What purpose do capacitors serve on motherboards?

Alexlomm

Commendable
May 18, 2016
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I've noticed, that nearly every mobo manufacturer explicitly stresses out that the capacitors they are using are of maximum quality. My question is, why is this particular component so important?
 
Solution


They stress 'good quality', because there have been many instances of crappy ones dying/leaking/exploding.
There was a large instance of a line of Dells where they cheaped out on the caps, and many of them died. I had one.

What does a capacitor do? Basically 'store and forward' for electrical impulses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor


They stress 'good quality', because there have been many instances of crappy ones dying/leaking/exploding.
There was a large instance of a line of Dells where they cheaped out on the caps, and many of them died. I had one.

What does a capacitor do? Basically 'store and forward' for electrical impulses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor
 
Solution


I see, thanks for an answer. Are they used exclusively for stable electric flow?
 
Capacitors can do other things including being used in timing circuits. The 4-second delay for forcing power off is one example.

Timing circuits often use an RC circuit. The resistor limits the current flow so that the desired voltage is reached in the capacitor at the right them. Then it pressures a diode to pass electrons and trigger the shutdown.

Blinking LED's are probably all using an RC circuit.

So storing to ensure stability or sudden DISCHARGE (i.e. for a camera flash) are the uses.

Here's a link to uses if interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor#Applications