3D Gaming card for HP X4000 workstation - any suggestions/experiences?

[Ed Bacon, Jr.]

Hello,

I recently acquired an HP X4000 workstation that came with an ATI Fire GL4
video card. The Fire GL4 locked up with my favorite game, MS Flight
Simulator 2004, so I replaced it with my old ATI Radeon 9200/256MB. The
Radeon 9200 works OK, but I would like to upgrade.

Have any of you installed an AGP 3D gaming card in an HP X4000? If so, can
you offer any insight as to what the best game card is for this machine?
Also, are there any cards I should stay away from? I read on one web site
that a user could not get his X4000 to boot with an nVidia-based card. I
would like to know if his issue is widespread or isolated.

Thanks in advance,
Ed
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Benjamin Gawert]

I recently acquired an HP X4000 workstation that came with an ATI Fire GL4
video card. The Fire GL4 locked up with my favorite game, MS Flight
Simulator 2004,

Well, the FireGL 4 is really ancient and has nothing in common with the
newer Radeon-based FireGL cards. It's an old design by Diamond (made
before ATI bough the FireGL part from them) and doesn't support Direct3D
at all...

so I replaced it with my old ATI Radeon 9200/256MB. The
Radeon 9200 works OK, but I would like to upgrade.

Have any of you installed an AGP 3D gaming card in an HP X4000? If so, can
you offer any insight as to what the best game card is for this machine?

Without knowing the specs, no, sorry. The x4000 goes from a single XEON
1.7GHz up to 2x XEON 2.8GHz officially (and can also take the rare 3GHz
XEONs). With only a 1.7GHz CPU every somewhat newer card is wasted since
the CPU is too slow. On the other hand, with two 3GHz XEONs it's
worthwile to get a Geforce 6800GT or ATI X800...

Also, are there any cards I should stay away from? I read on one web site
that a user could not get his X4000 to boot with an nVidia-based card. I
would like to know if his issue is widespread or isolated.

Isolated. I had a lot of cards running in my x4000 before I got rid of
it. Every generic AGP card should work. In the end I had a FireGL
X1-256p (Radeon 9700 based) in my x4000 with 2x 2GHz XEONs and 2GB RDRAM
which worked fine...

It simply depends on your config. If you have fast CPUs (2.5GHz and up)
and at least 1GB RDRAM then get a Geforce 6600GT (if you're on budget)
or better a 6800GT or ATI X800 (I'd recommend Nvidia since they have a
much better OpenGL driver). But if you only have a low-spec config
(2.4GHz or less, and/or less than 1GB of RAM) then I'd think twice. The
faster XEON processors are still expensive as are RDRAM modules, and
even if you put money for upgrades in that thing you still have a slow
400MHz FSB and (compared to modern designs) relative slow memory
performance. IMHO it's not worth the money of you have to buy new
CPU(s), more RAM and also a fast gfx card...

Benjamin, who replaced his x4000 with a xw8200 this year

 

[Ed Bacon, Jr.]

Herr Bacon sagt vielen dank und schreibt zuruck:

My X4000 has dual 2GHz w/ 2GB RAM. Considering your input I ended up
installing an ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon X800XT 256MB AGP4X/8X as I intend to
convert home videotapes to DVD.

With regard to performance, a 3dMark03 test gave the X800XT 256MB a score of
10078 compared to 1155 for the Radeon 9200 128MB in the same machine. This
improvement is impressive enough for me, albeit the X800XT score is about
15% below scores achieved by other machines with faster processors, memory,
and chipsets.

Frohe Weinachten to all of you.

Ed Bacon, Jr.
(e-mail address removed)