Question General Dell/HP/Acer/Lenovo CPU advice

[joeacejr15]

1. Should I just read the manual for the specific Dell OptiPlex I intend to purchase, select a low power CPU from there, put it in the system, and go for it, or can I put any low power CPU that fits into the socket? I know, for example, a Dell OptiPlex theoretically cant handle a 95 watt CPU but on the opposite end of the spectrum, could I say, put a Celeron g1610t into a Dell OptiPlex 3010 if I wanted to, even if it is not in the list/manual? For the workload that I intend on doing, the CPU does NOT matter whatsoever, as it will be remotely managed. It will not ever have a monitor hooked up directly to it.

2. Upon looking on eBay for Dell/HP motherboards, I do see that a lot of the motherboards have an 8 pin connector instead of a traditional 24 pin connector. Can I use any 24 pin to 8 pin adapter, or do i have to use the proprietary power supply that Dell had/has for that motherboard?

Thank you! Again, not worried at all if the PC is a slug, it will be remotely managed ONLY if needed, it will just sit there 24/7 otherwise. I already have a powerful PC for my daily computing/gaming.

 

[Bob.B]

1. Should I just read the manual for the specific Dell OptiPlex I intend to purchase, select a low power CPU from there, put it in the system, and go for it, or can I put any low power CPU that fits into the socket? I know, for example, a Dell OptiPlex theoretically cant handle a 95 watt CPU but on the opposite end of the spectrum, could I say, put a Celeron g1610t into a Dell OptiPlex 3010 if I wanted to, even if it is not in the list/manual? For the workload that I intend on doing, the CPU does NOT matter whatsoever, as it will be remotely managed. It will not ever have a monitor hooked up directly to it.

2. Upon looking on eBay for Dell/HP motherboards, I do see that a lot of the motherboards have an 8 pin connector instead of a traditional 24 pin connector. Can I use any 24 pin to 8 pin adapter, or do i have to use the proprietary power supply that Dell had/has for that motherboard?

Thank you! Again, not worried at all if the PC is a slug, it will be remotely managed ONLY if needed, it will just sit there 24/7 otherwise. I already have a powerful PC for my daily computing/gaming.

https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/optix/en/optiplex_3010_technical_guidebook.pdf

Look at page 10.
It shows what cpu's are supported.
If you install a different cpu it will be hit and miss as the bios may no support it.

 

[SamirD]

Generally what I've found on prebuilts if you want to know if a particular 'non-qualified' cpu/memory works is to simply search for that particular setup. For example, when I wanted to find out of a 4790k would work in my Optiplex 3020 SFF, I just searched for "Optiplex 3020 SFF 4790k". Reading every link on the first page gives me a really good idea of what's possible.

I did the same when I wanted to see if 16GB of memory was possible. "Optiplex 3020 SFF 16gb".

Yes, I have a Optiplex 3020 SFF with 4790k 16gb.

 

[Windows22]

Generally what I've found on prebuilts if you want to know if a particular 'non-qualified' cpu/memory works is to simply search for that particular setup. For example, when I wanted to find out of a 4790k would work in my Optiplex 3020 SFF, I just searched for "Optiplex 3020 SFF 4790k". Reading every link on the first page gives me a really good idea of what's possible.

I did the same when I wanted to see if 16GB of memory was possible. "Optiplex 3020 SFF 16gb".

Yes, I have a Optiplex 3020 SFF with 4790k 16gb.

Not bad, that tactic usually gets bypassed.

 

[joeacejr15]

Generally what I've found on prebuilts if you want to know if a particular 'non-qualified' cpu/memory works is to simply search for that particular setup. For example, when I wanted to find out of a 4790k would work in my Optiplex 3020 SFF, I just searched for "Optiplex 3020 SFF 4790k". Reading every link on the first page gives me a really good idea of what's possible.

I did the same when I wanted to see if 16GB of memory was possible. "Optiplex 3020 SFF 16gb".

Yes, I have a Optiplex 3020 SFF with 4790k 16gb.

I did try searching for Dell Optiplex 3010 celeron and dell optiplex 3010 celeron g1610t and NOTHING came up. Literally nothing. Nobody downgrades dell PC's to celeron's.