Can a Dell Optiplex 780 make a great gaming computer?

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newtonemma188

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It has Windows 10, 3 GHz core 2, vpro processor, 250-gigabyte HD, 4-gigabyte ram. I would like to play Sims 3 and 4 as well as Fallout 3 and 4. I am very new to PC gaming and am looking to expand my gaming platforms. Also, If I buy an 8gb flash drive ( Sandisk), will it make a good storage saver?



Thanks,
Newbie Gamer
 
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Darkbreeze
No, not really. That CPU is too old, it has no discreet graphics or any capable graphics, so you would also need to purchase a gaming card as well, which would be severely bottlenecked by that old Core2 processor. Really, it is not feasible at all. For very low end games, if you bought a somewhat decent card, possibly, but realistically, there is not much in the gaming world you could do with that that makes any sense at all. You'd be much better off looking to some kind of newer prebuilt if that's the route you want to go.

Nothing older than an Ivy bridge or FX 8 core CPU should even be remotely considered for a gaming machine, even a low end one, and even those are so long in the tooth that you would almost immediately be looking to...
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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No, not really. That CPU is too old, it has no discreet graphics or any capable graphics, so you would also need to purchase a gaming card as well, which would be severely bottlenecked by that old Core2 processor. Really, it is not feasible at all. For very low end games, if you bought a somewhat decent card, possibly, but realistically, there is not much in the gaming world you could do with that that makes any sense at all. You'd be much better off looking to some kind of newer prebuilt if that's the route you want to go.

Nothing older than an Ivy bridge or FX 8 core CPU should even be remotely considered for a gaming machine, even a low end one, and even those are so long in the tooth that you would almost immediately be looking to upgrade.
 
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william p

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It can make a cheap entry level rig up to 1080p. But far from great. Useable would be more like it. That's if you upgrade it.
A maxxed out 780 would have a Q9650 CPU (Q9550 is also good) and a GTX1050Ti ( MT size can upgrade the PSU for faster cards but 9650/1050 is a good match) It can Take 16GB DDR3 memory. For $40 you can get a small SSD, or a 500GB hybrid drive with 8GB SSD cache.
Here are some builds.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-OptiPlex-780/3883
Basically a built 780 scores around 40% CPU and GPU rating. That's 40% performance against a modern gaming rig.
I built a similar Optiplex 380 with Q9505S ($20) 8GB DDR3 1333, and GTX 1050TI ($140 back then). I don't know about the latest games but it runs Firestrike, 3Dmark 11, Unigine valley OK. Anything CPU intensive will be a struggle.
Unless it's a Tower version you will need a low profile GPU. The tower takes a Zotac GTX1050(Ti) Mini card w/o mods. All others will have an issue with having a dual bracket at the rear. Low profile 1050s will all have an issue with a hard mounted DVI port, so GTX750Ti and single slot 1030 will have to do on the others.
I went to a "Can You Run It"website and my system was OK for Fallout 3, but CPU limited for fallout 4. Basically older games will work OK but the latest probably won't.
It's up to you whether you want to do this now, or save up for another computer with a newer generation CPU.
 
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william p

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You asked about the Opti 780, but for a budget gamer Dell and HP workstations like the dell T3500, and HP Z400 are a much better place to start. 6 core CPU support, 24GB-48GB DDR3 3 channel RAM, and dual GPU support. W3680, and W3690 Xeons are the prime CPUs for those.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/System/HP-Z400-Workstation/67
http://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-Precision-WorkStation-T3500--/2522
The fastest ones you see there were overclocked to 4GHz.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Meh. You'd have to add a 150 to 200 dollar graphics card for that prebuilt to run even halfway decent at 1080p, which likely would not fit unless it was a fairly short card plus the PSU that comes in those units are seriously underpowered, since they don't come with discreet graphics, so figure adding a PSU as well. By the time you do all that you could likely have bought a much better, although entry level, prebuilt gaming machine.

Unless of course the Optiplex is available to you for a song. Even then, I stand by the notion that it's simply not capable enough based on CPU performance alone.
 
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william p

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You can't have a gaming computer w/o a good graphics card. The Zotac fits, and runs off of the existing PSU. Money spent on a GPU, and PSU isn't wasted. Those parts can be moved to the next computer. But yes the 780 is CPU limited. That's why the workstation suggestion.
 
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