21 replies to this topic

[Funkymunky]

So I decided to upgrade my motherboard, ram, and processor. I have a GeForce 7800 GT which should be good for a few more years, plenty of hard drives, psu, etc. I ordered all my parts from newegg, waited eagerly, and today they are here! So the first thing I do is crack open my old case to take out the 7800, and as I'm blowing some dust out of the fan, my capacitor falls off. I didn't touch it, bump it, or even blow on it. It literally just fell off. I'm livid. [Edited by - Funkymunky on August 25, 2008 5:03:27 PM]

[Driv3MeFar]

Solder it back on?

[Funkymunky]

does that risk damaging the motherboard?

[JSoftware]

Yeah, if you can't wut it back on, can't you request a RMA for it? If you didn't really bump it or anything, might it not have been loose before?

Where was that cat located? Near the connector, near the external powersupply or just a random place?

[Roy Eltham]

Most likely the card will work without the capacitor.

It's probably a noise reducer put on to meet FCC.

[Edited by - reltham on August 25, 2008 5:53:48 PM]

[Funkymunky]

i dunno, its a BFG Tech GeForce 7800 GT OC, and it runs pretty hot. None of the capacitors look swollen, but many of the contacts on the board have yellowed as if from burn damage. The thing literally just dropped off the board, so I'm concerned that even if I solder it back on, another one will decide to jump ship and spike my new mobo.

*edit* I really like my long dog. hard.

[FluxCapacitor]

I'm very confused. Sounds like someone may have taken a bit too long a puff on his SPACE PIPE.

[Washu]

Quote:

Original post by FluxCapacitor I'm very confused. Sounds like someone may have taken a bit too long a puff on his SPACE PIPE.

^ his capacitor fell off too.


Replace your graphics card.

[DirectXFreak]

o_O

[Funkymunky]

oh so it was you then, Hard Cat? Now we must Kung Fu Fight.

i decided to just buy a new one, this was good me, I'm hard.

*edit* hard as I am, stop changing my posts.

[Moe]

I'd say solder it back on, and run your machine so that your motherboard is vertical. That way, if it does fall off, it will hopefully fall straight down and land in the bottom of the case (and avoid any fans on the way down). Depending on the orientation of the card, it might not even be possible for it to fall off.

[Moe]

Are you sure it wasn't that the front fell off?

[Jarrod1937]

Quote:

Original post by reltham Most likely the card will work without the capacitor. It's probably a noise reducer put on to meet FCC.

I agree with him ^
Generally capcitors are used for nothing more than electric line smoothers. Chances are you can run fine without it.

[Funkymunky]

Quote:

Original post by Jarrod1937 Generally capcitors are used for nothing more than electric line smoothers. Chances are you can run fine without it.

Really? I thought that was electrolysis that did the whole line smoothing thing

[Yann L]

Quote:

Original post by Funkymunky Quote: Original post by Jarrod1937 Generally capcitors are used for nothing more than electric line smoothers. Chances are you can run fine without it. Really? I thought that was electrolysis that did the whole line smoothing thing

Actually, electrolysis doesn't occur in an electrolytic capacitor, unless there is a dielectric breakdown (mostly due to overvoltage or old age). The capacitor can explode in such a situation. Electrolysis is however used while manufacturing it.

But yeah, in digital circuits, caps are often used as noise filters. Your card may run without it, but it could produce interference with other devices, and be less stable (due to a component on the card being disturbed by non-filtered noise from the mainboard, from the card itself, or induced in the circuit traces by electromagnetic radiation).

In analogue circuits, capacitors do much more than simple noise filtering and smoothing. There's a (very small) analogue part on a graphics card, for the analogue VGA output signals.

[Funkymunky]

actually i thought you guys were razzing me and i was completely joking. You're serious? I mean I don't really mind replacing it, I already ordered a GTX 260 from PNY, which I'm damn excited to receive... but you think its probably still okay to use?

[_Sigma]

Quote:

Original post by Moe Are you sure it wasn't that the front fell off?

well played - you just made my night!

[speciesUnknown]

This is not as bad as the time my flux capacitor fell off and left me in 1927. It was very hard to get the components for a new one.

[JSoftware]

Quote:

Original post by Funkymunky actually i thought you guys were razzing me and i was completely joking. You're serious?

Ofcourse. As the others say. It's probably either for power line smoothing, noise removal on the ADC's or video DAC's. If it's for power smoothing you shouldn't have very big problems as long as your power supply is good enough. Video DAC shouldn't really be a problem either. The ADC's might be a problem if those are hit. At those extremely high frequencies the GPU core is running, no smoothing means that analog signals in the vicinity(temperature sensing, voltage measuring, etc) might be b0rkens. The GPU might see wrong measurements as a problem(if it actually works out to be a problem at all)

[papalazaru]

return it under warranty.