Dell Optiplex 790 SFF accept 3rd Gen i5/i7?

[ManOfArc]

My Dell Optiplex 790 SFF contains a 2nd gen i5-2400 and a 6-series express chipset at present. I was wondering if it would support any 3rd gen processors, in particular an i5-3xxx or i7-3xxx?

The Dell Tech Guide I have only lists 2nd gen processors, but I was wondering if that is simply because it was printed before the 3rd gen CPUs were released.... or if that was because the BIOS won't recognize them. I have the latest BIOS offered by Dell for the 790 SFF, btw. Thanks.

 

[Lutfij]

If the 3rd gen processor parts were acceptable in your SFF OptiPlex unit, it would be clearly mentioned in the documentation regardless of when they came out since Dell and all the other prebuilt system builders/makers tend to keep their documentation as up to date as possible. Given that you're dealing with a prebuilt system and that it's an OptiPlex, it's not exactly meant for tinkering around since they are often(always) found in places where they need to be highly reliable and in mission critical arenas.

Sadly the documentation listed here shows that you can accept a particular range of 2nd gen processor parts. Your likely path would be to go for the highest i7 listed in the documentation, i.e the i7-2600.

 

[ko888]

The limitation is with the motherboard's Intel Q65 Express Chipset.

The Intel Q65 Express Chipset doesn't support Ivy Bridge processors or even the Sandy Bridge Intel Core i7-2700K.

Click on the Compatible Products link for the Intel Q65 Express Chipset here:
http://ark.intel.com/products/52811/Intel-Q65-Express-Chipset

 

[ManOfArc]

The limitation is with the motherboard's Intel Q65 Express Chipset.

The Intel Q65 Express Chipset doesn't support Ivy Bridge processors or even the Sandy Bridge Intel Core i7-2700K.

Click on the Compatible Products link for the Intel Q65 Express Chipset here:
http://ark.intel.com/products/52811/Intel-Q65-Express-Chipset

Bummer. Thanks. Would a 3.4GHz i7 be all that much of a noticeable upgrade for gaming over a 3.1 GHz i5? Especially considering I'm only using a GTX 1050 Ti.

 

[ko888]

The limitation is with the motherboard's Intel Q65 Express Chipset.

The Intel Q65 Express Chipset doesn't support Ivy Bridge processors or even the Sandy Bridge Intel Core i7-2700K.

Click on the Compatible Products link for the Intel Q65 Express Chipset here:
http://ark.intel.com/products/52811/Intel-Q65-Express-Chipset

Bummer. Thanks. Would a 3.4GHz i7 be all that much of a noticeable upgrade for gaming over a 3.1 GHz i5? Especially considering I'm only using a GTX 1050 Ti.

If there are specific games that are able to use more than four threads then there will be a benefit. There may even be a slight increase in performance due just to the higher base clock and turbo clock speeds if your current i5-2400 is causing some performance limitation.