enabled for 8 thread operation?
If you need more threads simple CPU swap will fix that issue. E5-1660 v2 is 6C/12t, E5-1680v2 is 8C/16T. My guess is you don't need it.
4-You said you had 16GB RAM, which is enough. But that system supports 4 channel RAM so it would be much better if you had 4x4GB modules than 2x8GB modules. It also supports up to DDR3 1866 speed x 4 channels. You might look at what's going on there as far as speed and bandwidth.
5-You can look around in here, or even run your system there to see what's holding you back.
https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/HP-Z420-Workstation/3128

 

[jeremyj_83]

1-The RX480 is a low powered GPU. A couple steps below even the budget GTX1050. A gtx 1060 6GB, or 2060 would be a huge improvement. The workstation PSU should be good for powering a 6 pin PCIe card.

What are you talking about? The RX480 is within a few percent of the GTX 1060 6GB. https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2300?vs=2301 That means that going to the 1060 6GB would be a lateral move and NOT an upgrade. Maybe you are thinking of the RX460?

From what I have seen, that system comes with a 90% efficient (80+ Silver?) 600W PSU. My guess is it will have at least a single 6+2 pin adapter, possibly 2x 6+2 pin for PCIe.

 

[william p]

My mistake, I was looking at the ancient GTX480 on the hierarchy chart, not the RX480.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

The work station PSUs tend to be multirail. The GTX1070 which has an 8 pin PCIe but only has a 150W TDP can run on the 6 pin PCIe cable with an 8 pin adapter without overloading the PSU rail. Any 150W GPU should be supported.
The RX 5600XT looks like the fastest 150W card now. Just about in your budget.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx_5600_xt

But if you try to run a 160+W card on the 8 pin adapter you may have problems. Look at the TDP not the suggested PSU power.
Aftermarket PSU swappping can be tricky on those. I would ask in the HP forum. HP has been known to bork the pinout on the 24 pin MB header. It can be done but you need to be careful. I mostly mod Dell workstations, so I can't be more specific. But you should join the HP Modding Forum and get in touch with BambiboomZ there. There may be bigger HP PSUs that are known to work.
When modding OEM computers they all tend to be different. You need to find people who have experince with that particular system. The Z420 is one of the best for this.