More RAM Or More Graphics?

[A Wild Chancleta]

Hello, I have been not active for a While, Because I was working on my main System, a Dell Precision T3500, now that it is running perfectly I need a solution for this problem that I have with it.

More RAM Or More Graphics Horsepower?

I honestly do want to game on it but, I also want to use it as a workstation for my studies so, I am really confused on what should I do.

Here are the Specs:

 

Intel Xeon 3550

4GB DDR3 1333MHz (Planning on Buying 24GB)

NVIDIA QUADRO FX 580

120GB SSD + 500GB HDD

 

If somebody also can tell me what type of graphics card will be ideal for the PC I will really appreciate it.

Thank You Guys!!!!

 

[screamXrawr]

I always recommend at least 8GB ram for gaming, as for gpu kinda depends on your budget and don't know if that cpu would bottleneck high end card? . A 1070 sounds good though

[ARikozuM]

Get 8 more GB of RAM and a 1060 or 980 Ti.

[TurbulentWinds]

9 minutes ago, A Wild Chancleta said:

Intel Xeon 3550

That CPU is gonna bottleneck basically anything. It is 4 core 4 thread at 3 GHz but it's from 2009. With generational improvements I figure it to be like a Pentium or i3 but if you post Cinebench scores I can tell you for sure.

[Danny_UK]

The real question is "More vRam"

 

No but seriously now.... 4 GB is pretty shit take it out and keep it in your desk for testing stuff... 100% go for ram. IMO just get 16GB (2x8) RAM for use in later builds when you decide to upgrade the rest of the machine or build a new one (You should be aiming for DDR4 then though).  That way you save a little now, and don't have to spend any extra in the future, unless you go for 32GB.

 

The GPU is't the best (Obviously), but at low/med settings its good enough for some of the less demanding games, but realistically depending on what the game is if its PvP type stuff you want the graphics pretty low anyhow.  Also those types of games are MOBAs I'm assuming???

 

I mean i can go on but tbh its a shot in the dark because you never included your budget and what type of work you need it to do and what type of games  

 

If it was me in your situation i'd buy used items depending on you location the ram would cost you around $80 and you could pick up a basic "MOBA" type GPU for $40ish.

 

So in short Something like a AMD R7 250 and any generic 2x8(16GB) DDR3 1333mhz ram will be fine. (The reason for the low profile GPU is because I dont know if your PSU will have 6 or 8pin connectors, so it's for simplicity)

 

But again thats my guess because I didn't know the budget or other things mentioned above.  Hope that helps dude

 

[jools]

"Support for 2 PCI Express® x16 Gen 2 graphics cards up to 150W " quote from dell pdf I don't see why a gen 3 card should not work just as good in a gen 2 slot so recommend a 1080ti and 4 more gb of ram

[minervx]

8GB is fine for gaming.

 

16 GB is good for workstation, if you can afford it.

 

24 GB is pointless

[Bananasplit_00]

4GB works fine for gameing, the LAN PC has always run 4GB and so is/will the Toaster. just dont have anything but the game and discord or whatever you use to comunicate with open and you will be fine from my experience. better graphics will help you a lot more then a few more gigs of RAM will

[Zodiark1593]

20 minutes ago, Danny_UK said:

The real question is "More vRam"

 

No but seriously now.... 4 GB is pretty shit take it out and keep it in your desk for testing stuff... 100% go for ram. IMO just get 16GB (2x8) RAM for use in later builds when you decide to upgrade the rest of the machine or build a new one (You should be aiming for DDR4 then though).  That way you save a little now, and don't have to spend any extra in the future, unless you go for 32GB.

 

The GPU is't the best (Obviously), but at low/med settings its good enough for some of the less demanding games, but realistically depending on what the game is if its PvP type stuff you want the graphics pretty low anyhow.  Also those types of games are MOBAs I'm assuming???

 

I mean i can go on but tbh its a shot in the dark because you never included your budget and what type of work you need it to do and what type of games  

 

If it was me in your situation i'd buy used items depending on you location the ram would cost you around $80 and you could pick up a basic "MOBA" type GPU for $40ish.

 

So in short Something like a AMD R7 250 and any generic 2x8(16GB) DDR3 1333mhz ram will be fine. (The reason for the low profile GPU is because I dont know if your PSU will have 6 or 8pin connectors, so it's for simplicity)

 

But again thats my guess because I didn't know the budget or other things mentioned above.  Hope that helps dude

 

Sorry to break it to you, but DDR4 will not work in OP's system, and DDR3 (standard voltage) will not work with current platforms.

 

Given the current pricing of RAM and the quantity, as well as the age of the system, I would advise just investing into an entirely new system. Too much money to pour into an old system tbh.

 

If you need more gpu, a graphics card upgrade will help and can be carried into a new build. Don't waste money on DDR3 though unless you happen across a very good deal.

[Danny_UK]

Delete Post

 

Reason: Double posted

[Danny_UK]

11 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

Sorry to break it to you, but DDR4 will not work in OP's system, and DDR3 (standard voltage) will not work with current platforms.

 

Given the current pricing of RAM and the quantity, as well as the age of the system, I would advise just investing into an entirely new system. Too much money to pour into an old system tbh.

 

If you need more gpu, a graphics card upgrade will help and can be carried into a new build. Don't waste money on DDR3 though unless you happen across a very good deal.

I know thats why i said "DDR3 1333mhz" will be fine and the "DDR4" was me saying "for the future" when/if they build a "new" one. He has a Xeon in there which can support ECC and a Quadro too so maybe their usage is specific to that hardware type. His mobo has space for another PCIe device and could still used the Quadro if configure correctly.  I ditn go into detail because the OP didn't give enough detail.

 

I know I sometimes may not structure my sentences right, maybe i should work on that.  Sorry to have confused you  

[A Wild Chancleta]

6 hours ago, Danny_UK said:

The real question is "More vRam"

 

No but seriously now.... 4 GB is pretty shit take it out and keep it in your desk for testing stuff... 100% go for ram. IMO just get 16GB (2x8) RAM for use in later builds when you decide to upgrade the rest of the machine or build a new one (You should be aiming for DDR4 then though).  That way you save a little now, and don't have to spend any extra in the future, unless you go for 32GB.

 

The GPU is't the best (Obviously), but at low/med settings its good enough for some of the less demanding games, but realistically depending on what the game is if its PvP type stuff you want the graphics pretty low anyhow.  Also those types of games are MOBAs I'm assuming???

 

I mean i can go on but tbh its a shot in the dark because you never included your budget and what type of work you need it to do and what type of games  

 

If it was me in your situation i'd buy used items depending on you location the ram would cost you around $80 and you could pick up a basic "MOBA" type GPU for $40ish.

 

So in short Something like a AMD R7 250 and any generic 2x8(16GB) DDR3 1333mhz ram will be fine. (The reason for the low profile GPU is because I dont know if your PSU will have 6 or 8pin connectors, so it's for simplicity)

 

But again thats my guess because I didn't know the budget or other things mentioned above.  Hope that helps dude

 

My PSU Has a 6 pin connector avalible, and do you think the RAM is enough for this system? Should I buy the GPU? Or the RAM? THANKS!!!

[A Wild Chancleta]

6 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

Get 8 more GB of RAM and a 1060 or 980 Ti.

 

6 hours ago, minervx said:

8GB is fine for gaming.

 

16 GB is good for workstation, if you can afford it.

 

24 GB is pointless

But i still 24 GB I am also planning to do video editing on it, and with that processor i think it might bottleneck

[ARikozuM]

29 minutes ago, A Wild Chancleta said:

But i still 24 GB I am also planning to do video editing on it, and with that processor i think it might bottleneck

Live with the 12GB that I suggested until you can upgrade to a hexa-core CFL or octa-core Ryzen. For rendering videos, frequency and core count are key and Xeons for that generation aren't going to provide that unless you can find a Xeon for your socket that will cost less than $200 with more cores.

[Danny_UK]

1 hour ago, A Wild Chancleta said:

My PSU Has a 6 pin connector avalible, and do you think the RAM is enough for this system? Should I buy the GPU? Or the RAM? THANKS!!!

Ok for anyone to help you you really need to put out a budget of what you're willing to spend, even a approximation will be good to work with..  

 

With all this information please bare in mind this isn't going to improve the rendering performance dramatically, as the CPU in there is pretty weak by todays standards.

 

The 2 things i suggested was just to get you to the point where you can load in large videos and not have to rely on your "page file" (we wont go into that) which will make background apps and other programs act slow, maybe even sometimes become unresponsive for a few seconds, but by all means you're welcome to keep the 4GB in there and add the 16GB too for a total of 20GB now that I know you don't need ECC.

 

Judging by the current specs of what you have already though and considering its a OEM machine too is kind of suggesting to me that money is tight atm, which is cool. but sharing your budget will help us to help you.

 

Now we know you have a 6pin connector i wont have to tell you to get a molex adapter for a GPU, not that the R7 250 needs one btw.