New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

[xenphor]

I bought 3 Asrock 775i65g 3.0 boards from Newegg about a year ago, when they were selling them new, to use for Windows 98. So far I've only used one of them periodically and haven't had any noticeable problems with it.

I recently checked to see what capacitors were on it, since it is from the era of bad caps, and it has 4 Chemi-con KZG 1000μF caps, with a few OST RLX caps by the CPU socket. The rest of the board is comprised of smaller Samxon caps. There are no visible signs of anything wrong.

I've read that the KZG series can go bad, even when not in use, and will fail 100%, but since I'm only using the boards infrequently for short periods of time with overpowered hardware that isn't stressed by the software (Pentium e5800 and Geforce 4 ti 4800se), should I bother replacing them if there are no symptoms of failure yet?

I have no prior soldering experience so it would mean either paying a professional or learning how to do it myself. I probably will eventually learn, but I would rather work on a board that is already exhibiting problems. Would it be worth paying a professional now, so I have at least one board that I know has good caps on it? How risky is it to wait?

[Wester547]

Re: New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

As far as I know, no capacitor series or brand has a 100% failure rate except Sacon FZ maybe and possibly a select few series of old.

Was the 775i65g R3.0 manufactured anytime before 2008 or 2009? If not, you can probably leave the 1000uF 16V KZG on the VRM input of the CPU there. I've not seen a KZG made after 2007 or 2008 fail without a good reason. The "plague" KZG were made between 2001-2007, to the best of my knowledge. I'd be more worried about the OST RLX on the VRM output, especially with their tendency to fail without signs. If this is your first time replacing caps, a RoHS compliant motherboard would not be an easy experience due to the many layers present within the motherboard, along with the thick ground and power planes around the CPU VRM area which would soak up the heat from any one soldering iron rather quickly. A soldering iron with good heat transfer (be it in watts or an effective tip) is a must. You can either A) roll the dice and see what happens with "new" motherboards or B) try to learn to solder yourself and see how that goes (but I highly recommend learning on a spare board you don't care about) or C) send your motherboards to a professional repairing service.

[xenphor]

Re: New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

I'm not sure how to determine the exact manufacturing date of the board, but using HWinfo shows that the bios version is from 7/4/2012, and the publication date of the manual is also 2012.

Unfortunately I do not have any boards that I would be willing to experiment with (I have an Asus A8V-X but that also works fine; I haven't checked the brands of the caps though), and judging by what you said about RoHS boards, even if I did learn, I would still probably want to have a professional do it, assuming the board is still working properly. Then again, the boards were only 50 bucks, so I'm guessing I would have to pay more than the board is worth to get it done well.

Pentium 4 era hardware is cheap now, but given how retro hardware prices go and considering that era is now desirable for retro purposes (along with the supply diminishing due to things like bad caps), by the time the board fails I may have to pay more than I would if I had done some preventative maintenance. The Asrock board is also somewhat unique in that it will accept core 2 quads and has an AGP slot.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

Sometimes a date code is silk-screened onto the MB. And sometimes a date code is part of the serial number.

[Topcat]

Re: New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

I'd replace anything KZG or KZJ regardless of being new / new old stock... I've seen both of those series die on the shelf with zero hours on them.

[Wester547]

Re: New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

Unfortunately I do not have any boards that I would be willing to experiment with (I have an Asus A8V-X but that also works fine; I haven't checked the brands of the caps though), and judging by what you said about RoHS boards, even if I did learn, I would still probably want to have a professional do it, assuming the board is still working properly. Then again, the boards were only 50 bucks, so I'm guessing I would have to pay more than the board is worth to get it done well.

RoHS compliant boards use lead-free solder which has a higher melting point. The problem with older Pentium 4 era ASUS/ASRock boards is they tend to favor the usage of crap craps from the factory (OST, KZG, Nichicon HM with bad date codes, LTEC, Taicon, GSC, Teapo, Elite, etc..) so a recap may inevitably be in order for the sake of longevity. Added to that, ASUS and ASRock boards use the shaded side of the polarity circle to indicate the positive side rather than the negative side, so it's something to keep in mind when installing new caps.

[xenphor]

Re: New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

Sometimes a date code is silk-screened onto the MB. And sometimes a date code is part of the serial number.

There's nothing that looks like a date in the serial number but there is a "17 12" etched on the back which maybe corresponds to 2012?

I'd replace anything KZG or KZJ regardless of being new / new old stock... I've seen both of those series die on the shelf with zero hours on them.

RoHS compliant boards use lead-free solder which has a higher melting point. The problem with older Pentium 4 era ASUS/ASRock boards is they tend to favor the usage of crap craps from the factory (OST, KZG, Nichicon HM with bad date codes, LTEC, Taicon, GSC, Teapo, Elite, etc..) so a recap may inevitably be in order for the sake of longevity. Added to that, ASUS and ASRock boards use the shaded side of the polarity circle to indicate the positive side rather than the negative side, so it's something to keep in mind when installing new caps.

Damn... ok. Well here are the total counts:

OST RLX 6.3v 1500μF x5
Chemi-con KZG 16v 1000μF x4
Samxon gk(m) g7a 6.3v 1000μF x19
Samxon ks(m) g7a 16v 100μF x11

Which caps would be suitable replacements? What would be the estimated total cost to have it done professionally? I know this site would charge 100, which seems decent I guess, although I wonder if I could get a discount considering the board is still working fine, so no problems would have to be diagnosed. I don't know how much that is factored into the cost.

Other than that, how would I find someone near me that actually knows what they're doing? Most repair shops around me just seem focused on phones or basic computer maintenance like removing viruses, transferring files, getting scanners working etc.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

what about the other two spare boards? do they have the exact same bad caps as well? because if only one has bad caps while the others have good caps then just use the one with bad caps until it dies then just replace it with the other board with good caps.

if all three boards have bad caps then u are out of luck and u'll have to pay someone to recap them all, i guess... maybe topcat will give u a bulk discount for a three board recap? lol!

[Per Hansson]

Re: New Asrock 775i65g 3.0 with Chemi-con KZG caps - replace now or wait?

You can use this to check the date code of the KZG caps:
https://cdn.badcaps-static.com/pdfs/...ee3c51807e.pdf

As Wester547 says I would leave them alone if they are 2008 date code or newer.
The OST caps might be a problem though, however leaving them in and simply replacing them with polymers if they do fail is probably what I'd opt for.