Reason for additional capacitor on MB? (between CPUs) \ VOGONS

Reason for additional capacitor on MB? (between CPUs)

Topic actions

First post, by jaZz_KCS

Posted on 2019-08-18, 13:22

jaZz_KCS Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 721
Joined: 2017-08-10, 11:43

Greetings.

I wonder, what could be the reason for someone to have added a capacitor to a motherboard in a location [between the processors] that was originally unpopulated?
Stability?
Boot problems?
Compatability?

What caught my eye was the [obviously manually] added capacitor (brown) seen in the second picture below between the CPU sockets. When comparing with the standard layout (first picture)from the manufacturers page, it seems that originally that location was unpopulated. (directly next to the label "CPU1" in first picture between the sockets.) The rest of the caps is untouched, so this at least doesn't seem like an overenthusiastic re-capping job.

I looked around a bit and haven't found any other picture or info about another of these models with the said extra cap in place. Makes me wonder whether only this specific board need it.

Reply 1 of 4, by ph4nt0m

Posted on 2019-08-18, 15:32

ph4nt0m Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 345
Joined: 2018-01-01, 19:03

So what? I routinely solder capacitors to unpopulated places on mainboards. It never hurts and looks better this way.

My Active Sales on CPU-World

Reply 2 of 4, by jaZz_KCS

Posted on 2019-08-18, 15:47

jaZz_KCS Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 721
Joined: 2017-08-10, 11:43

I have read about that adding ones to unpopulated areas "can rarely hurt" and can even increase reliability, and of course those that are left out due to their corresponding (also) unpopulated features that were not included in some revisions. I was just wondering whether somebody would have a guess as to why only this one, between the CPU sockets, that was factory-wise unpopulated would have been granted one afterwards.

Reply 3 of 4, by ph4nt0m

Posted on 2019-08-18, 19:24

ph4nt0m Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 345
Joined: 2018-01-01, 19:03

Maybe it interfered with some cooler designs.

My Active Sales on CPU-World

Reply 4 of 4, by luckybob

Posted on 2019-08-18, 23:14

luckybob Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 5051
Joined: 2009-04-30, 04:43

that that particular manufacturer of motherboards, its going to be for one reason;

Supply

The board is designed to have 10,000 UF in capacitance. (sake of argument). So if the supply of 1000uf caps runs dry for any reason (or prices change), they can switch to 1200's and use less, or 800's and use more. and its trivial to add an extra pad or too for some caps if it means not having a supply chain disruption later on.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to General Old Hardware