Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

[toastygoodness]

I was looking at the capacitors on the motherboard with some pictures online. It seems like the capacitors (big ones) are OSTs from the Purple/Gold plastic wrapping. Has anybody had any experience with this motherboard?

It was supposed to be a gift for my friend but looking at some pics I decided it was kind of a bad board. Does anybody here know what kind of capacitors this motherboard has?

Thanks

[MD Willington]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

They are probably OST's, Gigabyte is just a stones throw away from the ECS/PCChips fabs...

[kc8adu]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

i was at meci today and they had a bunch of gigabyte p4 boards on display.
most were wearing rubycon or nichicon.
a few sanyo too.

[MD Willington]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

I've noticed that the Intel boards usuaully sport better caps, spec'd or a general trend? Not sure...

[toastygoodness]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

Ok, Thanks Guys. So what's your advice? Should I avoid it? I also saw a K8VM800M (mATX board, K8 Triton) that had good caps (Rubycon/Sanyo). So I was wondering what kind the 7VM400M would have. Which should I go with?

[kc8adu]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

its a crapshoot.
who knows who supplies their caps today...or next week.

[Chris1992]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

However, I have noticed a trend that more expensive boards nearer the top of the product lines have better caps. One big exception to this is ASUS, which uses the same crap OST and Ltec on even its top-of-the-line A8N-SLI. (Shame on them!) Recent ABIT boards, even the cheap µATX ones, have had Nichicon/Rubycon so ABIT is a good bet for consistent usage of high quality caps. @MD about the Intel board question: I think they're specified that way because Foxconn brand boards use crapcaps and Foxconn OEMs for Intel. @toasty: I would recommend getting an ABIT board since they use good caps.

[willawake]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

Foxconn probably uses crap caps cos they can price lower. it is a pity cos they have hi spec production facilities.

apart from intel falling foul of the nichicon HN HM series probs like dell and apple, their boards are otherwise consistent for good caps. i specify intel boards only for all office machines. it is good to buy towards the end of a series though. like other manufacturers they have their share of design issues. but each board goes through quite a few hardware revisions (and bios of course) before it is discontinued. you can read the revision number on the side of the box and on the board.

for instance my D875PBZLK has the product number C26680-206
the 206 indicates the revision.

i like that intel has good technical documents about the revisions, bios and issues with each board. it helps when troubleshooting.

[MD Willington]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

Board turns are quite common in the industry...consider it "teething"...

[Fatal0E]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

The latest asus boards I have been using alot of, the A8N-SLI and the A8V deluxe have had 100% chemicon. I have been using a ton of foxconns via based matx board with the sound video and lan, all the large caps are either all rubycon, or rubycon, nichicon mixes. They do have some ltec caps but are very small, like 470uf or smaller.

[chirkware]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

Hate to resurrect a five year old thread, but, I guess I just did!

Since I started my new job six months ago, I've had about 8-10 systems that were experiencing intermittent lockups/crashes/etc with no obvious software issue. In each case, I popped the top and found bad caps. This motherboard has been in every one of the failed systems. Amazingly though, I'm finding very little reference to capacitor issues on these motherboards.

FWIW, the obviously bad caps (bulging and some leaking tops, and at least one blew out on the bottom) are brown, labeled "KZG", and are 6.3v 3300uf. On most of them, all five of these are bulging, but the last system I looked at had just one bulging, then I noticed one blown out on the bottom. Surprisingly, the other three on that board "look" fine.

System build dates are about June, 2005, so I guess we can't complain that they lasted that long!

Anyway, just wanted to post this in case anyone else with this board is having issues.

[larrymoencurly]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

FWIW, the obviously bad caps (bulging and some leaking tops, and at least one blew out on the bottom) are brown, labeled "KZG", and are 6.3v 3300uf. On most of them, all five of these are bulging, but the last system I looked at had just one bulging, then I noticed one blown out on the bottom. Surprisingly, the other three on that board "look" fine.

System build dates are about June, 2005, so I guess we can't complain that they lasted that long!

Are the new KZG caps OK? Because the BioStar mobo I bought two weeks ago uses some, and I no longer have anything close. OTOH some 3300uF, 6.3V KZGs I removed a few months ago from a computer that had been in heavy use for 4 years all measured 0.01 ohm ESR.

[c_hegge]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

I still don't trust even new KZG and I won't untill I stop seeing them fail. Chemi-con don't seem to realise that there ever was a problem with KZG and KZJ (either that or they just kept quiet about it). Just remember though, that GSC/Sacon are the only brand guarranteed to fail within a PC's usefull life. I've even seen some PSUs with Fuhjyyu that lasted ~ 5 years. If Fuhjyyu can occasionally manage that, I'm sure Chemi-con could too.

[Colt45ws]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

Yeah, I have KZGs in a newish BioStar board as well doing VRM duty. The rest of the caps are OST. Hopefully they last but Ive been toying with the idea of preemptively recapping it anyway.

[c_hegge]

Re: Gigabyte GA-7VM400M-RZ Capacitors

I often re-cap my gear as a preventative measure. I don't like dis-assembling stuff over a problem that a re-cap could have prevented in the first place.