Merging 2 PCs

Lynx92 · July 17, 2015

Hello dear community,

I have several questions about the merging of the two following builds to one good build.
My aim is to play the latest games (for example The Witcher 3) on 1080p (or maybe 1440p) with 50+ FPS on High-Ultra settings.
I am a german student (so please forgive me my bad word choice ) with a budget of around 350€ (~380USD)
I planned to purchase with this budget a 'GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4G' or an 'MSI Radeon R9 390'

Those are the 2 PCs I have at the moment:

1.) Medion MS-7728 (This is the PC I usually play and work with)

System

Model : MEDION MS-7728

Mainboard : MEDION MS-7728

Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR3

Processors

Processor : Intel® Core i5-2320 CPU @ 3.00GHz (4C 3.29GHz, 3.3GHz IMC, 4x 256kB L2, 6MB L3)

Socket/Slot : FC LGA1155

Chip set

Storage controller : MSI Core (Sandy Bridge) DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 2GB DIMM DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit

Storage modules

Storage module : SanMax M378B5773DH0-CH9 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1332

Storage module : Lattice Semi Array1_PartNumber1 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1332

Graphics system

Monitor : ViewSonic VA2248 SERIES (1920x1080, 21.5")

GPU : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (4CU 192SP SM5.0 1.8GHz, 384kB L2, 1GB 4.1GHz 192-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

GPU processor

CUDA GP-Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 4C 1.8GHz, 384kB L2, 1GB 4.1GHz 192-bit)

OpenCL GP-Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 4C 1.8GHz, 64kB L2, 1GB 4.1GHz 192-bit)

Compute Shader Processor : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (192SP 4C 1.8GHz, 384kB L2, 1GB 4.1GHz 192-bit)

OpenGL Processor : GeForce GTX 550 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 (1GB)

Physical Storage

SAMSUNG SSD 830 Series (256GB, SATA300/600, SSD) : 238GB

Seagate ST2000DL003-9VT166 (2TB, SATA300/600, 3.5", 5900rpm) : 2TB

2.) HP Z400 Workstation. I got this one (used, but in a very good condition) recently.

System

Modell : HP Z400 Workstation

Mainboard : HP 0B4Ch

TPM - Trusted Platform Modul : 1.02, IFX

Memory : 16GB ECC DIMM DDR3

Processors

Processor : Intel® Xeon® CPU W3550 @ 3.07GHz (4C 3.2GHz, 2.13GHz IMC, 4x 256kB L2, 8MB L3)

Socket/Slot : FC LGA1366

Chip set

Storage controller : HP X58 I/O Hub 2x 2.4GHz (4.79GHz)

Storage controller : HP Core Desktop (Bloomfield) UnCore 2x 2.4GHz (4.79GHz), 2x 8GB ECC DIMM DDR3 1GHz 128-bit

Storage modules

Storage module : Freescale (Motorola) HMT351U7BFR8C-H9 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1332

Storage module : Freescale (Motorola) HMT351U7BFR8C-H9 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1332

Storage module : Freescale (Motorola) HMT351U7BFR8C-H9 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1332

Storage module : Freescale (Motorola) HMT351U7BFR8C-H9 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1332

Graphics system

Monitor : ViewSonic VA2248 SERIES (1920x1080, 21.5")

GPU : NVIDIA Quadro 400 (6CU 32SP SM4.1 1.13GHz, 512MB DDR3 1.54GHz 128-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

GPU processor

CUDA GP-Prozessor : NVIDIA Quadro 400 (48SP 6C 1.13GHz, 512MB DDR3 1.54GHz 64-bit)

OpenCL GP-Prozessor : NVIDIA Quadro 400 (48SP 6C 1.13GHz, 512MB DDR3 1.54GHz 128-bit)

Compute Shader Prozessor : NVIDIA Quadro 400 (32SP 6C 1.13GHz, 512MB DDR3 1.54GHz 128-bit)

Physical Storage

Seagate ST31500341AS (1.5TB, SATA300, 7200rpm) : 1TB

Seagate ST31500341AS (1.5TB, SATA300, 7200rpm) : 1TB

Generic- Compact Flash (USB2) : k.A.

Generic- SM/xD-Picture (USB2) : k.A.

Generic- SD/MMC (USB2) : k.A.

Generic- MS/MS-Pro/HG (USB2) : k.A.

Generic- SD/MMC/MS/MSPRO (USB2) : k.A.

hp DVD-RAM GH80N (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : k.A.

My guts are telling me, that the second one will provide the most parts of the merged PC, but I may be wrong, so here are my questions:

1) Is it correct, that both CPUs are very similar and sufficient for my needs? As a layman I don't see big differences, except that the second CPU has 8MB L3 Cache instead of 6MB. I heard XEON CPUs aren't meant for gaming.

2) In the first PC I installed Windows7 and some of my favorite games on the SSD. The SSD will work in the second PC because I just need one SATA 3.0Gb/s interface, right?

3) Which of the mass storages should I use? The Seagate (2TB, SATA300/600, 5900RPM) or one or even both of the Seagate (1,5TB, SATA300,7200RPM)?

4) The second PC has a 'Max. Combined Total Output Power' of 475W. Is this enough for a GTX 970 MSI or even a Radeon R9 390?

Is the basic idea of taking most of the parts from the Workstation right? Some people told me I should sell everything and wait for the Skylake (I dont even know, if that is reasonable for me and what the pricing/benefits are).

I'm looking forward to your suggestions and want to thank you in advance for your help.

Best regards

Lynx92

Deathstroke · July 17, 2015

Two completely different machines, really.

If all you're doing is gaming, there's really no point.

If you have enough PCIe slots you could use the Quadro 400 as a PhysX card, I guess, but it wont be that great.

You will have more storage if you combine it all to one machine, there shouldn't be an issue, unless you dont have enough SATA ports.

The RAM will only reach its full potential in one board, so there's no point mixing the two, and gaming performance will be decreased in the one that the ECC will function in.

I would be getting a bigger PSU for either card, you never want to push your PSU towards the limit, even though those cards won't use it all, they could get you much closer.

Maybe sell the second one for more money to get RAM for your first machine, and a better PSU.