Rebuilding an Optiplex GX620

[Oqsy]

I got a dead GX620 from work and I'd like to get it back up and running.  I like the case size and style, and could use another PC on the other side of the house for several purposes.

My questions are:

What motherboard / cpu / ram combo would work in the case and has the right expansion slots for the form factor?  I'm not looking to max the thing out, just something solid and reliable.

What PSU should I be considering?  It really just needs to be good enough to safely run the MB/CPU/RAM and DVD drive as I don't expect to use any expansion cards at the moment, but that all depends on what motherboards are available and if they're copacetic for onboard LAN / Audio / Video.  Once again, I don't need anything fancy, just solid.  It will most likely be hooked to a CRT with a pretty low max resolution, so XTREEEM GFX!!@#$ are totally wasteful in this situation.

Basically I'm trying to custom build a solid and fairly cheap system into the GX620 case.  Not hell bent on the idea, but I've been kicking the idea around since I got this system from work.

[Findecanor]

Open it up and look around, for god's sake!

[ch_123]

Looks like a standard ATX power supply. The motherboard could be mATX, but if the bezel around the IO ports is fixed into the chassis, you're ****ed.

[whininggit]

Those systems are mBTX, and the I/O plate is part of the chassis, so you're doubly "****ed", unless you pick up a replacement Dell motherboard from eBay.

Maybe it is just the capacitors? Have a look for any that are bulging or leaking. The GX260/270/280 were notorious for this, but the GX620 should be ok (but still worth checking).

[ch_123]

That would explain why the motherboard is on the wrong side.

Have fun finding replacement parts...

[whininggit]

It is a shame that BTX never caught on. It was brought in when the Pentium 4 was so difficult to cool effectively, and then when the Core and Athlon 64 appeared with their lower power requirements, it disappeared (in retail at least). I believe that Dell still use it on their high end XPS and Precision workstations, but even they have abandoned it in favour of ATX for the lower end.

[ch_123]

The thing is that there's nothing really wrong with ATX, and BTX was distracting from the fact that Intel has making **** chips.

[chimera15]

Yeah BTX are crap.  The same thing can be done in a standard format, with putting the powersupply below the board, as many cases have done, and keep the standard atx format.  BTX just causes a load of problems and incompatibility.  I can see why the oem companies liked them, as it makes their parts harder to replace, and for custom builders to repair their own crap.

What's the problem with it? It has a bad powersupply, or motherboard?

http://cgi.ebay.com/GX620-Tower-Motherboard-Pentium-D-775-0HH807-Tested-/350371452781?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motherboards&hash=item5193c4176d

$20.

Those systems don't usually take much in the way of powersupply's, you can get by with a standard like 300-400 watt

http://cgi.ebay.com/StarTech-AP-400X-350-Watt-Power-Supply-ATXPOWER-350-PSU-/310234254760?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item483b670da8


It has integrated graphics...that should be good enough.


It looks like it has an agp graphics card slot, (I think? been a while) so something like an old 6200  would work as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/PNY-GeForce-6200-128MB-AGP-8x-Video-Card-CRD10070-/180531568656?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item2a08852010

It uses ddr2 memory:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/opgx620/en/ug/A02/memory00.htm#wp1107933

[Oqsy]

Open it up and look around, for god's sake!

First, who the f_ck are you?  
Second, don't you think I did that?  


To everyone else:

I got the thing with the motherboard and cpu already removed.  Basically a case and power supply.  I knew the thing was backwards, which is why I came here asking for suggestions.  

I've never run across this particular form factor before but then again my systems are still PS/2 and IDE, so I know I've fallen a bit behind the times.

[ch_123]

For all intents and purposes, it's a proprietary format that you're not going to find new parts for easily.

I think even the PSUs are slightly different.

[Oqsy]

Yeah, I can get something better much cheaper than getting this thing back together.  Oh well, my wife will be happy that I can ebay or trash the case I brought home "for no good reason".  It does have a winxp pro license on it though.  I need to peel that sucker off and save that for whatever I buy.  I asked the IT guy at work if the license would still be in use and he said absolutely not, that the hard drive was wiped and put on the shelves with the back up units, the RAM and DVD drive were likewise removed for repairing other in house computers.  Anyway, there's a silver lining

[microsoft windows]

At work I did the same with all the Windows 2000 and XP licences that were on the computers they threw out. Now I have over 50 Windows XP and 100 Windows 2000 codes in a book somewhere.

[ch_123]

Why would you bother? Just get a crack. Taking keys from OEM Windows licenses and using them on different computers is as equally against the license as piracy is.

[microsoft windows]

Yeah but it's easier than having to risk gettin viruses by torrenting.

[ch_123]

You only get viruses if you're stupid.

Guess that rules out torrenting for you.

[microsoft windows]

I'm not stupid. I'm actually smart. Smart enough to know that my ISP shut down a neighbor's internet for torrenting.

[Oqsy]

Wow, I agree with MSW!  Plus, I didn't steal it.  It may be prohibited in the license (never read the details on transferring), but it's closer to owning a CD, having the CD get scratched, and downloading mp3s of the CD so you can continue listening to it.  You still have the CD, the case and liner notes, etc.  By the law, you still own the license to that "intellectual property".  I download mp3s of things I already own all the time if I can't be bothered digging through my cds to burn a single track.  This has been considered legal from the early days of online file sharing.  MS and/or Dell can put something in the agreement, but that doesn't make it enforceable or even legal.  

Besides all of that, this is an operating system that's 3 generations back.  I will NOT buy windows 7 for a system that will barely be able to run it if at all, and I don't think the MS lawyers are that interested in hunting down people transferring a single licensed three generation old OS from one computer to another without duplication of functionality.

Operating systems are products, just like anything else you buy.  If you decide to sell it or give it away, then that's the way it works.  MS may claim some obscure reasoning for trying to prevent it, but it would be like Ford telling you that if you buy a Focus, you and only you can drive it, sit in it, or use it for any purpose.  Once you have no use for it anymore, or want to move on to another vehicle, it must be destroyed.  Selling or giving it away would be against the license agreement.  Bullcrap.

[ch_123]

I wouldn't make any bets on the lack of enforceability of arbitrary IP restrictions, especially in the US. I honestly woudn't know where to start giving examples...

[Oqsy]

One of my wife's friends is a patent attorney.  I need to give her a call and find out what she knows or can find out about specific cases where this has been held up or thrown out...  worth knowing anyway.

[Oqsy]

I've started too many threads today, so I'm adding another issue on to this one.

I found a Pentium D 820 SL88t processor in my pile of scavenged stuff today.  I'm tempted to either sell it, or build a system with it (the one that WAS going to be in the optiplex case).  When I acquired the chip it was working perfectly, but since then it's sat on a shelf in an antistatic bag for almost a year.  I don't have a motherboard for testing it so I'm leaning toward just putting it back on the shelf.  Anyone here have experience with the pentium d?  I'm currently running a sempron 2200+, and I'm very tempted to dump my current mobo, processor, and ram into the new rig and put this pentium d in my current setup.

This is what happens when I start digging through my hoarded goodies!  I have to buy more crap than it's worth just to keep from buying a processor with a new setup and somehow that's how I justify it to myself.  :/  

Not exactly logical, but a hoarder doesn't rely on logic.

[ch_123]

I've started too many threads today, so I'm adding another issue on to this one.

I found a Pentium D 820 SL88t processor in my pile of scavenged stuff today.  I'm tempted to either sell it, or build a system with it (the one that WAS going to be in the optiplex case).  When I acquired the chip it was working perfectly, but since then it's sat on a shelf in an antistatic bag for almost a year.  I don't have a motherboard for testing it so I'm leaning toward just putting it back on the shelf.  Anyone here have experience with the pentium d?  I'm currently running a sempron 2200+, and I'm very tempted to dump my current mobo, processor, and ram into the new rig and put this pentium d in my current setup.

This is what happens when I start digging through my hoarded goodies!  I have to buy more crap than it's worth just to keep from buying a processor with a new setup and somehow that's how I justify it to myself.  :/  

Not exactly logical, but a hoarder doesn't rely on logic.

Pentium D... just like a dual core Pentium 4. Hot and power intensive to match...

[microsoft windows]

I've started too many threads today, so I'm adding another issue on to this one.

I found a Pentium D 820 SL88t processor in my pile of scavenged stuff today.  I'm tempted to either sell it, or build a system with it (the one that WAS going to be in the optiplex case).  When I acquired the chip it was working perfectly, but since then it's sat on a shelf in an antistatic bag for almost a year.  I don't have a motherboard for testing it so I'm leaning toward just putting it back on the shelf.  Anyone here have experience with the pentium d?  I'm currently running a sempron 2200+, and I'm very tempted to dump my current mobo, processor, and ram into the new rig and put this pentium d in my current setup.

This is what happens when I start digging through my hoarded goodies!  I have to buy more crap than it's worth just to keep from buying a processor with a new setup and somehow that's how I justify it to myself.  :/  

Not exactly logical, but a hoarder doesn't rely on logic.

You got to start hoarding whole computers!

[Oqsy]

Those are harder to get people to give up
I might be inheriting a server rack full of NT4 machines very soon.  I have NO idea what to do with all that, but I guess it could be fun

[EverythingIBM]

First, who the f_ck are you?  
Second, don't you think I did that?  
To everyone else:
I got the thing with the motherboard and cpu already removed.  Basically a case and power supply.  I knew the thing was backwards, which is why I came here asking for suggestions.  
I've never run across this particular form factor before but then again my systems are still PS/2 and IDE, so I know I've fallen a bit behind the times.

He's some mac fanboy Swede.

I have that IBM netvista case which supports mATX or whatever ch_123 said it was. It does have the PSU still in it and all, just no mobo or CD drive (my step bro wanted to take it apart). It DOES still have the floppy drive -- I know ol' oqsy loves doing backups on floppies.

Yeah, I can get something better much cheaper than getting this thing back together.  Oh well, my wife will be happy that I can ebay or trash the case I brought home "for no good reason".  It does have a winxp pro license on it though.  I need to peel that sucker off and save that for whatever I buy.  I asked the IT guy at work if the license would still be in use and he said absolutely not, that the hard drive was wiped and put on the shelves with the back up units, the RAM and DVD drive were likewise removed for repairing other in house computers.  Anyway, there's a silver lining

I actually peel off keycodes sometimes too. I peeled off a windows 98SE one.

At work I did the same with all the Windows 2000 and XP licences that were on the computers they threw out. Now I have over 50 Windows XP and 100 Windows 2000 codes in a book somewhere.

I should have actually wrote all the keycodes on the computers being thrown out in a book. Darn! I could have had two win 98SE key codes and seven XP pro 32-bit ones.

Why would you bother? Just get a crack. Taking keys from OEM Windows licenses and using them on different computers is as equally against the license as piracy is.

Pirating is a really stupid idea. Not only that, but sometimes microsoft asks for "genuine" verification.

Once again, I don't need anything fancy, just solid.  It will most likely be hooked to a CRT with a pretty low max resolution.

Those are some of the most beautiful words that I've heard in a long time.
You'd really like 640x480 on a large CRT -- I'm going to set up my grandma's computer with all of that so she can read more easily. She loved how easy it was to read.

I found a Pentium D 820 SL88t processor in my pile of scavenged stuff today.  I'm tempted to either sell it, or build a system with it (the one that WAS going to be in the optiplex case).  When I acquired the chip it was working perfectly, but since then it's sat on a shelf in an antistatic bag for almost a year.  I don't have a motherboard for testing it so I'm leaning toward just putting it back on the shelf.  Anyone here have experience with the pentium d?  I'm currently running a sempron 2200+, and I'm very tempted to dump my current mobo, processor, and ram into the new rig and put this pentium d in my current setup.

This is what happens when I start digging through my hoarded goodies!  I have to buy more crap than it's worth just to keep from buying a processor with a new setup and somehow that's how I justify it to myself.  :/  

Not exactly logical, but a hoarder doesn't rely on logic.

How fast is the pentium D? If it's a 3.8 Ghz Pentium D, oohhh boy! I'd love to pop that sucker in one of my computers... with a very large copper heatsink of course.

[Oqsy]

Who said I don't have the OEM disk?  

[EverythingIBM]

Hate to rain on your parade, CD-key-peelers, but for WinXP+ the keys you peel off of OEM systems are useless without a corresponding OEM disk, which you'd have to download via torrent anyway.

Considering that most such disks have a key SLP locked on the disk, the keys are next to useless anyway unless activation fails (but then, many such disks don't have activation anyway).

The windows 98SE OEM sticker I pulled off installed fine -- my best guess is that it's too primitive or something. I love how there's no activation.
EDIT: didn't see the "+" on XP in your post above.
Guess I shouldn't bother with the OEM XP ones then unless I get the disc.

I have an OEM IBM XP sticker on my intellistation. IBM gave me some discs which actually install the OEM XP without having to type in the CD key! Very nice and effortless.

[microsoft windows]

The windows 98SE OEM sticker I pulled off installed fine -- my best guess is that it's too primitive or something. I love how there's no activation.
EDIT: didn't see the "+" on XP in your post above.
Guess I shouldn't bother with the OEM XP ones then unless I get the disc.

I have an OEM IBM XP sticker on my intellistation. IBM gave me some discs which actually install the OEM XP without having to type in the CD key! Very nice and effortless.

You know, there's a universal Windows 98 key someplace on the Internet. I would recommend searching for it.

[EverythingIBM]

You know, there's a universal Windows 98 key someplace on the Internet. I would recommend searching for it.

I prefer using my OEM ones.

But then again, windows 98 doesn't have NSA_key, so microsoft can't spy on me when on the internet!

I should actually have a windows 98 internet rig for that exact reason (I bet viruses today are made for the newer operating systems, so soon, running windows 98 will be "like a mac", or whatever).

[kriminal]

whatever you do you are really fcked if you buy dell optiplexes and put standard parts in it, most of those optiplex boards are specialized mobos created by foxconn for them.
the gx260\270\280 models are okay... i think...

btx form factors are still in retail. Antec and lian li still make em.

dell workstations still use BTX..

[EverythingIBM]

whatever you do you are really fcked if you buy dell optiplexes and put standard parts in it, most of those optiplex boards are specialized mobos created by foxconn for them.
the gx260\270\280 models are okay... i think...

btx form factors are still in retail. Antec and lian li still make em.

dell workstations still use BTX..

And my intellistation 9229 is BTX with C2D at 2.66 Ghz.

I like BTX better than ATX (unless it's flat).