Working with what I got so far. Parts should be here tomorrow and I can finish.

Figured I'd do a little test, since it SHOULD go:

It initially did NOT go. It shut off before I could plug a speaker in. It would power off after a few POST codes, then would halt with angry, CPU beeps. Removing the heatsink revealed the CPU was COOKING. It was the untested one from the K7S5A. I knew some of this stuff was going to be kaput. I Switched in a known good and powered it up. It calculated that for a bit, then booted. Vcore seems OK @1.63V. Hell yeah.

I replaced the one bad cap on the SD11, then decided to test it, since I'm waiting on parts.

I've been using the SD11 for hours now. Pretty quick computer. I had to do a new w98 install, since my boot-all seems to only like booting older computers. Added sound and have been duke'n it up. No issues with the board at all. It initially gave me a "Unknown AMD" at POST and halted after "checking NVRAM". I switched to an older CPU (from A0750MPR24B to K7700MTR51B) and a different stick of 64MB PC100, then it booted normally. I'll get to testing some Windows apps, just need to replace the test video card (SiS 6326) with something else, probably this untested GF2MX, get that tested while I'm at it.

I cleaned that thermaltake heatsink that was on the K8V and tested the fan. Oh boy. Loudest 80mm in my collection, hands down. I put a different fan on it.

That had me thinking about the cooling situation on the SlotAs... They take SECC1 coolers only. I have a few nice ones... Nice and noisy. There has to be a better way...

It will fit ONLY this wide-@ss board (because of the wide) and ONLY if the memory will work in DIMM2 or 3. I will still probably mod one of my Athlons with it anyways, since it'll look cool sitting around.

I should have my parts today, so I'm about to be a busy-bee. I prepared the ABIT IS7 last night and revealed the CPU: Pentium 4 SL6WG.

So many bulgers on this one. The hold-down loop for the NB heatsink has came off, too. VIAs looks good, so it should be fixable. I will add solder to the other ones as well, because they look like they are about to come off too. Last bit of damage is on the back:

There are a few scratches on the back, but this one has a broken trace, the one at the top. I'll clean it up and double-check them and attempt to repair. Looks small enough to bridge with solder.

Looks like I'm not getting my parts until Monday...

Still got some things to tinker with until then. I woke up still thinking about cooling SlotA, so I started the morning opening a Athlon, to remove the stock pad. This turned into a full blown SECC1 to SECC2 conversion mod.

I should've taken the other 4 pins out, so I could still mount the plastic shroud. The stock hardware works pretty damn good and this didn't cost me anything. I like the "Athlon" cartridge, though, so this'll probably be the only one.

I got all the boards that are getting work prepared. Removing the capacitors from the tape was tedious. I cleaned the legs on everything after, too. Just missing 16V capacitors, for the newer boards.

The foam blocks work nice for preparing multiple boards, as they make them very stackable.

Game. Changer.

I got a desoldering station to help with the work: WOW. What have I been doing? 🤣 This thing works AWESOME.

I've been working for only 30ish minutes and have all 6.3V1000µF caps removed. I tested all the bad ones: Yes, bad. Even the ones that "looked" ok.

Kinda noisy in here with all the fume extraction and air filters going.

Nice so far 😀
Pics too!

Labs isn't disappointing so far 😉

That was fun!! Too late to clean the board, so I'll test it later. Has a very modern look to it now, I love it!

I went through and tested all the bad caps too.

The small ones were mostly close to spec, but a few were open and a few short. I knew it was risky to even test it. Every capacitor was replaced.

Oh yes, I as well doubted far too long getting a desoldering iron/gun. Can't live without one now. 😉

Keep it up. 😀

Excellent work recapping that board. Soyo made some fun motherboards back in the day.

Thanks for the good words guys! I 'm having too much fun doing this, 😁

I just cleaned the SOYO (again), but just set it aside. I want to try and get another done, so I can test both.

This ASUS K8V-X SE and the CPU both have unknown states of functionality. I just don't to run any of these things with the juicin' caps. If I can get it done before it gets too late, I'll be able to clean then test it!

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-09-30, 03:16:

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Now that's a beautiful board. Do you source each capacitor individually or do you have a big kit you can pull them from?

Dothan Burger wrote on 2025-10-02, 01:32:

Major Jackyl wrote on 2025-09-30, 03:16:

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Now that's a beautiful board. Do you source each capacitor individually or do you have a big kit you can pull them from?

I man-handled all the available boards in my inventory and figured that they all take the same parts, so I gathered a "kit" based on what I was seeing. Very common caps 6.3V(2200,1500,1000,820) and 16V(100,1000,1500) and 10V1000 are the "big ones" and a variety goes into patching-up all the little ones, which I just ordered a LOT (cheap on the tiny ones) and racked them, use as needed, like so:

I'm done! I was able to get it clean, too. Now it's time to test!

I'm using the CPU that came with the board and the known-good DDR I used to test the SOYO during it's first run.

D'aww... My goose was cooked!! 🤣 I knew it though, you could see a burn mark on the bottom of it. The CPU. Yes, the Athlon is dead.

I powered the board and absolute death. Spinning fan and dashes on the POST card. I swapped in a Sempron I've been holding, untested for the last 20 years. Started POSTing, but halted at 67D4. I swapped the memory stick into the outer slot and it POSTed. There is a capacitor missing (tiny SMD) that may be the cause of the memory slot not working. I had the part, but it flew away.... damn 🤣

It also throwing a "CPU fan error!" Fan IS turning, so that'll be also something to look into (at a later time, I'll fill out a sheet so I don't forget). I will need to get into Windows for and REAL tests... Back to the PILE!!, 🤣 I'll play with these boards more when they're all done.

My "quick" test on the Soyo took longer than I thought it was going to. I started with setting everything up like a working computer, using the drive I prepared on the SD11. Used the same SiS6326 as before, same memory. POSTed with no problems! The "problem" came later.

I was trying to run 3Dmark99, but it was whacked-out.

I tried the 45.23 (I was using the CD ver 28) and the same result. I switched to another card, I didn't even know what it was and tried again. It turns out, it is a 128MB GeForce 440MX. It was detected, since the correct driver version was already installed. A final reboot, then tried 3Dmark again.

Hmmm. I'll try the GF2 in another PC later, but the 440MX seems to work just fine. I'll clean the GPU and continue later.

Fharking booo! I'll get to that in a bit. I continued testing the SOYO today. I switched hard drives and it booted/installed just fine. Ran pretty much the same, but I had a bunch of games already on this drive and I eventually wanted to RAID the Bigfoots. They are very slow by themselves, it would be cool to see any kind of boost. BUT, before I could get to that, I decided to BEEF this thing up a bit.

This means a CPU and memory upgrade, as the MX440 (actually 64MB) seems fine for this. I grabbed Athlon XP AX1800DMT3C and two stocks of Elixir 512MB DDR333. I liked the blue, not sure if they work, but they went in.

At the last second, I decided to add the POST card again, in case of memory issues or otherwise. I powered it on to all dashes and a sizzle. Oh fudge. It powered off with the power switch still. Then came the the "What's that smell?" Damn. I removed the heatsink.

How?! This CPU worked last time I used it. This had me worried. I didn't know what to do for a while, but decided to go for it after reviewing my CPU choice and motherboard manual. Definitely compatible. I have another, same model CPU, but a brown one. I put that in and threw the switch.

I then got the memory setup and got 122ns on the Everest Latency test. I ran 3DMark 99 some more and was impressed just how much faster an Athlon XP (or how much slower a Duron) is.

I did play some more games, but I want to ACTUALLY get a drive ready for this board specifically, so I can try RAID. I'm installing on a 80GB Baracuda 7200.7 right now and have an exact match.

Taking a break from the SOYO, since I have other stuff to do, 🤣 I hate getting "caught up" on a device. It's working REALLY damn well, so I've been enjoying it quite a bit. NEVER have I seen such stable voltage. If I had a scope, I bet the ripple is near-nil.

Anyway, I was able to pickup more boards, mostly plagued. So much excite! I'll be working on boards for weeks now! I want to review the new contenders real quick, before starting work today. I actually got a job, should be fun!

First off, we have a P5AD2 and a K5S7A (PCChips). The P5AD2 has a bad northbridge, so I'm scrapping it. I need the PCI slots for another project. The K7S5A has The Plague™, and will need a recap. Looks good, though!

So, I thought the PCChips was familiar, but not until I grabbed the ECS on did I realize what it was. SO COOL to have two different ones! Same plague, same capacitors, same everything. The PCchips has a different BIOS, but both boards have footprints for both.

Speaking of that ECS K7S5A, I got ANOTHER one, 🤣

Someone's got to do the dirty work, 🤣. The next board is an ABIT KR7A-RAID. Pretty cool board, using the KM266 chipset and from what I read, adds integrated video vs. the KT266.The Power stage on this board doesn't look as robust as some of the others, as it uses larger caps and less of them.

Next, we have TWO ECS boards, both seem very interesting and colorful/beautiful.

The L7VMM2 also uses the KM266. The RS485 uses a Radeon Xpress 1150 chipset, which I haven't had much experience with. I typically stayed away from Radeon, because people I knew had them and had nothing but complaints about their computers. Really slowed down LAN parties, too; the damn things crashing all the time.

Then, there's another S754 board, with a Athlon 3000. This'll be good for testing the K8V-X I already recapped. This board is VERY small.

Not too much special on this one. I actually grabbed for the heatsink, didn't mind much what the board was until I got it home.

NOW, for the PRIZE CATCH! The last two (there is one more actually) are seen here:

Yes, yes. Another BE6-II. Better condion and .01 revisions newer, it came with a SL3FJ (P3-550). Now this BIOSTAR.... HOLY sh*T dude! There was a Athlon XP 3200+ in that thing!! Hell yeah! The warranty was voided by me, too! I removed the heatsink for the first time and the CPU had never been removed (yet). It has this bad-ass spacer plate on the CPU, too!

With the GODLIKE status the 3200+ seems to be treated nowadays, I though it was going to be far out of reach for me, but HERE IT IS, in a ONE DOLLAR PLAGUE board!!

The Last board I picked up and the one I'm starting work with today is this:

It's a FOXCONN 775 board and I'm told it's faulty. My task is to recover the PCI-E slot from it and replace one on another board. I'm also taking the PCI slots (adding to the ones from the P5AD2, I'll have a full set to work with).

The PCI-E slot is going to be going on a ECS Z270 board that had it's connector violently removed. I don't have that board yet (coming later today), but I've seen it and it's just a bunch of fingers sticking out down there. I'm amazed by this damage. Was the connector that cheap, or did the video card install go horribly wrong? I've been told that board works still, so I'm going to be installing this nice, green slot on it.

I removed the 1x slot on the Foxconn and a 1x slot from the P5AD2... Oooof, what a tedious task. I wanted to get some practice first, before removing the big one and it was pretty tiring just getting the little one out, so I took a break from that and pulled the BE6-II down and started working on that.

I'm at the halfway point, all the bad capacitors have been removed and I cleaned the area(s). Electrolytes were all over the CPU socket area and under that row of caps. Time for some lunch, then pop a bunch of new guys in there.