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expiredBigFatCat posted Mar 16, 2023 07:58 PM
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expiredBigFatCat posted Mar 16, 2023 07:58 PM

Dell OptiPlex 5050 SFF Desktop (Refurb, B Grade): i5-6500, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD

& More + Free S&H

$90

$179

49% off
Dell Refurbished
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Deal Details
Dell Refurbished has Dell OptiPlex 5050 SFF Desktop (Refurbished, B Grade) for $179 - 50% w/ promo code 5050DELL4U = $89.50. Shipping is free.

Also available, Dell Refurbished has Dell OptiPlex 5050 SFF Desktop (Refurbished, A Grade) for $199 - 50% w/ promo code 5050DELL4U = $99.50. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member BigFatCat for finding this deal.

Specs
  • Intel Core i5-6500 Processor (4-Core, 3.20 GHz)
  • 8GB (2x4GB) RAM
  • 500GB Hard Drive
  • Integrated Graphics
  • Windows 10 Professional

Editor's Notes

Written by johnny_miller | Staff
  • About this deal:

Original Post

Written by BigFatCat
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Dell Refurbished has Dell OptiPlex 5050 SFF Desktop (Refurbished, B Grade) for $179 - 50% w/ promo code 5050DELL4U = $89.50. Shipping is free.

Also available, Dell Refurbished has Dell OptiPlex 5050 SFF Desktop (Refurbished, A Grade) for $199 - 50% w/ promo code 5050DELL4U = $99.50. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member BigFatCat for finding this deal.

Specs
  • Intel Core i5-6500 Processor (4-Core, 3.20 GHz)
  • 8GB (2x4GB) RAM
  • 500GB Hard Drive
  • Integrated Graphics
  • Windows 10 Professional

Editor's Notes

Written by johnny_miller | Staff
  • About this deal:

Original Post

Written by BigFatCat

Community Voting

Deal Score
+39
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Top Comments

HY-SD
5470 Posts
722 Reputation
it would use less power. also there were improvement in other areas like memory bandwidth etc.

however, yes intel was very lazy during that time, and ryzen just leapfrogged them.
hjliii
42 Posts
28 Reputation
A word of warning to those considering this deal. I tested two of these and both suffered from the same problem. The Gmail web client was unusable. I have no explanation for why this is the case, but it was bad enough that I had to return both machines. I tried everything to make it workable (i.e. multiple browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Edge), html version of Gmail, etc.). Nothing worked. I even reinstalled the OS from scratch. Using the exact same internet connection, performance was at least an order of magnitude faster on machines running intel CPU's that were two generations older. Benchmarks indicated the machines were running as expected. I would love to know if anyone has an explanation for this bottleneck. With the exception of the Gmail issue, I didn't see any other problems. I didn't see performance issue with any other workflows. Other content heavy web sites loaded quickly without issues. I really wanted to keep these machines as they are a great value, but could not work around the Gmail web client issue.
LordDrol
1510 Posts
210 Reputation
It was during a period of historic stagnation with Intel releasing smaller and smaller quad-cores with minor changes, and reserving 6-10 cores for its "Extreme" desktop lineup. One problem was the delay of 10nm by years due to technical issues, effectively ending Intel's "Tick-Tock" model [wikipedia.org].

But AMD is partly to blame for its awful Bulldozer microarchitecture that made it nearly irrelevant in desktops until Zen/Ryzen came out. Core counts were effectively fake, leading to a class-action lawsuit, clock speeds and power use were pushed high to little effect, and they didn't bother releasing high-end FX CPUs based on Steamroller and Excavator.

Without effective competition, greed takes over.

112 Comments

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Mar 17, 2023 12:24 PM
16 Posts
Joined Dec 2011
rajimotoMar 17, 2023 12:24 PM
16 Posts
Quote from hjliii :
A word of warning to those considering this deal. I tested two of these and both suffered from the same problem. The Gmail web client was unusable. I have no explanation for why this is the case, but it was bad enough that I had to return both machines. I tried everything to make it workable (i.e. multiple browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Edge), html version of Gmail, etc.). Nothing worked. I even reinstalled the OS from scratch. Using the exact same internet connection, performance was at least an order of magnitude faster on machines running intel CPU's that were two generations older. Benchmarks indicated the machines were running as expected. I would love to know if anyone has an explanation for this bottleneck. With the exception of the Gmail issue, I didn't see any other problems. I didn't see performance issue with any other workflows. Other content heavy web sites loaded quickly without issues. I really wanted to keep these machines as they are a great value, but could not work around the Gmail web client issue.
For anyone curious about this, go search for the issues with FiOS ipv6 and Intel NICs. There is a weird incompatibility there if you have a Nokia/Alcatel ONT which effectively requires disabling ipv6.

Also, I'm using this same machine for OPNsense after adding a dual port NIC and it's been awesome, just 22w at idle over the last 45 days.
Mar 17, 2023 12:36 PM
1,549 Posts
Joined Oct 2014
Deal-R-DashMar 17, 2023 12:36 PM
1,549 Posts
Quote from hjliii :
I would really like to hear back from someone who purchases one of these to see if the Gmail web client problem was somehow isolated to my setup. If not for the fact that I saw it on two separate machines I would not have noted it. I saw the problem using two separate google accounts. I honestly don't believe it was a connection issue, as I tested using an older machine using literally the same internet cable and connection to my router. Not only was the client slow, it often would error out and fail to load messages. Web searches revealed nothing of use to explain the issue. I don't want to discourage anyone from purchasing these machines, but I suggest testing Gmail once you have done all of your updates to confirm you don't have an issue.
Did you happen to check if hardware acceleration was turned on for any of the browsers? I'm taking a stroll down memory lane but I think I remember some really bad issues with older integrated video chipsets and that setting.
Mar 17, 2023 12:43 PM
35 Posts
Joined Oct 2018
Sbk4898Mar 17, 2023 12:43 PM
35 Posts
Can it play fort nite ?
Mar 17, 2023 12:58 PM
190 Posts
Joined Dec 2014
d3bas3rMar 17, 2023 12:58 PM
190 Posts
Quote from AtTheLeftThere :
This is by far the weirdest deal I've seen people actually purchase. You are buying a used 7 year old computer.
Yeah...I've gotten newer, better machines from the side of the road and marketplace for free or less money. This is maybe a $30 machine at this point. The benefit here being not having to deal w/ weirdos on MP.
Mar 17, 2023 01:10 PM
190 Posts
Joined Dec 2014
d3bas3rMar 17, 2023 01:10 PM
190 Posts
Quote from hjliii :
I can confirm that all of the 11 items you listed were accounted for. Trust me when I tell you I looked very hard for an explanation. Like I said before, I don't want to keep anyone from buying one of these. Just check the performance of the Gmail web client once you have updated the computer. Hopefully this was somehow isolated to my setup. I would think if this was a generic problem I would have found some mention of it in the searches I performed. Hopefully someone reading this will buy one, test and report back.
I'm more interested in your crazy problem than I am the deal. Everything tells me that this is browser based or on their end if Gmail is the only thing you had an issue with. There is no actual local client that I know of, so I'm assuming you meant browser. The only commonality that I see is the machine, and it's so frikkin specific. I think I read all of what you wrote, but what were the time frames between your comparison of these 2 Dells and your third machine?
Mar 17, 2023 01:14 PM
595 Posts
Joined Jun 2011
magbarnMar 17, 2023 01:14 PM
595 Posts
Quote from t0mmyr :
I wouldn't jump on this. At the price it's tempting but lowest you should get is an 8th gen intel. This is a 6th gen intel which can't run windows 11 or future os. 6th gen will forever be stuck at windows 10 (although it's a great os)
Really easy to install Win11 on this machine with some simple mods to Windows 11 install that even Microsoft condones to speed up gaming in Windows 11. Google is your friend.
Mar 17, 2023 01:29 PM
515 Posts
Joined Sep 2010
clf146Mar 17, 2023 01:29 PM
515 Posts
Quote from tlogank :
Spend $30 on a 500GB SSD and it will make a night and day difference in overall speed in this thing.
true story! in fact you can spend less than $20 bucks on an ssd.

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Mar 17, 2023 01:40 PM
326 Posts
Joined Mar 2009
steziebMar 17, 2023 01:40 PM
326 Posts
Is this good enough to run blue iris and 4 cameras?
Mar 17, 2023 02:35 PM
233 Posts
Joined Jul 2017
sbs5130Mar 17, 2023 02:35 PM
233 Posts
Only slick if:
1. Willing to invest money and time to put OS on SSD.
2. Willing to do workaround for installing Windows 11 no later than EOL for 10, because the processor is old enough that Windows Update won't do the upgrade.
Mar 17, 2023 02:38 PM
115 Posts
Joined Jan 2017
dleihsMar 17, 2023 02:38 PM
115 Posts
Quote from megadro :
Will it be sufficient to stream 4k on plex?

Also how bad is the power consumption compared to a raspberry pi?
Wondering about the Plex question as well.
Mar 17, 2023 02:52 PM
2,035 Posts
Joined Sep 2018
slimdunkin117Mar 17, 2023 02:52 PM
2,035 Posts
Quote from neverpayfullprice :
I recently purchased a B grade over an A grade to save a few bucks and was expecting to see some scratches or dings on the case but it was in perfect condition.
it's random. I got used several times and it looked brand new
Mar 17, 2023 02:54 PM
523 Posts
Joined Jan 2006
nsdjoeMar 17, 2023 02:54 PM
523 Posts
Would this make a good plex server? Fast enough to transcode 4k video?

Edit: Looked up Plex recommendations. For a 4k transcode they recommend 17000+ passmark score. This i5-6500 gets only about 5600.

Should be fine for 1080p (for which Plex recommends PassMark of 2000), but 4k looks like it's probably right out.
Last edited by nsdjoe March 17, 2023 at 09:10 AM.
Mar 17, 2023 03:20 PM
616 Posts
Joined Sep 2013
aralkMar 17, 2023 03:20 PM
616 Posts
Quote from helpout :
Why does an Intel chip only show a 3% improvement after 3 years ?
His was xx70, mostly top of the line vs xx00 on this one which is in the bottom.
Mar 17, 2023 03:29 PM
31 Posts
Joined Nov 2019
rmeilixMar 17, 2023 03:29 PM
31 Posts
Quote from AtTheLeftThere :
This is by far the weirdest deal I've seen people actually purchase. You are buying a used 7 year old computer.
I5 from that generation do everything except video editing and gaming quite OK as long as you have 8 or more GB ram and a ssd. Have never had an OPTIPLEX go bad on me. My currently oldest is about 10 years old. This being a business computer it is getting better and longer support from Dell, although this model is probably close to the end of active support from Dell.

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Mar 17, 2023 04:17 PM
1,625 Posts
Joined Jul 2003
kugelMar 17, 2023 04:17 PM
1,625 Posts
Is there a way to apply dell rewards, it does not seem to let me log i with my dell id.

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