how hard is it to move a mother board?

geni

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geni
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I looks like I'm going to need to change my computer case. How hard is it to swap a motherboard (I know I can deal with the rest) between a flat case and tower style case?
 
It entirely depends on the form factor the case supports and the motherboard - simply put, make sure they are compatible and it shouldn't be any more tricky than unscrewing, moving and rescrewing.
 
cyborg said:
It entirely depends on the form factor the case supports and the motherboard - simply put, make sure they are compatible and it shouldn't be any more tricky than unscrewing, moving and rescrewing.
Click to expand...

Is there a standardised way of desribeing that or do I have to get our a ruler and measure the placement?
 
Most housings have mounting holes for the motherboard that are somewhat variable. There are holes in the case, and little plugin plastic blocks or screw in stand offs so that you can make them match the holes in your motherboard. Try to match all of the mounting holes in your motherboard.

The cases normally have a large, rectangular hole where the connections (USB, sound, video, PS/2, etc.) on your motherboard are. There's a pop-in metal panel that goes in there and matches the connections on your motherboard so that you don't have a huge, gaping hole in the back of the case. Remove that metal panel from your old case and install it in the new one.

Follow the usual precautions about static discharge when handling you motherboard.
 
Make sure the tower is as tall as your desktop box is wide.

Most desktops are quite happy just sitting on their side anyway, so you may not have to change at all. You just have to be careful getting the CDs in and out, but most CD/DVD drives have a lip on the holder that stops the CDs from falling out when you open the drive anyway.
 
geni said:
I looks like I'm going to need to change my computer case. How hard is it to swap a motherboard (I know I can deal with the rest) between a flat case and tower style case?
Click to expand...

Changing out a motherboard is fairly straight forward and easy. Though it is a bit time consuming taking off everything that connects to it. But the plus side is you can redress your cables and clean up all your parts.

Most cases can handle a variety of motherboards. You should be fine as long as your case isn't too small.

Hauteden
 
Even if your case doesn't have the right mountings, you can sometimes cheat and drill holes in the case if there's not too much internal structure.
eta:Only know of one time that happened, but it seemed to work.
 
geni said:
I looks like I'm going to need to change my computer case. How hard is it to swap a motherboard (I know I can deal with the rest) between a flat case and tower style case?
Click to expand...

As has been mentioned, making sure you have the same form factor is the biggest concern. However, you also need to consider any special design modifications that may have been made to accomodate the flat case that may not transfer over to a tower case.

For instance, the company I work for does extensive work with industrial panel PCs. These are ruggedized PCs built with a small, flat form factor and an integrated touch screen. Because of their specialized applications, they have a custom-designed motherboard which actually rests in the middle of the casing, with connections on both sides. If I may demonstrate with an ASCII portrait (you'll have to use your imagination):

**************************
Touch Screen LCD
**************************
Cabling to connect LCD and screen-mounted peripheral ports (USB etc.)
---||---------||-------------||-----
Motherboard
-------||-----------||------------||
Hard Drive, CD-ROM drive
_____________________|Power Supply|

OK, so I'm not Da Vinci. Still, the basic point is that, given the special form factor, these PCs have connectors on both sides of the motherboard, which would require special accomodation if I made an attempt to transfer it to a more standard case. It could still be done, but would require some physical modifications to the case itself, and probably be more effort than the whole thing is worth.

This is only one example of a possible complication; different manufacturers do different things, and sometimes you can end up with a tremendous headache. Assuming, however, that there is nothing particularly special about the original case or motherboard, transferring it should be fairly quick and painless, as long as you're handy with a screwdriver and can read the fine print on your connectors.
 
Well it didn't prove to hard other than trying to figure out how the wires from the switch were meant to work.

Thanks for the advice everyone.
 
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