Graphics Card for Dell Optiplex 990 sff to Run Blender 3D Software

raminjan

Hello guys, I have a desktop PC (Dell Optiplex 990 sff) and it has the following specs:

1. 240 GB SSD Drive
2. Ram: 16 GB
3. Processor: Intel Core i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz X 4
4. Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 2000 (SNB GT1)
5. OS: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS - 64-bit
6. PSU: 240 Watts

Now, when I look up Hardware requirements for Blender 3D Software at Optimal performance level, I see the following:

Minimum Hardware Requirement:

1. 64-bit quad core CPU with SSE2 support
2. 8 GB RAM
3. Full HD display
4. Mouse, trackpad or pen+tablet
5. Graphics card with 2 GB RAM, OpenGL 4.3

Recommended Hardware Requirement:

1. 64-bit eight-core CPU
2. 32 GB RAM
3. 2560×1440 display (I am using my tv for this)
4. Three-button mouse or pen+tablet
5. Graphics card with 8 GB RAM

My Goal:

I want to upgrade my Optiplex 990 sff so that I can match the RECOMMENDED Hardware Requirements. Because I want to be able to run Blender as smoothly as possible, given the current hardware I got. I want to be honest, I don't have a ton of money to invest in a gaming pc. I got to work with what I got. I want to learn 3d Animation. So, given my situation, can you please recommend me a list of CPU's and GPU's and PSU's I can buy and upgrade my PC with so I can closely match my pc's hardware to the recommended hardware specs?

I would greatly appreciate any input.

Thank you.

#blenderpc, #pcupgrade, #pcparts

Yingdong

Well, you might need a bios upgrade. Given motherboard you choose does not support usb bios flash, you may need to have an older ryzen cpu or pay 40 dollars to let microcenter upgrade it. Also, this board has no wireless adapter built in, you also need to purchase one. Else, with this build, I don't see any issues. But well, it's only 4gb of vram, which doesn't meet your requirement. If that's for myself I would rather to go get a prebuilt that's currently on sale. For example, this one:

https://deals.dell.com/en-us/productdetail/c2u9

Yingdong

Just get a new pc man, it's not going to run great no matter how you upgrade it. It's restricted both by cpu(sandy bridge that's 10 years old), ram speed(old ddr3 platform), motherboard(restricted you can only upgrade to another sandy bridge cpu, else it will not be compatible as the socket is different), and psu(240w is not going to run any powerful desktop system, it's designed to support lightly loaded systems like a business office desktop). If you are saying upgrade all of these, it's basically just a new pc.

raminjan

@Yingdong Hi bud. Thank you for your honest, yet concrete answer. I did a little research after what you said and found out the low-poly modeling for blender, I could get away with a 800 dollars pc. I found a AMD GPU which has 7 graphics core and I am throwing in a 4 GB dedicated graphics card. So I came up with the build attached here. Can I ask you for your thoughts on this build?

Please see attached.

Thanks.

Custom AMD PC by Micro Center.pdf