Dell Optiplex 3020 mini tower CPU upgrade

spec for 3020: Intel® 4th generation Core™ i5 Quad Core (84W for MT), H81 chipset

i5-4690 is top i5 for it, with latest bios update it also supports 4th gen i7, top i7 cpu is i7-4770 or i7-4790 or even i7-4790k even though bios and chipset do not support overclock. i7-4790k base freq is 4.0 GHz. TDP is 88W not much above 84W TDP of i7-4790. both are great 4th gen i7 cpu.

https://www.dell.com/community/Optiplex-Desktops/Optiplex-3020-MT-i7-4790-CPU-upgrade-successful/td-p/6180089

gaming is more dependent on gpu. for minitower you have many good options to install discrete gpu w commensurate psu upgrade. when you decide on cpu I can help you select a gpu that best matches the new cpu.

Hi @redxps630,

Can the 7010, 7020, 9010, & 9020 support 4th gen. I7's?

9020: yes https://discountelectronics.com/dell-optiplex-9020-quad-core-i7-4770-sff-computer/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyfKm25mH6QIVy56zCh0mKw-KEAAYASAAEgLo8PD_BwE

9010: no, its socket is lga1155, cpu 3rd gen ivy bridge i.e., i7-3770, not c/w lga 1150 socket for 4th gen cpu (haswell)

7020: yes https://www.cnet.com/products/dell-optiplex-7020-sff-core-i7-4790-3-6-ghz-8-gb-500-gb-m57t4/

7010: no, same reason as 9010

9020 https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/optiplex-9020-desktop_owners-manual2_en-us.pdf
Maximum memory:
Mini-Tower, Small Form Factor 32 GB  (4x8 gb)

I would not go beyond 8GB DDR3 sticks because one, 16GB DDR3 stick is too $ and not worth it and two, 32GB is more than enough for most users.

Optiplex 9010 https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_optiplex_desktop/optiplex-9010_owner%27s%20manual_en-us.pdf
Maximum memory:
Optiplex 9010 32 GB (MT/SFF 4x8 gb)

@redxps630, I take it that's the same for the 3010:  Tops out at I7-3770.

Do any of the aforementioned exceed RAM specs.?  Like the 3010 & 3020 can take 16GB instead of 8GB, 7010 & 7020 can take 32GB instead of 16GB.

Sometimes it can be a little hard to keep track of as it's not in Dell doctrine.  A few of their earlier models can exceed RAM specs.

You do good job.

redxps630.

Thanks for info, i was thinking i7 2600 or the i7 4790, but the 4790 wins well, i was also thinking about buying a Geforce GTX 1650 GPU from a friend & an Antec VP450 PSU, wdo you think these will go well??

Thanks.

Arty.

Graphic card and processor will work great together

Intel Core i7-4790 (Clock speed at 100%) with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Clock speed at 100%) x1 will produce only 0.45% of bottleneck.

if possible get the gddr6 ver. of RTX1650 which is better than the gddr5.

antec is good name brand psu. You only need 300W for RTX1650, so you are good.

Hi again @redxps630,

Tip:  Remember to check for CPU OP already has in case they already have a good or great CPU.  Going from quad core to quad core usually has limited improvement.  For example, going from an i5-4690 to i7-4790 only has 18% improvement according to game-debate, not noticeable.  Another way to put it, 1.18x the performance.  When it's almost double, then it's more noticeable.  I just use "i5-4690 vs. i7-4790 game-debate" for a search term in Google and click on first option that comes up.  You might be doing something similar to check bottleneck.  Often, increasing RAM and switching to an SSD can speed up a PC more.  And then there's the GPJ...

However, this is not to say that the I7-4790 and the RTX 1650 isn't a great pairing.   I think Arty will be happy with his new system.  Best of luck!

HI.

My existing PCU is the stock 4570,

Another question (if you don't mind) is, i have a standard HDD & have purchased a crucial MX500 SSD, i used Acronis to create a mirror image onto the SSD using Crucial instructions (all ok) now i want to install the SSD to use mainly to boot the pc & keep the HDD for storage.

Is this straight forward to do or am i better to pay a tec wizard to do???

You'd have 28% better performance with the I7-4790.  So lets check bottleneck with your current CPU, pasted from Google:  The price/performance ratio is excellent for GTX 1650 SUPER against the competition in budget mid-range cards. This combination between GTX 1650 SUPER and Intel Core i5-4570 @ 3.20GHz has less than 8% bottleneck in many games and is perfect match to avoid FPS loss.

According to what I've seen from redxps630, anything below 10% bottleneck is good.

Nope, shouldn't need a tech wizard.  With your new SSD now in use and Windows booted up, on your old HDD, I'd delete the partitions, then create new partition.  This erases the drive and PC shouldn't get confused as seeing it as bootable.  Right click on Start menu, and then there's Disk Management.  There's YouTube videos on the subject too.

I'm sure you might know you'll need another SATA data cable to plug in HDD; as 2 power hookups are already there for HDD's/SSD's.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.  I don't want to type too much, overlap knowledge, and then it comes off as condescending.

With adding that SSD, you'll definitely be delighted.

@Arty1543 @bradthetechnut 

agree that going from i5-4570 to i7-4790 w same gpu RTX1650, gain in FPS is quite modest.  Please see average gaming FPS at high quality (not ultra quality) for various resolution. 

i5-4570: 82 and 62 FPS at 1080p and 1440p respectively 

i7-4790: 88 and 67 FPS 

neither is good for 4k resolution gaming.

Gentleman.

Thanks for some great advice/opinions, as for installing my SSD and setting it as Boot, i have no idea how to do this without a step by step guide, i think i will have to troll through likely countless youtube videos to sus this out.

Thanks again.

Arty.

IMO installing ssd as boot drive is easy and no need to watch video. Just disconnect all hdds first, connect only ssd sata to pc, use uefi mode in bios, clean install Win 10.