NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

[grss1982]

Trying out my camera today while going through the computer parts I had lying around and found this three:

http://img129.*************/img129/4...ci0609qeg2.jpg

Yeah that's a Realtek on the right with capcitors while on the left you have an Intel PRO/100+ and a 3COM 3C905B-TXNM without caps!!!

[dood]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

I'm trying to see what your point is?

[willawake]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity



heres an old 3com 3C905C-TX-M with no "caps" and a newer 3com with two "caps". Actually i took this photo a while back to illustrate how the older nics had a much greater cost in components.

still the likelihood of the caps failing on a nic is pretty low i think.

[willawake]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity



Heres an intel pro1000mt. Definitely looks a more quality piece than the newer 3com.

still the reason why i said "caps" is because everything marked starting with a C on the pcb is actually a cap.

[grss1982]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

still the reason why i said "caps" is because everything marked starting with a C on the pcb is actually a cap.

I did'nt know that. :-) I though capacitors just look liked that caps I frequently see in the mobo and PSU threads around here.


@dood: I was just curious actually why there were no caps, at least the one that I'm used to seeing on newer NICs.

ALSO I was practicing on how to use my sister's digital camera (Polaroid 533 or something), so that when I contribute to the PSU Pictorial thread I could make my pics look good.

[stretch0069]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

from what i remember....and don't quote me......but any good circuit will have a cap.......a resistor/resistance of some kind. oh yeah...and a power source. to do crazy stuff, you throw in diode-ish things......those old P-N junctions do some wild stuff. all an integrated circuit is, is essentially a matrix of diodes. then they went triode....better known as transistors.....a junction controlled by another voltage, PNP or NPN.

but i digress....maybe its the beer.

anyway....caps come in a number of sizes, shapes, and materials. on the one 3com card, i count at least 12 caps, just by my current inebriated state of mind.

[gdement]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

I've noticed that my older network and video cards have a lot more tantalum and/or ceramic caps and the newer stuff relies on cheap electrolytic caps. That's been the trend to cut costs I suppose.

You can also tell a high end motherboard by looking at that stuff. My dual Xeon HP Kayak is covered with tantalums and no electrolytic caps anywhere that I can find, except the removable VRMs do have ecaps on them.
It's hard to believe there aren't any, maybe I could end up finding electrolytics on the mainboard if I remove it from the case, but I've never been able to see any. Just lots and lots of yellow squares.

[starfury1]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

well there are caps 2 larger SMC type on the first photo second card of wills post
just no Electrolytic cans (they are the oblong yellow things)
on his second photo I can only see what are appear to be ceramic type SMC caps
(some larger ones too)

So yeah there are caps just lower value ones in SMC type packages

stretch0069, just to slightly expand on this

triode....better known as transistors.....a junction controlled by another voltage, PNP or NPN.

Triode tends to refer to Valve technology which is "Voltage controlled" devices

Transistors are "current controlled" devices

but yeah basically the same concept, to have a third connection to control *current flow between the other two (*thats if I got it right from memory)

On the camera grss1982


the photo is a bit blurry so check how you are using it
you may have to push the button slightly if its auto mod type thing

sometime it does take a bit of playing around to get the feel for using different cameras

HTH

Cheers

[Super Nade]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

He means there are no electrolytic caps. Plenty of SMD's though. A combination of Tantalum and MLCCs would offer a reasonably wide bandwidth.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

I HATE Tantalum caps! I have had to replace hundreds of them that were leaky or shorted, especially when they were used for coupling audio stages in power amps. Also had a couple monitors that had the jitters because of flaky tantalums in the vertical output circuit.

Had a game logic board a couple days ago that worked fine, and when I powered it up the next day, it blew the 12v fuse. The problem was a shorted tantalum across the +12v and ground lines.

Now whenever I see one in something that doesn't work, I replace it with an FC or KY electrolytic.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

Those little tan SMDs are ceramic caps. They don't have the wear-out issues lytics do. OTOH, except for CGO types, the tempco and DC bias coefficient can result in a -30% to -80% variation in capacitance. Those SMT solid tantalums can fail in a really unpleasant manner.

[stretch0069]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

star...i'll go with what you said. my memory sucks....if i remember correctly.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: NO CAPS on 3COM & Intel NICs = Longevity

Bipolar transistors are generally described as current controlled devices. Field Effect Transistors and Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistors are generally described as voltage controlled devices.