Continuation of the story. *K* processor returned and refunded (thank you E-Bay), and I installed the Core i7-4790 "locked" version. As you have seen, there are ex-office 3020/7020/9020's, mini tower and SFF, coming to market with the i7 CPU. If there had been chronic overheating problems in that environment, a Helpdesk would have complained *loudly* to Dell, passing the heat on from their end users. With current BIOS, it works swimmingly, Hyperthreading enabled. Now the question of thermal comfort...
I had already upgraded the fan/heatsink from the stock RD6XX to a later J9G15- copper core and more powerful fan. Fit perfectly, and kept the stock i5-4590 5 degrees cooler (max 69 deg C) in the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility's Stress Test. Lesson- an 84W TDP is only part of the thermal equation. Increased frequency = increased heat. And so it went stress-testing the i7-4790. It *was* hotter than I expected, max 82 deg C, but the computer's thermal profile comfortably kept the CPU temps around 80 with NO temperature alarms anywhere, no thermal throttling, and no current throttling (an improvement over the i5). Without sounding like a server room- CPU and case fans were only at 2/3rds of max speed. So I am content that, for what we are using it for at home, it will run without calling attention to itself. Will I carry it as long as I carried an Optiplex 745? Probably not. At that point, my wife will insist on a laptop.
Thought- A *K* processor would be forever underutilized on a Optiplex MBD that you cannot overclock. Or fiddle with fan speeds. Remember what this product line was created for.
If you are looking for a reliable and still-quick office desktop on the cheap, as I was, the SFF will do nicely. If you're looking to create a "budget gamer", the mini-tower will give you more breathing room inside and a much wider ranger of upgrade options. Unless you're keen on the packaging challenge...
WmGFuchs28
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18 Posts
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November 27th, 2020 08:00
Continuation of the story. *K* processor returned and refunded (thank you E-Bay), and I installed the Core i7-4790 "locked" version. As you have seen, there are ex-office 3020/7020/9020's, mini tower and SFF, coming to market with the i7 CPU. If there had been chronic overheating problems in that environment, a Helpdesk would have complained *loudly* to Dell, passing the heat on from their end users. With current BIOS, it works swimmingly, Hyperthreading enabled. Now the question of thermal comfort...
I had already upgraded the fan/heatsink from the stock RD6XX to a later J9G15- copper core and more powerful fan. Fit perfectly, and kept the stock i5-4590 5 degrees cooler (max 69 deg C) in the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility's Stress Test. Lesson- an 84W TDP is only part of the thermal equation. Increased frequency = increased heat. And so it went stress-testing the i7-4790. It *was* hotter than I expected, max 82 deg C, but the computer's thermal profile comfortably kept the CPU temps around 80 with NO temperature alarms anywhere, no thermal throttling, and no current throttling (an improvement over the i5). Without sounding like a server room- CPU and case fans were only at 2/3rds of max speed. So I am content that, for what we are using it for at home, it will run without calling attention to itself. Will I carry it as long as I carried an Optiplex 745? Probably not. At that point, my wife will insist on a laptop.
Thought- A *K* processor would be forever underutilized on a Optiplex MBD that you cannot overclock. Or fiddle with fan speeds. Remember what this product line was created for.
If you are looking for a reliable and still-quick office desktop on the cheap, as I was, the SFF will do nicely. If you're looking to create a "budget gamer", the mini-tower will give you more breathing room inside and a much wider ranger of upgrade options. Unless you're keen on the packaging challenge...
Peace.
paultranevite
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44 Posts
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October 27th, 2022 16:00
Did you run a test with stock cooler on i7 4790 to see the difference?
Between the copper and aluminum core heatsink?