dell optaplex 780

answer 2, if 13 years old and dad won't pop, for $50 ? 

get a SSD cheap say 128GB and use that. to boot/ run leave  the rest alone.

we call that the purse, what is your  purse?,  how you send money wisely matters for sure wanting it to be good next year. or even more...

why not retire this old 2009 PC sold for $19 on fleabay, get one that is at least 2010 or newer,? 780 are nogood.

one with CORE processors Intel Gen3 up, for sure. (there are a glut of great Used DELL PC now, why bottom fish?(sorry) but is.

your PC has no value, and W7 ends soon. so. get one that runs w10-64bit solid. and with a future.

my 2 cents.

a 3020 MT at least or if really frisky a T5610 or 7610 Precision,!  now that is a machine.( I have both) $350 

3020 is 2013 year, with H81 chipset, (nice one) 4th gen/Haswell support. can be had for $50 used. (no hdd)

$69 ready to run...sans OS , I never buy them with OS, I add mine,

then pop in a new SSD and let it rip.

I am sad seeing folks putting huge cash in to such and old PC. good luck using any 780 PC.

the 64bit intel list here here,  only those are good.  gen3 ugrades and Gen 4 , fresh, ok> ivy bridge or better

most folks would say haswell or better, and be right, if no W7 to load first, see?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006105/processors.html

Your money would be better spent upgrading GPU to GT1030.

CPU upgrades on 13 year old models gain nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHTMZHcFaJE

The 780 might be a little old, but it's revelent.  Dell made the commercial grade computers to last.

CPU questions on the 780 were answered in other posts.

The max CPU it can take is the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0GHz.  According to game-debate, it's a 219% performance improvement over the E5500.  I think that's a noticeable difference.  I use the Q9650 in my 755 MT, 64% improvement over the E8400.

I got the most noticeable improvement in speed when I maxed the RAM and switched to an SSD.

If you already had a quad, then the most noticeable improvements would be in this order - SSD > RAM > GPU > CPU

Optiplex 780 Tech Guide

Hopefully this post works.  Post before didn't - No message box.  Changes might be being made to the interface.

Text box in Android 8.1 only shows while signed out.  Now I can't edit replies either.

The size of your 780 isn't stated.  It's included in the service tag, but service tags aren't for posting due to user specific info.

Do you have an MT, DT, SFF, or USFF?  The Q9650 CPU is a viable option except in the USFF.  The USFF has the E8600 for its max.