My 7010 micro has been running 24/7 for 4 years as a media server. No issues what so ever. You can't generalize opti 7010s on your experience or on mine More on reddit.com

Hi all, I am purchasing a Dell Optiplex 7010 from a University Surplus store, both due to its low cost (150.00), good starting processor and upgradability from everything I have seen. However, I have been having some trouble nailing down the maximum that the motherboard can handle in terms... More on forums.tomshardware.com

Hey guys I figured I would do a review for the Dell Optiplex 7010 a bought around 9 months ago. Here goes: Performance: 4/10 The Optiplex came around… More on reddit.com

Lol this was my first gaming PC, I built it when I was your age. If it's the MT (mid tower) and not the SFF (small form factor), it's actually not a bad PC to modify and upgrade. The SFF is pretty bad to upgrade because it's small. Assuming it's the MT, I have the following advice: I would say that its CPU is pretty good, especially for the stuff you're doing, but the GPU is quite weak (it's an Intel iGPU from 2012 after all). I also think $170 is slightly pricey for something like this for North American standards, but I don't know what pricing is like in your area. Upgrading-wise, there's two main issues I remember running into with this thing: If you ever want to use a different case (which is fair because the case's airflow is really bad), the motherboard uses a lot of proprietary connectors, so you will get a crash course in basic circuitry if you want to do something as basic as plugging in the power button lol You can't put in a GPU longer than 10.5" unless you unplug the USB 3.0 cable and remove the HDD bay (which you can do with a drill) If you want to use a different CPU cooler (e.g. a quieter one), you'll need to either replace the CPU socket backplate with one from a different motherboards, or cut off the 'arms' of the Dell backplate with ad remel However, there are also big advantages to using this platform for upgrading: It has 4 RAM slots and 4 SATA ports, which makes it easy to upgrade RAM The PC uses a standard ATX size PSU, and standard ATX connectors on the motherboard; this makes it really easy to upgrade the PSU for a better GPU As long as your GPU is under 10.5", and you're fine not having USB 3.0 (or your GPU is like 8"), you can easily upgrade the GPU The motherboard has an extra 4x PCIe slot on the bottom, in case you want to install a USB card, a WiFi card, etc. The PC already comes with an i7-3770, which is quite a good CPU Anyway, if want, feel free to refer to my experiences building a gaming PC with this thing. More on reddit.com