Optiplex 3020 graphics card upgrade

Thanks for the reply i have the MT version and my CPU is the Core i5 4590

What size is your 3020 - MT, DT, SFF?  I take it you might have an MT if you're looking at that little fat card.

I would Google the dimensions for that card and measure the inside of the 3020.  If you have an MT, there's a good chance it'll fit.  You have 12" in length to play with.  https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=Optiplex+3020+mt+GTX+1650  Also, people have been regularly using the 1650 in MT Optiplex models.  So you'll see if full size fits or if LP version is needed.

One more step I'd like to take - What exact CPU do you have?  I want to male sure the 1650 is the best pairing for your CPU with the least amount of bottleneck, or suggest something else.  We don't want the CPU bottlenecking the GPU.

Please see screengrabs below.  10%+ is considered bottleneck.  9.12% isn't bad, but the GTX 1050 ti will give you a little less bottleneck.

3020 can accept up to 16GB DDR3-1600 RAM (8GB x 2), and the best processor it can take is an i7-4790. 

As for graphics card, a 4Gb card (such as the GTX-1050 or 1650) is your best bet. You could probably do a GTX-1660 (6GB) but that would really be pushing it. Anything higher than that and you'd max out your processor, causing throttling. Keep in mind, you may also need to upgrade the PSU, depending on what video card you choose. (You didn't mention what PSU you have)

I know sorry so specs currently are. Morovol atx case, OptiPlex 3020, i5-4570, ddr3 8gb, GTX 780 3gb, 500gb hdd. Psu is the i5-4570 right? Sorry super new to this. But what would you recommend changing about my specs to make it a good gaming experience for gtav fivem(modded version of gta) i lag a lot and have trouble loading in. I wanna be able to use my ddr4 16gb ram sticks I have they don’t currently fit and more storage.most likely gonna upgrade to the GTX-1650 looked it up and it’s in my price range for sure. Just don’t know what else I need to upgrade.

Asked you cuz you seem extremely knowledgeable compared to me not knowing my new ram can’t even fit my pc lol 

I have a OptiPlex 3020 motherboard in a morovol case and a GTX 780 3gb and wanna upgrade my graphics card to something that’s better for gaming. I literally only play Fivem( Modded version of grand theft auto5) and I lag sometimes can’t fully load things and wonder if I could upgrade the graphics card I also have 16gb ram that i tried to put in and it didn’t fit so I’d like to be able to find something compatible. Any help would be extremely appreciated. is my number if someone could help or respond on here whatever would be easier. Thanks

Pretty sure it’s just a hdd i don’t think it’s a ssd but I wanna get the Samsung 980 1tb ssd pcie 4.0 nvme m.2. Also I have a smart bx1 550w psu 

Indeed, use an SSD instead of an HDD.  Some things can be painfully slow with Win10 on HDD.  Exception is WD VelociRaptor 10,000 RPM and hybrid HDD's.  SSD is still a little faster than VelociRaptor and hybrids are expensive, making SSD the best bet.

Is your Win10 a fresh or somewhat recent install?  If it's been some years, a reload (fresh install) can also speed it up.  But I also still suggest/recommend SSD.

Optiplex 7010/9010 also have 4 DIMMS, but take 3rd gen CPU as compared to 4th gen for the 3020/7020/9020.

Thank you, CB. The drawback of all Dell 3### or 3## is like you said entry level chipset equipped with 2DIMM slots only. To upgrade to 16 gb, you have to acquire the more expensive 2x8 gb ddr3. Market price of 2x8 gb is higher than 4x2 gb.  If you had 9020/7020 which are high end/main stream tier, you would have 4 dimm slots easier and more economical to upgrade ram.

The 3020 is kind of an entry-level PC that Dell had, but you can still do some things to it. PSU stands for Power Supply Unit. 

Your CPU is the i5-4570. The i5s aren't as powerful as the i7s, but they are still respectable and can still be used for some gaming applications. Going to the i7 would give you a little bit better performance, however, it's up to you if you want to upgrade it. The i7-4790 is currently going for about $50-$60 on eBay (as of this typing.) Keep in mind, if you do upgrade the processor, upgrade your BIOS first. (A20 is the latest.)

Your RAM is only 8GB. As mentioned above, it can take up to 16GB. A lot of games usually recommend 16GB minimum to run. Unfortunately, your DDR4 sticks won't fit into the motherboard. The 3020 can only take DDR3-1600 sticks.

You mentioned you have a 500GB Drive; is it a mechanical drive or is it a SSD (Solid-State Drive)? If it's mechanical, that's where most of your lag is. I highly recommend getting a 500GB or a 1TB SSD, and an adapter so it will fit the drive bay. If you do nothing else, at least get the SSD... you will notice a significant performance increase.  You will also need to either clone your drive (if you want to keep your data) or do a fresh Windows install.

(Edit: Deleted last paragraph since @redxps630 pretty much summed it up. Thanks, red!)

Gtx 780 is 11% faster than gtx 1650, although it is an old high end card.

upgrade to ssd for faster game loading, although ssd does not help fps of actual game play.

780 (gpu) + i5-4570 (cpu) is pretty good for 1080p high settings (not ultra).

Kindly correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't know that a 3020 can boot from PCIe.  SATA SSD's are the best bet in this case.

Check this thread. It mainly concerns a 7010, though, which is older. I would imagine it is possible for a 3020 to boot from it, however, you'd have to sacrifice the PCI X16 slot. Meaning no room for the video card. I think in this case, it is much easier to just use a regular SATA SSD (or two, since there's 3 Sata ports on the mobo.)

Okay, you are all set when it comes to the power supply. As for the SSD, natively, there's no spot for NVMe dives, unless you get a PCIe to NVMe card. I don't think it will make a difference whether you use NVMe drives or a regular SATA SSD, considering the 3020 originally came out in 2013.  Since you mentioned that you're new to PCs, I would probably suggest the Samsung 870 EVO. You can also use Western Digital SA510 or the Crucial MX500 (they all perform about the same) All have capacities up to 2TB.