Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

[tom66]

I have this old motherboard with one faulty (slightly bulging) 820u/6.3V cap. It works fine currently (with a tiny bit of instability, read on) but the system was in need of an upgrade; so I will fix it later.

The motherboard is an Asus P4P800-E Deluxe. All of the KZG caps look identical except one. Small text labelling, and the sleeve doesn't extend too far over the vent. Also, the polarity sign looks different. So, is it a fake? Looks like it decouples the southbridge or RAID controller, but can't tell. There were reports of occasional instability on this machine; given that the one bulging cap is near the AGP port (which was a GFX card powered with an external power connector, so wouldn't draw that much from AGP), and this odd one is near the chipset, it makes the odd one more suspect.

[370forlife]

Re: Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

That one looks fine. The other ones look strange. Maybe they heated up the sleeves too hot or they have been getting hot and it caused the sleeve to shrink even further.

[tom66]

Re: Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

That one looks fine. The other ones look strange. Maybe they heated up the sleeves too hot or they have been getting hot and it caused the sleeve to shrink even further.

How does heating the capacitor cause the font size and style to change...

The only thing I can think of is that it is another batch of KZG caps maybe an older or newer style.

[370forlife]

Re: Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

The sleeving on a capacitor is like heatshrink tubing. It's heated up to form around the capacitor and stay in place. If it's heated up even more it starts to squeeze down too tight in some areas and deform.

[tom66]

Re: Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

The sleeving on a capacitor is like heatshrink tubing. It's heated up to form around the capacitor and stay in place. If it's heated up even more it starts to squeeze down too tight in some areas and deform.

If you look carefully at the voltage rating and the capacitance, they are in a different place (relative to other items) on the "bad" sleeve and a "good" sleeve; no amount of heating (or not) could cause that AFAIK.

[tom66]

Re: Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

I've noticed another thing - on the odd cap, the vent holes are cut deeper than the others. Dunno if it is significant. Also, the cap hasn't got enough space for the extra details to fit on the side, whereas the other ones have. Just something about this cap, being so odd in a motherboard full of identical caps, it sets off alarm bells in my head.

[lti]

Re: Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

The "odd" cap looks like a genuine cap and the rest look odd to me. Whether they are fake or real, they all need replaced if you recap the board.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

Probably just different production runs.
Maybe even different factories.

What are the date codes?

[tom66]

Re: Is this a fake/counterfeit United Chemi-Con KZG cap?

The odd cap isn't bulging, a normal cap is...

Regardless, I am not going to recap the board as it has been put in storage; it is only an old P4 PresHOT board IIRC.