Dell OptiPlex GX620 Review

More Than Enough Power for Excel and PowerPoint

When we say "off to the races," we're speaking literally: The 3.6GHz Pentium 4 660 processor and DDR-2/533 memory made the OptiPlex one of the fastest PCs we've tested, although not really faster than last year's old-school Pentium 4/3.6 and DDR desktops.

Futuremark's PCMark04 gave the GX620 an overall rating of 5,052 (CPU 5,535; memory 5,263; hard disk 4,281; graphics 1,624). The Dell's BAPCo SysMark 2004 score was 196 (Internet Content Creation 229; Office Productivity 168). It performed Cinebench 2003's 3D rendering test in 69.5 seconds with a CPU score of 379, the processor's Hyper-Threading technology yielding a 21-percent improvement over plain uniprocessor mode.

By contrast, the 128MB ATI Radeon X600 SE graphics card didn't dazzle us with a big performance improvement over the 945G chipset's Graphics Media Accelerator 950 or even ATI Radeon X300 solutions we've sampled. The system's 3DMark03 and 3DMark05 scores were robust enough at 2,279 and 1,148 respectively, but it played Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory at a good-but-not-great 43 frames per second and the DirectX 9.0 torture test Gun Metal 2 at only 11 fps (both at XGA resolution). We suspect most IT managers will be content to deploy the OptiPlex with integrated graphics and save $89 from our system price.

Popping a single latch lets you remove the small-form-factor GX620's lid and gaze at the tightly packed goodies therein. The half-height PCI slot (vacant) is pinched between the PCI Express x16 slot (occupied) and the case frame, though there's reasonably clear access to the four DDR-2 memory sockets.

The 80GB Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA hard disk (7,200 rpm, 8MB buffer) and a 1.44MB floppy drive (a $19 option) occupy the internal and external 3.5-inch drive bays, respectively, with the Hitachi-LG Data Storage DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive filling the lone 5.25-inch bay.

The CPU hides under a mammoth heat sink and air duct; the cooling fan is audible but not obnoxiously loud when the OptiPlex is crunching numbers or rendering detailed video. We should also note that not only are larger 160GB and 250GB drives available, but you can choose from Serial ATA I or swifter SATA II models.

Space Efficiency

At the front of the case, you'll find headphone and microphone jacks and two USB 2.0 ports. Around the back are six more USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, parallel, serial, integrated VGA, and audio-in, -out, and microphone ports, plus the DVI and S-Video outputs of the Radeon X600 SE card.

Dell's software bundle begins with Windows XP Professional SP2 and ends with CyberLink's PowerDVD (a handsome, Media-Center-style version), Sonic's MediaCenter CD backup and burning software, and Wave Systems' Embassy TPM security client. We had no complaint with the GX620's simple (no multimedia extras) but solid-feeling keyboard and smooth-moving optical scroll mouse.

We have even less complaint with the thin-bezel, analog-and-digital-inputs Dell 1706FPV monitor, which showed no bad pixels among its 1,280 by 1,024 and offered that resolution at a flicker-proof 75Hz as well as at LCD screens' usual, almost-flicker-proof 60Hz.

Gamers will snub its 25-millisecond response time, but text was sharp and colors were bright -- the 1706FPV is rated at a 1,500:1 contrast ratio and 280 nits of brightness. The only oddity is that Dell sent the 1706FPV along with our small-form-factor OptiPlex, while on Dell's site the monitor is listed as a choice only with the ultra-small system (where it adds $349 to total cost; small-form-factor shoppers' default 17-inch LCD choice is the 1,000:1-contrast, $319 model 1704FPT).

Overall, we think anyone with a desk decorated by an OptiPlex GX620 will be a happy worker bee indeed: The piggyback design makes for a tangle of cables beneath the monitor, but it's hard to beat the space savings, and the PC's snappy performance joins the LCD's height adjustment and image quality to make a first-class compact workstation. We think our test system is priced a few hundred bucks too high to make the jump from a four-star to one of our rare five-star reviews, but at least half of that's due to the revved-up Pentium 4 660 processor -- it's awfully tempting to ponder a GX620 with Intel's dual-core, 2.8GHz Pentium D 820 and GMA 950 integrated graphics for $350 less.

Pros:

• A speedy, space-saving office PC with excellent 17-inch LCD monitor
• Small-form-factor design a nice compromise between ultra-small and larger desktop models

Cons:

• Price climbs sharply with faster CPUs; small selection of low-profile PCI and PCIe x16 cards

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