We know that the three major accessories of CPU, memory, and graphics card directly determine the performance of the whole machine. Whether the purchased motherboard can provide a sufficient and stable power supply environment for these three accessories has become a very important factor. The power supply circuit of the CPU is usually composed of three parts: capacitors, inductor coils, and field effect transistors (MOSFET tubes). In addition to providing a more pure and stable current for the CPU, it also acts as a step-down current limiter to ensure the normal operation of the CPU. In the power supply circuit of the motherboard, the higher the specifications of the capacitor and the inductor coil and the more the number of FETs, the better the quality of the power supply circuit.

What is a solid capacitor?

The full name of solid-state capacitors is solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors, which are the highest-end capacitors except tantalum capacitors. They use highly conductive molecular materials, while ordinary electrolytic capacitors use electrolyte.

What does a solid capacitor do?

It can be said that the capacitor is the key to ensure the quality of the motherboard and graphics card, and it can also be said to be the focus of measuring the workmanship of the board. Whether it is a popular solid-state capacitor or an electrolytic capacitor scolded by many netizens, their functions are the same. The role of capacitors in motherboards and graphics cards is mainly to ensure the stability of voltage and current (playing the role of filtering).

The main function of the capacitor is to further filter some current spikes and clutter, so as to ensure the stability of the power supply of each part. The function of the capacitor is similar to that of a reservoir. It releases water when the water flow is large, and stores water when the water flow is small, so as to ensure the balance of the water storage in the reservoir.

How to distinguish solid capacitors?

Solid capacitors use different dielectrics. They use polymer materials instead of electrolytes. In fact, they are easy to distinguish from their appearance. However, there are some special cases. Generally speaking, electrolytic capacitors use plastic wrapping to wrap capacitors, while solid capacitors are Wrapped by an aluminum shell, of course there are some individual examples. For example, the famous Sanyo OSCON solid-state capacitor is made of purple plastic wrap.

At present, the aluminum shell capacitors that appear on some low-end motherboards and graphics cards also use electrolyte, but they are wrapped in aluminum shells, which makes people mistaken for solid capacitors. Here we need to see whether there are similar crosses or K on the capacitors. The word explosion-proof pattern is gone. Those with explosion-proof patterns should not be solid capacitors.

Those with K-shaped or cross explosion-proof patterns on the top must not be solid capacitors?

wrong! The main function of the K or cross on the top of the capacitor is to buffer, and the solid capacitor does not necessarily expand like a liquid capacitor, because as long as there is internal resistance, the capacitor will heat up, and the hot air inside will expand, rise, and let the shell It is only that the stability and expansion range of solid capacitors are much smaller, so most solid capacitors do not need explosion-proof patterns. Such as Sanyo, Ruby, Sacon and other brands of capacitors.

However, there are still some brands of solid capacitors that use explosion-proof patterns for safety reasons. The advantage of this is to prolong the service life of the capacitor. The more common ones are the yellow Fujitsu R5 solid capacitors, which are preferred by domestic Onda boards. In addition, there are also a batch of solid capacitors with K-shaped detonation grooves, such as Nichicon395, Toshiba 78K, Hitachi GTE. Therefore, judging whether the capacitor is solid can not be simply analyzed from the appearance. It is not necessarily not the case with K-shaped or cross explosion-proof pattern, and not necessarily all of them are packaged in aluminum shells. To judge whether it is a solid capacitor or not, the key is to look at the dielectric. Regarding this, there is a lot of professional knowledge in the design. Therefore, our ordinary consumers need to rely on the integrity and reliability of the manufacturer to know more about the solid capacitor of the product.

Advantages of Solid Capacitors

1. Put an end to the phenomenon of popping pulp. The dielectric of the electrolytic capacitor is liquid electrolyte. The liquid particles are very active at high temperature and generate pressure on the inside of the capacitor. Its boiling point is not very high, so it may explode. The solid capacitor uses a polymer dielectric. At high temperature, both particle swelling and activity are lower than liquid electrolyte, and its boiling point is as high as 350 degrees Celsius, so it is almost impossible to have the possibility of explosion.

Second, solid capacitors have better performance than traditional electrolytic capacitors in terms of equivalent series impedance. According to the test, the equivalent series resistance of solid capacitors is extremely small when operating at high frequencies, and the conductivity frequency is particularly good. It has the characteristics of lower electrical impedance and lower heat output. Traditional electrolytic capacitors are more easily affected by the temperature and humidity of the operating environment, and are slightly less stable in high and low temperature. Even at minus 55 degrees Celsius to 105 degrees Celsius, the ESR electrical impedance of solid capacitors can reach 0.1 to 0.3 ohms, but electrolytic capacitors will change due to temperature.

That is to say, solid capacitors are not very sensitive to temperature, while electrolytic capacitors are more easily affected by temperature. In terms of capacitance value, liquid capacitors below 20 degrees Celsius will be lower than the marked capacitance value, and the lower the temperature, the lower the capacitance value will be. At minus 55 degrees, the electric capacity reaches 37%. This has no effect on ordinary users, but for players who use liquid nitrogen for the ultimate overclocking, solid capacitors can ensure that the capacitor capacity will not be affected by the temperature drop, which will lead to overclocking stability. Because the capacitance value of solid capacitors will only drop by less than 5% at minus 55 degrees.