View Full Version : Modding Your mother board.
|\|EW|3
03-24-2009, 05:50 PM
Say you have a motherboard. You want to add bluetooth to it, as well as some extra Pcie slots. Can it be done? is it possible to do it so that it works properly and smoothly?
How do you do it?
celemine1Gig
03-25-2009, 04:30 AM
You would probably start by studying EE and/or CS and aquire equipment like an ocsilloscope, a hot air SMD soldering station and a variety of other special equipment. Then after you are done with that you'd probably have the basic knowledge to do it.
BUT, at the same time you would realize that buying something that already fits your needs, would've been the much wiser choice. ;)
So in short: Get a bluetooth usb dongle and think of another solution concerning the pci-e slots.
It might not be impossible, but this is nothing that you do on a single rainy afternoon. So just forget about it.
|\|EW|3
03-25-2009, 05:45 AM
not to mention its completely hypothetical and probably very little test have been made like that. But its possible for a future build so i might look into it. You'll know i looked into it if in a few months or so if you see some new thread that says: "Building a computer from scratch, and modding the motherboard in the process"
by the way. whats EE and CS.
[XC] gomeler
03-25-2009, 06:27 AM
electrical engineering and computer science. For the bluetooth you could just solder in a USB bluetooth module directly to the motherboard USB headers but for the PCIe lanes, that is nearly impossible without reworking the PCB. You need a lot of traces and they have to be electrically clean to avoid interference. There is a reason why companies can't just churn out motherboard designs, takes a lot of work to make sure everything is shielded and clean.
celemine1Gig
03-25-2009, 07:41 AM
gomeler;3740535']electrical engineering and computer science. For the bluetooth you could just solder in a USB bluetooth module directly to the motherboard USB headers but for the PCIe lanes, that is nearly impossible without reworking the PCB. You need a lot of traces and they have to be electrically clean to avoid interference. There is a reason why companies can't just churn out motherboard designs, takes a lot of work to make sure everything is shielded and clean.
Exactly.
@threadstarter:
I would really like to see you succeed with your idea, but to be honest, I highly doubt to see your success-thread anytime soon. :) No offence, but it might be a bit harder than you think.
check this out, this guy did exactly what your trying to do
http://www.overclock.net/other-hardware-mods/354998-adding-pci-slot-mobo.html
celemine1Gig
03-25-2009, 09:56 AM
check this out, this guy did exactly what your trying to do
http://www.overclock.net/other-hardware-mods/354998-adding-pci-slot-mobo.html
1.) There is a difference between PCI and PCI-e (for instance 33mHz vs. 100Mhz). Big difference concerning signal integrity.
2.) He only tried out a card that needs power and no data transfer.
3.) In his case the solder points were already there on the PCB.
(again a big difference in terms of signal integrity) :up:
HeXploiT
03-25-2009, 10:06 AM
Say you have a motherboard. You want to add bluetooth to it, as well as some extra Pcie slots. Can it be done? is it possible to do it so that it works properly and smoothly?
How do you do it?
Why do you ask? What are you thinking?
[XC] Hicks121
03-25-2009, 10:14 AM
There is a thread somewhere around here....Tiro did a mod to I think on a sammy board & added some pci slots to it.
|\|EW|3
03-25-2009, 06:21 PM
@HeXploiT & then everyone else (pointless):
I'm thinking about it for the future, and seems like its a big project. I'm ok with that though. I CAN wait a year before even being qualified to approach this project. First i want to actually build my own PC. And while i do that i'll begin learning about this stuff. So as i get better at putting together computers, I'll learn about this computer electrical engineering and computer science that you guys speak of. This is my overlaying plan. I wasn't aware of the tremendous knowledge i must aquire in order to pull this project off. But it sounds fun. It sounds like another big super cool project (first on the site being Goliath triple cooling (which is awsome btw)). although mine would hardly compare in anyway. So relitively, mine is small but you guys know what im talking about. Before you go like, "wtf this guy is an idiot!!! he hasn't even made his own computer and he already wants to mod one" i would like to simply state that I'm not a genius but i learn extremely quickly and have very little problem with technical or mathematical problems. My first step is obviously to build a computer, and i have a good friend who builds custom computers as his own little business. He is willing to teach me and i think that will be a great first step. Please understand my curiosity. Don't be mad at me for owning up to my s.n.
stunirvana
03-25-2009, 08:27 PM
I don't see how the extra PCI-E lanes could be "made". Doesn't the BIOS (or even the CPU) have to know of those lanes so it can accordingly manage them in terms of interrupts and such? I doubt the BIOS is coded for an increase in the total amount of lanes. It just doesn't seems like a case the programmer would consider. :confused:
stunirvana
03-25-2009, 08:43 PM
check this out, this guy did exactly what your trying to do
http://www.overclock.net/other-hardware-mods/354998-adding-pci-slot-mobo.html
Go to page ~13. On his mod his BIOS started spitting an error that could easily mean it was confused by the existence of the new PCI slot. Something like this could be expected, just for PCI-E. Computers have to be pretty exact about things.
celemine1Gig
03-26-2009, 01:29 AM
@HeXploiT & then everyone else (pointless):
I'm thinking about it for the future, and seems like its a big project. I'm ok with that though. I CAN wait a year before even being qualified to approach this project. ...
Make this 5 or more and maybe you are game. ;)
|\|EW|3
05-06-2009, 07:44 PM
oh lawd. Hey Maybe when i'm a rich super billionaire... i'll open up a company that makes the best mobo's and can customize whats on them... including the number of PCi slots and memory slots and ect... imagine 0cto SLI or Octo Channel DDR8 Ram... lol
hey but its an interesting field that seems under appreciated and not well payed attention to. Maybe one person doing it can open doors to new types of modding.
diredesire
05-13-2009, 04:10 PM
uhh... besides hardware support you'd need to have OS or a software that is capable of communicating with your hardware. The bluetooth is super simple, but the PCI/PCIe slots added would simply be near impossible, especially withotu a stripped out board with slots already existing on the board. I'm sure you could find a different way to achieve whatever it is you're doing, though.
Unfortunately, if you were to go through school, you start to realize the possibilities and the limitations of the way things are now...