First post, by TELVM
- Rank
- Oldbie
This is an old style mobo, from the times before the "P4" connector, so all VRM caps are identical 6.3V 1500uF:
The left pair in particular have to hold a difficult position, surrounded by coils and unsunk mosfets. They soldiered on for more than a decade but finally succumbed to the murderous heat, gave up the ghost and bloated:
So a full recap was on the order.
- VRM: 7x 'M' (unknown cheap brand) 6.3V 1500uF 10mm ==========> 7x Nichicon HM 6.3V 3300uF 10mm
- Smaller caps: 10x D.S. 6.3V 1000uF 8mm =====================> 10x Panasonic FR 6.3V 1000uF 8mm
The preceptive homebrew heatsink for the mosfets (slice from old Athlon XP heatsink 😀 )
Finally I thought about replacing the thermal paste under the northbridge heatsink, which surely would be dry and tired after more than a decade. But my worries were unfounded, for ...
... there was never any thermal paste at all! A pea of Artic Silver 5 and back to its position it went.
Restored 440BX mobo with slocket Tually 1400-S inserted, in fresh combat order for a couple more decades of zombie-crowbarring in Half-Life 😎 :
Let the air flow!
