Replacing your OptiMac CPU cooler
Sometimes you'll get an Optiplex with the stock OEM cooler and it's worn out and noisy and needs replacement. You can buy them at places like Ebay for about $10 used. The stock cooler is ok and does it's job but its rather boring.
If you just want a small amount of RGB in your case, the CM i71c is the best bang for your buck at $19.99. It has a quiet 100mm fan and fits with the existing back plate too. You'll just need a 5 pin to 4 pin adapter cable which you can also get on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J812N2F/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
Many people use these when they swap their Dell motherboard into a new case with a glass panel. The second 5 pin fan adapter can be used with any 120mm or 140mm case fan(s) of your choice.
Important note: This is a low budget cooler intended for Core i3 and i5 CPUs. If you are using a 4770 or 4790 and pushing your system hard for longer periods, you'll want to invest more $ in a better cooler. If you have the i7 CPU and will game intensively and/or edit video for long periods of time, choose the
CM Hyper 212 RGB instead. See the following post if you want to use this cooler:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...g-4k-ips-monitor.277811/page-206#post-2180666
When you run stress tests for 10 minutes or more you'll see CM i71c CPU temps get into the 90C range. That is not everyday use but a worst case scenario. It can lead to CPU throttling. If your OptiMac is more for general usage like surfing the internet, email and social media it should be very adequate for that.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H1VZ11F/?tag=tonymacx86com-20
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For the non-RGB version (i70) see:
https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-air-cooler-series-i70/p/13C-000X-002T7
Here's the 5 pin fan headers on your Dell Optiplex MT motherboard.
Here's the i71c cooler specs from CM:
It won't spin anywhere near as fast as the Dell OEM cooler (4500 RPM) at the max speed setting. This is more like a stock Intel cooler that comes in the CPU box from Intel, but with a larger and quieter fan on the heatsink plus the RGB lighting. If you do use this for gaming or editing video, use the
Macs fan control app to lock the fan speeds in at close to 1800 RPM. Set the custom setting control all the way to the max of 1800 for the CPU fan. Don't leave it set to Auto.