Acer TC-780-ACKI5 Upgrade Questions. PCU I can upgrade to is the I7-7700

MannyMantis0000

My main questions is: I am told the only PCU I can upgrade to is the I7-7700 and not much better than what I have. Is that true?

My second question is: I am looking to upgrade the current 300W PSU so I can get a decent GPU. The PSU is ATX so that's makes it easy but it's compact and finding 600W that can fit is a bit tougher. It looks like the dimension's of the PSU are: 140mm 150mm 86mm anyone install a 600W or bigger PSU in the desktop before?

Current Specs:

• 7th Generation Intel Core i5-7400 Processor (Up to 3.5GHz)
• 32GB DDR4 2400MHz
• Connectivity- 802.11ac wireless LAN, Gigabit LAN. Drive Interface-SATA 6 Gbps. 1TB M.2 SATA3 SDD
• Geforce GTX 1050
• Windows 10 Home

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[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

billsey

That is true, the motherboard chipset is designed for a 7th gen CPU, so the limits are what Intel shipped in the 7th gen line. If you look at the Kaby Lake-S CPUs, you can likely just drop in any of the 65W or lower versions. There was an earlier version of the TC-780 that used 6th gen chips, but it had a different motherboard. As to the power supply, as you know it's a typical ATX supply. You can put in whatever you prefer, so a 600W or larger is still pretty easy to find. Acer shipped with 220W, 300W and 500W supplies. What drive do you have? A SATA SSD in the M.2 slot will give a bigger performance boost over a SATA HDD than anything else you could do to that system.

MannyMantis0000

I just installed a 1T M.2 Sata III sdd. I had a 2T HDD.

The PC is 7 years old I may just get a new PSU and New GPU now and a few months from now just buy a motherboard/cpu combo instead of just a cpu. Overall how hard would it be for me to replace the MB/CPU comb? The main thing is getting a MB/CPU combo that will work with what I have just upgraded and fit into my Acer desktop.

MannyMantis0000

Installed a 650W running now no problems but on the PSU box it said something I may need to go into Bios and rest PSU settings? Do I need to do this and if so how?

billsey

You shouldn't need to. The issue with swapping out a motherboard is that Acer uses a modified DTX design, with a 'diving board' extension out the front to bring the front ports to the front of the case. Generic cases and motherboard expect that those will be cabled, so you will lose access to front ports with a new MB.