Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 23:38:02 -0800 From: soralx@cydem.org To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Cc: g_jin@lbl.gov, peterjeremy@optushome.com.au, me@carrollkong.com Subject: Re: FreeBSD shutting down unexpectedly Message-ID: <200603082338.02237.soralx@cydem.org> In-Reply-To: <20060306084801.GA826@turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org> References: <1141517664.1407@swaggi.com> <200603052341.18723.soralx@cydem.org> <20060306084801.GA826@turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org>
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> >It cost me ~$30 to get all capacitors > 470uF for a socket478 mainboard > >and 2 ATX PSUs (I got high-quality, low ESR Nichicon UPL-series caps). > > Note that if you don't have the skills to replace the capacitors > yourself, you need to add the labour cost for a technician (which will > probably be somewhat more than the capacitors cost). Note that it's > crucial that any goo be completely cleaned off the MB - it will > destory the tracks if it's left. 2 all: This is an important point I forgot to mention. Desoldering the capacitors is actually much harder than it seems, even if you have a solder sucker (desoldering station), because the power layers conduct heat very well, and high temperature burns the laquer/dye layer easily. If you never soldered multi-layer (more than 2) boards before, do not do it yourself, if the mainboard is of any value to you. Practice first. I never destoyed a mainboard myself this way, but I was close a couple times, so I imagine how difficult would it be to an unexperienced person. > It's not only low quality components, it's also poor thermal design. > Heat is the major enemy of electrolytic capacitors. PSUs typically > have all the capacitors crammed (and even glued) together, minimising > cooling. My (GigaByte) MB has capacitors wedged between toroid > inductors (which get quite hot during operation) and squeezed under > the CPU heatsink. Rather, the poor design here lies in the fact that inductors are used which have high resistance (resistance to DC, not impedance) and low surface area; this get them quite hot, and also decreases efficiency of the voltage converter. > > Would you consider spending U$15 (cost > >of good capacitors) more on a $320 mainboard and get a reliable, stable > >(better overclocking, too) board that will serve you well for many years > >(istead of just 0.5 - 3y max)? > > Yes, but I don't have that choice. I can either buy consumer-grade > equipment (which is virtually all of similar quality) or I can > buy server-grade hardware - for several times as much. This is a problem indeed. In any case, this is getting off-topic now. Hopefully, this discussion succeeded in pointion out the quality problem that exists with current consumer-grade hardware, and suggested some ways to solve it (whether globally -- by 'boycotting' bad manufacturers, or locally -- by modifying already purchased hardware). The specific goal was to show that current power devices (power supplies, mainboard converters, etc) are of insufficient quality, and how quality is important in this area. Timestamp: 0x440FCE8F [SorAlx] http://cydem.org.ua/ ridin' VN1500-B2
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