Dell OptiPlex Flip

Topics Learned

The Start

The motivation from this project came from the state of the economy. I started getting back into PC building this year when I upgraded my own personal desktop at the start of COVID. However, supply chain issues started to become an issue by fall 2020. You could not buy any new GPUs anymore. However, the used market was still surviving. Because of this, I decided to build a cost-effective computer that can also play games at a time when many could not fathom building a cost-effective gaming computer. Many people thought that because of the price inflation, computer building was becoming too expensive to justify. I wanted to prove them wrong.

I bought a used Dell OptiPlex from a Recyclery website for a bit above $100. For this, I got the specs below:

• CPU: intel i5-4590
• RAM: 8gb RAM (2 x 4gb) at 1600 mhz
• Storage: 500gb HDD
• PSU: 290 watt OEM power supply
• Software: Windows 10 Pro

It is crazy what you can get for the money. Normally windows software alone would be 100$. However, I was able to get an entire computer for such money. The areas I wanted to improve on this PC were the storage, RAM, and GPU I bought two 4gb sticks of ram to add to the computer, giving it a total of 16gbs. I added a 240gb SSD for fast responsive use. Finally, I added a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 4gb card to the PC. This would allow it to play most games at medium-high settings at 1080p. This card was also perfect because of the power constraints. The PSU was only 280 watt and had no 6 pin or 8 pin power connector for a GPU. The GTX 1650 card was only rated for 75 watts, meaning it doesn’t need a power cord to be connected and can run off of the power from the PCIE slot alone. I could just slap in this GPU and not have to worry about power constraints. The finished specification of the computer is below:

• CPU: intel i5-4590
• GPU: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 OC 4gb
• RAM: 16gb RAM (4 x 4gb) at 1600 mhz
• Storage: Adata SU635 240GB SSD and 500gb HDD
• PSU: 290 watt OEM power supply

The actual usability of the computer was very good. There were no hiccups in the performance and no apparent stutters while using it. If you could not see the Dell OptiPlex, you would never have known that it was an 8- or 9-year-old office computer about to be recycled.
This would have been a perfect computer for me back in middle school. You are also preventing E-waste by buying a computer from a Recyclery.
This project was also very fun because I was working with OEM computers with proprietary motherboards created for their product line. The same general computer knowledge is applicable to all computers but it was fun to do it in different circumstances.