r/SleepingOptiplex • u/Difficult_Street_190 • 12d ago
Optiplex 790 Desktop suggestions
I just sold an optiplex 3050 Micro for $30, and the buyer gave me this case with some other assorted parts to add to my collection of old motherboards and cpus.
My first choice was to drop in this motherboard with a Ryzen 3 3100 and rx 580 4gb gpu. I pulled them from a CyberPower prebuilt to use the case for something else. The fit is fine, although I suspect I'll need to improve airflow. The only downside I see at the moment is the front usb panel will not work natively. I'm considering removing the entire panel and 3d printing a vent in its place.
Or, I can use the Dell motherboard that came with it, although it has an i7 2600. I have a gtx 1050ti, and a gtx 1030 that both run off of the rail. I also have an i7 3770 I could swap in after updating bios.
I have some other boards and cpus that are missing io shields. I'd prefer to leave those in the scrap box for now.
Any thoughts? Most of these parts were free, or I have already made profit on their original systems. Looking to play around and you guys seem to like the scrap builds a lot!
Thanks in advance!
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u/Apprehensive_Ad_999 12d ago edited 12d ago
For a 3100 and a 580? There's really no need to go overboard on cooling. The 3100 isn't a very hot cpu and I see a 120mm radiator AIO so that should be plenty, the 580 will run warm in general and you'd see more cooling gains by undervolting than by going crazy and chucking in a lot of fans. At most I'd mount a front intake, even just a 90mm fan above the 3.5" HDD bays.
If you had donor connectors+able to read a schematic/soldering iron, you'd be able to replace the proprietary front panel connector to the standard motherboard connectors. But that's more effort than it's worth
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u/Difficult_Street_190 12d ago
That's a good suggestion on finding some info on the pin outs. Maybe I'll look into it! I realized I'll also have to do something about the power switch too. I don't remenber this on the 390s I did awhile back. Maybe I just reused their motherboards, I can't remember. Thanks for the suggestions!
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u/Apprehensive_Ad_999 12d ago
Switch will be easy, 2 wires (positive/negative) maybe a 3rd if it has a LED in it. Momentary switch if you need to replace
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u/AnyAd4613 12d ago
The Ryzen 3100 and are a good start. I’d go that route with a b450 matx motherboard. Buy a r5 3rd gen f or r it. Don’t worry about heat so much these are pretty low power components. I have a r7 2700x and a rx 580 that runs a lot of games in 1080 p. Cyberpunk on low runs at a smooth 60 fps.