push me one way or someway....

Ive gotten plenty of value out of my current rig and Im undecided on what to do.

Currently I have a HP Z400.

Xeon W3690 6 Core/12 Thread 3.4-3.7 Ghz
12 GB Ram
1 TB
R7 360 2GB
Win 8.1

I paid roughly 250 AUD for it 3.5 years ago. sold the quatro and hdd in for 100... also added a r7 360 for 100.. had an extra hdd laying around. price to performance, this has been the best pc buy I have ever made. It replaced a Hp z200 with a x3470 that is now my kids whatever machine.

I could drive it as is for a couple more years if Im fine playing some newer games at 900p. However, i want to game at high @ 1080p on most titles. I guess I could just do a gpu upgrade. A 1060 will fit and work with the proprietary PSU. I could also try and add a RX 570 but would need a 6 to 8 pin adapter. Dont want to go past 1080p and have to replace multiple monitors too

I was learning editing, 3d modeling/animation and software development at one point and I would like to keep that option going forward. so i need to keep the workstation aspect alive and not just have some juiced up cheap gaming rig that can crank out the FPS. After going to 6 cores, i dont want less moving forwards either. more cores or even dual xeons may be overkill for me.

I thought about getting a new ATX psu to give me more gpu options, but I would need an adapter to by pass the proprietary design. Im just iffy when it comes to adapters/power. Hell, ive thought about getting an aftermarket mobo and OCing the hell out of the W3690.

Thing is, those x58 mobos arent cheap. By the time I buy a used mobo (hopefully it works), cooler, case, psu and gpu, im looking at the cost of a new entry level ryzen 3 rig with an rx 570 included. However, i would have to upgrade that mobo and cpu at some point.

I love the HP Z machines and Xeons. Ive also thought about upgrading to a z 420, which would only be a slight cpu upgrade with the 6 core E5-1650 v1. BUT, 64 gb ram, plus those psus could push a lot of different gpus. Howev, it would still be the cost of said entry level ryzen 3.

Upgrading to Hp z440, z620 etcs and better Xeons would put me in ryzen 2600-2700x cost territory and i would probably just go that way for newer tech if im spending 8-1200++. I dont want to spend that much at this point either.

Also, I wouldnt sell the hp z400 to recoup any costs, that too would be handed down.

idk, maybe i just wanted to type to myself.....

 

Its been a while since I dealt with Xeons, but my past experience reliably tells me the offer sod all benefit to playing video games if that is your intention. What you should do, is get a new gaming rig and turn that Xeon box into a server to put all your media on for around the house streaming.

 

I guess it depends on the xeon.

My CPU can still hang some these days. While it's not as good as say the ryzen 2600, going by the synthetics the ryzen 2600 is only 26% better . Now if I were to OC my xeon I could narrow the gap... It's why I'm torn and confused ATM.

Single thread... it's not the greatest but it turbos to 3.7 and is suffice. Could OC over 4 GHz fairly easy.. it's just the cost related to that. I know I can software OC it but haven't looked into that..

As far as gaming, my gpu is the issue. the r7 360 can 1080p but 900 p is where it's at if u want high with 50-60 fps with most newer titles. I guess it depends on the game though. Runs GTA V 1080p on high/ultra at 50ish. I wouldn't consider that game new though .

Its definitely not playable 1080p on high for like apex legends.

Streaming . Kodi, Netflix etc etc . Hell, I got collection of DVD/bluray still..

Had a nas at one point, but there is no point for me these days. It's more of a photo dump at this point and I only turn it on to dump pics. Same for backups which aren't done often

At the same time, I recently bought my wife a phone and she has 256 gb of storage on it. More than enough for her.. my phone is 128gb I believe and there's basically nothing on it.. we will have tb's of storage in our phones in a few years

 

well ive decided to get more price to performance value out of this rig. just doing a gpu upgrade. kicking that rig/monitors upgrade can down the road

picked up a used rx 570 for 114 AUD (80 usd) shipped. hopefully it works. i dont like buying used gpus from strangers.

anywho, a new one would have been 199 AUD (141.33 USD) plus shipping.. in aussieland, i saved about 100 aud by going used.

will sell my r7 360 for 40-60 AUD if all is well too.. so in total, itll be like 50-70 aud for a 145% increase in gpu performance.... going by the synthetics anyway.. real world.. meh, depends on the title and what needed the increase.. wont see much difference in older crap.. but newer stuff @ 1080.. yay, i guess..

 

ebay scum. guy tried to scam me with a possible dead card. he refunded me quick when i asked some qs. idk y i felt the need to look through his reviews when he was at 100%. however it lead me to find out he bought a broken rx570 this month for 50 bucks. now, i gave him a chance to say he had refurbished it, but he didnt. it couldve just been a bad flash, bad paste.. something... and i would have still bought it if he corrected it.. however, he/she denied ever buying one...

anywho, im just going to buy a new one next week.. they come with a choice of two free games atm. the choices are devil may cry 5, resident evil 2 or tom clancy divison 2.. though i dont want any of those games, theres value there i guess