I've been using Arctic Silver for years. Never had a problem with it.
I've been using AMD CPUs for years. Never had one fail.
Technically speaking, most people using Arctic Silver are probably voiding their warranty in other ways as well (non-approved heatsinks, overclocking, XP->MP mods, etc.). So why all the fuss about thermal compound all of a sudden?
How many people know someone who has had an RMA on a CPU refused for the explicit reason that they used the "wrong" thermal compound? I sure don't know anyone.
Go ahead and keep using your "unapproved" thermal compound and heatsinks -- I certainly plan to. And in the (IMO very unlikely) event that you do need to RMA the CPU, chances are excellent there won't be a problem anyway.
I think the quality of computer components in general has been in decline for a couple of years. CD-ROM drives and motherboards seem to be particularly bad lately.
This is partly the fault of consumers. People demand high performance at a low price point, and don't seem to care much about reliability any more; computers are becoming "disposable". The computer manufacturers are simply catering to the demands of their market.
...some of those cards in my crawlspace somewhere. My original CP/M system had Processor Technology VDM and 3P+S cards in it. IIRC the 3P+S had the most whacked connector pinout ever, e.g. some of the pins for the same port were on two different connectors!
I dimly recall meeting Ward and Randy at a Cache meeting around that timeframe as well.
- Panasonic FC series caps are low ESR, rated to 105C, and are a lot cheaper than $3 apiece (from DigiKey). I've had good luck with these (resurrected 3 boards with them so far).
- A method that seems to work fairly well for removing the dead capacitors is to alternately heat each lead from the underside of the board, and gently push the top of the capacitor back and forth -- pushing away from the lead being heated -- to "walk" the leads out of the holes.
- Once the bad cap is removed, use a "solder sucker" to clear the holes, so that you can insert the new capacitor.
- If you are unlucky, one of your switching regulators may also be fried (look for discolored/burnt PCB traces around the power MOSFETs). In this case, you're probably better off just ditching the board. But if you're the adventurous type, search DigiKey's site for replacement transistors, using the markings from the dead transistors as the search term. You may also need to bypass any burnt PCB traces with bits of wire...
This situation really peeves me... low ESR capacitors (good ones) cost around 20 cents each in quantity. How much did the mobo makers save by using the cheap knock-offs? Can't have been more than a buck or so per board... now everyone gets to pay the price.
In general, I think there is way too much emphasis on high performance and low cost these days, with nowhere near enough emphasis on stability and quality. This capacitor issue is just one symptom of quality generally going down the toilet.
Over the past year, I've personally had three motherboards become unstable or fail outright due to "exploding capacitor syndrome". The three boards were all different brands (MSI, Abit, and FIC). On the MSI, several of the capacitors literally exploded, and the board wouldn't boot any more. The Abit and FIC just went slowly downhill in terms of stability, as the capacitors became bloated and started to leak. I also scavenged a fourth dead board (another MSI with exploded capacitors) from one of my clients, who was throwing it out.
If you've got a little experience with soldering, it's not too difficult to replace the caps; this will generally restore the board to working order, provided none of the capacitors shorted out and took other components with them when they died. All you need are replacement low ESR capacitors (Panasonic FC series are good, you can mail-order them from places like Digi-Key); a soldering iron and desoldering tool (from your friendly neighborhood Radio Shack); some wire cutters (for trimming the capacitor leads after you've soldered them in place); and a steady hand.
If you get particularly unlucky, you may also have a fried switching regulator (MOSFET), or even burned PCB traces. It may still be possible to salvage the board even in extreme cases like this, but you'll need to buy replacement MOSFETs as well, and get a little creative with soldering some wires to the board to bypass the burned traces.
I've already repaired both MSI boards and the Abit. The MSI from my client turned out to be more trouble than I expected though (one of the VIO regulators was toasted). The FIC is next up on the operating table...
Yes, Speakeasy has a very enlightened attitude. Their TOS basically says, "just don't abuse our systems or network and we'll leave you alone". When I upgraded to IDSL (unfortunately I am too far from the CO to get ADSL), they sent me a little blurb about how they encourage their customers to run their own servers. They also recently announced a pro-connection sharing policy.
As someone else has already commented, they aren't perfect -- for example, their dial-up service really blew chunks when I was on it this past summer, almost making me decide against ordering their IDSL service -- but the IDSL service has been flawless (since September), and I really do believe that they are one of the better ISPs out there right now.
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I've been using AMD CPUs for years. Never had one fail.
Technically speaking, most people using Arctic Silver are probably voiding their warranty in other ways as well (non-approved heatsinks, overclocking, XP->MP mods, etc.). So why all the fuss about thermal compound all of a sudden?
How many people know someone who has had an RMA on a CPU refused for the explicit reason that they used the "wrong" thermal compound? I sure don't know anyone.
Go ahead and keep using your "unapproved" thermal compound and heatsinks -- I certainly plan to. And in the (IMO very unlikely) event that you do need to RMA the CPU, chances are excellent there won't be a problem anyway.
I think the quality of computer components in general has been in decline for a couple of years. CD-ROM drives and motherboards seem to be particularly bad lately. This is partly the fault of consumers. People demand high performance at a low price point, and don't seem to care much about reliability any more; computers are becoming "disposable". The computer manufacturers are simply catering to the demands of their market.
I dimly recall meeting Ward and Randy at a Cache meeting around that timeframe as well.
Those were the days! (Damn, I feel old...)
- Panasonic FC series caps are low ESR, rated to 105C, and are a lot cheaper than $3 apiece (from DigiKey). I've had good luck with these (resurrected 3 boards with them so far).
- A method that seems to work fairly well for removing the dead capacitors is to alternately heat each lead from the underside of the board, and gently push the top of the capacitor back and forth -- pushing away from the lead being heated -- to "walk" the leads out of the holes.
- Once the bad cap is removed, use a "solder sucker" to clear the holes, so that you can insert the new capacitor.
- If you are unlucky, one of your switching regulators may also be fried (look for discolored/burnt PCB traces around the power MOSFETs). In this case, you're probably better off just ditching the board. But if you're the adventurous type, search DigiKey's site for replacement transistors, using the markings from the dead transistors as the search term. You may also need to bypass any burnt PCB traces with bits of wire...
Yeah, some of the ones I've had that blew were the JPCON ones. I've also had "Chhsi" and "I.Q." capacitors bulging and/or leaking as well.
In general, I think there is way too much emphasis on high performance and low cost these days, with nowhere near enough emphasis on stability and quality. This capacitor issue is just one symptom of quality generally going down the toilet.
Over the past year, I've personally had three motherboards become unstable or fail outright due to "exploding capacitor syndrome". The three boards were all different brands (MSI, Abit, and FIC). On the MSI, several of the capacitors literally exploded, and the board wouldn't boot any more. The Abit and FIC just went slowly downhill in terms of stability, as the capacitors became bloated and started to leak. I also scavenged a fourth dead board (another MSI with exploded capacitors) from one of my clients, who was throwing it out.
If you've got a little experience with soldering, it's not too difficult to replace the caps; this will generally restore the board to working order, provided none of the capacitors shorted out and took other components with them when they died. All you need are replacement low ESR capacitors (Panasonic FC series are good, you can mail-order them from places like Digi-Key); a soldering iron and desoldering tool (from your friendly neighborhood Radio Shack); some wire cutters (for trimming the capacitor leads after you've soldered them in place); and a steady hand.
If you get particularly unlucky, you may also have a fried switching regulator (MOSFET), or even burned PCB traces. It may still be possible to salvage the board even in extreme cases like this, but you'll need to buy replacement MOSFETs as well, and get a little creative with soldering some wires to the board to bypass the burned traces.
I've already repaired both MSI boards and the Abit. The MSI from my client turned out to be more trouble than I expected though (one of the VIO regulators was toasted). The FIC is next up on the operating table...
You forgot Folding@home
Yes, Speakeasy has a very enlightened attitude. Their TOS basically says, "just don't abuse our systems or network and we'll leave you alone". When I upgraded to IDSL (unfortunately I am too far from the CO to get ADSL), they sent me a little blurb about how they encourage their customers to run their own servers. They also recently announced a pro-connection sharing policy. As someone else has already commented, they aren't perfect -- for example, their dial-up service really blew chunks when I was on it this past summer, almost making me decide against ordering their IDSL service -- but the IDSL service has been flawless (since September), and I really do believe that they are one of the better ISPs out there right now.