Helping You Create Your Custom Gaming Computer
Lenovo Thinkstation P700 Gaming Computer and Hardware Upgrade Guide
The Lenovo Thinkstation P700 has all the base components to be converted in to a high end gaming computer. Lenovo P700’s are a dual socket Xeon based workstation. It supports up to 768GB of DDR4 memory and 2 x The P700 also has an optional 850W Power Supply. Ideally you’ll want to install the optional 850W Power supply before you start buying components. Let us show you how you can build an effective Lenovo P700 Gaming Computer.
Where to buy?
If you haven’t already acquired a Lenovo P700 we’d recommend checking out a company called Serverworlds. They sell the P700’s cheap and they provide free ground shipping to the lower 48 states. You can click on this link and it’ll bring you directly to there P700 Page: Lenovo P700 Link. You can also try to snag them cheap on Ebay. However, Ebay can be a bit of a gamble because you never know what you are going to get.
The goal is to purchase the P700 with a good processor and memory already installed and then you can source the graphics cards, hard drives, and other optional components from other sources.
Upgrade your Power Supply:
Upgraded Power Supply Harness PN: 03T8801 *Third party adapters are cheaper*
Lenovo Thinkstation P700 650W Power Supply PN: 54Y8908
Lenovo Thinkstation P700 850W Power Supply PN: (54Y8907)
What Processor should I get?
High Clock speed cpu’s are the way to go.
Recommended Processors:
Up to 1 x QC Xeon E5-2637 V3 3.5Ghz 15MB 9.6GTs Processor | 3.7Ghz Max Turbo Frequency (SR202)
Up to 1 x 6C Xeon E5-2643 V3 3.4Ghz 20MB 9.6GTs Processor | 3.7Ghz Max Turbo Frequency (SR204)
Up to 1 x 8C Xeon E5-2667 V3 3.2Ghz 20MB 9.6GTs Processor | 3.6Ghz Max Turbo Frequency (SR203)
Up to 1 x 10C Xeon E5-2687W V3 3.1Ghz 25MB 9.6GTs Processor | 3.5 Max Turbo Frequency (SR1Y6)
How much Memory should I get?
The base line should be a minimum of 16GB of memory. However, 24GB to 32GB would be ideal.
Memory PNs:
4GB 1Rx8 2400T DDR4 ECC Reg Module (K67DJ)
8GB 1Rx8 2400T DDR4 ECC Reg Module (888JG)
16GB 1Rx8 2400T DDR4 ECC Reg Module (HNDJ7)
32GB 2Rx4 2400T DDR4 ECC Reg Module (CPC7G)
64GB 4Rx4 2400T DDR4 ECC LR Module (29GM8)
Recommended Memory configurations:
4 x 4GB PC19200R ECC Reg Modules (16GB)
6 x 4GB PC19200R ECC Reg Modules (24GB)
4 x 8GB PC19200R ECC Reg Modules (32GB)
6 x 8GB PC19200R ECC Reg Modules (48GB)
It’s very important to use 19200R modules because they will run at the max speed supported by the system board and processor(s).
What Hard Drive should I get?
Ideally you would want to have a NVME.2 Solid State Drive as your boot device as well as storage for faster read speeds. If you are limited on budget, you could go with a small SSD for your boot device and a larger capacity 7.2K SATA drive to hold your larger files/programs/games.
NVME.2 PCIe Adapter (You need this if you plan to install an NVME.2 Drive in to this system):
NVME.2 SSD Adapter *Required to Install NVME.2*
Recommended NVME.2 SSDs:
Samsung 980 EVO Series – 500GB NVMe – M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V8V500B/AM)
Samsung 980 EVO Series – 1TB PCIe NVMe – M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V8V1T0B/AM)
Crucial P5 NVMe M.2 1TB SSD (CT1000P5SSD8)
Samsung 980 EVO Pro Series – 2TB PCIe NVMe – M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V8P2T0B/A)
Recommended large Capacity SATA Drives:
Seagate 2TB BarraCuda SATA 6 Gb/s 7200 RPM 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch Desktop Hard Drive (ST2000DM006)
Seagate 3TB Barracuda SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal HDD (ST3000DM008)
Seagate 6TB IronWolf SATA HDD 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5″(ST6000VN0033)
Recommended SSD Drives:
Samsung 870 Evo 500GB 2.5 inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-77E500)
Samsung 870 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-77E1T0B/AM)
Samsung 870 EVO 2TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-77E20B/AM)
Samsung 870 EVO 4TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-77E4T0B/AM)
What Graphics Card should I get?
Recommended Graphics Cards:
NVIDIA GTX1050 TI 4GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA GTX1660 Ti 6GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 2060 6GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB Graphics Card
Expect Some Strong Bottle-necking if you install these Graphics Cards:
*Upgrade to the 850W Power Supply prior to installing these cards*
EVGA NVIDIA GTX1070 8GB SC Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA GTX1070TI 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA GTX1080 SC 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 2070 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 2080 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti 11GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 3070 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti 8GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 3080 10GB Graphics Card
EVGA NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti 12GB Graphics Card
What type of Monitor should I get?
Ideally it would be nice to get a monitor with a 144Hz or 244hz refresh rate or better monitor. However, it really depends on the games you play. If you play first person shooter games a 144hz or 240Hz or better monitor is a must. If you play other games that do not require quick response time then a 60hz monitor should work fine.
Recommended Monitors:
ASUS PG248Q Full HD 144Hz 1MS 24″ Gaming Monitor
ASUS VG278Q Full HD 1080P 144Hz 1MS 27″ Gaming Monitor
ASUS XG258Q ROG Strix 24.5″ 1080P 240Hz 1MS Gaming Monitor
ASUS VG279QM TUF Gaming 27″ 280Hz 1MS Gaming Monitor
Recap:
Using the criteria above you can help you build a high end gaming system using a Lenovo P700 Workstation.
Sample Configuration:
Lenovo Thinkstation P700 Workstation
1 x 6C Xeon E5-2643 V3 3.4Ghz 15MB 9.6GTs (3.7Ghz Max Turbo Frequency)
32GB PC2400T (4 x 8GB)
Samsung 500GB EVO 970 NVME.2 w/Adapter
EVGA GTX 1660 Ti w/6GB Graphics Card
2 x 10/100/1000 Network Port
850W Power Supply
DVD-RW
10 Pro 64Bit
We have tested this system with games like Dota 2, CS Go, PubG, Overwatch, and The Division. The frames can range from 90FPS to 200FPS depending on the game and settings that you choose. The system was tested using a 240Hz 27″ Asus Monitor.
Video:
