Got a free XPS (sort of)

91Sputnik · December 9, 2018

So I work at a place that sells office oriented computers and we have had an old Dell XPS 8700 display in the back for some time now. I recently decided to open it up and unlike all other dummy units we get it actually has a motherboard, case fan and PSU. I asked my boss about it and he said to recycle it or take it home. I already have all the components to get it running except a CPU. I usually build my own computers but it's been a while.... Still running an 8 core FX. My question is can I throw in a $20 Celeron from eBay to see if it even works? The only info I have about it is that it has a Z87 chipset and the motherboard model. Any info would be appreciated. I figured since it was free and has an M.2 slot it would be worth buying a 4770 and a GTX 1060 or 1070 and get rid of the old AMD rig.

Thx

corrado33 · December 9, 2018

Cool, a free z87 board is nice. I'd check the mobo compatibility for that particular board/computer on dell's website, then buy literally the cheapest 1150 chip you can find so long as it's supported by the original bios.

The cheapest LGA 1150 celeron I can think of is the Celeron G1830 for an average price of $20 on ebay.com.

Then, update the bios and hope that it supports the 4770 (That info should be on dell's website as well.)

EDIT: I couldn't seem to find a CPU support list on dells site for that computer, but in the manual it DOES say 4th gen i5s and i7s. And I just saw an amazon ad for one with a 4770 in it, so you're PROBABLY good, unless the board revision changed.

Oh the biggest trouble you're bound to run into is that most dell boards are stupidly non standard. They won't fit in a standard ATX case.... correctly. At least none of the dell boards I've ever had did. You'll likely have to rig something up to get it to work in a case correctly. Or just run it open air.

EDIT: Theoretically, the z87 chipset lets you OC the CPU, so you could get a k version CPU if you wanted to mess with that. Unsure if the dell bios would restrict that.