No, the voltage rating doesn't matter. Higher voltage rated capacitors are higher quality, so to speak, they have thicker inner layers with better conductivity and withstand higher voltages, and they tend to be bigger and more expensive for the same capacitance, but they can be safely used in place of lower voltage rated ones. For example, you often find 6.3V caps on CPU power supplies, but they are only ever charged to 2V or less.

The capacitance is what matters more. In some applications, such as timing circuits or capacitive power supplies, it can be critical. In circuits for general power supply usage, such as graphics cards, you have significant leeway, but not infinite - too high and you increase the inrush current which can stress components, too low and it can stress circuits that rely on a feedback loop (they try to work harder when the voltage drops). So try to match the original capacitance, but going 30% above or below should be fine. Probably even more, but I don't have the practical experience to tell you when it would cause significant issues.

asdf53 wrote on 2025-05-14, 10:21:

No, the voltage rating doesn't matter.

Not in general but it depends on application. In VRM sections, esp. the modern switching types, you need low ESR. It can be quite critical to get the ESR low enough to not cause voltage drops (and cap heating and dying faster). Higher voltage rating caps will usually have worse ESR, but it mostly depends on the capacitor size. The problem usually is you are also limited in what can fit on the PCB. So if a bigger cap can fit, it can be for higher voltage, but within reason.

In general for VRMs, esp. on cards or mobos that run hot, you really need:
1) Low-ESR capacitor variants
2) 105C (or higher) and preferably long-life, whatever still fits
3) Voltage rating same or a bit higher but for 6V3 caps 10V is already a step higher. 16V ones, depending on the circuit and cap performance, might be pushing it too far.

To O/P: where (online) are you looking to get your caps from? Please don't tell me (sc)Amazon or AliExpress - you'll probably end up getting cheap no-name garbage that's not even low ESR (even if the ad says so) or would last any reasonable amount of time. Or if the ad says they are some Japanese brand, chances are you'll be getting counterfeits. Even Ebay is pretty unsafe when it comes to that, though a little less if you know what to look for.
If you're in the US, consider Digikey or Mouser.
In EU, RS components, Farnell, and etc. should have the caps you're looking for.

As Deunan mentioned, you need (very) low ESR / low impedance caps. Before you even buy anything, it might be better to start a new thread for each piece of hardware that needs recapping so that you can get help identifying the caps and picking proper replacements (if you can't find info on how to do that yourself - i.e. check websites related to recapping like badcaps or read more threads on here in regards to recapping.)

momaka wrote on 2025-05-14, 14:38:

To O/P: where (online) are you looking to get your caps from? Please don't tell me (sc)Amazon or AliExpress - you'll probably en […]
Show full quote

To O/P: where (online) are you looking to get your caps from? Please don't tell me (sc)Amazon or AliExpress - you'll probably end up getting cheap no-name garbage that's not even low ESR (even if the ad says so) or would last any reasonable amount of time. Or if the ad says they are some Japanese brand, chances are you'll be getting counterfeits. Even Ebay is pretty unsafe when it comes to that, though a little less if you know what to look for.
If you're in the US, consider Digikey or Mouser.
In EU, RS components, Farnell, and etc. should have the caps you're looking for.

As Deunan mentioned, you need (very) low ESR / low impedance caps. Before you even buy anything, it might be better to start a new thread for each piece of hardware that needs recapping so that you can get help identifying the caps and picking proper replacements (if you can't find info on how to do that yourself - i.e. check websites related to recapping like badcaps or read more threads on here in regards to recapping.)

I wouldn't even consider AliExpress for anything, and I avoid using Amazon for anything that needs precision and because of certain personal reasons. I already have a go to place for chips and electronics, and that is Taydaelectronics, I order from them a lot and I have really good experiences with them, and many people recommended them to me. They state the caps are either Samxon or Panasonic, depending on which one I ordered (I ordered a large variety due to how may caps went bad).
I generally avoid eBay, the amount of times the product came broken or in worse condition than advertised. I do consider digikey and Mouser, but they have the same shipping as Tayda ($10 DHL/UPS), but have worse prices for smaller purchases (for example, so and so transistors are 10 cents for 50 on these sites while they drop to something like 2 cents for 500. tayda keeps a flat rate thats more worthwhile for for smaller purchases, like 5 cents regardless of count. Mouser and Digikey for me if I was buying in MAJOR bulk).

I was aware of the caps I needed, just couldn't find that ONE 6.3v 1000uF cap, and I already identified what is what.

Deunan wrote on 2025-05-14, 10:47:

Not in general but it depends on application. In VRM sections, esp. the modern switching types, you need low ESR. It can be quit […]
Show full quote

asdf53 wrote on 2025-05-14, 10:21:

No, the voltage rating doesn't matter.

Not in general but it depends on application. In VRM sections, esp. the modern switching types, you need low ESR. It can be quite critical to get the ESR low enough to not cause voltage drops (and cap heating and dying faster). Higher voltage rating caps will usually have worse ESR, but it mostly depends on the capacitor size. The problem usually is you are also limited in what can fit on the PCB. So if a bigger cap can fit, it can be for higher voltage, but within reason.

In general for VRMs, esp. on cards or mobos that run hot, you really need:
1) Low-ESR capacitor variants
2) 105C (or higher) and preferably long-life, whatever still fits
3) Voltage rating same or a bit higher but for 6V3 caps 10V is already a step higher. 16V ones, depending on the circuit and cap performance, might be pushing it too far.

I'm not too concerned about low-ESR variants since most of the caps were run of the mill, and stuck to the highest temperature rating I could find for all of them (which happened to all be 105C). Only concern is the voltage rating, which is my one worry. Asdf53 mentioned that there is a lot of wiggle room, and a lot of sources I found said, "it doesn't matter, just go higher," but I'm convinced that there could be a property that could cause issues in higher voltage rated capacitors. I think you are right, it could be pushing it too far; I will test it out anyways since I really doubt there will be permanent harm, just a hindrance of function until I find a better cap.

The card shows video (and somehow runs STALKER SoC just fine) despite having a lot of bulging and leaky caps, so it may not be too fussy about it.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-14, 15:23:

I'm not too concerned about low-ESR variants since most of the caps were run of the mill, and stuck to the highest temperature rating I could find for all of them (which happened to all be 105C). Only concern is the voltage rating, which is my one worry. Asdf53 mentioned that there is a lot of wiggle room, and a lot of sources I found said, "it doesn't matter, just go higher," but I'm convinced that there could be a property that could cause issues in higher voltage rated capacitors. I think you are right, it could be pushing it too far; I will test it out anyways since I really doubt there will be permanent harm, just a hindrance of function until I find a better cap.

The card shows video (and somehow runs STALKER SoC just fine) despite having a lot of bulging and leaky caps, so it may not be too fussy about it.

Yeah, if the card runs OK with the leaky caps, then indeed its VRM(s) probably aren't too picky. But be careful, as that many not always be the case. In the case of the standard GeForce 7600 GT by EVGA, close to half the time, the VRAM VRM will produce crazy-high spikes and kill the RAMs and sometimes the GPU chip too. I have two of these dead due to this and seen a number more online.

The voltage rating isn't something to worry about unless you go really overboard with the voltage (i.e. 400V cap instead of a 16 or 25V cap), which is very unlikely for anyone to do. The only reason manufacturers don't do this (or not very frequently anyways) is because within the same series of any capacitor brand, the higher-rated voltage caps will both be bigger and more expensive. However, there is one added benefit of using a higher-rated voltage cap: within the same brand and series of a capacitor, higher voltage cap = bigger cap = higher ripple current spec. Higher ripple current spec means the capacitor can handle more abuse before overheating. So going with a higher voltage is actually not necessarily a bad choice in some cases. In fact, on my Gigabyte GA-6OXT motherboard (socket 370), a lot of the "small" caps scattered around the board are rated for 25V. Now I've checked these, and none are connected to anything higher than 5V. Most are on the 3.3V rail. Why Gigabyte went with this choice then? Probably these caps were cheaper (I forgot what brand they were, but they were a known crap cap brand) than going with a better brand with 6.3V and 10V -rated caps.

With that said, feel free to use 16V caps if that's all you can find.

In regards to brands, I hope you get Panasonics from your supplier, as Samxon can be quite hit-or-miss. Actually, I don't think Samxon even makes any decent low ESR series any more. So you're either likely getting very old NOS (if it's a decent low ESR series) or one of the still-produced (semi)low ESR series that aren't really all too great for reliability (i.e. GF series, SF series, and etc.)

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-14, 15:17:

I wouldn't even consider AliExpress for anything, and I avoid using Amazon for anything that needs precision and because of certain personal reasons.

Sadly, I now live in a place in the world where I do have to consider AliExpress, as Ebay is often a little bit more expensive and doesn't always have as many sellers delivering to my region. But all in all, it's not too bad. All of the bad stories of people getting ripped off on Ali is one reason I try to stay away from it.
As for Amazon, it's exactly like you mention: basically, you can't get anything that you need to know the technical specs of, as Amazon's layout is simply not built for it. The fact that there's only one page with a generic low-res picture of the product, regardless of which seller you go with, makes it even harder to know what I'll end up getting.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-14, 15:17:

I already have a go to place for chips and electronics, and that is Taydaelectronics, I order from them a lot and I have really good experiences with them, and many people recommended them to me.

Cool.
Reminds me a bit of alltronics (now aretronics) and similar other websites for discount electronic parts.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-14, 15:17:

I generally avoid eBay, the amount of times the product came broken or in worse condition than advertised.

Ebay can actually be pretty decent if you know how to look around or what to look out for.
I bought NOS Japanese caps from there several times now. The caps + shipping was cheaper than Digikey alone.
Indeed it makes sense to buy from Digikey and Mouser only when you buy in bigger amounts (50+ or 100+ count from a certain part to get better volume discount).

momaka wrote on 2025-05-14, 18:05:

Yeah, if the card runs OK with the leaky caps, then indeed its VRM(s) probably aren't too picky. But be careful, as that many not always be the case. In the case of the standard GeForce 7600 GT by EVGA, close to half the time, the VRAM VRM will produce crazy-high spikes and kill the RAMs and sometimes the GPU chip too. I have two of these dead due to this and seen a number more online.

The card is a bit newer (8000 series), maybe BFG implemented something to keep this in check. I will keep this in mind for future repairs for sure (and fortunately, I tend to be a bit of a worry be anyways so I usually don't deviate unless I don't see another way).

momaka wrote on 2025-05-14, 18:05:

The voltage rating isn't something to worry about unless you go really overboard with the voltage (i.e. 400V cap instead of a 16 or 25V cap), which is very unlikely for anyone to do. The only reason manufacturers don't do this (or not very frequently anyways) is because within the same series of any capacitor brand, the higher-rated voltage caps will both be bigger and more expensive. However, there is one added benefit of using a higher-rated voltage cap: within the same brand and series of a capacitor, higher voltage cap = bigger cap = higher ripple current spec. Higher ripple current spec means the capacitor can handle more abuse before overheating. So going with a higher voltage is actually not necessarily a bad choice in some cases. In fact, on my Gigabyte GA-6OXT motherboard (socket 370), a lot of the "small" caps scattered around the board are rated for 25V. Now I've checked these, and none are connected to anything higher than 5V. Most are on the 3.3V rail. Why Gigabyte went with this choice then? Probably these caps were cheaper (I forgot what brand they were, but they were a known crap cap brand) than going with a better brand with 6.3V and 10V -rated caps.

With that said, feel free to use 16V caps if that's all you can find.

I figured that a huge difference would be a deffo nope. I read online that a smaller difference wouldn't be problematic. Deunan mentioned that 6.3v to 16v is a jump, and maybe it is. So, let this be an experiment to see if it is or isn't, I already ordered them last nights and they are coming in tomorrow (blazing fast, right?). I'm sure it will be more than fine due to the VRM not being picky as you mentioned.

momaka wrote on 2025-05-14, 18:05:

In regards to brands, I hope you get Panasonics from your supplier, as Samxon can be quite hit-or-miss. Actually, I don't think Samxon even makes any decent low ESR series any more. So you're either likely getting very old NOS (if it's a decent low ESR series) or one of the still-produced (semi)low ESR series that aren't really all too great for reliability (i.e. GF series, SF series, and etc.)

Honestly, yeah I could've dug deeper, I've read that Samxon is alright and didn't see any complaints. I doubt they will fail catastrophically, I anticipate them just needed to be replaced again sooner or later as a worst case. Panasonics would be nicer of course.

momaka wrote on 2025-05-14, 18:05:

Sadly, I now live in a place in the world where I do have to consider AliExpress, as Ebay is often a little bit more expensive and doesn't always have as many sellers delivering to my region. But all in all, it's not too bad. All of the bad stories of people getting ripped off on Ali is one reason I try to stay away from it.
As for Amazon, it's exactly like you mention: basically, you can't get anything that you need to know the technical specs of, as Amazon's layout is simply not built for it. The fact that there's only one page with a generic low-res picture of the product, regardless of which seller you go with, makes it even harder to know what I'll end up getting.

Amazon kinda has the same problem as Ali in my experience honestly, you can easily get ripoffs on Amazon too, especially on stuff that really doesn't normally get reviews. Aside from that, its awful for bulk buying and the prices are heavily marked up, not at all worth it. EBay is a community thing, at least they have reputability ratings. If it comes to bulk things, not the best, and the layout is also pretty bad. Sellers in my area love to add ridiculous shipping prices, like a 5 dollar item and 40 dollars shipping. Hard to find anything sensibly priced on there. I ordered a few things from there, but they were not packed well and the local conditions and shipping times would be pretty bad for electronics (40-50C summers, anyone???). EBay loves standard mail in my experience, and the mailboxes are just metal containers outside, so anything in there will get baked.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-15, 01:29:

The card is a bit newer (8000 series), maybe BFG implemented something to keep this in check.

More about what PWM chip they used and how they compensated it is what can make the difference here... that is, if they even used a PWM chip and not linear regulators throughout. Would have to see / analyze the card to tell.
It can also matter how many additional ceramic caps are installed down the line, as those will also do a major part in the noise filtering. In some cases, these are doing all of the filtering, and the electrolytic caps are really only there for the feedback loop stability of whatever regulator is used.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-15, 01:29:

I figured that a huge difference would be a deffo nope. I read online that a smaller difference wouldn't be problematic. Deunan mentioned that 6.3v to 16v is a jump, and maybe it is. So, let this be an experiment to see if it is or isn't, I already ordered them last nights and they are coming in tomorrow (blazing fast, right?). I'm sure it will be more than fine due to the VRM not being picky as you mentioned.

I've done a lot of these experiments on my own hardware over the years, mostly because I'm either too cheap (particularly when dealing with lower-end stuff that's common or doesn't have much, if any, value) or don't have the right components stocked at the time of the repair. Didn't have a single case where it mattered. I think the worst was in an subwoofer amplifier, where (as a test) I replaced a 63V 4700 uF cap with a 200V 1000 uF cap, as that's all I had at the time. Was good enough to prove the amp worked, and then some more (let's make the walls shake for fun 😉 ). Of course I did order the right parts in the end. But in this case, this is a different application.

Speaking of which, in regards to your video card, the one thing that probably matters the most is the type of regulator modules that generated the rails for the GPU core and VRAM - i.e. linear vs. buck-type (with PWM controller).
With linear regulators (usually the VRAM on lower-power video cards), you can use just about anything on the input or the output of these in regards to electrolytic caps. The minimum on most of these is usually 100 uF, both for input and output. ESR / impedance - pretty irrelevant. Voltage and ripple current rating - completely irrelevant (the voltage rating just needs to be above the expected output voltage of that rail.) So as long as you don't go to "stoopid levels" with this - i.e. something like 10000 uF to really bog down the linear regulator with too much inrush current - you'll be fine.
Now, buck-type VRMs are a different story. There, the ESR/impedance does matter very much, as does the capacitance, along with the ripple current rating.
For these, you need low ESR / impedance to deal (filter) properly with the high-frequency noise and ripple. Of course, as mentioned above, if you have lots of ceramic caps already on the same rail, then those will take on the bulk of that task, leaving much less HF noise/ripple for the electrolytic caps to deal with. But since large capacity ceramic caps can be more pricey, some designs use fewer of these and more electrolytic caps... and that's where very low ESR/impedance caps become more important to the design. As for capacitance - usually going down by 30-50% won't cause issues, but is not recommended, as in some cases, it might (due to noise going higher and thus increasing the chances of bit corruptions.) And going above, I've gone as high as 4x more (+400%) and still not seen any issues. If anything, higher capacitance (again, within some reason) is usually a welcome thing, as it stabilizes feedback loops and smooths the voltage even further. In some cases, if planning to do extreme OC, increasing the capacitance a lot can help with this.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-15, 01:29:

Honestly, yeah I could've dug deeper, I've read that Samxon is alright and didn't see any complaints. I doubt they will fail catastrophically, I anticipate them just needed to be replaced again sooner or later as a worst case.

Indeed.
Probably at the very least you will get a few years out of them - and that's with heavy use.
After all, Samxon is a well-established brand, so one thing you can expect from their caps is *not* to break down (internally) shortly (a few years) after production, regardless if they were used or not... unlike cheap no-name caps, where this is much more often the case.

And FWIW, in most LCD monitor PSU applications I've encountered bad Samxon caps, the monitor was already 5-1o years old on average.
So I think your card will probably do at least "as bad" as that. 😀
Depending on the VRM design of the card, though, it might even not be a problem, ever... or within the useful lifetime of the card.
Speaking of which, seeing that this is a 8400 GS card, make sure the cooling is good. The 1st gen G8x chips from nVidia are right from the bumpgate issue. Anything over 55C on the GPU will be degrading those bump connections underneath the chip. A lot of these cards came with ultra-cheap heatsinks barely capable of cooling them, so that might be something more to worry about... unless it came with a passive heatsink, in which case, just stick a slow-turning fan onto it, and it will be fine.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-15, 01:29:

Amazon kinda has the same problem as Ali in my experience honestly, you can easily get ripoffs on Amazon too, especially on stuff that really doesn't normally get reviews. Aside from that, its awful for bulk buying and the prices are heavily marked up, not at all worth it.

Yeah, even with Amazon Prime (have a friend who has it), I still find the prices on most things to be much higher than on Ebay. I think a lot of it is due to the "hassle-free" returns policy on many things. As is well-known now, the bulk of returned Amazon items ends up getting trashed/landfilled/dumped. So to make up for this loss (in trashed products)... and not only that, but also still make profit for Mr. Bezzos... money still has to come from somewhere to cover all of that. And this is done by (heavily) increasing the prices of everything. So for every item sold and not returned, the purchaser covers a portion of the amount for stuff that was returned and trashed.

It's the same with Ebay and other places too. But at least with Ebay, individual sellers can decide whether or not they can accept returns, and how everything else will be priced in their store to off-set that.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-15, 01:29:

EBay is a community thing, at least they have reputability ratings. If it comes to bulk things, not the best, and the layout is also pretty bad. Sellers in my area love to add ridiculous shipping prices, like a 5 dollar item and 40 dollars shipping. Hard to find anything sensibly priced on there.

Go to Ebay and enter your country and zip code. Then,
Filters --> Price + Shipping = lowest first
. . . problem solved with all of those $1-5 listings and excessive shipping going all the way to the bottom of the list.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-15, 01:29:

I ordered a few things from there, but they were not packed well and the local conditions and shipping times would be pretty bad for electronics (40-50C summers, anyone???). EBay loves standard mail in my experience, and the mailboxes are just metal containers outside, so anything in there will get baked.

40-50C is actually not anywhere near bad for electronics, at least in storage. Only exception would be anything with lithium batteries and possibly soft plastics that might deform.
If anything, 50+ C is nice for one thing: at least you won't be getting any live roaches or bedbugs... or their eggs surviving. 😉

momaka wrote on 2025-05-15, 07:43:

I've done a lot of these experiments on my own hardware over the years, mostly because I'm either too cheap (particularly when dealing with lower-end stuff that's common or doesn't have much, if any, value) or don't have the right components stocked at the time of the repair. Didn't have a single case where it mattered. I think the worst was in an subwoofer amplifier, where (as a test) I replaced a 63V 4700 uF cap with a 200V 1000 uF cap, as that's all I had at the time. Was good enough to prove the amp worked, and then some more (let's make the walls shake for fun 😉 ). Of course I did order the right parts in the end. But in this case, this is a different application.

Put that 1000uF cap back in, and play some of the heaviest metal you can find (your neighbors will love you 😁)

momaka wrote on 2025-05-15, 07:43:

And FWIW, in most LCD monitor PSU applications I've encountered bad Samxon caps, the monitor was already 5-1o years old on avera […]
Show full quote

And FWIW, in most LCD monitor PSU applications I've encountered bad Samxon caps, the monitor was already 5-1o years old on average.
So I think your card will probably do at least "as bad" as that. 😀
Depending on the VRM design of the card, though, it might even not be a problem, ever... or within the useful lifetime of the card.
Speaking of which, seeing that this is a 8400 GS card, make sure the cooling is good. The 1st gen G8x chips from nVidia are right from the bumpgate issue. Anything over 55C on the GPU will be degrading those bump connections underneath the chip. A lot of these cards came with ultra-cheap heatsinks barely capable of cooling them, so that might be something more to worry about... unless it came with a passive heatsink, in which case, just stick a slow-turning fan onto it, and it will be fine.

Not even LCD monitors are safe!? Well, I should have checked that before ordering too. My monitor is older than by a solid few years (I'm pretty young ofc, the monitor is like 24-25 years old by now), so I think next time I order more, I will check, it runs without a fuss for now.

momaka wrote on 2025-05-15, 07:43:

Go to Ebay and enter your country and zip code. Then,
Filters --> Price + Shipping = lowest first
. . . problem solved with all of those $1-5 listings and excessive shipping going all the way to the bottom of the list.

Problem is, the stuff I order is niche, I have tried that to no avail. Best case scenario, the thing is small and takes half a month to ship across the country by standard mail, or its bulky and arrives broken (rest in pieces Smith Corona XL 1500). The US is a massive!

momaka wrote on 2025-05-15, 07:43:

40-50C is actually not anywhere near bad for electronics, at least in storage. Only exception would be anything with lithium batteries and possibly soft plastics that might deform.
If anything, 50+ C is nice for one thing: at least you won't be getting any live roaches or bedbugs... or their eggs surviving. 😉

Half the stuff I order has lithium batteries. I have to stalk the package website to check when it arrives, and stalk the window when it says "in delivery". At least I get no roaches 😀

Anyways, to the relevant stuff, after painstakingly figuring out how to safely solder the card (practice on a prototyping board gave me a false sense of security), it runs without a fuss, testing it with STALKER SoC on Windows XP, and by watching a little bit of Pulp Fiction on Linux. I see no artifacting and no slowdowns, the card is good to go... now for the motherboard ;-; (Every 820uF cap is bulging on that one). Thanks for the help!

Also did a repair on my motherboard, it all works! I'm actually surprised since this is my first time recapping anything, let alone a motherboard covered in failed capacitors.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-16, 02:13:

Anyways, to the relevant stuff, after painstakingly figuring out how to safely solder the card (practice on a prototyping board gave me a false sense of security), it runs without a fuss, testing it with STALKER SoC on Windows XP, and by watching a little bit of Pulp Fiction on Linux.

Good job!
And fine choice with the movie! 😀 Makes me crave a hamburger every time I see it. 🤣

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-16, 04:53:

Also did a repair on my motherboard, it all works! I'm actually surprised since this is my first time recapping anything, let alone a motherboard covered in failed capacitors.

Congrats X2!!
You did actually do pretty good. FWIW, motherboards tend to be a lot harder to recap, especially for novice. And on ASUS motherboards specifically, the shaded semi-circle on the board indicates where the positive lead of the cap should be soldered to rather than the negative lead, as is standard and done by every other manufacturer. If you got that right the 1st time around, you definitely got the knack for this. 😀

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-16, 02:13:

now for the motherboard ;-; (Every 820uF cap is bulging on that one).

Let me guess - either bad United Chemicon KZG or TK (Toshin Kogyo) ATWY. Both are equally crappy... and I can see the latter is what failed on the video card too.

Speaking of which, that cooler and fan combo is the same exact one I had on my BFG PCI 8400 GS. I couldn't bare the noise from it, though, so I ripped them out and replaced with a better spare cooler I had from a 9400 or 9500 GT. Fan on that was also loud, but I ran it through a 68-Ohm 2W resistor to drop some voltage going to the fan (and thus its RPMs), making it a lot more quiet. The 9400/9500 GT cooler is bigger and with more fins, so despite the reduced fan speed, I still got much better temperatures than I did with the stock BFG cooler - dropped more than 14C under load, from a pretty hot 65C to a pretty reasonable 51-52C.

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-16, 02:13:

Not even LCD monitors are safe!? Well, I should have checked that before ordering too. My monitor is older than by a solid few years (I'm pretty young ofc, the monitor is like 24-25 years old by now), so I think next time I order more, I will check, it runs without a fuss for now.

Nothing is.
Examples of bad caps can be found in just about anything.
The problem with "lesser" brands is that you can never really tell how good or bad they will do... which is why some LCDs are still working fine with their original caps and others aren't. Of course, some "lesser" brands are indeed less good that others and do have a more consistent failure track record (e.g. CapXon... especially in hotter-running monitors or devices.)

retroholicism wrote on 2025-05-16, 02:13:

Put that 1000uF cap back in, and play some of the heaviest metal you can find (your neighbors will love you 😁)

Well, if I play some thrash metal, I'm not sure if I'll be able to tell if any distortion is coming from the amp or if that's how the song is supposed to be. 🤣
FWIW, I did play some funky garage D'n'B and rattled the floors a bit with a 15" speaker turned upside down and placed onto the floor. Then later on when I saw my neighbor, I apologized to her as I did hear her dogs start to bark when I was doing the testing. But she said she didn't hear anything. I guess she didn't know what it was or maybe thought it was a large diesel truck passing through / driving on the street. 🤣

momaka wrote on 2025-05-17, 20:53:

You did actually do pretty good. FWIW, motherboards tend to be a lot harder to recap, especially for novice. And on ASUS motherboards specifically, the shaded semi-circle on the board indicates where the positive lead of the cap should be soldered to rather than the negative lead, as is standard and done by every other manufacturer. If you got that right the 1st time around, you definitely got the knack for this. 😀

Honestly, the motherboard was far more cooperative than the graphics card. Although the markings had me do a double take, I double checked if I was orienting the caps correctly in relation to the other ones. The holes on the card and motherboard would both clog back up (and the wick didn't help), so I had to hold the parts side ways, and apply heat to the pad while putting it in.

For some reason, despite having good temp, a clean tinned tip, and plenty of flux, the solder on the card refused to melt; I had to apply a little extra solder to convince it. Another challenge was that both of the leads would refuse to enter the hole, making it so much harder to get a nice and straight cap.

As for the motherboard, the solder gave way with a little flux and heat, and the rest was history. The caps actually wanted to go into it pretty well, and the only challenge was getting my fingers to fit between tighter spots like between rams slots. I'm so glad that everything worked right off the bat, because I already losing a bit of sleep on a night before school and my workshop is poorly insulated and uncooled/heated (meaning it gets hot this time of year... and rather cold during the winter although i can get used to the latter).

momaka wrote on 2025-05-17, 20:53:

Let me guess - either bad United Chemicon KZG or TK (Toshin Kogyo) ATWY. Both are equally crappy... and I can see the latter is what failed on the video card too.

Idk about the video card (only looked for voltage and capacitance), but the color was identical to the ones on the motherboard, and the ones on the motherboard are KZG Chemicons. So yeah, probably. The blue/bronze ones (no clue what brand) also failed, so BFG (and ASUS) did not make good picks or simply went with the cheapest crap they found. I honestly should have also replaced the KZG caps that I did leave on the motherboard that didn't fail to prevent future issues, but I do have a habit of frequent cleaning and inspecting my electronics, so I will likely be quick to pick up on issues at least.

momaka wrote on 2025-05-17, 20:53:

Speaking of which, that cooler and fan combo is the same exact one I had on my BFG PCI 8400 GS. I couldn't bare the noise from it, though, so I ripped them out and replaced with a better spare cooler I had from a 9400 or 9500 GT. Fan on that was also loud, but I ran it through a 68-Ohm 2W resistor to drop some voltage going to the fan (and thus its RPMs), making it a lot more quiet. The 9400/9500 GT cooler is bigger and with more fins, so despite the reduced fan speed, I still got much better temperatures than I did with the stock BFG cooler - dropped more than 14C under load, from a pretty hot 65C to a pretty reasonable 51-52C.

I really don't mind the sound, I always expect things like this to be kinda loud (plus I have nasty tinnitus so a lil white noise like that does help not gonna lie). Although, the cooling aspects really have me intrigues (not in the sense that its weird, just that maybe I should start looking for some better fans). I decided to go in and replace the paste only to find this pink silicone (you probably saw the same) and alcohol did nothing. Thank the lord that there is always industrial grade chemicals in my house (my mother uses lab grade acetone as nail polish 🤣, the lab she works at has a policy of removing chemicals that are one year old, so she gets free stuff). Acetone and a tooth brush really did the trick. A bit of thermal paste, and boom, good temps (never checked, but any slight drops in performance as I played longer disappeared, so the temps probably became reasonable).

momaka wrote on 2025-05-17, 20:53:

Nothing is.
Examples of bad caps can be found in just about anything.
The problem with "lesser" brands is that you can never really tell how good or bad they will do... which is why some LCDs are still working fine with their original caps and others aren't. Of course, some "lesser" brands are indeed less good that others and do have a more consistent failure track record (e.g. CapXon... especially in hotter-running monitors or devices.)

Just checked it right now, and all the caps are perfectly fine! The Samsung SyncMaster has some really good electronics... although their plastic leaves much to be desired (cracks like crazy!).
I may check the PSU in the future, only reason I didn't is because I do not wanna F around with high voltage crap.

momaka wrote on 2025-05-17, 20:53:

Well, if I play some thrash metal, I'm not sure if I'll be able to tell if any distortion is coming from the amp or if that's how the song is supposed to be. 🤣
FWIW, I did play some funky garage D'n'B and rattled the floors a bit with a 15" speaker turned upside down and placed onto the floor. Then later on when I saw my neighbor, I apologized to her as I did hear her dogs start to bark when I was doing the testing. But she said she didn't hear anything. I guess she didn't know what it was or maybe thought it was a large diesel truck passing through / driving on the street. 🤣

If it is the amp distortion, the song is now even heavier... and if it is actually how its meant to be, well, great pick of music! At least your neighbors didn't get pissed, used to make crazy experiments in my back yard, always had a concerned (or pissed) neighbor knocking on the door after xD

Fortunately, one of my new neighbors is a (loud) drummer, so I don't have to worry about complaints about making bangs or playing my guitar too loud because the feelings are mutual 😁

Another neighbor bet me a while ago that if I actually stuck to learning all this stuff, he would give me his old (higher end) amp with leaky capacitors to fix and keep. I took him up on his offer today, and he sure looked shocked!