OPTIPLEX GX620

Yes, these boards do develop a problem with capacitors.  Specifically, from my personal experience:

1. System becomes unstable / locks up periodically (1-2 times per day)
2. Event log shows hard drive controller errors:  Source: Disk  /  Event ID: 11  /  The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D
3. Hard drive controller errors reported EVEN ON NEW PCI SATA CONTROLLER--not just the on-board controller!
4. Hard drive transfer mode is degraded from DMA to PIO--which is MUCH slower, and causes other problems
5. USB gets flakey, such as:  USB keyboard / mouse go unresponsive, even though system can still be accessed remotely via RDP
6. USB gets flakey, such as:  USB-attached hard drives spontaneously disconnect / have delayed write failures, etc.

I spent many hours slogging through these system problems before replacing the motherboard.  A motherboard failure seemed unlikely to me (I hadn't heard of the capacitor problem before)--especially because the system still ran.  In my case the symptoms got progressively worse over a period of several weeks.  But swapping out the motherboard resolved all of these problems.

My system was purchased July 24, 2005--and began having noticeable problems about June of 2009--almost 4 years to the day.  (System used as main workstation / daily use / powered on 24 x 7.  Replaced power supply once due to failed fan, had been running 4 gig of ram and Seagate 320 gig Barracuda drive.)

Here's a link to a thread on the problem:  http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6055  If you look at other information on that site, it seems that a number of motherboards from that era developed capacitor problems.

There are services that will "re-cap" your motherboard.  Or you can purchase a motherboard for about $60 from folks like http://www.redplanettrading.com/  (what I did).  I haven't talked to Dell about the issue yet.

On my board, there were 4 capacitors that exhibited visible signs of deterioration:  bulging caps and corrosion.  (3 were 2200 mf and 1 was 1800 mf).  Others may be failing too--those were the only ones with visible indication of problems.  Here is a photo:

Well this is good I hope dell is reading this I have 17 computers of the same running here and it looks like I be calling on some new boards in the future so far I have had to replace two mother boards and one power suppy and I have one more acting up also and they have just went out of warranty  I have put in a call to dell and they said to me that they are  not having any problems with this computer.... Thanks for your input this has been a wakeing for me on this brand. 

I'm glad to hear that we are not the only ones having this problem with the Optiplex GX620's.  We purchased several hundred of these in July 2006 which went out of warranty in July 2009.  

Prior to going out of warranty, we had 20 or so that required new hard drives, power supplies, memory and/or motherboards.  Since going out of warranty, we have had an additional 30 or so that have gone "belly-up".  

One of our techs did some research and discovered that the problem appears to stem from blown or bulged capacitors.  Sure enough, we removed the hard drive and looked closely at the motherboard and found the capacitor problem.   Unfortunately like you said Dell does not acknowledge that there is a problem with this PC!!!

Our workplace runs strictly Dell's with over 3000 units but none have given us the problems that this model has.  We even have some older models that worked just fine even though they are slow.

I personally run a Dimension 4600 at home that is almost 5 yrs old and has been working fine with no problems whatsoever.   Just out of curosity, I recently looked at the motherboard and it shows no signs of any capacitor problem.

I have had 2 of the GX620s die in the last 2 days becuase of this issue and overall about 10% of our GX620s have seen it.  I have gotten the same story from Dell tech support that there is no known issue with Caps on the GX620 even though there is plenty of evidence online and in these forums.  I am holding on to the machines in the hope that Dell will make it right in the near future.  In the mean time, I am calling tech support on each one that goes down and I will add it to the forum here.  How long can they claim ignorance?