As part of the Afterpay Deal is this refurb PC which is a good alternative to the popular HP EliteDesk 800 G1 that goes on sale quite frequently.
It has 4 DIMM slots, SATA slots for additional storage, 240W platinum PSU and the option of adding a low profile graphics card like the GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 1650 to make it a budget gaming rig.
- Windows 10 Pro
- Intel Core i5 4570 3.20Ghz
- 8GB DDR3 RAM
- 256GB SATA SSD
- VGA, 2x DisplayPort
- 4x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0
- 240W PSU
Cheers OP. My daughter will love it.
The maximum RAM is 32GB and a Low Profile GTX 1650 won't run into problems with a 240W PSU as it's powered through the PCIe lane and doesn't require the 6 pin power cable like the full sized versions. You'd certainly be pushing it however.
Don't care for the product since a GTX 1650 looks outdated now, especially with RDNA-2 in the market. But it's sad that you can't find a decent one for under $400.
With that said, came to +1 for the profile pic!!!
would this be fine to leave on 24/7 as a server?
Yeah no issues there.
I have an Ubuntu server on this.. no issues
What sort of power draw would this have as a server?
Depends what you do with it. Up to 240w
Plex server and Nas.
Similar servers on r/homeserver sit at about 50W Idle and 75-150W in use, depending if transcoding is happening.
@MasterScythe: If the server is doing simple tasks, would be better with a low power drawing NUC, no?
I'm still looking for one.
I remember seeing something that was between this size and a NUC that seemed to be in the 10-15W range
@spendybeans: Raspberry Pi is your best bet then.
They can even serve media via a usb hdd, and run a zfs mirror across 2 of them :)
@MasterScythe: I don't think a Raspberry Pi would have any where near as much transcoding raw power as say a Core i5 4570 CPU even but it's generations old. This computer would beat the Raspberry Pi in every way when it comes to compute power. Desktop CPU is just way faster by design. Raspberry Pi would only be ok for a file server, not a transcoding media server.
@hollykryten: He didnt say transcoding. He only mentioned plex.
Also, since h264 and h265 encoding is hardware accelerated on the pi4 it does some pretty decent work even if he were transcoding.
Afaik plex hasnt implimented the acceleration yet, but jellyfin has.
Regardless, most of us play back on google TV, or phones, or Shields, or rPi's; so transcoding has become exceptionally rare.
Most playback natively.
@MasterScythe: Yep I'm up on a 3 and a 2 RPi. I kind of am thinking about getting a 4 and going SSD because I'm pretty sick of power outages corrupting the card, or just the cards failing from the read write they're not designed for.
I don't need to transcode but more raw power would be nice. Thus was thinking a low power NUC.
@spendybeans: Ive never had a card corrupt. im just using SLC samsung cards; the "pro endurance" range.
Been going for…. 3? Years now on my pi3, and powers off and on with the TV, so its certainly never had a clean shutdown in its life.
@spendybeans: I'm looking at using an old laptop and setting up Wake on Lan rather than "always on", but not really sure if this would be suitable just using it as a drive of media - thoughts or recommendations from anyone would be appreciated
@Cheapkiwi: You might be able to just use your router if it's literally only a drive server…. Check out the model.
I wouldn't want a server to simply serve me a drive. It only becomes valuable to me when I have it doing other things as well
@spendybeans: @spendybeans thanks for the suggestion, wanting to avoid leaving my pc on permanently, just need something to host my video play list since my old "nas" from this deal died ages ago https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/197438
Thought the old laptop might do the job, not "serving", just storing. Seemed a low-power/cost option, if I can figure out remote wake on wifi-lan…
@MasterScythe: Thinking of upgrading from an HP MicroServer N54L. Are their power consumption around the same level?
@hexapling: Near identical. I had an n54L previously, and I have a watt meter.
n54L with a 5450 gpu in it (for hdmi) was using 75W idle, and 150W when playing 720p content locally.
I moved to a ryzen system I built with a 1200, ecc ram, asrock mobo, gt710, and ssd; and it now uses 25W idle and 52W playing 1080p content.
Though. Moving away from the microserver means giving up ECC, which is something I just couldnt do, as I was using mine as a NAS.
Correct me if I am wrong. The PSUs used in these computers are designed to last for a long time and run 24/7, because they are enterprise hardware. Also have nice Intel NIC, which is great.
yes correct. These devices are bullet proof
yes they are reliable, but they aren't as efficient (or at least not rated to be as efficient - they would be more efficient than the rating but who knows by how much).
the one in my m93p (case looks identical, appears to be an upspec variant of the one in this post) is only rated 80 plus bronze, not platinum as some people thought.
Would really love to know if you can play Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 on this
Lol no.
You would need at least a $1500 modern PC to run FS.
Alternatively, you can buy a Xbox Series S for around $450 and play it on 1080p med/high equivalent.
I'd guess adding a 1650 card to this would probably also let it play on med settings.
The CPU is pretty decent.
Getting the card for $300 might be a challenge.
Xbox series S is cheapest option for Flight sim
Once you add a 1650, yes, but it won't be 'fancy'.
If you're into flight sims for the majesty of the flight, you'll be disapointed.
If you're into flight sims for the technical aspect of flying a plane? The instruments will still respond as one would hope, yes.
would a 6600xt fit?
Not even close, needs to be a low profile card that ideally runs on PCIe only power.
Makes no sense even trying to jerry rig this PC into supporting a 6600 XT (no side panel, DIY GPU mount, new PSU, etc) when the CPU will bottleneck it into the next millennium.
Chop up the case and it will. Power supply won't handle it though
Thats when you buy a PSU jumper connector, and give the GPU it's own one!
With the shortage of huge power PSU's we were almost at that stage anyway, lol.
Agreed, it's still a stupid idea, but I could make it work if someone demanded it of me.
Do you have the tiny ones pls?
Standard ATX motherboard screws and power connectors?
These dumb terminals would have proprietary mb connectors so good luck placing the mb in another case. Unless you can figure which connector is for PWR, LED, Reset etc
Trial and error. What could go wrong?
I can't remember now but I think that the mb connectors are not like the exposed type such as conventional. It may be proprietary molex type. The correct PWR pins needs to be shorted to start so does the reset to do its task. Its finding the right pins. So you can't start with a screw driver trying to short out pins. Its a matter of finding the correct pins/combination. Confident?
Hey mate, I've got an M93P which I believe is fairly similar, though with an i5 4670.
I've recased mine into an msi mag forge 100r with a standard corsair psu.
I did that as I was able to get a near new 1050ti for $150 from a guy at work, when low profile models were near impossible to find for under $300.
Essentially nothing on these motherboards and powersupplies is atx standard.
PSU connectors:
- 4pin atx cpu power
- 14 pin mb power (instead of 24pin atx)
- no other connectors (no sata or molex power)
Motherboard:
- 4pin atx cpu power
- 14pin mb power
- 3xsata
- esata
- 2x4 pin power outputs (breakout cables to convert 1x4pin to 1xsata power)
- standard 4pin pwm cpu fan header
- standard 4pin pwm case fan header
- proprietary front panel usb3 header (looks like pcie 1x but is smaller)
- 2 pin case speaker header
- 6 pin ir header
- 14 pin front panel audio header (keyed so a standard 9pin header won't plug in)
- proprietary front panel usb2 header (used for cardreader on m93p)
- slot 1 - pcie16x
- slot 2 - pcie1x
- slot 3 - pcie4x
- slot 4 - pci
- standardish front panel headers (pwr,reset,hdd led, cpu led)
Here's the diagrams I used:
USB2 header
HD AUDIO header
FRONT PANEL header
ATX power
Screws, standoffs and hole locations are standard mATX.
For mine I did the following:
- 14pin to standard 24pin atx power adaptor from amazon - $7.50
- made my own hd audio harness from prepinned jumper wires ($2.50 from core electronics) (you can buy adaptors for under $5, but they are only on ali express so postage is ages)
- there is a pcb for sale in the US that adapts the usb3 header, but it costs heaps with shipping, I used a pcie1x usb3 adaptor card to give 2 more usb3 ports on the back, and a usb3 mb header (~$12), another option is to adapt 2 of the usb3 ports on the mb io to a mb usb header with a cable for ~$10-15
- front panel - so long as the case has 1 or 2pin connectors it will work without adaptation
Bare minimum you need to adapt the mb power.
That was an awesome post. Just wanted to say thanks.
no worries mate. took me a bit of research to figure it all out for myself so it's nice to be able to pass the info on to anyone who wants to give it a crack.
when I bought mine from a mob on ebay months ago they didn't have enough to post, but I got an m93p with a free gt620 (not really useful for much but free is free) for $145 delivered after an afterpay code.
the goal was originally to find a low profile gpu to put into it, but prices were absolutely attrocious, and i managed to buy a standard 1050ti used ($150), msi magforge 100r ($71) and a corsair cv550w ($55) and the bits to adapt the lenovo motherboard to the case and psu for under the ~$300-$350 for a low profile 1050ti at the time.
the current plan is to actually replace all the lenovo hardware when a cheap i310105f, b460 board and 16gb ddr4 comes up used or new.
I've kept everything from the lenovo and will reassemble it and resell it.
The case and psu I bought for the swap will easily support anything I would be willing to buy (ryzen 3600x and 2060 will be the most expensive stuff i plan to buy in the forseeable future), so this way I get a pc for gaming for cheap, and will do a more powerful build in future when prices drop again.
I also managed to get 5 sticks of essentially new hyperx ddr3 from a guy at work for $50 so threw that in too.
he bought 2 packs, went to do a build and one stick was doa, claimed warranty and they didnt ask him to send them back and sent another 2 pack.
in the end he moved onto other things and the ram sat until i bought it.
Not all heroes wear capes.
no worries mate, see comment above on gomango.
Forgot to add - these units have some sort of hardware check when they start up - like they know what hardware they have, and freak out on boot if it changes.
Gpu, drives, and powersupply etc they don't care about, but cpu or ram swap they may freak out about.
if it doesn't post and beeps a bunch after you change either ram or cpu, that's what it will be.
you can get it to update its hardware list by clearing the cmos by booting after moving the cmos jumper on the board.
Any way of getting this deal without having afterpay go on your credit report?
Afraid not as the loophole was closed. The only thing you could do to reduce how much you have to pay with Afterpay would be to use gift cards.
cheers
I thought they don’t go in your credit report, their website says they don’t and other websites says they don’t, unless you miss a payment
I'm not sure how they work to be honest, thought it was revolving credit like the rest of them?
So these guys offer credit to anyone without doing a credit check? crazy
Afterpay never uses credit reporting or inquiries. I think you might be confusing it with zippay.
Well how does Afterpay decimate your credit history then? Banks won’t touch anyone with an Afterpay debt.
Afterpay won't do credit checks when you sign up or make payments but their T&C's allow them to report any negative activity, e.g. late payments, missed payments, defaults or charge backs.
This is a good read with the table at the bottom comparing other BNPL's and what checks they do. Afterpay certainly sounds like one of the best ones for maintaining a good credit score.
I always use afterpay. It allows me to use Amex, get points, defer payment for a near 6 week period and the merchants have to pay between 6-10% which helps as I'm a shareholder.
I have no issues with banks or credit as a result.
Klarna is the one you want to avoid when it comes to credit report
I have a spare GTX 1660 Super, would I be able to plug it into this?
Nah. Unless I'm mistaken that's now low profile so it won't fit and would require too much power.
Thanks for your reply. If I somehow manage to fit the GTX 1660 Super in, would I be able to swap out the PSU with a better one to accomodate for the power draw?
They typically use non-standard PSU's so an off the shelf PSU isn't going to fit.
No, you'd need to add a 2nd. However if you're going to try and mod the whole system to fit that card, you could get away with a 12V DC only secondary PSU, just to power the GPU.
It's absolutely NOT recommended by any stretch of the imagination; just if you were hell bent on making it work, you could….
Hey mate, I've detailed the connectors on the lenovo motherboards of this era in a comment above, as well as what I had to do to recase my M93p into a standard case and psu.
You'd need a card without pcie connectors
What GPU would be suited for this?
Depending on your budget and what you can get I'd recommend a GTX 1050 Ti if you were after some a budget gaming build. Obviously it's not going to play the latest titles amazingly but you should get decent 1080p performance with average graphics.
Yep no higher than a 1050ti.
i5 4570 will bottleneck the 1050ti by ~3% at 1080p.
I have one paired with my 4670 and it bottlenecks the 1050ti by ~2%.
1650 low profile
I have one so feel free to ask any questions.
Nvidia RTX A2000
Does anyone happen to know how many drives this could realistically fit?
Mate has hacked one (slightly older model, same case design) into a server using junk we had laying around, he has 16 SSD's double sided taped to the inside of the case, and 4X USB HDD's hanging off the back.
Using a bunch of PCI-E to 8X SATA cards to make it happen. It's wild, and stupid, but good fun when you're a tech hoarder.
That is brilliant. That's exactly the kind of realism I was looking for
Does anyone know if this would work as a Roon Core? Is there room for a 3.3" HDD?
I'd wager yes.
It should indeed fit one 3.5" HDD, otherwise, just install a 2.5" they come pretty big these days.
It says the code is expired
So how many slots for HDDs
maximum of 3 but you'll have to unplug dvd drive and get a hdd power splitter, if you want more can buy a pcie to ssd but it'll limit graphic card upgrade option.
3 sata ports, 2 sata power connectors, 1 5.25in bay, 1 3.5in bay.
So 2 2.5in drives without ghetto mounting anything.
3 drives - 2x3.5in and 1x2.5in if you're willing to ghetto mount 2 of the drives and use a sata power splitter.
You will need a power splitter with a right angled sata output if you split the power from the 3.5in bay as space is tight.
I've been down this road earlier this year and recommend you only buy one of these SFF units if you intend to use it as is for basic stuff like a server or whatever, or have a usable decent video card (1050 Ti or so as mentioned above) to slot into it to extend its capabilities. They are so restricted with proprietary connectors, low-wattage psu and so on that you if you hope to build a cheap gaming rig out of it, you are better off saving your money for something else.
A bit surprise these machines worth this much…..
At work the I.T guys will usually throw them out or give them away for free.
These machines are usually on 24/7 at most work place so I can't imagine the stock PSUs will last for very long.
Stock PSUs are 80+ Platinum so they're really reliable.
I've bought 3 of the HP 800 G1 SFF and 1 Dell SFF machines over the years and have been using them everyday (even turned one of them into a gaming PC with a GTX1650 GPU) never had any issues. I've setup the Dell as a server and has been leaving it on 24/7 too.
Can someone please recommend decent wifi card for this?
You could get a USB dongle (which is what I use on my unit, HP 280 G2 SFF):
Edimax EW-7822ULC AC1200 Dual-Band $28.0
https://www.umart.com.au/Edimax-EW-7822ULC-AC1200-Dual-Band-…
Which in theory is 4x times faster than this WiFi card;
https://www.umart.com.au/TP-LINK-TL-WN881ND-300Mbps-Wireless…
You are paying around $49+ to get the same speeds as that dongle or you could try this unit:
Gigabyte Wireless-AC Dual Band WiFi Bluetooth 5 PCIe Adapter $55
https://www.umart.com.au/Gigabyte-Wireless-AC-Dual-Band-WiFi…
High speed wireless connection up to 1733 Mbps
Thank you
Does this have space to add a second ssd 1tb hard drive? thanks
Absolutely. Not much will have problems fitting an SSD, even if you had to decase it, without the 2.5" mounting 'case' they're only barely bigger than a full size USB stick.
cheers
Probably noob questions,
- would this be able to support a 4k monitor(4k display) via display port without any upgrades?
- with limited budget, is it worth upgrading ram to 16GB($69) for daily tasks, such as web browsing and Office stuff,etc?
- built quality wise, how does this compare with popular Dell 9020SFF and HP Elitedesk 800 G1?
Thanks in advance
Yes.
No.
They're all different designs, google photos.
No idea about the deal, but love the Sean Lock icon Clear. Still reeling from his passing… so sad 😭
Anyone know how this would fare for a dedicated htpc? I'd like to stream 4k from it to TV
If the 4k content can be hardware accelerated, and you put a cheap GPU in, absolutely.
It might handle software decoding on the simpler codecs without it, but I wouldnt make bets.
Hi, is this a better machine than the popular DELL 9020: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590 CPU @ 3.30GHz 3.30 GHz? I am using this currently. Thanks
No, the 4590 is the next one up from this.
Hi, which will give a better experience if running a N64 emulator, this or a raspberry pi?
This will be better then a raspberry pi
![[Afterpay, Refurb] Lenovo ThinkCentre M83 (Intel i5-4570, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Win 10 Pro) $160.65 Delivered @ bneacttrader eBay](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/33/645633.jpg?h=0d23a2c1)
Shiiiii. Just bought one from a local dealer for 150 with 120gb SSD and i5 4430…. What a lose……