Upgrade Inspiron 23 5348 CPU from i3-4150 to i7-4790K?

Question

I've got a client's Inspiron 23 5348 AIO, and I'm going to upgrade the hard drive to an SSD. Since I'll have the machine open anyway, I was looking into processor upgrades. It has a 0XHYJF motherboard in it with an i3-4150 processor in it. I was considering upgrading the processor, but I was concerned that the power supply might be underpowered - I think the machine comes with a 185W power supply. This leads me to my question:

What is the maximum processor this motherboard will support while running the A13 BIOS with the default 185W power supply?

The machine currently has A01 so I'll need to attempt updating the BIOS. I'm considering the i7-4790K processor but am concerned that either the power supply is insufficient, or that the processor is not supported on A13. Any input would be helpful!

redxps630 · Accepted Answer

The AIO uses laptop style cpu heatsink which may not be adequate to cool 4790k with 88w tdp compared to 54w tdp of i3. the 185w power supply is ok.

redxps630 · Accepted Answer

the 88w TDP is the base power consumption of 4790k. this is before any OC and you can not OC it anyway on the Dell bios. the best validated processor for this model is the Dell validated one i7-4790S

Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, I3-4150, 3.5G, 65W, L 인텔 코어 i3-4150 프로세서 (듀얼 코어, 3.5 GHz, 3MB 캐시, HD 그래픽 4400 포함)
Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, I3-4160, 3.6, 65W, LGA Intel Corei3-4160 Processor ( Dual Core 3.6GHz 3MBw/HD4400 Graphics)
Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, I3-4170, 3.7, 54W, LGA 第四代智能英特尔® 酷睿™ i3-4170 处理器 (3M 缓存, 3.7GHz)
Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, I5-4440S, 2.8, 65W, L, C0 Processor, HSW, I5-XXXX, I NS
Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, I5-4440S, 65W
Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, I5-4460S, 2.9, 65W, LGA 4th Generation Intel(R) Core(T M) i5-4460S Processor (6M Cache, upto 3.40 GHz)
Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, I5-4590S, 3.0G, 65W, L Intel Corei5-4590S Processor (Quad Core, 6MB, 3.00GHzw/HD4600 Graphics)
Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, I7-4790S, 3.2G, 65W, L Intel Corei7-4790S Processor (Qual Core, 8MB, 3.20GHzw/HD4 600 Graphics)
Processor / CPU	CPU, Intel, 4th gen, Haswell, Intel Pentium, G3250, 3.2, 65W Intel Pentium Processor G3250 (Dual Core, 3MB, 3.2GHzw/HD Graphics)

SirLouie75 · Answer

@redxps630​ Thanks. Has anyone been successful trying this? If not, what is the best processor to recommend for the best performance given the system's unique logistical constraints? Could I underclock the 4790K to reduce the heat?

SirLouie75 · Answer

Since the TDP is similar, I'll grab the i7-4790S then instead of the K. Thanks! I don't want to risk my client having problems if the machine 'smokes' at some point as CD Calkins suggests.

redxps630 · Answer

lol no it would probably not smoke but the cpu fan might crank up rpm more often than you like to hear as it attempts to cool a hot chip. A new thermal paste is certainly needed when you swap cpu.
In my experience when the cpu is not adequately cooled in a laptop style pc, the motherboard would go haywire and may trigger a thermal shutdown. It should have some internal protection mechanism to stop cpu from burning temp.

redxps630 · Answer

Two users had actually done i7-4790k in this pc https://www.userbenchmark.com/PCBuilder?searchTerm=Inspiron%2023%205348%204790k

user_6c3936 · Answer

That’s a good question, and you’re smart to think about power and BIOS limits before swapping CPUs 👍

On the Inspiron 23 5348 AIO, the main constraint isn’t just the motherboard socket, but power delivery and thermal design. While the i7-4790K is technically a 4th-gen LGA1150 CPU, it has an 88W TDP, which is significantly higher than the i3-4150’s 54W. With the stock 185W power supply and the all-in-one cooling setup, that’s where problems usually start.

Most users report that this system is far more stable with non-K CPUs, such as the i7-4790 (non-K) or i7-4770, which have lower power demands and are better suited to Dell’s OEM boards and cooling. The “K” processors don’t offer much benefit here anyway, since overclocking isn’t supported on this platform.

Updating to BIOS A13 is definitely recommended before any CPU upgrade, as earlier versions had more limited CPU microcode support. Just make sure the BIOS update completes successfully before changing hardware.

In short:

i7-4790K is risky due to power and heat
i7-4790 (non-K) is a much safer upper limit
SSD upgrade will give you the biggest real-world performance gain

Hope that helps, and good luck with the upgrade!

Inspiron Desktops

Upgrade Inspiron 23 5348 CPU from i3-4150 to i7-4790K?

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