Opencircuit74

It's hard to say exactly how much better it would be, but the 5700x has a way better architecture, clock speeds, core count, etc. The GPU usage being low usually means something else is preventing it from being used all the way, which looks to be the CPU in this case.

The 3070 Ti has some great performance, you're right in suggesting the CPU upgrade first.
 
The RAM could be another potential upgrade after the CPU, depending on what he has installed, but he'd see a big improvement with the newer chip.

The 3070 Ti has some great performance, you're right in suggesting the CPU upgrade first.
 
The RAM could be another potential upgrade after the CPU, depending on what he has installed, but he'd see a big improvement with the newer chip.

Yes, Windows 11 won't support the 7th gen CPUs, but the X299 motherboards that are used with them will. I just picked up a 7900X from that seller, but can easily upgrade to a 9900X in four years when the Windows 10 support expires.
 
I doubt any malicious activity was going on, as one would expect the price of older parts to drop as they go EOL.

Yes, Windows 11 won't support the 7th gen CPUs, but the X299 motherboards that are used with them will. I just picked up a 7900X from that seller, but can easily upgrade to a 9900X in four years when the Windows 10 support expires.
 
I doubt any malicious activity was going on, as one would expect the price of older parts to drop as they go EOL.

Found this guy a while back. It still works, surprisingly, and those two GPUs get toasty just sitting there. I can't imagine how hot this thing gets under load.

Found this guy a while back. It still works, surprisingly, and those two GPUs get toasty just sitting there. I can't imagine how hot this thing gets under load.

Found this guy a while back. It still works, surprisingly, and those two GPUs get toasty just sitting there. I can't imagine how hot this thing gets under load.

The performance increase you might get from going to a 710 is negligible. I'd save some money for a better card.

The performance increase you might get from going to a 710 is negligible. I'd save some money for a better card.

The performance increase you might get from going to a 710 is negligible. I'd save some money for a better card.

Yeah, it's a lot of soldering.
 
I looked into it for a while, and the work involved is ridiculous. You'd have to get a USB 3.0 to 2.0 header (or just solder the wires directly, but again, more work), cut the dell front panel wire near the buttons, cut the dell power switch near the buttons, cut the acer audio cable near the connector, cut one of the acer USB cables near the connector, and cut the acer power switch near the connector. You'd then have to attach one of the acer USB headers (with the connector still attached) to the USB adapter, and plug that into the dell motherboard. Then, you'd have to identify the USB part of the dell front panel wire and solder the wires to the acer USB that you cut, do the same with the audio, and the same again with the power switch. 
 
If you're really creative, you might also get the HDD LED to work, but that's generally unnecessary.
 
That's a lot of work, and a lot of room to go wrong. I would just pick up a secondhand motherboard that supports that CPU and use the standard connectors on that. Usually the boards made by intel or an OEM (such as HP, but make sure there are standard USB and audio connectors) are cheapest.
 

Nonstandard front panel connectors are going to ruin your day, you won't have any I/O or even the ability to turn it on if you just throw the optiplex motherboard in that case with no modifications.

In regard to the power supply, the wattage its maximum capacity, not what it will output at all times. For example, I have an 850W power supply, but may only use 400W while gaming. Your 300W power supply will not fry this computer (given decent quality, not mustard cables and and a silver box).
 
The socket for this motherboard should have the same spacing as a regular lga115x, but if you wanted to replace the cooler the entire motherboard would have to taken out and the backplate that allows the stock cooler to be screwed in removed. In essence, it's able to be done.
 
There lies a larger issue, however, and that is with the motherboard design itself. Because this is a proprietary design, Dell has taken some liberties with the mounting and front panel connectors. The board will not have any I/O plate and will not be able to interface* with any case you install it, as the connector is one monolith instead of the separate, standard ones. 
 
This could be fixed with serious determination and decent soldering skills, but you're basically stuck with that case.
 
* Snippet of technical guidebook FP connector:
 

 

Another F@H shoutout:
 

Mine would be the Dell XPS 730 H2C ceramic liquid cooler. I don't have performance numbers on hand (10 year old system), but it was exceptional in that it incorporated thermal electric coolers and liquid cooled both the chipset and the CPU. 
 
Mind the watermark, but here's a good idea as to what it looked like: (The leftmost radiator is just a simple rad, but the middle one is where 4 TECs lie.)

The X570 chipset uses around 7.5W, significantly more than is usual (>2x X470's 2.9W), which means a larger heatsink (or a smaller one with a fan) had to be used. You could unplug it and be fine, but the heatsink isn't designed to dissipate that much power passively, possibly causing damage to the board. TL;DR: Don't unplug it.

The X570 chipset uses around 7.5W, significantly more than is usual (>2x X470's 2.9W), which means a larger heatsink (or a smaller one with a fan) had to be used. You could unplug it and be fine, but the heatsink isn't designed to dissipate that much power passively, possibly causing damage to the board. TL;DR: Don't unplug it.

We have exceed 1 Billion PPD.

I sent a message out to everybody at my workplace encouraging them to stop by, check us out, and maybe join up either on Folding@Home or on Boinc, or both

havins some issues with sending as well as downloading now :L

Check the BIOS. You might only have one core/thread enabled.

I have a kit of GEIL RGB SUPER LUCE 3000, and I've never been able to get it past 2933. I've tried on both Intel and AMD systems, with no luck.

The next phase of dongle hell: you have to carry around a charging pad with you.