Better graphic card for a HP Z640

[foxdana]

Hi guys

I just bought an HP Z640 with the E5-2620v4 2.1 2133 8C. The included graphic card is a NVIDIA Quadro K4graphics.

I will be using this for video streaming using Wirecast, and the multiview (I intend to connect 2 monitors 4K) is quite graphics card hungry. I also plan to be gaming with VR. Which more modern and powerful cards will work on this model?

Thanks a lot

[SDH]

Sounds like you want more than what a high end nVidia Quadro card is engineered for.  Here are some tips:

1.  The power fed up via the PCIe x16 slot is standard..... 75W.  The total of that plus what your PCIe x16 power cables can provide gives you a ballpark estimate of what you need to be happy with.  The nice thing is that current cards can run quite a bit faster on less power than the old cards.

2.  The power fed via the HP 6-pin PCIe x16 supplemental power cable is well above the ATX standard.... you can look that up in this forum.  As such each of the two of those cables that comes with the Z620 can do more than you think.  There are adapters for that as posted about in here from the past.

3.  People often cannot find those two cables inside their Z620s.  They are plugged into two blind ended plastic receptacles in the front fan black plastic card guide.

4.  Search out a few of the more recent Z620 QuickSpecs guides via Google.  In those will be HP-certified Quadro cards listed with their power draw.  Find the highest wattage value listed.... that will also be yours for your new non-HP card.  HP provides conservative numbers so if you're close you should be good to go.

[BambiBoomZ]

Foxdana,

In my view, the appropriate GPU is not the first priority consideration for the intended uses, rather, the starting point needs to be the CPU; otherwise even the best GPU will be held back.  The Xeon E5-2620 v4 is an 8-core @ 2.1 /3.0GHz , rated at 85W.  These specifications describe an ultra-reliable server processor, but one that will not have satisfactory single-thread performance for gaming. 

Currently, the  best gaming processor is probably the i9-9900K 8-core as that is quite easy to run on all cores at 5.0GHz and more. Compare:  the Passmark CPU mark for the E5-2620 v4  is  11354 and the Single Thread Mark (STM) is 1546 while the i9-9900K corresponding is CPU = 20218 and STM = 2989.  For solid 3D gaming FPS, I would expect an STM of at least 2500.  

However, there is not apparent CPU of that STM for the z640.  The best STM performance in the z640 is the E5-1680 v4 8-core at 2202, but those are quite expensive used: the two current listings are $1,400 and $1,500. The better value is the  Xeon E5-1650 v4:  6C@3.6/4.0GHz > CPU = 14220 and STM = 2177.  Remember, those are averages and there are E5-1650 v4's nearly at nearly 2300.

As for the GPU, the best cost /performance at the moment is probably the new RTX 2070 Super 8GB but there are increasingly good bargains on GTX 1080 Ti 11GB.  Very few games can yet use the RTX ray- tracing but it is increasing useful in ray-tracing rendering for workstations, such as the VRay rendering  use.  Whenever "4K" and "VR" are the ambition, all the hardware has to be in the top tier.

The best performing z640 / E5-1650 v4 on Passmark:

Rating= 6660

CPU= 14898   (STM calculates to about 2280)

2D= 978 (GTX 1080)

3D= 11900

Memory= 2892 (32GB)

Disk = 20274 (Samsung 960 Pro 512GB)

I think that would provide a reasonable gaming experience.

BambiBoomZ

PS: The RAM and Disk systems are slower, but HP zX20 series as they can use selected overclockable  Xeon E5 v2 processors can produce quite good results at lower cost:

HP z620_2 (2017) (R7) > Xeon E5-1680 v2 (8-core@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid Cooling / 64GB DDR3-1866 ECC Reg / Quadro P2000 5GB _ GTX 1070 Ti 8GB / HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 256GB AHCI + Samsung 970 EVO M.2 NVMe 500GB + HGST 7K6000 4TB / Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 sound interface + 2X Mackie MR824 / 825W PSU /> HP OEM Windows 7 Prof.’l 64-bit > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)

[ Passmark Rating = 6280 / CPU rating = 17178 / 2D = 819 / 3D= 12629 / Mem = 3002 / Disk = 13751 / Single Thread Mark = 2368 [10.23.18]
[Cinebench: OpenGL= 134.68 fps / CPU= 1234 cb [10.27.18]

2UA3322DS5

HP z420_3: (2015) (R11) Xeon E5-1650 v2 (6C@ 4.3GHz) / z420 Liquid cooling / 64GB (8X 8GB DDR3-1866 ECC registered / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/ Samsung 860 EVO 500GB + HGST 4TB / ASUS Essence STX / Logitech z2300 2.1 / 600W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (HP OEM ) > Samsung 40" 4K

[Passmark System Rating: = 5644 / CPU = 15293 / 2D = 847 / 3D = 10952 / Mem = 2993 Disk = 4858 /Single Thread Mark = 2384 [6.27.19]

The z420 system was purchased for $136, the Xeon E5-1650 v2 about $90, Liquid cooler $60, RAM $62, the GTX 1060 6GB $11 and the 860 EVO 500 GB $80.  Notice that the 2384 STM is higher than the highest E5-1650 v4 in a z640. and that's due to the 4.3GHz on all cores.