Redstone Computer

Built Oct 05, 2024

Last updated: Jun 27, 2025

The Redstone Computer is an SFF Dell OptiPlex 7020 from 2013 that I got for free and turned into my new daily driver/gaming PC. I primarily play Minecraft and Forza Horizon 4, plus a smattering of other lightweight games like Geometry Dash and Asphalt 8/9. It runs all of those games very smoothly, even with fancy shaders in Minecraft. However, the GPU is not quite being used to its full potential, because the cooler is bad and there's like no airflow in the case anyway. But even with that handicap, it still works quite well, and the computer is very stable otherwise (BSOD count since building this computer: 0). It's also so much faster than my ancient Ivy Bridge Dell laptop with a dual-core Intel i7 and an HD 4000 iGPU. That could barely run Minecraft at playable framerates WITHOUT shaders. Geometry Dash was mostly fine on it, but large, extremely detailed levels would still manage to kill that laptop.

Haven't run into any major issues thus far, other than the GPU overheating problem I mentioned, and the fact that initially, the Bluetooth on the Wi-Fi card didn't work. I fixed that with a cheap adapter, though, and Bluetooth works now. #adaptersftw

Second random update 5/26/2025

So yes, it is Memorial Day. But that's not important. What is important is that my dad and I did some modifications to improve my graphics card temperatures. We basically just drilled some holes in the case's side panel and used some sealing foam to isolate the graphics card's fan from the rest of the system so it could get fresh air from those holes. That massively improved the graphics card temps, which are now down to about 88°C under full load (prior to that, it would heat up beyond 95° which is pretty bad, so I turned down settings in games to prevent that from happening). So my computer's performance has greatly improved, which is pretty cool. ^{Get it...?}

Also, I forgot to mention, but the behavior I described below is inconsistent, and only works sometimes (i.e, very, very occasionally) after I boot up my computer. Since I usually prefer to leave it in standby rather than completely shutting it down, usually the temperatures were as bad as they were when I originally built this computer.

Random update 4/17/2025

Been screwing around in Arch Linux lately on this computer, and I have discovered something really incredibly crazy. My graphics card runs about 10° C cooler in Arch than in Windows, despite pushing higher settings on the Minecraft shaders I'm using, and identical-ish power draw figures across both OSes. I mean, I'll take the free performance upgrade, but WHY? Simply running a different operating system shouldn't cause THAT much of a temperature/performance difference. Also, I pretty much consider temperatures under 90° C perfectly acceptable, since I'm used to laptop-level temps and this computer also has awful thermals. I am completely at a loss for why my GPU runs so much cooler (and thus faster) in Linux vs. Windows. Could be a Certified AMD Windows Driver Moment™, but I'm really not sure (since I haven't observed any AMD driver weirdness on my Windows install, and usually when people complain about AMD drivers in Windows, it's about how unstable their system is).

EDIT: I went back to Windows, and... This isn't an Arch Linux thing. I got pretty similar results in Windows using the same shader, same shader settings, practically the same mods. I don't know why this suddenly changed, but I have an idea. It could be because I went and changed a setting in my computer's firmware. I changed the primary graphics adapter from Auto (where the firmware auto-detects the primary GPU, presumably based on where the monitor's plugged in, then disables all other GPUs) to my RX 6400 (which shows up in the firmware as "ATI Radeon Graphics Adapter" which makes perfect sense), and then the Intel HD 4600 iGPU was detected in Windows and Linux (obviously I've now installed the HD 4600's driver in Windows). Additionally, I also noticed that now the case fan ramps up in sync with the GPU's fan. So uhh... I have now gotten much faster performance (my GPU is now running at 96% load in Minecraft with shaders and only getting to 86° C). Idle temps are about the same still.

Storage upgrade 1/16/2025

I was starting to run out of space on the internal SSD, so I added a 1TB Western Digital HDD for $38. At this point, I'm probably not going to make any more hardware changes on this computer. The next upgrade will be a whole new PC (or I might buy a laptop, I'm not fully sure yet). I do know that after Windows 10 gets killed by Microsoft, I'd rather deal with the mess that is Linux than the mess that is Windows 11. The thing is, Linux actually shouldn't be too messy for me, especially since I'm using an AMD GPU.

Original build 10/5/2024

This OptiPlex started out with an Intel Core i5-4590, 8 GB of RAM, a 128 GB SSD, and no GPU or Wi-Fi/Bluetooth. Obviously, that won't allow for much gaming, especially since Intel iGPUs of this era are hot garbage. So....

I upgraded the CPU to an Intel Core i7-4790 (non-K, this mobo can't overclock anyway) for the best possible chance of not bottlenecking the GPU I put in this thing... I didn't have to worry about that, since it's doing a fine job of bottlenecking itself lol.
I replaced the original RAM with a 16 GB Crucial DDR3 kit, just because Windows and games are quite greedy and demand more RAM than the original 8GB kit would have allowed.
The original 128GB SSD would have filled up pretty much as soon as I got everything set up, so I replaced that with a Crucial 500GB SSD.
You can't do much gaming on an Intel iGPU from 2013, so I bought a Radeon RX 6400, but unfortunately I had to settle for the loser XFX version as opposed to the Sapphire Pulse RX 6400, which is better in every possible way. Issues with the XFX card include: 1) A needlessly complicated procedure to swap out the PCIe bracket for the low-profile one, 2) An awful cooler that prefers to let the GPU melt rather than scream its face off with the laughably tiny fan, and 3) complete lockout of frequency, power limit, and fan curve adjustment, which is sad because I wanted to undervolt the card for efficiency's sake, and also see if I could push a more aggressive fan curve so that it runs cooler. It's already quite efficient though, so undervolting likely wouldn't do much.
Finally, I didn't really want to use Ethernet, plus I wanted Bluetooth for my speaker, so I bought a TP-Link Wi-Fi card with Bluetooth. Initially the Bluetooth didn't work, though, since the Wi-Fi card demands you have a spare USB header on your motherboard. The OptiPlex mobo does not, and even if it did, they're proprietary anyways.

Overall, I think I did pretty good. I actually really like small computers. I do not like building in an SFF (i.e, mini ITX) case though, which is basically what this is. They are pretty cramped. My next desktop will probably be MicroATX. That seems like the best compromise between normal ATX towers (which I think are too big) and exremely compact mini ITX PCs (which are quite compact, but are often a pain to build in).

Thoughts on the components

memoryCPU - Intel Core i7-4790

This CPU is absolutely still relevant in 2025, despite its age. Just don't run Windows. Linux is so much better in every possible way on these older CPUs. It also can't run Windows 11. It actually performs quite well for what I need it for. It's not bottlenecking my GPU too horribly much, and I mostly don't do much CPU-intensive stuff anyways. So it's perfect for me. I likely could have kept the original Core i5, but too late for that now (also the i7-4790 supports HyperThreading, which the i5-4590 does not).
hard_diskDrives - Crucial MX500 500GB SSD and WD Blue 5400RPM 1TB HDD

The SSD works pretty well as my boot drive. It's actually the same model I put in my old laptop way back in 2023. That poor laptop was extremely CPU bottlenecked, so it took twice as long to boot Windows as this computer, even with the same drive. I would say this SSD is slightly overpriced nowadays, though. You can get an M.2 drive for cheaper now.
As for the HDD, it's pretty alright. I got it from a slightly sketchy seller on Amazon, and found out that it was likely used when it arrived. The manufacture date on it is Jan 2017. But it works just fine. It's decent for mass data storage, although it's not very fast. I can actually tell the difference between this HDD and my old laptop's HDD, which is a 750GB WD Scorpio Black 7200RPM drive.
monitorGPU - XFX SWFT 105 Radeon RX 6400

This particular version of the RX 6400 has a few flaws, but overall the RX 6400 itself is a great GPU for SFF office computers turned gaming PCs. It's actually decently fast, although it only just matches the GTX 1650, which was the most popular low-profile GPU before the RX 6400. There are still a few gotchas with any RX 6400, such as the lack of a video codec for some reason, but it's a great choice overall. However, the XFX card is not great. I would prefer to have gotten the Sapphire Pulse RX 6400, but that was not available on Amazon when I bought my parts. The reason why is that the XFX card has an awful cooler, which means that I'm not getting the performance I was promised (because the GPU overheats if I try). The design is pretty bad too. One of the screws for the PCIe bracket is hidden under the shroud, which itself is secured by 8 very small screws. A very important consideration for low-profile GPUs, especially when you actually need to use the half-height PCIe bracket.
wifiWi-Fi card - TP-Link Archer TX55E

Very nice Wi-Fi card. It works quite well, even in a computer that no one ever dreamed of putting an Intel AX210 Wi-Fi chipset in. It also has Bluetooth, which is pretty useful too. But for Bluetooth to work, you need a spare USB 2.0 header on your motherboard. Guess what. My OptiPlex doesn't have one. So the solution is a $5 adapter to make it possible to plug it into an external USB port. Also, Bluetooth audio doesn't work well in Forza Horizon 4, at least with this card. Once you load into the game, about 10 seconds after you reach your in-game house, it just says screw your Bluetooth audio.
keyboardKeyboard - Logitech K260

Nope. Do not even think about using this keyboard (or the K270, which is this but with a power switch lol). It's your average $10 office keyboard. Clacky, feels bad to type on, and also slightly flimsy. But it does work. I would only use this if I got it for free. Which I did.
monitorMonitor - Dell P2210

It's old, but it's perfectly serviceable. It has pretty chonky bezels, and it's an odd resolution (1680x1050), but it's not bad anyways. But if I were buying a monitor, I probably wouldn't buy this one unless I had a very specific reason. If you get for free, sure. Otherwise, I'd skip it. Also, it occasionally shows a completely glitched image when I wake up the computer. Probably an indication that the monitor is slowly dying, but it still works perfectly 95% of the time, so I'll pretend I didn't see that.

Screenshot dump :)

Here are some screenshots I took in Minecraft with shaders and Forza Horizon 4. Enjoy ;) (I have a lot more screenshots, but I didn't want to put too many on this page since there's already a lot of pictures.)