Blown Capacitor

Chrisco90

Distinguished
May 12, 2011
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I've been busy overclocking my Phenom II x4 940 AM2+, got it to the max frequency I could without increasing voltage. I finally started slowly upping the voltage with higher clocks to maintain the highest stable clock.

I was stress testing at 3.8GHz at 1.45V (1.55V is the max for the processor), and started smelling something smoking. I leaned over to confirm it was coming from the computer and a loud POP came from the case, scared me half to death. I shut down the computer, and noticed a small capacitor flew off the motherboard and was blown/unraveled.

The computer is running fine, I lowered the voltage back stock along with lowering the multiplier back to a stable number. My question is will this one missing capacitor have any detrimental effects on the computer? I'm seeing normal voltage readings across the board, but I wanted to make sure I'm not doing any harm by continuing to run the machine.
 

DelroyMonjo

Distinguished
Only time will tell. Since MoBo's are generally multi-layered, the cost of replacing the cap would probably exceed the price of a new MoBo.
Similar thing happened to me with an Asus M2N 72-e Mobo. I was running with the side panel off and the comp. sitting beside me on the desk. Suddenly, I heard a loud pop and out of the corner of my eye saw a fairly significant flash just above the CPU socket. Natch, I shut down then re-booted to a working computer. Never saw any blown parts or burn marks nor had I smelled anything. Computer is working still, 9 months later.
 
G

Guest

Guest
I have replaced Caps on all sorts of Boards before, TV to PC boards. All it takes is the correct CAp and a Dab Hand with a soldering iron!