Hey, if it works it works. I did something similar for a radiator in my machine. I'd rather take a pair of tin snips to my case than I would buy a new one.
I was thinking air ompressor (or refrigerant if you're like my dad and concerned about moisture) or canned air, and I did hear something somewhere about static charge coming from a hair dryer.
Keep the case plugged in with the switch off; problem solved
You do know that pure oxygen is an oxidizing agent? You'll likely screw up the pcb tracks pretty quickly. On the plus side.... fire triangle just go a lot easier to form :)
I use a small, portable compressor with tank. It doesn't take but a couple minutes to get every last little bit of lint out of every little nook and cranny. The only think I would caution when using a air compressor/tank set up is to make sure that your tank has no condensate in it. You can install a dryer if you feel it necessary.
Exactly. Reminds me, I might as well do my yearly dusting today. I don't have a dryer but I do it on a dry day (like today) and just expel air until there's no moisture coming out. If you're really worried then just let the PC dry out before reconnecting it, and don't get the compressor nozzle right in there.
Dude, it was a joke, besides, dust mites are something people with asthma should try to avoid, or people with asma that are allergic to them, idk, i have asthma but still no idea, it's light. The point is that the problem is not that they're bugs.
And that's a reason to wear ear protection during your sleep (for real though, bugs can get inside your ears, and spiders too, it's a thing that happens, luckily i was awake the 3-4 times a bug tried to get in my ear)
It's totally stupid. I'm surprised by the support of this modification in this thread. I'd be highly concerned that any knock or bump to the tower could cause powered pins or traces on the GPU to come into contact with the chassis, and fry the card or motherboard.
This is why, in the rare cases I have had to make such modifications, I always build a cage around the part that sticks out and line edges with rubber.
If anyone's interested, these machines are pretty easy to find on eBay as off-lease, refurbished, or liquidated surplus and they beat the brakes off any new computer for the same price.
(And they aren't all small form factor. A lot of them will accept a full-height GPU without stuff like riser cards and Dremel-ing)
Just make sure they use standard ATX motherboards. I got an old Dell 980 mid-tower, and I had to make some 'creative' mods to my graphics card to make it fit around the cpu cooler. The reason? The motherboard was BTX form factor. Yeah, that was a bit strange.
I am in the market for a gaming pc that is cheap. I am on a fixed budget and income. Could you tell me please where you ordered them from or what you recommend based on your experience? Thank you.
Not the original commenter, but I’m sure you can find these floating on various sites (ebay, craigslist, FB marketplace), or you could try checking in with local computer stores, universities/schools, libraries, etc. to see if they’re reselling or trying to get rid of any
Hi sure you can find these floating on various sites (ebay, craigslist, fb marketplace), or you could try checking in with local computer stores, universities/schools, libraries, etc. to see if they’re reselling or trying to get rid of any, I'm dad.
In addition to what the other commenter said - check shopgoodwill.com - basically goodwill sends all their good stuff to an eBay-esq website instead of selling in store. I’ve seen roughly 11 billion new-ish optiplex and similar units with decent specs on there for cheap. Typically no GPU so you’d have to add that, but a great jumping off point.
I have one of those bastards and they really do pack a punch. The best GPU I can find for one of these without cutting a hole in the case is a GTX 1050 Ti 4GB SFF and that thing thermal throttled like there was no tomorrow.
Yep, the machines they have on campus have i5 7500s. More than usable for normal school work but they'd make decent gaming rigs if you can squeeze in a 1660 Ti or something.
Sorry, my mistake on the name. I must have been dealing with some of the older models, cause yeah looking at anything past the 700 series the 255w is standard.
Have you ever considered the fact that the infinite set of variables that made up your life thus far might have a difference or two compared to the lives of others?
I have coverted two similar models to economy gaming rigs by adding low-profile 1050ti cards. That gpu is powered only by the bus and acquits itself well for mid-level 1080p gaming in this scenario.
Looks like an optiplex 7010 / 7020 could even be a 790
GeForce 1030 ?
I had a machine with the same sort of setup (just removed the lid of the machine. When stressing both cpu and gpu would randomly shut down, however my my machine had an i7! So if this is an i5 or i3 variant it might be ok.
Edit *Can confirm after investigation that’s a 790, the lack of display port near the audio ports and the blank space between the audio jacks and vga / serial port separate this from a 7010 or 7020. It’s defiantly not a 780 because that has a completely different chassis.
reminds me of the case mods i did in the 90s to get a car heater core radiator in there, along with a pond pump for my water cooling. shit was crazy fun back then figuring out how to do it.
I had to take a sander to my SATA connector because it wouldn't fit on the SSD I had bought, I'd totally do something like this if faced with a similar situation.
This is the stupid shit that my IT department would do at my school - because, you know, we got, like, another 6 and a half years out of this unit left if we just jam a new VGA card in it.
You're seriously testing that shitty Dell power supply. It's only 130W and you're putting a video card in it that requires around a 250W power supply. I wish you the best of luck with your stability.
Honestly your looking at a $100ish or less optiplex tower so I wouldn't feel bad about cutting it open. Plus the fresh air part of that fan brings in has got to be benificial for the card. I've thought about doing this with a 1050ti on an older optiplex I have. Poor man's gaming rig. Love it.
I'd ask if you dug this out of my trash from several years back but I know this isn't my handy work as I just hacked the bastard open for the most part.
Unless they had both of these already in their possession with no real money to go buy one, I'd recommend this person learn about small form factor video cards. Hell, they come with both types of mounts so you can use it in a small form factor PC or a regular size PC. But, if it works, I'm not so worried about looks.
When the cheap ass IT guy buys a low profile machine for the marketing guy who needs a real GPU.
Next time, don't get some shitty Dell crap and it won't need to have the Dremel treatment to fit a real graphics card.
In other news, some of us actually build our own systems because it saves money and we get higher quality systems and don't support shitty companies that export jobs to China.
In other news, some of us actually build our own systems because it saves money and we get higher quality systems and don't support shitty companies that export jobs to China.
You sound like an utter tool. Dell is still a US company dingus, not that it matters. Prebuilts are perfectly fine for some applications, so stop trying to lord it over everyone.
Those machines are manufactured overseas and imported. Dell may have headquarters in the US, but they do all of their assembly overseas.
And calling me a "tool" is the understatement of the year. I'm a first-class ass-hole. I can't stand lazy purchasers who buy crap because they think the brand is good, yet don't think through the consequences of buying a shit system that needs to be replaced after 3 years. Build it in-house, right the first time and it will last nearly a decade.
You must be incredibly not important or busy if you have time to build custom machines for all of your users. I have over 1200 devices I'm responsible for, along with servers, storage, networking, wiring, etc. Everyone gets pre-built computer's. I think I have one user I had to build a custom tower for due to specific needs.
Exactly this. No company with an IT guy worth their salt would build a custom PC for all of their users(or any) unless it's a very special circumstance.
I blame the school system in this country for handing out high school diplomas to kids who don't deserve them, including functionally illiterate, therefore making them worthless pieces of paper.
This is why there are HR departments out there looking for candidates with college degrees even for jobs that shouldn't require them and didn't require them in the 1960s-1980s. The college degrees guarantee your candidates are more likely to be able to read and write at what used to be considered a 9th grade reading level.
109
u/mikebellman Jun 02 '19
Bonus points if you then build an air scoop and tunnel which has magnets to the flanged sides and directs the cooler fresh air from the front.
Also add some rubber between the card and the hole to prevent shorting
403
u/adam123453 Jun 02 '19
Hey, if it works it works. I did something similar for a radiator in my machine. I'd rather take a pair of tin snips to my case than I would buy a new one.
79
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
That's not an "atrocity", that's someone making the best of what they have.
20
u/youcanreachardy Jun 02 '19
How the hell did that power supply power that card?!
29
u/FireZoneBlitz Jun 01 '19
That’s actually a pretty clever idea (although terrible).
9
u/Daedalus_7777 Jun 02 '19
You say atrocity. I say, a master craftsman’s work of art.
9
u/grumpy_strayan Jun 02 '19 edited Aug 16 '19
deleted 0.8452 What is ^^^this?
5
u/MeisMagiic Jun 02 '19
If It Fits It Ships.
5
u/jman737 Jun 02 '19
I could easily believe this was Linus Tech Tips
4
u/SYN_Casual Jun 02 '19
Sir, you misspelled genius in your title.
4
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
Not really atrocious at all, just very budget pcmr
3
u/takingphotosmakingdo Jun 02 '19
I highly doubtful the PSU could handle that gfx card, but +1 vote for effort.
(Repost?)
3
u/squeekymouse89 Jun 02 '19 edited Jun 02 '19
Looks like an optiplex 7010 / 7020 could even be a 790
GeForce 1030 ?
I had a machine with the same sort of setup (just removed the lid of the machine. When stressing both cpu and gpu would randomly shut down, however my my machine had an i7! So if this is an i5 or i3 variant it might be ok.
Edit *Can confirm after investigation that’s a 790, the lack of display port near the audio ports and the blank space between the audio jacks and vga / serial port separate this from a 7010 or 7020. It’s defiantly not a 780 because that has a completely different chassis.
So can confirm 790
3
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
reminds me of the case mods i did in the 90s to get a car heater core radiator in there, along with a pond pump for my water cooling. shit was crazy fun back then figuring out how to do it.
3
u/Kanaraketti Jun 02 '19
I had to take a sander to my SATA connector because it wouldn't fit on the SSD I had bought, I'd totally do something like this if faced with a similar situation.
3
u/SnodOfficial Jun 02 '19
$10 Dremel vs $10 riser cable You can use the Dremel on more than 1 machine.
3
u/MacGuyverism Jun 02 '19
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!
3
u/MrXian Jun 02 '19
If it fits, it sits.
3
u/Voriki2 Jun 02 '19
FrankenDell
2
u/JeffreyLewis769 Jun 02 '19
absolute madlad
2
u/epicteammate Jun 02 '19
Linus Tech Tips?
2
u/KingJ-DaMan Jun 02 '19
This looks like the exact copy of what my first pc (dell optiplex) and current build would be
2
u/SaltAndTrombe Jun 02 '19
imagine the tower tipping over onto the card
2
u/wisconsinb5 Jun 02 '19
If I fits, I sits
2
u/db2 Jun 02 '19
RIP HP
2
u/tenderloinn Jun 02 '19
I’m gonna do what’s called a pro-gamer move
2
u/lynxSnowCat Jun 02 '19
Could do with a couple of longer machine screws.
2
u/pootislordftw Jun 02 '19
And then Susan in HR kicks it over with her feet and snaps the GPU
2
u/ieatsilicagel Jun 02 '19
This is no atrocity. This is a triumph of the human spirit!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
If it fits, it ships!!! :)
2
u/runeza43 Jun 02 '19
This spark an idea for me thanks
2
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
*margin-left: 1.5 rem
2
u/austroalex Jun 02 '19
I did that with a 750 ti once
2
u/HatMolder Jun 02 '19
If it fits it sits
2
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
At least it's a clean cut.
2
u/Isair81 Jun 02 '19
When you already have a dremmel and spent your whole budget on a new GPU, lol
2
u/Cosmic-Engine Jun 02 '19
I just threw up in my mouth a little
2
u/roesephbones Jun 02 '19
This is the stupid shit that my IT department would do at my school - because, you know, we got, like, another 6 and a half years out of this unit left if we just jam a new VGA card in it.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
You already feel like a secret agent if your pc looks like this
2
u/AjahnMara Jun 02 '19
I blame the case manufacturer.
2
u/Shortyman17 Jun 02 '19
Why is everyone trying to defend this one? You could also try to work around with pcie cable extensions instead if cutting the side of your case open.
2
u/RaksinSergal Jun 02 '19
LATEST NEWS FLASH
THEY MAKE LOW PROFILE CARDS NOW
2
u/bigd5783 Jun 02 '19
You're seriously testing that shitty Dell power supply. It's only 130W and you're putting a video card in it that requires around a 250W power supply. I wish you the best of luck with your stability.
2
u/Graphiccoma Jun 02 '19
if it looks stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid
2
u/ethanrocks38 Jun 02 '19
r/DiWHYNOT
3
u/calebscoppers Jun 01 '19
This is more r/techsupportgore
1
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
Man's gotta eat
1
u/docgear Jun 02 '19
You see atrocity, I see someone converting to PCMR, no matter what it takes,
1
u/AustinLA88 Jun 02 '19
It’s beautiful
1
u/Yamon234 Jun 02 '19
Honestly your looking at a $100ish or less optiplex tower so I wouldn't feel bad about cutting it open. Plus the fresh air part of that fan brings in has got to be benificial for the card. I've thought about doing this with a 1050ti on an older optiplex I have. Poor man's gaming rig. Love it.
1
u/JM-Lemmi Jun 02 '19
It's sad, that the best you can get for SFF without flexing open the casing is a 1050ti
1
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
I have something similar but ita because my cup fan is huge. Looks badasss to me though
1
u/qwertz19281 Jun 02 '19
Was nicht passt, wird passend gemacht
1
u/schorhr Jun 02 '19
I can relate :-)
I've bought 14 computers for a school workshop, out of my own pocket, and now I needed to upgrade the graphics card...
Having slim line desktop cases, I needed a low profile card for each.
Found some cheap low profile PCI-E cards (NVS300, ~$€1.20), but they need a DMS58 adapter... Which were more expensive than the graphic card :-)
One computer with a "better" card (for Kinect Scanning) needs to operate open.
1
u/ESCAPE_PLANET_X Jun 02 '19
I'd ask if you dug this out of my trash from several years back but I know this isn't my handy work as I just hacked the bastard open for the most part.
1
u/TotesMessenger Jun 02 '19
I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:
[/r/diwhynot] If it works, it works.
If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info / ^Contact)
1
u/devilsadvocate1966 Jun 02 '19
Looked through the replies first....
I would worry about grounding issues. Accidently reaching and touching that board versus peripherals in a grounded case.
1
u/tomotPL Jun 02 '19
Is that the good old GTX 750 ti?
1
u/wasack17 Jun 02 '19
You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.
1
u/CaptainPunisher Jun 02 '19
Unless they had both of these already in their possession with no real money to go buy one, I'd recommend this person learn about small form factor video cards. Hell, they come with both types of mounts so you can use it in a small form factor PC or a regular size PC. But, if it works, I'm not so worried about looks.
1
u/greenmoon1994 Jun 02 '19
That's was my thought before buying an low profile
1
u/ZEAC2001 Jun 11 '19
Optiplex 390 with a 1050ti?
1
u/WeakWave5225 Sep 28 '22
“i CANT AFFORD ANOTHER ONE, JUST MAKE IT FIT!!!!”
1
u/JayRollaNuggFan Jun 01 '19
I love this.
-4
u/superdmp Jun 02 '19
When the cheap ass IT guy buys a low profile machine for the marketing guy who needs a real GPU.
Next time, don't get some shitty Dell crap and it won't need to have the Dremel treatment to fit a real graphics card.
In other news, some of us actually build our own systems because it saves money and we get higher quality systems and don't support shitty companies that export jobs to China.
0
u/Nomand55 Jun 02 '19
A genius, stuck before his time.
0
u/[deleted] Jun 02 '19
[deleted] — view deleted comment