READ THIS FIRST PLEASE!
Firstly, i'm sorry for my english, I don't speak very well.. :((
Mostly i need help about the Dell Optiplex 7040 MT. A heard alot of things
about the them and it's brothers and sisters. Most of them have
really great specs, but there is a big limitation, the pci-e slot's power.
There are some theory how's that works and what are the solutions for
them. So i need help to figure it out, how we can solve those problems!
I'll try to tell everything very boviously so everyone can understand everithing.
Hope we'll find some people who can help here and on others too, thanks!
So a lot of people having problems figure it out how they can use a GPU in their Optiplexes or similar office PCs.
THERE ARE A FEW DIFFERENT PROBLEMS:
#1 pci-e x16 blue slot is limited to 20/25/35 watts, intsed of 75W. (caused by #2, and #3 or something else)
#2 The PSU is weak. (Aka not enough amps on 12/5/3.3v rails probably)
#3 (some?) Motherboards limiting the pci-e x16 blue slot physically, by bios, or the mobo is just a newer edition?
#4 pci-e slot is actually just an x2 / x4 / x8 , and not x16.
#5 Will it fit?! Yes. Yes it will.
#6 WHAT IS THE SOLUTION FOR THESE AND FOR ANITHING ELSE THAT'S NOT HERE ON THIS LIST?!?!
FACTS / SOLUTIONS / WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS:
#1: The pci-e limitations:
The limitation's reason is that these PCs are NOT made for gaming.
These are office mashines for office work mostly. But you CAN
make them work with bigger cards somethimes in some cases.
And the reasons are:
#2: PSUs:
There is a good chance that the PSU doesn't have enough power in it because in needs to power the mobo, cpu, ram, fans,
some kind of drives (m.2/SSD/HDD), etc. Therefore not enough power left to start up a 750Ti / 1050Ti witch needs 60 / 75
watts of power to run properly. I saw someone said it didn't worked with 750Ti's, someone said it worked with 1050Ti's. These
power suplies where not made to throw a GPU and another PSU (for the 6-8 pin connectors on the GPU) inside and gaming with it
becuase the original PSU does not give enough juice through the pci-e x16 blue slot. Mostly because the PSU doesn't
have enough amps on 12/5/3.3v rails means can't make enough watts to the GPU through the mobo etc. It coud be another pc part,
but it's an office PC. It doesn't need a 75W powered GPU. However you can change the PSU to a better TFX one and buy
a 24 to 8 pin adapter, but we don't know if it's working properly or not. (as far as i know it's a TFX PSU)
At least i didn't find a case where someone was able to give enough power with a new TFX PSU to the GPU through pci-e as well.
EDIT: There's a possible way that if you have a srtonger CPU and more ram etc. than the PSU really doesn't have more power
for the GPU. But if you have a lighter CPU and less ram, maybe it can power the card.
#3 motherboard / bios:
Maybe in the bios there is or was a limitation, that can or it is already got "fixed" with a bios update.
(as i said there were different cases: 1050Ti worked, 750Ti didn't) Or the mobo somehow knows what specific card is in your
system and wants or doesn't want to give more power to the card. Maybe the mobo physically limits the pci-e slot because
the PC (for exaple) has a 240W PSU but the PC needs to power all the parts inside and I/O stuff too exept the GPU so just only
35W for that slot. Maybe there are some differences between the same boards couse i saw some of them don't have a
chipset heatsink, and some of them had! Maybe to have space for the GPU? (in the 7040 MT for exaple)
#4: x2 / x4 / x8 slots:
*"I feel you bro" meme here*
#5: Will it fit?
Compared to it's size, it has alot of space for a videocard. (Wonder why.)
(I think It's an MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti Power Edition, but correct me please if i'm wrong!)
Original image's link
According to the guy"s GPU then, a 24.23cm/9.5" long, 11.11504cm / 4.376" high, dual-slot wide card can fit into that little computer!
You plobably need some 90 degrees sata cables there but anything else looks fine.
#6: Any other problems and solutions?!
We need people who knows waaayyy more then us. :(((
About what cards can work in these connections (exept the ones that Dell sold with these PCs already) which can
work or overwrite or do something with that 35W limit. Because the 1050Ti uses 75 Watt of power according to it's site!
The pci-e connector itself, how does it work, what can we do with it? (see my terrible solution for exaple)
Maybe someone can easily tell what's the situation just by looking at the motherboard! If someone can take a few high res picture about the mobo that would be awesome!
My sotry:
So i found a Dell Optiplex 7040 MT for a really good price (as most of you probably) but i didn't buy yet.
I would love to know if there's a solution for that problem because i have a GTX 660 that needs more
power from the pci-e, and i don't want to buy another card yet. If i need to buy a new card, i rather buy a
1060Ti or maybe a 1070, than a 1050Ti. I need that / that kinda PC for work and i need to use a videocard
as well. So that sucks at the moment..
My terrible workaround at the moment, in theory: (NSFW probably)
In a dell Optiplex 7040 MT: Using a pci-e extender and cut it so just the data part is connected to the GPU and to the PC's pci-e
x16 slot. Using another PSU and some kind of an adapter for powering correctly the GPU power pins with that second PSU.
I don't know if that could work. Probably not. But we need people who know more about these things. Please help those out who have the same problem!
LINKS WHAT I FOUND ABOUT THIS, AND OTHER STUFF:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3353254/gtx-1050ti-optiplex-7040.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3452753/geforce-gtx-1050ti-work-dell-optiplex-7040.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3288564/geforce-gtx-750ti-work-dell-optiplex-7040-desktop-pcs.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3291325/dell-optiplex-7040-480-msi-armour-graphic-card-fit-computer.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3291325/dell-optiplex-7040-480-msi-armour-graphic-card-fit-computer.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3560635/upgrade-dell-optiplex-7040mt.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3209107/geforce-gtx-950-fit-dell-optiplex-7040-small-factor-form.html
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/pny-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-graphics-card-gf-gtx-1050-ti-4-gb-gddr5-pcie-3-0-x16-dvi-hdmi-displayport/apd/a9332086/parts-upgrades (maybe this 1050Ti plus other ones work but other 1050Ti's not?)
https://www.dell.com/community/Desktops-General-Read-Only/GTX-1050-Ti-with-Optiplex-7040-Mini-Tower/td-p/5122050
http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/ecemea-optiplex-7040-technical-spec-sheet.pdf (love to see this site)
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/sigalrm/24449295583/
I lost a few LTT forum posts about these kinda stuff but you can find it easily!
Thanks for reading, hope we can figure it out! Have a nice day!
