extreme budget build.

[supremedutchgamer]

so im helping someone from my class build his first rig. there is only one problem: his budget consists of 150 euro's and a used dell optiplex. he's building the rig for school use but he wants it gaming capable. currently ive given him a quadro 4000 for use as graphics card untill he can afford his own, for the rest the specs of that optiplex are currently: 8gb ram, 250GB non-descript hard drive, i3 2120 and that quadro 4000. allong with the 240watt psu that said dell had. its a small formfactor pc usually found in schools and offices so while upgrading the power supply is one of the main goals he'd have to get a new case for that. a buddy of mine wanted to pitch in with a 430watt corsair non-modular psu, and the current plan is to turn the pc into a testbench setup (as the dell is halfheight so upgrades dont fit without modification to the case anyways). for the rest he wants to upgrade that machine to a 2600K with a hyper 212 evo. those two around here cost about 120 bucks. 

 

any recommendations/suggestions/changes to this plan? ive done a couple builds in the past but not one on a budget as low as this.

[Herman Mcpootis]

You'll have to double check if the I/O and PSU connectors are standard and that the form factor isn't proprietary, don't bother with a 2600k and get a locked 2600/E3 1230 instead.

[Radium_Angel]

5 minutes ago, supremedutchgamer said:

any recommendations

Dump the system, those old dell's have crappy power connectors (as well as a general lack of standard dimensions) and hit up your local equivalent of CraigsList, find something there that is standards-compliant.

You are wasting your time on the dell

[supremedutchgamer]

4 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

You'll have to double check if the I/O and PSU connectors are standard and that the form factor isn't proprietary, don't bother with a 2600k and get a locked 2600/E3 1230 instead.

ive checked and as far as connector is concerned they're standard 24 and 4 pin connectors. the form factor is proprietary though hence why the idea of turning it into a test bench.

[Jurrunio]

the motherboard is usually not ATX-compliant, so I wont use it. You can try get a new PSU first, and see whether the connectors all fit.

 

Dont buy 2600k since I really dont think the chipset supports overclocking. Any 8 threaded Sandy bridge CPU should do, say 2600 and Xeon E3 1230 or above (v2 is Ivy bridge which might not work, v3 is Haswell which definitely wont work)

[SolarNova]

As others have said, dont get the K version , you wont be able to OC.

 

Pick up a cheap SSD 120gb ...240gb if u can. Will help alot.

Kingston A400 SSD's seem to be the cheapest option, 25-40 euro

[grss1982]

6 hours ago, supremedutchgamer said:

so im helping someone from my class build his first rig. there is only one problem: his budget consists of 150 euro's and a used dell optiplex. he's building the rig for school use but he wants it gaming capable. currently ive given him a quadro 4000 for use as graphics card untill he can afford his own, for the rest the specs of that optiplex are currently: 8gb ram, 250GB non-descript hard drive, i3 2120 and that quadro 4000. allong with the 240watt psu that said dell had. its a small formfactor pc usually found in schools and offices so while upgrading the power supply is one of the main goals he'd have to get a new case for that. a buddy of mine wanted to pitch in with a 430watt corsair non-modular psu, and the current plan is to turn the pc into a testbench setup (as the dell is halfheight so upgrades dont fit without modification to the case anyways). for the rest he wants to upgrade that machine to a 2600K with a hyper 212 evo. those two around here cost about 120 bucks. 

 

any recommendations/suggestions/changes to this plan? ive done a couple builds in the past but not one on a budget as low as this.

Why the 2600k? Get a regular 2600.  Dell motherboards are not OC capable. You can also go with an i5 instead.

 

Also if it's a SFF that Hyper 212 evo will NOT fit. Keep in mind some of this Dell OptiPlex models use a different PSU connector than standard ATX.

 

With that mind can you post the service tag of this Dell PC or the actual Optiplex model number? That should help determine which Dell Optiplex this is and what's the upgrade path.

 

By the way, this is the formula for a cheap gaming PC for a few years now.  I believe lots of tech channels have covered this in YT. Basically get a Dell or HP with an i5 or i7 and then a decent video card and PSU.

 

Various videos about this formula: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cheap gaming dell optiplex&qs=n&form=QBVR&sp=-1&pq=cheap gaming dell optiple&sc=0-25&sk=&cvid=C9B8DEB69F5A45CFA83F8E8B9D927106

 

[supremedutchgamer]

1 hour ago, grss1982 said:

Why the 2600k? Get a regular 2600.  Dell motherboards are not OC capable. You can also go with an i5 instead.

 

Also if it's a SFF that Hyper 212 evo will fit. Keep in ind some of this Dell OptiPlex models use a defect PSU connector that standard ATX.

 

With that mind can you post the service tag of this Dell PC or the actual Optiplex model number? That should help determine which Dell Optiplex this is and what's the upgrade path.

 

By the way, this is the formula for a cheap gaming PC for a few years now.  I believe lots of tech channels have covered this in YT. Basically get a Dell or HP with an i5 or i7 and then a decent video card and PSU.

 

Various videos about this formula: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cheap gaming dell optiplex&qs=n&form=QBVR&sp=-1&pq=cheap gaming dell optiple&sc=0-25&sk=&cvid=C9B8DEB69F5A45CFA83F8E8B9D927106

 

its a dell optiplex 3010 SFF. it does have a standard 24pin and 4pin connector (although the fans weirdly have an extra unused pin)

 

 

[grss1982]

2 hours ago, supremedutchgamer said:

its a dell optiplex 3010 SFF. it does have a standard 24pin and 4pin connector (although the fans weirdly have an extra unused pin)

 

 

Did a quick check in bing since can't use google at work and it seems this model has a weird motherboard: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=optiplex 3010 sff motherboard&cbir=sbi&imageBin=&qs=n&form=QBIR&sp=-1&pq=optiplex 3010 sff motherboard&sc=3-29&sk=&cvid=6B0C1E78765A478C846A15828D28BAD2

 

The CPU Socket, and the 24 pin connector are in the wrong places for a mATX motherboard.  I'm not so sure if it can be transplanted to another case.

 

Also I corrected my post which you quoted: "Also if it's a SFF that Hyper 212 evo will NOT fit. Keep in mind some of this Dell OptiPlex models use a different PSU connector than standard ATX."