help please ugrade for an old optiplex 780

Question

hi from ireland

I was given a optiflex 780 mini tower running well, i decided to give it to my 10 year old son but i would dearly love any advice about upgrading ot to get the best out of it(it will be good for him to see how the inside works) many many thanks in advance

speedstep · Accepted Answer

Edit amazon UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ZOTAC-ZT-71115-20L-GeForce-Graphics-Card/dp/B00R5UW038/

1030 single slot full height

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GeForce-GT-1030-OC/dp/B071G6482R/

Recommended Single slot card is the Zotac 1050TI.

https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-DisplayPort-128-bit-ZT-P10510A-10L/dp/B01MCU1ERO

GT1030 is also fine. zotac and evga make a full height tower single slot card 1050TI is faster but expensive. 1030 is better than 730 but also more expensive.

IF your 780 has windows 7 coa you can still install windows 10 free.

https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-Express-Graphics-ZT-71115-20L/dp/B00R5UW038/

Gt730 card is also fine but hard to find now.

edit found another card that is single slot

https://www.amazon.com/BTO-GeForce-Graphics-Monitor-Support/dp/B08GQ8RD18/

evga 04G-P3-2739-KR

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-128bit-Graphics-04G-P3-2739-KR/dp/B01AWB7WMU

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GT-1030-2G-LP/dp/B071L4VKF6/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLVrAW2Umk8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y32mBdZHJY

redxps630 · Answer

Cpu is already core2quad so updating to top Q9650 is small incremental boost.

Perhaps a good child project is to update psu and get a discrete graphics card which give more macroscopic build your pc experience than updating cpu/ram. 8 gb ram is also already good enough.

Depending on budget I think 780 core2Q can support up to GTX 750Ti without bottleneck. Also consider AMD video card which tends to want a more powerful psu. For future proof when child wants to build next gaming pc can consider invest in faster video card.

Another inexpensive project is to update to 1 TB HDD or an ssd if that is of interest.

imback · Answer

hi redxps63 many thanks for your advice which i will gladly look into the cpu Q9650 and would the GTX 750Ti be a reasonable upgrade for the Q9650? (im not to savvy on computers as im sure you guessed) lol your help is greatly appreciated

redxps630 · Answer

The cpu core2quad series is of a generation at least 13 year old behind current one so the upgrade within the series has limited practical benefit. If this is intended as a learning how to upgrade a pc project then keep in mind the investment would not bring a huge return in speed. Q9650 is about $50. I would keep the cpu and upgrade video card first to see it is good enough,

GTX750Ti works well with the old and slow c2Q cpu. But based on same reason it is a slow video card compared to modern one. I think the combo is good for playing Fortnite which does not demand a lot on hardware. You need a 300W psu for the video card.

780 case does not allow you to upgrade beyond the current cpu socket so this is the end of upgrade potential you can get.

imback · Answer

hi WmGFuchs28 thank you i will definitely be adding a SSD. i appreciate your help also.

imback · Answer

hi again redxps63i will take your advice and just go for the gtx 70 ti and leave the old cpu. one final question is could you recommend a sound card i could fit for 5.1 speakers? thanks again for your time/knowledge

WmGFuchs28 · Answer

Hi. From what I remember of that generation (I carried an Optiplex 745 for a ridiculously long time), memory maxed out at 8 GB. An important place to gain speed and keep it usable is the HDD. In its last year, I replaced the traditional hard drive with an SSD, which made it reasonably quick and useable for a little while longer. If this is a tool for your child to play with and *learn on*, proprietary tics aside, that is fantastic. Have fun!

redxps630 · Answer

any full height sound card will do. I have used several old Dell XPS sound cards made by Creative Labs (old model but still work). Here is one example. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Labs-Sound-Blaster-X-Fi-Xtreme-Audio-PCI-Soundcard-SB0790-FREE-SHIPPING/353268921819?epid=77198275&hash=item524077f5db:g:tYMAAOSwMp9fqFF9

look around on eBay you may find a good deal.

difference between 780 and 745 is that the former can use 45 nm cpu such as Q9650 and uses DDR3 ram. 780 MT can have up to 16 GB (4x4 GB) memory. 745 uses DDR2 ram and up to 8 GB (4x2 GB) (very$ to find 4 GB DDR2)

imback · Answer

thanks ever so much but i have one last question, i am going to buy the gtx 750 ti but there are 2 sizes and i dont know if both will fit my Dell Optiplex 780 hope you can advise me. thanks in advance.

redxps630 · Answer

agree single slot width only in 780. https://www.dell.com/community/Optiplex-Desktops/Optiplex-780/td-p/7277821

someone made a cut in back plate to fit a double slot 750 Ti

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o8lt3zjM-JA

redxps630 · Answer

Length of card no more than 6.7' (170 mm) using the EVGA 750ti single fan as reference. single fan, single slot width. e.g., Dell 8MXMJ. nvidia reference 750ti is 145 mm long. https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-gtx-750-ti.c2548

Optiplex Desktops

help please ugrade for an old optiplex 780

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