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So my girlfriend has an old motherboard with some burst capacitors on it. Fortunately the board still works, though it does display odd behavior from time to time. I'm looking to replace the burst caps with some new ones.
Firstly, I have very little experience with soldering and zero with soldering on a motherboard. This is intended as a learning experience for myself. I am certain that I'll have to replace the motherboard, along with any compatible hardware (cpu/ram/etc), at one point or another so the possibility of my screwing it up doesn't bother me.
Here is the situation. The burst capacitors are 3600uf 6.3v caps. I cannot for the life of me find any of these anywhere. My question is this; can I use 3900uf 6.3v caps? Also, do I have to replace all the caps with these new ones or just the burst caps?
One last thing, I don't have a lot of experience when dealing with capacitors. I don't know a lot of the theory behind it so is there anything I'm missing?
For anyone wanting to know what kind of motherboard it is its a DG965RY intel board.
I've tried finding this information from intel directly and have had no success.
Any help or information would be appreciated! Thanks
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GYW9D.jpg)
Other info: Both are brown capacitors. One is located by the ram slots and other located above the pci-e slot close to the northbridge.
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i replaced some burst capacitor myself on a motherboard some time ago. worked like a charm, but i had the exact same capacitors to work with. after a quick google search i can't find these exact specs, too. seems like a really uncommon type.
maybe google the serial number which is usually also printed on them? sometimes these are just marketed under the name/number and not the real specs, dunno ^^
if you're going to replace the mobo anyways and want to try it, just go for it with the 3900µF ones and try it, my guess is that it "should"™ work
and if you are at it, replace all of the capacitors, one reason might be that u use a different capacity and the other reason is that the till-now-not-broken ones are likely going to burst to (from my experience)
the tricky part with soldering a motherboard (or any electrical device for that matter) is not to short circuit the whole thing with a "normal" soldering iron (on the normal ones there is just some current going through the metal tip to heat it up via the electrical resistance and this current could fuck up your electronics)
so you either have to use a gas powered one (unlikely cause the tips are usually very large), a special shielded soldering iron for electronic devices or just go for your luck with a normal one.
from my experience it CAN work with a normal one (fixed a graphic card with a normal soldering iron once) but usually it's not recommended
(i hope i could somewhat help you qq)
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I was going to write out all of the details you'd need to replace the cap, but then I realized that if your cap blew then the problem is not that you need a new cap, it's that the cap blew (and a new one could also blow). Your board could be damaged in other places, so a repeat blowout is possible. The only way to diagnose is to go in with probes and the board schematic... and that's not fun.
If you have valuable components on the board that you could transfer to a new one -- it's much safer to get a new board for $50-100 than to risk valuable nice parts on a sketchy board.
Or you could risk it. In which case head to digikey or another online supplier and they'll deliver a dozen for $0.10, with a $5 delivery charge. :p
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Yeah 3900 uF is probably okay too. These parts are usually specified at around 20% tolerance actually, so who knows if the actual ones there are really 3600 uF exactly; the exact capacitance value is not that important for most of these non-essential components. Just don't go under the voltage rating of the existing stuff. Replacing nearby capacitors may be a good idea, but it's not really necessary.
edit: on second thought some of those caps look like part of the RAM VRMs so that wouldn't exactly be non-essential
However, you can certainly find 3600 uF if you really want, like here ($0.47 per, but shipping on an order is several dollars):
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/United-Chemi-Con/EKZE6R3ELL392MK25S/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtZ1n0r9vR22RoXgSGI60nW052%2bipzmBWo=
UCC KZE is pretty popular I think. It's a quality low-ESR type rated for 105C, so it should be suitable for these kinds of things.
I can't exactly eyeball it, but you may want to double-check the lead spacing and get something that actually fits with minimal hassle. I guess it's not that important if it doesn't have to sit 100% flush with the board, but it would be nice.
Make sure you've allowed all the capacitors to discharge before you start messing with the motherboard though.
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you could always put it in series with a 46800 uF capacitor  that would give it an approximate capacitance of 3600 uF
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On February 22 2012 08:43 Mr.F. wrote:you could always put it in series with a 46800 uF capacitor that would give it an approximate capacitance of 3600 uF
Howd i know that would be brought up. rofl.]
On a more realistic note. Go by a radio shack, and find any that are 3600 and equal or greater voltage (doesn't have to be the same, just more). One to watch though is the capacitor has a heat rating on it somewhere also. gotta match that.(usually like a 80, or 105, or something similar to those). Just make sure what ever you end up doing, the pins are in the same location, so your not having to bend them to make it fit.
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Well thanks for the advice guys. I'll go ahead and post in this thread again after I've tried my repairs! Wish me luck!
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On February 22 2012 08:43 Mr.F. wrote:you could always put it in series with a 46800 uF capacitor that would give it an approximate capacitance of 3600 uF
10/10
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EPT
