1.8 G5 iMac caps list
- Thread starter crazyben
- Start date
You're fortunate! The caps on my 17" G5 iMac/1.8 look fine (and are fine), but the display is glitchy, probably due to bad GPU solder balls. It doesn't boot up fully, but I can use it in target disk mode (which I did a few weeks back to get Mac OS X 10.5 installed on a Mac mini G4). I understand it's really challenging to get the GPU resoldered properly.
I'll add the list to my website once someone gets it.
This is the first time I've seen the Rubycon "K" caps go bad in one of these, so you got unlucky here. Usually the "+" shaped vent caps are the bad ones in these. Mine has the K caps and all were fine last I checked.
This is the first time I've seen the Rubycon "K" caps go bad in one of these, so you got unlucky here. Usually the "+" shaped vent caps are the bad ones in these. Mine has the K caps and all were fine last I checked.
Any update on this?
I don't have the values myself unfortunately. I can take the back off my iMac, but I probably won't be able to see all the values without removing them from the board, which I'm not going to do since my caps are still good.
Had a look anyway and I have some answers:
Ones here with the K shaped vents on mine all appear to be 1800uf 6.3v caps. Can’t check them all but all ones I can see are that value.
The Mercedes logo style vent caps on the right side of my image appear to all be 1000uf 16v.
The smaller Mercedes logo style vent caps on the left side of my image are 1500uf 4v.
I can’t tell for any of the other through hole caps.
Then there’s the sea of SMD caps… those are easy to identify values of but god are these gonna be a nightmare to fully recap.
For any other caps not mentioned here, I’d just go and check yourself by desoldering.
Keep in mind this is for my revision only too, which is a 2.0GHz 20” iMac G5, Ambient light sensor.
Ones here with the K shaped vents on mine all appear to be 1800uf 6.3v caps. Can’t check them all but all ones I can see are that value.
The Mercedes logo style vent caps on the right side of my image appear to all be 1000uf 16v.
The smaller Mercedes logo style vent caps on the left side of my image are 1500uf 4v.
I can’t tell for any of the other through hole caps.
Then there’s the sea of SMD caps… those are easy to identify values of but god are these gonna be a nightmare to fully recap.
For any other caps not mentioned here, I’d just go and check yourself by desoldering.
Keep in mind this is for my revision only too, which is a 2.0GHz 20” iMac G5, Ambient light sensor.
Original cap list for 17-inch G5 (original model):
24x 1800uF 6.3V Chemi-con KZJ 10x16mm
5x 1000uF 16V Rubycon MCZ 10x16mm
2x 1500uF 4V Chemi-con KZV 8x16mm
3x 120uF 16V
All those (except 120uF ones) need to be ultra low ESR types. And max allowed height is about 17-18mm
Btw, did anyone replace theirs with Polymer caps?
My 17-inch G5 iMac would need a recap at some point as it has about 4 blown caps, and it is still working fine (PSU was recapped 15 years ago).
However I was thinking of replacing the caps with polymer ones, as you can't really get normal electrolytic ones with such low ESR and ripple current handling. The originals (KZJ and MCZ types) had really low ESR, below 12 mohms.
But as I've read on other forums, you don't need so much capacitance with polymer caps, and you can usually lower the voltage rating too. You can get away with half the capacitance - instead of 1500uF you can easily use 820uF caps. Also, if those caps are being used on 1.5V CPU Vcore, then you don't need 6.3V ones there, 2.5V or 4V would be more than enough.
Perhaps someone used polymer caps (with different capacitance) with success on one of those?
24x 1800uF 6.3V Chemi-con KZJ 10x16mm
5x 1000uF 16V Rubycon MCZ 10x16mm
2x 1500uF 4V Chemi-con KZV 8x16mm
3x 120uF 16V
All those (except 120uF ones) need to be ultra low ESR types. And max allowed height is about 17-18mm
Btw, did anyone replace theirs with Polymer caps?
My 17-inch G5 iMac would need a recap at some point as it has about 4 blown caps, and it is still working fine (PSU was recapped 15 years ago).
However I was thinking of replacing the caps with polymer ones, as you can't really get normal electrolytic ones with such low ESR and ripple current handling. The originals (KZJ and MCZ types) had really low ESR, below 12 mohms.
But as I've read on other forums, you don't need so much capacitance with polymer caps, and you can usually lower the voltage rating too. You can get away with half the capacitance - instead of 1500uF you can easily use 820uF caps. Also, if those caps are being used on 1.5V CPU Vcore, then you don't need 6.3V ones there, 2.5V or 4V would be more than enough.
Perhaps someone used polymer caps (with different capacitance) with success on one of those?
