GPU upgrade advice for Fujitsu CELSIUS M740 workstation on openSUSE Tumbleweed

English Hardware
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Hi all,

I’d like to upgrade the graphics card in my Fujitsu CELSIUS M740 workstation and could use some guidance.

My setup

  • CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2620 v4 (8 cores / 16 threads, 2.1 GHz)
  • RAM: 32 GB
  • Power supply: Fujitsu DPS-600AB-5 A, 600 W
  • Current GPU: NVIDIA NVS 310
  • OS: openSUSE Tumbleweed, KDE Plasma on Wayland

The NVS 310 is just too old and the legacy NVIDIA drivers are not supported on kernel 6.6.x, so I’m running nouveau. I’d like something that:

  • works reliably with Tumbleweed’s and KDE/Wayland,
  • lets me play older or moderately demanding games,
  • has enough VRAM to experiment with local LLM inference (just for testing, not big training runs).

I have a full-size case and plenty of space and cooling.

Any recommendations from people running similar hardware?

Thanks for any suggestions!

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@bartk Hi, I have a HP Z440 Workstation with a E5-2695 v4 @ 2.10GHz, default GPU Is an Intel ARC A380 along with a Nvidia Tesla P4 for Prime Render Offload. The days are numbered for the Pascal and less GPU’s but it’s running the 580.82.09 closed driver.

I had a Nvidia Quadro RTX4000 (Turing) purchased off eBay running fine, likewise a Nvidia Quadro T400 (Turing), alas my Son has now acquired both along with a Dell 5820 Workstation to test Windows 11…

All depends on your budget? I also have a Dell Optiplex running an Intel ARC A310 on Tumbleweed, but that will get Leap 16.0 installed on it at some point.

I’m on GNOME here on Wayland for sometime now without any major issues.

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Hi @malcolmlewis, thanks a lot for sharing your setup and experience - that’s really helpful. I’ve been looking around for something that would fit my workstation, and I’m leaning towards picking up a Quadro RTX 4000. I’ve seen some refurbished/off-lease cards that are within my budget, and they look like a good balance between performance and driver support.

Do you think that’s a good choice or would you rather go for something newer? And do you think it makes more sense to add it alongside my current card, or just replace the old one completely?

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@bartk Yes, I got my RTX4000 off eBay… The other option is the RTX2060. Just need to look at what the Motherboard provides and your power supply from a wattage standpoint.

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