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Extend workstation lifespan

Q

quarrel

n00b
Joined
Mar 19, 2015
Messages
1
Hello All! First Post. I Spent hours trying to solve this without much success, maybe you guys can help. I have an OLD but good machine, circa 2008, that my daughter wants to run some modern software on and take apart and generally muck around with it. It has an EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 Motherboard. It was built with a Q9450 with 16 gigs of ram at 1800mhz. I am looking to upgrade the video card to a workstation platform card, either Quadro or FirePro or equivalent. What is the best card this system will run? Do I have to buy a card from that time period? Or are modern cards backwards compatible?

I remember the nvidia 9800gx2 in SLI was the big deal back then for video cards in gaming applications. I was only able to afford a geforce some months after building it. But now I am hoping to buy a used workstation grade graphics card (not gaming) and maybe upgrade the cpu for a song, as I realize this is very old tech, even though this machine has been a beast. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks for any input and my daughter thanks you too...
Quarrel

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System Information from DxDiag (somewhat edited)
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Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.141211-1742)
System Manufacturer: NVIDIA System Model: 132-CK-NF79
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9450 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16382MB RAM
Page File: 8271MB used, 54317MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+
Chip type: GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+
Display Memory: 4071 MB
Dedicated Memory: 487 MB
Shared Memory: 3583 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
 
well, the motherboard supports PCIe 2.0 so I don't see any reason why any recent card wouldn't work.

As for which one well it depends on what you daughter wants to do. Its not like you are getting a M6000, right?

Maybe a K2200 or something used.
 
I'm sure someone else will ask this if I don't...

What is the PC going to be used for that requires a workstation platform card?
The applications that are going to be used will help give everyone an idea of what to suggest.
Unfortunately, I have no experience with the professional cards so I'm of no help there :(
 
As far as the processor goes, just overclock it. All you will gain with a higher model is a higher base multiplier.

The QX9770 is the highest available and is only 533Mhz faster than what is already in there.

And it is stupid expensive if you can even find one.

Just bump up the fsb slightly and you can get there without any other changes.

That processor should be able to run at 3.6Ghz pretty easily and probably higher with a good cooler.

the other option would be to get an LGA771 XEON and do a sticker/socket mod. But the fastest available is still only 3.33Ghz.

Must easier/quicker/cheaper to just overclock if you need it to be faster.
 
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