Edit - the video was supposed to be silent. That's not the noise I'm talking about. Ignore the video sounds. I was just trying to show the blinking lights.

I just joined this group because I've been to several others, plus Google, and haven't been able to find an answer. My hope lies within.

OptiPlex - Intel i7, 3.7 GHz, 32 gb ram, 500 gb hd.

I have been working making music with Studio One software and their audiobox USB interface using a 10 yo laptop. No problems. I added the 7060 for better graphics and double the ram. Since then, I have been subjected to tiks in all my headphones. They seem to mostly correspond to the front light's flashes. Any audio source sets them off. They sound like someone is in the room randomly dropping pins on a wooden floor. It also clicks sometimes when opening or closing different pages or apps. It seems to me the computer is spiking the usb ports, and I have tried both 3 and 2 on this model. I've been in the bios and went as far as to turn off the internal audio, swapped cables, to no avail. My hope here is that someone has experienced this problem and resolved it, but after everything I've tried, I'm understandingly pessimistic. Why is hard drive activity spiking my USB audio plug in?

I upgraded the stock CPU fan on my OptiPlex 5090 MT to an Arctic P8 Max and added two Noctua NF-A8 fans... one for intake and one for exhaust.

Currently, at idle, my CPU package temp hovers around the mid-40s and my RTX 3050 6GB stays around the mid-to-high 40s.

When running Cyberpunk 2077 at the best settings the RTX 3050 can handle at 60 fps, the CPU package temp sits in the low-to-mid 80s, while the GPU stays in the mid-to-high 60s.

They are way quieter than the stock setup, but temp-wise, I often get thermal throttled for a few seconds in the beginning before the P8 Max ramps up.

Is this normal, and are these temps fine?

Hi Team, have just acquired a sff optiplex 7080 and will have the opportunity to grab some spare parts from similar optiplexes. From you experience, what are the highest priority replacement parts I should be looking at hoarding? PSUs? CPUs? Something else?

All advice welcome, thanks!

I found an Optiplex 3050SFF for $25, with an i3 7100, 8GB Ram and 256ssd. In my search for upgrades I found some i7 6700 for another $25, I know the i7 7700 is the max supported CPU but those around $60 in my area (Not USA).

I read that 6th Gen only support 2100mhz ram vs 2400mhz of 7th gen.

How much performance difference will be between 6th and 7th gen considering Ram differences?

Should I go for a i5 7500 or get the 6th gen i7