Dell GX270 still works regardless

[SteveNielsen]

Check this out. This board has been working fine several years for me and I opened it up for some parts juggling after a recent upgrade to another box. Most of the caps along the CPU have opened and leaked. Not only that but the thermal goo on the CPU is weird, there is hardly any of the grayish paste I'm used to seeing and the CPU land and heat-sink have more of what looks and feels like something between vaseline and light machine oil than thermal goo. Do some thermal pastes contain that much oil? Or did some bonehead put it on there?

I've ordered a cap kit for it. I figure it's a darn good board to have lived through that. It is from the smallest of the GX270's and I'm going to fit into a full size case after I re-cap it. One of you guys said you'd done that to one and had to mod the tray or something to fit. It appears the tray jacks the board up too high to fit the backplane of a bigger case. Of course the mtg holes on the MB don't jive either but I think I can work that out. Any tips?

[retiredcaps]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

I received 4 of these GX280 small form factor PCs a while back and all but one had bad caps in the same area as yours.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19392

In addition, the power supply also had some obviously bloated caps so you want to check that as well too.

After factoring in the time needed to desolder, cost of ordering new caps and given the age, and my general dislike for Dell (personal reasons) I decided to not to repair these and use them for parts. I think I recapped only the bloated caps on the power supply just to get one or two working.

If you need the power supply, let me know. You can have them for $0 + the price of postage assuming this power supply is compatible with the GX270?

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

Thanks, I'm ok for PSUs at the moment. I've got no love affair with Dell either but this board has been good to me and deserves to live on for a while. It'll move on down the line in the household once I get it in a bigger case.

[stj]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

open the psu and check the ceramic cap in front of and to the right of the main fet.

if it's discoloured, replace it with a 2Kv rated one before it takes out the psu.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

While I'm not working on the PSU for the GX270 that is good advice. I'm not planning on using the original PSU when the MB goes in another bigger case.

What has me curious though is the thermal paste condition, I've never seen it turn oily like this before. I doubt this board has been worked on before, knowing where it came from, so I doubt anyone has put actual grease or oil on the CPU/heatsink. There's no oily stuff in evidence anywhere else.

[stj]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

who knows.
manufacturers use all kinds of crap.
i'v seen something like thick vasaline in a big psu once on the fets.

on pc's i'm more used to the pink or gray bubblegum.

[c_hegge]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

I'd quite common to see bad rubycons in those. For that reason, I polymodded the last one I got to recap.

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

The bad boys on this board are MCZ series which don't have a good reputation from what I read around here, plus the visibly blown ones are all in a row nestled between the CPU and a heat sink for two ICs so it's a heat trap area and I'm sure that has something to do with them losing it. I've thought about polymodding too, but for this I decided to give a bit of well deserved business to Topcat and buy one of his kits.

[c_hegge]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

Actually, MCZ are usually very reliable when not overheated. In a standard ATX case with good ventilation, they usually hold up very well.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

the heatsink of those dells have fins that are VERY close together. It easily gets clogged with dust. Combine that with the spacing and you have a formula for a heating disaster

[stj]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

worst of all, they are DELL

[SteveNielsen]

Re: Dell GX270 still works regardless

Update:
The re-capped GX270 MB is successfully transplanted into a Dimension 4300 case with no mounting modifications required. I lucked out having that 4300 case. The GX270 MB tray fits perfectly, everything lines up. Even the front panel connector matches up and the leds, switch, usb and sound ports work perfectly.