Elitegroup / ECS MCP61SM-GM motherboard recap
I know there are quite a few threads on this one. Badcaps.net store even has a capacitor kit for it. But as usual, I do my recaps in a rather less-than-standard way, so I figured I could post the results here anyways. Worth noting is that I always make a “cap map”, so if you are doing one of these motherboards and get lost where each cap went, this could help you figure it out. 
So… This was perhaps the first motherboard I recapped “with confidence”, so to speak. The previous two motherboards I did before that were the Shuttle XPC FB83 (which did not work, due to blown FET and likely damaged NB) and a Dell OptiPlex GX270 motherboard (which did work, but I never got to using it due to having a hard time finding a front panel connector for it.)
Back story: after seeing some of the work I did for one of my classes in college, a friend of my roommate asked me if I could take a look at two old desktop PCs he had. He offered me to keep one if I could fix the other. The two computers were HP and eMachines from the late XP and early Vista era, respectively. I’m not sure about the models, as I never wrote them down.
The HP had an ASUS A8AE-LE socket 939 motherboard with all-Panasonic caps. It just had a bad Bestec ATX-300-12Z CD 300 Watt PSU (bad caps). I recapped the PSU in that one and got it going quickly. Also put a ghetto heat-spreader on its SB chipset.
The eMachines, on the other hand, came with this ECS MCP61SM-GM ver1.0 motherboard that had bad OST RLZ caps on every buck-regulated rail. This is what it looked like when I got it:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1498762952
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1498762952
Before proceeding with the recap, I made a cap map, as usual. I do this, because I tend to re-use pulled capacitors a lot (especially from Xbox 360 motherboards), which don’t always match the cap values that were on the motherboard originally. So this allows me to decide what caps to use where. Here is the cap map:
I marked 8 important voltage rails on it (item #4 actually covers multiple rails, but I felt they could all be grouped into one.)
#1: CPU 12V rail
Original caps: 3x Chemicon KZG, 16 V, 1800 uF, 10 mm Ø
Replacement caps: 4x Nichicon HN, 16 V, 1500 uF, 10 mm Ø
There was a free 10 mm spot on the motherboard for the CPU 12V rail, so I couldn’t resist filling it in.
#2: CPU V_core (CPU low side)
Original caps: 6x OST RLZ, 6.3 V, 1800 uF, 8 mm Ø
Replacement caps:
- 6x Nichicon LF polymer, 2.5 V, 820 uF, 8 mm Ø
- 6x Rubycon MFZ, 6.3 V, 2700 uF, 10 mm Ø
I added the Rubycon just for a capacitance boost and since there was a free 8 mm Ø cap spot. Did it by adding short extension leads (about 3-4 mm) to the Rubycon cap to convert it to the smaller lead spacing of the 8 mm spot.
#3: RAM V_dimm voltage (1.8V for DDR2)
Original caps: 2x OST RLS, 6.3 V, 1000 uF, 8 mm Ø, 12 mm high, 72 mOhm ESR
Replacement caps: 1x Rubycon MFZ, 6.3 V, 820 uF, 8 mm Ø, 21 mm high… and much lower ESR than the OST RLS.
I only replaced one because neither of them were bulging, and the low ESR of that Rubycon cap is probably 10x lower than that of the OST RLS.
#4: 5V rail / 5VSB rail / USB 5V rail (varies by cap spot, see map)
Original caps:
- 3x OST RLS, 6.3 V, 1000 uF, 8 mm Ø,
- 2x OST RLZ, 6.3 V, 1800 uF, 8 mm Ø,
Replacement caps (I only replaced the OST RLZ, as they were inputs to buck rails):
- 1x Rubycon MFZ, 6.3 V, 820 uF, 8 mm Ø (placed on the NB buck regulator input)
- 1x Panasonic FL, 6.3 V, 1500 uF, 8 mm Ø (placed on RAM V_dimm buck regulator input)
I find it a bit funny how the OST RLZ caps were the only ones to bulge, whereas the OST RLS (which have much more inferior ESR specs) were okay.
#5: 5V rail for the PCI/PCI-E slots
Original caps: 2x OST RLS, 6.3 V, 1000 uF, 8 mm Ø,
I did not replace any of them, as they are general filter caps and thus not very important. I also decided to do the recap for my roommate’s friend for free, so that is another reason why I skipped these.
#6: Northbridge/Southbridge main Vcc rail
Original caps: 1x OST RLZ, 6.3 V, 1800 uF, 8 mm Ø
Replacement caps: 1x Rubycon MFZ, 6.3 V, 2700 uF, 10 mm Ø
Just like the CPU low side, I put a 10 mm cap here in place of an 8 mm one. Figured the extra capacitance and lower ESR wouldn’t harm anything.
#7: 12V rail for PCI/PCI-E slots
I left the lone G-Luxon SM, 16 V, 470 uF cap as is where is.
#8: 3.3V Standby rail
I left all of the caps on this one as they were, as well. It is linearly-generated, so the caps are not stressed that much. It is an important rail, though, so I advice changing at least the large 1000 uF caps on it when in doubt.
Pictures after the recap:
And here is a picture of the back, just for completeness
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1498762952
That covers the entire recap.
When I finished and tested the board, I gave both PCs back to my roommate’s friend, as I didn’t want any of them at the time (both of them had PCI-E connectors, and I had no PCI-E video cards then). He then gave the eMachines (the one with this board) to my roommate, after he pulled his files off of there. My roommate used it for maybe a few months and then junked it. He did offer it to me, but I wasn’t able to make it in time, so he put it in the trash (all that effort for nothing, I suppose
). Hopefully the trash man took it. It was a pretty solid recap, after all.
So… This was perhaps the first motherboard I recapped “with confidence”, so to speak. The previous two motherboards I did before that were the Shuttle XPC FB83 (which did not work, due to blown FET and likely damaged NB) and a Dell OptiPlex GX270 motherboard (which did work, but I never got to using it due to having a hard time finding a front panel connector for it.)
Back story: after seeing some of the work I did for one of my classes in college, a friend of my roommate asked me if I could take a look at two old desktop PCs he had. He offered me to keep one if I could fix the other. The two computers were HP and eMachines from the late XP and early Vista era, respectively. I’m not sure about the models, as I never wrote them down.
The HP had an ASUS A8AE-LE socket 939 motherboard with all-Panasonic caps. It just had a bad Bestec ATX-300-12Z CD 300 Watt PSU (bad caps). I recapped the PSU in that one and got it going quickly. Also put a ghetto heat-spreader on its SB chipset.
The eMachines, on the other hand, came with this ECS MCP61SM-GM ver1.0 motherboard that had bad OST RLZ caps on every buck-regulated rail. This is what it looked like when I got it:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1498762952
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1498762952
Before proceeding with the recap, I made a cap map, as usual. I do this, because I tend to re-use pulled capacitors a lot (especially from Xbox 360 motherboards), which don’t always match the cap values that were on the motherboard originally. So this allows me to decide what caps to use where. Here is the cap map:
I marked 8 important voltage rails on it (item #4 actually covers multiple rails, but I felt they could all be grouped into one.)
#1: CPU 12V rail
Original caps: 3x Chemicon KZG, 16 V, 1800 uF, 10 mm Ø
Replacement caps: 4x Nichicon HN, 16 V, 1500 uF, 10 mm Ø
There was a free 10 mm spot on the motherboard for the CPU 12V rail, so I couldn’t resist filling it in.
#2: CPU V_core (CPU low side)
Original caps: 6x OST RLZ, 6.3 V, 1800 uF, 8 mm Ø
Replacement caps:
- 6x Nichicon LF polymer, 2.5 V, 820 uF, 8 mm Ø
- 6x Rubycon MFZ, 6.3 V, 2700 uF, 10 mm Ø
I added the Rubycon just for a capacitance boost and since there was a free 8 mm Ø cap spot. Did it by adding short extension leads (about 3-4 mm) to the Rubycon cap to convert it to the smaller lead spacing of the 8 mm spot.
#3: RAM V_dimm voltage (1.8V for DDR2)
Original caps: 2x OST RLS, 6.3 V, 1000 uF, 8 mm Ø, 12 mm high, 72 mOhm ESR
Replacement caps: 1x Rubycon MFZ, 6.3 V, 820 uF, 8 mm Ø, 21 mm high… and much lower ESR than the OST RLS.
I only replaced one because neither of them were bulging, and the low ESR of that Rubycon cap is probably 10x lower than that of the OST RLS.
#4: 5V rail / 5VSB rail / USB 5V rail (varies by cap spot, see map)
Original caps:
- 3x OST RLS, 6.3 V, 1000 uF, 8 mm Ø,
- 2x OST RLZ, 6.3 V, 1800 uF, 8 mm Ø,
Replacement caps (I only replaced the OST RLZ, as they were inputs to buck rails):
- 1x Rubycon MFZ, 6.3 V, 820 uF, 8 mm Ø (placed on the NB buck regulator input)
- 1x Panasonic FL, 6.3 V, 1500 uF, 8 mm Ø (placed on RAM V_dimm buck regulator input)
I find it a bit funny how the OST RLZ caps were the only ones to bulge, whereas the OST RLS (which have much more inferior ESR specs) were okay.
#5: 5V rail for the PCI/PCI-E slots
Original caps: 2x OST RLS, 6.3 V, 1000 uF, 8 mm Ø,
I did not replace any of them, as they are general filter caps and thus not very important. I also decided to do the recap for my roommate’s friend for free, so that is another reason why I skipped these.
#6: Northbridge/Southbridge main Vcc rail
Original caps: 1x OST RLZ, 6.3 V, 1800 uF, 8 mm Ø
Replacement caps: 1x Rubycon MFZ, 6.3 V, 2700 uF, 10 mm Ø
Just like the CPU low side, I put a 10 mm cap here in place of an 8 mm one. Figured the extra capacitance and lower ESR wouldn’t harm anything.
#7: 12V rail for PCI/PCI-E slots
I left the lone G-Luxon SM, 16 V, 470 uF cap as is where is.
#8: 3.3V Standby rail
I left all of the caps on this one as they were, as well. It is linearly-generated, so the caps are not stressed that much. It is an important rail, though, so I advice changing at least the large 1000 uF caps on it when in doubt.
Pictures after the recap:
And here is a picture of the back, just for completeness
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1498762952
That covers the entire recap.
When I finished and tested the board, I gave both PCs back to my roommate’s friend, as I didn’t want any of them at the time (both of them had PCI-E connectors, and I had no PCI-E video cards then). He then gave the eMachines (the one with this board) to my roommate, after he pulled his files off of there. My roommate used it for maybe a few months and then junked it. He did offer it to me, but I wasn’t able to make it in time, so he put it in the trash (all that effort for nothing, I suppose
). Hopefully the trash man took it. It was a pretty solid recap, after all.
Attached Files
