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Which consoles are the most prone to need recap?


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I know some are worse than others like Turbo Duo, Turbo Express, what about others? Sega CD, CDX, 32X?  Saturn?  

 

It seems like the really old Atari 2600, Coleco and Intellivision are very good without?  Bally, Vectrex, etc?

 

I want to get the recap done for problem systems...  I had my Turbo Express done and it was leaking and non-functional.. luckily not much damage and a recap fixed it up!

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Systems that will most likely need a recap if they haven't had one yet include the Sega CD model 1, either of the PC Engine CD attachments, Game Gear, the Laseractive Pacs, any Amiga computer, the Sanyo TRY 3DO.  

 

TBH, any old CD-ROM based game console or old 8/16 bit microcomputer would be better off professionally recapped than not.  The caps in Nintendo consoles seem to hold up better than most from what I hear.

 

The general rule of thumb for me is:

1) NEC hardware?  Recap it sooner than later.

2) Does it use CDs and came out before 1995?  Recap it sooner than later.

3) Is it a computer?  Recap it sooner than later.

4) Always recap a Game Gear if it hasn't been already.

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9 hours ago, zetastrike said:

Systems that will most likely need a recap if they haven't had one yet include the Sega CD model 1, either of the PC Engine CD attachments, Game Gear, the Laseractive Pacs, any Amiga computer, the Sanyo TRY 3DO.  

 

TBH, any old CD-ROM based game console or old 8/16 bit microcomputer would be better off professionally recapped than not.  The caps in Nintendo consoles seem to hold up better than most from what I hear.

 

The general rule of thumb for me is:

1) NEC hardware?  Recap it sooner than later.

2) Does it use CDs and came out before 1995?  Recap it sooner than later.

3) Is it a computer?  Recap it sooner than later.

That's just example of the recapping fad we were talking about in that other thread. Following advice such as  "any old CD-ROM based game console or old 8/16 bit microcomputer would be better off professionally recapped than not" can result in unnecessary spending and actually damage your gear, be it in transit or during the process (it's not so straightforward on all the machines).

 

I own Amiga 500, STfm 1040, few Spectrums, C64, Atari 800,  have never heard about a real need to replace caps on them. Nor would I even bother doing it on my (dirt cheap) PSX.

 

Tl;dr: sometimes it's completely unnecessary, sometimes not worth the effort/cost if you can't do it yourself. Treat it on case-by-case basis and check a few sources before commiting.

 

 

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I would extend clause 3 to "Is it a computer made between 1992 and 2007? Recap it sooner than later". That covers both the generally bad caps in later Amigas (not sure if the Atari Falcon was affected or if the Tramiels made sure to buy high quality components), all the PC motherboards with fake capacitors and the general capacitor plague from late 90's to a bit into the 2000's.

 

So yes, 8-bit computers from the 80's appear to have better lasting capacitors than most 16/32-bit computers from the 90's and onward. I think part of that is because there was constant price cutting in combination with getting more and more out of the hardware, and it manifested over disposable components.

 

For those who don't know which other thread we refer to, you can find it here.

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1 hour ago, Lost Monkey said:

I just pulled an overheating GeForce 7350 (2007'ish video card) out of a PC and was surprised to find bulging caps on it.  

My Edirol SD-20 Studio Canvas module was only providing audio from the TOS link off the back of it. Opened it up and found the tell tale signs of very dull crumbly looking solder on several of the SMD caps inside it. Decided to replace them all out (I only had standard radial electrolytics but made them work). Put it back together and had glorious midi once again from the front headphone jack and rear RCAs again. So you never can be sure. I believe my SD-20 dates from about 2003 - 2004 timeframe. And I've seen quite a few caps bulging on graphics cards and many system mother boards from the early 2000's era. Even main boards from Intel in desktops dating back to 2010 we find bulging, leaking caps from them.

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