Check out the JWCO HGA series.

http://www.jiaweicheng.com/en/products.html

dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-11, 19:29:

Check out the JWCO HGA series.

http://www.jiaweicheng.com/en/products.html

These are not an option, I´m afraid.
"Around the VRM" on this mainboard means capacities of 1000µF-2200µF 6.3 or 10V low ESR.
The HGA series is available with 50V - 100V nominal voltage, so providing the required capacity they will be way too large for this application.

Never choose electrolytics by their looks!

Fit proper caps, paint with silver nail polish :-]

Am eventually hoping to do the same for my SY-KT333 DRAGON Ultra (Platinum Edition), but maybe go down the poly route if I can figure out what would be the correct equivalents.

convert SMD style ones to work? They're small and silver.

Most polymers caps have varnished aluminium cans, and perhaps don't look too out of place.

Although I'm not sure if that's an option - audio grade caps usually come in more exotic colors, though I don't know if they come in 2200-4700 ranges.

A couple of great suggestions here. I'm even entertaining the nail polish option! Its a shame there's no real modern equivalent with a true silver mirror like finish. It really makes the board unique. The polymer option is intriguing, but I would really need my hand held in order to spec out equivalent ratings compared to the existing electrolytics as I'm not familiar with polymer qualities at all. I had a quick look on Digikey and there are silver options of course, but they are more brushed than mirrored. It might be as close as I can get though. I'll post the values of the existing caps once I dig out the board. Thanks everyone!

You can cut the silver heat shrink on the old cap with a hobby knife and put it on the new cap with the same size.

baracoota wrote on 2024-09-12, 21:38:

The polymer option is intriguing, but I would really need my hand held in order to spec out equivalent ratings compared to the existing electrolytics as I'm not familiar with polymer qualities at all.

CPU VRM output (i.e. CPU V_core) side caps can be 2.5V or 4V or 6.3V -rated. Anywhere from half to the full capacity.
And the CPU VRM input appears to be the 5V rail, so either 6.3V or 10V caps will be fine. Can go with 16V too, if you like - it doesn't make a difference.
The board appears to use light-green cores with not many turns for the CPU VRM, so polymers will be fine. No need to reach the same capacity as the original caps, regardless if you go with polymers or not. IIRC, the light green cores are similar in specs to Micrometals -45 core mix... which is a relatively modern(ish) core type and used at higher frequencies. Really, the only boards that I know that care more about the capacity are older ECS and PCChips board with a TL494/KA7500 voltage-mode controller and single-sided VRM.

baracoota wrote on 2024-09-12, 21:38:

I'll post the values of the existing caps once I dig out the board. Thanks everyone!

Also post the brand and series, along with size (diameter and height). That should make it easier to find replacements.

Karbist wrote on 2024-09-12, 22:29:

You can cut the silver heat shrink on the old cap with a hobby knife and put it on the new cap with the same size.

Haha, that's actually genius!
Even more funny if the board ever goes into the hands of a techy down the road that knows their caps - they might get mightily confused as to why "these" original caps are still not bad yet and/or why they have different style of vents.

But yes, this is probably the easiest solution I see. Just cut down the old sleeve on the black stripe (negative marking) and put it the same way over the new cap... and that's it? I imagine the sleeves of the old caps might require a bit of trimming, though, as they look pretty tall. Since ultra-low ESR caps are no longer available, the next best choice is Rubycon ZL, ZLH, and ZLK, Panasonic FR and FS, Nichicon HV and HW, and United Chemicon KZH and KZM. All of these should still be available on Digikey and Mouser (and other large electronic suppliers) last time I checked. Or, you could get polymers and re-sleeve those instead... though those would be even smaller in size.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-09-12, 16:31:

Although I'm not sure if that's an option - audio grade caps usually come in more exotic colors, though I don't know if they come in 2200-4700 ranges.

IIRC, they do. But these are typically only 85C and don't have anywhere near the low impedance and high ripple current rating. So they might end up not lasting too long.

dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-11, 19:29:

Check out the JWCO HGA series.

Yes, check them out... and move on. 🤣 🤣
Seriously, though, JWCO caps are no good.

I don't want to appear as some kind of brand loyalist... but it should be well-known by now that the only electrolytic cap brands that can be trusted are the main Japanese ones: Rubycon, Panasonic (Matsushita), United Chemicon, Nichicon, Sanyo (now Suncon).
With polymers, the game's a little different. There, even classic "bad cap" brands like CapXon can be OK. Wurth are good too, from what I've seen online so far, and available on Digikey.

As Majestik noted:

Majestik wrote:

Never choose electrolytics by their looks!

dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-11, 19:29:

Check out the JWCO HGA series.

Yes, check them out... and move on. 🤣 🤣
Seriously, though, JWCO caps are no good.

I don't want to appear as some kind of brand loyalist... but it should be well-known by now that the only electrolytic cap brands that can be trusted are the main Japanese ones: Rubycon, Panasonic (Matsushita), United Chemicon, Nichicon, Sanyo (now Suncon).
With polymers, the game's a little different. There, even classic "bad cap" brands like CapXon can be OK. Wurth are good too, from what I've seen online so far, and available on Digikey.
[/quote]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have used the JWCO LF series before to recap a sound card, and they work flawlessly. One more thing, you forgot to mention Elna.

dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-13, 09:09:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have used the JWCO LF series before to recap a sound card, and they work flawlessly. One more thing, you forgot to mention Elna.

It's not opinion, it's a fact.
The problem with the cheapo brands is that they don't (care to) maintain any quality control of their product whatsoever. So maybe you get a batch of caps that works fine for many years or maybe you don't.
I can get that sound card of yours to work "flawlessly" even with the shittiest of the shittiest brands of caps like Rulycon (fake Rubycon) or Sacon FZ. The point is, these two have proven themselves not to last. So after a while, it's a job that will have to be done once again.
Now JWCO aren't anywhere that bad as the two above... but again, you can never know 100%. I've seen them last a long time in some devices, and not so much in others.
On the up side, there's nothing on a sound card that stresses them that much - it's all analog, low frequency and low ripple current application in there. So there's a good chance they might actually last a while (and usually why even other crap brands last OK on sounds cards or other non-stressful hardware.)
But motherboard VRMs (and most switched / HF power conversion circuits) are a completely different animal and y0u just can't put whatever garbage in there. That's what propagated the whole "bad cap" era in the mid 2000's. No need to repeat the same mistakes from the past.

Oh, and as for Elna... their low-impedance / low-ESR offerings are kinda not reliable either. I've seen quite a few bulged Elna in SMPSs. For general purpose and/or audio applications, though, they are fine.

momaka wrote on 2024-09-13, 23:33:

It's not opinion, it's a fact. The problem with the cheapo brands is that they don't (care to) maintain any quality control of t […]
Show full quote

dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-13, 09:09:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have used the JWCO LF series before to recap a sound card, and they work flawlessly. One more thing, you forgot to mention Elna.

It's not opinion, it's a fact.
The problem with the cheapo brands is that they don't (care to) maintain any quality control of their product whatsoever. So maybe you get a batch of caps that works fine for many years or maybe you don't.
I can get that sound card of yours to work "flawlessly" even with the shittiest of the shittiest brands of caps like Rulycon (fake Rubycon) or Sacon FZ. The point is, these two have proven themselves not to last. So after a while, it's a job that will have to be done once again.
Now JWCO aren't anywhere that bad as the two above... but again, you can never know 100%. I've seen them last a long time in some devices, and not so much in others.
On the up side, there's nothing on a sound card that stresses them that much - it's all analog, low frequency and low ripple current application in there. So there's a good chance they might actually last a while (and usually why even other crap brands last OK on sounds cards or other non-stressful hardware.)
But motherboard VRMs (and most switched / HF power conversion circuits) are a completely different animal and y0u just can't put whatever garbage in there. That's what propagated the whole "bad cap" era in the mid 2000's. No need to repeat the same mistakes from the past.

Oh, and as for Elna... their low-impedance / low-ESR offerings are kinda not reliable either. I've seen quite a few bulged Elna in SMPSs. For general purpose and/or audio applications, though, they are fine.

Yes, the earth is flat and whatever you said.

dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-13, 09:09:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I have used the JWCO LF series before to recap a sound card, and they work flawlessly. One more thing, you forgot to mention Elna.

Im with momaka on this. Its not an opinion. Sound card caps has nothing to do with capacitors in DC-DC converters. Its like saying tires on our stroller lasted years, same brand should be fine on wifes truck! 😀

dominusprog wrote on 2024-09-14, 01:28:

Yes, the earth is flat and whatever you said.

Not sure why you are taking this offensively. I was just sharing my not-so-long (but not-so-short either) 15 years of experience as both professional and hobbyist tech. When you see cheap cap brands fail time after time when an equivalent known good brand doesn't in the same exact application/device, you don't have to wonder why the no-name brands are cheap for a reason. So it simply pays off to use better / proven reliable parts in the first place... at least when they are available. Granted not everyone around the world may have easy access to an authorized electronics parts distributor (i.e. Digikey, Mouser, RS Components, and etc.) and sometimes you just have to use what you have. But all in all, quality parts can be had if one looks around a little more. So it seems more logical to me to suggest the known good parts first, and then if sourcing those is an issue, go explore other alternatives.
JWCO and other cheap cap brands from AliExpress/Amazon/ebay/Temu/_insert_a_China_mall_store_front_name_here_ would be something I'd use only if I had nothing else. And as mentioned, I've seen them failed in equipment/applications that they shouldn't have failed so soon. So I treat them the same as any other cheap brand that's known not to last too long under any sort of stress.

razs_pl gave a good example, and I'll give you another one in the form of a question- which one would you trust to last longer (or at all): a Garrett Motion car turbo from a legitimate auto parts store/distributor, or a no-name Chinese turbo off of ebay/AliExp./Amazon? 😉