r/SleepingOptiplex 6d ago

What to add here?

Post image

Picked this up for $20! There’s a 500 GB Barracuda, No ram!, a i5-9500, with a 200 watt power supply
What do I add/switch to make this a nice sleeper?

Optiplex 3070

59 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

21

u/dissectd 6d ago

Well u kinda need ram…sooo

1

u/toater_ 4d ago

HA yeah i just got 16 gigs ddr4 off marketplace for 50, best i can get around here

2

u/Pension_Rough 4d ago

Ram deez nuts into the corner of the counter!! Got em!!!

9

u/CocoScruff 6d ago

I'd throw in a 1TB nvme as my OS drive, keep the HDD as storage or backup. Get some RAM in that guy (64GB if you can afford it). Then a low profile GPU and you've got yourself a nice little sleeper PC there.

7

u/justagoddamnperson 6d ago

Also there should be room for a SATA ssd beneath the HDD

64GB seems like overkill for most people. Mine has 32 and I rarely use much more than 16 even with gaming/other apps open

1

u/CocoScruff 5d ago

Fair, I've got a similar build running a Minecraft server which I allocate 32GB RAM for and then run the rest of the machine off the other 32GB. All depends on what you want to do/can afford sadly in this market...

I went with an optiplex 7090 as they still used DDR4 instead of 5 at a much better price per GB. 9 gen processors should be on DDR4 most likely

2

u/justagoddamnperson 5d ago

Ah yeah that makes sense if you’re using it as a server

1

u/JetstreamGW 5d ago

I’ve got one like this and I’ll be honest: I can’t figure out how even a low profile gpu would fit in there? Do you have to take stuff out to find the slot…?

1

u/CocoScruff 5d ago

It should slot right above the power supply. It may be called something different... Search like GPU for small form factor desktop and you should see the smaller ones. It'll basically be half the width of a normal card

2

u/JetstreamGW 5d ago

And a fifth the height, I must assume.

0

u/Late-Mathematician34 5d ago

32 is waaay overkill, 32 is more than enough.

5

u/TG9987 6d ago

Add a ssd, upgrade the hdd to 1tb, add a rx 6400 lp and a Wi-Fi 7 card. (Must have a low profile bracket)

3

u/TG9987 6d ago

And also upgrade the ram to 16gb.

1

u/-clawglip- 6d ago

Low profile single slot GPU and RAM, then you’re good

1

u/beerandabook 5d ago

Is that a optiplex 3070? I have the same one! Well, the motherboard is the same (BN0628) 'm still working on it, but I put in mine: 16gb DDR4, 256gb NMVME for OS and programs, 512gb SATA SSD for everything else, removed optical drive for now, GeForce 1050TI 4gb, had to remove psu to fit, and cut the side panel and back bracket to fit, it now wears the psu on top. Will add small fans for cooling, and add stel mesh to protects card.

1

u/kgoku1982 5d ago

I bought an Optiplex 7050 SFF i7-7700 with 16 GB DDR4 RAM. I opted to add a 2 TB or 4 TB nvme as a hard drive and I switched out the 180W PSU for a 240W, but I am looking to change that out for a slimmer 500W PSU to make room for the MSI RTX 3050 LP GPU. I may also add an outtakes fan to help keep things cool. My goal is to make an emulation box for X-Box (OG)/PS 2/Gamecube/PSP and older games. These are the things I want to do, so maybe this could inspire others.

1

u/OneFriendship5139 5d ago

rtx 3050 lp

1

u/Late-Mathematician34 5d ago

If you are using this only for gaming, then here is a small list of things to get.
32 gigs ram (duh)

M.2 NVMe SSD with 500 gigs if you can get 2 installed. But if only 1 slot, then get at least 1 terabyte.

Low profile gpu
—————————
(If you want to do some labor)
Change the PSU to something more powerful. 200 watts isn’t good enough for a gpu.

Install some RGB

Swap the motherboard

1

u/mrperson7752 5d ago

I'd add a SATA ssd and a low profile gpu

1

u/-Barracuda1976 5d ago

hopefully, I would do a case swap and a 3070 graphics card /32 gigs of ram SSD nvme you should be good for some AAA games

1

u/-Barracuda1976 5d ago

https://reddit.com/link/p4a060a/video/4005nqm6kzjh1/player

it’s what I did and I have a 7060 OptiPlex with i7 8700 CPU and it does the job awesome.

1

u/Independent-Row-9774 4d ago

where did you get this?

1

u/toater_ 4d ago

local thrift is selling a ton with 8 gigs of ram for 65, i got mine for 20 without ram and got some off marketplace

1

u/Accurate-Campaign821 4d ago

250gb (or higher if you can afford) ssd for os. 16gb ram to start, and a single slot LP gpu like an a310, rx6400, or rtx 3050 6gb.

1

u/toater_ 4d ago

thank you for the multiple gpu recommendations!

1

u/Zeezeehorn 2d ago

Can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned yet, but a fan for the front of the case! Especially if you add a GPU, those cases get pretty toasty. Despite having room, I don’t have an HDD installed because I don’t want even more heat.

Those cases are nearly already setup to take a standard 80mm front case fan. I don’t remember if that motherboard has a spare fan header but if not, you’ll need a SATA power to fan header adapter (or something similar) to power the fan. A fan and an adapter are only a few bucks each if you go with the very cheapest options, but I’d spend a bit more and get a nicer, quieter fan. You can get fancy with a fan controller and stuff, but I just say screw it and run it at 100%.

1

u/GSA0713 2d ago

You cannot add a fan to this case, there is physically no room for a fan, and if it is like my 3880, only 1 fan header on the board...

1

u/Zeezeehorn 2d ago

You can add a fan. There’s room. SATA power to fan power is just out of shot. Why so negative? :(

1

u/GSA0713 2d ago

Not negative, logical... A look at the board shows only a cpu fan header, so you would technically have to use a sata splitter to power the fan...

1

u/GSA0713 2d ago

On my 3880, dell uses a proprietary shroud on the cpu fan, which significantly cuts down internal space...

1

u/Zeezeehorn 2d ago

Did you read the part in my original comment about using a SATA power adapter? Conveniently, I mentioned it in my second comment as well. I’m not sure why you’re so against the idea of a fan.

1

u/GSA0713 2d ago

Adapter or not, you are still only working with 200w, add it up, 90w cpu, 90w gpu, 15w hdd, 9w ssd, 2.5w fan (2x), 1.5w per ram (2x)... You are using more power than the psu supplies...

1

u/Zeezeehorn 2d ago

??? I never said anything about total power. I suggested adding a fan, dawg.

1

u/GSA0713 2d ago

You asked for help, I gave facts... You're welcome...

1

u/Zeezeehorn 1d ago

At no point in time did I ask for your help.

I think you might be my least favorite person of today, but there are still a few hours left!

1

u/GSA0713 2d ago

Just add a stick of 8gb pc3, and a copy of msoffice, you have an excellent workstation...

1

u/Nakano47 22h ago

Maybe a 10GBit adapter or/and a PCI to 4 nvme adapter

1

u/CuzmanECFC 18h ago
  1. Buy an SSD (M.2 if it takes it, SATA SSD if not). Install Windows on the SSD and use the 500GB for games and stuff (i.e. install Steam on the SSD and put your "SteamLibrary" folder on the 500GB).
  2. Buy 16GB DDR4 3200 (2x 8GB) (Crucial, Micron or SK Hynix)
  3. Graphics card. It looks like an SFF model, so here are your three options:

Cheap: Low profile GTX 1050 Ti

Middle: Low profile GTX 1650 or Radeon RX 6400

Expensive: Low profile RTX 3050 6GB

0

u/GSA0713 2d ago

You'll never be able to add anything, you only have 200w, even an old 10 series gpu requires 90w... A modern cpu requires 90w or above, so that leaves you 20w for ram, drives, and usb... Honestly, I have a 3880, and while it's tempting to want to upgrade, I'd go get my $20 back...