Is it Possible? Turn Old Work Workstation into Entry-Moderare Level Gaming PC?

[MacSauce]

Budget (including currency): USD, Up to $300 per component

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, doesn't need to be Ultra settings gaming

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): old workstation components listed below

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1607v3

GPU: Nvidia Quadro K620

Memory: Two 8GB GDDR4 (unknown brand) 

Motherboard: (unknown brand) slots include 8 DIMM slots 2 of which hold current RAM, PCIe2 x1;PCIe3 x16 (holds GPU);PCIe2 x4;PCIe3 x8;PCIe3 x16;PCI

Power: (unknown brand) 700W

Storage: None

OS: Needs Windows 10 Pro

 

The IT guy at work was cool enough to give this to me. I know I obviously need to get a hard drive or SSD and get windows on it to get it going, but I want to know two things.. 

 

A) Is this even worth my time? Just trying to get this thing to a point where I can game decently, no need for a beast of a system. 

B) If the answer to A is yes, where should I go after I get this thing up and running? GPU? CPU? 

 

Also, I don't have any peripherals, but I plan on getting very simple stuff to get it going and using my TV to game for the time being until I invest serious money into monitors and such. TV is a Sony X800h 65" 4k HDR TV. 

 

I'm new to this and am open to any suggestions, thanks! 

 

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Yea its not a bad system for a basic gaming build. You will need a ssd for boot, and a hdd if you want more space, and a faster gpu(probably something like a 2060 is what id get). You might want a faster cpu, something like a e5 1650 v3 thats about $100 and a good amount faster.

[Downkey]

1 minute ago, MacSauce said:

Budget (including currency): USD, Up to $300 per component

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, doesn't need to be Ultra settings gaming

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): old workstation components listed below

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1607v3

GPU: Nvidia Quadro K620

Memory: Two 8GB GDDR4 (unknown brand) 

Motherboard: (unknown brand) slots include 8 DIMM slots 2 of which hold current RAM, PCIe2 x1;PCIe3 x16 (holds GPU);PCIe2 x4;PCIe3 x8;PCIe3 x16;PCI

Power: (unknown brand) 700W

Storage: None

OS: Needs Windows 10 Pro

 

The IT guy at work was cool enough to give this to me. I know I obviously need to get a hard drive or SSD and get windows on it to get it going, but I want to know two things.. 

 

A) Is this even worth my time? Just trying to get this thing to a point where I can game decently, no need for a beast of a system. 

B) If the answer to A is yes, where should I go after I get this thing up and running? GPU? CPU? 

 

Also, I don't have any peripherals, but I plan on getting very simple stuff to get it going and using my TV to game for the time being until I invest serious money into monitors and such. TV is a Sony X800h 65" 4k HDR TV. 

 

I'm new to this and am open to any suggestions, thanks! 

 

 

 

First of all, that TV you have is 4k, and unless you do some serious upgrading, your not going to be able to game in 4k. Now, that CPU is only 4c/4t, so a e5 1650 v3 would be MUCH better. I would get a 1650 super - a 2060 for a GPU, and try to get an SSD

[MacSauce]

4 minutes ago, Downkey said:

First of all, that TV you have is 4k, and unless you do some serious upgrading, your not going to be able to game in 4k. Now, that CPU is only 4c/4t, so a e5 1650 v3 would be MUCH better. I would get a 1650 super - a 2060 for a GPU, and try to get an SSD

Thanks for the suggestions, I do have one question though. With the suggested additions, does that get 4k resolution? Or 1080p? Either way is fine with me. If it is 1080p output, wouldn't the TV be able to upscale it a little? Or no? 

[Action_Johnson]

TV can upscale, but it likely won't look great. 

 

If you used an AMD card instead of Nvidia, like a 5500XT or 5600XT, you could likely turn this into a totally functional Hackintosh pretty easy. 

 

Put it in a slick, but stealthy case, and you'd likely get more value for it on the used market if it's a dual boot Windows/MacOS

[MacSauce]

25 minutes ago, Action_Johnson said:

TV can upscale, but it likely won't look great. 

 

If you used an AMD card instead of Nvidia, like a 5500XT or 5600XT, you could likely turn this into a totally functional Hackintosh pretty easy. 

 

Put it in a slick, but stealthy case, and you'd likely get more value for it on the used market if it's a dual boot Windows/MacOS

Why AMD over nvidia? 

[Action_Johnson]

Because if you used an AMD card instead of Nvidia, like a 5500XT or 5600XT, you could likely turn this into a totally functional Hackintosh pretty easy. 

 

Apple for whatever reason, hasn't used an Nvidia GPU in their computers since 2012 (i think), so there aren't' any kexts or drivers for them. 

[MacSauce]

1 minute ago, Action_Johnson said:

Because if you used an AMD card instead of Nvidia, like a 5500XT or 5600XT, you could likely turn this into a totally functional Hackintosh pretty easy. 

Ah I think what you're saying is AMD supports Mac (or vice versa) and nvidia doesn't? 

 

Also, is the only reason to dial boot for more value selling? Because I'm not sure I'm really interested in selling, unless you you're implying I build this to sell and then build another pc from scratch?