- Oct 9, 2009
- 2
- 0
- 0
Looking for some advice. Can I upgrade my video editing workstation to a decent gaming system?
I have 2.5 year-old Xeon quad 2.66 (Cloverdale) workstation/server with a Quadro FX1500 graphics card and a Tyan S2696a2nrf motherboard. The Intel 5000X chipset appears to be PCI-E 1.0a compatible (based on spec sheet on Intel's web site).
I'm thinking about upgrading the video card with a goal of being able to play a few upcoming games at better-than-average (but not necessarily highest) settings without buying a new i7 system. Looking at the Sapphire 100279-1GL Radeon 4870 ($150 at Newegg), for example.
I know they are supposed to be compatible, but will a new PCI-E 2.0 card be limited by my motherboard's PCI-E 1.0a slot? My expectation is that the performance improvements would be very noticable and "worth it" - especially for games but also generally in Windows 7. Is there anything else I should check or keep in mind? I've done a little homework on this topic and know the stats above, but I really don't know a lot about components and systems overall.
Thanks in advance for any input!
I have 2.5 year-old Xeon quad 2.66 (Cloverdale) workstation/server with a Quadro FX1500 graphics card and a Tyan S2696a2nrf motherboard. The Intel 5000X chipset appears to be PCI-E 1.0a compatible (based on spec sheet on Intel's web site).
I'm thinking about upgrading the video card with a goal of being able to play a few upcoming games at better-than-average (but not necessarily highest) settings without buying a new i7 system. Looking at the Sapphire 100279-1GL Radeon 4870 ($150 at Newegg), for example.
I know they are supposed to be compatible, but will a new PCI-E 2.0 card be limited by my motherboard's PCI-E 1.0a slot? My expectation is that the performance improvements would be very noticable and "worth it" - especially for games but also generally in Windows 7. Is there anything else I should check or keep in mind? I've done a little homework on this topic and know the stats above, but I really don't know a lot about components and systems overall.
Thanks in advance for any input!