OptiPlex 740 – Windows 7 and 10 64 Bit

Minitower, Desktop, SFF

System Upgrades

Service Manual

Ensure you reference your service manual before carrying out upgrades:

The most recommended upgrade for this system is a Solid State Drive, here is my affiliate link to Crucial here. If purchasing a SSD or Memory Upgrade please use these links as I will get a tiny bit of commission which will help fund my guides

SSD Drive Upgrade

Memory Upgrade:

This system supports 8 GB of RAM 2×(2×2 GB Modules). Note the 32 Bit OS maxes out at 4 GB RAM. This can also be purchased using the affiliate link above.

Graphics Card

Please ask on the Dell Community Forums for the latest recommendation for Graphics Cards. Ensure to include your form factor when asking for a Graphics Card Upgrade Recommendation.

Operating System

It is recommended to install Windows 10 on this system see Windows OEM FAQs and Downloads. The Windows Vista OEM or Windows XP Product Key won't be compatible with Windows 10 Installation Media however you can run Windows 10 Unlicensed. Windows 10 will have most of the system drivers required inbuilt however you can install the Windows 7 Drivers if you have any unknown Devices in the Device Manager.

Drivers and Downloads for Windows 7

Legacy BIOS

System Utilities (Windows 7 Only)

Chipset (Windows 7)

Video (Windows 7 Only)

There are two variants of Video Cards installed by default on this model. The Dedicated ATI (now AMD) or nVidia Graphics Card.

Communications (Windows 7 Only)

Not all systems have a modem. If the Driver fails to install, there is no need to try and install the rest in this category.

Ethernet (Windows 7 Only)

This has Broadcom and Intel variants. The driver is inbuilt for the Broadcom NIC. An older version of the Intel driver is also inbuilt.

Audio (Windows 7 Only)

Card Reader

The Card Reader was optional and most of these units don't have a card reader.

4 thoughts on “OptiPlex 740 – Windows 7 and 10 64 Bit

  1. Something is not right when trying to install a SSD on the Optiplex 740 Desktop Edition. It has SATA-2 ports, but no ACHI, tried to install an Intel 330 SSD I had extra, and the Toolbox reported the connection as IDE. Speeds were actually slower than the HDD!

    I believe this has to do with the NVIDIA chipset, which is now unsupported. It has an AMD CPU (Athlon X2 4850e), but it's not a AMD motherboard.

    Is there a fix for this, maybe an add on card? I've upgraded the RAM to the max 8GB DDR2 PC2-6400. There is a PCIe card, however I've added a AMD Radeon HD 7570 GPU, which was stock in my newer XPS 8700. Graphics scores are great at 6.9 WEI, same with RAM. The added RAM gave the CPU a WEI boost as well.

    OS is Windows 7 Ultimate, dual booting with Linux Mint 17.1, both 64 bit.

    1. "This model and Operating System is not supported by Dell".- Quote from above.

      If Dell isn't supporting it, them whom is? NVIDIA? I did install their Dell System Software, but had to get driver updates from elsewhere, used the IObit Driver Updater (Free) Utility, it's the best Free Driver updater out there. Unlike Slim Drivers, there were no errors shown upon install, and after reboot, everything simply worked.

      I did manually upgrade the AMD 7570 from their site, as well as installed their CPU driver. Personally, I feel I'd be better off to find a similar sized Optiplex motherboard, there were many produced, with Full Intel or AMD support, and install my new RAM sticks & GPU in there. That way, I'd have Full SATA support for the PC & can benefit from installing a SSD. Surely there's a drop in replacement somewhere, it a matter of knowing which to get.

      Does anyone know which Optiplex motherboard (with part number if possible) would replace the one in the 740 Desktop edition with little effort? CPU brand doesn't matter to me, as I can upgrade these cheap, many are on eBay for $30 or less.

  2. I am in the same situation as you, Cat. I bought a SAMSUNG SSD (850 EVO, 250 Gbytes) just to find it slower than 2 HDD in Striping.

  3. Orlando, you'll have to find a PCIe SATA card, remove your add-on graphics card (if any) & install the card in the graphics slot. Then hope that the graphics doesn't go out because a card is in the slot.

    This was a $29 PC for me, not much lost, unfortunately there's no SATA-2 PCI cards, only SATA-1, with any luck, the SSD will then run faster than your HDD, yet not by much.

    I just don't see what's so 'enhanced' with these PC's, that's what it says at boot, seems like Dell would have included (or had NVIDIA to) some PCIe x1 ports for future expansion. I wished that someone would step forward who owns one of these & tell us if adding a PCIe card to the graphics port disables onboard graphics, there were hundreds of thousands of these PC's distributed.

    Yet it runs Windows 10 Pro well, but handicapped to a HDD only.

    Cat

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