Upgrade to Q9650?

Solution
according to the technical book for your system : https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/optix/en/optiplex_780_tech_guidebook_en.pdf
on page 8 the Q9650 is mentioned as possible cpu for the motherboard.
JZ1nOEp.png
Here are the scores for the Opti 780, you can see the difference in CPU scores there.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-OptiPlex-780/3883
If you sell the Q9550 your taking maybe $20 difference. But the Q9550 is the price performance sweet spot.
You could try bumping up the FSB a little bit with SetFSB and see what difference it makes.
The Clock Generator on that is CV184-2APAG
Download SetFSB 2.2.134.98 Select that Generator, click GetFSB, then don't use the slider, click the arrows to increase speed. Then clickSet FSB. If you can get 353fsb you're there. If it freezes just hard reboot, the settings go away then.
Then you can see what difference it makes.
There was an X3380 Xeon that was 3.17 GHz. rare and very expensive, but maybe your Q9550 will run that speed.