Solid Capacitor Motherboards Introduced

jckrbbt writes with news that Gigabyte has introduced solid capacitor motherboards in its Intel 945 chipset products. From the article: "[S]olid capacitors have a higher tolerance for higher temperatures and they also perform better with higher frequencies and higher current than electrolytic capacitors. The superior heat resistance and better electric conductivity will allow PC enthusiasts to tweak the highest levels of performance from their system without fear of excessive capacitor wear or exploding capacitors."

Comments

Re:I'm sure the ...

[nightfire-unique]

Gold Plated Speaker wire crowd will love this.

Ahem. :)

Speaking as an "audio dick," I feel I should come to the defense of both "solid capacitors" and gold plated speaker wire.

Firstly, gold plated speaker wire isn't gold plated to improve the capacitance or resistance properties of the wire - it's done to prevent corrosion. If you've ever heard the crackling sound an old car stereo tends to make, it's often because of corroded copper wires. It's particularly noticeable when you live near saltwater areas or in marine applications in general.

Secondly, there is no outstanding debate in the industry on whether or not polypropylene, film, or even tantalum capacitors (what they're referring to as solid, though they're probably talking about tantalums) are of superior quality to electrolytics for audio applications. Electrolytics have changing thermal characteristics, worse tolerances, and tend to introduce a small amount of phase shift into whatever AC signal you're passing through them. Yes, these properties are measurable with the right equipment and are not generally questioned.

And yes I am an electrical engineer! :D

Re:3 YEARS?

[alienw]

The little caps near the expansion slots are for power decoupling. There are usually lots of them and the loss of one will not affect anything as long as it does not short out. The bigger switching converter caps near the CPU are a critical component of the switching power supply, and losing one would definitely kill the mobo and possibly the CPU. They are also the ones most likely to explode or leak, since they do a lot more work and are exposed to much higher temperatures.

Why is this news?

[Angelwrath]

I've had a Gigabyte board with solid-state capacitors for more than 3 months now, it's based on the 965 chipset, so I was a bit confused why this article made it sound like this was a new innovation.

Re:Average

[ArsenneLupin]

The author was even kind enough to link to reputable sources that confirm the story. The story is pretty well-known, and has even been featured on Slashdot. Here are them links:

• The Great Capacitor Scare of 2003
• Leaking Capacitors Muck Up Motherboards
• Illicit Leaky Capacitors Killing Motherboards

==> only error of GP: the formula muck-up was not intentional, but the thieves themselves made the error while copying it.

Re:Average

[markh1967]

For the full story see www.badcaps.net

Re:Dell GX270's

[parasonic]

Dell should start using these for their GX-270 line. I (1 out of 5 at the site I worked) have replaced a good 30 270 Motherbo--- (sorry per dell, system boards) that have video problems. All stem from bulgin and leaky capacitors. Most of these systems where between 1-2 years old (none over three).

On the GX270's, there is now a lifetime replacement warranty on the motherboards. Capacitors blow on these things, whether that is six months down the road, or four years. We got a bunch of 270's around 2003 and still have several dozen of them here at the company where I work. A few months ago, we called Dell, and they sent two boxes complete with new motherboards and return labels for the old ones.
 
As a CmpE (currently working in I.T.), I will tell you that electrolytics are absolutely fine. I have electronics from the 60's and 70's with electrolytics that hold up. If the manufacturing process is botched, something may go wrong. But you can end up with a mess also if you manfacture tants, micas, polypropylene, even ceramic disc capacitors incorrectly. "Solid" capacitors are more of a sure-fire thing, but they can fail, too.

mod parent DOWN, true but misleading

[petermgreen]

actually you can get non-polarised electrolytics too, they are often used in loudspeaker crossover circuits, i think they are basically two ordinary electrolytics in inverse series.

but anyway in most cases (especially in digital equipment like computers) capacitors are used in a way that keeps them biased the same way all the time so it doesn't really matter if they are polarised or not.

i agree with the gp that the important characteristics of electrolytics are big and slow (high ESR) while the important ones of ceramic are small and fast (low ESR).

tantalums are fairly big and fairly fast, they also have much better lifetime characteristics than electrolytics. The downside is that they are expensive and when they do go bang (tantalums are polarised) they tend to fragment into a shower of tiny hot high velocity shrapnel.

Its unclear from TFA if the "solid capacitors" gigabyte are reffering to are tantalums or some new technology.