I broke something

[NeoGen]

I was taking out the graphics card to clean the dust on the fan, that was kinda clogging it already, and I pulled a little harder. As my hand slipped off the place from where I was pulling I hit one of those many little cilinders that electronics boards have... I see them everywhere, motherboards, graphics cards, sound cards, etc... they all have these tiny cillinders standing that I do not know what they're for... but I broke one accidentally...

And to my amaze everything is still working! :shock: No hardware complained after I rebooted. And I'm here with that tiny cillinder in front of me and working on the computer that I broke it from...

So my question is... anyone knows what they're for? This one kinda seems to be redundant, as everything is working allright, but I have a feeling that I'll regret it later... :?

[DMMc]

Was it off the motherboard or the video card?

[AQUAJOE]

They are capacitors. Bummer

[NeoGen]

It was off the video card because it was the only thing I was messing with (trying to remove it from the motherboard), altough afterwards I tried locating the place where I took it from and couldn't find.
I must have done a really cirurgical breaking to it, as I really can't find the exact point where it came out of.

Anyways... everything is working... I don't know how.

Aquajoe... what does a capacitator do?? (I have a feeling I won't like what I'll hear... :? )

[DMMc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor

It is possible that it will continue to work but not to its full potetial.

[NVM]

this fellow on a local buy/sell site was offering a free router because it didn't work. i grabbed it and messed around a bit and found that the transformer was only putting out 1/2 the rated voltage. sure enough, i pulled it apart and saw a blown cap oozing goo all over the place. replaced it and works like a charm now!

[Ototero]

Nice going