Can I make a Dell Optiplex a good gaming pc?

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bair3

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May 27, 2014
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I am fairly new to pc gaming and I need a better graphics card to run newer games (Dayz Standalone, Arma). Can I use a Dell Optiplex 780? Its windows 7 with 4 GB mem. It has a Nvidia GeForce210 Graphic/Video Card. Core 2 Duo. Do you have any graphic card suggestions or is this a good card?
Thanks
 
Solution
SnakeGTX
*Graphics cards around $100-200*

AMD (Runs hotter and worst driver support than Nvidia)

PowerColor R7-260X
(PowerColor is a tier 3 brand. They aren't the best brand for customer support and probably isn't built as well as other brands)
PassMark Score: 3,003
$110 with $30 rebate

PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 (The 270X is just a rebranded HD 7870)
(PowerColor is a tier 3 brand. They aren't the best brand for customer support and probably isn't built as well as other brands)
PassMark Score: 4,261
$160 with $30 rebate (Amazing deal! this card usually is $220+)



nVidia (costs a lot more than AMD)

EVGA GeForce GTX 750
(EVGA is tier 1. They are said to be the best brand for nVidia graphics cards)...
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I'm sorry, but that is a older PC, and can't really take the new hard ware now days.

I use to have a Dell optiplex 210l. Man, that thing was a peice of junk xD

The Optiplex's were mainly used for offices and not gaming. This computer has a old motherboard, with most likely not even the right connectors for a modern GPU.

The cheapest way to getting to play those games is, well. Trash that computer and start over. The cheapest you can get a gaming pc for now days is like $400-600. Like this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3RJme
 
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I am not to sure because i am fairly new to pc gaming?
What would be a good price to get a fair/mid-range graphics card?
Thanks
 
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That's a pretty old card. Its a very low end card. It could probably play modern games at 20 fps on the lowest setting.

Same with the 9500GT

*I'm looking at some cards right now. I will be back in a sec*

 
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*Graphics cards around $100-200*

AMD (Runs hotter and worst driver support than Nvidia)

PowerColor R7-260X
(PowerColor is a tier 3 brand. They aren't the best brand for customer support and probably isn't built as well as other brands)
PassMark Score: 3,003
$110 with $30 rebate

PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 (The 270X is just a rebranded HD 7870)
(PowerColor is a tier 3 brand. They aren't the best brand for customer support and probably isn't built as well as other brands)
PassMark Score: 4,261
$160 with $30 rebate (Amazing deal! this card usually is $220+)



nVidia (costs a lot more than AMD)

EVGA GeForce GTX 750
(EVGA is tier 1. They are said to be the best brand for nVidia graphics cards)
PassMark Score: 3,303
$110

EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
(EVGA is a tier 1 graphics card brand. They are said to be the best brand for nVidia graphics cards)
PassMark Score: 3,656
$140

 
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Solution


In your computer, I don't think so. I will need to do a little more research before I can say that it will work.

The cards I posted above are a little bit better than that one.

Ill try to post again tomorrow .
 
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Thanks! That helped
 
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Ok so here is the issue.

I found the motherboard, and it does have the right connectors, but there are many Optiplex 780 motherboards that don't have the right connector. So the only way to tell is you need to open your computer and look for a socket.

The connector you are looking for is called a "PCI-E x16" (Pretty much any x16 socket)

Here is what to look for
Common sockets
More common connectors
PCI-E 1.0 x16 (The yellow one)
PCI-E 2.0 x16
PCI-E 3.0 x16

Make sure to see what version you have too (1.0, 2.0, 3.0).

If you don't have the right socket, then makes sure to just look at all of them and make a list. That will help me out.

And if you do have the right connector, there are still more issues.

Let me explain.

This is a like a 8 year old machine, and the CPU is outdated. And if you put new modern GPU in the system, the CPU isn't going to be fast enough to keep up. This is called bottlenecking. So pretty much, the CPU and GPU are doing their job, but then the GPU gets done before the CPU. So then the GPU will have to wait for the CPU, which slows down the computer, and gives you a lot less FPS in games. The computer can only be as good as the processor.

Bottlenecking can be with anything. The RAM, like if you only have 2Gb of ram. Or the HDD, if its like broken and really slow. But I can tell that this CPU is going to be a bottleneck with these GPUs that I have listed.

So find out what socket you have, then I can help you from there.



 
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I don't know where you're at with respect to this dilemma but I thought (having a Dell unit myself) I should raise awareness to one KEY factor... with respect to the video card you "were" thinking, size is a very important issue. First off, I don't know if you have the mini-tower or if you have the desktop version of the 780 but either way, size plays a key role and in the case of the video card you linked, it will not fit inside your case, regardless of which version of the 780 you have.
The dimensions of the card you linked is: Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 1.6 x 5.1 inches ; 1 pounds
The dimensions your case can hold is 7.4" x 4.376" (and this is assuming you have the mini-tower version). You can find all of the specs for your computer at the following link:
http://mediam.eu/images/broszury/optiplex-780-tech-guide.pdf

Next thing you would need to look at is the actual processor you have, I had a core2 duo as well with my 330 but it was slow in comparison to what I replaced it with - I put in an E8400 which took it from being a 1.8ghz processor to making it a 3.0ghz processor and this is key when deciding what GPU to put in.

Hope that helps a little.
 
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Yes. a good graphics card that can play good amounts of games and is REALLY cheap on amazon is the MSI Nvidia GeForce GT 610 2GB GDDR3 graphics card. If you get 8GB of ram (2Gb of ram per channel) BUT i dont know if you can just because i have a Optiplex 745. but it should work. i know the MSI Nvidia GeForce GT 610 2GB Graphics card will work with your pc.
 
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