I have a GA-6VXE7+ laying around with those G-Luxon caps and some of them have gone bad too. Wish I had the skills/tools to fix this. 🙁 I think the stuff ASUS used fares better for the most part...

As for a bit newer hardware, I have a Powercolor X1950 Pro card where one cap is leaking, and the card is from 2007! The one in question is TK branded.

A friend gave me a board to "practice" my skills on 😀

It's a Jetway V4MDM

PS: If you ever have a chance, I'd love to know how your board benchmarks with DOS SVGA stuff like PCPBENCH or Quake shareware in 640 x 480. I ask because mine performs quite badly compared to a BX440 board.

when replacing capacitors be sure that you get:
* the same capacitance value
* the same or greated voltage tolerance value (meaning you can replace a 10μF/6.3v with a 10μF/16v one)
* the same or greater temperature tolerance value (there is really no point in using 85 degrees caps, stick to 105 ones)

I don't know what desoldering station you have Mau1wurf1977 but for me a 30W iron + desoldering wick + solder paste works wonders. Basically the wick (that is a copper thread) gets warm and sucks the solder. This 30W iron has high temperature meant for non-delicate stuff but works wonders for desoldering as long as you don't overdo it with the time you work on the area 🤣

For soldering I use a Weller iron at 25W (semi-pro quality, not the crappy hobbyist ones). Never failed me and it's temperature is ideal.

Practice with the test mobo first my friend , it's your best tutor 😀

^What he said! xD

Except that if you have a powerful solder/soldering station (for such electronics, 30W is considered powerful), do not touch for much time the wires during soldering, as they may get so hot that they actuall damage the cap/board.

Show us your soldering on the test mobo 😁
Oh and I'm not sure that those gold caps are bad.

keropi wrote:

I don't know what desoldering station you have Mau1wurf1977 but for me a 30W iron + desoldering wick + solder paste works wonders. Basically the wick (that is a copper thread) gets warm and sucks the solder. This 30W iron has high temperature meant for non-delicate stuff but works wonders for desoldering as long as you don't overdo it with the time you work on the area 🤣

I ordered this one:

http://www.dicksmith.com.au/tools-hobbyist/te … tion-dsau-t2200

Dicksmith is a very popular chain / store in Australia. Like Tandy / Radio Shack in the US?

Currently I have a 25W solder iron, but not controllable.

GeorgeMan wrote:

Except that if you have a powerful solder/soldering station (for such electronics, 30W is considered powerful), do not touch for much time the wires during soldering, as they may get so hot that they actuall damage the cap/board.

Now with the wattage. What I read is that wattage doesn't mean temperature. But maximum power when it's needed. Basically a more powerful station will hold the temperature better.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

keropi wrote:

Now with the wattage. What I read is that wattage doesn't mean temperature. But maximum power when it's needed. Basically a more powerful station will hold the temperature better.

Yes, you 're right. But it means how fast the heat is transferred and how fast the "normal" temperature is restored. Actually, a more powerful iron "tries harder to restore the optimal temperature on its surface", so more heat is transfered on the electonic equipment on the same time. 😉

So, actually, IS a matter of higher temperature. Not on the iron, but on the equiment you solder.
It's not something to worry about though, just don't overdo it when touching the items.

Also make sure to use low ESR caps. It's not quite as critical on a S370 system as on newer boards, but it still matters.

-4x Choyo 3300uF 6.3V
I recommend one of the following:
RS Electronics
Mouser
Farnell/Element14
-8x G-Luxon 330uF 25V
RS Electronics
Mouser
Farnell
-2x G-Luxon 1200uF 6.3V
RS Electronics
Mouser
Farnell

Go with whatever gives you the best overall price with shipping and whatnot included.

As for the silver caps on video cards, those are probably the infamous Sacon/GSC FZ series. You need very low ESR caps to replace those. I usually use solid polymer types (while adjusting the values and voltage ratings accordingly... definitely not something for a beginner), but for direct replacement with regular electrolytics, Panasonic FM or FR is good enough for the 1500uf/6.3V ones, but for the smaller ones you'll want Rubycon MBZ or MCZ, Nichicon HM, HN, or HZ, Chemicon KZH, or Panasonic FL or FJ. (Of course you can use any of these better caps for the larger ones as well, they just cost a bit more.)

Also, with regards to polarity, be sure to double check. Some manufacturers mark their boards 'backwards'. Asus and Asrock are the most notable offenders...

Great information guys, awesome 😀

I'll be sure to document my proceedings.

These are the silver ones I mentioned: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons … d_MPU-401AT.jpg

They just look very cool 😀

I've just replaced a couple caps in my 440BX Tekram P6BX-An that were starting to bulge but not yet leaked "agent orange". These two particular caps have to hold a position surrounded by VRMs and coils, and hence get a lot of thermal punishment. This IR pic shows what I mean:

They were 1500uF 6.3V crappy non-japs. I've replaced them with two 3300uF 6.3V jap Rubycons cannibalised from a s478 board and still in good health.

I use a 60W pointed iron and my soldering skills are atrocious, so if I can anybody can 🤣 .

Old Thrashbarg gives great advice on replacements, jap caps rule!

Here's a nice guide on mobo recapping: http://capacitorlab.com/replacing-motherboard … pacitors-howto/

keropi wrote:

when replacing capacitors be sure that you get: * the same capacitance value * the same or greated voltage tolerance value (me […]
Show full quote

when replacing capacitors be sure that you get:
* the same capacitance value
* the same or greated voltage tolerance value (meaning you can replace a 10μF/6.3v with a 10μF/16v one)
* the same or greater temperature tolerance value (there is really no point in using 85 degrees caps, stick to 105 ones)

I don't know what desoldering station you have Mau1wurf1977 but for me a 30W iron + desoldering wick + solder paste works wonders. Basically the wick (that is a copper thread) gets warm and sucks the solder. This 30W iron has high temperature meant for non-delicate stuff but works wonders for desoldering as long as you don't overdo it with the time you work on the area 🤣

For soldering I use a Weller iron at 25W (semi-pro quality, not the crappy hobbyist ones). Never failed me and it's temperature is ideal.

Practice with the test mobo first my friend , it's your best tutor 😀

For the large electrolytics used in power rail filtering, which is what most of these do, you can usually get away with a higher µF as well. It might even be an improvement. NEVER use a lower µF caps!
Another important specification is ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance), which is often the first thing that goes out of spec in electrolytics. This is what causes the cap to consume power, heat up, and eventually burst. When buying replacements, look for 105°C low ESR caps, these will last longer.

For desoldering through-hole parts, I personally prefer using a vacuum solder pump (solder sucker), instead of desoldering braid, which I think is better suited for desoldering SMD parts with a normal iron. (a dedicated SMD rework station is even better, obviously..)

^ yes to all, but you need to know for sure that the caps you are replacing are filtering ones before you choose a larger capacitance...
Personally I find it very easy to replace smd caps, way easier that hole thru ones...

I've been toying with the idea of recapping my MPU-401ATs but I need to get some quality pcb ones first... don't want to install some generic ones like on a games console or a mobo that is easily replaceable...
atm I am recapping all my game consoles, have a looksie on some cap-less mobos 🤣

jwt27 wrote:

keropi wrote:

For desoldering through-hole parts, I personally prefer using a vacuum solder pump (solder sucker), instead of desoldering braid, which I think is better suited for desoldering SMD parts with a normal iron. (a dedicated SMD rework station is even better, obviously..)

I have one ordered. It wasn't cheap, but the videos of it in action really impressed me.

I have recapped many motherboards and other pieces of electronics over the years, here's my experience:

• I can usually tell the build quality of the board by how hard it is for me to remove the capacitors. Good boards are thick and absorb a lot of heat so getting the capacitors out is difficult, cheap boards are thin and the caps come right out.
• When I can't seem to get the solder flowing I preheat the board a bit with my hot air rework station and then apply the soldering iron, that way the board doesn't suck all the heat out of the tip of the iron and the capacitors come out much easier.
• Sometimes you can see through the via but there's just enough solder stuck in there to prevent you pushing the new capacitors' leads through and your desoldering pump doesn't seem to cut it, in that case I put the smallest nozzle on the hot air station, dial the air pressure to maximum and put it right on the via, works wonders. A friend of mine uses a precision drill with a very fine bit (~0.8 mm ø) to clear out the via when that happens. I don't feel my hands are steady enough to try that though.
• Don't push the iron too hard or hold it for too long on the same spot, especially on cheaply built boards, you'll end up delaminating it. Preheating goes a long way to help prevent that.
• After you're done soldering, clean out the excess flux with a q-tip dipped in alcohol. Looks professional!
• In higher power electronics (like CRT TVs and monitors) a filter capacitor might leak on the underside and corrode the leads where you can't see them, fooling visual inspection. Rocking the big caps back and forth a few times might help diagnose such an occurrence, if the leads are corroded it'll come right off and you'll know for sure it needs to be replaced.
• Like someone mentioned before, ESR is usually the first thing to degrade in electrolytic capacitors, it causes the capacitor to draw power, physically heat up and fail. A Well Calibrated Finger™ might be a useful diagnostic tool to find non-bulged caps that are in the verge of failing.

I generally use Samxon and Rubycon caps and I buy them from badcaps.net.

I think mixing them with Crapxons is a gross disrespect to the Rubys 🤣 .

Alternative cap source for Slovenia: http://si.farnell.com/capacitors

I'm sorry ... crapxons? I don't see anything wrong with them and they never failed me.

My mistake, I read 'Capxon' instead of 'Samxon'. Still prefer the Rubys anytime.

Really appreciate all the advice!

I also have to replace the trim-pots on a SB 1.5 and a CM-32L, so this will come in quite handy. I'm putting together a list of various caps from the motherboards I have and will place a bulk order for free shipping 😀

My mistake, I read 'Capxon' instead of 'Samxon'. Still prefer the Rubys anytime.

After replacing enough bad ones in monitors and modems/routers, I really don't trust Samxon in the least bit either. I know the lot over at badcaps.net is enamored with 'em, but I fully expect that's gonna come back to bite them in the ass eventually (not that you'd ever hear about it, though... there don't seem to be many in that community who'd ever admit they were wrong).