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General discussion

Dell Optiplex 780 SFF

Jan 19, 2014 8:02AM PST

Hi everyone. I'm moderately new to the tech community, I just got into building and upgrading my computer, and I wanted to know if I could have some advice on a few things.

Recently I bought a Dell Optiplex 780 SFF (small forn factor) installed with 2010 Word, Powerpoint, Presentation, Outlook, Excel, Access, and Windows 7.

The computer specs -

- Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7500 2.93 GHz
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- 64 Bit OS
- Display Adapter; Intel Q45/Q43 Express Chipset

Over a year ago I bought a new graphics card for my old computer which was an ispiron 530s with all of the original factory specs. The new graphics card was an AMD Radeon HD 6670.The graphics card ran perfectly in the 530s.

I want to turn my Dell Optiplex 780 SFF into a bit of a gaming computer, so I was wondering if I could save a few bucks by somehow moving the Radeon 6670 from the 530s straight into the Optiplex 780 by simply uninstalling the current drivers, opening up my computer, plugging the graphics card in, turning on the computer, and installing the drivers. But I ran into a problem. When I turned my computer on with the AMD Radeon HD 6670 in it, The computer's power turned on, all of the fans started pretty loudly for 2-3 seconds, nothing showed up on my monitor, and then the computer suddenly turned off. Then restarted it self in 2-3 seconds, and the fans started again, still nothing showed up. This happened 3-4 times and then the fans would just turn on permanently until I unplugged the power cord.

Can anyone tell me why the computer isn't booting? Does it have something to do with my power supply? Motherboard? The current display? Drivers? Anything advive would help. Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Not yet.
Jan 19, 2014 8:06AM PST

If you go back to your old setup and card, is it OK?

Sounds like a power issue.
Bob

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Thanks
Jan 19, 2014 8:10AM PST

Yes, the old computer worked perfectly up until a few months ago when it fell over and the processor burnt itself out. It had two missing heatsink fan blades, it was a very old computer, and it was just time for a little update, which is why I bought the Optiplex 780.

- Josh

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Also
Jan 19, 2014 8:30AM PST

The PSU -

235W Standard PSU

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That's very very low.
Jan 19, 2014 9:05AM PST

I've heard of this card running on 250 and up but this is quite low.

Remember to figure about 1/2 the wattage for 5 year old supplies. Find some power supply calcuation site and would what you have run on 118 Watts?
bob

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(NT) What do the specs say re power for your specific 6670 ??
Jan 19, 2014 10:08PM PST
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was this Optiplex
Jan 19, 2014 9:12AM PST

new when you purchased it?

I have a Dell 530S and ran the same GPU(6670) in it for a few months without a problem but the PSU failed and installed a larger one . Now that I think about it, I wonder if the 6670 didn't in time over tax the 225 watt psu.

I don't know if this is relevant, just thought I'd toss it out there.

Digger