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Dell Optiplex 7050 - Stealth Gaming or Something else?

 

Originally published 7th of September 2024

Dell Optiplex 7050 - Stealth Gaming or Something else?

Not too long ago, a friend passed on to me a Dell Optiplex 7050—a decent, if slightly aged, desktop. It came with an Intel i5-7500 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. My friend didn’t need it anymore and, knowing I like to tinker with gadgets, thought I’d give it a new lease of life. Who was I to say no?


The Original Plan: A Simple Media Server

Initially, I thought I’d transform it into a basic media server for all those DVDs I’ve got lying around (because, let’s face it, they’re not watching themselves). I swapped in a larger hard drive, installed Linux Mint (a user-friendly, free operating system), and set up Jellyfin to stream all my old films and shows. I figured I’d leave it at that.

But as these things go, I didn’t.


A Spark of Inspiration

One day, as I was mindlessly scrolling through YouTube (as one does), I stumbled across a video of someone upgrading an old HP ProDesk. And that was it—suddenly, I was inspired. Could I push my humble Dell Optiplex a little further? Surely there’s more it could do than sit quietly in the corner serving up episodes of BlackAdder.

So, I opened it up again and took a closer look. That’s when I realised two things: First, it had an NVMe slot I’d completely missed the first time around (this is a much faster type of storage drive), and second, it was absolutely crying out for a clean. I’m talking layers of dust. The thermal paste—magical goo that keeps the computer from overheating—looked like it had been there since the Bronze Age. It was time to show this old machine some love.


Time for a Clean and Polish

First up, I removed everything—the RAM, hard drive, CPU, cooler, you name it. A blast of compressed air dealt with the dust situation (honestly, I half expected a tiny civilisation to emerge). I also took the CPU cooler apart and gave it a thorough clean, scraping off the fossilised thermal paste in the process.

At this point, I briefly considered upgrading the processor to an i7 for a bit more oomph, but my bank balance quickly reminded me I was on a budget. So, that idea got shelved for another time.


The RAM Upgrade: Double or Nothing

Next on the agenda was upgrading the RAM. I usually have a few spare sticks lying around, but none of them were the right kind (it needed DDR4, and I didn’t have any). So, off I went and picked up a couple of 8GB sticks from G.Skill, giving me a nice round 16GB of RAM. Cost? About $30 (give or take, as I’m converting from Czech Koruna).

While I was at it, I grabbed some Arctic MX-4 thermal paste to replace the ancient goo I’d scraped off earlier. Sure, there’s fancier stuff out there, but this is an older PC—I wasn’t trying to win MasterChef here.


Storage: The Speed Boost

Next up, I decided to boost the storage. The big hard drive was fine for storing stuff, but it wasn’t exactly lightning-fast. So, I picked up a 256GB NVMe SSD from Gigabyte (another $30 or so). It’s no speed demon but it would speed things up and make everything feel a bit more responsive.


Should I Splash Out on a Graphics Card?

With the new bits on order, I started thinking about a graphics card. This is where things get tricky with small form factor (SFF) PCs like the Dell Optiplex—they weren’t built for serious gaming or heavy graphics work. Dell and the other pre-build manufacturers usually plonk the graphics card slot right next to the power supply, meaning you’re limited to a single-slot, low-profile card.

On top of that, most modern graphics cards expect a PCIe 4 slot, but the Dell only has a PCIe 3, meaning the card’s performance takes a bit of a hit. Brilliant, eh?

After a bit of research, I settled on the Radeon RX 6400. It’s slim enough to fit, doesn’t need a beefy power supply, and would give me a decent performance boost. The downside? It wasn’t exactly a bargain—$150, give or take. If you’ve got patience and are willing to dive into the second-hand market, you might find something cheaper.


Power Check: Will It All Fit?

Before committing to the graphics card, I had to check if the power supply could handle it. The Dell’s power supply unit (PSU) is rated at 180W, and you don’t want to push it to the limit, just in case there’s a power spike. After a bit of back-of-the-envelope maths, here’s what I came up with:

  •     CPU: 65W
  •     CPU fan: 1.8W
  •     RAM: 6W (3W per stick)
  •     NVMe SSD: 2.6W
  •     Existing SSD: 1.5W
  •     Radeon RX 6400: 55W

All that adds up to about 132W, which leaves me with a decent buffer. No problems on the power front, so it was full steam ahead.


What Next? The Operating System Conundrum

With all the hardware sorted, the final decision was what operating system to install. Do I stick with Linux Mint, or maybe try something new? Choices, choices...


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