ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

[c_hegge]

I ended up with this board as a freebie, just because it had a bad cap in between the PCI slots (an 820uF 6.3V KZG to be specific). It appeared to be working fine, though in spite of the bad cap. I didn't have very many 820uF lytics on hand, but I have LOTS of 820uF 2.5V polies, most of which are scavenged from motherboards, plus a few new Fujitsu "bumble bee" polies from Topcat.

So, after measuring the voltages on them, I found that only a few of them had 5 or 3.3V on them - most were on the low sides of RAM and Chipset VRMs, so here was my approach. For the 820uF parts which were on the high sides of VRMs, I used the few 820uF 6.3V Ruby MCZ and MBZ caps I had left. The VRM low side caps which had less than 2V on them, I used Fujitsu 820uF 2.5V polies, and for the USB and Audio filtering caps, I used 1000uF electrolytic caps. The Ethernet NIC controller was also missing the cap on its power supply from the factory ( goes to ASUS for that one). I added a 220uF 16V Panny FR there. The best part is, I managed to get all of them in the first time without reverse-polarising any of them.

The board boots to the BIOS reliably still. I haven't installed an OS yet, but hopefully, it will work fine.

EDIT: I didn't touch the CPU VRM on this board. It came with Panny FJs on the VRM high side and NCC PSC Polies on the low side.

[BigTroll]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

great work! can't believe they would leave out a cap like that wonder if it affected network stability.

[c_hegge]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

^
I can. It is ASUS after all.

[SIDMX]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

Nice job! You probably saved the NIC from a sudden death in case of a bad P/S or something like that by adding the cap, I too measure the voltages to know whether I can get away with a lower voltage cap wish my freebies came in such a decent condition needing a recap or other quick fix but somehow I always get messed boards , anyways that's a nice board I like the layout, clean and simple except those misaligned DIMMS, hope it never shows the so dreaded Asus-Sudden-Death-Sindrome though.

[momaka]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

I ended up with this board as a freebie, just because it had a bad cap in between the PCI slots (an 820uF 6.3V KZG to be specific). It appeared to be working fine, though in spite of the bad cap.

I just did a partial recap on (another) ASUS board 2 days ago. The patterns seems to be that caps close to the PCI slots are on the 12V, 5V, and 3.3V rails. These are usually general filters, so most of the time it's not critical if they go bad. There may also be a cap for 5VSB and the Southbrdige Vcc (normally 3.3V and always ON even with the board turned OFF), again close to the PCI slots, but not necessarily.

I didn't have very many 820uF lytics on hand, but I have LOTS of 820uF 2.5V polies, most of which are scavenged from motherboards, plus a few new Fujitsu "bumble bee" polies from Topcat.

So, after measuring the voltages on them, I found that only a few of them had 5 or 3.3V on them - most were on the low sides of RAM and Chipset VRMs, so here was my approach. For the 820uF parts which were on the high sides of VRMs, I used the few 820uF 6.3V Ruby MCZ and MBZ caps I had left. The VRM low side caps which had less than 2V on them, I used Fujitsu 820uF 2.5V polies, and for the USB and Audio filtering caps, I used 1000uF electrolytic caps.

Yup, I do the same as well, since my 1000 uF and 820 uF electrolytic cap stash is always low, whereas my 2.5V 820 uF poly cap supply isn't that bad (I have a pile of dead Xbox 360 motherboards). My general principle is, only use 6.3V and higher voltage electrolytics if they are needed due to voltage requirements.

The Ethernet NIC controller was also missing the cap on its power supply from the factory ( goes to ASUS for that one). I added a 220uF 16V Panny FR there.

No surprise there. ASUS boards always come with a ton of caps not installed from the factory, hence many empty spots. The good thing about that, however, is that it allows you the flexibility to use mid-grade low-ESR caps in higher numbers (if that's all you have on hand, for example).
... or just add more crappy KZG caps to extend the board's life a tiny bit longer before they all bulge .

The best part is, I managed to get all of them in the first time without reverse-polarising any of them.

Hehe, I've recapped ASUS boards more than any other brand, so I'm almost "used to" putting my caps in "backwards" .

Nice recap, by the way.

can't believe they would leave out a cap like that wonder if it affected network stability.

With a crappy PSU, it probably would.

[c_hegge]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

The PSU was a recapped K-Mex PW-450 which I installed a few years ago. It is one of K-Mex's better units and isn't too bad. It will do 350W with everything in spec.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

Yeah, Key Mouse PSUs aren't bad, really. I know of several on their 7th year or older, with the stock fukyoo/asia'x capacitors, still not bulging. As opposed to other cheap brands they usually provide adequate cooling.

[Dan81]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

Yeah, Key Mouse PSUs aren't bad, really. I know of several on their 7th year or older, with the stock fukyoo/asia'x capacitors, still not bulging. As opposed to other cheap brands they usually provide adequate cooling.

Is there any possibility that Delux PSUs are based on that? (minus adequate cooling,but that can be solved with a big Socket A fan)

[c_hegge]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

^
It's possible that they are made by Key Mouse, but there are also hundreds of other small OEMs they could use.

[Dan81]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

^
It's possible that they are made by Key Mouse, but there are also hundreds of other small OEMs they could use.

Maybe. All I know is those either use YC caps (450W) or Seacon caps. (400W).

I guess both are crap,right?

[momaka]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

YC caps aren't too terrible. Still loads better than CapXon IMO - at least with decent cooling. Probably on par with Fuhjyyu (which, in my opinion, work okay for the most part but do have some "random" failures - and certainly many more with added heat).

[Pentium4]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

When he says "YC" I think he's referring to the generic ones found in KME PSU's pictured below (BTW, I like the design of KME PSU's). Not Yang Chun that Solytech likes to use

[momaka]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

When he says "YC" I think he's referring to the generic ones found in KME PSU's pictured below

I totally forgot there are two YC brands. In fact, just a few days earlier I saw a picture of them like the ones you posted, and I noted it to myself.

[Pentium4]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

If in means anything when I see "YC" I think of the saturn ones as well. There are a lot more "Deer" than "Mice" PSU's out there

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

Is there any possibility that Delux PSUs are based on that? (minus adequate cooling,but that can be solved with a big Socket A fan)

Nope. Depending on the model, Delux PSUs are either based on the AT-2005B platform (halfway decent, i've made one do 650W with room to spare, but i'm Th3_uN1Qu3 so it's to be expected ) or those godawful generic TL494/LM339 jobbies, with completely unapproved everything. Beware of the ones with the green label, 400-450W, i've seen those eat whole PCs for lunch when they fail. The 600W model is okay.

^
It's possible that they are made by Key Mouse, but there are also hundreds of other small OEMs they could use.

"Rexpower" and "Maxpower" PSUs are made by Key Mouse. Also the ones that come with KME cases (which are obviously made by them, too).

YC caps aren't too terrible. Still loads better than CapXon IMO - at least with decent cooling. Probably on par with Fuhjyyu (which, in my opinion, work okay for the most part but do have some "random" failures - and certainly many more with added heat).

I'd actually say YC (the ones with the "saturn" logo) do better than Fuhjyyu.

If in means anything when I see "YC" I think of the saturn ones as well. There are a lot more "Deer" than "Mice" PSU's out there

Yes, those are the ones.

[Dan81]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

Nope. Depending on the model, Delux PSUs are either based on the AT-2005B platform (halfway decent, i've made one do 650W with room to spare, but i'm Th3_uN1Qu3 so it's to be expected ) or those godawful generic TL494/LM339 jobbies, with completely unapproved everything. Beware of the ones with the green label, 400-450W, i've seen those eat whole PCs for lunch when they fail. The 600W model is okay.

Crazy enough,both my signature rig and secondary PC have the green label DeluX and both work fine.

The primary PC has a 450W one and that one seen usage for,no lies,7 years. Even though the fan was dying,it worked without a problem. Works even better now with a Socket A fan (Titan cooler for S370/A) despite now being loud. Maybe it's true that with good cooling,even Saturn (Yang Chun) caps can survive?

Forgot mentioning that this PSU survived easily power surges in storm times!

The 400W one I have it for a year,it has Seacon caps (anybody, can you please rate those?),but I still think it will work fine,since all it powers is :

-Pentium 4 1.8A CPU
-mATX board (P4P800-VM)
-DVD drive
-80GB HDD
-FX5200 128MB GPU

and that's all. All of those don't use so much power I guess.

Worth mentioning is that this PSU doesn't have it's original case anymore. I had to change it with another case from a Codegen 350W I discarded.

Good thing I didn't repair the Codegen with it's HEC(K) caps.

[c_hegge]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

The 400W one I have it for a year,it has Seacon caps (anybody, can you please rate those?)

All brands except for the Japanese brands (Rubycon, NCC, Nichicon, Panny, Sanyo) are junk. It's just a question of how junk they are

[Pentium4]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

c_hegge is correct. But if the Seacon are the big primary caps, you can leave them. Keep in mind they will probably not have the capacitance labeled. I've seen two pair, one said 470uF but read ~323uF and another pair of 470uF that read ~227uF

[Dan81]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

c_hegge is correct. But if the Seacon are the big primary caps, you can leave them. Keep in mind they will probably not have the capacitance labeled. I've seen two pair, one said 470uF but read ~323uF and another pair of 470uF that read ~227uF

Seacon are the 2 big primary caps and have 330uF written on them,and the rest (Saturn logo)

Other components (sorry for me not knowing all the pieces in a PSU but I haven't given attention to those yet) listed:

-ERI-35N (TB-1116T V:2.0)
-EE-19 (TB-1120T)
-EE-16 (TB-1118)

PCB reads AT-2005B,which Th3_uN1Qu3 said they are halfway decent.

Anybody know what other manufacturer uses AT-2005B?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: ASUS P5LD2 SE Recap and partial Polymod

A lot of brands use the AT-2005B platform. The most complete i've seen was in a Spire 450W. It still had crap caps (CS) but otherwise the construction was very good.