[SOLVED] Looking to upgrade my CPU (Optiplex 3020)

OfficeJerk

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Apr 1, 2014
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I’ve come across an old Optiplex micro PC and have decided to turn it into an emulation station. It works quite well, apart from playing PS2 games. They do work but the frame rate is too slow, so I’m looking to beef it up a bit.

Since it’s a micro PC, I can’t see any way to upgrade or add a dedicated GPU, so I’ve turned to the idea of upgrading the chip. Problem is I can’t seem to figure out what other chip is compatible with this model.

Would anyone be able to let me know what the strongest chip would be that I can throw into this little guy?

 
Solution
I’ve come across an old Optiplex micro PC and have decided to turn it into an emulation station. It works quite well, apart from playing PS2 games. They do work but the frame rate is too slow, so I’m looking to beef it up a bit.

Since it’s a micro PC, I can’t see any way to upgrade or add a dedicated GPU, so I’ve turned to the idea of upgrading the chip. Problem is I can’t seem to figure out what other chip is compatible with this model.

Would anyone be able to let me know what the strongest chip would be that I can throw into this little guy?

This Dell manual for the small form factor unit --...

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
I’ve come across an old Optiplex micro PC and have decided to turn it into an emulation station. It works quite well, apart from playing PS2 games. They do work but the frame rate is too slow, so I’m looking to beef it up a bit.

Since it’s a micro PC, I can’t see any way to upgrade or add a dedicated GPU, so I’ve turned to the idea of upgrading the chip. Problem is I can’t seem to figure out what other chip is compatible with this model.

Would anyone be able to let me know what the strongest chip would be that I can throw into this little guy?

This Dell manual for the small form factor unit -- https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/optiplex-3020-desktop_owners-manual2_en-us.pdf says it could have come with an AMD R7 250 GPU.
It shows photos with a discrete graphics card -- PDF page 10.
 
Solution

OfficeJerk

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Apr 1, 2014
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Hey thanks for the reply - but that manual is actually for the SFF. Mines the Micro tower.
It seems any LGA1150 chip can go into this thing, so I checked the wattage of my current chip, thhe i5-4590T, which uses 35watts of power, from a 65watt PSU. I wanted to install the i7-4790 however the wattage of the chip was a whopping 85! :(
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Hey thanks for the reply - but that manual is actually for the SFF. Mines the Micro tower.
It seems any LGA1150 chip can go into this thing, so I checked the wattage of my current chip, thhe i5-4590T, which uses 35watts of power, from a 65watt PSU. I wanted to install the i7-4790 however the wattage of the chip was a whopping 85! :(
Dell doesn't have a user's manual for a micro tower. Odd.
I am guessing you will have to keep your CPU power low because of the micro form factor. You have about the equivalent of a laptop.