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[RF]

Hello,

It appears that my Epox 8RDA+ has issues with "bad caps" on thos little
transistors near the cpu.
I am looking to get another board. My question is using the 754 socket, (a
friend gave me an sempron AMD 64 XP2800+), what board would you recommend? I
also have 2 sticks of kingston hyper X 2700, (333), that I wish to use as
well. I'm not too familiar with the AMD 64 platform, and I don't know if my
memory would work with it.

Do you have any advice?

Thanks.

RF

 

[VWWall]

Hello,

It appears that my Epox 8RDA+ has issues with "bad caps" on thos little
transistors near the cpu.
I am looking to get another board. My question is using the 754 socket, (a
friend gave me an sempron AMD 64 XP2800+), what board would you recommend? I
also have 2 sticks of kingston hyper X 2700, (333), that I wish to use as
well. I'm not too familiar with the AMD 64 platform, and I don't know if my
memory would work with it.

I've been using a MSI K8MM-ILSR which has socket 754 with on-board
graphics, LAN, 6 channel audio and Firewire. I'm using DD400 memory, so
am not sure about the 333. The graphics shares 64M of the RAM, and is
fine for anything but fast games. I run WinXPx64 with no problems
except for finding drivers. All in all it's a good board for the price.
It runs WinXP 32bit, which I dual boot, as well as any CPU of its speed.

 

[Wes Newell]

It appears that my Epox 8RDA+ has issues with "bad caps" on thos little
transistors near the cpu.
I am looking to get another board. My question is using the 754 socket, (a
friend gave me an sempron AMD 64 XP2800+), what board would you recommend? I
also have 2 sticks of kingston hyper X 2700, (333), that I wish to use as
well. I'm not too familiar with the AMD 64 platform, and I don't know if my
memory would work with it.

Do you have any advice?

Your ram will work. As for a board, don't know what you want. About any
would work ok if you don't plan on overclocking much. ASRock K8Ugrade-NF3
would be a good cheap choice.

 

[Tom MacIntyre]

Hello,

It appears that my Epox 8RDA+ has issues with "bad caps" on thos little
transistors near the cpu.
I am looking to get another board. My question is using the 754 socket, (a
friend gave me an sempron AMD 64 XP2800+), what board would you recommend? I
also have 2 sticks of kingston hyper X 2700, (333), that I wish to use as
well. I'm not too familiar with the AMD 64 platform, and I don't know if my
memory would work with it.

Do you have any advice?

Thanks.

RF

Too bad about those multi-layer boards requiring professional
soldering and desoldering gear...

Tom

 

[kony]

Too bad about those multi-layer boards requiring professional
soldering and desoldering gear...

Nonsense.

Have you tried it? If so and you failed, I suggest a bit
more practice as it's relatively easy to replace a few caps
with a moderately high-wattage pencil iron, no special tools
or desoldering gear at all. Many surface mount parts aren't
that bad either if one has experience soldering small parts.

 

[John O]

Do you have any advice?

Nonsense.

Have you tried it? If so and you failed, I suggest a bit
more practice as it's relatively easy to replace a few caps
with a moderately high-wattage pencil iron, no special tools
or desoldering gear at all. Many surface mount parts aren't
that bad either if one has experience soldering small parts.

I did a lot of that sort of thing at Heathkit, where we went through pounds
of solder each week. The key is a big, hot iron. The board can handle a good
bit of heat for a short time, and a 75W iron does less damage than a
wimpy-ass 25w iron. Make sure the tip is clean and tinned well. Then, you
need one of those bulb solder suckers to clean the hole.

With most of those caps, you can heat both leads at the same time, then
whack the board on the table. The cap will fly out, and cleaning the hole is
easy. Done it a million.........no, a BILLION times. ;-)

-John O

 

[Tom MacIntyre]

Nonsense.

Have you tried it? If so and you failed, I suggest a bit
more practice as it's relatively easy to replace a few caps
with a moderately high-wattage pencil iron, no special tools
or desoldering gear at all. Many surface mount parts aren't
that bad either if one has experience soldering small parts.

I worked in consumer electronics repair for a number of years, quite
successfully. My soldering skills were above average. A Soldapult
sucker just can't cut it.

Tom

 

[Barry Watzman]

Not true; the electrolytic caps, which are the problem, can be dealt
with using an old fashioned soldering iron. They are still "thru-hole"
mount.

 

[kony]

I did a lot of that sort of thing at Heathkit, where we went through pounds
of solder each week. The key is a big, hot iron. The board can handle a good
bit of heat for a short time, and a 75W iron does less damage than a
wimpy-ass 25w iron. Make sure the tip is clean and tinned well. Then, you
need one of those bulb solder suckers to clean the hole.

Agreed, though I use 45W. 30W "might" work with a stubby
enough tip. A solder sucker does well but in a pinch one
can just use a pick or needle to ream out the hole while
reheating it, or even a circuit board drill bit to drill a
hole.

With most of those caps, you can heat both leads at the same time, then
whack the board on the table. The cap will fly out, and cleaning the hole is
easy. Done it a million.........no, a BILLION times. ;-)

I'd be careful about wacking boards, lots of surface mount
parts these days and the board is bound to flex some.

I usually wack the boards only if I'm cannibalizing one,
taking a pencil torch to the back to get several things off
at once.

 

[kony]

I worked in consumer electronics repair for a number of years, quite
successfully. My soldering skills were above average. A Soldapult
sucker just can't cut it.

Well I've replaced caps on far too many boards to count, if
all one has is a 30+W iron w/good tip and a roll of solder,
it can be done... let alone with more equipment. Depending
on how experienced the person is, it might not look as good
but a little extra flux can help too.

 

[Wes Newell]

Agreed, though I use 45W. 30W "might" work with a stubby
enough tip. A solder sucker does well but in a pinch one
can just use a pick or needle to ream out the hole while
reheating it, or even a circuit board drill bit to drill a
hole.

I can see it now. Some ignorant soul is going to ruin their board with a
drill. I wouldn't have mentioned a drill. Those that know, know. Those
that don't will screw it up. So all you OP out there, don't use a drill
unless you know how a multilayer pcb is made and the purpose of the feed
holes.

 

[Wes Newell]

Well I've replaced caps on far too many boards to count, if
all one has is a 30+W iron w/good tip and a roll of solder,
it can be done... let alone with more equipment.

Agreed. It's a simple task for anyone with a little soldering experience.
And not that hard for one that has none. Small surface mount components is
a different story, but SM caps isn't that hard even with just a small
pencil iron.

 

[kony]

I can see it now. Some ignorant soul is going to ruin their board with a
drill. I wouldn't have mentioned a drill. Those that know, know. Those
that don't will screw it up. So all you OP out there, don't use a drill
unless you know how a multilayer pcb is made and the purpose of the feed
holes.

;-)

Maybe, but then again I can't guarantee they wouldn't ruin
it with a soldering iron or ESD or some other way... and
there's a few general presumptions, like that most wouldn't
have the right sized bits if they weren't already into
circuit board work... not like you can go to the local
hardware store and pick up a 0.021" bit, sadly the last
hardware store I was in had nothing smaller than 1\16"

 

[RF]

Well thanks for all of the good info, guys!
I have narrowed my mobo search down to an ecs 760gx-m or an msi k8mm-v. Both
boards appear to suit my needs. I really appreciate all of your time.

RF

 

[Tom MacIntyre]

Not true; the electrolytic caps, which are the problem, can be dealt
with using an old fashioned soldering iron. They are still "thru-hole"
mount.

I stand corrected, if so many have been successful at it...that's what
I get for posting based on outdated information, I suppose.

Tom

 

[RF]

Guys,
It's been almost 4 years since I have built a pc, and now I am finding out
about all kinds of ancillary concerns. I want to use my AMD Sempron 2800+,
my 1 GB Kingston hyperX 2700 ddr ram, a Radian 128 9000 pro, and a 4 yr old
cheftech box w/ a 450 Watt power supply, and all I need is a mobo to fit. I
had it narrowed down to a couple but now I find that I have to watch out for
things like agp slots, axt or micro axt, and low voltage issues with the
semprons on some of these boards.
But I will say this, it is a fun way to pass time.

RF

 

[Wes Newell]

Guys,
It's been almost 4 years since I have built a pc, and now I am finding out
about all kinds of ancillary concerns. I want to use my AMD Sempron 2800+,
my 1 GB Kingston hyperX 2700 ddr ram, a Radian 128 9000 pro, and a 4 yr old
cheftech box w/ a 450 Watt power supply, and all I need is a mobo to fit. I
had it narrowed down to a couple but now I find that I have to watch out for
things like agp slots, axt or micro axt, and low voltage issues with the
semprons on some of these boards.
But I will say this, it is a fun way to pass time.

You're missing the most important part. Make sure the board can do at
least 266MHz FSB, and has a locked PCI/AGP speed if you plan on getting
anywhere close to what that cpu can be clocked to. Hopefully that is a
socket 754 Sempron, and not a socket A. If it's a socket A, forget it. If
you already have a socket A Sempron, the same thing applies though. Get a
board that will do at least 200MHz FSB with a locked PCI/AGP bus.

 

[RF]

Thanks guy, most boards that I am looking at are 800 FSB. (It is a socket
754). Quite a few out ther for 50 - 60 dollars.

RF

 

[Wes Newell]

Thanks guy, most boards that I am looking at are 800 FSB. (It is a socket
754). Quite a few out ther for 50 - 60 dollars.

That's the HT link speed, not the clockspeed which the cpu uses with thr
multiplier to determine core speed. All 754/939/940 cpu's default to
200MHz. You need this to go really high on the board you get.