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**tiresias** · 05-15-2006, 03:27 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by Tom41

Anyway, one of the first things I did was check the caps on the board... and I found to my dismay that it's packed with OST caps. I hear that OST can have bulging/venting problems - though thankfully not as bad as GSC or Tayeh

. The person who will be receiving this PC likes to keep his machine on 24/7, to minimise boot-up and login delays first thing on a morning. I'm wondering, with OST caps, how long do you expect the board to last like this?

Ensuring that heat doesn't accumulate to problematic levels (ie. having decent cooling) will help keep those OSTs in order even under constant activity.

As for the OST themselves, well - they're not great as you know. On a hypothetical rating 4-star rating system, they would probably have 2 stars.

That would put them at the level of G-Luxon and Hermei. That's much better than Chhsi, but not as good as Nichicon. Basically, they may work for years without giving trouble, but failures with OSTs are too common for them to simply be a case of "the odd bad batch".

**willawake** · 05-15-2006, 03:32 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

you did not say whether it was an intel or amd board.

i would like to add quality psu as well

depends on the ost series anyway. some like the RLP last for years on the P3 boards, others like the RLZ on vcore of a p4 board did less than a year.

if you want good caps then why buy a budget range board. it is more likely to get good caps at the high end.

**MD Willington** · 05-15-2006, 05:07 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Asrock is the budget sector of Asus... much like PCChips is the budget sector of ECS (though I believe both are budget). I ran my PCChips board for pretty much 24/7, same caps, just died last month after ~ 18 months I'd guess.

**tiresias** · 05-15-2006, 05:46 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by MD Willington

same caps, just died last month after ~ 18 months I'd guess.

Did it die due to the OSTs in any way, or due to one of those mysterious, irreparable issues that PC Chips boards are prone to developing?

**hkivan** · 05-16-2006, 11:16 AM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

I have a Asrock K7S41. It comes with KZE & KZG caps around the
cpu socket but the VRM is only 2 phases. The mosfets are small
and the coils looks high quality. My sempron 2200+ o/c to over 224 FSB
and run 24/7 flawlessly.

Later, I recap the KZE & KZG to some inferior brands caps.
I dont remeber the brands but they are desoldered from a PSU.
The PC also run fine 24/7. The PSU I used was just a cheap 300W
from Huntkey.

Although asrock begins to use OSTs, the stability & OC ability is fine
on their price range. Even some mid-range m/bs are inferior
compared with. My next m/b will sure be an asrock.

Provided u have stable power and no thermal issue, asrock
should be fine for 24/7. PCChip can't match with it.
If U want OC to sky high, DFI LanParty is the way to go.

**willawake** · 05-16-2006, 12:09 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Later, I recap the KZE & KZG to some inferior brands caps. I dont remeber the brands but they are desoldered from a PSU.

why do that?

**Rainbow** · 05-16-2006, 01:03 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

I tested 3 ASRock boards - P4i48, P4VT8+ (P4) and K7S41 (Socket A) - lately and they're crap - mainly the BIOS and compatibility is really bad.
K7S41 had shorted NPN transistor for chipset power, other two were OK.
Both P4 boards power the CPU from 5V rail which causes problems with many PSUs. Tested with 3 PSUs, only 1 was able to run without problems:
1. SkyHawk 250W (my testing PSU) - won't even power up, probably due to overload on the 5V rail
2. MS Industrial KYP-350W - powers up but 12V rail is so unstable (jumping from about 11.8V to 12.4V) that HDD is unable to spin up - the load on the 5V rail is very high
3. DTK PTP-2007 200W - works fine, although the 12V line varies between about 12.2V and 12.5V)

K7S41 has very serious problems with IDE bus loading - it corrupts data with slightly longer cables.

All three boards use good caps - Chemicon, Rubycon, although there are small 1000uF OSTs on one of them. But good caps do not make good board. The CPU power circuits don't seem to be powerful enough.

When comparing with ECS/PC Chips, I didn't have any recent board from them - but e.g. K7S5A is much better board (only the bad caps which kill mosfets...).

**MD Willington** · 05-16-2006, 03:08 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by tiresias

Did it die due to the OSTs in any way, or due to one of those mysterious, irreparable issues that PC Chips boards are prone to developing?

The caps looked okay, but it was doing the boot up and run for 15 minutes then lock.

In all honesty I have no intention of troubleshooting it, it was a bargain board and was meant to only last until I could put together my A64 system. I'll just grab the other parts and keep them as spares.

The board will be having some extra high velocity lead added to it at the farm some day this summer compliments of my Little Friend

**willawake** · 05-16-2006, 03:38 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

damn...all of you are armed arent you?

**tiresias** · 05-16-2006, 04:13 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by MD Willington

The board will be having some extra high velocity lead added to it at the farm some day this summer compliments of my Little Friend

That's a great way to deal with misbehaving hardware! Second only to those 30 gram italian firecrackers... they can deal with even the toughest Compaq.

The BHP's very nice... it's actually the pistol I've always been able to shoot the best with... at least, it's the only one I've ever been able to win a trophy with at my old "Tiro a segno"

(in Italy... not here in the Netherlands, obviously - here you need written permission from the minister every time you plan to fart).

PS. Are those earlier models inspired by the 1911? ... it sure would look that way.

**Galvanized** · 05-16-2006, 04:30 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Inspired my arse!

John Moses Browning designed the 1911 45auto for Samuel Colt.

Sam was just very good at lobbying our Congress and giving expensive presents (Colt SA revolvers, engraved & inlayed w/gold) to the "right" people.

Sam was political...John Moses was a true genius at design=fact.

Just kidding with you tiresias.

**tiresias** · 05-16-2006, 04:43 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by Galvanized

Just kidding with you tiresias.

No seriously, this is good information!

I was actually not aware of Browning's involvement in the 1911's original design - keep it coming.

**Galvanized** · 05-16-2006, 04:55 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

I'm no expert but did get real involved in firearms History at one time.
This should be in the lounge. I'll talk to stretch in the gun thread there and we can really kick-it around. I like the "cap"gun ideer.

Google punkin chunkin :-P

http://www.m1911.org/browning.htm

**MD Willington** · 05-16-2006, 05:55 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by willawake

damn...all of you are armed arent you?

ATM, I am using a friends "hardware"..though I do have a license of my own, considering a CPL as well, my state has some funny laws even though I am a permanent resident with background checks etc etc...

to avoid all that mess I need citizenship, shouldn't be a problem.

**Chris1992** · 05-16-2006, 06:03 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

>Both P4 boards power the CPU from 5V rail
?! I thought Intel would not even allow selling of a P4 board if not powering the proc froim 12v!

**hkivan** · 05-16-2006, 11:23 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by willawake

why do that?

My socket A sempron can't be unlocked. With
the fixed multipler of 9x, it won't be oc too high.
I just want to reserve the caps for future OC.
Second tier is enough the K7 board.

Also, I brought some rubycon RX30 .
They are just sitting around. I can find MBZ,
MCZ, KZJ, KZG... in my region. Only, Rubycon RX30,
YXG, YXA, YK can be found in store.

**hkivan** · 05-16-2006, 11:36 PM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by Chris1992

>Both P4 boards power the CPU from 5V rail
?! I thought Intel would not even allow selling of a P4 board if not powering the proc froim 12v!

I saw some Asrock K8 boards come with 16V caps on VRM input side.
They should drain 12v rail. P4 need more power. How
many amperage needed if they are feasted from 5V rail ?

Which P4 boards u are talking about? Can u show me
some pictures so that I can see the caps on them ?

**Rainbow** · 05-17-2006, 01:14 AM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

Originally posted by hkivan

I saw some Asrock K8 boards come with 16V caps on VRM input side.
They should drain 12v rail. P4 need more power. How
many amperage needed if they are feasted from 5V rail ?

Much - and I tested with only Celeron 1.7GHz CPU. These boards claim Prescott support too...

Which P4 boards u are talking about? Can u show me
some pictures so that I can see the caps on them ?

ASRock P4i48 and P4VT8+. There is no ATX12V connector and the Vcore MOSFETs are connected to 5V.

**hkivan** · 05-17-2006, 03:55 AM

Re: ASRock mobo with OSTs

The P4i84 is claimed to support upto 3.2G Prescott
as I saw from the web. As the 2nd brand from Asus,
I think they won't tell lies. But they haven't disclose
the PSU needed.

When there were few affordable ATX 12V 2.0 PSUs
on the market, draining on 5v rail to feast CPU is wise
provided technically feasible, especially for budget boards.

Just like a PSU for K7, the combined output of 5V
& 3.3v should be more than 180W. My 350W Hedy comes
with 220W combined power.

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