PC for simulations for Poker and Chess

[Naweo]

Hello, I am from Denmark and considering buying this PC:

https://www.newegg.com/hp-z420-tower/p/2NS-0006-1VD70

I see the CPU is almost 3 times as cheap as my current working CPU; 5930k, but according to CPU benchmark, both intel 5930k and INTEL Xeon 2690 rates the same on CPU benchmark.

I also needs as much/good ram as possible, so this PC is cheap for 128 GB ram, but it is the older DDR3 technology.

I believe the cost will be +25% for import to Denmark.

Is this PC worth it for the price?

Thank you!

[natAT]

I'm not an expert (heck I'm only 15) so take what I say with a pinch of salt  .

As far as I know, despite no official support from Intel, there are many reports you can run 128gb RAM on Haswell-E (inc 5930K) just fine. The CPU memory controller is capable of more than the official 64gb limit and the memory limitation is actually in bios. Thus provided you have an adequate motherboard (including memory slots) and the correct bios update, you can do it.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2938855/hardcore-hardware-we-stuffed-this-pc-with-128gb-of-cutting-edge-ddr4-ram.html
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/414341-out-of-curiosity-how-can-a-5960x-or-a-5930k-support-128gb-of-ram/
 
The HP workstation you've linked looks decent, and workstation platforms can age surprisingly well in some ways (Intel's IPC hasn't changed a huge amount since Haswell-E). But especially with shipping and the +25% import costs, you're spending a LOT of cash on a truly aging platform which actually has inferior memory and CPU support to your current system.

I also don't know specifically what your "chess and poker simulation" applications are, but older platforms/CPU's may not support useful modern CPU instructions (like AVX-512) etc.

There are also modern high-end consumer systems that support 128gb RAM, like AMD Threadripper (across 8x16gb sticks). If you can find a bargain used low end Threadripper chip (8-12 cores), motherboards for them are common and should support 128gb RAM straight up.   
 

So tl;dr

(1) You might want to see if your current Haswell-E system can straight out (or with a BIOS update) unofficially run 128gb (as specified in the links above).

(2) If your system currently doesn't support the unofficial upgrade to 128gb, it might still be more economical to upgrade your system (motherboard and RAM) so it can.

(3) If you have the money to spend (or you want to save up more) maybe it's worth waiting and then buying a fully modern platform ?. Low end AMD Threadripper ?. You could reuse parts from your current workstation to save costs.


If none of these work, I have no idea  . But I probably wouldn't buy the z420 HP workstation personally.

Again, I'm an idiot amatuer and I haven't owned much high end hardware. So I could be completely wrong on everything. Just some ideas.

 

[Naweo]

Thanks for reply. I need the 2nd PC anyway. So you think its good?

[natAT]

Thanks for reply. I need the 2nd PC anyway. So you think its good?

I'm not an expert. You should seek a second opinion :-).

It's a little difficult to make a decision without specific information. Are your tasks well CPU multithreaded ?. Are they not and single thread performance matters more ?. The devil is in the details.

If you must have a Newegg refurbished workstation (with 128gb RAM), how about this Newegg Dell Precision which is essentially the same price as the z420 ?:

https://www.newegg.com/p/1VK-0001-262A5

https://www.dell.com/en-au/work/shop/business-pcs-desktop-computers/dell-precision-t5610-tower-workstation/spd/precision-t5610-workstation

(You're going to have to work out how to get it from the United States, which won't be cheap because Newegg won't sell/ship it outside the US - presumably this is also an issue for the HP z420 ?)


The Dell has less single thread performance than the z420 out of the box, but it has 2 CPU sockets (12 cores, 24 threads total) and likely similar multithreaded performance.

The Dell can also take upgrades to dual 8/10 core Sandy Bridge-EP Xeons. You should be able to find these Xeons cheaply on Ebay now:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-E5-2690-2-90Ghz-8-Core-Processor-SR0L0/192896829270?epid=14019046365&hash=item2ce98c0756:g:POAAAOSw3Cxcv2Gj%20precision%20T5610&autorefresh=true

......and substantially upgrade the Dell to 16/20 cores now or in the future. 


If this idea doesn't appeal to you, there's nothing outrageously wrong with the z420 and you should buy it. It's not what I'd buy personally (I prefer more upgradability), but everyone's needs are different.