graphics card for older tower optiplex 745 small form factor

Sharpy1

In Runtime
Messages
211
Location
England
Hi I have a old tower sitting around again :ermm: this one I fancy turning into a media center using kodi problem is that the onboard graphics are crap and Vga does anyone no what hdmi graphics cards you can put in a small for factor dell optiplex 745 and if I would need to upgrade anything else

Definitely needs to be low profile
Think it might need to be low power
 
Howdy,

We use (well, used) 745s at work, any PCI-compatible low-profile card (that doesn't require dedicated PCI 6/8-pin power rail) will fit and work. Ours have Quadros and Firepros in but you don't want that!

Perhaps something like this?

MSI NVIDIA GT 720 Graphics Card - 1GB - N720-1GD3HLP - Scan.co.uk

If I remember correctly the space is a bit limited inside the SFF 745 chassis (airflow plastics for the CPU get in the way). that MSI card has a narrow heatsink and will come with a dual-slot low-profile bracket (which will look like this)

Or if you wanted something with a tad more power and a bit more VRAM, this comes in at a touch more:-

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-...oost-780mhz-320-streams-vga-dvi-hdmi-lp-compa

But you'd need to check how much space you have available inside the case as that is a taller heatsink arrangement
 
Last edited:
Hi darkseeker thanks for the quick reply yes the one in the link looks up to spec for low end movie watching but as you say the space inside the small form factor is pretty restrictive because of the heat sinks cover as you said

---------- Post added at 03:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 PM ----------

What would you say the best hdmi graphics card could be put into the sff including power supply upgrades (if needed)
 
The 745 was born in the days before 80+ certifications really made it into the business desktop market - for instance even the 9020 today doesn't have an 80+ rating stamped on it...

You're sort of limited for upgrades by design, Dell didn't want people changing too much so they put in a totally non-standard power unit, I think they used to call it BTX or something?

I don't think any low-profile cards come needing PCI rails on the PSU, because the manufacturers know you'll be sticking it into a dell or HP or some other small form factor unit. Besides, the small PCBs don't really leave room for proper voltage regulators and other MOSFET stuff that comes along with the extra power.

IF they will fit in your case (the 745 series was actually a few different PCs, they changed a bit over time, different internal designs), the following are about the most powerful low-profile consumer-market GPUs I can find:-

NVIDIA Option: Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX 750 Ooverclocked Graphics Card - 2GB - GV-N750OC-2GL - Scan.co.uk

AMD Option: XFX Radeon R7 250 Graphics Card - Boost - R7-250A-CLF4 - Scan.co.uk

the AMD option doesn't display it's TDP, but the NVIDIA option says 55W. AMD tends to be a bit higher so I'm going to guess 60-65W. You should be fine with the stock PSU, which i think is somewhere between 300-350W, possibly 400W.

I had a Quadro NVS315 working in a 745 not too long ago, so I think either of those would be fine. The 315 has a TDP of like 20W, so I don't think an extra 30 watts on the PCI lane will be a problem
 
Dell's website says it has a 275w power supply very small amount of power it also says that there is one low profile expansion port it also says

As to upgrading the power supply I don't think that was a option from a quick scan through eBay can't find anything other than 275w power supply

PCI express x16
One low profile slot
Connector size 120 pins
Data bus 16 bi-directional differential lane pair (2.5Gbs per lane) 80Gbs total
Voltage 12v
Power 75w x16 maximum

So on power any card powered off the PCIE slot will work as long as it not over 75w and all them cards you recomended will get enough power would they definitely fit inside the housing

How would be the best way to find out if it would fit
 
Last edited:
As long as you have the PCI-e lane vacant it will be fine, when a card says 'dual slot' it just means it occupies two slots in the case not two slots on the board

for example, it would take up these two rear slots:

1327421592_dell_optiplex_745_low_price_desktop_p.jpg


Any and all the cards I've linked would work, assuming there is no plastic stuff in the way inside. sometimes the CPU cooler arrangement overlaps a bit and takes up space
 
I know the radion x1300 graphics card fits a freind used to have one installed but they a nasty dual display card to my knowledge not hdmi and there is very little room by he case and the heat sink cover
 
Back
Top Bottom