Electronic – Is it safe to use a higher value capacitor

capacitormotherboard

I am trying to replace a bad 820 µF, 6.3 V capacitor on my PC's motherboard. Right now I don't have a 820 µF capacitor in my home and also don't have enough time to buy a new capacitor. I have two 470 µF capacitors rated at 16 volts. The damaged capacitor is located near a RAM socket of the motherboard. Can I use a combination of two 470 µF capacitors that is almost 940 µF? Is it safe to use higher value capacitors in computer systems?

Best Answer

Most likely the two 470 µF capacitors in parallel will be fine. At these values, they are almost certainly power supply caps. About the only drawback of more capacitance is higher inrush current when the supply comes up, but the 15% extra capacitance is very very unlikely to cause any problem whatsoever.