Optiplex 980 graphics upgrade

optiplex 980 desktop    10 years old gen 1 old CPU. and horrid BTX form factor, that loves to block GPU cards.

which  version (case) is it.  255 watt is my only clue.  (some MT have that)  MT is tall cards, other short 79mm

MT, DT, SFF

no person on earth can tell you (is it worth it), zero persons.. ok. The graphics features are vast, and even the slightest thing you may not like, (endless things to it)

lets make a list ( posted here vast times ) and then we go to benchmarks online and see what 1000s did.

1. has to fit, (12 makers of cards, and vast models made, endless 1000s made) FIT is first. no  fit, no chances..
2. then the weak SFF PCs made by dell have slot power limits, even 25watts weak, x16 (IDK on yours no pC stated yet, case size dictates mobo actual and that limits slots and fit, and BTX is worse (fan shroud)
3. PSU most not overloaded
4. The GPU card many need 1 or more AUX power cables your lame DELL does not have. (PSU upgrades fix this if, not SFF, and not DT, MT can use ATX psu, with due care (ask)
5. not using UEFI, and using cards that are :UEFI only cards (2020 new cards may)  makes finding cards super hard, (hint buy a used card, off fleabay)  gtx1050 MAY WORK..

now a photo of just one lame dell PC,  the BTX wonder box, with backwards motherboards

that put the GPU card upside down and now likes to hit things,'

why not just post a photo of your PC, of the MOBO side panel off so we can see inside your PC,

some have other PCI cards there, and important to you and get in the way  of GPU,cards.

here is the MT, the one that has real 129mm tall cards, GPU. note this guys has it hitting shields bend. bad  that

best is avoid all BTX PCs, a dead idea now, dead as a door nail.  on my 3020  MT the card hits the drive cage

but on the 3020MT vast card work and fit, tired over 25 top cards in mine, but I don't use UEFI or buy cards

that are UEFI only cards. ever.

if not MT PC it only gets worse (cramped for space and non standard PSU)

Yes, I believe it is an MT, here is a picture of the front and side with cover off. Will my 255w power supply support a gtx1050? I also have a 305W PSU from an older computer I could put in there? What about a gtx 730/750? 

Good sir, I am new here so I relaly can't find a way to post me query seperately. So here goes:

I have a Dell Optiplex 980 MT. 
PSU at 235W max
GPU ATI Radeon HD 3470 

Problem is, as soon as I updated my system to Windows 10, there has been a thick margin of nothingness on all sides. Possible 2 inches of black on the sides and probably an inch of black on top and bottom. I tried installing and uninstalling the drives for the cards upon which I found out that the card I have already does not support Windows 10 (please excuse my terms as I am new to this and only when I got in to searching all this did I figure out a little bit about the PSU and GPU and stuff so please excuse me if I sound like an uncultered swine lmao!) 

After doing a bit of research I figured I can't go for any of those high end graphic cards becuase of the size of my system. That's okay. I don't really need the PC for gaming. Just office work and usual website content editing and tweaking. This problem has really halted my editing process as the margins of my website are going beyond into the nothingness on the sides (okay at the top and bottom though).

Also, I changed monitors too, but the problem still remains. 

If you could kindly suggest a graphic card just good enough to help me view the screen properly and possibly allow me to play Counter Strike 1.6 (I'm old school lol) it'd be great! 

Also, I'm open to spend about $150 on all of this. If you can suggest a good PSU too that can fit in the MT, then I'm okay with that too.

Thanks in advance!

Hi. I'm a little lost and hope u can help. The sanity physical dimensions of the case and advisability aside, can I get a 1050 ti graphics card to work with an optiplex 980? You are much more knowledgeable than I. It has an i5, 8gb, sff and I bought a gtx 560. Couldn't get the computer to recognize the card. There is not setting in my bios for uefi. Just 3 that tall about raid and a 4th about legacy. I have crashed the system 3 times putting the card in and out and messing with the settings. It's windows 10 and a18 bios revision. Help! Trying to get this system to work with an oculus rift. Sold the video card and now back to square one. Please let me know what u think. I don't even care at this point how laggy it will be! Just need to know if I can get the gpu in the pci E slot to work at all! I will be in your debt.. It's for my son and we have zero money to upgrade much more. The 1050 ti would be it! Thanks! 

the i5 processor in optiplex 980 is too weak for 1050ti graphic card.

Intel Core i5-750 (Clock speed at 100%) with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti(Clock speed at 100%) x1 will produce 49.34% of bottleneck. Everything over 10% is considered as bottleneck.

agree that gt 1030 is a better match.

Intel Core i5-750 (Clock speed at 100%) with NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Clock speed at 100%) x1 will produce only 8.77% of bottleneck.

Best you can do is MSI GT1030

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/msi-gt-1030-2g-lp-oc-graphic-card-2-gb-gddr5-pcie-30-x16-low-profile-hdmi-displayport/apd/aa362018/graphic-video-cards

If you want to use a better card like a 1050 or 1060 you need updated specific power supply like EVGA 700BR WITH an adapter because its proprietary.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/evga-700w-atx12v-eps12v-80-plus-bronze-power-supply-dc-dc-technology-black/6346160.p?skuId=6346160

https://www.moddiy.com/products/Dell-980-960-780-760-PSU-24-Pin-to-Mini-24-Pin-Adapter-Cable-10cm.html

Short Cards like the Zotac work fine. Longer cards do not fit into the case.

https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-Compact-Graphics-ZT-P10610A-10L/dp/B01KKJAJM4/

GTX 560 requires updated power supply and the Moddiy adapter.  There is no UEFI mode on a 980 780 380.  Only Single slot wide or Short cards fit in the case. Longer cards hit the heatsink.  See post below from the ice age.

https://www.dell.com/community/Optiplex-Desktops/quot-Powerfull-quot-graphic-card-Optiplex-755-MT/td-p/7274978

Hello from France..

the graphics card Zotac 1060 mini no longer exists.

Is there another graphics card that can be installed in blue slot (16x)

There is only 170 mm for the location with i7 cpu.

maybe this one :

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER MINI ITX OC 6G ??

https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N166SIXOC-6GD#kf

Ended up getting a Radeon 8570 which doubled my fps on bf1942 from 45 to 99 and boosted by windows graphics score from 5 to 7.7, overall windows score from 5 to 6