motherboard cap question

[coreAngel]

Re: motherboard cap question

not exactly what i meant.
i meant the ORIGINAL ratings.

but if your saying that all the bad FL's were 16v rated, and the remaining ones are all 6.3v then your done - the bad ones were on the 12v input, the good ones are on the VRM output.

Yes the bad FL's i replaced are 16v 1000uf, the rest around the CPU area are 6.3v 1800uf

[coreAngel]

Re: motherboard cap question

Technically, not quite.
But at high switching frequencies (around 100 KHz), they are pretty close.


Depends.

For the low side of the CPU VRM (i.e. CPU V_core), they *typically* are not good enough. This really depends on the board's vintage, though. This being a socket AM2 board, FR probably isn't fit for there but it *may* work (no guarantees if the caps won't be over-stressed or not, though).

For the high side of the CPU VRM (typically on the 12V rail), they may just be enough. But again, it depends on the board design. I have motherboards from around the same age use Chemicon KZE for the high side, and KZE is quite close to Panasonic FR spec-wise for certain cap sizes. Overall, though, the high side is not as stressed as the low side, so in many cases FR/KZE/ZL -class caps should be alright.

That said, you could also use larger-size FRs to get closer to the Panasonic FL and Chemicon KZG specs. Either higher voltage or higher capacitance (or both) a few notches.


You should see which model it is. Only the Bestec ATX-250-12E is dangerous without modifications. The Bestec ATX-250-12Z, ATX-300-12E, and ATX-300-12Z are good power supplies after a recap. In fact, very good. They will do their labeled ratings all day long. People often dismiss the stock OEM PSUs in these big-company PCs as junk - and that's not the case. Delta, Lite-On, Newton, Astec, HiPro, and Bestec make some damn good PSUs.

It was a bestec ATX-300-12E from a Gateway Media Center type system almost all the caps were bulged however it showed signs of overheating the inside was covered in dust (the owner didnt take very good care of top of the psu area, the rest was relatively clean) really stuck on there (caked on dust?) that's why i threw it away.

I don't like bestec very much ,i've had problems before (blowing up on me)with the ATX-250-12E , i do always try to save Delta's,Seasonic's,Lite-on and Hi-Pro (if possible) from OEm computers they are reliable.

[momaka]

Re: motherboard cap question

Yes the bad FL's i replaced are 16v 1000uf, the rest around the CPU area are 6.3v 1800uf

Board should be okay with those FRs then.

It was a bestec ATX-300-12E from a Gateway Media Center type system almost all the caps were bulged however it showed signs of overheating the inside was covered in dust

Perhaps the fan went bad?
I've worked on both the ATX-300-12Z and ATX-300-12E models. The ATX-300-12Z is built a lot better, but it has that tan conductive crap glue that makes the recapping a nightmare. On the other hand, the ATX-300-12E that I worked on did not have that glue and was also housed in a clam-shell -type of case - really made things easy to work on without having to remove the board.

I don't like bestec very much ,i've had problems before (blowing up on me)with the ATX-250-12E

That's because the ATX-250-12E is their only problematic model. None of the other Bestec PSUs have that suicide-happy 2-transistor 5VSB circuit, so they are safe to use. In terms of build quality, I consider them as good as Delta, Lite-On, HiPro, and the rest of the OEM gang.