Dell OptiPlex 780 MT Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2x 2.93GH

Q9650 in most, provided you have the stock motherbd.

Fritz_Germany,

In Passmark Performance Test results, the highest calculation density CPU for the Dell Optiplex 780 are:

1. i7-2600 (3.4GHz) Score = 8587 (motherboard is 0HY9JP)
2. i5-2400 (3.1Ghz) Score = 6285 (motherboard is 0J3C2F)
3. i5-2400
4. Core2 Quad Q9650 (3.0GHz) Score = 4655 (m/b is 027VV < V V not W, also 0CNVJ6 )
5. Core2 Quad Q9650
6. Core2 Quad Q9650
7. Xeon X3363 (2.83Ghz) Score = 4379 (m/b is 0200DY, also 0CNVJ6)
8-11. Core2 Quad Q9650

The fastest clock speeds in an Optiplex 780:

1. i7-2600 = 3393 / 3692MHz
2. i5-2400 = 3093 / 3392Mhz
3. Core2 Quad Q9650 = 2992MHz
4. Xeon X3363 = 2826MHz

A. So, the i7-2600 is clearly the winner, but may only work on the proper motherboard.
B. Only the i5 and i7 have turbos speeds
C. There appear to have been seven different motherboards installed in the Optiplex 780

For reference, the highest rated Optiplex 780 using the Core2 Duo E7500:

Core2 Duo E7500 > Radeon HD 3450 > Seagate Barracuda 1TB > 8GB RAM

Rating = 902 / CPU = 2259 / 2D = 482 / 3D = 142 / Disk = 1354

The highest rated Optiplex 780:

Core2 Quad Q9650 > GTX 750 ti > Crucial MX100 256GB SSD > 16GB RAM

Rating = 2476 / CPU = 4634 / 2D = 504 / 3D = 3684 / Disk = 2427

Highest scores in each category:

CPU: i7-2600 (3.4GHz) Score = 8587
2D: GeForce 210 = 681
3D: GTX 660 = 4136 No.2 is GTX 750ti = 3684
Disk: Kingston SV300S37A120G =2197 No. 2 is Samsung 850 EVO 250GB = 2645

____________________________________________________________

So, the Optiplex 780 has a quite good potential especially if the motherboard will allow the use of i5 or i7. A lot of the sensation of performance will derive from the speed of the GPU.

I'm always pleased to see the older systems be improved as they they can be completely useful at very low cost. I was given a Dell Dimension E520:

Dell Dimension E520 (2006)( Original): Pentium D 830 dual core @3.0GHz > 2GB DDR2 667 > GeForce 7300LE > 2X Dell 19" LCD > Windows XP Professional 32-bit
[Passmark system rating = 384, CPU = 613 / 2D= 248 / 3D=72 / Mem= 562 / Disk=521]

> and after spending about $120>

Dell Dimension E520 (2006)( Revised): Core2 Duo E6700 dual core @2.66GHz > 4GB DDR2 667 > GeForce GT440 (1GB GDDR5) > 2X Dell 19" LCD > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[Passmark system rating = 1219, CPU = 2024 / 2D= 457 / 3D=978 / Mem= 828 / Disk=576]

Gutes Glück!,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 16GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K2200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 4918 > CPU= 13941 / 2D= 823 / 3D=3464 / Mem= 2669 / Disk= 4764]

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)
Pending upgrade: +16GB RAM
Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro 4000 (2GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3339 / CPU = 9347 / 2D= 684 / 3D= 2030 / Mem= 1871 / Disk= 2234]

Pending upgrade: PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID 1)(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s)

I kind of specialize in Dell comps and you happen to have a good one. But first if you want to update your cpu you will have to go online to Dell support and make sure you have bios update A15 just keep clicking when it asks and it will install automaticlly then you can disassemble the comp and install a Q9550 quad core or possibly a Q9650 but I haven't tried that yet, also you can install a much larger power supply if you have a dremel tool to cut out a notch in the case for the new power supply 120 vac plug socket which will let you install larger video cards, I have at least 5 Dell 780 MTs modified like that and they run great. (I do not work for Dell). P.S. before using a Dremel tool shield the moboard from metal filings.

The highest procs for the machine are:
Q9650 Q9550 Q9450

Make sure your BIOS is at the latest before upgrading anything. You can run the update within Windows from:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/ed/en/edbsdt1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=DK074&fileId=3270400708&osCode=W764&productCode=optiplex-780&languageCode=en&categoryId=BI