Dell Optiplex SFF PC Upgrades/Refurbs
I recently refurbished some old Dell Optiplex office PCs I got off of eBay and Facebook marketplace. They are both for sale on eBay.
The parts I upgraded are as follow:
New Parts:
-Intel ARC A310 GPU
-Feb Smart dualband wireless PCIE card (3.4ghz/5ghz)
-1tb Patriot P210 SSD
-CR2032 Battery
-Thermal Paste
-16gb Corsair Vengeance DDR4 LPX 3200MHZ RAM
Used Parts:
-256gb NVME (i5 7th Gen)
-500gb NVME (i5 8th Gen)
eBay Links:
Playstation 3 Mods/Upgrades
I installed a 1tb SSD into a Playstation 3 i got off of eBay. Fairly easy mod. I installed it because I installed HEN so I can run PS3/PS2/PS1 ISOs from the internal drive. I also plan to put a skin on it to make it look better and not so plain.
Original Xbox Mods (June 2023)
I refurbished this original Xbox by doing the following:
-New CPU and GPU Thermal Paste
-New CPU Fan and Case Fan (Noctua) with 3D printed brackets for correct fit
-3D Printed SSD Bracket
-Used OEM Case (from Ebay)
-New 3D Printed Feet
-Replaced DVD Drive Belt
-Cleaned Motherboard with Rubbing Alcohol
-2TB SSD Hard Drive with XBox4Gamers Dashboard
This Xbox was already Tsop’d so it wasn’t difficult to replace the drive using Hexen 2021 or Rocky5’s Softmodding Tool burnt to DVD-R. I also bought a used case off of Ebay since the original case had an old Superman skin that was cracked and peeling off. In the future I will try and remove the skin and restore (or repaint) the case and re-use it.
Playstation 2 Fat - Noctua Fan and Fan Mount (June 2023)
I replaced the original fan with a quieter noctua fan and also replaced the CR2032 battery.
Xbox 360 Controller (Clear Blue Shell) (June 2023)
I decided to replace the shell of a generic black Xbox 360 controller with a clear blue one from Amazon. I also used the original silver big button that came with the generic controller since I didn’t care for the green one that came with the kit.
Xbox 360 Controller (Clear Shell) (June 2023)
I decided to replace the shell of my original Xbox 360 controller with a clear one from Aliexpress. The only piece that didn’t work correctly was the clear D-Pad, so I used the original D-Pad it works perfect now. I also used the original big Xbox button since I didn’t care for the green one that came with the kit.
Nintendo Wii (Clear Shell Mod) (June 2023)
I originally soft modded this Nintendo Wii back in 2008 and have since upgraded the mods. Recently I purchased a clear blue case from Aliexpress. It came out pretty good and fit perfectly.
Sega Saturn (Clear Blue Sonic Case Mod) (June 2023)
Recently I purchased a clear blue Sonic case for a Sega Saturn I have. It already has a mod chip I installed back in 2010. The new case fits perfectly and was easy to install.
Update to my main PC (December 2022)
I upgraded my work PC to a Ryzen 7 5700g CPU from a Ryzen 5 3400g recently. I also migrated everything into a Corsair Graphite 380T Mini ITX case.
Update To My Gaming PC (October 2022)
Migrated gaming PC into a different case.
Case: Phanteks Evolv Shift XT
GPU: ASRock Radeon RX 6700XT
Top case fans: be quiet! Shadow Wings 2 – 140mm white fans
Old Specs (5/2021):
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3700X (8 Core)
GPU: Zotac GTX 1660 6GB GDDR5
M/B: Asrock Fatal1ty B-450 Gaming-itx AM4
STORAGE: Samsung 860 EVO 500gb (OS), Western Digital Elements 5tb external drive (games)
RAM: G-Skill Ripjaws 32gb DDR4 3200
CASE: Fractal Design Node 202
CPU FAN: Noctua NH-L9-a Low Profile
PSU: Cooler Master V650 SFX Modular
Case Fans: 2 x Antec 120mm Fans
Synology ds1821+ Home Media Server (8 Bay)
At the moment, the server only has a total usable space of 27.9tb. As time goes on I will fill up the server and it will top out at a little over 100tb. I am using SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID) which means if one drive dies all I will have to do is replace the dead drive and it can be rebuilt. Disk Station Manager (DSM), the operating system has a ton of security and file transfer features including:
-Firewall
-DDos protection
-IP Blocking
-TLS Profiles
-Certificate Signings
-SNMP, SSH, FTP, TFTP, Telnet (not secure so I’ll never use it), SMB, NFS, AFP, SSDP
NAS Storage Upgrade (October 2022)
I have upgraded the amount of storage to my NAS. Its now at almost 60tb and counting. I will add in the final three drives as my budget permits.
