The Trash-Picked BRAND NEW Dell OptiPlex

[@MichaelMJD]

A few people suggested checking the power on hours count on the original HDD, so I did and... 2 hours!

[@TouhouGaijin]

Damn, you scored here.

[@dyter424]

I guess this system was deployed to a Spanish-speaking business as a spare and then never used.

[@TreeRockCreations]

HEY MJD, Why not try installing Windows 10 on a 486 computer? If it Is even possible?

[@GreenvillSSnick]

this is a good find you got here

[@filip_tech]

Install Windows 10 LTSC 2021!

[@KennethPlaysOfficial]

I got a dell optiplex 3040 from the trash. It’s my main pc now

[@killaraku3591]

I got a vostro 3245 with i5 7 th, optiplex with i5 8th and a dell optiplex xe2 with i5 4th from the same trash for free.

[@alphanvideo-kill-NotHype]

Mine is a dell optiolex 780 lol

[@Luketube10000]

I got a Optiplex 7010

[@j_stasHCR]

I used a optiplex 3000 (something i forgor) until 2023 when i bought a pc, i had a 1050ti and an ssd (only in early 2023 🗿), it usable even for gaming with a graphics card

[@puppycornthewindowsxpfan9363]

i got a lenovo think centre m81 for 50bgn (~25 dollars) with pentium g620 and 12gb ram, still going strong

[@Koopai386]

I love it when people rescue these old machines. Many people just don't see the full potential of these old computers.

[@clays32]

Man, you can Build such a sleeper PC with a chassis like this, it would be kind of sweet!

[@MK-of7qw]

you could... but the SFF means you have to use half-height cards. your better off maxing out the memory and using it as some sort of home server. but yes they definitely have potential still.

[@kmemz]

​@@clays32You're limited in both CPU and GPU selection because of the custom motherboard form factor and the half height PCIe. Newest boards in these are fourth gen.

[@rzpogi]

Ironically, these PCs can still do most basic office tasks such as running Microsoft Office, play 4k videos, and browse the web. Even some light editing like photoshop and AutoCAD. In my country, these will run until the hardware gives up. Most just slap an SSD and it's ready for its second life as a basic productivity PC.

[@Koopai386]

@rzpogi I got an i5 3470 pc, added a 1050, and now play gtav at medium 1080p 60fps, basic office tasks and content streaming

[@Gravarty]

Don't forget to make a backup of the recovery partition! Afaik there's only one version of the 3020 on archive that doesn't seem to work (and it's only for the mid tower version)

[@insertaverygenericnamehere]

[@Golecom2]

definitely. These optiplex use recovery DVDs and dell sometimes wont release iso versions for recovery media.

[@TJDunaway]

110% a major issue unfortunately.. Factory images are hard to come by ​@@Golecom2

[@bhasitl]

I agree. These recovery images are so precious and should really be backed up to the internet archive!

[@EgoShredder]

Any forums or torrents out there for it?

[@the_ejumper_0804]

Optiplexs are always a great option. Super cheap 99% of the time for a computer that is plenty good enough for everyday tasks and even some gaming with a few minor upgrades

[@sihamhamda47]

Yeah I saw some of them that has 8th gen i5 being sold for only 120 bucks in mint condition, that's much cheaper than most new celeron mini PCs right now

[@MattExzy]

I've grown out of my late 2000s/early 2010s 'I must build my own PC' days. In my more senior years now, if I need a PC, I cruise eBay for an Optiplex. Which isn't often, since they're like cockroaches and keep living.

[@the_ejumper_0804]

@@MattExzy Yeah Optiplex’s are very durable and long-lasting

[@vuxl]

i was gonna make a custom arcade cabinet (for playing newer windows based games) and i looked on ebay and saw so many optiplex listings and they were all like $100-$120 so like thats pretty cheap

[@warhaggis]

For Dells you can take the service tag or express service code (you can see it at around 1:26) to the support site to get the exact system configuration and its full history, including any service events like if it was repaired (it says you need an email address to view - anything will work). This Dell was shipped to a customer/client in El Salvador on 22 June 2015.

[@MichaelMJD]

Yep! I already looked that up before filming. Didn't see any service events, probably because it wasn't used. However I didn't notice that it was shipped to El Salvador. That certainly explains why Windows was in Spanish!

[@warhaggis]

@@MichaelMJD It's hidden a little bit. You need to click "Manage services" in the overview - the ship date and location are listed there.

[@midnite59]

@@MichaelMJDwhy did you opt to install Ubuntu over something like Debian or Fedora (or Arch I don’t judge)? I’m assuming you don’t like canonical as much as the next guy, so was it a compatibility choice? Ease of use? PPA support?

[@Crixer234]

What's odd is that Dell was shipped from my country and returned back to the US, then tossed in the trash and finally to MJD desk. usually once they are shipped there ain't gonna get it back, that's a rarity to see being shipped back to the US, there's so many local businesses selling cast off Dells, HP and Lenovo machines here.

[@valensomm]

I've worked in IT for 9 years now and regularly handeled these different optiplex models in big production environments and I have never had to RMA any of these sffs unlike the laptops, they are really solid and stable machines

[@realtoadtech]

These things are everywhere, they aged like fine wine when it comes to "it just works performance"

[@lucasrem]

realtoadtech Old crab DELL, not a PC to upgrade ! Wine, are you France ?? TOO OLD, YOU TOO ?

[@pastalex421]

“Mostly uninteresting” It’s not nice to lie, Michael. You know why we’re all here.

[@Darth001]

But it all went wrong 😅

[@jrr851]

It's probably the "spare". Most large companies will buy a few extras when the do their hardware refreshes. Need 48, buy 50 so you can have a spare on the shelf. Sometimes they get used... Sometimes they don't. This is the spare that was never needed.

[@gggnkg9093]

I work with a lot of these, we still run them in the office. Honestly, even the older ones, those that run the Ivy Bridge processors are still absolutely fine for lighter tasks. I managed to snag one off work, found an i5 3470 for pocket change, got an ssd, got the ram up to 16 gigs, installed a fresh WIndows 10. Easily can watch KZbin at 1080p, file editing, word, excels, all work absolutely fine. got an sff rx550 and managed to play quite a few games, from 90s classics, to 2000s goats like san andreas and various nfs, ending up with 2010s with the likes of payday 2 and war thunder.

[@9852323]

I use much older for the same tasks. Like core2duo. My gaming PC is an i7 3770 from 2013

[@nashcomp]

Foe older tasks i had c2d with 9800gt run 2000s tripleA while my main cpu using gen7 i3 and rx550 fornmodern triple As 😊

[@cydragon2.099]

no doubt DS (Dungeon Siege) 1 and 2 would be fine

[@FloweyFanClub]

instantly blasted back to highschool where someone printed out a picture of a troll face and shoved it in the disk drive of one of these guys.

[@EgoShredder]

To blast me back to high school (we call it upper school here in England), it would have to be a BBC Micro computer!

[@EmberBlitz]

Someone put a picture of Saul Goodman into one of em in my high school

[@WeatherMan2005]

Thats a nice prank

[@cocomonkilla]

@@FloweyFanClub my classmates were a little less sophisticated, they would stick pop tarts in the disk drives

[@kalarse]

Holy, this is so nostalgic. When I worked as helpdesk, I used to support PCs like this (among a lot of other versions of the OptiPlex). When you opened it, it opened some memories. I remember when we were migrating from Win7 to Win10, and we also changed the HDDs to SSDs, which Dell had the great idea of making this so easy to work on, honestly, great experience with OptiPlexes overall!

[@remixedcat]

Optiplex and Precision and Latitude are workhorses. Very nice and solid.

[@DMARrecords]

You're forgetting the Dimension series.

[@ciach0_]

Every of them except Latitude E7470, my cpu just got fried for some reason

[@remixedcat]

@@ciach0_ that sucks.. what cpu ??

[@ciach0_]

@@remixedcat I believe it was i5-6300u

[@jasimaneesahamed1033]

My latitude E6400 still lives on, and runs without a hitch. It runs Windows 10, and is used for niche applications like Android ADB installations and for playing old games... And its still somewhat snappy considering that it runs on a Core 2 Duo P8700 (2.53 GHz). One great thing about this laptop, is the GPU, it allows me to overclock the screen to 90Hz, and it feels much better to use tbh.

[@leroyjethrogibbs]

I have 5 of those on a shelf next to me right now. They hardly ever die. Run windows 11 perfectly fine as long as you got enough ram and the i5.

[@xGMV]

Where I'm from, this stuff is unheard of. Even DDR2 RAM is expensive, SSDs for me are mythical sightings, never used one myself, or a GPU. Junk PCs here are really, but really old stuff and they're usually broken beyond repair, water damaged, or burnt.

[@falcconplanes]

Where are you from?

[@9852323]

Like how old are they usually

[@cocomonkilla]

Where ?

[@yourneighbourhooddoomer]

Blud must be living in Venezuela 💀

[@lemagreengreen]

Then there is maybe business opportunity. Sourcing stacks of these machines in North America, Europe and Asia is no problem, they'll almost give them away.

[@metroplex18]

A coworker of mine actually bought a shit ton of these from a surplus auction. we have actually had to buy some off of him, to sell to customers who needed a replacement machine. his original plan with buying them was to sell to low income families in our area. these things are workhorses!

[@jessthnthree]

i swear that old high end office computers are a hidden gym i have two older high end Dells and ever since I made my custom PC be a proxmox server, they have been my partner and I's main computers Dells in particular tend to be pretty easy to repair and upkeep

[@HighImpactFluffage]

Seeing that hard drive mechanism instantly brought back memories of working in a recycling center back in high school as part of an exchange program and running into a couple of these arguably incredibly boring but to me weirdly delightful office/professional PCs. Even if some of them were less than ideal when it came to stuff like cooling and such, I've always appreciated these OptiPlexes and their competitors' counterparts. It was incredibly easy to get into them and either scrap them for parts or fix them up and give them a new lease on life, so many things used tool-free mounts, things were easy to disassemble, I even remember some of them having a motherboard tray that tilted out so you could work on it. It genuinely felt like someone made those cases with the consideration that some underpaid IT guy would have to repair them quite frequently when something went wrong and they were made with that in mind. It's been over 10 years since I last had the pleasure of cracking one open, but every time I see one in a video like this, it's a delight I can't quite explain.

[@HKtitoOfficial]

Thats my actual PC no way, also great video!

[@MarkRayers]

Thats crazy man

[@Freakishink292]

wait wtf

[@lowykgt]

i keep seeing you everywhere

[@rizzing_mogger]

is it lightning fast?

[@Mariuszgamer]

Same. It's my spare pc and it's right next to my gaming pc

[@sXpNetworkTv]

Watching this video on my OptiPlex 9020 which is the ultra small form factor version of this PC. It runs Arch really well.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

The 9020 is a later generation, it's not the smaller version of this one.

[@OverTallman]

@@FlyboyHelosim It's actually in the same generation as the 3020 (LGA 1150 and Haswell CPU). The 9020 is just the high end one with better chipset and NIC. Also the 9020 has USFF version while 3020 doesn't. On the other hand they both have MT, SFF and Micro versions.

[@steelsofliquid]

As someone who has my own Dell OptiPlex 3020 SFF, I found this kinda cool. I got mine back in June of last year, has an 4th-gen Core i3 and Windows 7 CoA (with a manufacturing date of July 2015, ironically), chucked Windows 7 on it and it's quite an enjoyable unit!

[@NoodlesTBograt]

Very nice for free perfect for a kids first PC. Just two things for anybody getting one of these check cmos battery & replace if low also update BIOS.

[@BCProgramming]

I had a 4th gen (4770K i7 paired with a GTX 1070) machine as my primary computer until last October. I find people wildly understate how capable these machines are. People talk about how they are "good for light tasks" or apparently only good for browsing. That old system of mine is still perfectly capable of playing a lot of relatively modern games, and frankly I didn't even have a great reason to replace it except that I wanted a new PC.

[@JordonAM]

Something about reviving old computers that intrigue me. I guess that's one huge thing that I really like about Linux, it gives older computers another chance at life due to being lighter weight than Windows while also having modern software support and has security support. An old office PC from 2014 and here it is running a 2024 OS absolutely no problem. Just wonderful, less e-waste in the world is always good

[@thetechconspiracy2]

This machine would run just fine on Windows 10 (I actually used one that was a year older until last year), and would also be perfectly capable of running 11 if Microsoft didn't have arbitrary CPU requirements. From experience using older machines, the biggest bottleneck (after adding an SSD, this is true for both Linux and Windows) will be the web browser, since so many modern websites are built entirely in poorly optimized JavaScript.

[@NiyaKouya]

Business PCs are so nice to work/tinker with. We have quite a lot of Fujitsu machines at work, and the towers from the last ~10 years or so can be serviced without a screwdriver (unless you wanna remove the heat sink). That's mostly so technicians that might get called in for repairs can swap parts faster. The only downside is that especially the smaller formfactor models often include proprietary tech that's not so easy to get replacements for. Fujitsu has been using custom mainboards and PSUs that only supply 12V (with custom connectors on the MB and proprietary cables) for many years.

[@trance_trousers]

These 'old' SFF office PCs are great. I got one a few years ago on eBay as my main PC, it's an HP Elite 8300. I added an SSD for Windows (11) and 3TB of hard disks for everything else. I also maxed out the RAM to 32GB, and fitted an Nvidia GTX 1050Ti graphics card, a WiFi card, and a card reader. It does everything I need it to do flawlessly and plays all the games I want it to at 1080p with more than acceptable frame rates.

[@zeze64.]

I think if your psu supports you should go for a rx 550 or 580

[@ourchicken]

@@zeze64. 550 is trash tbh

[@nexpreet]

I had a pleasure to work with dozens of these machines. One time we had an order of 30 of these which needed cleaning, thermal paste change, swapping hdds for an ssd and installing windows on them. You wouldn't believe how well built these are. They were made with repair and maintenance in mind, plus they're fairly speedy machines too!

[@philtkaswahl2124]

Man, why can't I run into old Optiplexes looking that good? Most old office PCs I find are beat up.

[@ergosteur]

I sent one of those to recycling that looked exactly like that, nearly perfect condition, front plastic on it. I deployed it when it was new. It was used in an office environment for about 7-8 years, was reliable and decently fast. Most of these shipped in i5 4GB or 8GB configs with a 500GB hard drive. I still have like 4 of them on my shelf lol.

[@HeroRareheart]

This reminds me of my Mom's "new" PC. It had a fried mobo and got thrown out, fixed it for $40. Sure it's a decade old but it's more then plenty for my Mom. One Kubuntu install later and she's more then happy with it. Edit: MJD I'm one of those people who will buy random old computers at good prices. Sometimes I add to the PC horde with Craigslist deals I really don't need out of force of habit.

[@ThatOneArgentinianGamer]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this might be the first MJD video that has a Spanish setup of Windows. Boy, it brings me back lol.

[@TheBriefersZone]

Yeah it's the first time, but as i know one time he installed a french copy of windows NT 4.o on the windows 98 5$ pc

[@TonyCR1975]

Saludos argentina!

[@sonicpika4ushka]

That's a very good find ngl

[@shawnd567]

I got an XE2 saved from the dump and swapped in the best server CPU I could find. They are basically i7s. $20. Maxed out the ram to 32gb, SSD and 1060 graphics card. Thing runs like a dream!!!

[@doger944]

We have tons of these at my job waiting for the landfill. I've considered just taking some to tinker with.

[@morganrussman]

Grab them, upgrade them, and sell them.🤷‍♂️

[@aname-kg3cb]

put a rx 560 on those machines and you basically got a good gamin pc

[@Kagawwy]

Do it, these things are awesome.

[@ukaszstempnakowski3263]

i got dell vostro 3266 from trash ,now its my main computer,i found it with pentium g5460 inside and upgraded to i7 7700 and working like a beast

[@JoCaTen]

Oh the optiplex, my vocational school's economy lab got equipped with those, replacing ancient PCs from over 20 or so years. Me being part of the IT students were in charge of replacing the old stuff with these ones. Was kind of controversial for us considering our labs were equipped with much weaker PCs.

[@manofmanyvideos]

I bought a SFF HP a few years ago after a while of watching a ton of videos like this one that featured Optiplexes and the like. Yes they're just common school and business PCs but I love mine, it's been my main PC since I got it. I hadn't had a desktop before it and it's the first PC I ever bought with my own money. Whenever it is that I get the chance to upgrade to a more modern setup I'm not gonna get rid of it because I know it'll still have uses and it'll always have sentimental value to me.

[@TelcirisWarlock]

Did you censor the Thermal paste to avoid the great debate between pea size and small shwirl?

[@MrPir84free]

Actually that sounds like a great way to avoid the know-it-alls..

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

@@MrPir84free honestly I'm personally a fan of spreading the stuff smooth (necessary for bare dies) but I understand that the X pattern (on a heat spreader) is good enough and the second-best method. But yeah 100% he did it because of that.

[@arlopsopticblast]

I still have my dell optiplex that I use still for school and some gaming. It works like a charm

[@wiktorwiktor12]

always a good day when michael mjd drops a video

[@RampantLeaf]

These old Optiplexes are everywhere since businesses have moved on from them. I bought my parents a refurbished one a few years ago for dirt cheap and threw in a 512gb SSD. Works like a charm.

[@LoganKaval]

If you want a simple distro like Ubuntu than use Linux Mint. Linux Mint doesn't force you to use snaps and is more popular. Due to it being more popular there is more support.

[@JonnyKeyZero]

I have the optiplex 790 MT and I did the Nvme Pci mod with the custom bios and it was worth it, my grandmother was going to throw it away but I rescued it for 15 dollars and now it is one of my best personal PCs, especially when I had the adrenaline of the custom bios, it runs Ubuntu great along with Windows 11 on that 1Tb Nvme

[@mastralhassani]

1:17 wasn’t handled very DELLicately

[@RobDEV]

These specific old optiplexes have such a special place in my heart, because my old school used to have them back in 2015 and 2016

[@delancre5858]

1:21 my guy literally just told us, that he found his content in a trash

[@adamn7516]

These 3000, 5000 and 7000 series Optiplexs are bulletproof. I've had have dozens in the field running all their original hardware even after 10+ years. The only drawback is the 3010 only allows for 8 gb ram max but starting with the 3020 you have there allows for up 32gb and all the 5000 and 7000 series all accept at least 32 or more depending on model year.

[@beltnet97]

Who's watching this on a Dell Optiplex?

[@SpecialAussie]

if you want windows 10 support for longer get the IoT enterprise LTSC iso and install that, i use it as my main windows build, and it doesn’t have all the bloatware and spyware

[@rcortesg]

nice find! I like that these PCs are made to be very easily serviceable. It shows that they are designed for businessess and their support staff.

[@AvantleFox]

Man I've worked on so many of these things lmao. They aren't terrible, they're perfectly usable for what they're designed for. And I can attest to the fixability of them, even doing a board swap is fairly quick. The only downside is the use of proprietary stuff that limits how long you can keep them going.

[@JD3Gamer]

The best use for these old Dell Optiplex computers is a home server. You get a lot of bang for your buck with them. The one I got is my NAS and Plex server. I put in a multi gig Ethernet port, three internal drives and an external USB 4 drive bay. It works amazingly well for how little I spent on it.

[@GPTtrink]

I got one of these, whatever I do I can't get rid of it, I like it, it is a nice config, Linux works great on it. Upgrade ssd, bit more RAM and a low profile videocard and you can run any OS. Whoever designed this machine has done a great job.🎉

[@honahwikeepa2115]

I found a 9020 in street trash. It was in incredible condition. Put an SSD in it and it and it ran windows 10 without a hitch. It's my backup PC even though I have a windows 11 laptop lying around somewhere. My main PC is an old HP Z440. Love your work bro. 👍🏾👏🏾

[@bub_sy]

I have the same pc sitting under my TV. It's runs Truenas and my CCTV server. Mine was free too, a thank you for sourcing and setting up it's replacement for a mate.

[@camd1552]

i got a dell xps 8940, i5 10400 16gb ram gtx 1660s 512gb kioxia ssd 1tb hdd from the e waste. filthy computer covered in tar. nothing wrong with it at all. swapped in an AIO cpu cooler, 16gb more ram, and another fan in the front. had to damage the case externally you can’t tell. i love it so much. i’ve been using it a lot just because i like it. considering making into a hackintosh with an amd gpu

[@AvidSonicFan]

To comment on the beginning, I actually saw these while working in an electronics recycling facility a few years back and I tore apart/tested several of these!

[@Markimark151]

Dell Optiplex computers are ubiquitous and fun to customize for the average user. Even though those computers are rather boring, I’ve used these at libraries and workplaces, they are easy to repair and service!

[@Harey0407]

I have an Optiplex 3010, bought it from Best Buy in like 2019 for $120. Swapped the i3 for a 3rd gen i5 i had laying around. Swapped the HDD for an SSD, and swapped the 4 gb of ram for 8. Use the thing daily as my media center computer and it runs Windows 10 just fine.

[@TrashHeap64]

Currently watching this on my living room multimedia PC (An Optiplex 3020) A fun gaming performance note: I play emulated PS2 games on this guy and usually get a solid 60fps at native resolution. It's been an awesome emulation machine!

[@z1pbomb]

I rescued a mini office pc recently and made it my Plex server. I love these little computers and how handy they can actually be for a lot of non-intensive tasks

[@patricktrakzel9657]

I used to run Kubuntu as my daily driver. I like the KDE/Plasma desktop environment. When Canonical moved more towards Snap's I had to let it go ( I know you can desnapify it permanently, Linux right! ). It is out of line with the running theme and mousepointer, scrollbar etc.. That is the same with Flatpaks. So I really avoid using them. On old machines, with original hardware Snap's just use too much space. Now my HP Envy ( I7, 16 GB, 1 TB NVME ) died during heavy rainfall, I only have old stuff. Don't worry, i'll repair her. I have a Dell laptop ( I5 4th gen, 8 GB with a rusty HDD ) which runs MX23 and an Macbook Pro from mid 2010 running on Zorin OS Lite. The Mac I upgraded with an SSD and she runs better than some cheap new stuff. Later I will upgrade the Dell as well with an SSD. Saving old hardware is good and has it's use.

[@wvistalover]

Also if you have any problems with it try updating the bios to the newest version, that fixed all my problems

[@j.lietka9406]

Hmmm... Maybe not used too much. Got a hold of 2 Dell Optiplex 3050 PCs. Looks about the same size as yours. Has i5, Win 10 Pro, but they are labeled as Refurb. Haven't tested them yet. Great find on your part!

[@SpeedUpThatComputer]

I got refurbished dell optiplex from amazon and it works well. It's a great basic pc that frankly should be windows 11 compatible but isn't. It has an intel i5-6500 which runs very well and it's maxed out at 16Gb of ram and the hard drive was replaced with a 256Gb SSD.

[@yamiyukiko7362]

I got a Dell OptiPlex 7050 after my old computer's motherboard failed. I use it to do work on and play games. it works really well

[@DeanVRS20VT]

Got 2 OptiPlex 3050. One runs Windows 11 Pro, and the other is a Hackintosh. And, I have an OptiPlex 7010 which runs Windows XP Pro. I love them!

[@WUR5TY]

Trash picking is the best, I recently found an Atari Video Music system that was only missing the outside box but still was wrapped in the plastic and had the styrofoam protection ends still attached. It was previously used but it works as good as new and the unit is flawless. Also got a bunch of Betamax, VHS, 8 track, and cassettes from that find.

[@leqope8801]

im in technical school and im learning informatics and my school uses those for workstations and yes we work on them in 2024

[@Nickelbender]

My school still has a room full of these, they are used for PCB design and are equipped with double monitors. We use them quite often. In other classes we have either Lenovo laptops or Dell all in one PCs

[@L-A-C-IV]

I saved one of these w/ an i7-4770 from the dumpster at my old job. Far nastier though since it was in a woodshop. just swapped it into an old coolermaster case and have been daily driving it. Fantastic computers. Always were my favorite to work on when I used to run an Ebay store and still my go to (along with Vostros) when recommending budget build platforms to people

[@AricVogel]

That's a good choice for a garage PC, I've been using an identical looking Optiplex for the same purpose these last few years and I love it. Mine's still running Win7 for the time being, I hadn't even considered Linux at the time, but I think that just might be what I upgrade it to next (seeing as Windows 11 isn't an option).

[@quadruple_negative]

Watching this on an Optiplex 9020. Intel i5 4590 baybee! Got it 5 years ago for an experiment into PC gaming. Threw a GT1030 into it and played through Tomb Raider and ROTTR at decent frame rates (more than 30 FPS) and not even on the lowest settings. It's now a streaming box and I watch 4k KZbin no problem.

[@mudkiplegendstreamsmemesan3690]

I graduated from high school in 2020 and we had computers super similar to this one that ran windows 10. Surprisingly they ran alright for their age.

[@Hbk1998G]

Ive got a Sff Optiplex with 16 gb ram and an i3 5th gen, upgraded to an i7 5th, has a random radeon card that came with it, 1 tb ssd and 1 tb hdd, only 20€ for the pc ans 30€ for the cpu and ssd hdd. The ssd is a cheap ADATA that i got for free. Its now my "office/server/second pc" beside my gaming rig. (Its actually better than the gaming pc ive had in 2014 LOL). I think i will keep it for a long time because it works so good.

[@LinkDerg]

Oh I love these, actually have the mini version of it the 3020m. Was decently cheap on eBay and was in great condition from a recycling center. Upgraded it with an i7, 16gb ram and SSD it’s still a delight to use.

[@pityuuuuu3693]

I work at a computer refurbishing company, and I've seen hundreds of these. Most of those were filthy as hell, some had plant seeds in the power supply, and the whole thing was covered with some sticky dust inside, wich also smelled bad, I wondered where they get these machines, the front covers where often broken, scratches, and lot of them just broke down without reason, I hated to work with them, but otherwise they easy to disassembly at least.

[@gakabler]

I can't tell you how many offices I used to do IT work in that used either that model or similar. SO easy to work with and fix, both hardware and software!

[@TheCoolDave]

With these devices, Swap in an SSD and they will run Windows 11 fairly well for basic stuff. I have a bunch of them around the office (I am the IT manager). Make your Windows 11 ISO with Rufus, and disable all the checks, it installs fine. We need all the PCs on Windows 11 due to Windows 10 going away, so no going to dump old hardware if it still works...

[@normbrown3435]

I'm planning on doing that to Dell OptiPlex 3010 with in i3 and 8GB Ram and a laptop. Another c0mputer I've been using mostly had Win 7 Home. I put an SSD drive into it and running Zorin 17.1

[@adamwhite2364]

This reminds me of my first days doing desktop support and I i got a ticket from a small service area and this woman was still suffering along with a GX280 that took like 15 minutes to boot up.. She had an Optiplex 770 that was still sitting in the box and had burned up 2 out of 3 years of warranty just sitting there. Apparently they'd had really bad experiences with other techs who wouldn't migrate their stuff and she never wanted to move it over. She was pretty pleased with the performance boost after that though!

[@Sterling_Silver04]

I play around with an Optiplex 790 Ultra Small Form model, it is absolutely tiny and VERY cramped inside. It showed up addressed to us a few years ago despite no one having ordered it, and no one ever came to get it returned, so it just sat on a shelf untouched. When I first got into Pc building my parents gave it to me because I was the most likely to actually use it. Took it with me when I left the house and got it fired up and upgraded. It only had room for one hard drive, so I added a second caddy to replace the optical drive for more capacity and the ability to boot from SSD and store data on HDD. i5 2400S, 8gb ram, boots from a 120gb SSD and uses the 500 HDD as storage. Considering slapping in a 2600S, but I doubt it will need that much power under the hood. I haven't gotten to fully implement it into home use yet, but the plan is for it to work in tandem with my home server/network pc as well. When Windows 10 is no longer supported I'll likely just bypass the system requirements, I'm not literate enough for Linux and the bypass is fairly easy to do anyway.

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

you don't need to be super computer literate to start using Linux. Later distros have made it quite easy to start. The learning curve is a thing but very satisfying when you do learn stuff. The user community is quite helpful. No one expects you to be an expert. You can't learn to swim without getting wet. Just consider it. If you can admit you're not literate enough then you probably are better off than you think and don't suffer from Dunning-Kreuger distorting your self-assessment in the wrong direction. So that's a start.

[@HafzaProductions2019]

Nice computer. I got a 9020 with a i5 4th Gen, and 8GB RAM as well as a 500GB HDD.

[@Qwertypigeon853]

We have lots of these Dell Optiplex PCs at work, very solid machines like all Dell Optiplex's!

[@Teleponeguy24]

a while back I also got a 3020 from my school. I used it as my main machine on windows 7 for half a year in 2022 and now in 2024 i use it as my 2nd machine

[@Tuliolatenn]

I got Optiplex 790, I still use that, and it works fine

[@TheDuumiMuumi]

My mom has slightly older generation of this, Optiplex 7010 SFF! Looks absolutely the same, has slightly lower end hardware but it has 4 USB ports in the front panel, 2x USB3 and 2x USB2.

[@RosieBee463]

I live in a small town with a major university and I have picked up a few optiplexes for cheap from the surplus store. They are pretty useful to have around for this or that.

[@BG101UK]

Apart from the graphics, that machine is probably better specified than one I built a few years prior, and certainly better than my remaining desktop machines. And people just throw these away?! Wish they'd throw them my way. (Nearest recycling warehouse I know of with this sort of stuff is about half way to London from here).

[@claromaro]

I have a similar machine, just with a 4590S and a few years ago I made a hackintosh with it and an AMD HD7970 from Gigabyte, went totally awesome, also bought some Noctua fans for the quietness, cost probably as much as this PC is worth lol. After that I bought a real Mac and now it's a NAS with TrueNAS and such. I love it

[@nashvaughan3175]

I just refurbished an Optiplex 320 with a Core 2 Duo e7500 CPU. Put in an SSD and W11 and it runs just fine. For web/e-mail, it can last probably quite a few more years.

[@burts06]

i just upgraded from a similar model a few weeks ago. i put in a 2tb ssd with windows 11 and 8 gigs of ram. it ran amazing

[@ShehrozeAmeen]

I HAVE THE EXACT MACHINE AT HOME!!! I have a vendor who got it sorted for me. The same machine but with Windows 10, an SSD and 16GB add-on. No complaints, it is working like a charm. I legitimately am happy with these machines when they were made. And the best part was that I got it for PKR15000, which is roughly 20, 30 freedom eagles? And that's inclusive of the add ons so... Dirt cheap all around.

[@steven1000000000]

Bought a 3020 desktop 2 years ago, upgraded the CPU from the i5 to a Xeon E3 1245 V3 (an i7 4770 equivalent), an AMD rx 6650xt GPU, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD + HDDs and a 500W PSU using an adapter to power the motherboard. Running Ubuntu, it's flawless as a budget build and even pretty OK at gaming.

[@angelahornung8488]

Absolutely love these little beasts. Part of me always wants to use one of those with Ubuntu as my main PC as sometimes I feel a bit spoiled by my MacBook Pro and Apple Studio Display. Reminds me of keeping my Dell Dimension 2400 alive and going as well as upgrading it when I was in middle school in like 2010-2012.

[@chemergency]

These things make for killer MAME machines. I picked one up from Goodwill for 10 bucks a couple months ago and it came equipped with an I7 and 8gb of RAM which I went ahead and upgraded to 16gb with some unused spares I had lying around. It had no HDD but I threw my old 1.5tb WD Black drive in there and it works like a champ. Not to mention it had an old AMD Radeon card so I was able to load CRTEmu drivers on it and it looks incredible on my CRT monitor, like a real arcade system.

[@lewis6932]

Got a Dell Optiplex from work, using it as a Plex server now and yea, it was SO easy to upgrade with a better drive and more ram. Even redid the thermal paste too it it was still stupid simple

[@darkknite2k11]

I'm using an old Optiplex running OpnSense. Was just sitting collecting dust, so I put it to work.

[@Reziac]

I have 3 Optiplex 3010 units, almost the same. Good little PCs. i7-3770 CPU, takes 32GB RAM. Using one to write this (with PCLinuxOS/KDE) Turned one into a Hackintosh and everything worked out of the box except networking (didn't even bother with Clover or kexts). Performance on my three are all good... BUT the Hackintosh was laggy with 8GB, is slick with 32GB. I would not expect Ubuntu to be slick with only 8GB, regardless of what they claim. It's a bloody hog all by itself. I've run Win10 and Server2008R2 on mine as well, with good performance. But I maxed out RAM on all three of them.

[@yourneighbourhooddoomer]

I got a very similar PC for free that was discarded from a local theme park when they upgraded most of their stuff. A HP EliteDesk 800 G1 with the same CPU, also the SFF version like your OptiPlex. Mine came with 16 GB RAM though, which was pretty nice. Popped an old Samsung 850 Evo into it and it's great for everyday use. Only downside is the Intel iGPU which sucks donkey balls, so hopefully I'll be able to find a low-profile GPU somewhere in some e-waste pile.