Using Old Server Hardware as Modern Day Budget Gaming?

AselHD · Jul 4, 2016

I need a second PC soon and saw some old xeon based servers on ebay ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R900-4-x-X7350-2-93GHz-Quad-Core-64GB-RAM-No-HDD-732-/361620158092?hash=item54323db68c:g:5U8AAOSwRQlXcpBL ),and I was wondering if it would be a better value to buy a server and put a gtx 760 in it, then to build a $250 new rig with some old parts.

If I were to build a new rig, I would have to upgrade my main system's case (probably H440) and GPU (probably RX480 8GB), making the total cost of my new build closer to $620, while if I bough t the server in the picture I wouldn't need to upgrade my case and it would only cost $410.

Obviously the modern i3 build would beat it in gaming, but probably lose in rendering, editing, and photoshop. My question is, would the ~$200 extra be worth it for the server. I realize ~$100 of that would be getting a new case but I don't care about my rigs looks (but if I upgrade obviously I don't want it to be worse).

Any general thoughts or comments would be appreciated, thank you

Darkbreeze · Jul 5, 2016

No way. That platform is far too old. Drastically lower IPC than what's generally minimum accepted IPC for current gaming titles. You'd be way better off with a modern i3, which would almost certainly crush that Tigerton Xeon even in rendering and graphics applications.

Rogue Leader · Jul 5, 2016

That processor went into service in 2007. 9 year old server hardware makes for a terrible gaming PC. First off games will only use 1 of those 4 processors and only half the cores of it. The cores are nowhere near vaguely as fast as a modern day i3-6100 or an i5-6500. The server has no drives, has likely been run 24/7/365 its whole life, and the PSU may not even have all the connectors you need (and forget fitting an ATX PSU, that case requires a specific one, and the board more often than not won't fit in a normal case.

Even rendering, editing, and photoshop, a modern i3-6100 or i5-6500 would beat this system. Well let me correct myself, when you are doing a final render or encoding a video that can take advantage of every core then its vaguely possible this server will outdo the modern system.

Daily we have people try exactly what you want to do. And every time it fails miserably and they post here asking for help. You have a unique opportunity to not make that mistake here. There is a reason why its so cheap. Do not waste the money.

Darkbreeze · Jul 5, 2016

What I said, plus what he said ^^^, = it is what it is.

cdabc123 · Jul 5, 2016

afew things not only would it suck in performance it also sounds like a jet will easily heat a room in a few seconds and does not support a graphics card.

source: i have one

jtk2515 · Jul 5, 2016

Windows 10 can only handle 2 Physical CPU'S. You would need windows server to run something with x4. So you would need to buy a used server with a decent CPU at a good price. This is very hard to do. Also if you are using Adobe suite remember that only some of the programs will use more then 8 cores(physical or virtual). As i only get 55% utilization in half of the programs with my 2x 2670's vs 100% for my 6700k. I found it was cheaper to build a used system
2x 2670 60$ each =120$
motherboard 220$
32gb ram 120$
Used 1100watt PSU 60$

If I had to do it over again I would of just got another 6700k system but the build was fun as I never done a 2x xeon build. So unless your programs can use all of the cores at 100% it's just not worth it.

Watch this at it will help alot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Kr_yjQiDU

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Premiere-Pro-CC-2015-Multi-Core-Performance-Update1-806/

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Using Old Server Hardware as Modern Day Budget Gaming?

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