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!

 

[william p]

I don't have an Optiplex 780 to play with. I bought a couple MB thinking I would swap them into my E520, but the thing turned out to be such an O/C beast I never used them. 2 chips you cold O/C would be the X6800 (65nm,1066FSB 2 core,65W unlocked multi.) or the E7600 (45nm 1066FSB 2 core 11.5 multi.) The E7600 could be pin modded to 1333FSB= 3.83Ghz. Throttlestop software can control volts on LGA775, and multiplier on X chips,or under clock multiplier on locked chips ( E7600 333fsb X11- 3.66Ghz). QX9650 is the only unlocked 45nm Quad, but it's 130W. I think your board supports up to 95W.I don't know how far the 3 phase VRM would let you O/C. That's why I mention the 2 cores first. Two things that help with Dell O/C are heatsinking the MOSFETS in the VRM, and Powering the fan off of a Molex (Your Dell BIOS wont forgive you. Just another love/hate thing) Both of these raise the voltage available for the CPU.

 

[william p]

I got Passmark to run. It still recocgnizes my fsb as 209 Mhz in stead of actual 266. It lists my CPU as 2.93 when it's at 3.72, and won't add my results to the database.
Passmark 2138
CPU Mark 4491
3d Mark 2950
memory 800
Disc Mark2096
I haven't heard from you in a while kisianik. Are you sill giving Dell's hell?

 

[qw12345]

Before anyone planning to provide any opinions it is very beneficial to read optiplex 780 manual ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_optiplex_desktop/optiplex-780_Service%20Manual2_en-us.pdf page 6 of pdf where it is clearly stated that PCIE is 2.0. I don't see where 1.0 came from. This is first.
Second. It is not that old PC, and with little money it can be upgraded to handle most of today tasks, including gaming up to Crysis 3 if you wish. Yes, it is not new, but when money are limited, all options has to be taken into consideration.

In order to better provide you with possible choices please identify your case form factor. I will provide Optiplex 755 family line picture as example, please name your form factor

Regarding Video card, check around for 7750, would it satisfy your needs? It will work on your existing power supply (wattage depends on case form factor as well), it costs at most $120 or less depending on manufacturer, it will play all modern games on low to medium settings without AA enabled!

Once you post form factor and Video card requirement (7750 or above, if above, power supply PSU upgrade is required) I can provide with possible choices. Then, and only then you can decide your next steps.

I recently recived a bunch of theses computers. I found a low profile card that cost 15 dollars that fit.

 

[joe heasley]

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? 😀