hi, i have an idea for some mods that go a little bit beyond extreme... Firstly, i want to have a mobo lasercut into separate pieces and then mount it on a piece of glass or plexi as the main "feature" of the mod. Can it be done? and if so, how would i go about doing it? will most likely be an old P3/P4 board, nothing spectacular. Secondly, i want to custom mould a case shell out of fibreglass, will this be aproblem for EMI or other such things? if so, i might be able to find someone who could mould carbon fibre for me... Thirdly, i had an idea to use the thermal rubbery stuff you use when watercooling HDDs and lather it all over the back of my mobo to use with a custom designed copper/alu and plexi "waterblock" as the back of the mobo is almost always overlooked. all comments are welcome.
You could laser cut a mobo if you wanted to, but no way in hell are you going to get that to work ever again :|
I could see you cutting pieces out of a motherboard, leaving windows for light to pass through, but you're not going to be able to cut it into seperate pieces. There are too many traces that have to be a set length, so adding wires to fill gaps isn't going to work. There's no difference between this and a clear acrylic case, EMI wise, so I don't see a problem. I'm not sure what material you are referring to, but the reason the back of the mobo isn't cooled is because it doesn't get hot enough to worry about. You're talking about a large waste of time and effort for an almost nill result.
let us not forget that motherboards are multi-layered meaning there are traces on the surface, and then some fiberglass, then another layer of traces, more fiberglass, another layer of traces, more fiberglass, and then the back of the motherboard, which also has traces. it would be most impossible to reconnect all the wires.
You could always stealth the mobo, and sacrifice a second one to get the desired effect you are looking for.
That's about it. There's no way to actually separate pieces of it and still have it work properly. Fiberglass case = no problem. As already stated, no better or worse EMI protection than acrylic. Back of mobo - Why? the motherboard doesn't heat up. the only sources of heat are chips, where there are millions of transistors in a tiny little space. To place a block on the back of a mobo would only connect the solder legs together with a big, flat copper plate, causing the thing to short through every solder joint. If you were really lucky, you'd even put electricity into your water!
Well, your nick says it all. Your idea has been whipped, lol. Dont let the cold, hard facts dishearten you though. Everyone has great ideas that are simply impossible; its all about taking whats impossible, taking one step back, and finding something that is merely on the brink of impossibility, then, my friend, you have a kick ass mod!
Thanks for the feedback. i knew the mobo cutting was a bit far fetched, but it was worth asking. I think i'm gonna try the fibreglass moulding though. when it happens i'll make a log to show progress. WRT the back of the mobo, i was talking about the heat conducting gel/paste you use when you attach a HDD watercooler. that idea would mostly be for aesthetics, replacing the usual mobo tray with a plexi-covered watercooled alu/copper one. that would obviously be accompanied by a window or maybe i'll integrate it into the case. but that's a long-term project idea. but untill i get some funding, i can't do much modding, just bought a whole new system this month.
