Looking for a GPU for a Dell Optiplex 7050

[Scunci109]

I have a dell optiplex 7050 and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a decent but not too expensive graphics card I could get. I'm willing to upgrade the PSU if it's need but would prefer not to have too. Thanks

 

[wNotyarD]

You could try and look for a low profile RTX 3050 6GB. It's not an amazing card by any means, but it may be as good as it gets without a PSU swap (apart from the quite costlier RTX A2000).
Swapping PSUs in these Dell PCs can be quite the hassle.

 

[Scunci109]

I had seen the 3050 online a few times but wasn't sure if I was willing to pay for It and was looking at a 1650 or doing a PSU swap and getting something like a 580 8gb as these would both cost me around half of what the 3050 would where I live. Idk if you have any experience with the optiplex PSU swap but I've heard that it only fits sfx psu which cost a lot more for no better performance really.

 

[Caring1]

I had seen the 3050 online a few times but wasn't sure if I was willing to pay for It and was looking at a 1650 or doing a PSU swap and getting something like a 580 8gb as these would both cost me around half of what the 3050 would where I live. Idk if you have any experience with the optiplex PSU swap but I've heard that it only fits sfx psu which cost a lot more for no better performance really.

Nobody said a PSU has to be in the case.
You could have it external and just run the cables in.

 

[wNotyarD]

Nobody said a PSU has to be in the case.
You could have it external and just run the cables in.

Doesn't Dell have some peculiarities with the motherboards on their PCs more often than not?

 

[Scunci109]

Nobody said a PSU has to be in the case.
You could have it external and just run the cables in.

Yeah that is an option but my end goal with the pc in the future is to have a sleeper build and I don't see the point buying a PSU that's never going to fit.

 

[Lew Zealand]

First of all, what case is your Opti 7050 in? Minitower? SFF? Not USFF I'll assume because no GPU's going in there.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I have a dell optiplex 7050 and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a decent but not too expensive graphics card I could get. I'm willing to upgrade the PSU if it's need but would prefer not to have too. Thanks

Is this a minitower, or the low profile desktop or SFF?

 

[Scunci109]

Is this a minitower, or the low profile desktop or SFF?

It's Mini Tower

 

[Lew Zealand]

If you don't want to change out the PSU on the MT, a used GTX 1650 is your best lowest cost option. Any cheaper than that will be way worse. Any more and you should consider the 3050 6GB as its secret weapon is DLSS which will lengthen its usable lifespan. Also the 3050-6GBs seem to respond well to undervolting the cores and the VRAM OC's well (which is needed with a 96-bit bus).

The MT has a nonstandard-shaped PSU but if you remove the drive cages on the swing out door, it looks like it'll fit a regular PSU. Measure it out. You'll need adapter cables to run regular power to Dell's custom Mobos but I've bought them for around $12 for a 2-pack for the 7020/9020 MTs and no explosions yet!

 

[Scunci109]

If you don't want to change out the PSU on the MT, a used GTX 1650 is your best lowest cost option. Any cheaper than that will be way worse. Any more and you should consider the 3050 6GB as its secret weapon is DLSS which will lengthen its usable lifespan. Also the 3050-6GBs seem to respond well to undervolting the cores and the VRAM OC's well (which is needed with a 96-bit bus).

The MT has a nonstandard-shaped PSU buit if you remove the drive cages on the swing out door, it looks like it'll fot a regilar PSU. You'll need adapter cables to run regular power to Dell's custom Mobos but I've bought them for around $12 for a 2-lack for the 7020/9020 MTs and no explosions yet!

The 1650 is definitely what I was thinking cause the 3050 is much to expensive for me. I'd heard of others removing the drive cages and squeezing in regular PSUs but I'd also heard bad things about the adapters for the motherboards so I hadn't really considered it

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

It's Mini Tower

Ok, so you have plenty of GPU choices. Out of the box, the 7050 had only the choice of 25w GPUs, so you'll have to do a power supply replacement regardless.

The 7050 tower uses a proprietary standard, but it uses the same chassis as older models. A bit of drilling of the rear metal will allow ATX power supplies to fit without issue. You'd have to cut out the rear metal plate, easy to do with a Dremel tool. You can find 24 pin to 6/8 pin connectors for dell towers on amazon and ebay, or make one yourself.

Alternatively, you could use the HDPLEX 500w GAN, which could be velcrod inside the case, and the rear power supply connection mounted to the back of the case.

HDPLEX 500W GaN AIO ATX Power Supply

Free Shipping Worldwide Stock Status USA : In Stock Germany : In stock Asia : In Stock UK : In Stock

hdplex.com

Once you have done this, your GPU choices are limitless, but the case has limited cooling. Running a GPU like the 7700xt/4060ti wouldnt be an issue, with a cooling mod you could easily run 4080 class hardware.

Anything 3050/3060/4060/6750xt level will fit without issue.

If you don't want to change out the PSU on the MT, a used GTX 1650 is your best lowest cost option. Any cheaper than that will be way worse. Any more and you should consider the 3050 6GB as its secret weapon is DLSS which will lengthen its usable lifespan. Also the 3050-6GBs seem to respond well to undervolting the cores and the VRAM OC's well (which is needed with a 96-bit bus).

The MT has a nonstandard-shaped PSU but if you remove the drive cages on the swing out door, it looks like it'll fit a regular PSU. Measure it out. You'll need adapter cables to run regular power to Dell's custom Mobos but I've bought them for around $12 for a 2-pack for the 7020/9020 MTs and no explosions yet!

The 7050 was only certified for 25w GPUs, 75w models like the 1650 are known to burn out their power supplies or misbehave due to limited power.

 

[Lew Zealand]

The 1650 is definitely what I was thinking cause the 3050 is much to expensive for me. I'd heard of others removing the drive cages and squeezing in regular PSUs but I'd also heard bad things about the adapters for the motherboards so I hadn't really considered it

Sounds good. Probably just a typo but (already fixed!) the 1650 is the GPU to get and look for the later 1650 D6 model. The original 1650 shipped with slower DDR5 VRAM but the later model updated to faster DDR6, giving 10-15% more FPS. Every FPS counts in lower end GPUs.

The 1650 is the only slot-powered GPU I haven't used from the 700 thru the 3000 series, I'll get one some day...

The 7050 was only certified for 25w GPUs, 75w models like the 1650 are known to burn out their power supplies or misbehave due to limited power.

Was that something where Dell cut (even more) corners in later Optiplexes? I have Opti 990s thru 7020/9020s and have no problems running slot-powered 75W GPUs on 250-290W Dell PSUs.

Edit: The 7050 came with an option for an R7 450 which is a 65W GPU so the 1650 should be fine.

 

[Scunci109]

Sounds good. Probably just a typo but (already fixed!) the 1650 is the GPU to get and look for the later 1650 D6 model. The original 1650 shipped with slower DDR5 VRAM but the later model updated to faster DDR6, giving 10-15% more FPS. Every FPS counts in lower end GPUs.

I think I'll just go with the 1650 for now because pretty much anything else with better performance needs more power than what I have