Optiplex Computers REFURBISHMENT

I agree with Fmartin that the Samsungs are a good option. They have the best reliability record, largely due to the tighter mfg. tolerances of the individual nand cells.

The 860 EVO should be (more than) sufficient, even running in backwards compatibility mode on SATA II and not III. The 850-860 gen increased write durability a few times over to the point that only photo/videographers transferring footage daily would run into write limits. MLC vs TLC really shines with sustained server/video processing loads but I donā€™t think that type of load will be encountered here. Iā€™d avoid NVMe in the shop because their exposed PCB and penchant for thermal throttling doesnā€™t play along very well with the dust levels and lack of cooling in most Dell standard configs. The general software snappiness will be determined by random reads and the 860 EVO controller has been tuned for the highest random reads with its own RAM cache(on par with most NVMe actually). The Crucial MX500 is actually slightly faster for that random read for about $10-15 less, so if the budget is tight Iā€™d go with that but either way I doubt a difference would be noticed. This speed is also not limited by the SATA II vs III controller. The current gen SATA drives are mostly within 10% performance of each other so the choice is mostly does it have itā€™s own RAM cache or not, and whatā€™s the price/availability.

MX500 is currently $60
MX500 on Amazon

Amazon 860 EVO 500GB $70

Vcarve / Inkscape and other inexpensive 2d programs generally donā€™t include GPU acceleration(often req. Quadro cards) and are CPU restricted. 16GB of RAM is probably sufficient unless people decide they want to run virtual machines for a Linux program or loading their setup from home.

I use a 860 EVO for most of my programs, a Pro for high use shared folders, and NVMe for video editing / AI work and havenā€™t noticed a difference on any of my machines for basic slicing / 2d software Iā€™ve installed lately.

Thanks for all the info @JayC and @Fmartin I will probably go with the 860 Evo non-pro . is there a reason we need 500gb or can we just go with the 256gb.Nobody is really saving anything to the computer People normally just keep the files on a usb or on the shared network drive. So basically it will just have windows 10/V-carve on it and that is pretty much it,

Eric

500+ is typically the performance+value min. threshold due to quirks of individual NAND chip density and their relative price to lpddr4 RAM and the multicore controller chips also inside the drives. Itā€™s like if engine pistons were made in sets of 3 and you could get a new car with 3 for $50 or a V6 for $60. (MX500 prices, EVO is around $50/70 for 256/500 but the prices have been swingly wildly Ā±50% due to COVID/tariffs)

A side bonus to the larger size is that you can have a virtual machine or dual boot partition ready to go that has older/newer software versions on it that you can mount without having to uninstall the current everyday use stable version.

If it wasnā€™t for COVID and more ppl were consistently around Iā€™d just say get a bunch of used 128GB ones for $15-30ea for all of them and have spare clones ready for plug n play swap but Iā€™m trying to account for how precious everyoneā€™s time out of the house is at the moment and minimize troubleshooting(even if that is just going from 7% chance of a prob to 3%).

I will have more time after the election and can help more in person but atm Iā€™m still swamped. Someone amazingly brought me an industrial quality printer / equipment for my proj. right after I became a member so Iā€™ve been able to do almost everything from home instead. The things I do need to do at the space will mostly be babysitting machines so I planned on helping where I could during that semi-downtime.

Ditto to everything JayC said. The reason I I chose the pro version over the regular was not performance. Theyā€™re almost identical. It was longevity. MLC method of writing as an 8 to 10 times longer lifespan than the TLC. 256 GB is probably adequate. But I donā€™t believe you can get an MLC less than 512 (at least in the Samsungā€™s. ) I personally have not used anything less than a terabyte in a few years. I do believe the 512 is the best bang for your buck right now. We are really talking about just a few dollars difference. I would be willing to donate the difference myself to make sure we get a quality product. I am aware that machine is currently not being used for a lot. That does not have to remain the case.
I do think that for the minimal cost of the SATA III controller we should use it. The whole reason we were upgrading was performance. SATA II maxes out at 300MB throughput, Which is a little over half What does Samsung pro SSD is capable of. Having said that, I am a team player and will work with whatever you choose. Just giving my two cents.

Also, the current Hd is 750 GB HD. 2 partitions.
100 GBsystem reserved 90 GB used.
698 GBformatted as C: drive with 136 GB used
561GB free

Thanks @Fmartin Iā€™ll go ahead and go with with 512gb non-pro just based on the use case of our computers and the fact that I will probably end up buying a few of these as well as the controller.

I will put it next to OptiPlex when it gets here.

Great. I did it fresh install of windows 10 On the existing hard drive. I installed Vcarve with the maker space license just a tryout proof of con ju cept. It does work. I just thought it was Important to make sure we didnā€™t have compatibility problems. I have run into proprietary problems with Dell computers before as well as problems with new versions of windows running on old machines. So far so good. A fresh install requires a license. An upgrade from Windows 7 I believe can still be done for free. There is no direct upgrade from XP. The license number on the side of the computer is for XP. I was going to clone the Current CNC computer hard drive (which is Windows 7) and do the upgrade install. The target hard drive is smaller than the Source hard drive. Even if I shrink the partition to its minimum size, it is still over 300 GB. The target hard drive is only 250GB. I will wait for the 500 gig SSD and try to do the clone And Windows 10 upgrade path method when it arrives. That is unless we have a site license or other windows 10 license To use.
Iā€™m having to borrow monitor, keyboard, mouse from other computers and put them back when Iā€™m done. If we have an extra monitor keyboard and mouse, it would make my Job easier.

There is some extra keyboards/mouse and monitor by the rotary laser. I dont think there is any reason to put anything on the new drive than windows 10 and v-carve.
I can give you the v-carve license info when needed.

I will also send you the windows 10 account/user setup standard that we use on Monday

Great. I know where to get the Vcarve license info. In fact I set it up on my test version. If we have a license for windows, I will just use a fresh install. Do you know which version of windows 10 the licenses are for? For my test version installed the educational version. I debated on installing professional or home. I know some of the companies (like Autodesk) consider maker spaces that teach classes an educational institution and offer educational licenses at a discount (or for free). I will just do a fresh install to the SSD when it arrives. Just need to verify that the license will work with the version I install.

Eric, I realize you were talking about Maker space master edition set up. I do need that. I was thinking about the client edition. I will be out of town Monday and Tuesday. I will get to work on it Wednesday. Hopefully the SSD will have arrived by then. Thanks for your help

To install the Makerspace master edition on a new PC, that will require the password. I have the password. @EricP should I just PM it to @Fmartin ?

@dannym yep that would be great also DM it to me again so I can save it in our board Lastpass account.

Eric

Vcarve running on dell OptiPlex on top of desk. Much faster! Should be good to go. I have not tried to save to flash drive yet but seems good. (We will activates windows later, should not stop us from using Vcarve). Old computer is still in old location and works (slowly).

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The CNC computer seems to be running well. If anyone has any issues with This computer, please let me know now. The old computer is still running. We are trying to get a lot of non-functional computers running again. This computer could be repurposed if itā€™s no longer needed. Itā€™s installation of windows is bad. It should be reformatted. Probably upgraded at the same time. Unless I hear otherwise, I intend to reformat it. They could also be used as a back up for the CNC computer.

I have looked at the pile Dell OptiPlex computers. It is quite the mess. Many of them have had their RAM and hard driveā€™s removed. Several have upgraded video cards with DVI Video. I donā€™t have any DVI cables at hackespace. I can bring some from home to test them, but ultimately we could use some DVI cables. I donā€™t know if we have any anywhere else in the space. With a little effort we could form a classroom again.
Here is my scavenger hunt. If anyone knows where these parts are in the space, or if anyone wants to donate them, we need:

  1. DVI video cables (we could use Both DVI-d and DVI-i Cables to accommodate both windows and Mac machines.
  2. Ram sticks- Mostly need DDR3 non-ecc 1333mhz PC 10600 Or better 4GB and 8GB sticks. These machines originally maxed out at 16 GB but some of them can be pushed to 32 GB. I know many of you have old ram sticks laying around. These computers are Circa 2011, but still useful.
  3. SSDs. We have some. Could use more if anyone has upgraded And has smaller ones laying around I would make use of them. Also old hard drives. These are small form factor computers and use laptop style hard drives (2 1/2 inch)
  4. Monitors, keyboards, mice, power cords. As mentioned above we need DVI cables, But some still need VGA video And a few can use HDMI
    If anyone has a spare smart KVM switch That would be a bonus. Iā€™m having to switch keyboard video and monitor from one computer to the next while testing. There are a lot of them to go through.

Right now Iā€™m having to rob Peter to pay Paul. Taking parts from a working computer to put them in a test computer. This is OK, but time consuming and laborious if we have an easier solution. If anyone wants to help, I would welcome it. As we get it working systems, I would like to put them into service

I Put some extra mouseā€™s and keyboards out.
I did steal the 4x4gb corsairs memory that was in your next setup to make the rotary laser more functional. It only had 4gb in it and was very hard to useā€¦ We will also want to do an SSD upgrade in that one as well, and a redo of the windows 10 pro install later.

Understandable to take the ram. I was hoping some of the members may have had some old ram laying around. I know I do, but not the stuff we need. The right move is to maximize the computers that are in service right now. Putting the others back into service is just a bonus. Thanks for the mice and keyboards. Still looking for DVI cables.

Fred R. Martin, M.D.

I just got some ram in. Iā€™m not gonna have time to test it before Thanksgiving. Iā€™m working out of town for the next five days.

Sorry for the late follow-up. My father had a severe heart attack shortly after my post and Iā€™ve been swamped navigating that situation. Thankfully heā€™s recovering very well. I have some extra DVI cables and will try to leave them there the next time I am in the area.

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Iā€™m sorry to hear about your dad. I bought 10 DVI cables. We should be OK for now. Thanks for stepping up. Hope your dadā€˜s OK

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