Upgrade CPU or GPU?

[RadeonProVega]

Hey guys, my current specs: Windows 10 Enterprise x64, 24GB ddr3 memory, Radeon Pro WX 4100 4GB GDDR5, Xeon 2630 V2 6 cores/12 threads

Product Specifications

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ark.intel.com

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Trying to decide on what would be the best upgrade towards performance. Also keep in mind, i have no issues really playing games in general, just wanted to upgrade to a 8GB card or should i upgrade to a faster CPU

8gb card i have in mind

ASRock Phantom Gaming D RX 570 OC 8 GB Specs

AMD Polaris 20, 1270 MHz, 2048 Cores, 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 8192 MB GDDR5, 1750 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

The best two CPU's that i can find at a reasonable price are:
Xeon 2640 v2 8 core
Xeon 2650 v2 8 core higher core and turbo speed

Or should i get both 2650 v2 and the RX 570 8GB OC card ? (this is the last choice, depending on what is the best option between the two above)

 

[noel_fs]

neither, wait for new gen that will come with ddr5. Depending on what games you play you might want to buy a second hand rx 580/570 and patiently wait for the next gen. with what you got you wont notice an actual difference from upgrading to a current platform and it will be expensive anyway. you could even get a 5700 but i would wait for the next rtx series.

 

[Regeneration]

Your graphics card runs at PCIe x8 for some reason.

Upgrade both. Brand new graphics card, and look for a better CPU on eBay.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/68926/ivy-bridge-ep.html

And by the way, if I remember correctly, there are some performance features in HP Z420 BIOS that are OFF by default.

 

[Caring1]

The WX 4100 is a pretty basic card, the card you linked will be a huge improvement.

 

[noel_fs]

Your graphics card runs at PCIe x8 for some reason.

Upgrade both. Brand new graphics card, and look for a better CPU on eBay.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/68926/ivy-bridge-ep.html

And by the way, if I remember correctly, there are some performance features in HP Z420 BIOS that are OFF by default.

stop spreading misinformation, his card runs fine, its just in idle.

 

[Caring1]

stop spreading misinformation, his card runs fine, its just in idle.

Look at the screenshot again, at idle it shows @8 x 1.1 NOT 16 x 1.1

 

[Chomiq]

Wx 4100 is pcie 3.0 x16 physical but x8 electrical. At least that's what TPU GPU database says.

AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 Specs

AMD Baffin, 1201 MHz, 1024 Cores, 64 TMUs, 16 ROPs, 4096 MB GDDR5, 1500 MHz, 128 bit

www.techpowerup.com

 

[joemama]

I'm sure you should upgrade that GPU first and 8GB of VRAM isn't very helpful on a 570
you can get the 570 4GB version instead, unless you have special purposes
You can consider if you want to upgrade the CPU afterwards

 

[Ruru]

Yeah, the memory amount doesn't make a slow card any faster. I remember how ~15 years ago people bought rather lower mid-end 256MB cards than better cards which had 128MB. Like a GeForce 6600 256MB instead of a Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB..

The thing which worries me most is that you don't have a SSD, at least not in your system specs..

 

[Nero1024]

If you have decided that you WILL upgrade, then chose video card first. Because no matter what, you can insert it in any old or new motherboard

 

[Outback Bronze]

GPU.

 

[RadeonProVega]

Your graphics card runs at PCIe x8 for some reason.

The thing which worries me most is that you don't have a SSD, at least not in your system specs..

Wx 4100 is pcie 3.0 x16 physical but x8 electrical. At least that's what TPU GPU database says.

Yes it runs at x8. Chloe, non SSD, i have no problems with speed from my hard drive , even watching videos or copying files, playing games (loading).

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/68926/ivy-bridge-ep.html

And by the way, if I remember correctly, there are some performance features in HP Z420 BIOS that are OFF by default.

Kinda on a budget, the 2650 v2 is the best choice, every other CPU is way higher in price.

I'm sure you should upgrade that GPU first and 8GB of VRAM isn't very helpful on a 570
you can get the 570 4GB version instead, unless you have special purposes
You can consider if you want to upgrade the CPU afterwards

Thanks, will check later today!

 

[Bill_Bright]

Also keep in mind, i have no issues really playing games

Then why do you want to upgrade? What do you use that "workstation" computer for?

Is that a decent 600W PSU? It is important to note graphics cards are often the most power hungry devices in our systems.

Have you considered upgrading to a SSD? Depending on what you do, it is amazing how an SSD over a hard drive can improve overall performance.

 

[Solid State Soul ( SSS )]

Your processor is fine, just upgrade the GPU and add an SSD to the mix, that should give you a noticeable overall performance boost

 

[RadeonProVega]

Hey guys, old thread from last month, but wanted to give an update, I bought a xeon 2650 v2 last month, works great , it was only 40 bucks. So I'm on a budget and didn't have enough cash to buy the new W5500 radeon pro 8GB, neither did i have cash to buy a WX 5100 or WX 7100. So i said what the hell and bought a cheap 53 dollars AMD Firepro W7000 (wanted to buy one before i bought the W5000 few years back), i gave my wife my Radeon Pro WX 4100, because she needed a card.

Anyways, so buying the FirePro W7000. Let me tell you, I'm getting double the framerates in games, this old ass GPU is fast, 2x faster than the Radeon Pro WX 4100. (sleeping dogs photo, getting about 25 more fps now). I'm getting one problem though, the damn temps creeps up to 95c in Hellblade, and around 90c in Doom 2016. Should i be concern? Just going to use this card until i get a WX7100 or W5500 sometime next month. (save the 7000 for my secondary computer).

 

[jlewis02]

Download msi afterburner and set a custom fan profile to max the fan at 60c.
Will lower temps so much. I had the same card for a short time. I also replaced the thermal compound on it.

 

[RadeonProVega]

Download msi afterburner and set a custom fan profile to max the fan at 60c.
Will lower temps so much. I had the same card for a short time. I also replaced the thermal compound on it.

Question, did the card ever die setting a custom fan speed?
also mine came with this big black piece on the back/side of the card, i still have it on, or should i remove it?

 

[jlewis02]

card is still in use in my dads pc.
You can cut it at the end of the card if you want thats what I did.
Its an aluminum back plate.

 

[Regeneration]

Clean the fans and reapply thermal paste. 95c is too much.

Then setup a custom fan curve with 100% at 80c.

 

[RadeonProVega]

I posted this on the amd forums, but forums seems dead over there, so i will post here as usual.

I was playing 2 games last night and the card was hitting 96-101c and the game still runs fluid , no crashes. My question, is this card suppose to run this freaking hot and be ok?
and no its not my cooling system, because every other card runs much cooler around 80c or 72c playing games.(radeon pro wx 4100, w5000, r7 260xoc) Fans are clean , reapply thermal past, fans hit 80 or 100 by itself and still going up to 95-100c depending on the game(crew2/watch dogs).

The game doesn't crash at all and it runs perfectly fine, but can this hurt other hardware in my computer or again is this card suppose to run this hot?
also explain to me what tdp means, it says 150, does that mean 150 is the limit?

 

[Elysium]

My dude, why are you wasting money buying these old-ass cards? You still haven't explained why you're playing games on workstation cards. You haven't told us where these cards even came from, presumably they're used to heck and back so there could be all manner of problems with them.

 

[Bronan]

First of all the wx7100 pro cards allways run very hot so 100 C is not something special
In many small companies i found cards running that hot often.
I actually have indeed also applied new thermal paste but if you do not know how todo that you better ask someone who is a tech wiz todo it for you.
Because doing it wrong will destroy the card, on the other hand i fully agree on Elysium question that we have no clue what you are using a workstation machine for.
in general these are not made to play games on but are used to do some work on them in different tasks.
But yea second hand are these machines often much cheaper, so the basic question remains what did you buy this machine for ?!?
If you only do text , database stuff and some regular gaming you could have gone for a total different solution.
Even though they are powerhouses in calculation these cards are not meant to game by design, they are number crunchers for doing scientific calculations or working on graphic stuff.

 

[RadeonProVega]

My dude, why are you wasting money buying these old-ass cards?

I think you meant to say why am i buying workstation cards?

You still haven't explained why you're playing games on workstation cards.

I think i have explained that already. Its personal preference you can say, one day i tried out a Workstation GPU and always felt more conformable using them. Again, this is just how i feel about using them, i don't see the big deal. Its funny because people always have this strange idea that you can't game using workstation gpus and even though they weren't designed for gaming, they perform just as fine as normal GPU's.

You haven't told us where these cards even came from, presumably they're used to heck and back so there could be all manner of problems with them.

Ebay, and nothing is wrong with the card. Seems like these W Series just gets hot, that's all.

First of all the wx7100 pro cards always run very hot so 100 C is not something special / In many small companies i found cards running that hot often.

Seems so i guess, just was curious.

I fully agree on Elysium question that we have no clue what you are using a workstation machine for.

Everything, internet, editing and mainly gaming.

If you only do text , database stuff and some regular gaming you could have gone for a total different solution.

Oh i could buy a 8GB or 4GB Asrock 570 OC card if i want too, they are only 139 dollars or 114. But i didn't, and i just wanted to know did someone have any info about the W7000 / WX 7100 cards about the temps and are they meant to be that hot, that's all i wanted to know.

Cheers.

 

[Caring1]

i just wanted to know did someone have any info about the W7000 / WX 7100 cards about the temps and are they meant to be that hot, that's all i wanted to know.

Not sure if they are "meant" to be that hot, but that is due to the single slot design and blower fan.
They should be fine at that temp, but increased airflow over them will help reduce those temps.

 

[Elysium]

I think you meant to say why am i buying workstation cards?

I think i have explained that already. Its personal preference you can say, one day i tried out a Workstation GPU and always felt more conformable using them. Again, this is just how i feel about using them, i don't see the big deal. Its funny because people always have this strange idea that you can't game using workstation gpus and even though they weren't designed for gaming, they perform just as fine as normal GPU's.

Ebay, and nothing is wrong with the card. Seems like these W Series just gets hot, that's all.

No I meant exactly what I said; why are you buying old cards when you'd get more performance out of a new card for a much longer period of time? I mean, are you going to be paying fifty bucks for another old card in a few months? Seems to me you'd save yourself a lot of money if you bought something that was current. And no you didn't explain why you're gaming on workstation cards, that's why I asked, because I went back over the thread trying to find the answer to that and couldn't.

There's really no big deal but I can honestly say I've never encountered someone who chose to use workstation cards purely for gaming. It's highly debatable whether they perform just as fine as regular GPUs. I mean, maybe they don't experience a perf loss by more than a few FPS in most cases but they sure as hell don't have much of a perf gain over dedicated gaming GPUs at the same, or even lower, tiers, mostly because of the software side but also because they're optimised from the silicon up for different tasks.

Anyway.....all that being said, your card is running hot because it's an old-ass blower design. No two ways about it. In 2012, blower cards were still far from perfectly optimised designs and this is well-represented by your Firepro, which has no grille in the slot mount nor is the cooler housing properly enclosed in order to channel air more efficiently away from the GPU. Is it supposed to run that hot? Well technically yes, because you're trying to play modern games on it and it just doesn't have the cooling capacity to help itself out. You asked what TDP is; that stands for thermal design power, which is basically how much heat a given processing unit can produce while staying within its own cooling capabilities. In this case, your Firepro is, at least officially, rated to be capable of being cooled (and thus remaining stable) during usage at up to 150 watts output. Given your temps, it's probably safe to say you're hitting this limit. Will it damage the card? It's hard to say for certain as you don't know the history of the card, being from Ebay and all. In any case, 100° load every time you boot up Watch Dogs for example is not doing it any good- generally speaking, the cooler the better. Unfortunately I don't think you can get an aftermarket cooling mod for this particular GPU so my advice would be to flood it with cool air from one or more high-airflow case fans placed directly underneath it (on the bottom of the case) if possible.