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    The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

    A few months ago, I bought a pallet full of GX620 USFF systems from an off-lease recycler, dirt cheap, condition unknown. Turns out they were in near mint condition, only thing missing from them were the hard drives, was a good score. Only a couple of them actually had bad caps, all the rest worked on arrival.

    I'm sure most all of you are familiar with the infamous SX280 and its bad cap problem.....well the GX620 USFF is basically the next step up from an SX280, even the cases are interchangeable. The motherboards are a little different as far as cap layout, the GX620 actually has less 2200uF and more 1800uF caps.

    Anyway, the problem areas on these systems are the same as the SX280, in that the larger caps on the south end of the system are always fried. I've seen these systems fry UCC's, Rubycon's, and even Panasonics. The common failures are the 3x 820uF 6.3v caps around the northbridge chip (the 2 in front by the power button usually don't cause any trouble, but I changed them with polies anyway), 7x 2200uF 6.3v, 1500uF 16v, and if the fans become clogged with dust bunnies, they'll also roast the 1800uF 6.3v & 1000uF 16v caps around the processor.

    It came to me......I've poly modded a lot of SX280's, but unfortunately, theres not a whole lot of poly options for the south end of the board, which is where the majority of the failures are.... What could I use in their places... Well I fired one up, upside down on the bench and started measuring voltages...

    All of the 820uF 6.3v caps had 3.3v on them. All the 1500uF 16v caps had 12v. The 2200uF caps were a mix ranging between 1v to 5v. Of course, all the 1800uF 6.3v caps were just VCORE. The 1000uF 16v caps behind the heatsink had 12v on them. The 1000uF 16v caps were the only lytics I didn't change to a poly, as I didn't have anything polymer in a 16v 8mm config.

    Anyway, here's what went where:

    the 820uF 6.3v lytics were changed to 560uF 4v polies
    the 1800uF 6.3v lytics were changed to 820uF 2.5v polies
    the 1500uF 16v lytics were changed to 330uF 16v polies
    the 2200uF 6.3v lytics were changed to 1500uF 6v polies

    Here's some pics of the test subject....

    The original UCC's:


    Some rubies too:




    After the poly recapping:










    Ok, now to see if this is going to work....


    YAY, it POST's


    It ran some burn-in cycles for a while without any hiccups...


    Quick OS install, which went without a hitch....


    All done, up and running!


    I'll find some use in the shop for this system, something that will keep it running 24/7. These don't last more than a couple years when they're allowed to run 24/7 with lytics, curious to see how long this one will live.

    Stability will also be something to keep an eye on. Most values I subbed with polies were close to the originals, except the 330uF 16v in place of the 1500uF 16v, that was the biggest deviation in the system. I had a hand full of the 1500uF 6v polies, I bought them at a local electronics shop a few years ago, and had about a dozen of them left. That store is now out of business, and I haven't found another source for these yet... I may run another test using 330uF polies in place of the 2200uF lytics....that could be a more interesting one...

    Anyway, cheers to the worlds first full polymer GX620!
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    #2
    Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

    Very nice. I sold my customer one of those a few months ago, so far so good. I think it may have had Nichicons I don't remember.

    Can you list replacement cap type?
    "We have offered them (the Arabs) a sensible way for so many years. But no, they wanted to fight. Fine! We gave them technology, the latest, the kind even Vietnam didn't have. They had double superiority in tanks and aircraft, triple in artillery, and in air defense and anti-tank weapons they had absolute supremacy. And what? Once again they were beaten. Once again they scrammed [sic]. Once again they screamed for us to come save them. Sadat woke me up in the middle of the night twice over the phone, 'Save me!' He demanded to send Soviet troops, and immediately! No! We are not going to fight for them."

    -Leonid Brezhnev (On the Yom Kippur War)

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      #3
      Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

      Originally posted by mockingbird
      Can you list replacement cap type?
      Anyway, here's what went where:

      the 820uF 6.3v lytics were changed to 560uF 4v polies
      the 1800uF 6.3v lytics were changed to 820uF 2.5v polies
      the 1500uF 16v lytics were changed to 330uF 16v polies
      the 2200uF 6.3v lytics were changed to 1500uF 6v polies

      Is that what you were after?
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        #4
        Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

        More like the manufacturer and series that you used. His case is slightly different than yours though, it looks like the regular 620 but it's SFF, like yours.

        Also, how much would you charge for a kit?
        "We have offered them (the Arabs) a sensible way for so many years. But no, they wanted to fight. Fine! We gave them technology, the latest, the kind even Vietnam didn't have. They had double superiority in tanks and aircraft, triple in artillery, and in air defense and anti-tank weapons they had absolute supremacy. And what? Once again they were beaten. Once again they scrammed [sic]. Once again they screamed for us to come save them. Sadat woke me up in the middle of the night twice over the phone, 'Save me!' He demanded to send Soviet troops, and immediately! No! We are not going to fight for them."

        -Leonid Brezhnev (On the Yom Kippur War)

        Comment


          #5
          Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

          ^
          All the polies I used are UCC. I haven't tried this with a SFF system yet, but I just got 50 of them in from a client, I may experiment with one and see what it can do. I don't have anymore of the 1500uF 6v polies, I only had a handfull of them to begin with. I've been trying to find some more of them to make kits with.
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            #6
            Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

            will you sell a kit for it? you should.
            sigpic

            (Insert witty quote here)

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              #7
              Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

              Originally posted by Topcat
              All the polies I used are UCC.
              It looks like you also used a few Sanyo SEPC there too.
              I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

              No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

              Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

              Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

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                #8
                Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                Originally posted by c_hegge
                It looks like you also used a few Sanyo SEPC there too.
                Yes indeed. Forgot about those. The 560uF 4v are also Sanyo. The rest are UCC.
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                  #9
                  Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                  Originally posted by Topcat
                  I don't have anymore of the 1500uF 6v polies, I only had a handfull of them to begin with. I've been trying to find some more of them to make kits with.
                  Found these. I know it's ebay (fakes galore), but I've bought several caps from this seller before and all of them sure look genuine.

                  http://cgi.ebay.com.au/2-Sanyo-SEPC-...item45effd88cc
                  I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

                  No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

                  Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

                  Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                    Digikey carries 6.3V 1500uF Chemicon PSC. I just ordered a few to attempt to poly mod a video card (Sacon FZ, 'nuff said). At $2+ each though, they are a bit pricey, but you'd probably order larger quantities than I do.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                      Originally posted by c_hegge
                      Found these. I know it's ebay (fakes galore), but I've bought several caps from this seller before and all of them sure look genuine.
                      same here.. none of the caps i got from him looked like fakes and all of them are still going strong..
                      PCMCStore seems to be a reliable source from what i can tell..

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                        maybe samxon makes a poly in that size?
                        sigpic

                        (Insert witty quote here)

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                          Yes.

                          Cheers, Wizard

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                            TC

                            Thx for the valuable info. This is useful

                            BTW
                            Can any forum members confirm/deny SX280 compatibility with
                            Pentium IV 631/641, that is 65nm Prescott parts?

                            Thx in advance

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                              Originally posted by c_hegge
                              Found these. I know it's ebay (fakes galore), but I've bought several caps from this seller before and all of them sure look genuine.

                              http://cgi.ebay.com.au/2-Sanyo-SEPC-...item45effd88cc
                              wow, he's proud of those!!! I am going to grab some from him for another polymer experiment on another system, details will come out later. I'd have to find a much cheaper source for those to be able to make kits containing them, yet remain competitive.
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                                #16
                                Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                                Originally posted by JEWilson
                                TC

                                Thx for the valuable info. This is useful

                                BTW
                                Can any forum members confirm/deny SX280 compatibility with
                                Pentium IV 631/641, that is 65nm Prescott parts?

                                Thx in advance
                                Virtually all the LGA775 motherboards support the early 775/Prescott 65nm iterations. It is the older boards which I have had problems with not properly supporting the half-multipliers of the 45nm chips, i.e. trying to install 45nm chips on LGA775 865 chipset motherboards (Though don't quote me on this).
                                "We have offered them (the Arabs) a sensible way for so many years. But no, they wanted to fight. Fine! We gave them technology, the latest, the kind even Vietnam didn't have. They had double superiority in tanks and aircraft, triple in artillery, and in air defense and anti-tank weapons they had absolute supremacy. And what? Once again they were beaten. Once again they scrammed [sic]. Once again they screamed for us to come save them. Sadat woke me up in the middle of the night twice over the phone, 'Save me!' He demanded to send Soviet troops, and immediately! No! We are not going to fight for them."

                                -Leonid Brezhnev (On the Yom Kippur War)

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                                  You can check 45nm support by looking up the chipset or CPU at Intel.
                                  .
                                  Mann-Made Global Warming.
                                  - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                                  -
                                  Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                                  - Dr Seuss
                                  -
                                  You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                                  -

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                                    Originally posted by Topcat
                                    wow, he's proud of those!!! I am going to grab some from him for another polymer experiment on another system, details will come out later. I'd have to find a much cheaper source for those to be able to make kits containing them, yet remain competitive.
                                    try and PM him on ebay with the quantity and type of cap you want.
                                    he usually does sell bigger quantities if you ask him..

                                    edit:

                                    @ mockingbird:
                                    i think you messed up with the 90nm vs. 65nm thingy..

                                    older 90nm Pentium4's (P4 5xx) work on basically all boards (including ones with the ancient i915 chipset), but 65nm P4 6xx series are tricky.
                                    if the board manual doesnt mention P4 6xx series chances are it only supports the old 90nm P4 5xx series..

                                    45nm CPUs are only the Core2 based ones which require the i965 chipset at the very least (and a compatible mainboard that supports core2 CPUs.. which is very rare..)
                                    Last edited by Scenic; 04-30-2010, 12:34 AM.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                                      damn.. was still editing as i had a fuckup in the last part..

                                      the last sentence with the very rare boards was meant different than it sounds -.-

                                      i945/i965/i975 boards supporting 65nm core2's are quite common (especially i945 cheapo boards), but boards based on those chipsets supporting 45nm core2's are rare..

                                      to my knowledge there's no Pentium 4 or Pentium D in 45nm.

                                      also looked it up on cpu-world.com just to make sure i don't talk bs here..
                                      Last edited by Scenic; 04-30-2010, 12:46 AM.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Re: The Indestructible Dell GX620 USFF, FULL Poly mod!

                                        Originally posted by Scenic
                                        to my knowledge there's no Pentium 4 or Pentium D in 45nm.
                                        I think you're right. - Just too lazy to look it up.
                                        Mann-Made Global Warming.
                                        - We should be more concerned about the Intellectual Climate.

                                        -
                                        Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

                                        - Dr Seuss
                                        -
                                        You can teach a man to fish and feed him for life, but if he can't handle sushi you must also teach him to cook.
                                        -

                                        Comment

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