VERY modded optiplex

[Fasauceome]

Starting with a pretty massive tech haul from some defunct office equipment, I pared down my loot to see that I could easily throw together some cheapo gaming computers. Easily enough, I threw a 950 into an old xeon workstation, ripped some i7-3770s from a couple more proprietary machines, and nabbed some hard drives, but the question of "What to do with an old Dell Optiplex" always rears its ugly head. I hated to just toss the case since it wasn't proprietary (mostly), so I decided to take on some heavy modding.

 

Meet this labor of love:

 

Yes, the power supply is crappy. However, as the only ATX PSU I had lying around for free that has PCIe connectors, I decided on some more modest components to accompany it. With an RX 470 and i7-2600 with 16GB of ram, the power draw should be quite low.

 

First, the modifications. As you can just make out, the graphics card seats itself directly over all of the SATA ports. To combat this, I used both a right angle and left angle connector (one of which needed some "snipping,") so now the PC has gone from 4 SATA connectors to 2. Fortunately, with an accompanying SSD and HDD, nothing more would really be required (or fit.) Speaking of fitting, how about that PSU?

 

The case technically fits a standard ATX PSU, with some convincing. The metal support bracket was bent out of the way, the lever used to open the case with the latch was sliced completely off, and with the lever off, I needed to add a plunger that could move the retention mechanism out of the way for the case to open. Encasing a screw that was driven into the plastic mechanism with some rubber parts lying around did the trick very nicely. After all this, it does look a bit crowded doesn't it? Well, to help with thermals, you may have noticed the 120mm fan up front of the case:

 

 

There was a rivet, just so perfectly placed to align with a hole of a 120mm fan. Reaming it ever so slightly allowed me to fit a single screw in, et voila, even better thermals. Of course, this benefits the CPU greatly. The GPU on the other hand:

 

 

Barely fits. The cooler is quite thicc (XFX eat your heart out) so the tab used to open the PCIe retention mechanism had to be sliced in half, shorn half on display so you could see roughly how much material was removed.

 

Overall, huge success, with the two downsides being the crappy PSU and the lack of a disk reader (which I feel nobody will miss.)

 

Specs:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-2600 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$223.11 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Intel DQ77MK Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard	$462.18 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3-1600 Memory	$85.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston HyperX 3K 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$165.51 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda 500 GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$19.94 @ Amazon
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon RX 470 4 GB NITRO+ Video Card	$399.00 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Raidmax Cobra 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$49.99 @ Amazon
Optical Drive	Sony 5280S-CB-PLUS DVD/CD Writer	$99.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1505.71
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-17 16:48 EDT-0400

 

 

Well wouldja look at that! Apparently this thing is worth a fortune!

[CPT_BEEMO]

Hey I mean if it runs 1080p 60fps on some common titles, then why not right? The lime green on the PSU is a nice touch. I really enjoy those splatter type paint jobs, matter of fact I did a paint job like that on my Ares M4A1 airsoft rifle back when I first got into that sport. I think its still kicking around somewhere... would love to put it back together and see if it still shoots!

 

I digress, well done on the build! however I don't think I would pay 1.5k for it hahaha.

 

[Psittac]

Nice work!  I like the "cobro" on the PSU, not sure if you did that yourself or it came that way but it's a common term in the SN95/new edge mustang fb groups to refer to someone with a cobra in a condescending manner.  Still not sure if it refers to a fake cobra or not

 

What's your use for this computer going to be?

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Psittac said:

I like the "cobro" on the PSU, not sure if you did that yourself or it came that way

I think the font just makes it look like an O when it's an A but Cobro definitely sounds cooler

 

1 minute ago, Psittac said:

What's your use for this computer going to be?

Friend of mine needs something cheap.

[CPT_BEEMO]

1 minute ago, Psittac said:

Nice work!  I like the "cobro" on the PSU, not sure if you did that yourself or it came that way but it's a common term in the SN95/new edge mustang fb groups to refer to someone with a cobra in a condescending manner.  Still not sure if it refers to a fake cobra or not

 

What's your use for this computer going to be?

I work for Ford, and its actually quite funny now many mustangs in the 2005-2013 model years that come in as fake GT500's.... literally every aesthetic feature is there except the 5.8L supercharged V8 and its just..... just...... *screams in Mustang* sad.

[TVwazhere]

20 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

 

Storage	Kingston HyperX 3K 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$165.51 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda 500 GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$19.94 @ Amazon

2011 called, they want their storage pricing back 

[GreyestGoat]

It's like the PC don't know what time it exists in...

 

 

[CPT_BEEMO]

7 minutes ago, GreyestGoat said:

It's like the PC don't know what time it exists in...

 

 

That is @Fasauceome's PC in a nutshell hahaha

[Đỗ Đức Huy]

Not all that moded. This is one of the five system I sold to my customer ages ago. Mods are:

Removal of the HDD cage. That thing interferes with longer GPU. You can mount the HDD on the 3.5" bay below the DVD bays

DO REMEMBER to save the temperature sensor. it is mounted a top where the old HDD bays would be. Without that the fans of the system WILL BE PINNED at 100%

Remove the PCIE bracket for better GPU compatibility

The integrated heatsink that goes with this mobo is actually quite good. You can swap it out for others if you please but you will need a new socket loading mechanism before you do that and you will be limited to a 90mm equipped cooler. So, don't bother.

If you get the version with support for 3rd gen CPUs, the USB 3.0 front panel header WILL interfere with longer GPU though. The Gigabyte RX 470 winforce I have here just barely fits.

Do keep the right angled sata connector that goes with the case. They are special low profile right angle connector. Since Dell in their infinite wisdom have the sata ports right under where a GPU would go, you WILL NEED THOSE LOW PROFILE RIGHT ANGLE SATA CABLE to hook up your drives.

All in all, a decent rig for about 300$

[Fasauceome]

7 minutes ago, Đỗ Đức Huy said:

you WILL NEED THOSE LOW PROFILE RIGHT ANGLE SATA CABLE to hook up your drives.

I needed an even lower profile cable to fit under the GPU, so I cut the included one myself since the connector had a lot of bulky plastic on the sheathing. Made sure no wires were exposed and it was set.

[Đỗ Đức Huy]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

I needed an even lower profile cable to fit u set the GPU, so I cut the included one myself since the connector had a lot of bulky plastic on the sheathing. Made sure no wires were exposed and it was set.

Well it could have been from another Dell and all of those optiplex are sold months ago. But definitely a very very low profile cable indeed.

Speaking of modding Dells, have you ever seen an XPS 8700 moded to accept an B450m board with a R5 3600 and a GTX 1080? Did this for one of my client whose wife disapprove of anything blingy in my client computer. So sort of like a sleeper builds. The pictures are taken with a RX 470 because at the time the 1080 was not yet decided on.

  

[Fasauceome]

20 minutes ago, Đỗ Đức Huy said:

Speaking of modding Dells, have you ever seen an XPS 8700 moded to accept an B450m board with a R5 3600 and a GTX 1080?

Oddly enough, I actually have. This job looks pretty sweet though!

[Đỗ Đức Huy]

17 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Oddly enough, I actually have. This job looks pretty sweet though!

The XPS is easier to mod since all you have to do is to redo the front panel header. Other than that it is nothing more than a bog standard case which I like

[sub68]

doing the same thing except with a dell vostro