Please verify my research

Hi all,
In Linuxean tradition, I went on a quest for wisdom. It was an ardeous journey full of hardships (the biggest one to follow: the bill)…
Anyway…
I went looking for a replacement for my GPU.
I Found this card ( https://www.bol.com/nl/p/xfx-r5230aclh2-videokaart-amd-radeon-r5-230-2-gb-gddr3/9200000055001956/?s2a= ) and I looked at the connection, it’s PCIexpress 3.0. The card I have now, is also PCIexpress, yet 2.0.
My assumption is that the AMD will fit the socket, and work better since it’s a level PCIe extra. Yes, “only” 2Gb, but, compared to the one I have now, that is an improvement.
I found these specs:
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database
and
https://www.bol.com/nl/p/xfx-r5230aclh2-videokaart-amd-radeon-r5-230-2-gb-gddr3/9200000055001956/?s2a= (dutch, sorry…)
So, did I find the right replacement for my GPU?
What motivated me:

  • age of my card (and the inadequate drivers)
  • memory of my current card
  • a GPU with an AMD chipset to replace the current card
  • within the powerlimits of my PC (HP Z400)
    Thanks for grading me :wink:
    Melissa

amd vs nvidia is an ongoing war and nothing to be taken lightly.

I have been pleasantly surprised with the Nvidia Quadro P2000 (although it is not the latest and greatest) I aquired with a new Lenovo system some moons ago.

This Nvidia card works to my satisfaction using the latest nvidia drivers - but then I am no gamer and I don’t have any extreme demands such as cryptomining using CUDA and other GPU intensive activities.

Thanks for the insight. The card I went for comes down to E65, it’s a passive card and AMD based, because of the drivers. The current card is…not a gamer’s first choicve, I think it’s more meant as a graphics development card (logo’s and such) rarther than a game card that has to refresh a lot. In that, I hope that the new card may liive up to some more expectations…

I cannot find information stating your HP Z400 workstation motherboard supports PCIe 3.0. If it does not, then the GPU cards you are considering will probably work with PCI2 2.0, but you will not be able to use the full capability of the GPU card.

You might consider upgrades based on the manufacturer’s recommendations found here:
HP Z400 Workstation Product Specifications

There may be better PCIe 2.0 graphic cards available. Please note that a CPU upgrade might also get you a nice, more general, increase in capability. Using a Intel Xeon W3570 CPU would also allow you to use the full capability of DDR3 1333 memory instead of DDR3 1066.

The card is pretty ancient and slow, it’s not even GCN 1st gen, but still Terrascale, originally came out in 2010, I think.
Also it probably uses slow (for GPUs) DDR3 rather than GDDR3 memory (info on the web is a bit muddy there), so pretty much the only thing it has going is that it has relatively low power consumption and that it is passively cooled.

My reccommendation would be to look for some used card on ebay, rather than spend 65€ or more on something that old.
I don’t know if AMD actually ever released a more modern replacement with similar power draw - any modern APU/CPU with an integrated GPU will perform much better already, so I guess they don’t see that much sense in it anymore. Unfortunately that makes the matters more complicated for you.

I agree with Dino-Fossil, given the age of your workstation buying used upgrade parts makes sense. In the case of GPU’s be wary of under performing cards pulled from bitcoin mining rigs.

If the information provided by @dbeach in the link applies to your system, you have a good enough power supply to easily go up to ~150W or such for your GPU, should you desire to do so.
That opens up a lot more possibilities, and you could e.g. go for something like a used RX 550 or RX 460/560 (from ~50-75W, depending on specific card) on the AMD side. They won’t be passively cooled, but definitely provide much better performance and are at least semi-recent.

Thanks all for your insight.
Motivation was that nVidia gives driver trouble in the long(er) run. I heared AMD is more flexible in that the drivers are open and thus I can get a driver other thatn the nouveau.
I’m not a gamer as such, so anything more recent (even a bit more) than twhat I have now will help :wink:

The AMD linux driver is indeed relatively good nowadays, it’s open-source and it’s very straight-forward to use (i.e. it usually happens automatically).
So that is a definitive advantage, in my opinion.
In comparison, nouveau is far behind, due to nVidia’s boycott of the open-source drivers.

But any semi-recent nVidia card should still work fine with the closed-source drivers, should you prefer nVidia. For older cards, have a look at an potential consequences from the recent removal of older drivers from the Manjaro repositories, however.

Anyway - even if you don’t want to do gaming, a newer card might have advantages, e.g. in terms of hardware acceleration of videos and such (although it can be a bit finicky to get it to work in linux, but there are tutorials). The Polaris-generation cards from AMD have the advantage that the software-side is mature and they are not too shabby in terms of features due to their relatively low age.

Again though, I wouldn’t spend too much money - market for GPUs currently seems a bit crazy with much of the cards sold out and scalpers circling the vendors like vultures a dying horse in the desert.

Well, not as if I have options…there is only this much I can spend :rofl: and I’m done.
It’s by far not the ideal card. But…compared to what I have now, it’s a step (hop) in the right direction…

My main motivation.
The old card will need to go. It was nice for the ride, but the tires are worn…
Thanks
:rose: :rose: :rose: