A cheapo

[dueda]

Finally got me a cheap used computer to fiddle - Although it's not that really cheap, costed me US $220 plus some $180 in upgrades; in good old times people in Japan would just put their used stuff at the door with a brief note like "Working ok, please take it home!", now there're second hand stores everywhere and they charge half or more as a new item.

The Dell Optiplex 3020 set looks like your typical corporate office mini-desktop or a 1980's stylish cashier machine. Intel i5-4570 is a 2013-2014 CPU with a mediocre Iris Graphics 4600. This old horse came with a 500GB 5.25" HDD as slow as a turtle (and fragmented like it's shell) and a weird 4GB 1200MHz DDR3 memory module that doesn't look Dell. First thing, I got a 240GB SATA SSD lying around and bought a pair of 4GB 1600MHz (coincidentally, the last on the shop and probably one of the last available in town). Also sign of it's age is the SVGA DB15 connector, but at least it has 6 USB ports on the back (2 are v3.0) and a couple upfront. As the small form factor case has nearly zero room, all I can hope to cram is a low profile GPU like nVidia 1030 or 1050; anything more would overload the power supply.

To my surprise the machine had Windows 10 Pro without the recovery partition and wouldn't download a new image / run Media Creation Tool. After some frustration with Minitool and Easeus, found Disk Genius, which is free but full featured, to transfer the system to the SSD (even if they're different sizes). All looks well but having hiccups with Net Framework, will try to fix as soon I've time.

The i5-4570 works well and, given 8GB of decent RAM and any mediocre SSD, is as flashy as any other processor while single-tasking in Windows 10. Multi-tasking, like encoding video while browsing and downloading, is not advisable. Gamming is definitely out of it's league, but can run Terraria and even a few 3D titles.

Now I've two external USB drives, 3.6TB each, and will add a NAS or a 32TB enclosure in the future. Just need that VPN...

---

Besides the AVs doing something to my downloaded files and an update interrupted midway, the system has behaved "funny"; will try to reformat soon...

[ill88eagle]

I would say you got robbed, but idk

I spent 500$ on a brand new asrock minipc with better specs (AMD Athlon 3000G with Radeon Vega Graphics + 16GB RAM +500GB SSD)

And I skipped all the stupid windows hassle too

Don't forget sales taxes here in denmark are 25% - so don't go blaming the pricing on my geolocation

[dueda]

Everything in Japan is expensive and prices here are higher than usual now, even for second hand stuff. There's pandemic, low chip supply, decades of economic downhill and tax increase... People don't throw away good stuff like they used to and, obviously, speculation is seizing the moment. In a country famous for half a century of deflation, there's risk of inflation finally kicking in.

You got a good little box, I could get something alike but would be left without interface (keyboard/monitor), decent storage, or any room for upgrades.

Still want to build something for my media and torrenting needs, possibly a small tower from Dell or HP with room for four big drives, but right now it'll have to wait. Got this and may add a drive enclosure later. Even jobs are hard to find now; while Japan factories are crazy about foreign workers, the good places are all taken and only the crappiest sweatshops are available. So the "cheapo that wasn't so cheap" is in line with the market.

It's the future and I've seen many old horses selling high around. Like refurbished PCs, the "just cleaned and rag tied" pile of second hand parts is a silver mine.

[analogkid6103]

Sounds like the description of ever comp I ever found  in the boneyard and mixxed and matched until she sang. Gotta do what ya gotta do.  I am typing this on a Dell 3010 that I picked up from a lot of 7  for 140 USD 3 years ago they alll still working

[waregim]

Depending on the culture you may find treasures at local auctions. Even estate sales.

Newer is not necessarily better these days. As long as it handles the softweare you want or need to run.

[dueda]

That's almost identical to mine, just 3020 box is shorter and the optical drive bay is slimmer (notebook type). Very practical machine for everyday use and media.
Just need time to get rid of Win10, too much bloat and telemetry even for me. This little guy looks right for 2003, 2008, or maybe 7.

[Skexis]

5.25" HDD? Should that be 3½" HDD?

[dueda]

5.25" HDD? Should that be 3½" HDD?

After 6 months... No, it's a 5.25” Half Height (std height is two drives plus rack in between, Full Size was like a shoe box in old times).

But I changed for a local Mouse PC half size tower, same 4770 but with a Gigabyte motherboard and standard 700W power supply. Found a decent MSI 1070 GPU, used. With an Asus 27" monitor, I'm playing Fit Girl's Assassin Creed Odyssey at 50 FPS on Ultra settings. All for like US$ 700. Brand new would go for $1500 including a crappy RTX 3050.

Now I want to make it Win over Linux... Probably hard to find 2x 8GB DDR3 modules, this Mobo won't take more than two sticks nor more than 8GB on each. Also no NVME, etc.