Dell OptiPlex GX620 - Back to Home

You may have seen this machine in the Computer Archive before, but I finally found time to make a real page on it. This Dell OptiPlex GX620 was purchased by me off eBay in early 2020, and since then, it has become my most frequently used computer for messing around with old software & hardware.

Pentium D 830 @ 3.0GHz
80GB HDD
Intel GMA 950 Onboard Graphics
305W PSU
1GB DDR2-667 RAM

As with most computers I buy online, it came with no HDD, so the 80GB drive in it is some random drive I pulled from my basement. If I remember correctly, it's a WD Blue drive.

Here's the internals of the machine. The BTX cases on these machines are quite nice since pretty much everything is tool-less. It's nice to not have to take off 2 screws every time you open a PC.

There isn't too much to say about a generic mid 2000s Pentium D computer, but the setup around it is quite interesting. When I got the OptiPlex 210L that was the subject of the first ever article on this site, I also got a VGA switcher box so I could use the same monitor with both the GX620 & 210L. Having 2 keyboards & mice on one desk can get a bit awkward (the keyboard for the 210L is actually sitting on top of a drawer) but other than that, I'm pretty happy with the setup.

The knob on the VGA switcher broke off a couple months ago, and now the replacement one I put on it is starting to fall off as well. I didn't expect a 20 dollar switch box to be built great, yet it still exceeded my expectations for how cheap it is.

The monitor is a 17" Dell E173FP at 1280x1024, the keyboard is a Dell RT7D20, and the mouse is some Microsoft Intellimouse that's branded as Dell. Since the GX620 has no PS/2 ports, I have to use an adapter for both the keyboard & mouse.

One last thing to mention; this small form factor OptiPlex 780 is also on the desk, but it's not connected to anything. I used to use it a ton before I got the GX620, but since then, it has seen little use. I haven't booted it since last year, because I haven't thought of anything to do with it. I got Windows 2000 running on it a while ago with massive help from Qashqai (mrqash on Blogspot) which is the last big project I've done with it.

An extended page might be written about the 780 eventually, but for now, I'll be working on other things.