Upgrading Dell Optiplex 990 CPU

[upaloka]

can i upgrade a dell optiplex 990 MT from i5-2500 to i7-2600k

 

[RememberThe5th]

Yes you can, but whats your PSU unit? And buying K version may not have any sense to upgrade in Dell when you can't overclock it.

 

[william p]

Looking at userbenchmark.com optiplex 990 I'm not seeing any 15-2600K running there.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-OptiPlex-990/578
I AM seeing some i5-2500K and 2550K running. This usually indicates that the Optiplex has a95W CPU limit keeping the 2600K out.
It is possible to overclock with these using Throttlestop 8.xx software. It's an uncommon mod so you'll be on your own at a certain level.
Heatsinking the VRM MOSFETs can gain some headroom in the Voltage dept.
The Dell Dimension E520 in my sig. was done this way. The CPUZ link is at the bottom.
Here's a thread about it, but not much action there I'm afraid.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttlestop-overclocking-desktop-pcs.235975/page-2

 

[RememberThe5th]

Looking at userbenchmark.com optiplex 990 I'm not seeing any 15-2600K running there.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-OptiPlex-990/578
I AM seeing some i5-2500K and 2550K running. This usually indicates that the Optiplex has a95W CPU limit keeping the 2600K out.
It is possible to overclock with these using Throttlestop 8.xx software. It's an uncommon mod so you'll be on your own at a certain level.
Heatsinking the VRM MOSFETs can gain some headroom in the Voltage dept.
The Dell Dimension E520 in my sig. was done this way. The CPUZ link is at the bottom.
Here's a thread about it, but not much action there I'm afraid.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttlestop-overclocking-desktop-pcs.235975/page-2

WoW neither did i know that xD

 

[william p]

It's a lot of fun. But the extreme overclock on the E520 was because it supported 130W Pentium Ds, and 3.8GHz Pentium 4s so there was a pretty stout VRM to work with.
I also saw an i7 2600 running there. The i7 2600K is 91W and might be an option. Strictly unconfirmed though.
This method leaves the FSB, memory timing and everything else alone. Just volts, multiplier, and cooling. he has the MT case so PSU and GPU are pretty much wide open.
Out of 2K samples no i7 2600k found. Probably 1W over the limit. The i7 2600 looks like a good choice though.