Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

[android]

I bet this won't surprise anyone here.
What pisses me off is that I knew about the bad caps story but forgot it and didn't research how to detect them. Now I just got a new cheap replacement mobo for this quite expensive Epox.

Well the new motherboard Asrock has a buzzing sound when doing some tasks (not PSU), so when researching the cause for that, I found the bad caps issue related pages. And now that I looked at my old Epox that's no longer installed, it obviously has bulging GSC. No wonder it took 30 minutes before it started working.


4x GSC 16v 2200 uf
2x GSC 6.3v 1500 uf
13x TEAPO 6.3v 1000 uf (I did not check them 1 by 1 but they look identical)

one of the 1500 uf GSC have ejeculated whitish thing on top of the +
the other is bulging too.

Others look "normal" to me, but who knows. There's also 8 SANYO that look fine.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

one of the 1500 uf GSC have ejeculated whitish thing on top of the +
the other is bulging too.

LOL you said "ejaculated" and that it's whitish. Usually, when a cap is leaking, you see brown stuff.

Yep. It does appear that Epox and MSI were the most common of having bad caps.

[willawake]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

the buzzing is the coils, you should hear my router

[android]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

Like said, the 2 GSC were bulging, I replaced only those two with Panasonic and the board works like new again! Too bad there are still 4 GSC left near the CPU but there's also a fan blowing straight at them, unlike the bulging ones which were next to HDDs.

Hopefully the board lasts few more months. I plan to upgrade when there are DirectX 10 gfx cards available.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

the buzzing is the coils, you should hear my router

Haha, look at my patented solution, coil below PSU and between rear ports on mobo...

Other methods to silence included nail polish lack and hut glue (like seen in most powersupplies...)

[willawake]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

ah the zip tie.....up there with hot glue, alcohol and handguns...the solutions to many of life's problems.

my albatron has coil buzz as well.

do you like your 9500 hsf Per? i am interested to buy one. does the fan sound in any way annoying? i am talking about the whirr not the air sound.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

No, the sound from the Zalman CNPS9500 cooler is a smooth "woosh" sound pushing kind of sound

Of course I am running it at about 5v (I approximate 5v because it is on the mobo controlled by the mobos speed controller thingy based on CPU temp...)

As you can see I also have a Zalman Fatality cooler for the VGA card, it is running at 5v, then two Papst fans in the front, 7v and a Panaflo in the rear, also tempcontrolled by the mobo. I have a 120mm Papst fan at the top of the chassi at 5v too, and then the built in fan in the PSU, running below 1000rpms. Last but not least there is the chipset cooler, it too tempcontrolled, and impressivly quiet, DFI market the fact that it is quiet and it actually is...

Though I still don't think my computer is quiet enough, don't get me wrong it's very less noisy than your averge gamers PC that tried to make it somewhat silent. But I'm not satisfied with it, I will probably go watercooling, biggest hurdle being that my current Lian Li PC65 chassi is too cramped for my Eheim waterpump so I gotta get a PC6277 and that drives up the cost a bit much, but I guess that is something I have to live with

Oh yea, There is a 150GB Raptor and a 200GB Maxtor Diamondmax10 too, screwed to the chassi, I will try to suspend them with some zipties or something and see how big a difference that does...

[willawake]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

No, the sound from the Zalman CNPS9500 cooler is a smooth "woosh" sound pushing kind of sound

hehe thats what i like. I want one of them vga coolers as well. Zalman appears to be a consistent brand, although i was dissapointed to buy their 80mm case fans with sleeve bearing i understand sleeve bearing is more quiet than ball bearing? although i doubt the longevity. I know what you mean about case room. I am looking at the Akasa Eclipse 62 at the moment.

For the hdds i heard velcro stickers to stick them to the bottom of the case is a good solution. Personally i think soundproofed 5.25 hdd cases may be the best solution.

I dont worry about fan sound too much, i like the whoosh noise. I just dont like fans making strange sounds, i like a constant frequency of sound and more whoosh than whirr. i am into fan tuning rather than silent. It would be nice to have watercooling but expensive. Definitely even if i used watercooling i would have 120mm fans to cool the rest of the system. hard disks especially i think should be cooled. also the heatsinks of the fets if the board is overclocked.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

Definitely even if i used watercooling i would have 120mm fans to cool the rest of the system. hard disks especially i think should be cooled. also the heatsinks of the fets if the board is overclocked.

Of course some cooling is still needed, but I would buy a radiator that I fit 2 120mm Nexus Silent case fans to and run at 5v, these would provide enough ventilation I think...

I would also have my Papst fan at the rear below the PSU... At 5v ofcourse...

Cooling for the fets is only needed if increasing vcore voltage, not overclocking
I'm running my Opteron 170 @ 1.45ghz with default voltage...

[Rainbow]

Re: Epox 4PDA2+ rev 1.0

i understand sleeve bearing is more quiet than ball bearing? although i doubt the longevity.

Yes, it's said that sleeve bearing is more quiet than ball bearing. But it's less reliable too. Also bigger fans last longer than smaller ones.
80mm and bigger often have rubber plug that prevents dust from getting in the bearing and oil from getting out - smaller ones usually don't have that, the hole is covered only by a sticker.