FX5200

Travis King wrote:
> Someone I know has an FX5200 video card. It's almost three years
> old. Anyway, the person complained that lately their monitor has been
> flickering off and on, so I thought it might have been the monitor.
> When he brought the computer over, the computer would not even boot
> Windows or show anything on the screen, and the BIOS caused the speaker
> to just keep beeping.
>
> I powered the machine down and took the video card out and
> immediately noticed two problems. The first problem was the GPU fan was
> frozen. I oiled it and it spins now. The second problem I noticed is
> more serious. There is a bulging electrolytic capacitor. It is a 1500µF
> cap.
>
> RadioShack does not appear to carry a cap with that capacitance
> specifically, so do you have any suggestions where I might be able to
> pick up a new cap? It makes more sense to put in a next-to-nothing cap
> than to buy a $50 or $60 video card.
>
> Thanks in advance.

This site sells caps for recapping motherboards. Since there is a
chance, the capacitor in question is part of a switching regulator
circuit, then a better quality cap (low ESR, decent ripple current
rating, high temp rating) might be a good thing to use.

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=22

The only reason for buying an electrolytic from Radio Shack, is
if you're in a hurry. If you have the time, shop around for
something a bit better. At least with a motherboard Vcore
regulator, if you recapped with run-of-the-mill caps, you
could end up redoing the job six weeks later.

If the cap is being used purely to bypass a rail that
isn't "moving around", and there isn't the expectation
of a lot of ripple current, then you could use the
Radio Shack caps for that. But switching regulator circuits
are more demanding, and if you charge for your repairs, you'd
want to do it so it lasted.

I take it you know the caps are polarized ? The cap has a
(+) and a (-), so put the new one in the same way as
the old one.

Paul
 >> Stay informed about: FX5200 

"Paul" <nospam.DeleteThis@needed.com> wrote in message news:ffn4mt$v2n$1@aioe.org...
> Travis King wrote:
>> Someone I know has an FX5200 video card. It's almost three years old.
>> Anyway, the person complained that lately their monitor has been
>> flickering off and on, so I thought it might have been the monitor. When
>> he brought the computer over, the computer would not even boot Windows or
>> show anything on the screen, and the BIOS caused the speaker to just keep
>> beeping.
>>
>> I powered the machine down and took the video card out and immediately
>> noticed two problems. The first problem was the GPU fan was frozen. I
>> oiled it and it spins now. The second problem I noticed is more serious.
>> There is a bulging electrolytic capacitor. It is a 1500µF cap.
>>
>> RadioShack does not appear to carry a cap with that capacitance
>> specifically, so do you have any suggestions where I might be able to
>> pick up a new cap? It makes more sense to put in a next-to-nothing cap
>> than to buy a $50 or $60 video card.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>
> This site sells caps for recapping motherboards. Since there is a
> chance, the capacitor in question is part of a switching regulator
> circuit, then a better quality cap (low ESR, decent ripple current
> rating, high temp rating) might be a good thing to use.
>
> http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=22
>
> The only reason for buying an electrolytic from Radio Shack, is
> if you're in a hurry. If you have the time, shop around for
> something a bit better. At least with a motherboard Vcore
> regulator, if you recapped with run-of-the-mill caps, you
> could end up redoing the job six weeks later.
>
> If the cap is being used purely to bypass a rail that
> isn't "moving around", and there isn't the expectation
> of a lot of ripple current, then you could use the
> Radio Shack caps for that. But switching regulator circuits
> are more demanding, and if you charge for your repairs, you'd
> want to do it so it lasted.
>
> I take it you know the caps are polarized ? The cap has a
> (+) and a (-), so put the new one in the same way as
> the old one.
>
> Paul

Yes, I do know that caps are polarized. Typically, the longer leg is the
positive side. I'm in the process of building a radio right now, so I'm
learning a lot of this stuff quickly. If you couldn't tell by the legs,
look at the stripe on the cap.
 >> Stay informed about: FX5200