I've looked into it a little more, and I really don't think it's a worthy upgrade anyways. The preformance boost from what I have right now, (i5 2400) isn't that huge. Thanks anyways!

I can confirm that a Xeon E3 1270 (i7 2600 equivalent, but somewhat cheaper, without integrated graphics and a TDP of 80W vs 95W of the i7 2600) works just fine in a 790 SFF (BIOS version A22).

I have a question. Why is there a v attached to some of the xeon cpu's? For example I saw an e3 xeon with v6 at the end.

Another question. Do you think the e3 1280 or 1290 would work?

I'm not going to get into the technicalities, from _what I understand_ processors designed to fit the same socket should be interchangeable, but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll get the full benefit of swapping in a "faster" chip. Thermal and power supply capacity issues have to be taken into account.

Upgrading to a faster CPU doesn't necessarily mean a faster system, either - in many cases the bottleneck is memory bandwidth, hard disk or network throughput.

E3-1290 V2 in a Optiplex 990MT w/ 550w PSU and GTX 1650 Super w/ 16GB DDR3 1333 RAM

Hi

if you go for xeon e3-1230 v2 you will have 8 threads to 3,7ghz boost when i5-2400 has only 4 threads. Basically you have an i7-2600 counterpart for almost half price nowdays. 

Hello I have an optiplex 790 with a Xeon E3 1280, and it works fine. I have already tested successfully with an I5 2500 and a Xeon E3 1240. Xeons are less expensive (Aliexpress among others) but you absolutely need a graphics card. We can put I think a Xeon E3 1290. It is necessary to check that the CPU is of the Sandy Bridge type and not Ivy Bridge. See: https://www.cpu-world.com/Sockets/Socket%201155%20(LGA1155).html

Have you updated the bios? What is your bios version? Dell 790 works with every cpu of the link that you wrote?

xeon graphic cards doesn't exist , not good translate. I just mean if you have a graphic card you can use Xeon cpu...

English--

Hello;

Yes, the bios must be updated to "A22" of August 21, 2018. Only Sandy bridge type CPUs work and not "Ivy Bridge".

If you have a xeon E3 graphics card (1240, 1280, 1290 first generation) are more interesting because they are powerful and less expensive.

If you don't have a graphics card choose an i5-2500 or an i7-2600 which has the integrated graphics part.

Cordially
Olivier

Fr-----

Bonjour;

Oui le bios doit être mis à jour le "A22" du 21 août 2018. Seul les CPU de type Sandy bridge fonctionne et pas les "Ivy Bridge".

Si vous avez une carte graphique les xeon E3 (1240, 1280, 1290 première génération) sont plus intéressant car ils sont puissant et moins cher.

Si vous n'avez pas de carte graphique choisissez un i5-2500 ou un i7-2600 qui possède la partie graphique intègrée.

Cordialement
Olivier

Thanks fotaras76
and update to BIOS version A22

What about the L versions of Xeon? 1260L, 1265L, 1220L ...are they compatible? They consume less power so they are ideal for sff 790.

That's not accurate, take a look List of Intel Sandy Bridge-based Xeon microprocessors - Wikipedia