Stuck between upgrading vs replacing on a 7 year old Optiplex in Seattle last month

I've got a customer with a Dell Optiplex 7050 that runs their POS system, and it's been locking up twice a week. Do you techs lean toward swapping in a used motherboard for $80 or just telling them to buy a whole new machine for $400? I couldn't decide after checking the power supply voltages, so I'm curious how you all handle these borderline calls.

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_sanchez193d ago

The 7050 POS system thing is a trap - those boards have a known cold solder issue on the SATA controller that locks up drives every 12-18 months. $80 motherboard swap is throwing good money after bad if the chipset is the root cause.

victor_butler503d ago

Is that cold solder issue specific to the 7050s or does it show up on the 7040s and 5060s too? I've seen some chatter about the Optiplex line in general having SATA controller problems after a couple years but nobody ever pinpoints which exact models. Did you actually have one lock up on you or did you catch it before it went bad? Trying to figure out if it's worth avoiding the whole series or just the 7050 specifically.