Optiplex 745 upgrade

[Mikey17]

I am wandering if I can upgrade MB/CPU/PS etc. for my Optiplex 745. It currently has a ORF703 MB Q6700 CPU....just a novice

 

[tech-wreck]

what size case is it?

 

[tech-wreck]

http://www.dell.com/support/home/static/R6.1HF/mse-r-core.min.css/product-support/product/optiplex-745/manuals
may help identify it.

 

[photonboy]

Hi,
You already have about the best CPU you can get for that motherboard. It's a 4-core, 2.66GHz CPU, socket LGA775:
http://ark.intel.com/products/30790/Intel-Core2-Quad-Processor-Q6700-8M-Cache-2_66-GHz-1066-MHz-FSB

You can buy slightly faster CPU's for that socket, however looking at your motherboard I doubt they support them due to the power requirements. You'd also have to track down information on EXACTLY what CPU's are supported by that EXACT motherboard with the EXACT BIOS version.

(The best one I believe is 3.2GHz or 20% faster. In terms of gaming that's at most 20% faster though even with a severe CPU bottleneck probably you'd get no more than a 15% boost in game frame rates. Put another way, buying this new CPU if it even worked would get you maybe at most 35FPS instead of 30FPS)

Other:
The GOOD NEWS however is that when DX12 is released you should see a big difference. If you have a half decent graphics card (or buy one later) DX12 can help alleviate a CPU bottleneck.

That will only apply to DX12 games though.

*Your CPU is just under HALF the performance of the i5-4590 Intel CPU. So you'd definitely have a big bottleneck with any half decent graphics card in modern games. We'll have to wait and see but I do think it would make many DX12 games very playable even with a reasonably good graphics card.

(Many modern i5's only use about HALF their processing power now which is similar to using ALL of your CPU's processing power. However due to the way DX11 and previous API's work it's very hard to use ALL of a processors capabilities. So again, it might work reasonably well for DX12 by using close to 100% of all four cores on your Q6700).

 

[tech-wreck]

well said, photon boy. but...
if it's an USFF or SFF case, options will be severely limited by lack of space and power.

 

[ko888]

You can't upgrade the motherboard in the Optiplex 745 because the BTX form factor is end-of-life technology (i.e. all BTX development was discontinued in 2006).

ATX motherboards are not compatible with a BTX chassis because the rear I/O panel and expansion slot locations are different.

 

[Mikey17]

what size case is it?

 

[Mikey17]

My case is a mini tower...Thanks for your assaitance