mod for some/better gaming, and just for the sake of modding

[satch4684]

okay, so i just got an hp xw8200 workstation, and eventually im going to at least upgrade something, or maybe a bunch of stuff slowly. the only thing i can say for sure right now, because it's the only game i've tried so far, is spellforce is fully playable and seems to be on the highest settings default. I'm very happy with this, because i upgraded from just a little netbook so that I could do more with a computer. but I know it isn't saying much, and it would be nice to open up my options a bit more, maybe even get some new or almost new games to be playable. And by that I mean playable just like when I throw a game in my PS2, and it runs normally.

Not like when your computer seems to meet the system requirements but plays it like my PS2 is trying to run an Xbox 360 game, obviously not possible but you get the idea. I'm not looking to be able to run anything under the sun (though it would be nice, i'd imagine way too costly), just looking for some realistic upgrade options, here's some specs:

2 gb of ram
dual processor board with one Xeon 3.2 installed.
Nvidia Quadro 540 FX PCI Express card, 128 MB
600W power supply
soundMAX integrated digital audio

ram is simple, you just get more of it, i dont know much of anything about video cards, or how (if any) good mine is. I do know having the PCI express slot should make my options for upgrade pretty good. i'm most confused about my processor situation, i dont know if i'm able to buy a whole new set of faster processors for it. If thats not possible, too expensive, or the Xeon 3.2 is actually pretty decent, getting another one of the same is the cheaper and easier option. But its confusing because it looks like there are different specs for every "Xeon 3.2" that comes in search, and i dont know what else i would need to go with it besides a fan. Sorry for this long post, I'll appreciate any help i can get.

[JLK03F150]

CPU-Z should help you figure out which 3.2GHz Xeon you are using. Without knowing that, it's hard to say if you need a CPU upgrade or if it is worth getting a 2nd one.

For upgrading the RAM, it is helpful to know if you have DDR, DDR2, single channel, dual channel, etc. CPU-Z can help with that info too.

The Quadro FX 540 is a good entry level video card for 3D rendering, but not so much for gaming. Something from the Geforce line would be better suited for gaming.

Welcome to TechIMO

[satch4684]

thanks, that CPU Z tool is great, really good source of information I can use if I want to match up another Xeon for the computer. I think I will go that route, although I don't know what anything CPU Z tells me mean in terms of performance.

[JLK03F150]

What are your Xeon, Motherboard and RAM specs? What socket is the Xeon?

CPU-Z only provides specs. If you want to judge gaming performance, download FutureMark 3DMark06. You can use the results to compare against other systems. (The demo is free)

Futuremark - Benchmarks - 3DMark06 - Download

[satch4684]

well, here are some specs CPU Z give me:

Intel Xeon
Code Name: Irwindale
Package: Socket 604 mPGA
Technology: 90 nm
Instructions: MMX, SSE (1, 2, 3) EM64T

the core speed looks like it stays at 3200.0 to 3200.3, multiplier x16.0 bus speed 200MHz, rated FSB 800MHz, L1 Data 16KBytes, Trace 12 Kuops, Level 2 2048 KBytes

in the cache tab theres more specific, saying the L1 and L2 are 8-way set associative, 64 byte line size.

For the motherboard, model is 08B4h, chipset Intel E7525, rev. 0C, southbridge is intel 82801EB (ICH5), and LPCIO is SMSC.

I dont know how specific the info would be needed for ram, but its 2gb of DDR2 (1 gig each in slot1 and 2) that I have for now. 3DMark06 won't run for me, maybe this is for something beyond what I want to do, but the site tells me its because my processor doesn't have required hardware features, and my video card is only 192 MB. I plan on getting a new card soon anyway, something with about 1 GB of memory.

managed to test something else out, galactic civilzations 2 runs beatifully on my current setup.