
Hello Barrens Chat! Today I wanted to see how many people are interested in this Idea. I currently have a full blown mid to high ranged Gaming PC from Alienware that I've upgraded. I've upgraded the GPU and Storage. GPU: GTX 1070 Ti and Storage to a 250GB m.2 SSD and a 1TB SSD. Now, This computer handles world of warcraft amazingly..however, I love tinkering with computers and bought a Dell Optiplex 9010 Small-Form-Factor system off eBay for $172 USD.
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THE DELL OPTIPLEX CAME WITH THE FOLLOWING
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- i7-3770 @ 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor, 8 Threads.
- 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 1600MHz
- 1TB 7200RPM Barracuda HDD
- 375W Dell PSU
- Windows 10 PRO
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WHAT I'VE REPLACED
-------------------------------- - 8GB -> 16GB (2x8) DRR3 1600MHz
- 1TB HDD -> 500GB Crucial BX500 2.5" SSD (Hard Drive still has Windows 10 on it.)
- Windows 10 -> Linux "Pop!_OS" v19.04
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WHAT I WANT TO ADD
-------------------------------- - $161 USD MSI AMD RX 560 4GT Low-Profile
- 1TB 2.5" SSD
Now I know what you're thinking. "Knoxtane, that's an office grade desktop, it's not meant for gaming" This is kind of true, However, computer parts at the end of the day..are still computer parts. The i7-3770 still holds up pretty well for today's standard. Now the RX 560 is NOT the best GPU I can get. I can get a GTX 1050 Ti LP but surprisingly the 1050 Ti is more power hungry and more expensive, seeing how I'm limited by the 375 SFF Power Supply, I was leaning more towards the RX 560. This Linux machine will be my LAN party/portable machine to play at least WoW on at a buddies house or a local event.
This is also just a little project for me. This tiny Linux Machine I've pieced together runs almost every program I have on PC.
Retail and the OG Vanilla client work on this Linux machine..just very poorly due to not have a discrete graphics card, i.e. RX 560 LP.
Well, that's pretty much all I wanted to say about this. Think I should go for it and buy the 560?

I think that you can easily put the 1050 Ti in. The system doesn't eat so much and I am sure that the 375W PSU will handle it.


Please for the love of god do not get a 560!!! I had the 550 4gb and my buddy has the 560. I hated mine he hates his. Go with RX 580 8gb if you want the amd card or at least a 1060 6gb if you want nvidia.
You're bottlenecking by about 15-25% with the 560.
A 580 8gb is a perfect match for that CPU with a 2% bottleneck chance!
Chablo - Undead Mage - US Sulfuras



@Chablo That's the thing. This system is a Small Form Factor. It's only about 4 inches wide so I can only use Low Profile GPUs. the 560 and 1050 Ti are my best options.Chablo wrote: ↑5 years agoPlease for the love of god do not get a 560!!! I had the 550 4gb and my buddy has the 560. I hated mine he hates his. Go with RX 580 8gb if you want the amd card or at least a 1060 6gb if you want nvidia.
You're bottlenecking by about 15-25% with the 560.
A 580 8gb is a perfect match for that CPU with a 2% bottleneck chance!

https://www.newegg.com/zotac-geforce-gt ... -_-Product
This will work perfect I run a single fan Evga 1060 6gb in my rig. Don't sacrifice performance because of form factor. Upgrade the case if you have to. You'd be wasting money going with a 1050ti or 560. With the 1060 6gb you have a 4% bottleneck chance.
Pairing a 560 or 1050ti with that cpu is like putting mud tires on a toyota prius. Yea it's a looks thing but there is absolutely no use for it. It will hold you back and you'll hate it later on down the road.
Chablo - Undead Mage - US Sulfuras



Does it require a power connector? If so, I can't use it. second, this machine is meant to be portable..so I won't be changing the case. =]Chablo wrote: ↑5 years agohttps://www.newegg.com/zotac-geforce-gt ... -_-Product
This will work perfect I run a single fan Evga 1060 6gb in my rig. Don't sacrifice performance because of form factor. Upgrade the case if you have to. You'd be wasting money going with a 1050ti or 560. With the 1060 6gb you have a 4% bottleneck chance.
Pairing a 560 or 1050ti with that cpu is like putting mud tires on a toyota prius. Yea it's a looks thing but there is absolutely no use for it. It will hold you back and you'll hate it later on down the road.

no
GTX 1050 is 25% better.
I have no love for AMD products. I have always bought from Intel and Nvidia.
Anything over 4GB is better.

Yes it takes a 6pin connector. You will NEED to upgrade your psu once you upgrade to any card. Your 375w will not cut it when you upgrade.
I recommend at least a 500w. 600w to upgrade other things.
https://www.newegg.com/evga-100-bt-0500 ... 6817438051
This will work fine!
Not true at all. The 1050ti is not enough for his CPU 14%-20% bottleneck for that pair. The 1050 ti is too weak.
Chablo - Undead Mage - US Sulfuras



At risk of sounding like r/buildapc, Dell and Alienware really isn't the play if you enjoy this type of stuff.
I was working on my old dell xps 720 h2c recently, so painful. Proprietary power supply, Btx motherboard meaning theres only 2 coolers in existence that can handle that cpu and they are not being produced. Required 2 pairs of pliers and 30 mins to get the cooler off. Classic Dell.
Meanwhile on my other PC scraped off the fused liquid metal from a delidded cpu and cooler and reapplied and put it back together in half the time which is the most annoying operation you can perform on a non-dell
won't fit in his case. welcome to Dell :o)Chablo wrote: ↑5 years agoYes it takes a 6pin connector. You will NEED to upgrade your psu once you upgrade to any card. Your 375w will not cut it when you upgrade.
I recommend at least a 500w. 600w to upgrade other things.
https://www.newegg.com/evga-100-bt-0500 ... 6817438051
This will work fine!

Yeah you set yourself up for some pain. We're on the itty-bitty-end of mini ITX territory. Hope you have small fingers
Case form factor according to Dell:
A mini ITX PSU ought to fit: https://www.amazon.com/FSP-Dagger-Solut ... r=8-2&th=1

You do not need to upgrade. This is like... ten times the computing power that you'll need for Classic WoW.
EDIT: sorry, i didn't notice the lack of a discrete graphics card. That should have been the first and only thing you upgraded.
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Black Monarch wrote: ↑5 years agoYou do not need to upgrade. This is like... ten times the computing power that you'll need for Classic WoW.
Yet again you're replying to posts you haven't read.

I absolutely did read it. Nowhere did Knox mention any games that would require this much power.
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I would get a reasonable graphics card (sub $100) & you should be just fine with WoW Classic. I have a GTX1050ti & it runs the modern WoW client at max settings without any problems.

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Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! The reason why I'm leaning heavily towards the RX 560 is it's $40 cheaper than the 1050 Ti, it's less power hungry and I want a hassle free installation process. The Linux OS I have is AMD driver based, I could download the Nvidia one but I would have to wipe the SSD.
I also don't plan on playing much. Literally World of Warcraft: Classic, Overwatch and StarCraft Remastered.

I understand a lot of you are recommending the 1050ti and the rx 560 budget cards BUT you have to understand bottlenecking!!!!!!!!!! Pairing a decent CPU with a under powered GPU will not be any better than what you have now. Please understand that you need to pair your CPU with a reasonable GPU to not suffer performance.
You will be wasting your money on a gpu that cannot handle the cpu and vice versa!
My two cents. But, it is your money being wasted not mine. If that's what you want to do then so be it.
Chablo - Undead Mage - US Sulfuras



He's toying with one of these:Chablo wrote: ↑5 years agoI understand a lot of you are recommending the 1050ti and the rx 560 budget cards BUT you have to understand bottlenecking!!!!!!!!!! Pairing a decent CPU with a under powered GPU will not be any better than what you have now. Please understand that you need to pair your CPU with a reasonable GPU to not suffer performance.
You will be wasting your money on a gpu that cannot handle the cpu and vice versa!
My two cents. But, it is your money being wasted not mine. If that's what you want to do then so be it.

It's a small form factor Dell with a proprietary power supply, meaning you can't just go get something off the shelf from Fry's and shove it in there. So while I get what you're saying, he is stuck within the 75W envelope of the PCIe slot by itself. Also stuck with a low profile card, too. I get the impression he's trying to hotrod a piece of shit off ebay for funsies and not a lot of money, which can be done but does have a limit.


Actually if you're trying to hotrod this thing for fun... why not go all out?
Use a PCIe riser cable and mount a full sized GPU outside of the case like what LTT did with this thing
Mount an external ATX power supply as well to power the damn thing. That dell board is probably using proprietary non-ATX pinouts, and may not even be using ATX power sequencing... meaning no power_on, power_good, etc signals. But you could get around that by wiring up a secondary ATX power supply on the outside


This right here!!!!Pippina wrote: ↑5 years agoActually if you're trying to hotrod this thing for fun... why not go all out?
Use a PCIe riser cable and mount a full sized GPU outside of the case like what LTT did with this thing
Mount an external ATX power supply as well to power the damn thing. That dell board is probably using proprietary non-ATX pinouts, and may not even be using ATX power sequencing... meaning no power_on, power_good, etc signals. But you could get around that by wiring up a secondary ATX power supply on the outside![]()
Chablo - Undead Mage - US Sulfuras



Oh, yeah, that reminds me of the time when I had a $300 eMachines mini-itx desktop and the power supply blew out. It used a proprietary form factor, so my replacement PSU was held in by a single screw and was always at a weird angle. Good times.
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I'm surprised you were able to find a replacement. They don't all do this, but a lot of the pre-built companies liked to use proprietary non-ATX spec power supplies. Compaq was pretty bad with this back in the day. Not only was the shape of the PSU body unique, but the pinout and (I think) the power logic signals were different from ATX spec. Made it so you'd have to go back to the OEM for replacements, and made upgrades pretty difficult.Black Monarch wrote: ↑5 years agoOh, yeah, that reminds me of the time when I had a $300 eMachines mini-itx desktop and the power supply blew out. It used a proprietary form factor, so my replacement PSU was held in by a single screw and was always at a weird angle. Good times.


I guess I was fortunate that eMachines was just too cheap and lazy to bother investing in development of such a standard :)Pippina wrote: ↑5 years agoI'm surprised you were able to find a replacement. They don't all do this, but a lot of the pre-built companies liked to use proprietary non-ATX spec power supplies. Compaq was pretty bad with this back in the day. Not only was the shape of the PSU body unique, but the pinout and (I think) the power logic signals were different from ATX spec. Made it so you'd have to go back to the OEM for replacements, and made upgrades pretty difficult.Black Monarch wrote: ↑5 years agoOh, yeah, that reminds me of the time when I had a $300 eMachines mini-itx desktop and the power supply blew out. It used a proprietary form factor, so my replacement PSU was held in by a single screw and was always at a weird angle. Good times.
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