A full recap here in Argentina cost about u$s 10-15 🤣. Its so cheap that it doesnt make any sense to learn and take the time to do it...

BTW, soyo quit in the mobo market because of the bad cap plague. The Soyo 7bva-133 was the most notable example, every single one i have ever seen had bad caps.

RacoonRider wrote:

$100 for a recap job... I would sooner learn to solder 😀

For me it's a small price to pay; I'll never be able to learn how to solder, even the basics elude me (I have tried several times in the past, all I end up with is burnt components, burnt circuit boards, separated layers, and cold solder joints; I also cannot keep a steady hand at all 😒 🙁 ). Perhaps I should add to my sig "cannot do electronics repair work to save his life" 😦

Living wrote:

BTW, soyo quit in the mobo market because of the bad cap plague. The Soyo 7bva-133 was the most notable example, every single one i have ever seen had bad caps.

You're right, Soyo really dropped the ball by using capacitors from questionable manufacturers/brands; it really didn't surprise me much when they left the electronics field in 2005. Still, I like this Pentium 4 board and will do what I can to keep it going 😊

JayCeeBee64 wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/oqCcaOOm.png […]
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^ Nice work. The blue 16V 1800uF ones upstream of the VRMs are Rubycon MBZ, top notch stuff with very low ESR (good thing for this application).

The orange 3300uF 6.3V ones downstream of the VRMs are Nichicon HN, also very good stuff. I used the same to recap my ASUS P4P800 mobo and it works like a charm.

Good to see a board saved from scrap, more so something P4 which don't get much love. Totally get it though, its part of your computing history.
I'm dreading when I need to recap any of my machines. At least yours is out the way now 😀

@TELVM: Excellent, thanks for the additional info. I'm actually trying to at least learn to identify the various brands and types of capacitors used in PC hardware so I can recognize good from bad/dubious, and the Badcaps.net Forum has helped me greatly in that regard. And very nice recap work on your ASUS P4P800 😎

@chinny22: Keeping PC hardware in working condition is a fact of life; time, and the frailty of electronic parts/components eventually take their toll. One can only hope the damage it's not so bad that repair becomes impossible.

What murders electrolytic capacitors?:

- Heat.

- Ripple.

- Low quality caps themselves.

The original box had poor case ventilation with just an 80mm rear extractor, the new case with 120mm fans is miles better. (With fans, size matters).

The original PSU looked like junk from a distance, the Seasonic SS-400ET will not flog the caps with excess ripple.

The fresh Rubycon and Nichicon jap caps are orders of magnitude better quality than the original SACON junk.

Barring unusual catastrophe, quality jap lytic caps, being fed decent juice by quality PSU (itself with jap caps inside), enjoying low temps provided by good case ventilation, will last forever.

Here is a list with the good, the bad and the ugly: http://shaddack.twibright.com/projects/badcaps/

Thanks again TELVM, that link will really come in handy 😊

I also now have a new thread for the Soyo P4 board. Enjoy 😀