Upgrade Optiplex 980

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MrCrazyHead

Commendable
Jan 20, 2017
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We have a Dell Optiplex 980 SFF with an i5 (first generation) CPU. I was hoping to upgrade to an i5 (4th generation), but I am having difficulty finding out whether the motherboard would be compatible with the newer CPU. The motherboard is an E93839. If anyone knows if this is possible, or would have a list of compatible CPUs, I would greatly appreciate your help.
 
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drtweak
You will NOT be able to use the case to upgrade the motherboard either as it is BTX Style board and pretty sure the I/O on the back is non removeable.

Also what Calvin7 said about supported CPU's is wrong. It will NOT take ANY i7 9XX CPU's are they are a different socket as well (Socket 1366)

The highest you can get is a i7 870 which is about as good as a i5 6500. I just sold a refurbished one to a client yesterday.

if you can find a i7 870 cheap it might be a worth while upgrade depending on what you are doing with it. Otherwise if you want something new gotta build a whole new machine. If you go 4th gen CPU you can still use the RAM from there and of course HDD/DVD but that is it.
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drtweak

drtweak

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Sep 17, 2012
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You will NOT be able to use the case to upgrade the motherboard either as it is BTX Style board and pretty sure the I/O on the back is non removeable.

Also what Calvin7 said about supported CPU's is wrong. It will NOT take ANY i7 9XX CPU's are they are a different socket as well (Socket 1366)

The highest you can get is a i7 870 which is about as good as a i5 6500. I just sold a refurbished one to a client yesterday.

if you can find a i7 870 cheap it might be a worth while upgrade depending on what you are doing with it. Otherwise if you want something new gotta build a whole new machine. If you go 4th gen CPU you can still use the RAM from there and of course HDD/DVD but that is it.
 
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E

engineer5261

Reputable
Apr 26, 2016
859
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5,365
Not possible, also if you decide to pick a fist gen i7 - be aware that your power draw will increase and your power supply may already be near the limit as it is with the optiplex builts, look into this if you decide on 1st gen i7. You will also not be able to change the power supply since it is a dell proprietary type.

First gen i7's chips can be up to 11 years old now. My second gen i7 died 2 months ago, I would question the remaining durability of these chips as they may be much closer to the end of their useful life.
 
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drtweak

drtweak

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Sep 17, 2012
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1) Dell does NOT use a proprietary type. ONLY on the Percision lines where they different but really they were just server power supplies. otherwise they ALL use the standard 20/24 pin (Except since the 4th Gen CPU's. They have a new 8 pin PSU connector to the motherboard WHICH IS ADAPTERS FOR. the SFF comes with the normal TFX PSU which can be swapped out.

2) the 980 comes with a PSU powerful enough for the i7 870 since that IS an option for the optiplex 980.

3) Core i came out late 2009. if it was 11 years old it would have to be 2020. They JUST turned 7 years old and as i said a i7 870 is just as powerful as a i5 6500. They are limited to 1333 DDR3 vs the nice 2133-2400 DDR4 but honestly, even for gaming i don't think think you would see a HUGE difference. Even though it is SATA II Toss a SSD in it, 8-16GB of ram, i7 870 and it would still be a good machine.

I just had a OptiPlex 980, i7 870, 8GB DDR3 1333 and a SSD along with a OptiPlex 3040, i5 6500 8GB DDR3L 1600, SSD and honestly they were very close to the same speed after all the bench marks i threw at them (Minus gaming as I don't have a card good enough that would fit in the cases.
 
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