X-FI Capacitor?

T

trinitron6_03

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Messages
137
hey guys, i just got a new xfi card with the front bay. earlier as i was putting the bay in my case, my hand was holding the backside of it, and my thumb slipped, hitting a capacitor that sticks up and i moved it to the left, now i looked at it, and there seems to be NO broken connection, or a 90 degree bend or anything, so i pushed it just a lil bit back to the right side where it was. was that an ok thing to do, or did i just waste money?
 
The card should still be ok. But the only was to really know is if you actually try it.
 
Does it seem loose? Have you tried the equipment to see if it still works? In any case, if you didn't break it off then you're probably fine.
 
It's fine!

It's pretty common for electrolytic capacitors to get bent over when you're handling something when your not careful. They've got a lot of tolerance and the only way you're going to damage it is if you bend it back and forth several times repeatedly thereby breaking the leads, if you twist it around so the leads are crossed (BAD!), or if you break the solder and cause a loose connection (unlikely).
 
i broke the capacitor off of a pci card (can't remember if it was my creative card), and actually it start smoking, so much smoke, and the smell of burnt plastic permeated the room. I shut off the computer and power source immediately and discovered a loose capacitor in the case. Yup, that was my experience, but like everyone else replied above this post, it should be fine.
 
Just try it. Most capacitors end up being non-essential on a device. They are usually for filtering a power rail, or reserve power for a chip or the like. Thus if you lose one, it isn't a "do or die" component in most cases. If you just bent yours there's a real good chance it is fine, not broken at all. However even if it is broken off, there's still a fairly good chance the device works fine. I've snapped capacitors off of devices before and they've often worked fine afterwards. Not all the time, of course, there are capacitors that are critical sometimes, and even a non-critical one can push a device in to a non working state if the tolerances were borderline to begin with, but in general if you've busted one, it is worth trying to see if things still work.
 
And if it is busted off or a bit sketchy, PM Soloz2, as he's well versed in modding X-Fi's and replacing the caps.
 
Capacitors are often unessential, but they also often provide important security measures. If your input capacitors are shorted, a spike in the source could kill your speakers/headphones.

Just make sure the cap is not broken and the leads aren't crossed, then you should be fine.
 
thank you for the replies, ok, when i first got it out of the package, it was tilted to the left just a bit, when my thumb slipped it hit it and bent it maybe.. 1/2 degrees further, then i barely pulled it back, so i think its ok but THANK you for the answers, it helps, if i notice anything ill get ahold of creative as well and ask what they could do .
 
If you notice anything, don't let Creative know that you bent anything. They are notorious for getting out of an RMA anyway they can. So if you admit fault, and its not working, you can kiss the card goodbye.

Just RMA it if needed and claim ignorance. I recently went down that route and got my card replaced, even without a receipt.

But given what you've said so far, you shouldnt have a single problem. Hope you enjoy the purchase mate.
 
its not the actual card, its the front bay thingy lol but i dont think its gonna hurt anything either!
 
It's fine, as others said. Remember that those little caps get bent in packaging after the card is made. Rarely do I find a new card with the caps all perfectly straight. Many caps on my XPS600 motherboard are bent too, from sloppy assembly workers.
 
trinitron6_03 said:
its not the actual card, its the front bay thingy lol but i dont think its gonna hurt anything either!
Click to expand...

It's fine.

As I said earlier they are designed to bend (the leads) and so long as you didn't break the solder joint you'll be fine. And I doubt you broke the solder since it would take a great deal of force to come even close.

In the electronics trade when assembling a PCB by hand, after we solder some taller electrolytic caps we routinely bend them over so that they won't catch on anything when the PCB is being handled or packed for shipping.
 
thank you again, makes me feel so much better! lol cant wait to try it out, waiting till july 22nd for the price drops. q6600 and e6700 is what im getting (q6600 is for future computer) lol

thanks again guys!
 
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