For those of you thinking about going a route like this, using Sata to 8 Pin power adapters for the graphics card is a dodgy long term solution. Even with a lowish TDP card like the GTX 960. You can get a 24pin to 8 Pin adapter for the motherboard, so you can upgrade the powersupply.
What would you say is the best avenue for selling pc's? I build them for a hobby, and I can make a really damn good pc that's not only beautiful, but rocks most games, yet sits for days sometimes a couple weeks before people buy them.
hey at least that system is back from the days when you could do something like that. Try that with a modern one from Dell/HP/etc and you'd be stuck with whatever proprietary attempt at a knockoff 12VO they decided to pull from the bowels of hell on that particular day Edit for clarity: talking about getting a 24pin to 8 pin adapter
@@jeffschultz1338 Where are you selling them? I had pretty good luck on Facebook marketplace. Also, what are you selling them for? I usually priced my lower-end builds at $50 above what it cost me and higher-end builds at $100 above what it cost me. New PCs are easier to sell for a profit than used PCs. People want a good deal on used items, not market price. I also did custom builds more often than pre-built systems, and working with a person like that made them a lot more comfortable and made them feel like they were getting a good deal - I was able to explain the price-to-performance of different parts, and give them something that does what it needs to do and looks the way they want it to, all within their price range.
also be careful which psu you buy, some are to long and end up bumping into that black piece at the top of the case. You can also remove the hard drive cage with a drill and get a bigger gpu to fit in without blockage (I ended up using double sided tape and sticking my ssd to the inside of the pc somewhere, ugly but nobody is looking inside anyways). this dude did it on a precision optiplex but the process is the exact same as it would be on one of these. ruclips.net/video/Bjtpp-fIx_Q/видео.html
@masonzero digital i tried posting all the spec of the current build, but youtube keeps deleting it. I changed my profile photo to show the current build I have for sale.
"This is a PC from 1752" - i know that statement was a hyperbole, but i'd like to imagine that literally happening in colonial times where everyone was pc gaming on a dell optiplex
I literally see someone on Newegg is selling a Radeon 7000 64mb...for $150. I checked and yes, it's the card from...2001. Would be great for an Optiplex-based "vintage" setup.
For a kid under 12 wanting to start gaming on Fortnite or Minecraft, this is a great option. I often point parents this way rather than buying dirty over priced pre-builts from big stores.
@@Timmycoo Nowadays, You can build an APU system that'll play most everything at low/mid settings at 1080p for like $550-600 that's fully upgradable with a dedicated GPU whenever the shortage isn't nuts.
It's funny how the "gaming" prebuilts are total over priced garbage considering the budget yet these old "office" prebuilts make great gaming machines. I buy/sell locally PC parts and will pair up a PC from extra parts for resale when possible. I have sold 3-4 of the machines in this video since lock down. All new gamers who were happy to spend around $150 on a machine to play a lower demanding game (minecraft/zoo tycoon/E sports stuff) but still get their feet into the PC gaming area.
I can say first hand, the system will SEEM like it can handle it but over time the 8 pin motherboard connector will get really really really hot and start to melt. Ask me how I know, i had to get a 24 pin to 8 pin adapter so i could use a good psu in my pc
Please give this visibility. DANGER! SATA is rated for 54 watts. After that the connector starts to melt. It is imperative to check how much the graphics card pulls over the 8 pin if you decide to use that cable.
I did this with an Opti 7020 tower - I knew going in I was going to need a PSU, so I ordered it, the 24-to-8 adapter, and a proper GPU more or less matched to the i7 CPU the system came with. It's been a great PC for me and unless you need Cyberpunk 2077 in Ultra, it's a worthwhile option still!
Please give this visibility. DANGER! SATA is rated for 54 watts. After that the connector starts to melt. It is imperative to check how much the graphics card pulls over the 8 pin if you decide to use that cable.
@@capsikseason It uses proprietary connectors how was he supposed to buy a new PSU. Unless Dell offers a higher wattage option he would have to buy one and rewire the connectors if that's even possible.
Recently gifted my brother an Optiplex I got off ebay for $100 USD. I removed the HDD cage and added a 5.25 to 3.5 adaptor to move the HDD and a SSD to replace the DVD drive. Also gifted my old gtx 1060 6gb along with a 650w power supply. Just need an adaptor to reduce the 24 pin to fit that 8 pin. He also added a 140mm fan to the front. Runs well for older parts.
"They sell for like a kidney and a quick handie in the parking lot." Lmfao you had me dying! But forreal, I remember when I started following you when you had like 5k subs. You've had such huge amounts of success. I'm glad to see it!
Hey thats almost the same config I've been running since 2019, except my 960 it's the 4gb model, plus I've upgraded from an i5 2500k to a r5 1600. Being a guy with not a lot of cash in Brazil this config is actually ok, runs everything i trow at it (currently playing outriders) and its a blessing in a country in the financial situation we're in.
@@HappyBeezerStudios depends on who you ask, I've seen some people say it doesn't make a difference, the card is too weak for it to be noticeable. Now in my experience, if a game is light to run or you put it on low textures it performs the same 2 or 4gb. Almost all the games released recently require 4gb minimum (now even 6 seems to have become the base) , and in this situation it makes a big difference since the 2gb card dont have enough vram so it dumps off or trades data with regular ram more often, causing stuttering or lower fps. At the time (2019) I bought mine in aliexprees it was like a 10 dollar difference from 2 to 4 so I got the 4gb model, but it was more luck than knowledge or anything like that.
I had like 8 of these things at my old job at one point lol they make FANTASTIC servers. Quiet, low power consumption, upgradable PSU, turns on by itself after AC loss, space for up to four drives plus SSD, and you can throw in a Core i7 for extra threads. I still have two at home for projects. You can even use it with macOS Catalina! It's the best pre-built ever, hands down.
3 years later and this is still relevant. I am watching this on a Optiplex I got from Ebay for $38 shipped. Has an i7 3770. Slapped in 16gb a ssd and a RX 480 $35 Ebay find and a 500w Bronze power supply I had laying around. So far it's not a bad beater. Best part was that it had standard ps connectors on the mobo.
Great video. I managed a Dell Optiplex 9020 SFF + GTX 1650 LP for $300 AUD. It featured a i7 4770. A great budget build especially considering that the GPU runs off the PCIE slot only and it's whisper quiet. Highly recommended for all ages!
How did you get GTX 1650 LP into 9020 SFF? Is the GPU one slot wide? On 9020 SFF the 16x slot is on the LEFT when viewed from the front, so there is no room for a 2-slot card. Compare this to 9010 SFF, where the 16x slot is on the RIGHT when viewed from the front, so a 2-slot LP GPU can overhang the second slot. I am genuinely curious how you accomplished this. It is making me wonder if you have a 1-slot-wide GPU, or maybe it is actually an MT and not SFF? What am I missing?
Nevermind, I think I figured it out. Must have plugged into the x4 slot for about a 10% - 15% loss in performance. Still much, much better than no GPU at all. Nice.
I got an old office pc, dropped a gtx 960 4gb strix in there, Corsair 220t, tx650m PSU, 16gb vengeance RGB pro 3600mhz ram, MSI b550 and a ryzen 5 3600. I also just put a crucial 1tb nvme in there. Basically, I took an old office pc, gradually put it in the bin, and started from scratch.
I got 3 dell optiplexes a year or so ago with hdd and fully working gt 720 gpu and 8gb ram for 10gbp each. Now one is used as a retro gaming center. One was made as a mini arcade and given to a friend and one was turned into a simple home computor for the dearest mum who still uses it to this day for craftwork. Sometimes old and simple stuff still serves a purpose 👍
Great video! 2 GB of VRAM is not a lot, but remember what is shown here is memory allocated by the game and not actual usage.. Many games allocate memory depending on what is available even if it not necessarily is needed
I used to flip a lot of Optiplex budget gaming systems as a side hustle. I'd usually go with a 1050 Ti to avoid the PCIe power connector problem, put the SSD in the lower 5.25 bay (VHB tape is your friend) and give it 8gb of DDR3 1600 (Anything that would require more memory would also require more CPU and GPU.) If I was feeling saucy, I'd paint the gray mesh part of the front panel and put a matching LED fan up front, powered by a SATA to fan header adapter connected to the SATA power plug for the lower HDD bay. Great budget build for parents who don't have a pile of cash around Christmas time.
did you actually _make_ money doing that though? I guess maybe if you live in a densely populated area I can see how that might work, but just thinking about it myself, I know in my area I would just be sitting on stock for so long I'd end up having to sell at a loss to get it gone.
@@ram89572 I live in the DFW metroplex, so there's a pretty healthy second-hand market. The PC I described, I would mark up maybe $100 over the cost of parts, and let the buyer talk me down $50 (everyone likes to get a deal.) There are plenty of people around here who just want someone else to build a PC for them. I always tell people they could do it themselves cheaper, but most just don't trust themselves to do it. I do more custom builds too, with standard off-the-shelf parts. I just like to keep something available on the low end, so I can have any budget covered.
I worked IT for a major call center company up until this Spring, so seeing 3020s made my day. We must have sent close to 1000 off to recycling when we closed a center and I think a handful of 3040s are all the Dells left, at least in my area. We had upgraded to HPs, not because they were any better, it was a business relationship kind of things. I used to have great fun upgrading those Dells in the lab, as kind of a proof of concept/I'm bored and there are no tickets kinds of ways. It is nice to see that even a potato system like a 3020 can still hang.
Dell Executive - "hey guys I just found a way we can save money on all our systems and it will make no difference in the product" Executive 2 - "ok I'm listening" Exec 1 - "what if we cut out 60% of the material used in our cpu coolers" Exec 2 - "brilliant! that will save us a whole 2.3 cents per unit" Dell Engineer - "umm, but that will significantly impact performance under load so we can't rea...." Big Time Exec - "well I'd say that's a done deal then. Excellent work at saving us some money team now can someone get that new good looking piece of ass from accounting to bring me some champagne"
Despite the failings (proprietary connectors, power supplies, and motherboards), these little Dell (or HP or Lenovo) office machines are great. Many were ordered with i5s (nice balance of performance and cost), so they often have 4 actual cores. The quality of the components is usually quite good (businesses hate machines going down), so they should last fine. Parts are cheap. If you can live with the limitations, they're great for as a low end gaming machine or just a internet/video streaming/misc machine. I'd try to get something with at least a 4th gen Intel processor though since that's when USB 3.0 became mainstream. There are older machines with it, but that's when Intel put it in all their chipsets, so that's when common machines got it. Though some later Ivy Bridge (3rd Gen) chipsets do support USB 3 and motherboard manufacturers could always have a USB 3 chip somewhere, 4th gen (Haswell) is pretty much the first one guaranteed to have USB 3.0 and the difference in cost between the two is negligible at this point, so why not.
I've got a Optiplex SFF 7020 with an RX 6400 and a 4570. She runs everything I ask her to. Threw a WiFi card into the other PCie slot. The 6400 gets some low-percent issues due to PCIe3, and the included mechanical hard drive is .... a mechanical hard drive. But I have an SSD ready to install into it, so that's one problem solved, and the low-percents are generally tolerable, since I don't play online competitive games. It's also so ADORABLE and densely packed! It gives me joy.
@@FerralVideo The SSD will help alot - so many perfectly fine computers are letdown by slow mechanical drives. Might even help with the low percent issues since they might not be PCIe related but instead related to slowdowns due to disk access. I saw one RUclipsr do a one component upgrade challenge and the disk surprisingly did make a difference. Also, beware that on the 7020 the x1 slot is PCIe gen2 (x16 slot is gen3). But yeah, lovely little machines - great for HTPC or even a home server (biggest problem there is lack of room for lots of disks, but you don't always need that). They're compact, quiet, reliable, cheap to purchase, cheap to repair, and really quite capable. They're even pretty easy to work on, once you figure out where Dell put the different latches. Some of the later versions, like the 3050, even support M.2 drives. The other fun form factor is the USFF (aka tiny or 1L PC). Dell, Lenovo, and HP make these. Very little expansion, unfortunately, but they're only about the size of a small stack of CD jewel cases. Some of them are really quite capable and even denser packed than the 7020. ServeTheHome has a good recurring feature on those.
I started with the same Dell Optiplex and added a 500W PSU (along with the 24 to 8pin adapter) and a gtx 1050ti. I am an IT consultant and have accumulated a good number of Dells over the years and finally decided to build a gaming rig, and for now, I'm very satisfied with it.
@@izunauchiha1202 I think it was a 3020. looked just like the one in this video, had a 4th gen i5 in it. Ive upgraded since. I really don't recommend using those optiplexes unless you plan on keeping everything in the original dell case because I ran into all sorts of issues when trying to put that dell board in a different case.
I enjoy seeing what creative solutions people can do for budget systems. Xeon cpus have been a fantastic option for Dell desktop's and other pre built OEM machine's. Windows 11 will work on older hardware unofficially but, I think it's better than letting a computer go to waste for current OS support
I don't want to be one of "those" guys. But Linux is making great strides if you find the right version. I'm not a savvy computer user and I'm at least able to browse the internet and play Steam games on it. Definitely breathes new life into old computers.
I recently bought a used HP Elitedesk with an i7 4770, 16GB and a 1TB HDD for 170€. I threw in a new 120GB SSD (15€) for Windows, and a used GTX 1050 TI (100€). For 285€ (about 330 USD), I have a pretty decent gaming and multi-tasking experience. (I live in Belgium, bought the PC in Germany on eBay)
The intel core i7 machines with these specs worked amazing. Cheap to find from an office sale and would often have 4 ram slots. I ran a 16GB version with a GTX 960. Ran all the games I wanted to play at the time way back in 2017. You can even swap the power supply easy.
I put together almost this exact build. With the i7 4790, 16Gb RAM, and a 1050Ti. Runs pretty much everything great at 1080 and was able to overclock the snot out of that 1050Ti. Thanks Dawid! Fun to watch someone else go through the same train of thought
Me, watching the video "Hmm, everything is fairly normal, this doesn't look like a Dawid video!" 4:45 Dawid: But I got this and that's how we're gonna make that GPU work! Hope the PSU can handle it! *_Grabs popcorn_*
@@DawidDoesTechStuff honestly I was more worried about the adaptor not being a cheap one and melting by short circuit or something... Otherwise you could attach a fan to it as usual.
i bought my dell optiplex 7010 in december of last year. i found it for $80 cad and it came with an i7 3770 and 16gb of ram. it didnt come with a hard drive but that didnt matter to me. i upgraded the power supply to a 600 watt 80 plus white (it was only $10 more than the 430 watt one) got a kingston 240gb ssd, also bought a pcie wifi card since i cant get ethernet in my room, and got a gtx 1060 6gb for only $150 (this was only a few weeks before the gpu shortage). the total price for it was only $400 cad. the pc runs all the games i play fine, also the desktop performance is really solid, sine the i7 3770 has 4 cores and 8 threads, it actually runs alot faster than my 13 inch 2015 macbook pro. overall im really happy with the system, and would recommend it to anybody whos thinking of buying it.
Dawid, you can upgrade the power supply. Amazon sells a 24 to 8 pin converter. That way you can put a larger GPU. Also, you can upgrade that to an i7 for $50 or $60 USD
I grabbed an Optiplex 9020 MT from a local private seller for $150. Replaced the PSU with 500W EVGA, and added the adapter cable for the odd Dell mobo connections. Upgraded the i7-4770 to i7-4790K. Upgraded the puny Radeon card to RTX 2060 FE. Ditched the 1TB HDD and added 1TB Samsung SSD + 4TB HGST HDD. Maxed out the memory at 32GB at the fastest supported speed. It has been a rock solid machine and plenty fast. Even cooling has not been a problem whatsoever, even with the i7-4790K in there, fwiw. Might sound like a lot of money to put into this old machine, but I already had some of these parts, and I was able to sell certain things like the i7-4770 to recoup some of the cost.
For around a 10er you can easily get an adapter to put a standard power supply in there. Did that with a Dell Precision T1700... Xeon e3 1246 v3, 16gb ddr3 1600 and an Rx 480 8gb 2 years ago... Thing was a beast and only cost me around $250 total at the time
My "budget" option was: Ryzen 5 5600G. It was on sale at Canada Computers for 300 CAD, I managed to grab the only open box one in Ontario for 270, but I also had some points I was able to use towards the purchase, so I ended up paying only $ 250 CAD - which for me was the cheapest option to build a new PC without a GPU (since those are still very expensive), so that my daughter can play Minecraft and I have a fast, reliable SFF PC.(I built it in a Phanteks P200A)
Thank you for the video. I love reviving old desktop computers and converting them to gaming PCs. Few years ago, was the i5 2400 then now 4th gen , then will be 6th gen systems.
I’m currently building a system for one of my children in one of these. The only gpu I could find is a gtx 1050. Not amazing, but it will run everything @ 1080p
Aw man should have held out a few more months, building a pc for a friend and found a gtx 1660 for 150 dollars! Granted it was the one in the dell g5, but I’ve been seeing other 1660 for a similar price
Good old FB Market was selling a "Computer" not far from me advertised for £30 but no hard drive, a picture of the inside looked promising so took the plunge, when i got it home found a i5 3570k, a decent ASUS motherboard that lets you over clock (4.1 stable, needs a better cooler as only the stock one), 8GB ram, a Seasonic 620watt PSU and a GTX 750ti, all for £30! Sometimes people don't know what they have! Case is garbage, but hey......One mans trash.......
My son is running one of these with a 600W PSU and a GTX 1080 inside. Had to get an adapter for the PSU to motherboard but was well worth it for the flexibility in what we could put in there. Also had to saw out that bottom drive cage to fit the 1080 in there. But, hey, no such thing as too janky when there's no glass side panels to show it!
Pro tip: for anyone adding an SSD, while Dawid's placement is the most instinctual placement, the better location in this optiplex is in the second 5.25 Bay. There is a hole on the bottom that makes screwing the SSD in super easy. And now you can use the dual sata power rail properly.
im still on my 3020, with a i5 4570 and a 550 ti. Im preparing to sell it though and build a completely new system when ryzen 6000 comes out, as the i5 in this pc just isnt anywhere near good enough for me because i do video editing and streaming, but if you are just gaming, dell optiplex pcs are really good budget computers
As someone with a 3570k I know your pain. Got a couple games where the chip just doesn't cut it. And unlike with a weaker GPU you can't just reduce settings to make it run.
The non standard connectors in this series of Optiplex is the reason why the previous series is arguably better. I have a 7010 optiplex. Yes the 3rd gen core processors is a limit, but the i7 3770 is ok and the power supply options mean it's just a bit less annoying to do stuff with
Yes I still have my Dell optiplex 7010 with a 120gb SSD Rx 570 450w PSU i5 3570 and 8gb of ram and it runs pretty well the only game where I had to cap my fps so that I don't get random fps drops is bf1 but other than that I am quite happy with it
I had walked friends down the path of an older office PC with a fresh GPU. After a complete system bricks or are just needing some sort of upgrade from what grandma bought them three years ago. You cover most of the limiting factors in the vid. Another way to skin the cat, were cards like the 1050ti that could eat directly from the PCI-E slot. Another limitation is RAM caps. System wouldn't recognize more than 4, 6 or 8 gigs. Keep up the good work.
I bought a Dell Optiplex 7020 back in June of 2020 off Newegg. They shipped me a 9020 instead. Same 4590 I5. I bought it with a 120 gig SSD boot drive. It came with only 4 gigs of ram. Say what you will but I only paid 260 CDN for it. bought all new 4 gig ram for the 4 slots in this machine, replacing the 1333 mhz stick with fresh new 1600 mhz sticks. I replaced the PSU with an old Antec 430 watt unit I had in my parts box left over from a long ago build. I bought a TUF GTX 1660 Super and managed to install it in that the fucking tight case. Yes, I had to buy adapter cables for both my PSU and for the GPU. A year on? No problems. No major thermal issues at all. I use MSI Afterbuirner so I was able to configure my build so nothing goes crazy. My total cost? 580 CDN. So far so good.
To be honest,the GPU "shortage" is almost nonexistent now,its just miners and scalpers,and people who actually buy overpriced GPUs, are the problem now. Heck,in my country, ddr4 ram and monitors are more rare than GPUs,yet GPUs are still priced well over 2 times their RRP
the shortage is very much still a thing...especially for people who want top tier components. even many retailers have been caught scalping on online markets making it even more difficult for people to get the parts they want.
the fact that GPUs are still twice MSRP means there's still a shortage. Perhaps the only reason you're seeing actual stock is because nobody's prepared to pay that stupid price tag.
I have one of these Optiplex machines, mine has an i5 4690, but it has 4 DIMM slots... I dont think I've seen one with only 2 slots. I was lucky enough to get it pre GPU shortage and paired with a 1650 SUPER. Using NVENC and a capture card, phenomenal budget dedicated stream PC with OBS. Also, if anybody goes this route, You can upgrade the PSU, there is an adapter for the PSU to plug into the janky proprietary plug on the MOBO available on Amazon
I feel like the potential owner of a system like this is way more likely to upgrade to a 2x4GB kit rather than jump to a 2x8GB. The delta in price is still relevant for someone that evidently does not have that much change to spare, so to speak.
11:49 Out of curiosity I perused my local Craigslist to see their offerings for PC parts while trying to go for budget with somewhat up to date performance. Corsair Carbide case (damaged USB port, 1 missing fan) + MSI B540 Tomahawk motherboard (outdated BIOS) + Seasonic 620w PSU - $80 EVGA GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 4GB - $110 AMD Ryzen 5 3600 - $120 16GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 MHz - $50 Micron 3400 512 GB Gen 4 NVME - $40 AMD Wraith Stealth AM4 CPU cooler - $10 (Amazon) m.2 screw for NVME - $5 (Amazon) (note I'm not accounting for the fact that well priced items get copped real quick) So that's a mostly working computer for around $415
Professors throw out i7 office PCs all the time at my university (about 10 or so a year). I made a club that collects and refurbished these for students who want them. They just need to get the parts they need for it and it’s theirs (ssd and gpu mostly). They are old 2nd - 4th gen systems but can’t complain about free stuff.
10+ a year? That's alot of E-Waste for PCs that are going to be useful to anyone (Even gamers) Thank god you got the pc before they went to E-Waste landfill and went to useful places.
@@frozenturbo8623 I saw what happened to all the PCs last year, thrown into the back of a truck probably to be dumped somewhere and the university has to pay for it. That's why I made the club. I hope to reduce the e-waste even if just by a fraction. The office is happy that they don't have to pay money to throw them away either. Need to go talk to the metal scrapyard near here though about old steel and aluminum pc cases and whether or not they will take them (even for free).
Honestly at this point the *ONLY* thing making current gaming prebuilts "compelling" is that you can no longer just buy one of these or an old Thinkcenter and chuck a solid GPU in on the cheap. EDIT: The other thing with the Thinkcenters is that they mostly use standard PSUs.
At the beginning of 2023 I got a opti 7040 for $125 i7 6700 16g ddr4 ram M.2 slot gen 3 I added a dedicated boot Sata SSD 2 tb SSD 500gb m.2 for demanding games Gtx 1060 6gb Runs like a champ at 1080p
I have one of these setups as my 2nd PC. Its a optiplex 990. Got the PC off eBay for $120, got a 1050ti for $130, put a 240gb SSD in and changed power supply for $50 total. Had a 1tb hard drive and 2 sticks of 4gb ddr3 already so that was free. The PC came with a i7 2600, 2x4gb ddr3,motherboard, trash power supply. It's handled everything I've thrown at it. I upgraded the ram to 4x4gb ddr3 for a total of 16gb. Added a fan to the front to pull air in and it stays so frosty. Added my DVD drive from my old PC and it's everything I want.
My old GPU was a GTX 960, it served me extremely well for five years. At the time I got it it was cheaper to get a new 960 than to get a used 7-series card.
My 8 yo sons first PC, a Optiplex EX2 w/ i7 3770, 4x8gb ddr, and a 1050Ti. Had it now for nearly 2 years now. Supposed to be for schooling, but a laptop has been implemented for that task. Plays games well for his use; Fortnite, BeamNG, WreckFest, Minecraft, and few others. Haven't touched to OE power supply yet. Before we do anything else, we'll likey look at options for the next slightly newer hardware build and start over in a new case.
I bought an HP 8300 and upgraded the CPU to an Intel 3770S, upgraded to 16GB of memory, swapped out the HDD to a 500GB SSD, and threw in a GTX 1650 video card a couple of years ago. Surprisingly capable and has no trouble running games I love like Skyrim, PC Building Simulator. Still cheaper and better equipped than a tonne of prebuilts out there!
I paired a 1650 Super with an i5-2400 in a Dell Optiplex 990 with 16 GB of ram before the pandarama. It worked really well for my needs as a stopgap gaming PC, and my brother then used it for Rocket League and Rainbow 6 Siege as his first PC. The Dell I got only had PCIe 2.0, but the power connectors were standard ATX, so I was able to swap in a normal PSU. Right now the Dell has been set back to stock after I upgraded my brother to an i7-4790S and a new case and cooler, and it is now getting an open box GT 1030 ddr5 to make the thing the most low budget gaming machine for cabin use.
Right before covid I bought one with a I7 4790. I ended up tossing in a 1070ti, 550 watt psu and a 500gb ssd. It ran like a champ. All of this at the time was right under 500 dollars.
Built a similar system this week, using a 1060 3GB, upgraded the Ram to 16GB 1600mhz (Not needed but i had some spare) 450w PSU with the 24pin to 8 pin adapter and finally a 256GB ssd. All for £130/ $155. It plays Great and even supports VR at a smooth framerate! Still a recommended build in 2022
Nice! I got a slightly older Optiplex, with a I7 860 :P Paired it with a Radeon HD 6950 (flashed bios to 6970 to get those extra noob pwning shaders) Replaced the PSU to a 400W Corsair, and upgraded to a SSD and a 16GB kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3. In total i think around 112 USD The system is working great for my oldest daughter, to play Fortnite, Valorant and Roblox etc.
I just got into this whole upgrading Optiplex thing recently and have done a 3050, 9010, 3010 and a 790 all of them get good framerate with the paired cards I sourced. These will make great first time gamer pc's for some almost teens out there. I have a trick on the 3010 and 9010 series to keep the latch system, you just need to notch the rear of the plastic catch so the PSU will slip through and it will still latch the side cover closed.
There are 24 pin to 8 pin power adapters for using a standard power supply on these. However installing a higher wattage GPU on this would likely result in thermal issues. Something else to consider: a Dell Precision or Lenovo Thinkstation workstation PC. These are a bit more expensive but most have higher wattage PSU and multiple case fans.
Old office PCs are great for home servers. I have a Lenovo with an i5 4570S, 8GB RAM and 128Gb SSD (just £90 for everything). The system uses just 20W in idle. A combination of 12V only power supply and an essentials only motherboard.
Can always click that like button as soon as I open the video, before even watching it, because you can count on the content being good. One of my favorite youtube channels.
It's kinda fun being able to "max out" these prebuilts, even modern ones. You have an actual limit, rather than just the open-ended "how much money do you have" limit of a built PC.
Everybody seems to bitch about the lack of cores!! but I've never had any issue with any performance yet!! I play all kinds of games from Skyrim, Diablo II, Sunkenland, All the FarCry series even FC6 on Medium. I always average about 42 to 58fps on my 1080p monitor, and i7 4790 cpu, with GTX 1650 Super, 32Gb DDR3, 1TB SSD
@Dawid Does Tech Stuff, it's worth mentioning that there are inexpensive ($10 US Dollars or less) adapters to allow for PSU upgrades for these systems on Amazon as well. This opens up a lot more GPU options like older, more power hungry generations that the stock 290w PSU couldn't support. Probably a wash if you are buying all the components since any money saved on the GPU front would go towards a more expensive PSU, but if you have the parts laying around its a worth-while endeavor & worth pointing out! Good stuff here.
Since I've upgraded, my old dell optiplex 7020 is now a dedicated minecraft server. They're surprisingly solid machines in terms of performance. A great budget option imo.
Always have been. It was always a good budget option to snag a used, refurbished office machine and thow a midrange graphics card in there. Nowadays 4 cores don't cut it anymore for many games, but for esports stuff and games up until around 2016/17 they should still be fine.
Just a heads up, they make power supply adapters for these. They like $12. Also, the 4790 would give a decent boost in IPC over the 4590. The Xeon 1271 v3 will also work, is pretty much the same as the 4790 minus the integrated GPU, and it should cost a little less on the second hand market. With either, you could get away with something like a 1070 or a 1080... with an upgraded PSU, of course. I'm impressed with the performance with that GPU. I might have to consider flipping these again. Great systems IF you can find a reasonably priced GPU to put in them.
I have been using a 960 in my system since 2016, still holds up pretty well in 1080p low gaming, better than spending all my life savings to get a new one
Really brave using that adapter and a 290W PSU. Most I'd ever do is a double Molex/SATA to 2 6Pin. Molex/SATA is rated for about 50W each and a 6 Pin is rated for 75W, so you're over spec. 8 Pin PCIE is rated for 150W - so go figure. I would've gotten a cheap 24 Pin ATX adapter for the Optiplex and gotten a used 400 or 500W PSU.
I bought a barebones 9020 off of eBay and built it with an i7-3770s, GTX 1050Ti, 16gbs of ram, and a 512gb SSD. I cannot tell you how perfect it is for 1080p eSports gaming, older AAA titles and emulation. I was even able to run it off of the stock power supply, until I eventually upgraded it to a semi modular (and cut out the HDD cage with a dremel) for better airflow. Best price/performance in the market, if you don't mind building it yourself!
I had a optiplex 3010 I believe it had a i5 3470 8 gig ram and a 1650 oc in it. I did put in a 650 watt corsair psu, luckily the older 3rd gen boards have the 24 pin connector. Also got lucky and built that system right before all the knife fight battles for pc parts started.
my OptiPlex 390 has an i7-2600, 16gigs of ram, and a 1050ti, and 250gig ssd ... the motherboard was not proprietary so i could use any atx power supply, the whole thing after upgrades cost me around $450 and i absolutely love it ... use it mainly for 4k movies and youtube but still has some power to play doom eternal at about 40 fps low settings.
I rescued exactly the same model in a dumpster dive a month ago, ended up replacing the motherboard to an ASUS H81M-E M-atx motherboard instead of buying a psu-adapter (it uses the same cpu-socket as the original motherboard) and replaced with an atx-psu. Just subscribed to your channel Dawid. You're making great videos. :D
Portland Oregon...huge tech market here for new/used PC parts, can get anything, even the newest scalped stuff. Pre covid you could get these Dell's for around $100---$150...now local builders have caught on and will, like the video, throw in an older GPU and sell them for around $350. Still a great deal in comparison to what's offered out there, that is marketed as a "gaming" pc. I have been buying/selling PC parts in this market since '05 and I will say, today's market is the most interesting I have ever seen. The most new number of PC users I have ever seen, both gamers and just users alike. Just when you though the PC world might be dying...here we are again. Good times. Great vid BTW...
Just recently did this! My Optiplex has a i7-3770 and 16gb of ddr3 ram, upgraded with an asus GTX 960, corsair tx750m PSU and a 512gb ssd. Gotta say, it'll run anything i want it to, even the halo infinite beta at very low settings! (averaging a bit less than 50fps, but still kinda playable!)
For those of you thinking about going a route like this, using Sata to 8 Pin power adapters for the graphics card is a dodgy long term solution. Even with a lowish TDP card like the GTX 960. You can get a 24pin to 8 Pin adapter for the motherboard, so you can upgrade the powersupply.
What would you say is the best avenue for selling pc's? I build them for a hobby, and I can make a really damn good pc that's not only beautiful, but rocks most games, yet sits for days sometimes a couple weeks before people buy them.
hey at least that system is back from the days when you could do something like that. Try that with a modern one from Dell/HP/etc and you'd be stuck with whatever proprietary attempt at a knockoff 12VO they decided to pull from the bowels of hell on that particular day
Edit for clarity: talking about getting a 24pin to 8 pin adapter
@@jeffschultz1338 Where are you selling them? I had pretty good luck on Facebook marketplace. Also, what are you selling them for? I usually priced my lower-end builds at $50 above what it cost me and higher-end builds at $100 above what it cost me. New PCs are easier to sell for a profit than used PCs. People want a good deal on used items, not market price. I also did custom builds more often than pre-built systems, and working with a person like that made them a lot more comfortable and made them feel like they were getting a good deal - I was able to explain the price-to-performance of different parts, and give them something that does what it needs to do and looks the way they want it to, all within their price range.
also be careful which psu you buy, some are to long and end up bumping into that black piece at the top of the case.
You can also remove the hard drive cage with a drill and get a bigger gpu to fit in without blockage (I ended up using double sided tape and sticking my ssd to the inside of the pc somewhere, ugly but nobody is looking inside anyways).
this dude did it on a precision optiplex but the process is the exact same as it would be on one of these.
ruclips.net/video/Bjtpp-fIx_Q/видео.html
@masonzero digital i tried posting all the spec of the current build, but youtube keeps deleting it. I changed my profile photo to show the current build I have for sale.
"This is a PC from 1752" - i know that statement was a hyperbole, but i'd like to imagine that literally happening in colonial times where everyone was pc gaming on a dell optiplex
They'd probably be playing Farm Simulator 51 but it only has 16 pixels
I literally see someone on Newegg is selling a Radeon 7000 64mb...for $150. I checked and yes, it's the card from...2001. Would be great for an Optiplex-based "vintage" setup.
@@soupwizard I would say playing oregon trail
"Remember the heroes of 1776, when they clapped the cheeks of the redcoats at the battle of Tilted Towers!"
Lmamo
For a kid under 12 wanting to start gaming on Fortnite or Minecraft, this is a great option. I often point parents this way rather than buying dirty over priced pre-builts from big stores.
Yeah stores like Best Buy know how to market to parents with "Gaming" on everything lol.
@@Timmycoo Nowadays, You can build an APU system that'll play most everything at low/mid settings at 1080p for like $550-600 that's fully upgradable with a dedicated GPU whenever the shortage isn't nuts.
It's funny how the "gaming" prebuilts are total over priced garbage considering the budget yet these old "office" prebuilts make great gaming machines. I buy/sell locally PC parts and will pair up a PC from extra parts for resale when possible. I have sold 3-4 of the machines in this video since lock down. All new gamers who were happy to spend around $150 on a machine to play a lower demanding game (minecraft/zoo tycoon/E sports stuff) but still get their feet into the PC gaming area.
You dont look under 12 in your pic Paul :)
@@antonybaker it's probably some parent or a big sibling
I have to admit that people in 1752 did a really good job building this
1752 was a great vintage for office PC's.
@@DawidDoesTechStuff the peak of Dell optiplex systems
I was apparently born during the roman times since my first PC was a compaq 386....
@@Nilboggen It is still more modern than commodore 64, turbografx 16 or apple II
@@mruczyslaw50 well yeah... I'm not a caveman lol
I can say first hand, the system will SEEM like it can handle it but over time the 8 pin motherboard connector will get really really really hot and start to melt. Ask me how I know, i had to get a 24 pin to 8 pin adapter so i could use a good psu in my pc
Please give this visibility. DANGER!
SATA is rated for 54 watts. After that the connector starts to melt. It is imperative to check how much the graphics card pulls over the 8 pin if you decide to use that cable.
yep fortunately there is the 24pin to dell 8 pin for the haswell era systems from Dell. The cable adaptor runs about 10 cad
@@pauldoutre541 rly??? The cheapest one I could find was 12 dollars usd
Yeah, I had the same problem recently. I chose to use 2 PSUs at the same time and ordered a motherboard, instead of the converter.
I did this with an Opti 7020 tower - I knew going in I was going to need a PSU, so I ordered it, the 24-to-8 adapter, and a proper GPU more or less matched to the i7 CPU the system came with. It's been a great PC for me and unless you need Cyberpunk 2077 in Ultra, it's a worthwhile option still!
Please give this visibility. DANGER!
SATA is rated for 54 watts. After that the connector starts to melt. It is imperative to check how much the graphics card pulls over the 8 pin if you decide to use that cable.
It's Dawid does tech we want the computer to explode in use
It doesn't melt immediately. It gets hot first, but using an 8 Pin with Sata is just asking for fire.
Quick Math would say 85W, if its evenly split over the two connectors then your fine.
@@capsikseason It uses proprietary connectors how was he supposed to buy a new PSU. Unless Dell offers a higher wattage option he would have to buy one and rewire the connectors if that's even possible.
1050ti would be better for this build 75w but you could replace the PSU and convert the ATX to dell 8 pin
Recently gifted my brother an Optiplex I got off ebay for $100 USD. I removed the HDD cage and added a 5.25 to 3.5 adaptor to move the HDD and a SSD to replace the DVD drive. Also gifted my old gtx 1060 6gb along with a 650w power supply. Just need an adaptor to reduce the 24 pin to fit that 8 pin. He also added a 140mm fan to the front. Runs well for older parts.
You’re a good brother
@@AnnaDoes indeed he is
absolute beast of a pc
what is the specs of the pc?
@@mohamedmostafa-qj5mx id almost bet money its a i7 4c8t with 16gb ddr3 1600mhz
I love this. Buying used means less e-waste, you don't waste your money on Amazon garbage and you still get to game with decent performance :D
Also the scammers dont profit
dawid does anna
So Dawid's prebuilt addiction grew on you too :D
Here is the 1st GEN 2 core Intel CPU i3-530 runs GTA5 and SOTTR~~
ruclips.net/video/qdPU8hhUCMs/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/86X5jH-NsRs/видео.html
@@kushy_TV Dawid does your mom on Anna
"Tom Clancy's siege R6 rainbow"
Ah yes that game with random words as a name 😂
How that PSU managed to not explode is a mystery to me, good job Dell circa 1752
"They sell for like a kidney and a quick handie in the parking lot." Lmfao you had me dying!
But forreal, I remember when I started following you when you had like 5k subs. You've had such huge amounts of success. I'm glad to see it!
Hahajajjajajajajaj yeah that was funny and sus
Hey thats almost the same config I've been running since 2019, except my 960 it's the 4gb model, plus I've upgraded from an i5 2500k to a r5 1600. Being a guy with not a lot of cash in Brazil this config is actually ok, runs everything i trow at it (currently playing outriders) and its a blessing in a country in the financial situation we're in.
Ah yes... a fellow outrider
How much of a difference does the 4 GB make? It should be plenty for the card I guess?
@@HappyBeezerStudios depends on who you ask, I've seen some people say it doesn't make a difference, the card is too weak for it to be noticeable. Now in my experience, if a game is light to run or you put it on low textures it performs the same 2 or 4gb. Almost all the games released recently require 4gb minimum (now even 6 seems to have become the base) , and in this situation it makes a big difference since the 2gb card dont have enough vram so it dumps off or trades data with regular ram more often, causing stuttering or lower fps. At the time (2019) I bought mine in aliexprees it was like a 10 dollar difference from 2 to 4 so I got the 4gb model, but it was more luck than knowledge or anything like that.
I had like 8 of these things at my old job at one point lol they make FANTASTIC servers. Quiet, low power consumption, upgradable PSU, turns on by itself after AC loss, space for up to four drives plus SSD, and you can throw in a Core i7 for extra threads. I still have two at home for projects. You can even use it with macOS Catalina! It's the best pre-built ever, hands down.
3 years later and this is still relevant. I am watching this on a Optiplex I got from Ebay for $38 shipped. Has an i7 3770. Slapped in 16gb a ssd and a RX 480 $35 Ebay find and a 500w Bronze power supply I had laying around. So far it's not a bad beater. Best part was that it had standard ps connectors on the mobo.
I'd put one of those together just to putter around on, and the fact it won't run Windows 11 is a BONUS. SCREW WINDOWS 11!
Yeah windows 11 sucks. I have a supported cpu (8700K) and this operating system just straight up sucks (at least as of currently)
Id just dualboot with linux
yay,no more update to windows 11,guess im gonna bought this pc :D
@@ZygardeCruiser gonna bought? Eh?
@@MrDeadmanwalken1 maybe
Great video. I managed a Dell Optiplex 9020 SFF + GTX 1650 LP for $300 AUD. It featured a i7 4770. A great budget build especially considering that the GPU runs off the PCIE slot only and it's whisper quiet. Highly recommended for all ages!
Awesome! That's a great deal. Glad you could get your hands on a GTX 1650 without having to pay too much for it.
How did you get GTX 1650 LP into 9020 SFF? Is the GPU one slot wide? On 9020 SFF the 16x slot is on the LEFT when viewed from the front, so there is no room for a 2-slot card. Compare this to 9010 SFF, where the 16x slot is on the RIGHT when viewed from the front, so a 2-slot LP GPU can overhang the second slot. I am genuinely curious how you accomplished this. It is making me wonder if you have a 1-slot-wide GPU, or maybe it is actually an MT and not SFF? What am I missing?
Nevermind, I think I figured it out. Must have plugged into the x4 slot for about a 10% - 15% loss in performance. Still much, much better than no GPU at all. Nice.
I got an old office pc, dropped a gtx 960 4gb strix in there, Corsair 220t, tx650m PSU, 16gb vengeance RGB pro 3600mhz ram, MSI b550 and a ryzen 5 3600. I also just put a crucial 1tb nvme in there. Basically, I took an old office pc, gradually put it in the bin, and started from scratch.
I got 3 dell optiplexes a year or so ago with hdd and fully working gt 720 gpu and 8gb ram for 10gbp each. Now one is used as a retro gaming center. One was made as a mini arcade and given to a friend and one was turned into a simple home computor for the dearest mum who still uses it to this day for craftwork. Sometimes old and simple stuff still serves a purpose 👍
Great video! 2 GB of VRAM is not a lot, but remember what is shown here is memory allocated by the game and not actual usage.. Many games allocate memory depending on what is available even if it not necessarily is needed
It's a losing battle... You will never educate tech youtubers about how computers work.
I used to flip a lot of Optiplex budget gaming systems as a side hustle. I'd usually go with a 1050 Ti to avoid the PCIe power connector problem, put the SSD in the lower 5.25 bay (VHB tape is your friend) and give it 8gb of DDR3 1600 (Anything that would require more memory would also require more CPU and GPU.) If I was feeling saucy, I'd paint the gray mesh part of the front panel and put a matching LED fan up front, powered by a SATA to fan header adapter connected to the SATA power plug for the lower HDD bay. Great budget build for parents who don't have a pile of cash around Christmas time.
did you actually _make_ money doing that though? I guess maybe if you live in a densely populated area I can see how that might work, but just thinking about it myself, I know in my area I would just be sitting on stock for so long I'd end up having to sell at a loss to get it gone.
@@ram89572 I live in the DFW metroplex, so there's a pretty healthy second-hand market. The PC I described, I would mark up maybe $100 over the cost of parts, and let the buyer talk me down $50 (everyone likes to get a deal.) There are plenty of people around here who just want someone else to build a PC for them. I always tell people they could do it themselves cheaper, but most just don't trust themselves to do it. I do more custom builds too, with standard off-the-shelf parts. I just like to keep something available on the low end, so I can have any budget covered.
Dawid, with your extraordinary similies, you are the Jeremy Clarkson of the budget gaming PC world.
Except Dawid isn't a complete nob.
@@buggerlugz6753 🤣 love it
@@buggerlugz6753 True. Although, I wasn't comparing his personality to JC. I was comparing his use of hyperbolic similies.
I worked IT for a major call center company up until this Spring, so seeing 3020s made my day. We must have sent close to 1000 off to recycling when we closed a center and I think a handful of 3040s are all the Dells left, at least in my area. We had upgraded to HPs, not because they were any better, it was a business relationship kind of things. I used to have great fun upgrading those Dells in the lab, as kind of a proof of concept/I'm bored and there are no tickets kinds of ways. It is nice to see that even a potato system like a 3020 can still hang.
Dell doesn't use that cooler anymore because HP bought all their stock.
Dell Executive - "hey guys I just found a way we can save money on all our systems and it will make no difference in the product"
Executive 2 - "ok I'm listening"
Exec 1 - "what if we cut out 60% of the material used in our cpu coolers"
Exec 2 - "brilliant! that will save us a whole 2.3 cents per unit"
Dell Engineer - "umm, but that will significantly impact performance under load so we can't rea...."
Big Time Exec - "well I'd say that's a done deal then. Excellent work at saving us some money team now can someone get that new good looking piece of ass from accounting to bring me some champagne"
I ran a 4590 with 960 until like 2018. Was a decent machine. It's nice seeing the combination live again.
Despite the failings (proprietary connectors, power supplies, and motherboards), these little Dell (or HP or Lenovo) office machines are great. Many were ordered with i5s (nice balance of performance and cost), so they often have 4 actual cores. The quality of the components is usually quite good (businesses hate machines going down), so they should last fine. Parts are cheap. If you can live with the limitations, they're great for as a low end gaming machine or just a internet/video streaming/misc machine. I'd try to get something with at least a 4th gen Intel processor though since that's when USB 3.0 became mainstream. There are older machines with it, but that's when Intel put it in all their chipsets, so that's when common machines got it. Though some later Ivy Bridge (3rd Gen) chipsets do support USB 3 and motherboard manufacturers could always have a USB 3 chip somewhere, 4th gen (Haswell) is pretty much the first one guaranteed to have USB 3.0 and the difference in cost between the two is negligible at this point, so why not.
replace the crappy gt 710 with a gtx 745 lol
I've got a Optiplex SFF 7020 with an RX 6400 and a 4570. She runs everything I ask her to. Threw a WiFi card into the other PCie slot.
The 6400 gets some low-percent issues due to PCIe3, and the included mechanical hard drive is .... a mechanical hard drive.
But I have an SSD ready to install into it, so that's one problem solved, and the low-percents are generally tolerable, since I don't play online competitive games.
It's also so ADORABLE and densely packed! It gives me joy.
@@FerralVideo The SSD will help alot - so many perfectly fine computers are letdown by slow mechanical drives. Might even help with the low percent issues since they might not be PCIe related but instead related to slowdowns due to disk access. I saw one RUclipsr do a one component upgrade challenge and the disk surprisingly did make a difference. Also, beware that on the 7020 the x1 slot is PCIe gen2 (x16 slot is gen3).
But yeah, lovely little machines - great for HTPC or even a home server (biggest problem there is lack of room for lots of disks, but you don't always need that). They're compact, quiet, reliable, cheap to purchase, cheap to repair, and really quite capable. They're even pretty easy to work on, once you figure out where Dell put the different latches. Some of the later versions, like the 3050, even support M.2 drives.
The other fun form factor is the USFF (aka tiny or 1L PC). Dell, Lenovo, and HP make these. Very little expansion, unfortunately, but they're only about the size of a small stack of CD jewel cases. Some of them are really quite capable and even denser packed than the 7020. ServeTheHome has a good recurring feature on those.
I started with the same Dell Optiplex and added a 500W PSU (along with the 24 to 8pin adapter) and a gtx 1050ti. I am an IT consultant and have accumulated a good number of Dells over the years and finally decided to build a gaming rig, and for now, I'm very satisfied with it.
What model optiplex is it?
@@izunauchiha1202 I think it was a 3020. looked just like the one in this video, had a 4th gen i5 in it. Ive upgraded since. I really don't recommend using those optiplexes unless you plan on keeping everything in the original dell case because I ran into all sorts of issues when trying to put that dell board in a different case.
I enjoy seeing what creative solutions people can do for budget systems. Xeon cpus have been a fantastic option for Dell desktop's and other pre built OEM machine's. Windows 11 will work on older hardware unofficially but, I think it's better than letting a computer go to waste for current OS support
I don't want to be one of "those" guys. But Linux is making great strides if you find the right version. I'm not a savvy computer user and I'm at least able to browse the internet and play Steam games on it. Definitely breathes new life into old computers.
I recently bought a used HP Elitedesk with an i7 4770, 16GB and a 1TB HDD for 170€.
I threw in a new 120GB SSD (15€) for Windows, and a used GTX 1050 TI (100€).
For 285€ (about 330 USD), I have a pretty decent gaming and multi-tasking experience.
(I live in Belgium, bought the PC in Germany on eBay)
The intel core i7 machines with these specs worked amazing. Cheap to find from an office sale and would often have 4 ram slots. I ran a 16GB version with a GTX 960. Ran all the games I wanted to play at the time way back in 2017. You can even swap the power supply easy.
one hundred bucks plus on eeebaay
I put together almost this exact build. With the i7 4790, 16Gb RAM, and a 1050Ti. Runs pretty much everything great at 1080 and was able to overclock the snot out of that 1050Ti. Thanks Dawid! Fun to watch someone else go through the same train of thought
I have almost the same but mine a i7 3770k
Me, watching the video "Hmm, everything is fairly normal, this doesn't look like a Dawid video!"
4:45 Dawid: But I got this and that's how we're gonna make that GPU work! Hope the PSU can handle it!
*_Grabs popcorn_*
Me too, I paused the video and did the math, it checks out so no magic smoke
Believe it or not, but I also did the math before trying it out. 😅
@@DawidDoesTechStuff honestly I was more worried about the adaptor not being a cheap one and melting by short circuit or something... Otherwise you could attach a fan to it as usual.
i bought my dell optiplex 7010 in december of last year. i found it for $80 cad and it came with an i7 3770 and 16gb of ram. it didnt come with a hard drive but that didnt matter to me. i upgraded the power supply to a 600 watt 80 plus white (it was only $10 more than the 430 watt one) got a kingston 240gb ssd, also bought a pcie wifi card since i cant get ethernet in my room, and got a gtx 1060 6gb for only $150 (this was only a few weeks before the gpu shortage). the total price for it was only $400 cad. the pc runs all the games i play fine, also the desktop performance is really solid, sine the i7 3770 has 4 cores and 8 threads, it actually runs alot faster than my 13 inch 2015 macbook pro. overall im really happy with the system, and would recommend it to anybody whos thinking of buying it.
Dawid, you can upgrade the power supply. Amazon sells a 24 to 8 pin converter. That way you can put a larger GPU. Also, you can upgrade that to an i7 for $50 or $60 USD
Is a 4 gb gtx 960 optimal on that type of build?
I grabbed an Optiplex 9020 MT from a local private seller for $150. Replaced the PSU with 500W EVGA, and added the adapter cable for the odd Dell mobo connections. Upgraded the i7-4770 to i7-4790K. Upgraded the puny Radeon card to RTX 2060 FE. Ditched the 1TB HDD and added 1TB Samsung SSD + 4TB HGST HDD. Maxed out the memory at 32GB at the fastest supported speed. It has been a rock solid machine and plenty fast. Even cooling has not been a problem whatsoever, even with the i7-4790K in there, fwiw. Might sound like a lot of money to put into this old machine, but I already had some of these parts, and I was able to sell certain things like the i7-4770 to recoup some of the cost.
I ordered a PSU adapter off Amazon for one of my optiplex systems. Used a standard PSU with no issues.
For around a 10er you can easily get an adapter to put a standard power supply in there. Did that with a Dell Precision T1700... Xeon e3 1246 v3, 16gb ddr3 1600 and an Rx 480 8gb 2 years ago... Thing was a beast and only cost me around $250 total at the time
"...a kidney and a quick hand job in the parking lot." Part of why he's one of my favorite tech channels.
It's better than what I thought it was going to be. Especially for how much money it cost.
THIS is the future of "PC gaming" people! What a time to be alive!
laughs in 3rd gen i5 and 1060
@@HappyBeezerStudios laughs in Pentium D with Radeon HD 6350
@@emmettaarontr laughs in i3 3220 intel hd 2500😏
Laughs in i3 4010u 4 core @3.9ghz overclock with Intel hd4400 running 1080p 130fps on GTA 5 all max settungs
@@adzchi9557 Laughs in i3 3220 with Quadro P400
I really love how you exaggerate with the date of the PC and stuff. I really enjoy that kinda humor. 😂
My "budget" option was: Ryzen 5 5600G. It was on sale at Canada Computers for 300 CAD, I managed to grab the only open box one in Ontario for 270, but I also had some points I was able to use towards the purchase, so I ended up paying only $ 250 CAD - which for me was the cheapest option to build a new PC without a GPU (since those are still very expensive), so that my daughter can play Minecraft and I have a fast, reliable SFF PC.(I built it in a Phanteks P200A)
Thank you for the video. I love reviving old desktop computers and converting them to gaming PCs. Few years ago, was the i5 2400 then now 4th gen , then will be 6th gen systems.
I’m currently building a system for one of my children in one of these. The only gpu I could find is a gtx 1050. Not amazing, but it will run everything @ 1080p
Try to get a 960 if you can its better than the 1050
@@MannElite Oh, I’ve been trying ;)
Stick to the 1050. 960 is pretty much the same
Aw man should have held out a few more months, building a pc for a friend and found a gtx 1660 for 150 dollars! Granted it was the one in the dell g5, but I’ve been seeing other 1660 for a similar price
Great vid Dawid! Encouraging to look at some older hardware for some builds.
Good old FB Market was selling a "Computer" not far from me advertised for £30 but no hard drive, a picture of the inside looked promising so took the plunge, when i got it home found a i5 3570k, a decent ASUS motherboard that lets you over clock (4.1 stable, needs a better cooler as only the stock one), 8GB ram, a Seasonic 620watt PSU and a GTX 750ti, all for £30! Sometimes people don't know what they have! Case is garbage, but hey......One mans trash.......
Dude thats a steal for 30 quid!!
@@DualShockTree it really was!
My son is running one of these with a 600W PSU and a GTX 1080 inside. Had to get an adapter for the PSU to motherboard but was well worth it for the flexibility in what we could put in there. Also had to saw out that bottom drive cage to fit the 1080 in there. But, hey, no such thing as too janky when there's no glass side panels to show it!
Dawid in 2032: "This Dell tower with an i9 10900k is a GREAT budget computer, it only has 10 cores & 20 threads.."
Pro tip: for anyone adding an SSD, while Dawid's placement is the most instinctual placement, the better location in this optiplex is in the second 5.25 Bay. There is a hole on the bottom that makes screwing the SSD in super easy. And now you can use the dual sata power rail properly.
Or use a small piece of double sided tape. SSDs have no moving parts, so there will be no rattling from the drive anyway.
Use the 5.25 bays, and the case can potentially fit 5 3.5 HDDs along with 4 SATA SSDs. Do a motherboard swap, and turn it up a notch with NVMe drives.
im still on my 3020, with a i5 4570 and a 550 ti. Im preparing to sell it though and build a completely new system when ryzen 6000 comes out, as the i5 in this pc just isnt anywhere near good enough for me because i do video editing and streaming, but if you are just gaming, dell optiplex pcs are really good budget computers
As someone with a 3570k I know your pain. Got a couple games where the chip just doesn't cut it. And unlike with a weaker GPU you can't just reduce settings to make it run.
The non standard connectors in this series of Optiplex is the reason why the previous series is arguably better. I have a 7010 optiplex. Yes the 3rd gen core processors is a limit, but the i7 3770 is ok and the power supply options mean it's just a bit less annoying to do stuff with
Woah, that OptiPlex is mint! Still has the plastic peel!
There's plenty of them out there.
"this is a dell optiplex from 1752" - immediately bursted out laughing and liked the video
Yes I still have my Dell optiplex 7010 with a 120gb SSD Rx 570 450w PSU i5 3570 and 8gb of ram and it runs pretty well the only game where I had to cap my fps so that I don't get random fps drops is bf1 but other than that I am quite happy with it
That was my first pc and I loved it, I would take that anyday especially over a console like ps and xbox
I had walked friends down the path of an older office PC with a fresh GPU. After a complete system bricks or are just needing some sort of upgrade from what grandma bought them three years ago. You cover most of the limiting factors in the vid.
Another way to skin the cat, were cards like the 1050ti that could eat directly from the PCI-E slot.
Another limitation is RAM caps. System wouldn't recognize more than 4, 6 or 8 gigs.
Keep up the good work.
You truly should be a stand up comedian bro!
4:15 ah yes, I remember telling the wife that on our first date 25 years ago.
1752, great year for Dell 👌
I bought a Dell Optiplex 7020 back in June of 2020 off Newegg. They shipped me a 9020 instead. Same 4590 I5. I bought it with a 120 gig SSD boot drive. It came with only 4 gigs of ram. Say what you will but I only paid 260 CDN for it. bought all new 4 gig ram for the 4 slots in this machine, replacing the 1333 mhz stick with fresh new 1600 mhz sticks. I replaced the PSU with an old Antec 430 watt unit I had in my parts box left over from a long ago build. I bought a TUF GTX 1660 Super and managed to install it in that the fucking tight case. Yes, I had to buy adapter cables for both my PSU and for the GPU. A year on? No problems. No major thermal issues at all. I use MSI Afterbuirner so I was able to configure my build so nothing goes crazy. My total cost? 580 CDN. So far so good.
To be honest,the GPU "shortage" is almost nonexistent now,its just miners and scalpers,and people who actually buy overpriced GPUs, are the problem now.
Heck,in my country, ddr4 ram and monitors are more rare than GPUs,yet GPUs are still priced well over 2 times their RRP
My gtx 1660 super was 250 Euro back in the middle of 2020 now its like 400 more
the shortage is very much still a thing...especially for people who want top tier components. even many retailers have been caught scalping on online markets making it even more difficult for people to get the parts they want.
the fact that GPUs are still twice MSRP means there's still a shortage. Perhaps the only reason you're seeing actual stock is because nobody's prepared to pay that stupid price tag.
Here is the 1st GEN 2 core Intel CPU i3-530 runs GTA5 and SOTTR~~
ruclips.net/video/qdPU8hhUCMs/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/86X5jH-NsRs/видео.html
@@rossclutterbuck1060 yea wait my gpu costs 700 euros more now WTF i paid 250 euros in 2020
I have one of these Optiplex machines, mine has an i5 4690, but it has 4 DIMM slots... I dont think I've seen one with only 2 slots. I was lucky enough to get it pre GPU shortage and paired with a 1650 SUPER. Using NVENC and a capture card, phenomenal budget dedicated stream PC with OBS.
Also, if anybody goes this route, You can upgrade the PSU, there is an adapter for the PSU to plug into the janky proprietary plug on the MOBO available on Amazon
I feel like the potential owner of a system like this is way more likely to upgrade to a 2x4GB kit rather than jump to a 2x8GB. The delta in price is still relevant for someone that evidently does not have that much change to spare, so to speak.
11:49
Out of curiosity I perused my local Craigslist to see their offerings for PC parts while trying to go for budget with somewhat up to date performance.
Corsair Carbide case (damaged USB port, 1 missing fan) + MSI B540 Tomahawk motherboard (outdated BIOS) + Seasonic 620w PSU - $80
EVGA GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 4GB - $110
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 - $120
16GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 MHz - $50
Micron 3400 512 GB Gen 4 NVME - $40
AMD Wraith Stealth AM4 CPU cooler - $10 (Amazon)
m.2 screw for NVME - $5 (Amazon)
(note I'm not accounting for the fact that well priced items get copped real quick)
So that's a mostly working computer for around $415
hopefully this doesnt end up installed backwards too
Haha!! Nah, I got it in the right way around this time. 😂
The older Dell Optiplex 390 had non proprieteray connectors so you could swap power supplies. And nice fit on the graphics card bro.
What a complete Frankenbeast :D Budget gamers everywhere have a semi thinking about how viable it is.....
Professors throw out i7 office PCs all the time at my university (about 10 or so a year).
I made a club that collects and refurbished these for students who want them. They just need to get the parts they need for it and it’s theirs (ssd and gpu mostly).
They are old 2nd - 4th gen systems but can’t complain about free stuff.
10+ a year? That's alot of E-Waste for PCs that are going to be useful to anyone (Even gamers) Thank god you got the pc before they went to E-Waste landfill and went to useful places.
@@frozenturbo8623 I saw what happened to all the PCs last year, thrown into the back of a truck probably to be dumped somewhere and the university has to pay for it.
That's why I made the club. I hope to reduce the e-waste even if just by a fraction. The office is happy that they don't have to pay money to throw them away either.
Need to go talk to the metal scrapyard near here though about old steel and aluminum pc cases and whether or not they will take them (even for free).
Honestly at this point the *ONLY* thing making current gaming prebuilts "compelling" is that you can no longer just buy one of these or an old Thinkcenter and chuck a solid GPU in on the cheap.
EDIT: The other thing with the Thinkcenters is that they mostly use standard PSUs.
At the beginning of 2023 I got a opti 7040 for $125
i7 6700
16g ddr4 ram
M.2 slot gen 3
I added a dedicated boot Sata SSD
2 tb SSD
500gb m.2 for demanding games
Gtx 1060 6gb
Runs like a champ at 1080p
The 1050 ti was the perfect cards for these builds. To bad 1050 tis are going for around $175-200 now
Especially since the 1050 pulls it's power from the PCI-E port, no worries about SATA to gpu adapter nonsense.
I have one of these setups as my 2nd PC. Its a optiplex 990. Got the PC off eBay for $120, got a 1050ti for $130, put a 240gb SSD in and changed power supply for $50 total. Had a 1tb hard drive and 2 sticks of 4gb ddr3 already so that was free. The PC came with a i7 2600, 2x4gb ddr3,motherboard, trash power supply. It's handled everything I've thrown at it. I upgraded the ram to 4x4gb ddr3 for a total of 16gb. Added a fan to the front to pull air in and it stays so frosty. Added my DVD drive from my old PC and it's everything I want.
My old GPU was a GTX 960, it served me extremely well for five years. At the time I got it it was cheaper to get a new 960 than to get a used 7-series card.
My 8 yo sons first PC, a Optiplex EX2 w/ i7 3770, 4x8gb ddr, and a 1050Ti. Had it now for nearly 2 years now. Supposed to be for schooling, but a laptop has been implemented for that task. Plays games well for his use; Fortnite, BeamNG, WreckFest, Minecraft, and few others. Haven't touched to OE power supply yet. Before we do anything else, we'll likey look at options for the next slightly newer hardware build and start over in a new case.
I bought an HP 8300 and upgraded the CPU to an Intel 3770S, upgraded to 16GB of memory, swapped out the HDD to a 500GB SSD, and threw in a GTX 1650 video card a couple of years ago. Surprisingly capable and has no trouble running games I love like Skyrim, PC Building Simulator. Still cheaper and better equipped than a tonne of prebuilts out there!
i only subscribed a couple of weeks ago and is finding your content refreshing keep up the great work
I paired a 1650 Super with an i5-2400 in a Dell Optiplex 990 with 16 GB of ram before the pandarama. It worked really well for my needs as a stopgap gaming PC, and my brother then used it for Rocket League and Rainbow 6 Siege as his first PC. The Dell I got only had PCIe 2.0, but the power connectors were standard ATX, so I was able to swap in a normal PSU.
Right now the Dell has been set back to stock after I upgraded my brother to an i7-4790S and a new case and cooler, and it is now getting an open box GT 1030 ddr5 to make the thing the most low budget gaming machine for cabin use.
Right before covid I bought one with a I7 4790. I ended up tossing in a 1070ti, 550 watt psu and a 500gb ssd. It ran like a champ. All of this at the time was right under 500 dollars.
Built a similar system this week, using a 1060 3GB, upgraded the Ram to 16GB 1600mhz (Not needed but i had some spare) 450w PSU with the 24pin to 8 pin adapter and finally a 256GB ssd. All for £130/ $155. It plays Great and even supports VR at a smooth framerate! Still a recommended build in 2022
Nice! I got a slightly older Optiplex, with a I7 860 :P
Paired it with a Radeon HD 6950 (flashed bios to 6970 to get those extra noob pwning shaders)
Replaced the PSU to a 400W Corsair, and upgraded to a SSD and a 16GB kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3.
In total i think around 112 USD
The system is working great for my oldest daughter, to play Fortnite, Valorant and Roblox etc.
I just got into this whole upgrading Optiplex thing recently and have done a 3050, 9010, 3010 and a 790 all of them get good framerate with the paired cards I sourced. These will make great first time gamer pc's for some almost teens out there. I have a trick on the 3010 and 9010 series to keep the latch system, you just need to notch the rear of the plastic catch so the PSU will slip through and it will still latch the side cover closed.
There are 24 pin to 8 pin power adapters for using a standard power supply on these.
However installing a higher wattage GPU on this would likely result in thermal issues.
Something else to consider: a Dell Precision or Lenovo Thinkstation workstation PC. These are a bit more expensive but most have higher wattage PSU and multiple case fans.
This is kinda what my grandpa did. He bought an old optiplex from about 2014 and put in an RX 560 from MSI and it is actually really nice
Old office PCs are great for home servers. I have a Lenovo with an i5 4570S, 8GB RAM and 128Gb SSD (just £90 for everything). The system uses just 20W in idle. A combination of 12V only power supply and an essentials only motherboard.
After upgrading I will relegate my current build to that role.
Can always click that like button as soon as I open the video, before even watching it, because you can count on the content being good. One of my favorite youtube channels.
It's kinda fun being able to "max out" these prebuilts, even modern ones. You have an actual limit, rather than just the open-ended "how much money do you have" limit of a built PC.
Everybody seems to bitch about the lack of cores!! but I've never had any issue with any performance yet!! I play all kinds of games from Skyrim, Diablo II, Sunkenland, All the FarCry series even FC6 on Medium. I always average about 42 to 58fps on my 1080p monitor, and i7 4790 cpu, with GTX 1650 Super, 32Gb DDR3, 1TB SSD
@Dawid Does Tech Stuff, it's worth mentioning that there are inexpensive ($10 US Dollars or less) adapters to allow for PSU upgrades for these systems on Amazon as well. This opens up a lot more GPU options like older, more power hungry generations that the stock 290w PSU couldn't support. Probably a wash if you are buying all the components since any money saved on the GPU front would go towards a more expensive PSU, but if you have the parts laying around its a worth-while endeavor & worth pointing out! Good stuff here.
Since I've upgraded, my old dell optiplex 7020 is now a dedicated minecraft server.
They're surprisingly solid machines in terms of performance. A great budget option imo.
Always have been.
It was always a good budget option to snag a used, refurbished office machine and thow a midrange graphics card in there.
Nowadays 4 cores don't cut it anymore for many games, but for esports stuff and games up until around 2016/17 they should still be fine.
Just a heads up, they make power supply adapters for these. They like $12. Also, the 4790 would give a decent boost in IPC over the 4590. The Xeon 1271 v3 will also work, is pretty much the same as the 4790 minus the integrated GPU, and it should cost a little less on the second hand market. With either, you could get away with something like a 1070 or a 1080... with an upgraded PSU, of course.
I'm impressed with the performance with that GPU. I might have to consider flipping these again. Great systems IF you can find a reasonably priced GPU to put in them.
I have been using a 960 in my system since 2016, still holds up pretty well in 1080p low gaming, better than spending all my life savings to get a new one
Really brave using that adapter and a 290W PSU. Most I'd ever do is a double Molex/SATA to 2 6Pin. Molex/SATA is rated for about 50W each and a 6 Pin is rated for 75W, so you're over spec. 8 Pin PCIE is rated for 150W - so go figure. I would've gotten a cheap 24 Pin ATX adapter for the Optiplex and gotten a used 400 or 500W PSU.
I bought a barebones 9020 off of eBay and built it with an i7-3770s, GTX 1050Ti, 16gbs of ram, and a 512gb SSD. I cannot tell you how perfect it is for 1080p eSports gaming, older AAA titles and emulation. I was even able to run it off of the stock power supply, until I eventually upgraded it to a semi modular (and cut out the HDD cage with a dremel) for better airflow. Best price/performance in the market, if you don't mind building it yourself!
I had a optiplex 3010 I believe it had a i5 3470 8 gig ram and a 1650 oc in it. I did put in a 650 watt corsair psu, luckily the older 3rd gen boards have the 24 pin connector. Also got lucky and built that system right before all the knife fight battles for pc parts started.
my OptiPlex 390 has an i7-2600, 16gigs of ram, and a 1050ti, and 250gig ssd ... the motherboard was not proprietary so i could use any atx power supply, the whole thing after upgrades cost me around $450 and i absolutely love it ... use it mainly for 4k movies and youtube but still has some power to play doom eternal at about 40 fps low settings.
I rescued exactly the same model in a dumpster dive a month ago, ended up replacing the motherboard to an ASUS H81M-E M-atx motherboard instead of buying a psu-adapter (it uses the same cpu-socket as the original motherboard) and replaced with an atx-psu. Just subscribed to your channel Dawid. You're making great videos. :D
You are the only one who has said anything about windows 11 not being supported on these budget pcs so THANK YOU!
I have this exact PC with i7 4770k, gtx 1660 super, 460w Dell PSU, 16 gb ram 1600Mgz, and it runs great, without any bottleneck, for a total of 325 €
Portland Oregon...huge tech market here for new/used PC parts, can get anything, even the newest scalped stuff. Pre covid you could get these Dell's for around $100---$150...now local builders have caught on and will, like the video, throw in an older GPU and sell them for around $350. Still a great deal in comparison to what's offered out there, that is marketed as a "gaming" pc. I have been buying/selling PC parts in this market since '05 and I will say, today's market is the most interesting I have ever seen. The most new number of PC users I have ever seen, both gamers and just users alike. Just when you though the PC world might be dying...here we are again. Good times. Great vid BTW...
Just recently did this! My Optiplex has a i7-3770 and 16gb of ddr3 ram, upgraded with an asus GTX 960, corsair tx750m PSU and a 512gb ssd. Gotta say, it'll run anything i want it to, even the halo infinite beta at very low settings! (averaging a bit less than 50fps, but still kinda playable!)
Dude paid 140$ for a gtx 960 but I was able to swipe up a gtx 1060 3gb for 100$
Loving the new studio!