I have an Optiplex 755 for a 'general use' computer. I had a home built box that was fairly up to date when I took it out of service 2ish years ago ( I still have it actually, just out of service ).. I downgraded for a computer left over from a batch I sold. I got tired of the Vacuum cleaner sound and radiating heat TBH.. I stuck 4gb ram in it and a Geforce 8500 that I had shelved and it runs HL2, Garys mod and a cpl others just fine I got rid of my Xbox 360 a while ago for an Xbox One and a few games that have no XB1 release or compatibility, only PC/360 release. I want to play again. I have them for PC ( Singularity, Darkest Of Days, GTA IV, DN Forever, cpl others ) So I want to upgrade the video card. I know that a Radeon 6670, and R7 250 will 'probably' play all of those games fine and for sure fit in a single slot configuration. Single slot cards are easy to find in them, Lot with Dell P/N's.. BUT for $10 more than the R7 250 I can get a single slot 650 TI. I know it takes a seperate power connector and listed to take 400W.. I think my 305w PS is actually up to the task since Dell under rates their PS's, if I split a SATA power connector and use an adapter.. But before I drop money on a card I want to make sure it will work?.. The 650 TI is only marginally slower than the Radeon 7790 that I had in my old box.. I know I can change power supplies, but do I HAVE to? Will the 2 caps near the port interfere with the bigger card? I'm also going to add another 4gb of ram, and a Q9500 or 9650 since those processors are finally coming down in price. Theoretically if I could have it my way, it would be close compared to the same speed of my previous computer with it's AMD X3 445 Rana processor, 8gb of Corsair Vengence and Radeon HD7790
I wouldn't reccomend doing that. Nvidia rate their cards at set wattage for good reason. To maintain stable clock speeds the card needs a stable power supply. Trying to pull more voltage from SATA connecters is not logical at all and will inevitably cause you issues and worst case damage your gpu. I'm quite sure the voltage from SATA connecters is different to PCI power connectors. Not to mention your RAM and CPU upgrade will also draw more voltage. Sometimes it's just not worth bodging things and at any rate a decent modular PSU can be purchased quite cheaply nowadays. My advice..... Buy a new PSU and do it right.
305W PSU? Buy a decent PSU ffs lol Chances that PSU could push 305W max load are low anyway, probably looking more like 250-270W max
That's kinda what I was thinking. I've been told by some that dell under rated their PSU's by a couple people on different occasions and that I could run more than it should. But always in the back of my mind, it's still 305W. I've never used those 6 pin adapters, I just knew they are available. I've always bought more power supply than I needed and with the Radeon 7790 I actually bought a PSU with the video card to make sure I had enough power to run it... IIRC it was a 700W XFX brand... The only reason for considering sketching by with the stock PSU is that it's got the right connections for the case. Cables are exactly the length needed ect... It's just a neat and clean case to work in/ on Now comes the question, do I upgrade PSU to be able to use 650 TI, or do I just go with what I know will fit and Dell certifies will fit such as the Radeon HD6670 or R7 250? Both versions I can get slim line Dell branded cards. This is an old box, but how much punch can it still pack?
There is another alternative, I've done this with 2 x 6850 when my PSU wasn't up to the job, and that's to use two PSUs Use the paperclip trick to force the PSU to power on as soon as it has mains power, and connect the GPU to that, then when you power on the PC, turn on that PSU manually too at the same time Then you have the official PSU for the PC, and the 2nd PSU dedicated to the GPU, long as you power them both up pretty much at the same time, the PC doesn't know any different -- Personally I would go with a higher rated PSU, you can always spend some time doing cable management and getting it looking neat again
Then yes, full new build, wouldn't even cost that much to build something with considerably more power than that thing
I've built multiple computers thru the years. I actually still have the old build that I took out of service. Just would need my current hard drives, but I could refresh it and bring it back to life. It's still outdated, but I could stick a Phenom II X6 in it, and along with the 7790, should be far more capable than the aging Optiplex 755, though the 755 is much less obnoxious
That phenom II chip is actually better than anything AMD is providing currently. Next year (Q1?) AMD is coming out with the new ZEN chip and I'm hearing really great things about it, supposed to be able to compete with the Intel i7 chips. If your serious about upgrading and sticking with AMD, I'd wait it out till those ZEN chips become available
I just wanted to add that i was not suggesting your rig was inferior. I had a similar Dell pc a while back but to be honest it was good as a workstation but not much else. In the end i got rid due to lack of expansion possibilities. Something worth noting if you went for the GTX 650 TI, many people have had problems with BIOS not detecting NVIDIA cards based on the Maxwell architecture. Its a bit of a 50 /50 depending on the age of your pc and BIOS. It would be a shame to spend cash for it not to work in your rig. Also i still see heat as an issue for you. With the GPU fan facing up your card will be blowing hot air straight up over the motherboard and also towards your CPU heatsink. Id also suggest being carefull of the PSU you might end up purchasing as if it has an outward facing fan you're going to be blowing hot air from that into your case too. If your not careful you will end up with an oven ! Id honestly consider a re-think on how you're going to put this rig together
In all honesty, those off the shelf pc's like Dell, HP's and what not are really not designed to be upgraded. They are made that way by on purpose. Big manufacture's have no vested interest by making products that can be easily upgraded. They intentionally attempt to force you to buy a new pc. Preferably from them, and only on their terms they they offer. DIY is always your best option for upgrade ability.
^^^^^^ +1 Ive had both Dell and HP. The best thing that happened to my expensive HP rig was bricking the mobo during a BIOS flash ..... although thats another story !! However it was the push i needed to build my own stuff from parts and ive never looked back. My current rig although not full of the very latest hardware is still quite a beasty machine !
Yup.... if the O.P. has a good phenom II chip he ought to be using it. It should fit into an am3 board, but he'll need to check the specs on that board to be sure. If not their are plenty of AMD boards out their brand new today (and they are cheap) that can use that phenom chip
I don't have the Phenom II chip. I can get one though, since prices are finally down on them. When I actually built that computer The Bulldozer/ AM3+ architecture came out not long after so it was outdated pretty much from the day I built it.. Then Bulldozer sucking kept the prices of the Phenom II chips up there to where I just couldn't justify the cost.. The Mobo is a Biostar A770E3 and it was rated for Phenom II when I bought it. Right now it has an X3 445 Rana that may or may not be OC'd to 3.4 GHZ. I got a Factory FX8120 cooler which keeps that chip ice cold no matter what
Just for giggles, I installed Singularity onto the Optiplex 755 just to see if it would play it. Specs are well within min requirements other than the video card which suggests anything less than an 8800 GT or equivlant is no good for it.. But, it plays great on 1080x720... Considering this, and the fact that Radeon HD 6670 I can get new ( DELL OEM ) is only $31, it should run GTA IV fairly well, and then just not do anything else to the computer.. That's one of the cards that Dell says will fit it. And I know from experience GTA IV won't run on the Geforce 8500 ( Card was in storage for that reason ). All the other games I want to play, run on the Unreal engine and are of the same vintage as Singularity so chances are, a 6670 will do just fine on them also THEN, I'll start piecing the other computer back together with some upgrades. Probably a nicer case without a window.. The case is a Cooler Master Elite 310 w/ the top mounted PSU but I've never liked it much. Better than the no name cases I used to use, but I'd really like something nicer to work in.. The only reason for not just going all out on the AMD box is, these days I'm only an occasional gamer. 95% of what the Optiplex box does is browse internet, and some video editing..
I was browsing for parts to make my home built more power efficient ( I want to get rid of the vaccume cleaner radiant heater effect ) and stumbled on the GTX 1050 TI. It consumes only 75W and most don't need a power connector, plus it's actually faster than the Radeon 7790. It's also available from Zotac in a mini version which will fit in the Optiplex 755 and the card exhaust would vent right out of the case through the case vent above the card slot.. I may spend for a new processor and some ram for the Optiplex and stick the GTX 1050 Mini card in that, and then work on a new Intel build since Intel is the future until AMD gets back what they used to have, and the Zen chip won't be cheap anyway.. New build I might try liquid cooling since I've never done that.