PSA: That old Dell Optiplex case from 2004 makes a great sleeper build

I was always skeptical of those tiny Dell cases from the early 2000s, figured the airflow was hopeless for modern parts. Then a buddy of mine brought one over last month with a Ryzen 5 and an RTX 3060 crammed inside, running at 68 degrees under load. I spent $15 on a used case from a thrift store in Harrisburg and drilled some holes in the front for intake. Anyone else found a surprisingly good old case for a stealth build?

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the_val3mo ago

You seriously drilled holes in a thrift store case and hit 68 degrees under load?

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river_hart183mo ago

and honestly i get it. like why spend big money on a case when you can just make one work, right? i drilled holes in my old dell optiplex case once. temps dropped like 10c just from that. not everyone has the cash for fancy cooling stuff. you did what you had to do and it worked. that's what matters. people act like you need a glass case and rgb everything but nah. function over looks every time.

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