Gho57 X90

This is a fairly lengthy and detailed first post (with a few images) about a project I've been planning a lot and working on on-and-off for a little while, so be prepared for a lot to take in. @w@ Since around November to December 2015, I have been working on building a console-like PC gaming machine. A majority of this goal was realised when I had discovered this Dell Optiplex 760 computer at a local Cash Converters here in Australia. Click to view image. ⇩ When I found it, it came with a 4:3 Dell monitor, a basic Logitech keyboard and some random, uncomfortable mouse that I honestly don't care to even remember the make of. A staff member allowed me to look inside the system, without taking it apart, under their supervision, and I was surprised to find that it was impeccably clean. There was little to no trace of dust at all, and it basically looked like a brand new system inside. Initially I thought it was due to it being used in an office environment, 'cause I noticed that there were stickers/markings that implied it was numbered up like an IT department was maintaining it, and also a whole bunch of Dell keyboards of the exact same model were there as well, (of which I also snagged for the sake of not running out of keyboards). So between the Optiplex 760's well-maintained condition, what I got bundled with the unit and the $80 AUD price, I couldn't not snag it for myself. I had to lay-buy it at that point, sadly, because I did not have enough money between the buffer of other things I was planning to buy, but I managed to pay it off for the same price with no extra costs a week later and take the computer home with me, so that was fine. After that, I immediately got to work on exploring the system before changing anything, running some hardware tests built-in to the Optiplex 760's BIOS a few times, (albeit lazily except for the initial attempt), and figuring out what the computer's hardware config was and was last used for. It appeared it was actually last used by what I could only assume was a developer for Android apps. I obviously didn't bother to see what documents they had left on the system, as I have no interest in them anyway and that would be an invasion of privacy, (as much as it should have been properly erased before being sold to a thrift store). At the top of my head, I think at this point I was able to find that the system had an Intel Core 2 Duo with something like 1.8-2 GHz per core, only 2-4 GB of DDR2 RAM and a... I think it was 180 GB HDD? So basically not very good hardware for gaming at all. Not sure if those specs are good for mobile app development either, but I'm not a developer, so I'll leave what requirements are needed for that stuff to those who actually know about that sort of thing. Once done with that brief look around, I did a couple of things like retrieve the CD key for the copy of Windows 7 Pro that was already installed, assuming that it would be reusable when doing a fresh install later, and looked up some upgrade parts for the system. For the upgrade process, I was basically looking at a low-profile video card that would give me at least reasonal graphics performance for gaming, if not good. I'm still quite new with a lot of things still with building computers and not enough experience with computers to know what's good or not. So I picked out a few low-profile cards that I could get cheaply at the web store for an Australian store called Budget PC, picked out a Western Digital WD10EZEX as it was cheap and I know them to be reliable, and from there, asked my dad to help me with picking out the graphics card from what I had found and upgrading the CPU, as he is generally speaking more versed in computer stuff than I am. In the end, I got an MSI branded low-profile compatible graphics card with the Nvidia Geforce GT 610, an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 for the CPU (which I got through dad instead as my early xmas present, yay~), the aforementioned Western Digital WD10EZEX for the hard drive and a convenient TP-Link TL-WN725N USB wi-fi adapter for $11 AUD, giving me needed wi-fi capability. At first, I only had the graphics card and the hard drive, so I opted to work on getting them up and running first as I wanted this done as soon as possible. The installation went well with no problems that I could find. Unfortunately, I had discovered at this point that the CD key I had recovered was a dud, so either the system was using a pirated copy of Windows 7 Pro or the key had been used too many times. As such, the OS is still unactivated as of this post, as I haven't been able to afford to get a new CD key. Thankfully so far this has not been an issue as far as running Steam and so on, but it would be preferable to get it activated. That said, I am also considering buying a copy of Windows 8.1 as it would give me a longer support life to work with once Microsoft ends support for Windows 7 in 2020, and then I also have minor benefits like better support for 4K, (in the event I can get the system running well enough to do that), that nifty thing in the file explorer with being able to move files up in a directory by dragging and dropping files over the name of a desired folder in the address bar and having access to the metro app store in the event that I want to play a game that is available there, albeit as unlikely as that may be. There will be no Windows 10 on this machine for privacy and program compatibility reasons, and not wanting to deal with the very 'Windows Vista: the sequel" experience a number of my friends are having. For upgrading the RAM, I didn't have much choice for what I could do, so I used what DDR2 RAM I had floating around and got the system up to 5 GB. I would still like to get the system up to the maximum 8 GB it allows, (Gmod eats up a lot of RAM pre-loading all those mods, let me tell ya), but the search for more sticks of 2 GB DDR2 RAM has proven more difficult than I had thought it'd be, though I am not surprised as it's older hardware. Later on, my dad came around to help with a trip to a Jaycar store for a couple of modular chargers for unrelated stuff of mine, and then to help with the CPU. Naturally, he wanted to do it himself to make sure it was working, (though I think he just wanted the fun lol), so I let him do that with no problems. After that, we ran a couple of games to test the system. We used Half Life 2: Episode 2 and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath just for the sake of it, managing to run HL2: Ep. 2 on close to the highest settings, and Stranger's Wrath on fairly high settings too. Stranger's Wrath suffered when running on ultra, but dialing it down to high got what we considered exponentially better performance vs. visual quality results. Basically; the system it the mark I was going for with a 'console' like gaming PC. As of right now, there are still a few thing's I'd like to do. Aesthetically, I'd like to change out the front CPU fan for an LED one. My preference is blue, but it wouldn't meld well with the lime green power button LED at the front of the unit, and from closer inspection, the LED would require some tricky re-soldering on the front I/O board and finding a tiny replacement blue LED, so I would unfortunately have to look for an LED fan in a green that matches up to the power button LED. It has come to mind to find some nice Steam logo decals to put on the Optiplex 760's case or even replace the rotatable Dell logo at the front with one that has the Steam logo on it, but I haven't even been able to find Steam logo decals tiny enough to fit on the front button or on anywhere I think would be cool both in an upright and sideways position, so I'm opting to put that thought on the shelf for now. Click to view image. ⇩ Regarding the functionality of the system, I would like to add a simple Bluetooth adapter via USB internally to the system, plus move the tiny wi-fi USB adapter already in the system internally as well, freeing up an external USB port and also giving me the ability to upgrade the adapter in the future with a faster one without worrying it'll break of or simply stick out like an eyesore like it would if it's externally connected. I would also like to mod an Xbox 360 wireless controller receiver into the system so I can use wireless Xbox 360 controllers with the system seemingly natively. There's two issues with that plan, however. The first being that I have looked high and low for low-profile, internal USB 2.0 expansion cards that will give me internal ports to work with, but I have only found several varying designs that use USB 3.0 and would presumably require an extra power connector, of which this system has none. I have considered just getting a USB 3.0 expansion card with two internal headers, adapting them to USB 2.0 headers and using them that way, but I have no way of knowing if it'd work at all, let alone how well that'd work. The second issue is that if I want to mod an Xbox 360 wireless controller receiver into the system, I will need to obtain some soldering equipment, including a heat-proof mat for safety, and I will need to do some cable shortening. Those two things would not technically be an issue, but then there's trying to make the sync button accessible and maybe making the LED on the board for the receiver visible too. Thankfully, there's a free front I/O expansion slot I can mod to have the button on, but that will require finding an appropriate, discrete button with cables to replace the one on the board, and I have no idea how to make the receiver's LED visible unless there's an easier method with fibre optics I can figure out for that. Click to view image. ⇩ If I can figure out those two functionality upgrade issues, however, then the system will have what I believe will be significantly improved controller support, being that it will be able to support Xbox 360, PS3 and Wiimote controllers. Great for multiplayer purposes when I wanna play with friends or if one of my siblings wants to play a game with me, and also for emulation purposes when I wanna run something like the Dolphin emulator for Wii and Gamecube games. So yeah, that's about it for my progress and little journey on this gradually evolving project. Hope y'all enjoyed that lengthy read. If anyone has any suggestions for functionality improvements I can make or if you have suggestions for how to solve my current issues, please feel free to tell me about it here! I'd love to hear about them! :3