Tantalum, aluminum electrolitic or Conductive polymer caps?

[Boogerlad]

hi, i'd like to know which one of these caps are best to add in paralel on a mobo. I plan to do something like this: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=159973

and like to know if i'm better of putting Tantalum, aluminum electrolitic or Conductive polymer caps in paralel with the other capacitor on the graphic card. Lastly, do you think that it'll be worth it if I replace power supply caps?

Thanks:)

[Boogerlad]

anyone? and also, what is the typical voltage on psu, mobo and gfx caps? i want to mod dfi p35, gigabyte non reference rv670, and my x-fi xtreme audio and pc power and cooling 750

[hvtecgr]

Hipro would definately sugest tantalum!!!But something i noticed is that hipro had moved the caps to the back side of the mobo and he didn't changed them with tantalum but solid caps in a stricker i think!!!So is there any problem changing the solid to tantalum???Cause i want to mod my mobo this way but i'm not sure if i can put tantalum without hurting the mobo.The only think i know for sure is that i can change tha empty caps points benith the socket with tantalum!!!Also is the inductor change,as i know the best way to have a better inductor is the same mH but with higher current handling!!!But i see people changing also the mH value and hipro putting inductors in paraller with the stock ones!!!!I'm very confused here!!!!

[Boogerlad]

also, for inductors, as long as i stay in the same brand, i can replace them right? is the general rule of thumb that higher r rating is better?

[hvtecgr]

The brand really doesn't matter!!!!The higher current is that the inductor is made with better materials or it's bigger!!!But the μh is another issue!!!μh is the 1r0 or r56 or r60 for example!!!Most people say this must not change!!But extreme modders they change this value!!!Thats my problem!!

[Boogerlad]

anyone?

[Super Nade]

hi, i'd like to know which one of these caps are best to add in paralel on a mobo. I plan to do something like this: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=159973

and like to know if i'm better of putting Tantalum, aluminum electrolitic or Conductive polymer caps in paralel with the other capacitor on the graphic card. Lastly, do you think that it'll be worth it if I replace power supply caps?

Thanks:)

The numbers you should be looking at are ESR and ripple current rating. Intel's VRM 11.0 specs mention the use of OS-CON's (organic semi-conductor based caps). These are available in two varieties, Conductive Polymer (popularly known as a solid cap) and organic electrolyte. Sanyo have pioneered use of organic materials/electrolytes.

A few advantages are:

Small form factor
Low ESR over a wide frequency range (100kHz-300kHz+)
Very high ripple current (about 5000 mA on an average)
Extremely low leakage current, about 500uA


Now, can these be used instead of say a 6.3V 1500uF Al-electrolytic. Yes absolutely! Many a time large value capacitors at higher voltage are chosen to match the ripple current requirements of the VRM. For example check Intel's own Xeon VRM design document and you will see that the bulk caps are all Sanyo OSCON 4V 560uF.

Capacitance is not so important here because low frequencies are shunted out anyway. So, you can say use a 1000uF Chemicon LXY instead of a 1500uF OST with no problems.

But note that OSCON's have only certain very specific uses. Using them in SMPS units is very counterproductive. Motherboard switching occurs in the MHz range whereas with SMPS it is at most a few hundred kHz.

With SMPS, the "ripple" you see is very low frequency, so voltage rating and capacitance is quite important. Polymer caps seem to have a fundamental limitation that prevents thir fabrication with both high voltage and capacitance. Aluminum electrolytes are your best bet.

Tantalum is a funny cap. The high frequency response is not as good as Al-'lytics, so if you noticed, in most DC-DC switching line filters (even linear devices), you always see a combination of electrolytic and tantalums.

For MB's, the Caps on the CPU bottom are ceramic SMD's. The problem here is transient response of various control modes. Ceramics work best here. If I were to add anything in the area indicated by hipro5, I'd go with ceramic over tantalum.

Hope this answered your question. :)

[zabomb4163]

if you dont know should you still be doing something like this?

[Super Nade]

Well, not to sound pompus, but I think I do know what I'm talking about. I'm not making this up. It's all in the Intel tech docs. :)

[zabomb4163]

Well, not to sound pompus, but I think I do know what I'm talking about. I'm not making this up. It's all in the Intel tech docs. :)

i was talking about the OP, not you

[Super Nade]

No worries. :)

I forgot to add that hipro5 would have been better off by picking MLCCs (multi-layer ceramic) caps instead of Tantalum.

[wdesign]

I found a better one: Panasonic SP-Cap(Specialty Polymer), high frequency character is superior... You may check the spec: SP-Cap high frequency character (http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/components/pdf/sp_freq_charact.pdf)

I mod my mobo: Foxconn MARS (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=165506).

I got few samples from my friend. If anyone know how to purchase it with small quantity, please send me a note.