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Xeon 5450 - what VGA should I choose?

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What kind of testing did you do to determine a card like a GTX1070 would match up well with a chip like the x5450?
Never answered this earlier, was a bit busy. The guys in my shop and I, just for giggles, ran some benchmarks with an x48 motherboard we had in at the time and matched with a Q9550, OC'd to 3.4ghz(which is a step down compared to the Xeon in question) and various cards we had at the time, which included both Geforce and Radeon cards. We discovered that a 1070 was the upper limit of NVidia cards that would run well with it. The Vega56 was the upper limit for Radeon cards(we didn't have a Vega64 or we would have tested it). A 1070ti was the breaking point for CPU bottlenecking at 1080p and provided no extra benefit to the system. There was no need to but we also tested a GTX1080 and an RTX 2070... both were extremely bottlenecked. Would have liked to test a 2060 but we we didn't have one in at the time.
 

ROMUZ

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The guys in my shop and I, just for giggles, ran some benchmarks with an x48 motherboard we had in at the time and matched with a Q9550

May be you got these results because of X48? It has PCI-E 2.0 x16, but my mobo has PCI-E 1.0 x16 (P35).
Can the difference between 1.0 & 2.0 PCI-E versions affect overall GPU performance?
 

hat

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May be you got these results because of X48? It has PCI-E 2.0 x16, but my mobo has PCI-E 1.0 x16 (P35).
Can the difference between 1.0 & 2.0 PCI-E versions affect overall GPU performance?
With the fastest of GPUs, yes.


x4 2.0 is equivalent to x8 1.0
x4 3.0 is equivalent to x8 2.0 and x16 1.0
x8 3.0 is equivalent to x16 2.0
and of course x16 3.0 is top dog, at least in this test. PCI-E 4.0 exists, but isn't widely used yet. IIRC it's only found on AM4 x570 motherboards so far, and the RX 5000 series cards are the only ones to use it right now.
 
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May be you got these results because of X48? It has PCI-E 2.0 x16, but my mobo has PCI-E 1.0 x16 (P35).
Can the difference between 1.0 & 2.0 PCI-E versions affect overall GPU performance?
Not by much. PCIe bandwidth saturation with the card you bought isn't very likely with that CPU. You'll be fine.
 
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Considering your setup and especially your monitor, I wouldn't go beyond GTX 760 or R9 270X. Realistically speaking R7 260X or GTX 750Ti would suit you really good. However, if you plan to upgrade monitor to FHD (1920x1080) resolution or the rest of the system some time later, than GTX 770 4GB, GTX 960 4GB, R9 280X, R9 380 4GB or R9 380X will be a lot better choice.

Either way your R9 280X will be more than enough for that resolution. It will perform just fine even at FHD resolution, just don't expect to play the latest games at high or ultra details.
 

ROMUZ

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Considering your setup and especially your monitor, I wouldn't go beyond GTX 760 or R9 270X. Realistically speaking R7 260X or GTX 750Ti would suit you really good. However, if you plan to upgrade monitor to FHD (1920x1080) resolution or the rest of the system some time later, than GTX 770 4GB, GTX 960 4GB, R9 280X, R9 380 4GB or R9 380X will be a lot better choice.

Either way your R9 280X will be more than enough for that resolution. It will perform just fine even at FHD resolution, just don't expect to play the latest games at high or ultra details.

Since there are hundreds used VGAs on sale at my place by similar price range ($50) and GPU specs, yesterday I just picked one from the nearest seller with test+moneyback options.
No plan to upgrade current monitor btw.
 

ROMUZ

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I literally had a 1280x1024 monitor in the 90s... upgrade that when you can.
I can say more, it is 17'' :) LG L1760TR.
Please uderstand me correct, this is just for fun PC with rare access to it.
The last thing I want to add is 4GB RAM. SSD already installed.
Basically there was an idea to spend only $100 for some components (including CPU). Almost done..:)
 

ROMUZ

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So, it works!

Just did clean install Win7 SP1 + AMD 2020 drivers.
3DMark Fire Strike gives 9263 graphics score, 7229 overall (Physics 6069, Combined 3063) - all the data with 4GB RAM.
But there is GPU core frequency jumping, from 870MHz to 1020Mhz.
Is it normal for R9 280X? No way to deep into tech discussion, please just help with an answer - is it normal or not? And how to make the card working at permanent MAX frequency under load?
During Furmark @ 1280x1024 the temperature keeps around 70C.

Thanks!
 

ROMUZ

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Yes. It's boosting itself under load to give better performance. You're cool. Have fun with your new card!

If you don't mind please tell or teach me - how lower value of GPU FRQ can give better performance (870MHz vs 1020MHz)? Looks like Anti-Boost, no?
Just curious, sorry.
 
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If you don't mind please tell or teach me - how lower value of GPU FRQ can give better performance (870MHz vs 1020MHz)? Looks like Anti-Boost, no?
Just curious, sorry.
If I understood you correctly, you were saying that it was alternating between 870mhz and 1020mhz? If correct, that would be normal. Most modern GPU's will run a lower speed when the processing load is low and boost to a higher speed when the load is high to offer it's best performance.
 
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If he's running without V-sync, his GPU should be holding it's base clock at minimum, no? To the OP, can you take a screenshot of your settings in game, as well as a screenshot with MSI Afterburner overlay? My GPU will hold clocks with a 100% load, but it won't when I play Quake Champions, which I play at 720P, because my monitor can only overclock to 75Hz at thes res...which leads to a game that's CPU bound instead of GPU...my CPU can only push 130ish FPS, while my GPU is barely doing anything. In that scenario, my GPU clocks will jump all over. Anytime V-sync or any other form of frame limiting is happening, the clocks are going to bounce around. Basically, unless your GPU is fully loaded, it won't clock all the way because it doesn't need to.

EDIT - disregard...I was seeing a card with 900MHz base clock...but I then just searched "280X 870MHz" and there are several options...you're good, your card is behaving as it should!
 
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ROMUZ

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That's why you need make backup and have PCI (yes, PCI) VGA card to place around you. If re-flashing VGA BIOS goes wrong, your PCI VGA can help.

Thanks to my PCI S3 )))))

Don't sell PCI VGA! Keep the one for your need!
 
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