Have a look at the dell manuals to see what processors were available for that model.

However, going from an i5 to i7 may not be very noticeable. I have an earlier machine but when I looked into doing that, it wasn't worth the extra cost for what little gain it provides. I wouldn't do it unless i came by it free or very cheaply.

You know I see no documentation anywhere stating whether or not this will work. I see some older documentation which doesn't mention i7s but then I see 3050s that come with i7s but could they have a different chipset than my 3050?

That's interesting what you say that I may not notice a difference btw the i5 and the i7, I appreciate that information, super helpful.

Optiplex 3050 Spec Sheet 

There doesn't appear to be support for I7's in the 3050.

But all is not lost.  If not done already, switching to a  SSD and increasing RAM can make a more noticeable difference.

Switching from quad core to quad core often hardly makes a noticeable difference.

In a 7010 for example, going from an I5-3470 to I7-3770 yields a 24% improvement according to game-debate.  If the increase isn't almost double, it's hardly noticeable.

I went from an E8400 to a Q9650 in my previous 755 for a 64% performance increase.  I didn't notice much until I switched to an SSD and increased RAM.

I also see some 3050's are sold with I7's.  You might have to rely on that to tell you what I7's the 3050 can take, like the I7-6700 or I7-7700.  That's came up on Amazon and ebay.

You can also check game-debate if want.  "I5-6500 vs. I7-7700 game-debate" in the Google search bar.  Game-debate is usually the first option that comes up.  In this case, 67% improvement.  That's not too bad.  That = 1.67x improvement.  The numbers in circles in the screengrabs are gaming ratings.

28% with the I7-6700.

Hey guys!

Yup newest bios for this machine is already on it!

I bought an i7-6700 just waiting for it to come in and will keep you posted on my success or lack of

As of now the machine's been upgraded all around short of the motherboard with an Intel Core I5-6500, 16gb of ddr4, a Samsung Evo+ m.2 for boot and a Samsung Pro SSD for storage.

I will let the group know what happens with the i7, at worst I figure I'll sell it!

If you try an I7, be sure BIOS is updated to the latest and greatest for your 3050 first.

Hey everyone, an update on my little experiment.

As you know I ordered the i7-6700 cpu to try in my Optiplex 3050 and it works!

Thank you all for your help

Jason

You know I haven't really put it through the mill yet, but the two appear very similar in performance maybe some slight performance boost at boot up? Would I recommend an upgrade from an i5-6550 to an i7 6700 at this time? no not at least on a dell machine, maybe a machine you can overclock (as my 6700 is the "k" model), but it was a fun test, happy I did it and I love taking stuff apart and putting it back together so I'm happy with my purchase.

With 16GB RAM and SSD's, it sounds like you have a pretty fast machine.

Glad it works.   How do you like it compared to the I5-6500?

Brad it works pretty good! I'm loving it

Hi All,
@JayMir interesting to see that the Optiplex 3050 supports CPU's it was not originally sold with.

I am about to pick up a second hand Optiplex 3050 DDR4-SDRAM i5-7500 SFF (small form factor).
Given the i5-7500 is a 7th-gen 4-core cpu, I am hoping that I can upgrade the cpu to one of the 6-core i5 or (8-core i7 CPU's from this generation, but maybe out of budget). Given the extra cores I expect quite a lot of performance improvements in the multi-threaded workloads I have planned for the machine.
What would I need to look out for to find out if the CPU will be compatible? (Aside from power limits of the included power supply, which probably rules out 8 core cpu's). Can I find information about which CPU's the bios of the machine supports?

I see that the original CPU (i5-7500) has a TDP of 65W, for example, the i5-8400 (6 core!) also has a TDP of 65W and uses the same LGA 1151 socket.

it would not work.  the 8th gen cpu requires a 300 series chipset.  your pc has 200 series chipset.

Intel's longer answer:

9th and 8th Generation Intel® Core™ Desktop Processors use an LGA1151 socket. However, they require motherboards based on Intel® 300 Series Chipset. 

These processors aren't backward compatible with motherboards based on Intel® 200 Series Chipset and Intel® 100 Series Chipset.

Similarly, 7th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors and 6th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors aren't compatible with the Intel® 300 Series Chipset motherboards.

re: I am hoping that I can upgrade the cpu to one of the 6-core i5 or 8-core i7 CPU's from this generation

there is no 6 or 8 core cpu in the 7th gen intel core cpu.  It is either 4 core (i5/7) or 2 core (i3).  the 7th gen is also known as kaby lake.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-OptiPlex-3050/51325  I Googled "Optiplex 3050 sff I5-7500 userbenchmark."  So if you want to check on any other CPU's for the 3050, there you go.  The catch I found with userbenchmark though is I didn't see it specifically mention SFF.  So you might have to watch the watts and cooling.  I wouldn't go over the max watts the 3050 originally comes with for CPU.

It's not just socket type.  CPU's are limited to what the B250 chipset in the 3050 can take.  It doesn't look like 8th gen is an option for the 3050.

OptiPlex 3050 Small Form Factor Owner's Manual  You can also get a pdf if you want.