For a proper quality fix I use Panasonic (first choice) Nichicon or Rubicon caps. Panasonic caps are the most expensive by far - the 16v 3300uf low-esr ones I use on socket a / 478 boards are 1 to 1.4 euro / cap - so if you have 10 cap to replace it might cost you more then you payed for the board you're trying to fix... Nichicons are quite a bit cheaper but I usually can't find the size / voltage I need, and Rubicons are getting harder to find.
Samxon cap are a decent cheap alternative. These do well up to 4700uf and don't mind high temperatures as much as the other cheap brands. They are hit an miss tough. The green / gold or green / silver ones usually suck bad, but the black / gold and black / silver ones are pretty solid. You might also be able to get the black / gold ones really cheap - like 10-20 euro cents, but make sure you get the black ones. More often then not I order the black ones and get sent the shitty greens.
Here is an example of a good Samxon cap: http://www.adelaida.ro/c-2200uf-16gf-low-esr- … -12.5x20mm.html - I've seen these things still going strong on socket 7 and socket 370 boards after years of abuse. In contrast the green ones are almost always bloated.
These are my favorites to use for mainboards -> Panasonic: http://www.adelaida.ro/c-2200uf-16v-condensat … -12.5x25mm.html and for power supplies -> Nichicon: http://www.adelaida.ro/2200uf-35v-condensator … c-nichicon.html
PCBONEZ wrote:While I applaud hand selecting the caps, you seem to be going about it wrong.
The voltage rating has very little to do with anyt […]
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While I applaud hand selecting the caps, you seem to be going about it wrong.
The voltage rating has very little to do with anything regarding a capacitor's performance, lifespan, operating characteristics or anything else.
The voltage rating is just the maximum limit for the circuit they are used in.
Your approach can lead to trouble.
For example it is very common to have a 12 circuit (a 12v powered VR) associated with AGP slots so using 10v caps just because it's near an AGP can be a problem.
If the original cap is 16v it is never a good idea to replace it with a 10v or less cap UNLESS you have actually measured the voltage on that cap under all operating conditions.
It's not the same for original 10v caps ON A MOTHERBOARD. On a motherboard if it's not 12v (which need a 16v or higher voltage cap) then it is 5v or less so 6.3v and 10v caps can be used interchangeably.
That does not work in other equipments because they may use 9v somewhere - but 9v is not used on motherboards.
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You misunderstand. I use HIGHER VOLTAGE RATED caps. For the AGP slot, I found these range from 6.3 for signaling to 10v for power (I've seen quite a few boards use 10v caps on a 12v line). The 10v ones are bloated 90% of the time. I replace the 6.3v ones with 10v ones and the 10v ones with 16v. 50% of the time the 6.3v ones are also bloated. I guess the caps were so bad the 6v rating was a huge overstatement since they could not handle 3.3v over a long period of time. Not trusting voltage ratings myself, I use more expensive higher rated caps for most jobs.
Here's another pertinent example - > last week my sister was bugging me that her laptop (a dell precision M6700) suddenly started BSODing in Fallout 4. I went trough the usual routine - reinstall windows, drivers - problem persisted. I then removed the MXM R9 m290x and put the fireGL card it originally came with - same problem. Just before I was ready to give up, I noticed some black gunk near two 2.5v "polymer" aluminum smd capacitors just to the left of the CPU socket. "that can't be electrolyte, those are polymer caps" I tough - but to be thought I took one off the board and measured it. It had 40% of rated capacitance... turns out hey were SMD aluminum electrolytic capacitor, not polymer caps - so I replaced them both and the problem went away. This time i used 6.3v parts with the exact same capacitance. I was afraid to use real polymer caps so I used panasonic SMD aluminum electrolytic caps (220uf or 470uf, can't remember exact capacitance).