upgrading a Dell PRECISION 690 into a gaming machine

Ramiromonito09,

The Precision 690 was a quite sophisticated, ultra-reliable, and expensive- workstation system for it's era:. Specfications:

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/precn/en/spec_precn_690_en.pdf

I have a Precision T5400 which which is very similar to the the 690. but using Xeon 5400 series CPU's instead of 5300 series.

I think that if you update the BIOS it will solve compatibility with modern GPU's and other devices. There should be one or a pair of 6-pin supplementary power connector to run GPU's over 75W, which is what the PCIe slot provides on it's own.

The User Manual:

http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_dell_precision_workstation/precision-690_user%27s%20guide_en-us.pdf

I'm all for giving these old, high-quality systems working well, and depending on the CPU (s), GPU they can be acceptable or even quite good at gaming. However, be aware that the DDR2-667 ECC memory and disk subsystem are both quite slow compared to current.

Still, these were made for visualization and with a good GPU, the 3D benchmarks can be very good. I have a Precision the bottom end of the Precision line 390- the single CPU model of that generation and with a Quadro K4200 (4GB) GPU, it produced a Passmark 3D score of 4702 whereas the K600 (1GB) scores only 836.

On Passmark, there are number of 690's performing quite well. The top rated system is 2198 (2x Xeon 5160 (2-core @3.0GHz). This is a good -and common conifguration for 690's as the pair of 2-cores gives you 4 cores. These were not hyperthreading and apparently in some games that's an advantage.

Top Passmark scores:

CPU: 6783 (2X Xeon X5365 2.93GHz)
2D : 486 (GTX 650 ti)
3D: 4726 (GTX 960), 4472 (R9 280X), 3994 (HD 7850)
Mem: 824 (32GB)
Disk: 2711 (Samsung 850 EVO 120GB)

So, if your 690 has one or two of the faster CPU's and a good GTX or Radeon it might work quite well. My suggestion is to try it out and if you have a modern gaming card in another system, plus it in and see how it works. If it's too far from satisfactory, you might consider selling it- they're still worth something when in good condition or high specification. Then, find an Optiplex 980 with an i5 of 3GHZ+ which could even cost less than the value of the 690 and then add the $200 upgrade fund in the form of a good, used, recent GPU and if possible an SSD of 120GB or more. See:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-980-Intel-Core-i5-660-3-33GHz-4GB-500GB-GE1451-/181796152811?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a53e525eb&nma=true&si=V0dTAhvH8Fz4pcjWhgHUBXsPUWo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

>Mid tower, i5-660 4-core @ 3.33GHz sold for $132.

It's worth checking the 690 and getting it organized, but overall I think changing it into an i5 system would be a better long-term solution for gaming use.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

2. Dell Precision 390 (2006) (Revised): Xeon X3230 quad-core @ 2.67GHz > 8 GB DDR2 ECC 667 > Quadro K600 > 2X WD 320GB >Linksys WMP600N WiFi > Dell 24" > 1920 X 1200 > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1296, CPU = 2953 / 2D= 382 / 3D=862 / Mem= 853 / Disk=569]

With Firepro V4900 (1GB)
[ Passmark system rating = 1458, CPU = 3699 / 2D= 431 / 3D=1350 / Mem= 885 / Disk=552]

with Quadro K4200:
Passmark system rating = 1552, CPU = 3467 / 2D= 683 / 3D=4067 / Mem= 866 / Disk=570]

3. Dell Precision T5400 (2008) > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB DDR2 667 ECC> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card / Linksys WMP600N WiFi > HP 2711X, 27" 1920 X 1080 and Dell 19" LCD > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit >
[ Passmark system Rating = 1859, CPU = 8528 / 2D= 512 / 3D=1097 Mem= 730, Disk= 929]