Optiplex 9010 MT looking to improve cooling

By default, Dell mini tower form factors already have sufficient cooling.  Changing fresh thermal paste when CPU temp too high and using blower style graphics cards (push heated air outside the case) are the common solutions to keep the system cool.

OptiPlex 9010 is 2012 circa.  Do not invest too much into Noctua fans or CPU tower cooler as those with high-end recent systems.

The MT side panel has a small fenestration which is not great for cooling.  the MT tower was not designed by Dell as a potential gaming pc.  if you are willing to mutilated the panel, drill a matrix of opening like the Aurora R15 side panel, and mount a side venting fan too.  fan can be powered by USB 2.0 port or if you had upgraded psu use the new psu molex 4 pin for fan

If you open holes on the side make them direct on top of cpu and build a custom air duct on top of Dell heatsink fan.  this guides outside cold air to directly blow on heatsink than letting interior ambient air cool the cpu.

another option is to remove the two dvd 5.25" front bezel opening and opt to have no dvd in the MT.  this opens a big air intake window at front.  you can manage to install a big fan at the front side of the 5.25 bay.  unblocked air intake is great for cooling the interior case.

Can add a 90-92mm fan on top of the HDD cage.  Mine is super glued.  If fan has a 4-pin molex connector like mine does, use SATA power to molex adapter.  If all power connections are used up, use a splitter.

Can use an LED fan, but not much shows through all of the grill work.

I have same 7010 MT as brad.  have not modded it since it is not used for gaming.  9010 and 7010 are very similar like XLE vs LE. the high end features overlap.

That's an older photo from 2020 when I first put led fans in it and before I installed hot swap hard drive bays in it.  Since then, it's gone to my mother for her games last year.  (I kept the hot swap bays.)

It still runs great aside from a Kingston stick of RAM going out.

in terms of Dell classic gaming pc case other than the tank/dozer XPS, the best case imo is Inspiron 3847 which has more room than Optiplex ##10/20 MT or XPS8700/8500.  The 3847 is often looked down on b/c it is old and consumer line than business/high end line, but for mod purpose it is the top choice and easily available on local market too.  just recently saw two units for sale.

Sound like an oldie, but a goodie.  Though I would ask how does it have more room when it has the same chassis as the Optiplex ##10/20 with the exception of a different front bezel?

It is possible Dell again used the same metal skeleton chassis with a different plastic shell to make a different model

3847

Width, 177.8 mm. Height, 368.3 mm. Depth, 431.8 mm

Opti 7010 MT

if these dimensions are accurate, 3847 has a deeper chassis supporting full length gpu.  this is a plus compared to 7010/20 MT

the second advantage of 3847 is that it has a nearly standard 9 pin front IO connector which can directly plug in standard micro ATX motherboard.  Opti on the other hand has a Dell proprietary 5 pin power switch separate from the USB front IO

now look at XPS 8700

So the Opti 7010 MT is really the baby case in comparison and was not in Dell's mind to be a gaming pc to  begin with.  XPS is the Dell mass consumer mkt gaming PC which is bigger.  but due to the internal chassis design, the 3847 felt more roomy.

PS RS brad keeps me honest

You funny.  However, here's some photos.

Optiplex 7010 MT:

Precision 3620:

Inspiron 3847:

RS brad convinced to take an actual side by side comparison of 7010 and 3847.  result is shocking.  brad is right.  the metal case is same depth.

brad we got massive spam attack. 

May be it's a different Inspiron you were thinking of that has deeper dimensions?

With the Inspiron 3847 only taking 2 sticks of RAM and only 3 PCIe slots, the aforementioned Optiplex's are more expandable.

@redxps630​ 

How about this thing?  No HDD cage to get in the way of GPU Inspiron 3670.  Of course, there's no case fans.

it is not very deep so max gpu length is limited.  and case does not support standard mobo.  there is no separate FIO.  but I have to say brad's photos are exquisite high quality better than mine

All of that effort to make a shroud, they should've just added a case fan.

With the exception of my previous 7010 photo and 7010 screengrabs from eBay, all other photos were downloaded from the internet.  I just Google the specific image I want and get a bunch to choose from.  I stumbled across the 3670 because it was mixed in 3874 images.  Thanks for the compliment.

What do you mean by separate "FIO"?