new gfx card for Dell Optiplex 960

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lordsnake

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Sep 25, 2009
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I have a Dell Optiplex 960 desktop, which is a slimline system so cannot fit normal gfx cards.
The system is fine as an office machine and happily runs Winodws 10, but I have just donated it to one of my kids, and it has no gfx ability at all with the onboard gfx, and cannot even play minecraft. So I need to install a new low profile gfx card capable of playing simple 3D games like Minecraft, Roblox etc, so nothing special, even my cheap Zoostorm £250 desktop can handle this.
Is there anything I should be aware of, will any low profile gfx card do the job ? will PCIe v3.0 cards work fine in an older PCIe socket ?
I believe the optiplex has a 235w PSU, any considerations I need to make here ?
 
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Wolfshadw
Man I hate BTX form factors.

Here are the specs for your Optiplex 960. There are actually two non-tower versions; the Desktop (DT) and the Small Form Factor (SFF) versions. The DT has a 255 watt power supply and the SFF has a 235 watt PSU. As you stated, you will require a low-profile card.

I would probably look for something along the lines of a GT730/740. Just make sure the cooling shroud (if any) is not going to be impacted by the PS/2 ports for your mouse and keyboard.

-Wolf sends
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Man I hate BTX form factors.

Here are the specs for your Optiplex 960. There are actually two non-tower versions; the Desktop (DT) and the Small Form Factor (SFF) versions. The DT has a 255 watt power supply and the SFF has a 235 watt PSU. As you stated, you will require a low-profile card.

I would probably look for something along the lines of a GT730/740. Just make sure the cooling shroud (if any) is not going to be impacted by the PS/2 ports for your mouse and keyboard.

-Wolf sends
 
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Solution


Aside from problems like this I like space saving form factor, pc's are still so bulky and take up so much space. I think for the most part anyone who has such a PC is not likely to be needing to upgrading anything as it is a basic workhorse, except the gfx card anyway for reasons like mine or because the old one is no longer supported. So it is just wasted space in the average case if you are not filling up the slots.

I will look at the cards you mentioned thanks.

 
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It's not the size that bothers me. These are great systems for desktop workstations. It's the location of the expansion slots. Looking at the system from the rear, in an ATX, Micro-ATX, and even Mini-ITX format, the expansion slots are to the right of the rear I/O ports. The rear I/O ports do not interfere with expansion cards in any way. In a BTX format, the expansion slots are to the left of the rear I/O port, with the PCI-Ex16 slot being the slot closest to the rear I/O ports and people can sometimes have issues installing a dual-slot width card because of that location.

-Wolf sends
 
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Ah thanks for the info, I stopped building my own systems years ago since it became cheaper to just buy a branded PC with a decent warranty. This is the first time I have dealt with SFF systems, but the GFX card is only £20 so a nice cheap upgrade to allow it to play a few games.

 
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GTX750Ti is best card that runs powered by the PCIe slot. There are low profile versions available. Popular CPUs are Q9650, or Q9550. Crucial.com says 16GB DDR2 RAM capacity. The computer in my sig. is an old Dell BTX.
Be sure you have latest BIOS from Dell (installs in windows).
 
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