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Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

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    Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

    Hey guys,

    I had a thread in January about my onboard NIC which died, so I replaced it with a Rosewill 400-LX PCI Network Card for only $10! Unfortunately, caps on the NIC included TWBor and Cheng.

    So this thread is just a reference for anyone else who might feel like they want to do the same for their Rosewill NIC. Though I'm fairly certain that I'm the only one who has done this...but anyway!

    I bought the replacement caps a long time ago, and was too lazy to recap. Finally got the time today.

    Here's how I did replacements.

    TWBor 22uF 16V (4x) --> Panasonic FR 22uF 50V
    Cheng 10uF 16V (1x) --> Panasonic FC 10uF 50V

    I did some speed tests and no signs of instability. If anything, it's more stable. I've yet to see a dead Panasonic, so I should be good to go for the next 100 years.

    Also stuck a VRAM heatsink onto the main NIC chip. Hopefully it will prevent that flaky Realtek chip from dying, because the capacitors sure as hell aren't.

    See ya.

    ---

    On Panasonic FR...

    Panasonic FRs have to be the ugliest capacitors I have ever seen/used from a reputable manufacturer...ever. They have the same performance as FM, but are rated for a longer life. 10,000hours vs 7,000hours. They are also priced very similar to FM, which makes them a pretty good bang for your buck. Unfortunately, for certain niche markets who feed on good looking components, FR just doesn't cut it. I suppose for anything else, no one really cares...but it's a lame, for me.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by TheLaw; 05-27-2011, 08:51 PM.

    #2
    Re: Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

    I bought a Rosewill RC-100 USB card that used the same brands of caps. There was also a cap that appeared to have been soldered in by hand and was a different brand than the rest (I think it was Jian branded). I couldn't get the card to work properly. I tried removing one of the caps, but the board absorbed the heat and the solder wouldn't melt.

    Why did you recap something that cheap and crappy instead of buying a decent card in the first place?

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

      Originally posted by lti View Post
      I bought a Rosewill RC-100 USB card that used the same brands of caps. There was also a cap that appeared to have been soldered in by hand and was a different brand than the rest (I think it was Jian branded). I couldn't get the card to work properly. I tried removing one of the caps, but the board absorbed the heat and the solder wouldn't melt.

      Why did you recap something that cheap and crappy instead of buying a decent card in the first place?
      The main reason I did it this way is because this card only cost $10, and in order for me to avoid bad caps, I would have to buy a $35 Intel card, which would have worked also, but...

      Since I was already ordering some stuff off Mouser around that time, I decided just to bundle in these caps with it, and it wound up only costing me around $3. So $13 vs $35. Yes I'm that cheap.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

        I don't have any conclusive evidence, and it would easily be my mind, but I think my network performance is indeed faster.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

          Rosewill = shit. Realtek is ok,other than you have crabs all over in your computer :P that's what I've ran for years, and yes a realtek card is a hair faster than a compairible intel card. That heatsink is a bit overkill but atleast it hides your crabs! Lol

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

            Nah Rosewill is decent. They do a good job keeping it affordable, though I wish they would stop with the bad caps.

            I noticed that the chip did run a little bit hot, and though I'm sure it was designed to do so, I think I might be able to help it out a bit by slapping one of them on.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

              What thermal compound did you use to attach the heatsink to the chip? i.e. is it secure?

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Finished recapping Rosewill NIC (4 months later)

                Originally posted by lmcancu View Post
                What thermal compound did you use to attach the heatsink to the chip? i.e. is it secure?
                Ermm...It was a VRAM heatsink, therefore it just sticks on.

                The actual chip is only about 1/2 inch x 3/4 inch.

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