Budget Optiplex Build Advice

[Maureen Meadows]

Budget (including currency): ~$350 (can go slightly over if needed, preferably less)

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Minecraft (modded, shaders), Satisfactory, Skyrim, some AAA at ~medium settings, emulation, and so on. Nothing super crazy.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

Is this parts list any good or could I get something better for the money?

Used Optiplex 7060 (~$150)
Used MSI MAG a550bn (~$55)
Probably somewhere between an RX 590 & RX 5700 XT. Unsure, need recommendations.
PCIE Riser, if needed (need recommendations, unsure which brands are good)

I'm planning to get the Optiplex 7060 and run the GPU & PSU outside the case (assuming I get something like the RX 5700 XT, as it won't fit in the case). I already have the peripherals I need from my previous setup, so I don't need to buy anything other than the system itself. I'm using the CPU included with the Optiplex, which should be an i7-8700.

[PDifolco]

23 minutes ago, Maureen Meadows said:

Budget (including currency): ~$350 (can go slightly over if needed, preferably less)

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Minecraft (modded, shaders), Satisfactory, Skyrim, some AAA at ~medium settings, emulation, and so on. Nothing super crazy.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

Is this parts list any good or could I get something better for the money?

Used Optiplex 7060 (~$150)
Used MSI MAG a550bn (~$55)
Probably somewhere between an RX 590 & RX 5700 XT. Unsure, need recommendations.
PCIE Riser, if needed (need recommendations, unsure which brands are good)

I'm planning to get the Optiplex 7060 and run the GPU & PSU outside the case (assuming I get something like the RX 5700 XT, as it won't fit in the case). I already have the peripherals I need from my previous setup, so I don't need to buy anything other than the system itself.

Are you sure the PSU is compatible with the board ? Dell often uses proprietary incompatible crap

What CPU will you get ?

 

[Maureen Meadows]

Somebody who's run a similar setup with that PSU said it'll work with it. I'm using the CPU it comes with (i7-8700), it should be fine for what I need.

[PDifolco]

28 minutes ago, Maureen Meadows said:

Somebody who's run a similar setup with that PSU said it'll work with it. I'm using the CPU it comes with (i7-8700), it should be fine for what I need.

Ok, but the thing will be janky AF

You could buy an used platform (CPU mobo RAM) of this generation for around $250 then a cheap <$50 case,  will work and look way better and be more upgradable

[Maureen Meadows]

Alright, I'll do that then. What do you recommend?

[Wh0_Am_1]

28 minutes ago, Maureen Meadows said:

Alright, I'll do that then. What do you recommend?

Someone could probs knock off $20 to $30 USD but how 'bout this to start? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qhwpqR

This CPU has Radeon 7 Vega graphics and can play most games at low settings which would be enough to get you started until you can afford a better GPU. When you can afford a better one this CPU is fast enough for most modern GPUs (although I would upgrade before pairing it with anything faster than a RTX4070/3080 or RX6900XT/7800XT)

[PDifolco]

22 minutes ago, Maureen Meadows said:

Alright, I'll do that then. What do you recommend?

Something like this with new RAM (2x8 is $30)

 

[Maureen Meadows]

6 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

Something like this with new RAM (2x8 is $30)

Something like what?

 

EDIT: Disregard, the image didn't load in previously for some reason.

[Maureen Meadows]

8 minutes ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

Someone could probs knock off $20 to $30 USD but how 'bout this to start? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qhwpqR

This CPU has Radeon 7 Vega graphics and can play most games at low settings which would be enough to get you started until you can afford a better GPU. When you can afford a better one this CPU is fast enough for most modern GPUs (although I would upgrade before pairing it with anything faster than a RTX4070/3080 or RX6900XT/7800XT

I would really like to get a GPU. Maybe something like those parts & an RX 590?

[Wh0_Am_1]

3 minutes ago, Maureen Meadows said:

I would really like to get a GPU. Maybe something like those parts & an RX 590?

Nah I would not recommend buying anything new cheaper than that, unless we are talking about steam deck, or other specialized device. What form factor of 7060 were you looking at, USFF, SFF, or tower?

[Maureen Meadows]

1 minute ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

Nah I would not recommend buying anything new cheaper than that, unless we are talking about steam deck, or other specialized device. What form factor of 7060 were you looking at, USFF, SFF, or tower?

Tower

[PDifolco]

15 minutes ago, Maureen Meadows said:

I would really like to get a GPU. Maybe something like those parts & an RX 590?

5600G is a bad deal if you plan to add a GPU

I choose 2600x on a good board because it's the cheapest decent AM4 CPU, and you'll be able to upgrade to a 5800x3d later on 

For the GPU I'd rather get a 5700xt or 6600

[Wh0_Am_1]

I haven't dealt with that generation of optiplex tower (yet) but yes that PSU SHOULD (probably) work assuming Dell has stayed on the same track as with the earlier optiplexes I have worked with.

[PDifolco]

17 minutes ago, Maureen Meadows said:

Tower

Really for $550 you can get a decent NEW PC

Remove $50 for an used GPU (5700XT), seems to me a better buy than Opticrap cannibalization

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($114.83 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($28.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 512 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($35.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte EAGLE Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.96 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A550BN 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $563.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-17 07:09 EDT-0400

 

[Maureen Meadows]

2 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

Really for $550 you can get a decent NEW PC

Remove $50 for an used GPU (5700XT), seems to me a better buy than Opticrap cannibalization

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($114.83 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($28.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 512 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($35.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte EAGLE Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.96 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A550BN 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $563.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-17 07:09 EDT-0400

 

My budget is $350 max, as outlined in the original post.

[Needfuldoer]

If you're still looking at prebuilts, look into the low end workstation lines. The Precision 3630 can be had with an 850 watt power supply, and you can get up to a 950 in the Precision 5820. (I've personally had a 3090 running in one of those.)

[OddOod]

To be clear, your plan would be to run a second power supply outside the case, presumably with a couple of the external psu's 24 pin leads jumpered to the start wires on the custom Dell power supply so you can actually power the whole thing on and off. Is that correct?

[Needfuldoer]

10 minutes ago, OddOod said:

To be clear, your plan would be to run a second power supply outside the case, presumably with a couple of the external psu's 24 pin leads jumpered to the start wires on the custom Dell power supply so you can actually power the whole thing on and off. Is that correct?

You can get passive adapters that let you run Dell OEM motherboards off of ATX power supplies, too...

[OddOod]

I will say, my partner runs an 8700k/3080Ti system and loves it. Sure, the CPU is a bit of a bottleneck, but it still puts out acceptable frames in pretty much everything

[PDifolco]

6 hours ago, Maureen Meadows said:

My budget is $350 max, as outlined in the original post.

Yeah got it, just wanted to show where''s the budget builds new are, and that's not that much more expensive

Then have a look at used gaming PCs in the $350 range, based on 2600 or 7th+ gen Intel, plus a decent GPU, would be better than a janky crapbox Optiplex trying to run external PSU and GPU

[Maureen Meadows]

18 hours ago, Needfuldoer said:

If you're still looking at prebuilts, look into the low end workstation lines. The Precision 3630 can be had with an 850 watt power supply, and you can get up to a 950 in the Precision 5820. (I've personally had a 3090 running in one of those.)

Does this listing seem decent? https://www.ebay.com/itm/286058755737?_skw=precision+3630

[Maureen Meadows]

17 hours ago, OddOod said:

To be clear, your plan would be to run a second power supply outside the case, presumably with a couple of the external psu's 24 pin leads jumpered to the start wires on the custom Dell power supply so you can actually power the whole thing on and off. Is that correct?

I'm honestly not sure. I'm new to all of this.