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Making a computer that still works but has the components splayed out on a board

T

Thane_Krios42

Junior Member
Hey everyone! I'm just about to begin creating a computer desk for my Design and Technology class, and I was planning on having a backboard on it too, which I would use instead of a case. The components of the computer (eg. Motherboard, Graphics Card, etc) would be attached to the board, which would be vertical, and also have a fan going over them. I've been looking at computers without cases on the internet, but it seems that every one I come across all the pieces are bunched up together. Is it possible to have each piece separate and attached to each other via cords? Thanks a lot ^_^
 
Well most of the components other than expansion cards are already attached to each other by various cables. It's easy enough to mount them all in a plane. It's less space efficient to do it that way but that's fine since your goal is aesthetics instead of efficiency.
 
Do any parts need to be stacked on top of one another? If so, it would be difficult to stack them on a vertical surface. My idea was going to be that the surface was directly behind the computer screen.
 
Ohhhh! You want a DIY All-In-One, or something similar mounted on a wall instead of the monitor. Hm, looks plausible.

You'll probably want a PicoPSU (examples), with a power brick stashed somewhere between that and the wall plug. You'll probably also want a PCIe riser cable to plug the video card into. I think that if you use a mini-ITX board you can lay the GPU back on top of the cable. PicoPSUs don't have many power plugs, so you may not want to exceed a GTX 750ti.

In this configuration, the tallest thing on the board is probably the CPU fan. Which for a normal Intel chip shouldn't be too tall.
 
Ken g6 said:
Ohhhh! You want a DIY All-In-One, or something similar mounted on a wall instead of the monitor. Hm, looks plausible.

You'll probably want a PicoPSU (examples), with a power brick stashed somewhere between that and the wall plug. You'll probably also want a PCIe riser cable to plug the video card into. I think that if you use a mini-ITX board you can lay the GPU back on top of the cable. PicoPSUs don't have many power plugs, so you may not want to exceed a GTX 750ti.

In this configuration, the tallest thing on the board is probably the CPU fan. Which for a normal Intel chip shouldn't be too tall.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup: Yep a PCIe riser is probably the way to go for the GPU. It might knock the link down to PCIe 2.0 instead of 3.0, but that doesn't matter too much when you're talking about a single GPU.
 
simpsons did it
1000x2000px-LL-d4765677_01-DSC_4104.jpeg
 
Thanks everyone! I'll try to figure out what I'm doing with all this information now 😛 And also, thanks Dave. That's pretty much exactly what I'm trying to make. It's good to know that it's possible to make with water cooling. i was planning on just having a couple of fans blowing over it. And another thing about that all in one PC and Computer, that's not exactly what I was aiming at. The board that I was going to be having it on wouldnt be attached to the back of the screen, but it would be attached to the desk behind it. I'll try to draw something up to explain it easier.
 
And one other thing... would it be a bad idea to make the backboard out of sheet metal? I figured it would work to disperse some of the heat, since it's a great heat conductor, but for some stupid reason I didnt think "Oh hey, that's right. Electricity and metal is bad." Would any of the pieces need to be mounted on rubber or acrylic or something like that?
 
Way more tha what you're looking to do I know, but I've liked the ones in see through desks, or even mounted on a wall.

Even the cardboard box ones 🙂

l3pd3sk-1024x682.jpg


Cardboard_Computer_Case.jpg
 
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Thane_Krios42 said:
And one other thing... would it be a bad idea to make the backboard out of sheet metal? I figured it would work to disperse some of the heat, since it's a great heat conductor, but for some stupid reason I didnt think "Oh hey, that's right. Electricity and metal is bad." Would any of the pieces need to be mounted on rubber or acrylic or something like that?
Click to expand...

Yeah, mounting a PCB directly to metal is bad. I did that with my first build ever. 😳 Adding stand-offs and maybe non-conductive washers works though. Wood is good too. I'd worry about acrylic building up a static charge and frying something eventually.
 
Thane_Krios42 said:
And one other thing... would it be a bad idea to make the backboard out of sheet metal? I figured it would work to disperse some of the heat, since it's a great heat conductor, but for some stupid reason I didnt think "Oh hey, that's right. Electricity and metal is bad." Would any of the pieces need to be mounted on rubber or acrylic or something like that?
Click to expand...

Using a metal backing is totally fine, cases are made out of metal after all. 🙂 You'll just need to take steps to make sure that exposed PCBs don't come into direct contact with the backing (except for their normal mounting holes of course). You can do this with standoffs like the type that come with cases.
 
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