Will A Precision T3500 Xeon w3690 Run Newer Cards Like 960, R7 370?

[CycloneEffectGx]

Hello to the PG community.

I'm actually building a PC for a friend of mine. On a budget I'm looking to get him a Xeon based branded system (Dell Precision T3500). Don't tell me these are server/workstation systems not really for gaming, I already explored a lot about pros/cons that and this post isn't going to be a discussion on that. Peace!

So my questions are:

- Will it support newer cards like GTX 960/R7 370 etc, If anyone in the community owns these can you test some of the available newer GPUs and make a list of ones that work? Also I'm wondering if there's a length limit in the Precision T3500 case.
One such example can be found in this thread by [MENTION=74507]XtremeHardware[/MENTION]: http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/f64/best-gaming-pc-better-then-246387/

- Are these 2nd hand builds reliable? How many expected years these systems last?

If there's anyone from RWP/ISL can you also suggest some good vendors to buy from?

Thanks.

 

[Ahmadlive1]

Hello to the PG community.

I'm actually building a PC for a friend of mine. On a budget I'm looking to get him a Xeon based branded system (Dell Precision T3500). Don't tell me these are server/workstation systems not really for gaming, I already explored a lot about pros/cons that and this post isn't going to be a discussion on that. Peace!

So my questions are:

- Will it support newer cards like GTX 960/R7 370 etc, If anyone in the community owns these can you test some of the available newer GPUs and make a list of ones that work? Also I'm wondering if there's a length limit in the Precision T3500 case.
One such example can be found in this thread by @XtremeHardware: http://www.pakgamers.com/forums/f64/best-gaming-pc-better-then-246387/

- Are these 2nd hand builds reliable? How many expected years these systems last?

If there's anyone from RWP/ISL can you also suggest some good vendors to buy from?

Thanks.

A Intel Xeon W3690 is a capable chip. It will do fine with newer cards like GTX 960/R9 370 and wouldn't bottleneck it. You might have to change the PSU of that Dell Precision T3500. Do some research, you will find several people who have upgraded similar Dell t3500 workstations with better GPUs. The dimensions of T3500 are (HXWXD) 17.6" x 6.8" x 18.4", (taken from spec sheet), you can compare it with the dimensions of GPU you are going to buy, you can change the case with a generic 1k case if it doesn't fit. 2nd Hand builds are reliable generally, but if there is some flaw then it mostly appears in a first few days of usage so ask the seller for some check warranty, ask for some performance benchmarks of GPUs, CPU and HDD. ask for bad sector check for HDDs and SSDs. A 2nd hand build can last years without any problem. Ofcourse you can always just replace if some component like PSU/HDD dies. T3500 has no upgradibility though. You can buy PC components from online retailer. I recommend czone their prices are generally lower.