Graphic Card...Power too much?

[chaser226]

My friend recently built me a computer and I've been using it for say 6months or so. I continued using some parts from my old pc, like my graphic card and harddrive... So a couple days ago my graphic card crapped out on me.. I've had that card for 2 years and never had problems w/ it. I'm getting suspicious about this new pc. My other friend said something about too much power going into the card or something, because the cylinder battery looking things on the card ripped open on the top. Does anyone know what I can do to check before I put a new card in there? I've already ordered it and its arriving tomorrow. I just want to be sure before it happens to a new card and waste my time.

 

[Juice Daddy]

could it have gotten a power surge? lightning?

 

[chaser226]

I'm not too familiar w/ hardware...Can anybody give me any information so that I can prevent it happening on my new card?

 

[beardo526]

Those cylinder looking things are capacitors. When they bulge, or in your case, rip open, it's time to get a new card, unless you're really in the mood for some soldering. You could pick up some capacitors for cheap (make sure you get the same exact specs for the capacitors) and replace the bulging/ripped ones with the new ones. Otherwise, there's really nothing you can do about it, they just wear out after a while. Here's an interesting site I found on the subject:

http://www.badcaps.net

EDIT: Added this interesting bit from the site:

In more technical terms, this is is what actually happens to the capacitor... Think of an electrolytic capacitors as a battery. They are designed to store a charge and release that charge depending on the specific requirements of the circuit. Inside the capacitor there are two metal plates with dielectric material between them, wrapped in paper, filled with acid (electrolyte), and sealed in its housing or 'canister'. What happens is the flawed electrolyte prematurely deteriorates and dries up. When this happens the capacitance value changes, becomes erratic, and can even short completely, which obviously causes the circuit to malfunction. On your motherboard, this results in system instabilities or complete failure of your board.

From a physical standpoint, the capacitor can display a number of symptoms and even have catastrophic failures. Catastrophic failure is a rare phenomenon, but it does happen. The reason is this... A capacitor 'canister' is completely sealed and air tight. When the flawed electrolyte dries it turns from a liquid state into a gas. This gas expands with heat and builds great pressure inside the canister, the theory is the same as a pressure cooker. Of course the obvious happens when that pressure builds too much. This is what causes the capacitor to 'bulge' or swell up. In a catastrophic failure, the capacitor may actually burst or explode. It can sound like a firecracker going off or sound similar to air escaping from a car tire, depending on how high the pressure has built. A physically failing capacitor has an ammonia-like odor (at least that what I thought it smelled like)... Capacitors that has swollen up are easy to detect, but one that has burst are even more noticeable. It will usually blow from the top and spew its innards throughout your computer case. The innards are mostly paper and any remaining electrolyte, but it sure can leave a mess... Once again, catastrophic failure is a rare phenomenon... It's not dangerous either, as long as you practice common sense safety precautions! If you suspect bad caps, don't put your face near them while the system is powered up, and don't eat the paper or electrolyte that they blow out!

 

[Apokalipse]

some manufacturers of video cards go cheap on capacitors, that's why that happens.

 

[Nubius]

that's why anything that says 'JAPANESE CAPACITORS!' on it, will be of good quality IE DFI motherboards

pretty sure evga uses them as well

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

You know, their's other good manafactuers of capicators from places other than japan.

 

[chaser226]

oh okay. So it was basically the cheap card that caused it. It was a chaintech geforce4 Ti. I'm gonna recieve my Evga Geforce 6800 any minute now.

 

[chaser226]

okay... I need more help/advice... I got my new card(Geforce6800) and installed it. Same deal. Nothing changed. Monitor is still blinking green, and when I turn on the computer the light turns and stays red...What could be happening here???