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Started by dvcoomer | | 3 answers
How convert workstation to a good gameroom computer?
I just bought a HP XW6400 workstation ($100 on ebay) and I'd like to use it in my gameroom. I mainly want to be able to watch movies, listen to music, and play the occasional game. The only game I play is World of Tanks, but my kids like Minecraft, Terreria, ect. It appears that this workstation is really optimized for business use, so I'm wondering what would need to be upgraded to make it into a decent gameroom computer? I've got a MS Dreamspark account, and can download any MS OS for free, so I'd like to see what you think would be best, also. The specs are:
CPU- 2 Intel Xeon 3.0Ghz 5160 "Quad"
Memory- 8GB
Hard Drive- 250GB SATA HDD
OS Software- Windows Vista Business 64-Bit
Video- Nvidia Quadro FX 4600

Video card has 2 DVI outputs, so I'm thinking I should get a DVI-Hdmi cable, or I could do DVI-DVI (tv supports it), Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can give me.
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September 12, 2014 10:13:50 AM

Win 7 will be fine, but Win 8 is smaller (ie takes less hard drive space), will boot a bit quicker and is theoretically more secure. But you might hate the interface (you wouldn't be the first)

For upgrading you gfx card, I think the card you have will be ok initially (it was an awesome card in its day) but when you come to upgrade you need to be careful to get a card that will work with the GPU slot on your mobo - as the mobo is quite old. A GTX 750 Ti is the usual choice for upgrading an old machine though, because f its low power requirement
September 12, 2014 9:27:34 AM

From doing some reading, it seems like this is a decent card, but optimized for business applications. I'll probably use it for a while to see if it meets my needs. What would you suggest for an OS? I'm kind of partial to Windows 7, but I really haven't tried Windows 8. I've only read other people's opinions of it. I've also got access to MS Server 2008, but that seems like overkill.
September 12, 2014 8:14:21 AM

It might not need any upgrading... try it and see. But if it does it will be the graphics card

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