DIY Aluminum case for a Laptop Motherboard.
I made an aluminum case for an old Laptop motherboard the laptop had a caked screen and it did not made sense to replace the screen.

It seems I ca not embed a video here so I will just make a link to the VideoLink

EDIT:

I decided on request to also post some photos the same that are also in video but at better resolution.
There are two aluminium plates 2mm in my case but I recommend that the top one be 3 or more mm more is better.
I used aluminium standoffs they are number 4 about 2.8mm but it will depend on your motherboard also the length in my case was 6.5mm at the bottom and 18mm on top.
You can find the standoffs and screws at Digikey or maybe local hardware store. The aluminium plates I ordered from eBay cut to dimensions and I made the holes.
You can use the same method for a mini ITX motherboard if you do not need any extension boards or even larger motherboards.
I used an USB to PS2 adapter on the third USB and a SATA to CF to replace the HDD but this is not necessary the problem is that Laptop BIOS are limited and did not recognised the SATA to CF adapter and even worst it wait for 35 seconds before booting from the next device in my case SD-card reader where I have syslinux as bootloader just load the kernel and initrd files usually under 10MB and the rest of the OS is on the SATA to CF that is recognised by the Linux kernel and it boots the custom Ubuntu 10.10 in about 30 seconds.
The other part with the BIOS thinking it has an internal LCD and not being able to start a live distro at more than 1024x768 was solved by using video=LVDS-1:d at load as kernel commandline in syslinux.


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Very cool! I don't know about anyone else, but I'd be interested in seeing some still pics of this build, as well as some written details about it's construction.

Is the OEM fan on the motherboard operational?

What temps are you getting with and w/o the added 80mm external fan?

Yes Please! Very Very Very impressive. Please put up some images and then teach us how to do this on our own!!!!!!

Thanks Ralf,
I uploaded some photos on my website and made a link in the first post I also added some details but photos are better.
The OEM fan is optional if you have a ticker plate on top or less power hungry CPU but this AMD relay takes 35W and it will not work without ventilation.
The only temp I get is the CPU core temp and on the Laptop they where at load about 90C on this case without the 80mm fan they where at load about 82C max and with the 80mm fan at 5V very low RPM max temp at load is about 70C all this with 27C air temperature my apartment is quite hot.
The idle temperature without the 80mm fan where about 50C and with the 80mm fan they are about 42C all this are the highest temp one one of the two cores the other core runs about 2C lower.



Done.

electrodacus

I just noticed this was you. I should have known.

What is the temp difference if you run it on its side?

Does this replace your older system?

I did not tested the temperature running on the side but I guess it will not make a big impact and I have connectors on all sides so it will be difficult.
No is not a replacement for my older system that one is still great is a 45nm Quad core it was for my mother and need to be shipped international so the weight was an important factor it was just under 2Kg including the AC adapter HDMI to DVI cable and the shipping box only the computer was about 1.3Kg.
My mothers old computer was an Athlon XP 1800+ that is about the same computational power with an single core Atom N450 or 230 about 300 point in passmark for the CPU.
This dual core AMD turion TL-58 is about 900 CPU points in passmark so 3x better + it has 2GB RAM and a newer OS the old computer was running Kanotix and had Flash 7
I installed the latest Flash 10.3 64bit beta for this one.
Hope to be good for the next two years.

i love it!
the ghetto cpu block and left over print on on the alu are nice touches.

someone should make a mitx version and sell it as a kit.

ghetto CPU block.
Yes I also think that it will work great on mitx.

1. Look at what someone is selling for $258.00
http://www.silentpcreview.com/hdplex-h10/

Seems to me you could do something better with a version of this aluminum "case".

2. "Quad Q8400s 2Ghz 0.925V Idle:31W load:49W"

You can do better you know. When are you going to move to a 2 or 4 core Sandy Bridge and get those watts down to where they belong?

1. My case was under 100$ and this mostly because of shipping and was a laptop motherboard so I had no choice then DIY also the laptop with the broken LCD was only 85$
2. The Q8400s is just fine I usually only make an upgrade every two generations so probably next upgrade will be at 22nm I will see if it will be Intel or AMD I have no preference the most energy efficient will probably win.
The Sandy Bridge is not very efficient architecture the Qxx00 will be more efficient if build with the same technology there is also no performance gain. Hope Ivy will be better but at least is a 22nm so there is a significant technological advantage.
So I will probably upgrade next year.

Please elucidate what you are saying. It doesn't make sense to me. The only advantage the Quad Q8400s to have would be in the graphics chip energy utilization, and I would expect the SB to do better. I would also expect the SB to accomplish much more with each cycle... and it appears to self under volt and self underclock in a manner the Q8400s can't. And I think it is a jumpt of 2 generations... though that shouldn't count.

I only compare the CPU and if the Q8400s will exist in 32nm to be equal with core i5 or i7 manufacturing process the Q8400 will outperform in performance/Watt so the new CPU architecture is less energy efficient the only thing that helps is the better manufacturing technology.
When I refer at generations I'm only referring to manufacturing technology. I will not buy a new system every year just for minor improvements I need a minimum of 2x performance gain at the same power consumption 4x will be better.
I just read a bit more and the first 22nm will be available by the end of this year but they are based on the same sandy bridge architecture that I do not like to much so I think I will skip this also hopefully I will get something better by the mid of 2012.
My next system need to be as good or better than 50W at full load and minimum of 2x performance but 4x will be more expected since according to some law the number of transistors in a chip will double every 18 months and my Q8400s was purchased in summer of 2009 and my next purchase will be in 2012 so 3 years and I will expect 4x performance but I'm not to optimist about that no 16 core announced .
The transistor density will be 4x since is 22nm vs 45nm but the performance will likely only be a bit over 2x thy will just use more cache that dose not help that much in performance.
I prefer passmark for reference and my CPU is about 3700 points and do not forget that Q8400 dose not use turbo frequency.
Also there is no application right now to need more than my Q8400 except maybe for 3D rendering that I did almost all week but there nothing is good enough

That by itself is a valid reason, but I would like to better understand your other reasoning.

Please explain how you can say that.

SB is supposed to accomplish more with each cycle, correct?

If you keep it on all the time, most energy is used at idle. How many watts do you estimate the Q8400s CPU uses at idle? The SB idles at lower wattage, doesn't it?

If you just turn it on when in use, then what counts is how much work gets done per watt. Are you saying that a 2ghz Q8400 accomplishes more work per watt than a 2400S.

Would you consider that the two core 35 watt 2100T might be equal or almost equal in power to the four core Q8400s yet be more energy efficient? See:
"That a dual-core Hyper-Threaded Sandy Bridge-based CPU can not only compete with, but also beat an AMD Phenom II X4 970 in the latest games is somewhat shocking."
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bes ... 59-10.html

If the Q8400s has a superior architecture to that of the SB, what do you think they were attempting to attain when they made the changes to the SB architecture. They must have been seeking something in return.

That. Looks. Awesome.

You sir have given me inspiration.

For my new flat me and a friend have decided we are going to make one similar to that out of an atom or fusion board for a server, with a similarly bare gigabit switch and ~3 HDDs; with it all inside the blocks (including power bricks, no monitor port on the outside) and one usb, 1esata on the front of the case. should be fun

That's a lot of stuff. What about a double decker version?

omg thats a lot of screws!

It probably doesn't need to be.

The Q8400s at idle uses 4W id not know exactly about the SB but it can not be much better.
Yes the Q8400s will perform more work/watt then 2400S if Q8400s will be 32nm not 45nm.
My Q8400s at 2Ghz and 0.925V is using a max of 24W and produces about 2800 points in passmark and like I mentioned before If I make an upgrade I want to see a minimum of 2x preferable 4x improvement in performance at the same power consumption. So I will need 20W iddle and max 50W load with a CPU performance of min 6000 passmark points that is not possible with the current SB.



They wanted more HP but not necessarily HP/Watt. How was the performance gain from Pentium III and Pentium M to Pentium iV ?.

ces thanks for wonderful links!!!!

Very cool. Your board seems to have the standard holes. I've been trying to find smaller risers or any size that would fit smaller diameter screws. Any idea what i can use?