Question Difficult or impossible to switch from a Optiplex 980 SFF to Optiplex 980 ?

[AverageCheapskate79]

So I'm just getting back into computers and the first cheap one I found that sounded reasonable was a Dell Optiplex 980 SSF which I didn't know mean't it was the small form factor at the time, but now I'm very well aware of that. But I'm needing more room inside because I have upgraded the CPU and the GPU so it needs another fan in there, and the hard drive obviously needs upgrading to 500GB SSD and I want to take it a little further. Also, I know it's not a gaming computer but all the games I run on it run perfectly fine.

I was just curious how hard it would be to switch from the 980 SFF case to a 980 full size case ?

Would I need the different motherboard, and if I did get just the motherboard, would all the components switch over that I've upgraded? Also it doesn't have to be a 980 if the components will switch over to a different motherboard I just need more room hopefully an extra PCI slot or two and maybe some USB 3.0. any ideas or suggestions?

Please don't say "buy a different computer"as that's like the last option if I'm going to go that route I'll just sell the 980 sff with all the upgrades and then start over but I would prefer not to do that. But if financially it makes a lot more sense I'll definitely do that.

I don't need a 1050 GPU in it I just want something that won't bottleneck so bad that it causes major lag cuz I'm old school I'm okay with LAG. I don't run huge games on it I've got a Microsoft account so I play their games like Halo and world of tanks and things like that but nothing that it can't handle already on the highest or next to highest graphic setting.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Hard, since the front panel connectors are proprietary.

And yes, it's a bad idea to swap innards from a prebuilt into an aftermarket case, would mean your return on investments are going to be more negative than it initially was.

 

[geofelt]

What is your budget?
What graphics card did you install?
What is the new processor?

Upgrading to a ssd is a wonderful upgrade, and doing so is very easy if you clone the hdd to a ssd.
If anything, a ssd will run cooler, not that either generates much heat.
a 1tb samsung 860 evo is about $110 and the conversion can be trivial.

I would not worry too much about heat unless it causes thermal throttling of the cpu.
If you run hwmonitor, you will get current, minimum, and maximum temperatures.
At idle, you should see 10-15c, over ambient. Much more, and there may be a cooler issue.

To accomplish your objective, just see how you do with a ssd upgrade.

 

[SamirD]

I know the optiplex line well and your easiest course of action would be the following--get a 980 MT that's a bit barebone (not the best cpu, lacking ram/storage), upgrade it using the parts from your current 980 SFF (which will work perfectly with the MT), put the old parts in the 980 SFF, sell off the 980 SFF and recoup most of the money you spent on the 980 MT.

The other thing to look at is simply starting over with the 990 MT or 3/7/9010 MT as they are a lot faster and more upgradable, and would be an upgrade in themselves to the 980 platform. (I have 990 and a 3010, and 3020, among others).

 

[AverageCheapskate79]

I ended up having a chance to trade it up for an optiples 3010, it's much more my speed. and size. It's not a full tower but it doesn't need to be anymore I'm finding. It's bigger than the 980 but maybe not even a half tower. but about that size. It came with an i5 3470, which paired with either the 4gb 750 ti or the AMD Radeaon Pro 3200, it runs like a dream. I'm sticking with the AMD JUST because it fits in the machine lol it's a sff, but I did just sell the 750 on ebay for $140 so yay I also bought a clevo sager p 170 em that I have an issue with, but I'll post that on a new thread. Thanks for your help guys

 

[AverageCheapskate79]

Thank you guys so much for not belittling me or making me feel stupid. I was just getting back into computers after a decade long hiatus and I hadn't gotten much into the software at that point in the past and the hardware was light years ago it seems, I'm thinking about a new build I want to go up to A motherboard that can do DDR4 RAM and preferably much faster CPU but I want to do the build with my son who's turning 12 this year any suggestions on websites or cheap but very effective motherboards or kits and a case that's probably a little bit flashy for him to get into it with the RBGs I see them all over the place but I can't really make an informed decision for the motherboard case and internal wiring minus the GPU and any kind of heat sink setup I think 150 to 200 dollars would be the budget. If not if this thread is dead or whatever that's okay I can make another post but just thought I'd throw it out there it's going to be used for light to moderate gaming like WOT or Fortnite type games nothing heavy heavy.

 

[SkyNetRising]

any suggestions on websites or cheap but very effective motherboards or kits and a case that's probably a little bit flashy for him to get into it with the RBGs
I think 150 to 200 dollars would be the budget.

1st - make sure, you read this:

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

You can start here:

System Builder

pcpartpicker.com

Decide on your budget.
You can choose motherboard only after you have chosen cpu already.
Make your initial proposed build, show here.
People will offer improvements, to meet your build goals.