Dell OptiPlex 3010 DT - GPU Upgrade without replacing OEM Power Supply

If you use the stock oem psu there is no pcie cable for gpu and there is no extra gpu power cable you can add.  Tech guide said max gpu power is 50w for DT, but a 75 w max card would probably work too. DT psu is 250w.

https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_data-Sheets_Documents/en/aa/OptiPlex_3010_Technical_Guidebook_v1_0.pdf

3010 is end of life.

you can use a newer low profile Dell oem gpu for newer Optiplex models such as 9020, 7040, up to new 7000 series (7000,7010,7020).  some of these have new gddr6 or gddr5 vram.  RX640 4GB GDDD5 for example.  most of these cards do not require extra gpu power cable.

Note 3010 pciex16 slot is 2nd gen PCIe. Newer pcie3.0 gpu is backward c/w pcie2.0.

tech guide said i5-3### cpu but i7-3770 is c/w DT too.

you may want to upgrade heatsink to oem performance grade b/c the original heatsink for i3 cpu is probably too basic

oem gpu for 3010 DT includes HD7570 LP which has 1GB GDDR5

I will suggest a clean input for upgrades.

CPU: go for 3470 without changing heatsink

GPU: go for a AMD Radeon HD7470 (low profile)

@redxps630​ My PC does have the 250W Stock OEM PSU. Do the OEM GPUs require a power cable that plugs into the motherboard? The ones I've found are the graphics cards themselves with no cable. I saw that Dell offered Radeon R3/R5/R7 Graphics Drivers for the 3010. Would that series of graphics cards work in my system, they're also supported in the OptiPlex 3020?

I feel that the Radeon HD Graphics might be too weak and not much of an upgrade from Intel's Integrated Graphics. My Integrated Graphics scored poorly in the Geekbench GPU OpenCL Benchmark and too almost an hour to complete and I've ran this benchmark twice with similar results.

What is the best OEM Supported GPU that is 50w?

Re: they had AMD Radeon R3/R5/R7 drivers for the OptiPlex 3010 as well as the AMD Radeon HD Graphics Drivers. I want to fit the newest graphics card available on Dell's site for this computer

here are low profile HH (half height) Opti 3020 cards c/w 3010 too

@redxps630​ I was considering on buying the Core i5-3470 anyway since I hear it's a very good CPU and will be much faster than my old i3-3245 that's in my 3010 right now, especially in Multi-Core Performance. If I need to upgrade the heatsink, what heatsink do I need to buy for a Core i5-3470 in an OptiPlex 3010 DT?

@calderonidavi​ I've decided I'm going to buy the Core i5-3470 but as @redxps630 said, it would be best to change the heatsink because the Core i5 is more powerful than the Core i3 and will thus need better cooling.

I'm still not sure about what GPU I should put in my system because I would like to max out my OptiPlex 3010 but thank you for your suggestion, I really appreciate it.

@redxps630​ Thank you for the info. What does "HH" stand for? I've found Radeon R5 240Hi Graphics Cards but what do the last 2 letters mean?

HH means half height (LP) in contrast to FH (full height)

these for 7010DT 95W performance heatsink c/w 3010 DT too

Cooling	Heatsink, SHRD, PRFMC, DT, 95W Heat Sink, Performance, Dell OptiPlex 7010 Desktop	9FCCP
Cooling	Thermal module, HTSNK, SHRD, 95W, DT Heat Sink, Performance, Dell OptiPlex 7010 Desktop	C8F72

 

Re: Do the OEM GPUs require a power cable that plugs into the motherboard?

no.  these Dell oem gpu simply install into the PCIex16 slot, no power cable.

@redxps630​ Where and what do I need to search for on eBay to acquire the heatsink needed for the Core i5 Processor and all the other parts you mentioned in this forum?

@redxps630​ Excellent, thank you for letting me know that I don't need a power cable for the GPU. It'll be powered by the PCIe Slot on the Motherboard. 😊

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266213947317?

9FCCP