Advice for video card.... old Nocona Dual-CPU rig

[SymptomsReagent]

Happened to have an older Xeon server drop into my lap today.

Specs:

Dual-CPU 2.8GHz Nocona Xeon processors w/ 1MB L2
1x2GB DDR2 (PC3200)

Video card wise, it's rocking an older 6800GS and a 7300GT.

The board is a super micro board that has PCI-E v1.0 so it has the full bandwidth, but I'm trying to figure out what card is right for the system.

Upgrades i'm doing:
New PSU (Seasonic 520W Modular)
couple of SATA drives for OS and storage (nothing more than 500GB a piece)
2GB more of DDR2 (board can handle 16GB but not worth it)

And lastly, the video card.

I'm a little puzzled as what I should pick up. Any suggestions?

 

[SymptomsReagent]

bump. Anyone?

 

[tiraides]

Dude, it's Christmas. A lot of people here are spending time with their friends and family. But since I have a few minutes to spare, I'll help you out.

PCI-E 2.0 card will work in a PCI-E 1.x slot, but your processors will then become the performance bottleneck. Additionally, DDR2 RAM has progressed to the point where a new dual-channel kit cost as much as, if not more than a DDR3 dual-channel kit.

Why are you limiting yourself to 500GB hard drives? Right now, the 1TB drives only cost a little bit more.

Unless you're planning to turn your "new" system into a server or an media center PC, it's not worth it to go overboard on the upgrades. Here's what I recommend:

Video card - Radeon HD 5450 (it's a slightly better than the cards you have now, yet can be run passively for under $50)
Hard drives - Go with either the Samsung F3 HD502HJ or the Western Digital WD5000AAKS
Memory - One 2GB DDR2 800 stick (buy used; it's not worth the money new)
Power supply - Antec NEO ECO 400C

 

[SymptomsReagent]

Thanks for the reply. As it turns out, the seem is freezing during installs (both Win7 and Ubuntu) so I'm simply going to sell it off for parts. Once that's gone, I'll be coming back to this forum for some good advice once the SB proc's hit.