Why there no capacitor here?

[nanobyte]

Ok, after I started to work on my video card capacitors... i noticed there was one capacitor mark in the board but, theres was no capacitor there... why? also in my motherboard? it was marked but not placed?

like this one, see the 3 left capacitors marks? o_o ... mine has 1

[ratdude747]

Re: Why there no capacitor here?

they often use the same PCB for different models. that is why you see motherboards missing components.

in the video card, what happened was they went to lower esr caps and did not need as many. perhaps my first statement might be the case as well.

[nanobyte]

Re: Why there no capacitor here?

hmmm k thanks, and what would happen if i add a capacitor in one of those slots? :P malfunction? boom? or just nothing..

[370forlife]

Re: Why there no capacitor here?

Graphics cards will hardly use the same pcb, but different versions (and therefore different cost) will have different components. Chances are this one is just a simple rebranded reference card that had some corners cut to reduce cost, therefore some of the caps were able to be left out.

If you want to, very carefully check the voltage at the spots for open caps and you can install some more there. They can help provide more stable power.

[PlainBill]

Re: Why there no capacitor here?

hmmm k thanks, and what would happen if i add a capacitor in one of those slots? :P malfunction? boom? or just nothing..

Probably nothing. Look to the left of the two 'missing' capacitors. Looks to me like something else is missing - actually two something elses.

I'd say this pc board was used for at least two similar models with slightly different features. While I haven't been involved in electronics manufacturing for two decades, this sort of thing was very common back then. I recall one PC board that was used in a couple of dozen different models.

PlainBill

[nanobyte]

Re: Why there no capacitor here?

i see :0 that makes sense now :P many thanks for all replies !