Dell Optiplex 7010, just because build.

matt167

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For no real reason at all. I decided to build a Dell Optiplex 7010 MT that I scored for $50+ shipping. Came with a 3570 and 4gb of Ram.. The 7010 is the last generation not to use the 8 pin motherboard connection, so I have an EVGA BR 500 that will go in, and an MSI RX 580 that might not even fit without case mod ( hard drive bay clearance ). I've had these machines before and I know it will be tight if it does fit, but it can be modded to work if not. but I won't know until it gets here
I have enough DDR3 kicking around to make 16gb of Ram, a spare SSD and, the RX 580 4gb and that should be a pretty decent gamer.

My one question is the motherboard supplied Sata power.. Is that required to be plugged in? in case I need to remove the hard drive bays?
 
I just figured out that 7010 does not get SATA power off the motherboard. The Haswell generation Optiplex started that and the non standard PSU connection

The computer should arrive at my house on Monday
 
Long live low budget systems that still work reasonably well - see my signature as an example. :D

That should make a great budget gaming PC. Maybe a Xeon E3-1230/1240/1250 v2 for Hyper-Threading and more L3 cache may be worth investigating too......they are getting pretty reasonable if you watch and wait.....
 
I'm trying to get a 1240 V2 for around $30. I could stick the 3570 in the little Optiplex 7010 USFF that I set up for my mom. I don't really need this box, but it's something to do, to use up some spare parts.. My previous main rig was a Dell Precision T3500 with a W3690 and a GTX 1070. But I upgraded from that and have an R5 3600 with the 1070, but soon an RX 6700 XT as it's in the mail.
 
Well I went to put it together and the hard drive cage is in the way of the MSI Rx 580 as I thought it might be. So mods in order.
 
I've seen a few OptiPlex videos and they also removed the drive cage to make room for longer cards. I have a 3020 MT case that I threw a 990 in, removed the optical drives and installed a monitor for stats.

IMG_20190929_145438384.jpg
 
Well, I accidently broke the front panel header off the mobo, so I'm kind of, not really sure if I really want to try any harder, since my main rig is an R5 3600 box with an RX 6700 XT. This was just kind of a whim
 
Did the 1070 fit in the 7010 case? Looking to upgrade my 1050ti at some point.
 
Did the 1070 fit in the 7010 case? Looking to upgrade my 1050ti at some point.
Once you remove the HDD cage you have 12" or so of usable room due to the SATA headers and the front panel header. However I'll say it depends as mine failed due to the cooler being too bulky and pushed on the front panel header.. I have an MSI Gaming X RX580.. The 1070 would be edge bottleneck for a stock clock ~3770
 
I just thought about this... A new 7010 mobo is $26 with an included I3 and 4gb of Ram... The only way to make the 580 work is in a new ATX case, and then use the lower PCIE X16, which is wired for X8. It shouldn't be terrible to an RX 580 to do that. But the card I have is just too big
 
Alternatively, if the header broke off cleanly and didn't rip part of the board/traces off with it, you could solder a new header on.
 
I fixed the pins and got it working. It's going to need a new front USB/ audio panel as the connector got damaged. Lucky Ebay has them for about $10..

Right now I'm just getting it functional
 
Well, I'm doing something a little crazy.. Since I ordered the extra motherboard already AND I have the GTX 1070 still. I decided to order all the parts to build another computer in a nicer case.. So I've got an decent looking $40 DIY PC case, 16gb of DDR3, some RGB fans and some storage coming. Because, why not. Harpin Repairs or something like that sells adapters for the propriatairy front panel headers and power button
 
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