Include the series of capacitors in reviews!

[TheLaw]

Hi,

I love the reviews, especially for the internal shots and analysis. It give you an idea of the quality of our favorite (or not so favorite) brands.

However, simply stating "..and we have all Nippon Chemi-Con on the secondary side" isn't all that helpful, as Chem-Con makes tons of different series of capacitors. Are they KY, KZE, KMG...? Of course you don't have to point out the series of the little coupling capacitors...but for the main filtering low-ESR capacitors, there should be mention of the series of capacitor.

If not that, give us some pictures that have the series visible.

Just a thought.

[Hondacity]

say please?

[Travis]

and please include the number of them as well.

[MrWicked1968]

who was it that got busted for using the shells of good capacitors to cover up smaller, crappy ones?

[walterm]

OMG, thats truly wick ed. Seems more trouble than its worth too.
hmm, would it be ethical or legal to start a (I was going to say Hate list) but really mean Serious Poor Performers (SPP). I will volunteer Compucase/Hec 485 and 585 units. Anyone? Read a review of the 485, scary innards, out of spec, and failure.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Are they KY, KZE, KMG...? Of course you don't have to point out the series of the little coupling capacitors...but for the main filtering low-ESR capacitors, there should be mention of the series of capacitor.

I used to do that. Problem there is, on some units you can't see the series of caps without doing a serious amount of extra disassembly. I don't have time for that. Some units take better than 3 hours to go through this process as is.

[rafal_iB_PL]

There is another problem with differences in used caps between revisions/retail version and review samples. I'm quite sure PCP&C did that with Silencer 750W (IIRC it was Nippon Chemi-Con vs OST), Corsair did that too, some found Rubycon, some Nippon Chemi-Con, it was in HX520 IIRC - I have one with Rubycon.

If it went as far as different manufacturer, how often could it be with "same manufacturer, different series"?

[Spectre]

Hi,

I love the reviews, especially for the internal shots and analysis. It give you an idea of the quality of our favorite (or not so favorite) brands.

However, simply stating "..and we have all Nippon Chemi-Con on the secondary side" isn't all that helpful, as Chem-Con makes tons of different series of capacitors. Are they KY, KZE, KMG...? Of course you don't have to point out the series of the little coupling capacitors...but for the main filtering low-ESR capacitors, there should be mention of the series of capacitor.

If not that, give us some pictures that have the series visible.

Just a thought.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

[TheLaw]

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Not all of the time. That's why I am suggesting this. Usually you can see the series on the Active PFC circuit's big high-voltage caps. But on the secondary side of the switchers, it's hard to see. (Also hard for the reviewer, I guess)

I know it's very hard to always get all of them. I've taken apart quite a few PSUs and it is hard to get the exact series, especially the ones from slimline/SFF systems.

But the more information the merrier. Though Chemi-con is solid, and all of the Japanese brands are typically good, not all of their caps "amazing", so for those cap-heads like me, it's nice to know.

Just a suggestion. OW: I see what you mean about being hard to see. It's not crucial information, but maybe throwing in a series or two names would give a little bit more insight on the quality. Don't worry about it if it's that much trouble.

[Spectre]

Hi,

I love the reviews, especially for the internal shots and analysis. It give you an idea of the quality of our favorite (or not so favorite) brands.

However, simply stating "..and we have all Nippon Chemi-Con on the secondary side" isn't all that helpful, as Chem-Con makes tons of different series of capacitors. Are they KY, KZE, KMG...? Of course you don't have to point out the series of the little coupling capacitors...but for the main filtering low-ESR capacitors, there should be mention of the series of capacitor.

If not that, give us some pictures that have the series visible.

Just a thought.

Not all of the time. That's why I am suggesting this. Usually you can see the series on the Active PFC circuit's big high-voltage caps. But on the secondary side of the switchers, it's hard to see. (Also hard for the reviewer, I guess)

I know it's very hard to always get all of them. I've taken apart quite a few PSUs and it is hard to get the exact series, especially the ones from slimline/SFF systems.

But the more information the merrier. Though Chemi-con is solid, and all of the Japanese brands are typically good, not all of their caps "amazing", so for those cap-heads like me, it's nice to know.

Just a suggestion. OW: I see what you mean about being hard to see. It's not crucial information, but maybe throwing in a series or two names would give a little bit more insight on the quality. Don't worry about it if it's that much trouble.

Yeah, you basically are asking for nothing then and acknowledging that it isn't an issue. So I am confused about what you are on about.

[TheLaw]

I didn't want to sound like a dick...God people these days...

[Spectre]

I didn't want to sound like a dick...God people these days...

People these days? Ok, next time you want to start complaining have a well formulated and articulated point. As it stands, you don't currently as I pointed out and I deeply apologize for pointing out your circular argument.

[TheLaw]

I'm saying:

Is it an absolute necessity that they are including? No. Brand usually is enough...HOWEVER...

All companies provide a wide array of quality levels. It's hard to give an exact example, but referring to computers, think about just about any brand...Cooler Master for instance, makes some sub-par stuff, but their upper tier is very exceptional.

So is the manufacturer using a $0.10 cap, or a $1.00 cap?

And in the instance of some quesitonable capacitors in a PSU, it can be easier to decide whether you want to purchase that PSU depending on which series of capacitors were used. If they used Teapo general purpose, hell no, but if they used some reliable upper tier Teapos, sure.