Old Pc optiplex 780 upgrade

[Rjsaml]

Hey guise

New guy here, picked up some useful stuff around the boards. Recently purchased a dell optiplex 780 tower to screw around. It packs a core2duo with 2.33ghz, has ddr3 ram capability, pcie x16. My main purpose is to use it for picture editing using adobe Lightroom, a little video editing and gaming (diablo, Starcraft, cod and some other fps)

What I initially plan to do is upgrade the CPU to a quad core 9400 and cheapy vid card and upgrade the ram to 8gb. But this morning I was swayed by my sis in law to pick up a mid ranged vid card (radeon 7770) and psu to support both new CPU n gpu.

Since I can't afford all of it in one purchase, what would you upgrade first? What I was thinking is upgrade the ram to 8gb vengeance brand, 430 watt thermaltake psu and a 7770 radeon. Btw I have a 24" monitor with 1980x1200 (?) native resolution, will this run it smoothly?

Am I taking the right route here to build a budget pc? If you we're me, what would you do? Pls don't tell me to throw it away and buy a better rig cuz that's not an option 😀

Halpppp!

 

[Kisianik]

So it is aluminum, It is very sad news. I got your PM.

There is a problem with mounting any heatsink to your Dell motherboard - It is looks very proprietary. I looked at motherboard when I was helping someone else with similar cooler system - I was not able to identify proper LGA size for this cooler, so it is not standard....

Anyway, you are looking for part number J9761
http://www.redplanettrading.com/Dell-J9761-D9729-Heatsink-Shroud-CPU-Dimension-E250-Optiplex-GX620-GX745.html
http://www.impactcomputers.com/j9761.html
Amazon claims it is correct one, but I don't like the picture, it is seems like aluminum one http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Optiplex-GX620-Heatsynce-assembly-J9761/dp/B002CNU9X6
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Heatsink-Optiplex-GX620-and-GX745-J9761-D9729-/190471927847

Make sure that heat-spreaders are parallel (copper version) to motherboard, not perpendicular (in aluminum version).

 

[Rjsaml]

Thanks for that info, got a good price for a q9400 bought off craigslist (75) with the supplied heatsink. Though I havent triedto fit it yet. The stock heatsink will probably work with it right?

Ill update you ttomorrow! I was editing photos with the e6550 earlier and I can see its age, hopefully the quad will remedy that.

 

[Kisianik]

Thread can get closed automatically very soon, if this happens, start a new thread with your Dell model in name of the thread, so I can locate it easily.
Supplied Intel cooler would not fit, you will see it soon. In any case I would really appreciate if you can measure distance between connector holes on your MOBO or screws of original aluminum heatsink - so community can find solution.

 

[Rjsaml]

I will! Hopefully the stock cooler will hold up.

 

[Rjsaml]

Got the measurements, its 4 1/2 inches (vertical) and about 3 3/4 (horizontal). So far its beem running for 30 mins with the stock coole. Looking good. Next up, gpu n ram

 

[Kisianik]

Are you saying that Intel stock cooler mount on Dell MOBO without difficulty? That location of the mounting screws fitexactly on Dell MOBO?

 

[Rjsaml]

No, im using whatever came with the dell, heatsink that came with tge quad does not fit.

 

[BadPeteNo]

@Rjsaml: You have copper, so nothing more you can do here, it is very proprietary.

@BadPeteNo: There are manuals to check prior to providing advices, it took me a few minutes to find 2.0. Your suggestion almost stop OP from saving money, you remember OP mentioned about tight budget?
Now, your system would require also case another $30 at least and PSU for the same at least, plus Win7 (Dell Win7 would not install on non Dell motherboard) another $80, make it total about $410 or more versus max $150 (or less) from eBay for processor which is about as strong as 965 (maybe a bit weaker).

How better to save the OP money then to tell him to just be happy with it as it is? $0 investment. Furthermore, it's his job to determine if my advice is sound, not yours. He said "what would you do", I told him what I would do, and I'm sticking to it.

And one last thing, as long as we're inaccurately comparing apples and oranges...
Core2Quad Q9400 $269 PassMark score = 3451
Phenom II 965 $99 PassMark score = 4327

If we do a little math, the 'points per dollar', the core2quad gets 12.83 points per dollar, while the Phenom II 965 gets 43.27 points per dollar. Not only is the chip SUBSTANTIALLY more powerful, but nearly 4 times more economical. You should know it's a decent chip, you have one.

Again, this is a mute point. I'm only replying at all because I don't think I should be scolded in a public forum for what basically comes down to opinion. I realize you guys are well past this, but I've been busy at work for the last week, and when I saw that quote I got fairly annoyed.

@Rjsaml Good job finding a great deal on a used chip! Buying a new one would have been down right silly.

 

[Kisianik]

@Rjsaml: You have copper, so nothing more you can do here, it is very proprietary.

@BadPeteNo: There are manuals to check prior to providing advices, it took me a few minutes to find 2.0. Your suggestion almost stop OP from saving money, you remember OP mentioned about tight budget?
Now, your system would require also case another $30 at least and PSU for the same at least, plus Win7 (Dell Win7 would not install on non Dell motherboard) another $80, make it total about $410 or more versus max $150 (or less) from eBay for processor which is about as strong as 965 (maybe a bit weaker).

How better to save the OP money then to tell him to just be happy with it as it is? $0 investment. Furthermore, it's his job to determine if my advice is sound, not yours. He said "what would you do", I told him what I would do, and I'm sticking to it.

And one last thing, as long as we're inaccurately comparing apples and oranges...
Core2Quad Q9400 $269 PassMark score = 3451
Phenom II 965 $99 PassMark score = 4327

If we do a little math, the 'points per dollar', the core2quad gets 12.83 points per dollar, while the Phenom II 965 gets 43.27 points per dollar. Not only is the chip SUBSTANTIALLY more powerful, but nearly 4 times more economical. You should know it's a decent chip, you have one.

Again, this is a mute point. I'm only replying at all because I don't think I should be scolded in a public forum for what basically comes down to opinion. I realize you guys are well past this, but I've been busy at work for the last week, and when I saw that quote I got fairly annoyed.

@Rjsaml Good job finding a great deal on a used chip! Buying a new one would have been down right silly.

My original advice to OP was Q9550 with benchmark of 4040, which would be closer to Phenom 965, I seen this. However OP choose Q9400 due to his reasons, and most likely price. We cannot calculate performance per dollar without knowing how much OP payed for his Q9400, I am not arguing about the Phenom 965 performance, but overall costs with choosing new system, as you advised, would be dramatically higher.
If OP would ask to build cheap new system from scratch, I would not say a word.

Again, this is a mute point. I'm only replying at all because I don't think I should be scolded in a public forum for what basically comes down to opinion.

@Rjsaml Good job finding a great deal on a used chip! Buying a new one would have been down right silly.

I apologies for the tone of my voice there, my fault.

The goal of this post was and is - getting the most for less, and substantially less than ~$400 with 965 CPU. As I stated previously, his system would be able to play Crysis 3. When he is settled, and all running good, next step would be saving money for the next new build, new Intel processors are around the corner, which would drop the price for I5 2500 significantly, and this CPU will beat 965 easily, but this will happened in a year or so, for now OP has something to play the games with, and this is the point of this thread.

 

[Kisianik]

No, im using whatever came with the dell, heatsink that came with tge quad does not fit.

Now, prior you burning all your PC, while playing games, we need to see how your present cooler is holding up.
Get OCCT, excellent little monitoring and testing program, which would let you see temperatures and provide you with not that barbaric stress tests. I measured OCCT stress tests against first Crysis - OCCT is about %20-30 stronger, so if you pass OCCT, meaning your temperature is not that high, you can play all modern games without fear for destroying you PC.

But be ready to see that stronger CPU cooler may be required, I mean you would have to find the cooper model I mentioned above.
Also, I hope you used good thermal paste like Arctic Silver kind.
When changing/removing cooler, make sure that you clean processor from old thermal paste very good, left overs will dramatically affect you cooling.

Any more questions?

 

[Rjsaml]

Will download that asap. I dont really plan in playing modern games likke crysis but thats good to know. Used artic silver 5, cleaned ut prior to installing. Bookmarked the copper heatsink just incase.

Thanks Kisianik and Pete. All points taken. On my next build I know better, but right now, this'll do.

 

[MaxxTheMonk]

Did it work out with the current cooler. I'm looking to somewhat repeat your strugle with a SFF with a Nvidia card.

 

[David Tapp]

Hi guys, I have the 780 as well and had plan to load it up with HDs and use it as a Home Group computer for data, pics, and stuff. I see that it has 4 sata ports on the board. Can I put more than two HDs on this machine? I appreciste any feeback. Thanks.

 

[DallasFlier]

I also just did the same thing. Picked up an Optiplex 780 with 8GB of DDR3 RAM for $65 from Craigslist after my old ASUS motherboard died. Had already picked up a Q9550 planning to put it into the old ASUS machine, found a new copper heatsink/shroud on eBay for $15 and installed the Q9550. Added the nVidia GT430 graphics card I was using before, along with a 1TB drive I had from a TiVo expansion project I ended up not doing. Just ordered a 128GB Crucial MX100 SSD on eBay for $58. Installed SpeedFan which regulates the fan quite nicely, and reports that my machine idles at core temps of ~30 degrees and doesn't go much above ~50 degrees after half an hour of Prime95!

So, I spent $65 for the chassis, $15 for the heatsink/shroud and $58 on the SSD. Admittedly had a few other parts around which helped, but replaced a dead computer with a newer one which works just fine for a total of $138! The graphics card is the weakest point, but I'm not a gamer. Great machine as a general purpose home/office PC and also a PlayOn server, doing real-time HD video transcoding and feeding the video to my Roku - that's what I needed the CPU horsepower for. I had 8GB of high-end DDR2 memory in the old machine, think I can sell that on eBay for around $100, which will make the machine REAL cheap!

So, without trying to lecture others, I think one can build a GREAT budget PC in this manner, and I'll note that comparing ridiculous list prices for things like older Q9550 CPU chips is crazy. Can't buy them new easily if at all, but CAN buy them much cheaper on eBay - my Q9550 was under $100 a few months ago.

 

[DallasFlier]

Hi guys, I have the 780 as well and had plan to load it up with HDs and use it as a Home Group computer for data, pics, and stuff. I see that it has 4 sata ports on the board. Can I put more than two HDs on this machine? I appreciste any feeback. Thanks.

One of the SATA ports is connected to the CD/DVD writer, but there's no reason you can't put 3 HD's into your machine with the other 3 ports. Could probably put 4 in for your use if you can live without the CD/DVD. There are two existing slots for 3.5 HD's, but there's also an empty 3.5 bay near the CD/DVD, as well as an additional empty 5.25 bay.

 

[BubbaBudda]

I'm running a Optiplex 780 MT with a Samsung 840 Evo 256, Dual 2 TB WD Black HD's, Asus 750Ti, 16 GB Ram and QC 9650 without any issues. I built the box as a HTPC, but it server more as a Movie server, as it also has via a USB card Dual WD 4TB Cloud Drives also connected to it.

I pieced it together using available part and yes the QC 9650 was expensive, $135 last fall, but worth the money. Original CPU fan system used, as it really keeps the process in a nice range even when gaming BF 4, SWTOR and Assassins Creed3. The other thing that I did was swap out the original 305 Watt Dell Power supply for a modular 550 Watt Power supply.

I think the only upgrade limitation that i have is that their is no space for a really large graphic card, but the ASUS 750Ti works perfectly.

 

[DallasFlier]

I'm running a Optiplex 780 MT with a Samsung 840 Evo 256, Dual 2 TB WD Black HD's, Asus 750Ti, 16 GB Ram and QC 9650 without any issues. I built the box as a HTPC, but it server more as a Movie server, as it also has via a USB card Dual WD 4TB Cloud Drives also connected to it.

I pieced it together using available part and yes the QC 9650 was expensive, $135 last fall, but worth the money. Original CPU fan system used, as it really keeps the process in a nice range even when gaming BF 4, SWTOR and Assassins Creed3. The other thing that I did was swap out the original 305 Watt Dell Power supply for a modular 550 Watt Power supply.

I think the only upgrade limitation that i have is that their is no space for a really large graphic card, but the ASUS 750Ti works perfectly.

Your example is a great example of why the earlier advice that one shouldn't bother even trying to upgrade a few year old PC like the 780 was such stupid advice!

My story is similar, except my end result is just below yours in most categories, but perfectly fine for me. I'm looking at a machine with a Windows Experience Index of 7.3 which I just put together in December, and I've got a total of about $300 in it. Sure wish I knew that the Asus 750Ti card would fit before I bought my HD 7750 though! Your card is thicker than single slot at the fan portion, but still fits ok?

 

[upgrageolddogs]

That is very unfortunate lol. Thanks for the eye opener. I dont really plan to use it as a gaming rig, its more of a all around machine.

I still plan to buy some upgrades, but I wont probably go all out and spend a lot money on an aging machine. I judt installed a 64bit win8, I guess ill start there.

Really appreciate your thoughts. Anyone else wants to wreck my dreams? 😀

Rjsaml
The person answered your message is a Dumba$$ I have a Dell Optipex 755 I upgraded to Q6600 quad 2.4 ghz with AMD Radeon 5450 video card low profile because i have the slim case I had to customize hard drive tray and add 8gb memory x2 and play most games a medium settings

 

[foxfor4]

Hello

I have recently upgraded my MT Dell Optiplex 780 with Asus GeForce GTX 750 (single slot)graphic and it's still working on 305W Dell's PSU.
Next step is to upgrade CPU with XEON X3000 series on the 775 socket or on 771 with converter.

 

[solarsails]

------

Bad Pete was wrong then and is still wrong now... I can tell that he's just another noob computer geek going through the "boasting" phase. I can never understand why people waste 1,000's of $$ just to have the latest hardware. I'm always 10 years behind; I learned early on (think intel 8080) that you don't need to fall into a fad over computers to enjoy the hobby/career. I got 6 Optiplex 780's for 25$ courtesy of "Uncle Sam"--- free win7 pro and ult = sprung for 8gb in all and 16gb (71$) for mine. Got a few more 1gb PCIe cards and these computers will play any game on the market. So sorry to say Pete you're wrong. I have 4 children 17-8 years old who prove you flat out in error! I will finde a quad processor at 3ghz or higher, but its all about patience and not paying through the nose. If you waste 200$ on some fancy pants motherboard then you're foolish. And about proprietary cases, I've never run into one that a titanium drill bit couldn't handle. Its all about the parts, find them and file them. (Fan screws, motherboard screws, cables, think!) I'm by no means a Dell fan but these 780's and even the one 760 spank a$$~! Outdated as they are. You don't need to waste $$ on new, wait a few years until new is old and use your $$ for something more reasonable.

 

[DARKWR8H]

------

Bad Pete was wrong then and is still wrong now... I can tell that he's just another noob computer geek going through the "boasting" phase. I can never understand why people waste 1,000's of $$ just to have the latest hardware. I'm always 10 years behind; I learned early on (think intel 8080) that you don't need to fall into a fad over computers to enjoy the hobby/career. I got 6 Optiplex 780's for 25$ courtesy of "Uncle Sam"--- free win7 pro and ult = sprung for 8gb in all and 16gb (71$) for mine. Got a few more 1gb PCIe cards and these computers will play any game on the market. So sorry to say Pete you're wrong. I have 4 children 17-8 years old who prove you flat out in error! I will finde a quad processor at 3ghz or higher, but its all about patience and not paying through the nose. If you waste 200$ on some fancy pants motherboard then you're foolish. And about proprietary cases, I've never run into one that a titanium drill bit couldn't handle. Its all about the parts, find them and file them. (Fan screws, motherboard screws, cables, think!) I'm by no means a Dell fan but these 780's and even the one 760 spank a$$~! Outdated as they are. You don't need to waste $$ on new, wait a few years until new is old and use your $$ for something more reasonable.

I agree with these machines. I currently have an Opt 780 DT that was destined for recycling. Was literally given to me for free so Updating/Upgrading/Modding it would not be a problem.

My brother has an Opt 960 SFF ( also was destined for recycling ) running 8gb ram ( 2gb x4, his Mother Board is a 4 slot DDR2 so he was able to go lower on timing than I ) using a single slot MSI GTX750 Ti DDR5 ( fit with very minor trimming ) and swapped out the CPU for an Intel Core2 Quad Xeon X3363 CPU Processor ( which is considered better than the Q9550 as the X3363 runs at 85w compared to 95w - sticker mod and socket mod performed ) and he can play any game it is thrown at it no problem.

I did the exact same to mine except I am using a single slot MSI GT730 DDR5 ( I am looking for an upgrade at the moment ) and using 8gb ram total ( 2gb x4 but just a bit higher timing using DDR3 ). I also updated the CPU heat sink from the aluminum to the copper one to be on the safe side. I am able to play games like GTA5 and the same at low to med levels with no lag or freezes at all.

Both are using the original PSU's at the moment with no problems. We have not yet OC'd them to test the limits but temps are good at the moment. I do plan on upgrading my PSU to an Athena Mini-ATX 600w that I have now ( already made the bracket - just need the converting ATX 24 pin to mini 24 pin "really Dell... really?" ). So as solarsails has stated, it is possible to get the most out of these machines for little money. I will say that Dell does manage to slow one down with their proprietary hardware but with a bit of thinking, planning and good old ingenuity one can do it on the cheap.

 

[Kisianik]

Good job, good spirit - playable PCs.

I am agree and disagree with some points here. If you have an old PC already and you don't mind playing on lower settings than a new machines, than go for upgrading.

If you have money and really want something excellent, go for it. It is all depends on your budget and vise verse, time you can spend adapting parts and waiting for new to become old.

I am an example of both. I have (my signature) Dell Inspiron 570, which I purchased new for the cheapest price at the end of the production year and I took it to the respectable high level, upgrading beyond Dell official maximum possibilities and overclocked, did the impossible, played everything until (and included) Battlefield 4 on HIGH, and older Games like Crysis on ULTRA and will keep this machine for other older games, which I did not play yet.

At the same time I got myself prebuild Digital Storm for $3K+ with 4790K and GTX 970 and 500GB Samsung PRO SSD for newer games and stuff - I don't have time to build this myself and I have money now, why not. It is perfectly OK to be on either side of my situation as long as one person doesn't push another to take his way just because.

As I stated a year or 2 ago, if OP suddenly decided to build a new system, I would just step away, but OP did not...

Piece, and please no bad words and pointing finger anymore here.

P.S. If someone succeed overclocking Dell by any means except Q6600 tape mod and setFSB (I know this already), please post it here, so even I can learn.

 

[william p]

BTX upgrade cooler is easy. T9303 fits. On dimension it needs slight cover mod, on Optiplex it might bolt right in. This will cool overclocked Core2 Quad. C2X chips can be overclocked with Throttlestop software. I'm running Dell Dimension E520 with QX6800 @ 3.45Ghz . This is much older machine than yours.
I'm running 65nm cpu and 8GB DDR2 memory. You don't have the 4phase VRM I do, so maybe X6850 would be safer bet.
http://valid.x86.fr/rj66jm Click on the image there and you'll se something interesting.

Dual slot single fan Video cards can be installed by cutting bracket in 1/2 and trimming plastic cover so air can go out rear vents. PNY GTX750Ti O/C in mine. By single fan I mean the short cards with 1 propeller fan, not the long 2 slot cards with hair dryer fan and long cover.

 

[Kisianik]

BTX upgrade cooler is easy. T9303 fits. On dimension it needs slight cover mod, on Optiplex it might bolt right in. This will cool overclocked Core2 Quad. C2X chips can be overclocked with Throttlestop software. I'm running Dell Dimension E520 with QX6800 @ 3.45Ghz . This is much older machine than yours.
I'm running 65nm cpu and 8GB DDR2 memory. You don't have the 4phase VRM I do, so maybe X6850 would be safer bet.
http://valid.x86.fr/rj66jm Click on the image there and you'll se something interesting.

Dual slot single fan Video cards can be installed by cutting bracket in 1/2 and trimming plastic cover so air can go out rear vents. PNY GTX750Ti O/C in mine. By single fan I mean the short cards with 1 propeller fan, not the long 2 slot cards with hair dryer fan and long cover.

That is interesting, unfortunately I don't have Intel CPU, but AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition, which is overclockable in Dell by AMD Overdrive software.

Why you stop overclocking higher, temperatures or instability?

Good to know, thanks.

On dimension it needs slight cover mod, on Optiplex it might bolt right in.

Do the screws line up? What kind of MOD, for the front panel connection?

 

[william p]

If you clicked on the Image in the link you'll see I'm doing alright compared to others with this cpu. In Throttlestop you can control volts, and multiplier by whole numbers so there are no incremental speed increases. 3.2Ghz, 3.45Ghz. 3.72Ghz, 4Ghz. This not the newer 45nm chip, it's the old 65nm cpu. The chip i'm using isn't very good. 10*C. higher on core0 than core2,3. This limits me. I got another QX6800 to try. Also I had to heatsink the MB to get over 1.45V. It needs 1.5+V. to run 3.72Ghz. This is much easier on the Optiplex than on the E520. I run 3.45GHZ for daily use. I'm working on getting 3.72 stable enough for benchmarking. Not there yet. Volts, temp and stability are all issues at 3.72. Probably not much more in it. X6800 for more speed.
The mod is very simple either the holes in the top of the cover line up with the heatpipes, or you have to move the holes . Mod your original cover if the cover is different, then the bolts will be the same.
I have no experience with Dell AMD machines.

On CPUZ I'm Retrorockit