Help choosing the right caps

[2hamburgers]

I have an HP Pavilion slim, works fine. Its been a few years so I decided to apply fresh thermal paste to my processor, and discovered 11 bulgers. I found 2 types of Panasonic caps and dont want to get the wrong kind. Advise me friends.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271063731302...84.m1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160907610868...84.m1423.l2649

Also, will crappy caps make a computer run hotter in general? Nothing worth getting excited over, the comp just runs a tiny bit hotter than when it was new.
Yes its clean and dust free inside.

[retiredcaps]

Re: Help choosing the right caps

Caps sold on ebay are highly likely to be fake. Buy them from reputable USA distributors like digikey. Shipping from digikey is likely less than $3 USD and you get it in 2 to 3 days.

[2hamburgers]

Re: Help choosing the right caps

Fake caps!?! Well forget ebay then. Thanks retiredcaps. Should I be concerned at all with the ripple current when selecting?

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Help choosing the right caps

Yes, but a really low impedance (good for MBs) and a really high ripple current rating (also good) usually go together. If you match one, the other should be in the right ballpark.

[c_hegge]

Re: Help choosing the right caps

https://www.badcaps.net/store/produc...roducts_id=163

Assuming the busted caps are 820uF 6.3V, then go with those.

[2hamburgers]

Re: Help choosing the right caps

Thanks Pete, that was the exact explanation i was looking for. C hegge, thanks for the link, i will order the Nichicons.

[y_not]

Re: Help choosing the right caps

I have an HP Pavilion slim, works fine. Its been a few years so I decided to apply fresh thermal paste to my processor.. <snip>

Also, will crappy caps make a computer run hotter in general? Nothing worth getting excited over, the comp just runs a tiny bit hotter than when it was new.
Yes its clean and dust free inside.

The TIM they use @ the factory, that white goop known as silicone thermal grease, is utter garbage. It's the cheap Chinese cap of the TIM industry.
*TIM=Thermal Interface Material.

It's especially bad because /w TIM, less is more and TIM needs to last for many years if not decades in some devices. Also it needs to transfer heat as optimally as possible.
All three are things that the "white goop" fails miserably at.
It's almost impossible to spread evenly and it doesn't spread much on its own when heated. So it's not self leveling really. It dries up, often in about a year or so, where it has lost so much moisture that it's thermal transfer properties are incredibly reduced. This is the real killer with it.

It's best to clean that stuff off with Xylene or Toluene, Goof-Off is phenomenal at literally "melting" the stuff and getting it out of every knook and cranny. Use a Q-Tip slathered in Goof-Off to get into every little corner, seam, edge, stamped fold in the heat plate of the CPU, etc.. Keep cleaning till a white, lint free cloth wipes clean & white.
Follow it up at the end and in-between if multiple cleanings are needed, with denatured alcohol. It leaves the least amount of "residue" behind that would otherwise impede the thermal transfer of the 2 surfaces. Rubbing alcohol is utter and pure trash for this. It has an "oily" property to it and leaves lots of invisible residue behind that can mean the difference between a hot running chip and not when operating at high temps.

Once both the CPU & heatsink are clean and entirely lint free, be sure not to touch any of the mating surfaces. Skin oils are even worse than the residues of improper cleaners. They leave a layer behind that acts like a thermal insulator. Causing hot spots on the high heat mating surfaces.
Get yourself some Arctic Silver 5, stay away from the Ceramique or the Arctic Alumina. They are nowhere near as good.

Follow the directions on AS's website for your type of CPU and how to apply it. Remember, less is more. It would do you well to put it on there as instructed, then fully mount the HSF, lock it down, tighten her up, whatever the design happens to be, fire it up, run a 15min general burn-in (1st tab) with OCCT while watching your temps, stopping it if it's approaching MaxTJ for your CPU. Hint: Check the datasheets for it @ ark.intel.com.
Then, shut her down, let it cool off a bit till it's warmish or so, then pull the heatsink and check your coverage and evenness of TIM distribution. If it's good, you did it right, now clean it all off as above, then reapply. Don't cut any corners on the cleaning. Do it as well or better than you did the 1st time.
Now re-apply the TIM, if it was good when you checked it as above, post burn-in, then do it the same way.
Otherwise, if it was all messed up, thick and thin, spots missing, uneven, etc... Hone your method, using the AS5 site as a guide again.

Anytime you ever remove a HSF assy. from a CPU or other high heat component/device/chip, you never just slap it back on. You always, always must completely clean and prep both surfaces as stated here, then reapply the TIM.
It has to do with the laws of fluid dynamics, solids and impeding the final properties and efficiencies of thermal transfer.

You can also simply choose to apply a small dab onto the CPU/CPU's heatspreader, about the size of a grain of rice and spread it out using a very clean, denatured alcohol wiped credit card edge. Get it as thin as you can, so it's just short of completely obscuring the metal heat spreader surface underneath. Less is more, but not so little you can see through it anywhere.
This technique is a bit of a PITA and takes practice, hence AS went to the method shown on their website.

Also, out of order here, but I'll add that you should smear a small dab of it into the bottom of the heatsink using a clean plastic bag, or baggie. If you use a grocery bag, that's quite alright, just make sure you don't use any part that's printed. Wrap the bag tip tightly around your finger, like a glove finger, so tightly that it's very taut and your finger underneath is all shiny and smooth through the bag. Then smear smear, smear that puppy on there!! Going in different directions, in a circular motion, center to outside. Then reverse direction, then go side to side, up to down, get a good variety of directions and motions. Pushing very hard, as it drags and fights under your finger. When you're done, wipe it off with a freshly cleaned white cotton cloth, like a baby diaper or a linen sheet. Wipe it nice and shiny, you'll see a silvery dingy spot left behind, ever so slight. That's good, that means you worked it down into the metal lattice of the heatsink block, giving it a head start on the break in.

I don't know if the CCard spread & heatsink rub-in method are still on their website. But they're official AS approved methods from over 10, nearly 15 years ago. I have been doing this a loooong time, with excellent results.
Everyone's system that comes into my shop that I do any work at all to their thermal system gets AS2/3/5 treatment. Started @ AS2, now we're up to AS5. Doesn't matter if they're an OC'er, or Joe/Suzy internet user. They get AS on it. BEcause it's the best and it does what it says and does it well.
It can mean the difference between a system that's marginally cool and one that's cool as a cucumber, or it is for that system anyway.

But it doesn't work, nothing will, if you don't prep the surfaces correctly and also verify that the mounting mechanism is working properly and installed+seated correctly. All of those things are critical and must be verified long before you even think about applying the actual AS5 TIM itself.

Lastly, a warning. AS5 is "TECHNICALLY" non-conductive. But it's possible for it to happen, it is an semi aqueous solution of micronized, non uniformly coefficient silver particles. So with that said, try to keep it off of anything it shouldn't be on, if it does get on the board, or in the CPU socket, etc.. Stop everything and clean that puppy off, thoroughly, before you proceed.

Hope this helps you and others out.
Cheers mate!!