I so excited for this upcoming video.i have optiplex 9020 i7 pc.thanks in advance.

I’ve been wondering do I need a monitor with a VGA cable to use this pc

@@wilsonbatuyong1147 Well, the next video is up about removing the HDD cage to install a bigger graphics card and I'm filming the next video on installing a front fan for better airflow.

@@Ivory805 If you're not going to add a dedicated graphics card you will need a VGA or DisplayPort cable. There are adapters that will go from VGA to DVI or DisplayPort to HDMI, which would be my recommendation. If you're going to add a dedicated GPU, most have HDMI and DisplayPorts. Lower end cards still have DVI. However, I'm not seeing any that have VGA on them anymore.

Great timing finding this video. I’m going to pick up a couple 9020s tomorrow! 👍

Thanks! Glad you found it helpful.

Thanks! I really appreciate that and I'm glad you found it useful.

Fr I’m ignorant to these desktop.. super informative for a big dummy like me 👍👍 I just pick up 7020 sff

@@frankimaserati1395 me too!!!

Definitely

Totally agree, thank you.

How many watts does your power supply carry?

Too long before upgrades, you missed out alot (properly used English contraction).

That pretty good. I really wanted to elaborate on the xx10's with the 3770. For a little more money, the 3770 will blow away the Haswell i5's. It does have a few compromises still, but I bought one and I plan to go over how to get around the SATA and USB3 slots blocking the GPU.

@@TheGameBench Looking forward to that video.

@@urmomsahoe1 I think I'm going to tackle that one just after the new year.

@@TheGameBench This relates to the comment I just left about the 7010 being still a desirable box over any that are limited to 16Gs of ram. Please go into the 7010 towers (not SFF of course) details, and let us know if this is just not up to the 7020 in too many other ways. My investment into new PSUs and GPUs is worth it to me if I can move them to other Dells as I see a deal on a better new used Optiplex.

Thanks, I really appreciate that. That's exactly what I started making these videos. Seemed to be so much misinformation, and left out information.

Hey man! Thanks! I should have the build video put together in the next few weeks.

ayy we have the same name lmao

U lucky son of a human

I got a 3020 for 20 😔

Thanks! I really appreciate the positive feedback.

*looks up from cracking open a brand new GPU... Damn right!

Did you find them on a website or go around to local business asking?

@@jammygiinger625 looked for keyboards on craigslist. Saw the computers when I showed up. Asked him how much...

WHERE DO YOU BIY THEM FROM 😥

@@datnoob9095 I picked them up on a very touristy island. Go someplace with lots of hotels and start asking around the local E-cycle shops. All these PCs are now out of warranty so the hotels ditch them ASAP. It's all a business write-off for them so it's our gain. They work great.

Glad I could help!

I found it's hit or miss on the thermal paste. Some I've gotten have been super dried out and some were still soft enough to be usable. I always replace it regardless and I'll definitely be pointing that out in the build video.

Haha! That's awesome! I'm glad it was useful.

I've spent as much as $120 on these with a HDD and 8GB of RAM with i5's. I would say you didn't get a bad deal. Adding a HDD is cheap. You could find a 1 to 2TB drive for $20 to $30. I also highly suggest adding a 250GB SSD for about $30 as it really will make it feel like a newer computer. As for the HDD tray, I remove the HDD cage so I can put whatever GPU I want in these, but you can find the trays for pretty cheap on eBay. Also, if you want to add more RAM, another 8GB is about $15. I think it's totally worth it. If you're gaming, you can toss a dedicated card in there and with all these upgrades, have spent under $300 for a decent gaming computer. You can run up to a 1060 off the factory power supply with a SATA to PCIe adapter. I feel like that's wroth it and to get a similar system with new parts, you'd be looking at a Ryzen 3 1200 and the cheapest it would come in, is almost $600.

Made a great purchase ... Here in Brazil I found an HP ProDesk for 104 dollars without HD and ram, but I had SSD and 16GB ram Here spare. HPs are also good ... But of course there is a lack of a graphics card and a decent font, but still, it's worth it!

Holy crap! I can't believe I did that. That's a huge typo. Yes, the Q87 chipset. Thanks for pointing that out. And that's so true with eBay. Patience and persistence is the key to getting good deals in eBay.

Yep, I will say that the 2600 and the 3770 are the exceptions to the older systems. Especially when they're throwing them away. When I first started doing this, I was doing it with the intention to flip them, but I've been having a lot of fun doing it. It also keep me from building new builds that I don't need. Almost every one of them I've sold were to kids as their first gaming computers. It's pretty fun.

Playing BL3 on an i7 2600 1050ti no need to buy a psu, plug and play baby.

Yep, I have an HP G1 600 SFF under my workbench. I put a 4690 in it with a 1050 Ti. Thing doesn't pull more than 180 watts at max load.

I was inspired once more. Got myself a 1050Ti today for $40 which require no power cable, lets see where this will take me

After almost giving up on my 9020 conversion I just wish someone could have mentioned that Netframe with several additions must be installed on Windows to properly install chipset and audio drivers with the 'entry point error'. Damn.

Yeah, the USB3 and RAM slots are somewhat nitpicking. The SATA power on the mobo is my biggest complaint, but a non issue if you're replacing the power supply. Sounds like it's going to be nice setup.

@@TheGameBench I agree, but usb3, 2 ram slots and sata power don't matter to me

Nice, i don’t like your gpu’choice , please get a 570-580 since it would perform way better with the i7 compared to the 960 2gb.

@@andromeda6431 I don't like AMD, I had a laptop with AMD GPU and it fried and I'm not trusting AMD again.

They really are. You can have a system that costs the same as the X Box 1 X, used for used, and the PC outperforms it. I started playing with the OptiPlex to keep me from building more expensive builds, and over 20 on and I'm still enjoying modding these suckers and flipping them.

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

No problem!

You're* literally* Earth* this.*

@@encycl07pedia- this isn't a spelling bee

@@ovjee_1534 It's not the Idiot Bee, either.

@@encycl07pedia- bro I could hear that in a kindergarten

Glad I could help!

You're welcome! Glad I could help.

The Game Bench and I appreciate your more recent videos on the subject! Watching em now, thanks again for all the info. Got a new sub!

@@SonofaFritzFilms Thanks! I really appreciate it!

An ITX PC, 'Android box', HTPC, or 'Smart TV device' (Amazon Fire TV Stick, others) are better options. Or 'Mini PC'.

@@WellBeSerious12 full windows is always a better option.

Thanks man. This one took quite a bit of work to get done. Far more than the type of videos I was making. I should be able to streamline things and hopefully get them up more often. I saw your update and I hope things are starting to get better for you.

@@TheGameBench Thanks, major life changing things on my end, my back is really bad waiting for surgery & I've lost the use of both legs from it. My wife's younger brother just died who she was very close with & his wife is in very poor health, so we may be raising his kids in Idaho down the road if things don't get better. Because of this I've taken some time away from YT. I love your subtle production values on your video, the various bullet points neatly lined up on the left side of the screen look top notch, terrific job editing & arranging your main points, quite impressive bud.

Thanks so much man. I used to stress out way too much and now I feel like I'm doing much better even without focusing on trying to be perfect. And man, that kills me to read that. I'm so sorry and I want you to know I'm really pulling for ya'. Sucks that it's come to surgery, but hopefully it can give you back your mobility and quality of life.

No worries, and those are fair points, but I should say that the 7010/9010 are worth it if you can get them at a better price than a 7020/9020 with an i7, so 3770 vs 4770/4790. Yes, the difference is rather marginal, but when they're about the same price, why not go with the xx20 and save some hassle. I would totally consider a 9010 for the right price... around $170 as you can get around the SATA ports USB port with adapters, but that's going to cost you more than the 8-pin to 24-pin converter. I will say that I am looking for a 7020/9020 with a 3770 to do a video to talk about this, where I'm going to point all this out. I still would flat out avoid Ivy Bridge i5's however.

Glad I could help! And there are more on the way.

Awesome! I'm glad you found it helpful.

@@TheGameBench you're welcome. I'm looking forward to the build episode. I want to pop in an extra HDD at some point and I'm curious to see where I could put it.

@@ishe570 Well, I put it in the 5.25" bay right below the optical drive and I mount the SSD to the side next to the front fan. I just need to film A-roll and edit and it'll be ready to upload.

hey! how’s ur pc doing? i’m planning on getting a 3020 too, what fps did u get? and was the rx 570 a good gpu?

Donut hey, my PC was running well but I ended up selling it for another pc. FPS was a mixed bag depending on the titles. I was able to play Fallen Order at 60 FPS in medium settings but it ran really hot (55C CPU - 62C GPU). It’s capable but you want to make sure to open the lid to allow air to escape.

Thanks!

And I have thought about that as a possible video idea. Hell, the micro could even make a pretty cool DOS gaming/emulation system.

@@TheGameBench - I'd love to see that. I have 2 uSFF 790s that I'd love to experiment with. I just can't make myself get rid of them, they were too cheap and take up so little room, so I'm waiting to figure out what to do with them. I might grab some dirt cheap mSATA and mSATA to 2.5" adapters to toss in them (less than half the cost of a 2.5" SSD) and go from there.

Thanks, I really appreciate it.

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

Still seems like a decent deal. $170 for a 7020 with a 4790. Best I've gotten those for is about $200. Toss in a 2TB HDD and and 16GB of RAM and you'd be at about that price. Also, I've found that the PSU can even run a GTX 1060.

Yeah same thing I did, just I bought a 9020 and then watched the video.

Yep, I covered that briefly in the video. Something I definitely intend to expand on with future videos. Also, thanks for subbing!

Thanks! I really appreciate it. Glad it all really paid off.

You're welcome. Thanks for watching it.

I'm happy that you found it useful. Thanks for watching.

Nice work. By all means, at $60 I feel like one of the xx10 series are worth it. You certainly can find good deals locally, depending on where you are.

God dammit man! Here in Indonesia, with i5/i7 3rd Gen, it can go way up to $250 or even $350 due to the processor branding, while the companion components (HDD, PSU, etc) is still working but very trash & low level shit! I wish I can buy these things with that kind of price over there! Because of that, i finally took lower level by catching used G41 LGA775 Motherboard , Core 2 Quad Q9400, 2x4GB DDR3, a 120GB SSD + 1TB used HDD, 450 Watt 80+ PSU, Armageddon Infineon 1000 Case, and used Radeon R7 240 GPU for backup computer & little "casual" gaming rig. Still kickin though, CSGO & Dota still get 60FPS at 720P lowest settings.

Way too much trouble but I’ve been trying to get into it here lately using one of these routes

Thanks! I just stumbled into these. I've generally been about building new systems, but I've really enjoyed converting these, and flipping them.

Yeah, I've noticed that as well. I don't want to presume that this video had anything to do with it, but I've still been able to find the i5's for close to $100 and the i7's for $200 to $250 still.

Thanks! Always good to have options.

Are you talking about adding an SFX PSU in place of the propietary PSU in the SSF units? I had planned to mess with this by mounting it on the side of the chassis as I didn't think it would fit in the case. However, unless you're cutting out the side panel, any LP GPU isn't going to have a problem running off the stock PSU.

That's really my drive... to make these video digestible for people of all experience levels. I'm glad you found it helpful.

Glad my video could help.

That's a pretty decent deal! If you look at time stamp (5:28) you'll see this small 8-pin connector that's low enough to interfere with the GPU. That is power for the SATA to go to all of your drives. Since you're planning on replacing the power supply, you won't need that cable since the power supply will have it's own SATA power cables. Keep in mind that you will need a converter to go from the 24-pin on the power supply and the 8-pin main power on the mother board. Here's a link to the converter than I've been using and it's worked great: amzn.to/2mnxrlk My next video will actually be about removing the HDD cage. That's the first thing I do when I get one of these things in and it's pretty easy to do. At that point there wouldn't be a lot of GPU's that you wouldn't be able to fit.

@@TheGameBench Thanks man! Just ordered a converter, thanks for the reply!

@@andrewstanfield5658 No problem!

@@andrewstanfield5658 No problem.

Though... if I were to make a new video with recommendations... I'd suggest looking at the HP Z240.

@@TheGameBench Thanks for reaching. will have a look

GTX1060*

I'm so happy you found it useful.

@@TheGameBench Is it worth paying more for an optiplex 9020 or whatever with an i7 instead of the i5?

@@michaelpenko7529 Considering the current prices that 7020/9020's with an i5 are going for absurd prices, it's worth considering. I've seen models with an i5 go for as much as $180 and I've gotten systems with an i7 for as little as $200. Hell, I would even advise getting a 7010/9010 with an i7 3770 for around $160 over a 7020/9020 with an i5 for the same price. I still wouldn't pay more than $120 for one with an i5 and I've stopped buying them. Some other alternatives are the Precision T1650 with a 3770, the Precision T1700 or the HP 600/800 G1 systems.

Are you sure it's an 9020 SFF and not a 9010? A 1050 Ti won't fit in the 9020. If it is a 9020, I would be interested to know what modifications you did to get in there.

@@TheGameBench "A 1050 Ti won't fit in the 9020" Sure it will, the low profile gtx 1050ti will work just fine in the 4x pcie slot, with about 8% frame loss as compared to the 16x slot. However, if someone was so inclined as to go that route the 9010 sff is the better option although its third gen instead of 4th gen. That i7 3770 is still a great processor though. There is an anual surplus sale where I live and I buy a bunch every year, just picked up 16 9020's 3 with the 4790 the rest with the 4770. Pulled the processor s on 6 of them, sold them on ebay, made my $480 back in a day and now have 11 free i7 computers to play with.

@@AlltMedia Yep, I'm aware that the x4 slot in the 9020 is slotted to take x8 and x16 cards. However, that's not a compromise I see any sense in making. Especially with the 1650 and 1650 Ti LP coming soon. And yeah, the 3770 is marginally slower than the Haswell i7's, but in these SFF systems, for gaming it's an irrelevant margin. Granted, I would have gotten into this in the video, but there just wasn't time. However, I have plans to go in depth on the Dell and HP SFF systems in a future video.

Thanks! Glad I could help.

Yeah, I've got an LP 1050 Ti in my workbench system and my nieces and nephews never complain when they play games on it.

Those sound pretty awesome. Love hearing about what other people do with these. I just bought a 9010 with a 3770 to do a video on getting around the crap I was complaining about, which I feel is worth it when you can get them for as cheap as about $160. For the AMD vs. Intel debate, it all depends really. I have a system with an i5 8600K and my server has an R5 3600. The 3600 is slightly faster in single core and will destroy the 8600K in multicore. The 2950X in my editing rig destroys Intel's HEDT CPU's for what I use it for and I can be encoding and play games at over 144 FPS and not skip a beat. There are also a lot of benchmarks showing Intel and AMD trading blows in gaming. It's not cut and dry which one is faster anymore. JMO.

I feel like 16 gigs of ram is a bit overkill compared to the gt 730. If you're gaming, consider investing more money into the GPU.

I would agree. I would allocate more money to the GPU. You're going to have problems with that GPU long before 8GB of RAM. Especially at the settings you'd have to play at with the GT 730.

Any particular reason you're leaning towards the 6500 XT? Also, 4GB or 8GB model?

​@TheGameBench because according to PC bottleneck calculator, the RX 6500 XT has a 0% bottleneck with the i7 4790k, which is the best CPU I could put in my PC

@@leocorfield Well, the first piece of advice I can give you is to never look at those bottleneck calculators. Their information is dubious at best, and is very misleading. They're trying to boil something that's rather complex into a single percentage figure, and it doesn't work. Also, there are videos on KZfaq that show how their figures don't make any sense. It's best to just ignore them. As for the 6500 XT, it's not a good idea to pair one with a 4th Gen CPU, and not because of any bottlenecking concerns. The 6500 XT is problematic in a Gen3 slot due to so many corners being cut. It only has four PCIe lanes, a 64-bit bus and 4GB of memory. So, if assets need to be swapped from the video memory to system memory, you end up with stuttery game play. There is an 8GB model now that helps a lot with these issues, but at it's price, you can buy an RX 6600 and not have any of those issues. People try too hard to avoid CPU bottlenecks and they overthink things, which can cause them to look at things like the bottleneck calculators, and buy a GPU that's just not a good idea. As long as the CPU isn't always at 100%, which can cause stuttering as well, you're simply not getting all of the performance of the GPU. Depending on the game and setting, it not avoidable. In highly optimized games, CPU bottlenecks are a norm. With bottlenecks, you just want to avoid spending too much on a GPU that's going to give the same performance as something cheaper, and this is going to matter with what games you play and at what settings. You might have a heavy bottleneck in one game you play, and next to no bottleneck in another with the same GPU. Anyhow, I wouldn't even consider the 6500 XT. It's a bad value and a bad pairing for the 4th gen CPU. Since you're upgrading to the i7, I would suggest the GTX 1070 or 1080 as being very good pairings at 1080p. Though, I think the RX 6600 is the best deal at around $120 on the used market and isn't a terrible pairing with the 4th Gen i7, while costing about the same as the 1080.

Thanks! And yeah... it's an excellent deal.

The Game Bench sure is ! Works like a charm bro.

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

Yep, I have a 600 G1 SFF with a i5 4690. I'm actually planning on a getting an 800 G1 MT to compare it to the OptiPlex. Might even do the same with a Lenovo from the same generation. And for $150, that 800 G1 was an awesome deal.

No problem... glad I could help.

Thanks! I had thought about that, and I've talked to people that say the right angled connectors don't work, and I think it's just a issue depending on the GPU. I actually picked up a 9010 with a 3770 to do a video about this. I wish I would have elaborated in this video that the 2600 and the 3770 are exceptions to the rule.

@@TheGameBench I've used 90 degree usb3 adapters in a few Acer OEM's that I put 390x's in. They worked great ☺️

@@stevenwilliams6638 Yep, I bought a low profile USB cable as well. I also found some low profile SATA cables that might work better than the normal 90 degree connections so people don't have to worry about GPU compatibility.

Good call returning the Insignia, they are very bad units. Typically what I put in these are the Corsair CXm series. A good, fully modular PSU, is going to be fairly spendy, but the CXm is partially modular. New, they're not on the cheap side and most people tend to gravitate to the ThermalTake and EVGA 80+ white units. I don't like them either as they're not very good. Which is why I go with used CXm's for a similar price off eBay. Since you're going with the 580, you'd be good with a 450 watt power supply, but the cost of getting a 550 or 650 might be negligible and will give you room to grow. I would ask, what is the most you're willing to spend?

I've bought about 20 of these over the last year and I've never seen anything like that. There are a lot of things it could be, but since you've tried updating the BIOS and replaced the CMOS battery, the adapter would be one of my next suspects. I know there are a lot of those adapters that have been problematic. Also, the power supply could have it's own issues.