how to build your own motherboard?

[johncsl82]

how to make a motherboard

hi....

first of all, does anyone have any information on "how to" build a motherboard...

second, if I'm trying to build an Intel chipset based motherboard where do I find information regarding those technical stuff like how the logic of chipset work and others.........

Thanks

 

[davorin]

build your own motherboard

If you talk about "Intel"...why haven't you visited their website and downloaded some pretty good design notes and reference schematics for their chipsets????

https://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/designex/index.htm?iid=PCG+devleftnav&


Out of curiousity: Since you asked in "Hobby projects"...

Do you really believe it makes sense to design own motherboard with 16 or even more layers? Probably would cost you seevral 1000 Euros to have a prototype...not to mention the cost of PCB design package able to do high-speed designs for PCI and SDR/DDR SDRAM...

 

[johncsl82]

how to build a motherboard

ok...

Then how about building a SDRAM PC 133 MHZ....

I think that will be smaller and less complex


Thanks
:roll:

 

[cube007]

make your own motherboard

Hello johncsl82,

What would you like to do with a thing which you can buy in every PC shop? Don’t you think it would be better to develop something different? Don’t misunderstand me. I find it very good if someone wants to learn by doing. But a PC system is a very complicated matter. What are your experiences in electronic design and what do you want to learn? Perhaps someone knows a very good topic for you.


Bye,
cube007

 

[eltonjohn]

building a motherboard

INTEL has "REFERENCE DESIGNS" .Entire boards already ready to go . These are basically provided for high volume OEM companies . Some of those boads are just produced "as is " .. if you buy Intel components .
So if you want to do your own mother board . Well this is a very intensive pcb routing job .. If is just to train yourself in PCB design is probably a great IDEA .. But if its is bussines one .Well is a bad one .Only the strong survived ..( past tense. this already is the future ) . This is a tough area .
(Even european chovinistic companies drop the ball long time ago !
AMSTRAD , BULL , TULIP ,,OLIVETTI ,, etc ) ...
why don't you take ballroom dancing lessons? is a better hobby !!
(just kiding.. but..???)

Cheers

 

[onemilimeter]

build a motherboard

Do you really believe it makes sense to design own motherboard with 16 or even more layers?

My friend works in Intel motherboard design center. If I'm not mistaken, he told me before that motherboard pcb is usually 4 layers or 6 layers. Pls correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[samcheetah]

how to make your own motherboard

My friend works in Intel motherboard design center. If I'm not mistaken, he told me before that motherboard pcb is usually 4 layers or 6 layers. Pls correct me if I'm wrong

u are right. i remember that the number of layers differs from company to company. some use more layers and some use less layers. thats one of the reason for the difference in the prices of motherboards based on the same chipset. and if u see the newer motherboard you will notice that the north bridges are now placed at an angle of 45 degrees. if im not mistaken this is a strategy to reduce the number of layers required. im sorry i dont have any info on this.

now back to johncsl82's question, it doesnt matter if u use SDRAM or 533MHz DDR-SDRAM, a motherboard is a very complex work of art!!! its not one of those usual DIY hobby projects that u can do with a 40W soldering iron and a tank of etchant. this is the ultra-high extreme in technology which needs an ultra-high extreme in investment. but its good to be curious about the working of motherboards. how the two chipsets do their jobs, how do they communicate, how the peripherals are connected bla bla. but for that u dont need to build a motherboard yourself. as already suggested u should visit INTEL's site and take a look at the documents there. and you should regularly read hardware reveiw articles to be updated all the time. u could start with https://www.tomshardware.com and https://www.anandtech.com

i hope that helps

 

[Regnum]

how to make motherboard

great hobby dude! ...it's like building an spaceshuttle in the garage

I'd recommend you to make a search on signal integrity (all terms), at the EDA E-books upload/download forum.

Good luck.

 

[johncsl82]

create your own motherboard

geee


May I ask where can I find information regrading on building a 512MB SDRAM PC 133Mhz?

Like those RAM manufacturer Kingston and etc etc

 

[eltonjohn]

make a motherboard

OK let's say that now you have completed the BOAD and is routed ..( in paper )
You know the price to make a low number of boards with that level of complexity .. maybe $100 a board .. next .. well because you intend to use latest and only avalaible chipset .. This come in fine pitch BGA packages .. Ok . so how are you going to solder those components ..Well you need a $100,000 Xray machine to be able to assemble your boards ..
So , still dreaming?

 

[samcheetah]

build motherboard

i would say that hear what eltonjohn is saying. if im not mistaken he has worked at INTEL so he can give u good advice.

but you should learn how all these thing are made. well, basically the RAM in PCs is DRAM (i.e. Dynamic RAM). the basic DRAM cell consists of a transistor and a capacitor. the charge on the capacitor translates to the bit stored in that cell. DRAM cells need to be continuously recharged because the capacitors loose charge with time. now lots of DRAM cells are combined together and fabricated onto an IC and a couple of those ICs are mounted on a small board with becomes the RAM. now if you want to know the processes of manufacturing and the materials used then you will have to consult alot of books. because the more deep you go into professional design, the more difficult it gets.

i hope that helps

 

[hill]

making a motherboard

Perhaps he is talking about something like 'single board computer' which uses ealier x86 processor.

 

[johncsl82]

building your own motherboard

ya something like that

so can I have those information about SD RAM circuitry...please

Thanks

 

[Harbinger]

how to build your own motherboard

Of course professional mobo manufacturers use CAD software to design highly optimized multi-layered printed circuits for commercial production. However, most of that complexity comes from implimenting printed circuits in the first place. If all you want to do is build prototype mobos, you can greately simplify your designes and shorten you build times by using insulated jumper wires on the back for standard electronic componants (power regulating componants mainly). For SMDs, you can either try using sockets, which have bigger wires then the SMDs, or you can try using the same kind of fine insulated copper wire that they use to wined small electric motors as jumpers directly between the pins. As for a soldering iron, here's a link for a DIY hot air soldering iron for SMD work:

https://www.engadget.com/2006/03/07/how-to-make-a-surface-mount-soldering-iron/

I would start by deciding what kind of CPU(s) you want to use. Then decide what sort of memory and peripheral chips would best serve your CPU. The only thing you have to worry about then is making sure your voltages and currents are correct for the pins of all your chips which means reserving some space on your mobo for input power protection. All mobos have this - all those caps and inductor coils you see near your CPU helps protect against voltage and current spikes from your power supply.

 

[nikhilele]

design your own motherboard

hey john why don't you try to make PCI card with some unique functionality like controlling your home devices like lights,fans, etc with your PC.

Added after 31 seconds:

or some other utility card.

 

[eltonjohn]

making your own motherboard

PCI bus is meant to be a FAST BUS to access fast peripherals ..to use it to controll a switch is missing the big picture ...To design stuff is much about as designing useful solutions .Why bother with cumbersome solutions too heavy to implement that doesn't make sense .

 

[nikhilele]

motherboard designing

don't limit your self to switch i am talking about complete home automation you can include X10, you can include RFID and Biometric access to your place all things can be done by single PCI card. having 2 usb port, 2 or 3 serial port, 10 to 20 i/o pins etc the list is endless.

 

[Santa]

how to create a motherboard

Harbinger,

When you thing you may apply "hobby" methods like floating wires in a design
using signal edges in the GHz range, immediately forget about it. Even bringing
power to the CPU will be impossible. Decoupling lengths to the lowest valued
caps are in the range 2 to 3mm + planes with lots of stitch vias.

I am routinely using the software and equipment needed for designing and
producing 6 layer dense and fast prototype PCBs.

However, I would never try to make a motherboard. For example, making thru
vias is something. Making microvias or blind vias is totally another story.
Soldering a 0.5mm pitch big BGA with your heat pencil is probably going to be
great fun for the chip manufacturer. Even more if you can't produce a soldermask
and paste stencil first.

Sorry to ruin your hopes.

 

[enigma460]

how to build a motherboard from scratch

Here you go https://www.cs.binghamton.edu/~reckert/sbc.htm

I think that most here are saying, that for the average hobbyist it's a waste of time trying to build a PC motherboard from scratch. You could have built the original PC back in the 80's using wirewrap techniques but not today.

Have fun trying

 

[jhallows]

how to build motherboard

A more Updated Link to wire wrap a motherboard would be: **broken link removed**.

The 80486 is probably the last generation you could get by with wire wrapping, (Lower clock than 33mhz that is).

Even so the original message is so old that I doubt the author cares about designing a motherboard.