Dell Optiplex 390 Upgrade with GTX 1060

[Hassaan M]

HI all,

I am new to this all PC upgrading, and had few questions about upgrading my Dell OptiPlex 390.

Dell OptiPlex 390 Specs;
Processor: i3-2100, Dual-Core, 3.10 Ghz.
RAM: 8 GB, DDR2.
HDD: Kingston SSDnow 60GB
HDD: Segate 7200rpm 250GB HDD.
SATA3 Slots, x4
PCI-E x1, x3
PCI-E x16, x1
PSU: 265 W "https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Dell-Optiplex-Compatible-Numbers/dp/B00BTMWLWI"
Motherboard Specs "https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/optix/en/optiplex-390-tech-guide.pdf"


I want put these in the PC, Geforce GTX 1060 GPU "https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-Gaming-GV-N1060G1GAMING-6GD-Graphics/dp/B01IEA1IMQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1469549532&sr=1-1&keywords=geforce+gtx+1060", && USB 3.0 Card "https://www.amazon.com/Protronix-4-Port-Express-PCIe-Controller/dp/B00A3HU44W/ref=pd_sim_sbs_147_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51V5Mv0PRPL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=985770EFBBJZ7HTKMECV". To support these I will put this New 600W PSU "https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Bronze-100-B1-0600-KR-Power-Supply/dp/B00EON40CS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1469548145&sr=1-1&keywords=600w".

Now my main Question(s) are;
1. Are these all compatible?
2. Any better suggestions?
3. Is this worth the money?

Thanks,
Regards,
H.M

 

[burgessanthony]

That cpu is going to REALLY struggle. Plus it is DDR2 RAM - is it? It may work, but it is an OEM and these can cause issues.

Worth the money? Not in my opinion.

 

[Hassaan M]

That cpu is going to REALLY struggle. Plus it is DDR2 RAM - is it? It may work, but it is an OEM and these can cause issues.

Worth the money? Not in my opinion.

Sooo Any better suggestions for the graphics card and psu.
What if I put GTX 950 and same PSU?.
Thanks,

 

[sspiff]

Do you have a mini tower or one of the other models? (mini tower is Dell parlance for the biggest, most bulky config)

If you don't have a mini tower model, the best you can fit is a GT 730 GDDR5, because you are restricted to the 25W output of the PCIe slot.

The mini tower model supplies the full 75W a PCIe slot should provide, so without a PSU updade, you can fit a GTX 750Ti. With a PSU replacement, you can generally pick any card with regards to power consumption, but you might want to pop open the case and check a few things:

■ What is the layout of the motherboard? Is the CPU cooler directly behind or close to the PCIe slot? Most cards are too long to fit in a Dell Optiplex system without modifications to the cooling system of either the case/CPU or the graphics card, or often both.
■ Can it fit a two slot height card? Try this with a dual layer card if you have one. Most Dell Optiplex systems have the PCIe x16 slot in an akward position where the second slot part of the mounting bracket (w/ cooling exhaust & output ports) would collide with the bottom of the motherboard backplate/ports. In this case, you'll be limited to single layer cards, which severely limits your options.

I think it will be hard to find a suitable graphics card that is a decent option for gaming for a good price. The CPU is already towards the low end (though not unworkable), and your PSU does not have a PCIe 6-pin or 8-pin power connector (so you need a PSU upgrade to fit all cards that consume over 75W of power).

If you have a DT (Desktop) or SFF (small form factor) model instead of the MT (mini tower) model, you are basically limited to single slot, half length, <25W graphics cards, and the best in that segment is the low end GT 730 GDDR5 which would cost you quite a bit with regards of the capabilities you can get out of it.

 

[Hassaan M]

Do you have a mini tower or one of the other models? (mini tower is Dell parlance for the biggest, most bulky config)

If you don't have a mini tower model, the best you can fit is a GT 730 GDDR5, because you are restricted to the 25W output of the PCIe slot.

The mini tower model supplies the full 75W a PCIe slot should provide, so without a PSU updade, you can fit a GTX 750Ti. With a PSU replacement, you can generally pick any card with regards to power consumption, but you might want to pop open the case and check a few things:

■ What is the layout of the motherboard? Is the CPU cooler directly behind or close to the PCIe slot? Most cards are too long to fit in a Dell Optiplex system without modifications to the cooling system of either the case/CPU or the graphics card, or often both.
■ Can it fit a two slot height card? Try this with a dual layer card if you have one. Most Dell Optiplex systems have the PCIe x16 slot in an akward position where the second slot part of the mounting bracket (w/ cooling exhaust & output ports) would collide with the bottom of the motherboard backplate/ports. In this case, you'll be limited to single layer cards, which severely limits your options.

I think it will be hard to find a suitable graphics card that is a decent option for gaming for a good price. The CPU is already towards the low end (though not unworkable), and your PSU does not have a PCIe 6-pin or 8-pin power connector (so you need a PSU upgrade to fit all cards that consume over 75W of power).

If you have a DT (Desktop) or SFF (small form factor) model instead of the MT (mini tower) model, you are basically limited to single slot, half length, <25W graphics cards, and the best in that segment is the low end GT 730 GDDR5 which would cost you quite a bit with regards of the capabilities you can get out of it.

Hi
Thanks for replay and info.

I have the mini tower model (the largest one available).

1. It's close but will be at the back side of the card.

2. I don't have any, but I think it will do fine.

As I am new, I cannot give you enough info, so kindly check the following image(s).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8cQD0swFhKsYmtiNU8xQm5xa0k/view?usp=docslist_api
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8cQD0swFhKsZGNVc1NTelFqdTQ/view?usp=docslist_api

So what would be the best GPU per price that I go for which will not bottleneck my system, I can upgrade my PSU. Please advise?

Thanks and Regards,
H.M

 

[william p]

I doubt you actually have DDR2 memory with an i3 CPU. Dell went DDR3 with the LGA775 Optiplex 780 many years ago. I don't think there's a DDR2 chipset for that CPU.

Even if you have DDR2 800, it's just as fast as DDR3 1066 due to lower latency. Also Modern GPUs with 2GB of DDR5 don't use system memory very much anyway.

The Dell PSU is rated to power the bays and slots the system came with. But I'm used to seeing 305W in MT computers. The Dell PSU won't have a PCIe power cable so you will need a bigger PSU to get that feature. If you don't want to do that then you will be limited to a 75W GPU w/o the need for a power cable.

Stick with Nvidia cards, AMD has issues with the Dell BIOS.