Re: need motherboard recommendation
Russell L. Harris put forth on 12/27/2010 4:40 AM:
> In view of the fact that capacitors are the Achilles Heel of the PC
> motherboard
Cheap case designs and motherboard designs with poor ventilation around
the CPU socket VRM mosfets are, not caps. Far more motherboards fail
due to VRM fets burning up than from caps popping, or anything else for
that matter. And these failures occur long before cheap caps pop,
especially during summer in non air conditioned environments.
In the few years early in my career when I did almost exclusively
PC/server builds and maintenance, I never saw a dead board with blown
caps. ALL of them were due to, roughly in order of frequency:
1. Manufacturing defect (board trace)
2. Burned VRMs due to inadequate airflow or defective FETs
3. Direct shorts due to improper installation (screw stuck between the
PCB and the mounting tray). These usually caught during burn-in.
4. PSU going south and taking out the VRMs due to DC voltage surges
5. Lightning strikes through phone lines into ISA/PCI modems
Interestingly I remember one server I repaired that lost the fax modem,
the SCSI card next to it, and the NIC next to the SCSI card. All 3 PCI
slots were dead, but the motherboard otherwise functioned flawlessly.
Every other lighting strike victim I serviced had a fried mobo. This
one was unique. Thus I kept it, and still have it in storage somewhere.
I pulled it out a fews years later to fire it up and convince a
non-believer. It still smelled of burned epoxy resin (and still worked,
but for those 3 PCI slots).
Paul I get the feeling you've read a lot of forums and magazines, and
know some people who might know their stuff, but that you personally
don't really have any experience as a PC/server hardware tech. Is this
an accurate assessment?
--
Stan
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