Well, I own 5 PCI cards (PowerPulsar/Pro, Pulsar-2s and 6DSP SRB), syncplate, zlink plate, several pro plates & whips and standard plate w/ whip,- most dated 2003 -2005, 1 or 2 a bit older (Y2K - 2003).
All caps good, no failure up to now.
So don´t be overcautious.
I have lots of much older gear,- synths, soundmodules, samplers, mixers, FX, perpheral devices like all kind of MIDI tool boxes, interfaces, vintage computers and whatnot ...
We repair in-house in my basement and 90% of the gear works even there are devices more than 40 yrs old.
After a big move and not using most of the gear for more than 6 years, I´m currently going thru everything and repair what´s necessary.
Guess what,- most frequent issue is empty battery and patches gone, followed by leaking cheapo caps in AKAI sampler PSUs, corroded (ribbon-) cable connections and bad (aged) solder joints.
So, the PSUs are what needs to be recapped 1st in old gear.
That ruled for MOOG, Oberheim, Roland and AKAI here while all the other caps rarely needed to be replaced up to now.
I was really surprised about my 2 Oberheim DPX-1s working like day 1 after a long time of no use,- even the ancient floppy disk drives (5.25 and 3.5") as also the PSUs.
There was only 1 pin-connector failure in one of the DPX-1s.
Removing connector and solder the cable directly fixed the previously no disk loading machine.
I learned, performing repairs and service is best WHEN something fails !
Not all the old gear used bad or cheapest parts.
Just have a look for bad caps occasionally,- p.ex. when you do cleanjobs.
Look if caps are domed or leak.
If they aren´t, recap is obsolete in most cases.
And finally:
Most web-stories and vids about the "unreliable vintage gear" and how to fix are BS while their only purpose is generating clicks.
Today, you buy way more unreliable new gear, planned obsolescence included and w/ the cheapest crappy parts inside,- more or less consumer electronics made for the masses of amateurs and bedroom producers.
The old gear was for pros and compared to average income, very expensive,- for the people traveling from studio to studio, town to town, performing in dirty clubs full of smoke and for concert touring where gear was in the hands of roadies and stage hands.
Transport in a hurry was daily routine and luckily there were flightcases for everything.
Also pro gear was usually much better serviced than the gear of amateur bands.
But it´s true some pieces on the market were experiments or being released too early and before they were finished at all,- like the MOOG Memorymoog p.ex..
But the same rules for today ...
Who bought a MOOG One 8- or 16 voice early and for insane money, got a unreliable instrument because of unfinished firmware and waited for long for updates.
Or look into Kurzweils and recognize cheapo unsealed Alfa pots (PB and Mod wheels), notorious failing ribbon pin-connectors, mechanic play in PB-wheel construction, formerly in PC3, now in PC4 and possibly K2700 too,- and so on.
And that´s pro gear already !
So IMO, the old hi-end gear was really good, w/ some exceptions and while the lower priced gear was not so much.
Similar as today I´d say.
The Creamware and S|C hardware was and is hi-end pro gear and it had and has it´s price.
But it is reliable and that´s why the PCI cards as also Noah and Noah EX, ASB and hardware Minimax, Prophet, Prodyssey and B2XXX still work,-
when they had been treated well in the past.
When I come across an advertisment for used and for me interesting gear, I always try to have a look what the seller has advertised in addition.
When it´s a lot of used baby clothes and other household w/ a Creamware card in between,- I´d be careful.
Such people often have no clue what it is, have found it in a box on the attic or in a closet, already grabbed contacts, don´t know antistatic bags and "how to ship",- and they have no clue what the essential KEYFILE is and where to find.
But they still sell "as it is" and w/ no warranty and no return.
Buying from serious people knowing what they have and how to handle is very important.
Ebay is worst ... hasardous waste deposit ... gear comes DOA or at least 60% of delivery has issues.
My experience,-
Example:
I bought a Miditemp PMM88E Midi processor w/o remote control unit.
The seller described it as "working ... can be powered up and there are MIDI signals".
When it arrived and I looked into it,- there was no PSU inside ...
Well,- fortunately I printed the advert early,- so I got a refund and was able to keep the item.
Now I have the rack-case w/ all the connectors, power- LED and switch, the circuit board w/ all the chips and ribbon cables as replacement parts and for 7 bucks (shipping costs) .
Not bad, but that wasn´t the intention.
Nonetheless, I´ll throw in a PSU soon and maybe, I have luck.
anyway ...
Bud