Is There an Electrical Engineer in the House?

[mharolde]

While cleaning the dust out of the inside of my computer I noticed a 1/4" silver cylinder lying on the bottom of my computer. I have determined it came off my GF3 Ti 200 video card. I have no idea how long I have been running my system with that cylinder broken off the card and I haven't noticed any problems with my video system. But it was there for a reason and that is what I am trying to find out. The cylinder has the numbers
102
330
6E
on the top. Can anyone tell me what this part is and what its' function is. Thanks

[Peter M]

Photo?

[Sparky Lang]

Sounds like a capacitor. If it were me, I'd ignore it since the system seems to be running OK. It may be difficult to re-attach it in any case.

[Cyan]

but make sure you mind the fire and electrical hazard m`kay?

[mharolde]

The picture I have attached isnt my card, but the part I have circled on the picture is the piece that fell off my card and the location of where it was. I thought about re-soldering it back on the board, but the two leads coming from the bottom of the part fell off, so no go there. It seems to me the fan on the chipset of the card has lost some rpm's...coincedence or have I stumbled on the broken parts function? Thanks again for any and all help.

[mharolde]

now maybe i have attached it :rolleyes:

I had to crop it quite a bit, so the area you are looking at is the back of the card...side opposite of where monitor plugs in.

[mharolde]

a road map for my over cropped picture

[Thundershaft]

Those are rating for the Capaitor...
can't tell what company...
hm....
Don't worry about it too much.. but becareful though..
If that is a power-system capacitor.. the video card might go

[leprechaun_40]

Is the card still in warranty? If so, I'd be returning it and getting another, asap:eek: Capacitors aren't sposed to fall off.! And they are an integral part of the circuit.

[davewuk]

It's a surface mount aluminium electrolytic capacitor. Probably a knock has pulled it off. Check if the gull wings (pins) are still on the cap and soldering it back into position should not be a problem in the right hands. It is polarised though and you may need a reference board (or picture) to get orientation correct unless marked on the board - the black edge will be negative.

Value I think is 330uF with an operating voltage of 6V

[mharolde]

thanks for the replies...the pins did fall off or I would've just soldered it back on myself. This is a Visiontek board the was a replacement for one that I had sent in...and what a #@$%^%$ nightmare that was. After two months of battling and a nasty phone message to one of their execs I finally got this now failing gf3. I really hesitate to go through that again. Especially since I don't see any Nvidia boards on Visiontek's website anymore. Rumors of asset liquidation...so much for the great American Hope. So I ask these questions...if I go the Nvidia route, whose board should I get and should I even bother with Nvidia and just switch to ATI?

[fizur2002]

nVidia does not make video cards, they make the chipset for it, nothing more. Now PNY is basically the nVidia card seller, its a symbiotic relationship that they have, and are almost one company. ATI is not a bad way to go. But if you can get two computers side by side with both companys latest and greatest video cards and compare them, you will see a difference. Just depends on what you like more, FPS or crisp pics.

[mharolde]

fps or pic quality...hmmm...let me think....BOTH of course. Just to clarify, I completely understand that Nvidia doesn't make the actual card but just the chipset. So to rephrase, I didn't see any Nvidia BASED cards on the site. I apologize for being lazy, I just thought it would be assumed that I was asking what card manufacturer was best using an Nvidia chipset. Speaking on pic quality only, I think my old Voodoo Banshee looks better than the GF3, but I haven't used ATI before. You will get opinions either way, I guess it just boils down to availability of service, cost and good ole personal preference.

[fizur2002]

Thats perfectly true. 6 is half a dozen of the other.