Contribute
Register

The 4K Dell OptiMac - 9020 MT - Core i7-4790 - Radeon RX 570 - LG 4K IPS Monitor

I have only one issue with sleep that I cannot figure out by myself (I followed the guide AMD radeon compatibility and set the suggested framebuffer already).
This happens to everyone, AFAIK, that uses a dedicated AMD card and Catalina. It happens exactly the same way on my 9020 MT system with the RX 570. On my Big Sur test system, it never occurs with the RX 570 installed. For some reason it's never a problem when using a natively supported Kepler based graphics card. I've not tried fixing this in Catalina yet as I never sleep that 9020 MT, it's used for editing and rendering so sleep is not needed. Let us know the results of your testing and patching this problem.
 
Last edited:
7020 SFF Deal at Newegg - $165 USD
  • Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz
  • 8GB DDR3 - 128GB SSD
  • Windows 10 Home Installed (use it to flash the BIOS)
  • Keyboard and Mouse
  • 2 Year Warranty
Screen Shot 11.jpg

Looks like it has everything you'll need to get started if you've already got a monitor. $165 is a great price for all this. New ones with these specs sell for well over $700 USD.


Compare the $165 price to what you'll get with Late 2012 Mac minis (230 dollars shipped) that can't even run Big Sur without some trickery. The CPUs are slow laptop CPUs that can't match the desktop i5-4690 at 3.5 GHz plus turbo speeds. They only have 4GB of ram instead of 8. You cannot run a 4K monitor at full resolution when using the 2012 mini either.

Screen Shot 4.jpg
 
Last edited:
Can get 3020, 7020, 9020 for half price. Under $150 on average. A decent supply of i5 models right now.
Looks good for the MT desktops. They don't have any 7020/9020 SFF or USFF models for sale. :(

There are still many left at Newegg.com for a good price in good condition. 2 year warranty too.

See post 2,182 above for the details. Just checked, the $165 version with SSD has sold fast.
 
Last edited:
Here's an even better deal on the 7020 SFF at Newegg. $132 shipped and you get the i5-4570 with HD4600. You'll be replacing the 250GB HDD with an SSD anyway so that makes no difference. Nice to have Win 7 pre-installed so you can test it out and flash the BIOS before doing the macOS install. If you won't be dual booting then wipe the 250GB HDD and use it for storage for macOS instead.

Screen Shot 2.jpg


https://www.newegg.com/dell-optiplex-7020-business-desktops-workstations/p/1VK-0001-4R8S8

You could buy 6 of these for less than what the entry level quad core 2018 Mac mini costs. Everyone in your whole family could have their own CustoMac. No fighting over who gets to use it. The two mandatory upgrades are an SSD boot drive and another 4GB stick of DDR3 1600 MHz ram.
Screen Shot 4.jpg


If you want the larger 7020 MT version with room for a full height GPU then this is a good deal at Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DY7M8ZQ/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
 
Last edited:
CoolerMaster NR400 mATX case for the Dell 7020/9020 MT
This is an affordable choice for your case transfer. If you need a more airflow than the Dell OEM case can offer, look no further. You can even bring over the Dell ODD if you'd like to. The CM Hyper 212 (Black edition only) can also be installed on your Optiplex mobo. See: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...g-4k-ips-monitor.277811/page-206#post-2180666

Screen Shot 2.jpg


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PDT745F/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

Screen Shot 3.jpg


Here is a picture of bjay77's install into a similar CM mATX case, the S400:

1610975525830.png


The black and green mobo color combo does work quite well. He used the CM Hyper 212 BE with RGB fan.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H25DYM3/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

The Silencio S400 version of this case costs more ($89.99) but gives you the maximum sound dampening. Perfect for those that are recording music in a studio.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07STP8MYP/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
 
Last edited:
Best low cost mATX case for your Dell MT system

Fractal Design Core 1100

I bought one of these Fractal Design cases in November 2020 and have been very happy with it. Since the PSU is top mounted, you can keep the Dell OEM 290W PSU which works perfectly well for HD4600 igfx or if you use a lower end Nvidia Kepler graphics card. Comes with one high quality 120 mm FD fan.

EDIT: 2-4-21
Amazon has sold out of these at the 30 dollar price. Not surprising. You can still buy from some third party sellers but you'll pay over 54 USD. At that price there are better choices for a mATX case. See the CoolerMaster case which was mentioned in the previous post. That gives you much more space and cable mgt. options.

Good solid case for the low $30 USD price. If the OEM case you got is dented, scratched and scuffed you might consider one of these. The fit and finish is way beyond what you'll find in any other 30 USD case. No sharp edges or paper thin steel side panels.

Bring along your Dell OEM CPU cooler and the 80mm case fan and use them in this. Makes it the ultimate low budget case upgrade for your Dell Optiplex. Anyone can afford this upgrade at this price.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPIL6GQ/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

1611172948307.png

Here's a very long and detailed video review of the case. You'll see that it's best to install 2.5" Sata SSDs rather than the old school 3.5" mechanical drives. Difficult to fit those and connect them up.

 

Attachments

  • 1611171401283.png
    1611171401283.png
    917.1 KB · Views: 68
Last edited:
Facebook Group for Dell Optiplex owners:

If anyone is interested. Most of these FB group memebers are running Windows 10 but it may still help you to learn more about your Dell Optiplex PC. If you game in Windows there may be some good info here.
 
This is a pretty good 7020 MT deal at Amazon right now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZDKM1YC/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

i5-4570 - 16GB DDR3 1600 - 512GB SSD

Most of these sell with 4GB of ram and a 500GB HDD or platter drive. You'd upgrade those yourself when buying one.

Just the 16GB ram kit and 512GB SSD are worth $100. So it's like getting the 7020 MT for about $110.
The i5 can be upgraded later on to the i7-4790 if you need the extra speed and 4 more threads. I'm not
sure what brand the SSD is but it should be brand new.
 
Using an i3 CPU with the Dell 7020/9020 OptiMac
In the main guide I had previously dissuaded readers from using a Core i3 CPU in favor of an i5. Since then I've tested out a few i3's in both the MT and the SFF model. I've concluded that it does make sense to use an i3 which has HD4600, but not one with HD4400. If you dual boot with Windows 10, definitely go for the quad core i5 or i7 Intel Haswell CPU. Dual core i3 CPUs do not perform well enough for any serious gaming. The i3s do have faster single core performance but fall far behind in multi-core performance which modern games require. On the other hand Mojave/Catalina/Big Sur are not the resource hogs that Windows 10 is. A dual core Haswell i3 clocked at 3.5 or 3.6 GHz performs quite snappily with at least 8GB of ram and an SSD boot drive.

HD4400 Graphics are Rather Disappointing
I've tried using the i3-4150 (HD4400) while spoofing HD4600. The results were not great. It works somewhat but not to the degree I'd ever be happy with on a daily basis. I've also tested out an i3-4330 which has HD4600 igpu and it works quite well. Stays cool and hardly uses any electricity during general use. You can also buy these used for about 15-20 dollars less than most of the i5 Haswell CPUs such as the i5-4570 and i5-4670.

If you do want to save money and energy, here are the Haswell i3 models that you can buy and install in your Dell OptiMac. They all have HD4600. Avoid the HD4400 versions such as the i3-4150 and i3-4160. The prices of the i3-4150/60 CPUs are just a few dollars lower than the suggested HD4600 models so it makes no sense to buy one.


Suggested i3 CPUs with HD4600 Graphics
Screen Shot 2021-02-08 at 8.09.39 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-02-08 at 8.09.02 PM.png

Screen Shot 2021-02-08 at 8.08.39 PM.png


Here's some charts of the CPU temps while running the fans in an SFF with the i3-4150 CPU at the lowest and highest speeds. They are way too noisy at the highest 4500 RPM speeds but are very tolerable at the lowest settings. Maxing out the fans doesn't lower the idle CPU temps more than around 2 degrees C. I can verify that Dell did an excellent job of thermal management in this professional Optiplex line. Over heating is never a problem.

Screen Shot 2021-02-08 at 7.49.18 PM.png


Screen Shot 2021-02-08 at 7.46.46 PM.png
 
Last edited:
@trs96 Thank you for keeping this guide up to date. I've been able to use your guides since the HP 6200 to keep several stable builds going. Favorites are USFF i7 7010, which runs great after sorting out ME Lockout issues; an HP Z230 i7-4770, 16GB, RX 460, install is similar; and embarking on a new build of a 7020 SFF i5-4590, 16GB, 1TB which I acquired for $65 (with Windows)!

Sound works for me on my 7010, but I often use USB DACs for these builds. They can be found cheaply for bare functionality, I prefer Fiio or Muse for headphones or my desktop amp.
 
Back
Top