best video card for optiplex 5040 or 5050 Small Form Factor

ok- thanks

its needed for a drone simulator program that has pretty heavy graphics...prob just end up getting a new PC that's made for it.

Optiplex computers especially older ones are really for business use and are not good for gaming. They do not upgrade easily if at all. Good idea to switch to a XPS or alienware model.

As of today, the Nvidia GTX 1050ti low profile is the card you want. Is the most powerful one (and believe, it is VERY competent) that will fit your system perfectly and doesn't need any additional power, since it draw 75 W max from the PCI-e connector.

Neither system supports a 75W card so a 1050 TI would not be an option.  These are sub compact systems.

The video slot is only 1 wide so any card going in there must be very low profile.

Officially the card is AMD Radeon™ R5 430, 2GB 00F8PX / 83J08

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/accessories/apd/490-bdlr

Unofficially

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/pny-geforce-gt-1030-graphics-card-2-gb-gddr5-low-profile/apd/a9...

https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/optiplex-5050-desktop_owners-manual_en-us.pdf

TINY Computer and power supply.

We are not talking about TOWER we are talking about SMALL FORM FACTOR. 75W cards are NOT Supported regardless of whether or not they fit.  These units do not come with 300W power supply.

The GTX 1050ti Low Profile will work with the SFF Optiplex, even on the standard PSU. With anything from a 920 to a 5040, 5050 and so on. Take 3 seconds to google DELL OPTIPLEX SFF 1050TI and see for yourself. At full load, a system with one shouldn't draw more than 150 W from the wall. Absolutely worse case scenario. edit: the only way it will not work is if Dell caps the power delivery on the slot itself at 35 W, like they usually do on some Poweredge models. It does not appear to be the case here. I am waiting for a good deal on a 1050ti to put on my Optiplex, or even see what kind of successor it will have. A 2050ti Low Profile will make a great addition to my 7020 SFF.

NVIDIA's site in regards to the specifications for the 1050TI state 300W minimum power supply.

https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-1050-ti/specifications

Several users tried 1050 TI in a 990 Tower and a 9020 Tower both which have LESS THAN 300W power supply. 

It works for a short time then the supply dies ending with Blinking Amber power button and no post.

Telling users that they can use a 75W 1050 TI with less than 300W power supply is bad advice.  

Optiplex 390 790 990  3010 7010 9010  3020 7020 9020 Towers as well as the smaller units PERMANENTLY FAIL due to overloading the power supply.

Can you share how you got your GTX 1050 ti to fit in your Optiplex. I have a Optiplex 7060 Core i5 small form factor and I had to return the one I got because there was not enough space between the pci slot and the power supply.

Quadro K1200 4GB and newest model Quadro P1000 4GB

I personally fitted and used these cards with 

OPTIPLEX 5040 SFF

OPTIPLEX 5050 SFF

and currently using a Precision 3420, same size as 5040 SFF same structure, with K1200

They are excellent for rendering also gaming, you can find many videos on youtube about Quadro K1200 & P1000

Actually the GTX 1650 is the highest card that is powered only by a pcie slot, , and most common Dell optplex gaming upgrade, you can run the GTX 1650, 39% better performance than the 1050, i have 7010 3rd gen i5 running it, google it , its on youtube, power supply is under rated, works fine on 240 watt, no need the 300 really, it would underperform a bit if any demand is not met, nothing noticable though,