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What graphics card will work in a Dell Optiplex 960

taftdavidhaynestaftdavidhaynes Posts: 37
in New Users

I am 60 years old.  I was fairly smart in my younger days.  I am certainly not the sharpest knife on the rack now.  I love animation, and want to learn.  However I need someone that can spoon feed me with some of the answers to my questions.  I am low income and on a fixed income.  I purchased a Dell Optiplex 960 E8500  The motherboard is a F428d

It has a intell Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16 ghz processor.   How much of a graphics card will this old computer handle.  It does have a PCI express 16X slothttp://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODUzWDEyODA=/z/lTkAAOSwe7BWx5E2/$_57.JPG?set_id=880000500F     Here is an image of the motherboard.

Please help and give me a few names of graphics cards that would work.  It hs 3 ghz of ram DDR2 memory.  What is the most memory I can put in this motherboard, it has four slots.  I was hoping to use NVIDIA IRAY.  If that isn't possible, what can I use to render my projects.

Comments

  • LeanaLeana Posts: 11,853

    The tech doc for Optiplex 960 is available here. Apparently it can use up to 8GB RAM.

    Which version do you have, the Mini-tower, Desktop or SFF? (there are pics in the doc for each version) Depending on the version you'll have limitations on the size of the card you can fit in it.

    The power supply is also quite small (300W for the MT, even less for other versions), which will also limit what card you can use.

  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449

    But you have to ask yourself is this under powered computer worth spending money on.

  • taftdavidhaynestaftdavidhaynes Posts: 37
    Leana said:

    The tech doc for Optiplex 960 is available here. Apparently it can use up to 8GB RAM.

    Which version do you have, the Mini-tower, Desktop or SFF? (there are pics in the doc for each version) Depending on the version you'll have limitations on the size of the card you can fit in it.

    The power supply is also quite small (300W for the MT, even less for other versions), which will also limit what card you can use.

    Mini Tower

    Leana said:

    The tech doc for Optiplex 960 is available here. Apparently it can use up to 8GB RAM.

    Which version do you have, the Mini-tower, Desktop or SFF? (there are pics in the doc for each version) Depending on the version you'll have limitations on the size of the card you can fit in it.

    The power supply is also quite small (300W for the MT, even less for other versions), which will also limit what card you can use.

     

  • BeeMKayBeeMKay Posts: 7,019

    Your main problem will be power, and heat. If your current system power consumption is fitting on the 300 watt power supply, and you'd add, for example, an 980Ti into the fray, you'd have to add another 200-250 Watt to that number, so a stronger power supply is most likely something you need to invest in.

    The other thing is heat - how well does your MT get the heat out of the case? rendering by card (or rendering in general) creates a ton of heat. Too much heat is not good for electronic components, so the tower has to be properly ventilated. I have a 980 Ti, and since I added that to my system, when I render, I can switch off the heating in the room.  

  • prixatprixat Posts: 1,590

    If you can get the power sorted out, you'll also have to go for one of the smaller cards.

    The 'Zotac 1060 6GB mini', for example, will fit in with 10mm to spare.

  • LeanaLeana Posts: 11,853

    Nvidia GTX 1050 ti should work with a 300W power supply, but upgrading the PSU too would indeed be a good idea.

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