Best VGA card & PSU for my [Upgraded] DELL Optiplex 745

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by mohamedkamel, Mar 14, 2017.

  1. mohamedkamel

    mohamedkamel MDL Addicted

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    #1 mohamedkamel, Mar 14, 2017
    Hi,

    Today, I upgraded my DELL Optiplex 745 (AKA mini tower) with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 and it seems nice and gave my PC a good kick in performance. The problem here I guess is the stock power supply which is less than 250 watts. I suppose if I tied myself with this stock PSU, my upgrade options would be useless and not significant at all.

    So, I plan to make another upgrade for both PSU and VGA card [I have 1 GB AMD card already]. So, I need to know what the best combination which would be perfect with my new CPU.

    - CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 [already installed]
    - VGA card: [needed, will buy based on your recommendations "maybe a link on Amazon or e-bay would be nice"]
    - PSU: [needed, will buy based on your recommendations and it has to fit my Optiplex 745 "maybe a link on Amazon or e-bay would be nice"]
    - RAM: 8 GB [already installed]

    So, I need to buy VGA card & PSU that would make the perfect combination with the CPU and my Optiplex 745 components.

    Thanks,
    Mohamed
     
  2. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

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    #2 sebus, Mar 15, 2017
    Now put the meter on it just to see much much juice it pulls even idle. Scary, unless you have (you might) solar power
     
  3. mohamedkamel

    mohamedkamel MDL Addicted

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    #3 mohamedkamel, Mar 15, 2017 (OP)
    Sorry, I do NOT accept any irony or making fun of my post. So, please STOP that s**t. I'm not gaming on this PC, it is for my work and work means living. I doubt you understand this!
     
  4. Michaela Joy

    Michaela Joy MDL Crazy Lady

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    #4 Michaela Joy, Mar 15, 2017
  5. mohamedkamel

    mohamedkamel MDL Addicted

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    #5 mohamedkamel, Mar 15, 2017 (OP)
  6. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

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    #6 Joe C, Mar 15, 2017
  7. mohamedkamel

    mohamedkamel MDL Addicted

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    #7 mohamedkamel, Mar 15, 2017 (OP)
  8. mohamedkamel

    mohamedkamel MDL Addicted

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    #8 mohamedkamel, Mar 15, 2017 (OP)
  9. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

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    #9 Joe C, Mar 15, 2017
  10. sebus

    sebus MDL Guru

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    #10 sebus, Mar 18, 2017
    No irony was intended. That was just a statement of facts (from experience!)
     
  11. bpwnes

    bpwnes MDL Member

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    #11 bpwnes, Mar 19, 2017
    At the moment, I am currently running a GT730 in a SFF HP desktop (4th Gen i5) as my media streaming computer without any issues (even with it's small PSU). For some reason I couldn't get either of the on-board DP++ outputs to work with my new adapter and TV. I just installed the video card cause I didn't feel like figuring out what was wrong, and so far it has been fine. (I couldn't even get the active DP-HDMI adapter I ordered to work on my laptop either, so it may have been defective... but I'm using a video card now so w/e. Lethargy rules the day once again.)

    So for this to be relevant, your 250W PSU will power a 730 just fine, as long as you don't go full bore on CPU & GPU all day every day. If you aren't gaming or using it for extended rendering, then it's fine and you won't burn out your PSU (at least from my experience).
     
  12. mohamedkamel

    mohamedkamel MDL Addicted

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    #12 mohamedkamel, Mar 19, 2017 (OP)

    Thanks! I actually looked into my PSU and found it is 150 Watts only :( Howver, it runs 2 HDDs + 2 SSDs + One VGA 1 GB AMD card.
     
  13. Michaela Joy

    Michaela Joy MDL Crazy Lady

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    #13 Michaela Joy, Mar 20, 2017
    @mohamedkamel: I would suggest that you upgrade it before anything else. Then, you can upgrade the machine as much as you like without having to worry about power consumption.
     
  14. mohamedkamel

    mohamedkamel MDL Addicted

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    #14 mohamedkamel, Mar 20, 2017 (OP)
    That's what I will do soon. In the mean time, I think I shouldn't upgraded the CPU :(. What I should have done, is to build a new rig with the specs I need. Anyway, upgrading the PSU will not be a problem as I will be able to use it in my new build soon, I guess.