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[Refurb] Dell Optiplex 3020 SFF, Intel Core i5 4590 3.30GHz, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD $149.99 + Delivery @ FuseTechAu

1070

the cheaper however still awesome Optiplex, and this time our cheapest price ever!

Specifications

Make & Model - Dell Optiplex 3020

Form Factor – SFF

Processor - Intel Core i5 4590 3.30Ghz

Ram - 8Gb

SSD - 128gb

I/o Ports - 2 external USB 3.0 ports (rear) and 6 external USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 rear); 1 Serial port (optional); 1 PS/2 (optional); 1 RJ-45; 1 VGA; 1 DisplayPort 1.2; 1 Mic-in & 1 Headphone out (front); 1 Mic-in/Line-in & 1 Line-out(rear)

Display - Nil

Optical Drive – Nil

Connectivity – Ethernet

Operating System – Windows 10

Condition – Refurbished Grade A

Whats Included – PC + Power Cable/ Adapter

Warranty – 6 Months

-Power cable-Vga Cable

We also have a selection of Cheap peripherals including Keyboards and mice

Fantech (fusetechau.com.au)

RGB mouse pad for +10 efficiency

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closed Comments

  • +1

    How would this perform using as a dedicated Plex media server?

    • Would use alot of power, but itll be good

      • More efficient than your average PC though. I think idle draw is around 20W.
        Too much for al always-on home server IMHO.

        • What would be a better low power server? A raspberry pi?

          • @MagicTsukai: Raspberry Pi are great little low-cost solutions, but you'll be plugging your storage in through USB, and any time that's involved you face disconnects and corruption.

          • +1

            @MagicTsukai: an Intel NUC.

            They can be had for low $200s and can easily run Windows 10/11.

            an example:
            https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/branded-systems/nuc-&-mi…

            (Edit: you'll need to buy RAM and a HD for it)

          • @MagicTsukai: I have a Nuc myself. Easily does Plex and DLNA, file server and 24/7 seedbox. Similar low power celeron model as in mextiki's link above.

        • What sort of bucks is N average PC per day?

          • +1

            @jefflang007: Power draw X 24 = Watts per day.
            Watts per day / 1000 = kW per day
            Rough cost per kW = 30c.

            So, if power drawer is 20W, cost is 14.4 cents per day. $52.56 per year

        • Pc is on 24/7 since it's running a miner so may as well run plex as well, haven't had issues streaming from old folks house

      • What device would use way less power? Or is NAS the only way if not with one of these?

        • +1

          Perhaps, something like this? (Source: using it as my home network router running OpenWrt x86-64).

        • +1

          It depends on your use case. If you just want to stream media, then something running mobile phone level hardware in a stream box would be more power efficient and potentially cheaper. This is a fully fledged desktop PC that can do much more than just stream media.

          • @Budju: Any suggestions? All I want to do is run a plex server for my house. Local use only. Users would be me and maybe the kids on their tablets at times.
            Thanks :)

            • +1

              @Nils: Check out the m73p tiny(check that number) and the m93p tiny.

              On eBay you'll find refurbs for 150-200. Idle draw is in the vicinity of 10w and it's got more than enough grunt for Plex and a good few other things.

              If you get any refurb though, when you get it home, take it outside and dust the inside then change the thermal paste on the cpu. You'll thank yourself for taking the time later.

        • I haven't done this but it'd worth trying. Using an Android phone as a media server..
          https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/turn-old-android-device-media-…

      • No idea why you got negged. They are relatively power efficient for a PC though.

    • I use this as a dedicated plex sever and it works great.
      I added an 8tb internal 3.5" drive and have 15tb or so of usb drives plugged in

      • +1

        me too, works well

      • can this handle 4k playback? my macbook pro 2015 with similar spec (4th gen i5) can't handle 4k playback, either with vlc or youtube streaming, let alone plex.

        • Nah, but it's just a server - not a media pc. I don't use it to play the files.
          Unless you mean transcode, in which case not reaaallly.

    • I have this exact model running as a Plex server with a 8tb hdd installed. No problems in the 3 years I've been using it.

  • I'm assuming it's DDR3 ram?

    • Yup

    • +1

      Yes, and can handle up to 16 GB. There are two slots available. So maximum is 8 GB x2 planks of memory

      • -2

        *sticks

      • How many data ports does it have?

  • +14

    Can it Windows 11 ?

    • +2

      Why the down vote? I’d be interested to know this as well.

      • I think tech heads assume ur trolling when someone asks such a 'stupid' question. Apparently the answer is no, windows rates these specs too low, but yes, you can with a hack.

        Im no tech head but i would have thought i5/8gb ram / SSD is pretty good…dont really understand why windows needs to recommends higher than this.

        • Just did the registry change on my old Lenovo ThinkPad. Installed Win11 and managed to receive Jan 2022 updates. Not sure how long they'll provide support for unsupported devices.

        • -2

          Or the “tech heads” are sick of people asking questions Google could answer for them.

          • +2

            @PainToad: Yes its true, google can answer just about anything.

            However, If the said tech heads are sick of stupid questions from people who arent on their level of technical superiority by their own admission, then they can simply ignore such said questions and leave them for the OP without any unecessary passing of judgement.

            The OP in this case is a vendor selling their wares who should be eager to answer any query from a prospective buyer, no?

        • i would have thought i5/8gb ram / SSD is pretty good

          "i5" as a spec is meaningless. There have now been 12 different generations of processors that can be labelled "i5" (with further distinction between desktop vs mobile, with each being split into 2 subclasses of different power/efficiency, with each subclass having 2-3 different models), from 2009 to 2022. That's a huge variation of both raw compute power, and feature support.

          In order of increasing specificity:

          • "i5" => useless, not enough info
          • "4th gen (Haswell) i5" => tells you something about general power/efficiency and feature support, knowing it's a mid-tier 4th gen chip
          • "Desktop 4th gen i5" => now we know it's not a lower-power mobile chip
          • "i5-4590" => we know it's not an unlocked (overclockable k-class, model number does not end in k) CPU. Further, we know the specific model number so we can pull up the datasheet and also specific benchmarks for performance.

          The blocker for Windows 11 in this case is that Microsoft has decided to only officially support 8th gen (for Intel) processors onwards. There are configuration options that allow you to install it anyway, but it's considered an unsupported config and future updates aren't guaranteed to work, or be available.

          • @elusive: Great explanation…id like to get one of these optiplexes but will wait til they have a config that can run windows 11 legit, cheers

            • @pointless martyr: In that case, you may well be waiting until 2025 or even later. 5th gen was never really a thing on desktop. 6th and 7th gen were more or less equivalent and both fall below the supported threshold.

              By the time 8th gen rolled around, businesses had moved more towards laptops, so ex-business 8th gen desktops aren't as common.

              Your best bet if you want a machine at this price point anytime soon is, well, something like this one. And then run Windows 10 through Oct 2025, at which point:

              • the Win10 support timeline might be extended
              • there might be no issues with unsupported Win11, so go ahead and upgrade at that time
              • you switch to Linux
              • (please don't) run unsupported Win10
              • newer machines might be available at an acceptable price

              In any case, unless you desperately need Windows 11, on old/unsupported hardware I'd recommend running Windows 10 for now, unless Microsoft changes their mind and starts supporting Windows 11 on it.

      • dev version installs fine with a modified dll, not sure about retail version

    • +1

      Yes - I am typing this on an i5-4670K PC. Also installed on 3 old laptops and my 4590 in the lounge. Updates etc work properly.
      Just need to get around the Microsoft hardware checking process.
      There are several methods shared on the interent, a couple have been covered off in Ozbargains previously.

      • Ok, thanks wetwork. I just bought one for the kids.

        • +1

          Don't think I can post links here, but there are many posted methods, especially now Win11 has been out for while.
          I have been running since Sept with no problems.

        • I know it's a few days late, but figured I'd share my experience on a recent optiplex 9020. I updated the bios to latest (A25), went into the BIOS and enabled TPM, UEFI, disabled legacy option ROMs, and enabled secure boot. SATA was set to RAID, and I left it there. I then was able to install Windows 11 without any mods at all, and everything is working fine. No registry mods were needed- I just used a Windows 11 USB stick made from the media creation tool from Microsoft.

          Feel free to reach out if you get stuck, I'll help where I can.

  • Can anyone give a recommendation on whether these are worth it in terms of longevity and for light moba gaming (league of legends).

    I acknowledge that it's incredibly cheap, but recall someone saying that these "ex office" style pcs should be illegal to sell and just aren't worth it.

    Cheers.

    • +5

      Illegal to sell? Wat?

      • +3

        I think they were being hyperbolic. I interpreted it as being that old and likely to cark it in short order.

        • Yep, my last purchase from FuseTech the Dell motherboard died just short of the 3 month warranty. They replaced it free of charge but nonetheless the down time and posting it back was a hassle.

      • Probably referring to the windows licence,

    • +5

      "Someone" is a pretentious idiot. With 8GB and an SSD these perform well for most tasks.

      But without a separate GPU, you are limited at 3D games. This has Intel 4600 integrated graphics, the minimum requirement.

      https://support-leagueoflegends.riotgames.com/hc/en-us/artic…

      Best to add a GPU card for playing games.

      • Cheers. I've been out of the PC market for a while and was wondering what GPUs would work ok within this system?

        • Most low profile GPUs - but prices are really high at the moment.
          You won't go to a high powered gaming experience with this PC, but will be fine for most applications.
          Power supply can be the limiting factor, so best research this.

        • +1

          Get a GT 1030 low profile for a budget MOBA pc

      • Hi, would you know how i can add a second external monitor to this please ?

        • +1

          It has 2 video ports, vga and dvi.
          Or better, get a second monitor that supports dvi daisy chain. ie has dvi-out.

    • -2

      From the description, this has a Haswell series CPU, which is 4th gen. Win11 requires an 8th-gen CPU or later, so you're limited to running Win10.

      When MS stop supplying security updates for Win10, you'll be at the mercy of any viruses after that point. Unless you want to keep it permanently disconnected from the internet, or install Linux.

      • The official end date is 14 October, 2025. At that point, there is a possibility that MS will extend the support, like what they did with Windows XP (which you shouldn't bank on, but it is a possibility).

        • I would assume that the PC by then will feel ancient.

          Not so sure about that, CPU speeds are increasing very slowly now, compared to a decade ago.

          • @Russ: I kinda deleted that sentence, more because on second thought, I thought that comment would depend on how you see things.

            That said, DDR5 RAMs are now in the market, nvme SSDs are much faster than SATA SSDs. I am not sure whether it'd matter too much right now, but PCI-E 5.0 is also out. I am already feeling the constraints of the Haswell CPU on my system, but I use it as my main gaming PC. As in depending on what you do with the computer, you'd not feel much difference.

            To put it differently, getting even an 12th Gen i3 right now will have an improvements over i7 Haswell CPU I have. At least from what I've gathered, they are more efficient and performs better.

            The CPU market seems no longer stagnant (or as stagnant as before) because Intel has been de-throned for a fair while now and there is now competitions between the two major companies.

            • @iridiumstem: Am I correct in thinking that newer CPUs are really only increasing the number of cores, which is why they need more memory bandwidth?

              If that's correct, then will I only see increased speed on things optimized for multiple cores, like games? No speed-up for office tasks?

              • +1

                @Russ: My short answer is I wouldn't know for certain since that's not where my expertise is on.

                My long answer is there has been architecture changes, node size has been decreasing in semiconducters and the whole multi core things have been around for so long. To summarise, I think a lot has changed and we had a lot of improvements on both software and hardware sides of things.

                I don't think the improvements have been simple as just increasing the number of cores. i3 12100 for example, has the same amount of cores and threads as i7 4770, and from what I can tell i3 performs better.

                Just a caveat, this doesn't mean it's unusable nor you shouldn't buy one. It's old doesn't mean it's useless. Oct 2025 is almost 4 years in the future, by then, DDR5 RAM is hopefully more accessible and PCIE-5 is utilised for something. So I don't think I am being too controversial by saying it'd feel ancient by then.

                It's a $150 computer, if it lasts till that long and works fine, I think it served its purpose well enough.

              • @Russ: I like looking at CPU history, between 1990 and 2000 Intel desktop CPU performance increased 3700%, while between 2011 and 2021 Intel single core performance increased only 200% while multi core increased 300%.

                These 4th gen i5's are still more than capable for the vast majority of tasks we do, and since they come with an SSD these will feel fast for an old machine.

                • @FabMan: Thanks for the numbers, I thought it was something like that. Explains why I don't see a huge difference in performance between my 12-year-old home PC and my 3-year-old work PC, when running CAD programs.

    • ETA Prime on YouTube can probably set your expectations realistically. I bought something similar about mid 2019, for similar money and put a GT1030 ddr5 in it for about the same money again. I have kind of gone off gaming on it for now, but it ran everything I threw at it great, think Portal 2, Snake Pass, and loads of random indie stuff!

    • I've been using an ex office i5-3470 since 2016 with a 1050ti and it works flawlessly. IMHO enterprise level hardware is better than a lot of cheap consumer stuff.

    • I bought a similar spec'd in Lenovo brand. Popped another ram stick in, a gtx 1030 and the kids can do light gaming. Roblox, minecraft, lower res fortnight.

      Have to remember that dell make these things to get switched on and stay on for years. The power unit will be enterprise grade, and and as long as you keep it dust free should last a few more.

  • Will I be able to use a quadro m2000 with this PC?

    EDIT: Does anybody know how many internal 3.5 inch HDDs this PC Can hold? Thinking of plex server aswell.

    EDIT2: Apparently its tiny (Sff, DUH) and using it to hold 3.5inch HDDs is a no go.

    • Does anybody know how many internal 3.5 inch HDDs this PC Can hold? Thinking of plex server aswell.

      Spec sheet says x1 3.5" and x1 5.25" - I think you can swap the CD ROM out and use it as a 2.5" caddy (part sold separately), don't quote me on that

      • The one I got, the power plug for cdroom is not standard, you will need to get a splitter cable but mine is a different model, looks exactly the same.

  • According to the Ebay description, it has a display port 1.2 connector and a VGA connector, but is supplied with a VGA cable? There should be an option to upgrade to a displayport-to-HDMI adaptor.

    On a side note, why do so many Dell PCs have Displayport? I can't see any advantage over having a HDMI socket, is there any advantage to Displayport?

    • +2

      Licensing fees.. Displayport is open.. HDMI has royalties..

      • Interesting. For a PC, HDMI and DVI are essentially the same, do you know if there are licensing fees for DVI?

        Edit: I just looked it up, DVI has no licensing, but it's a larger connector.

    • Depending on the version using HDMI will limit your refresh rate.

      HDMI 1.4: 4K @ 30Hz
      HDMI 2.0: 4K @ 60Hz

      Even the worst Display port standard supports 4K @ 60Hz.

      • Thanks for the info. But it looks like this PC doesn't support 4k from the inbuilt graphics, so I'm guessing Dell just decided to put Displayport on all their PCs, irrespective of whether they needed the increased capability or not.

        • +1

          According to Intel, the internal graphics can support 4k @ 60Hz but only via DP.

          https://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/products/sku/8081…

          • @ozbs25: I looked for that info from Dell, and I couldn't find it. I'll look some more.

            • +1

              @Russ: I don't know much about this stuff to be honest and I only looked for a few seconds so I could very well be misinterpreting the info but I do think display ports should be used first if at all possible. Obviously it depends on what equipment you have.

    • So both VGA and Display port can be used at the same time to connect 2 monitors?
      And no Wifi I assume, so USB wifi adaptor required if needed

    • Connection also locks in with a button press required to release. Saves many tech calls for machines pulled away from their cables.

      • I'm guessing that's for full-size Displayport? My work PC has mini-Displayport, which doesn't have that, or at least it's not on the mini-Displayport to DVI adapters that are plugged in.

  • +6

    I use one of these in my homelab that runs 24/7. The manuals will all state the maximum ram to be 16GB, this is incorrect. 32GB DDR3 works fine in all of them.
    Running on it:
    Plex
    Sonarr
    Radarr
    NZBGet
    qBittorrent
    Power bill is like a few dollars per month it idles around 20watts and under full load with what i run not much higher

    • Do you run unraid/ubuntu on it with attached NAS/DAS? Or something different?

      I ask because I recently acquired an HP prodesk with an i5 8500 which I only installed Plex on. I have a seperate older dual xeon server running all the other apps plus my storage and it idles at 160w on its own. If I could ditch that and use the prodesk for everything that'd be sweet.

      • I only have a 1TB 3.5" drive in it. I'm just running ESXI. But my free space is fine

        $ df -h
        Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
        udev 5.9G 0 5.9G 0% /dev
        tmpfs 1.2G 18M 1.2G 2% /run
        /dev/sda2 787G 75G 673G 10% /
        tmpfs 5.9G 0 5.9G 0% /dev/shm
        tmpfs 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
        tmpfs 5.9G 0 5.9G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
        /dev/loop0 100M 100M 0 100% /snap/core/11993
        /dev/loop1 100M 100M 0 100% /snap/core/11798
        pgunion 1.1P 62T 1.1P 6% /mnt/unionfs
        gdrive{YRXYK}: 1.1P 62T 1.0P 6% /mnt/gdrive
        tmpfs 1.2G 0 1.2G 0% /run/user/1000

        but these things only fit in one 3.5" and you can squeeze in two sata slim ssd's, thats the only problem if you're hosting all your content locally you'd need a NAS or something still for all the drives.

        • Yes I would repurpose my existing dual xeon build as a NAS/DAS on my case. I have 40+TB of data. But if the prodesk can handle the rest with an unraid build that will save me a dollar a day.

          • @SgtBatten: yeah I removed all my drives, bought an optiplex and uploaded my entirety of data to the cloud. 62TB "in the cloud" so far, beats buying drives, replacing dead drives, using heaps of electricity etc

            • @Rrppper: I just don't have the bandwidth for that unfortunately.

    • Thanks to your comment, I get learn about Sonarr and Radarr. Just added to my Pi4 server :)
      Unfortunately i can only add rarbg for index list :(

  • -3

    Can it run Windows 11 ?

  • +1

    Hi peeps,

    Can a low profile Geforce GT 710 2GB video card from an old computer be used to upgrade this one?

    Cheers.

    • +3

      I'm not sure that would make any difference.

      As above, a low profile GT1030 would be appropriate. It'll cost a bit less than the PC :)

  • Great deal. This would work well enough for some light web browsing and office tasks.

    • and office tasks.

      Just to be clear, this doesn't come with MS Office, that's a significant extra cost. But there are a number of free alternatives available, like Libre Office, and they are just as good for >90% of users.

  • I have one of those, works well for browsing, YouTube, light office tasks etc for parents.

    Why does it say no optical drive but you can clearly see it on the image?

    • +1

      As it's a refurb, probably the optical drive has died, and the price of a replacement half-height drive would have pushed the price too high. Maybe they're sending it with the original drive, but disconnected.

    • Because they are using an image off the manufacturers web site, not a photo of the machines they are actually selling.

  • I just want one for someone to use for basic stuff; email, browsing and Officesuite. Would it be worth getting 16GB of RAM, it is upgradeable to that?

    What about wifi? Is that possible and if so, cheap?

    • +4

      8GB for normal YouTube/Web browser/Media/Office is fine.

      Wifi by usb dongle.

    • +1

      I got one for my parents with 8gb, it is fine for all of the above.

      • literally what I'm about to do. They won't get upset at how slow it takes for there daily 10min web surfing.

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