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Using a laptop motherboard for cheap HTPC & retro gaming on my TV

G

GunsMadeAmericaFree

Golden Member
I've been seeing these Dell Inspiron 7405 motherboards for sale at under $30. A lot of folks have said they were able to power it with a 65 Watt USB C charger. Since it has HDMI out, I think it would output to my TV ok. The 4500u processor is also capable of up to Switch emulation, so I could enjoy a lot of retro gaming on it.

The only real challenge I see is that I would need some sort of cpu heatsink to put on it.

Are there any other problems that I might run into trying this?
Inspiron 7405.jpg
 

Question - Guess!

If you have come across anything similar, what were the specs of that?
forums.anandtech.com forums.anandtech.com

I got a Frankenlaptop too. That's the type of fan/heatsink you should be looking for. The kid who built this told me that he got all the parts from Amazon.
 
Most of the cpu heatsinks for this sort of thing are really, really offset. (obviously because it needed to be this way for the laptop) Is there any way we could install a huge, non-offset heatsink directly on one of these?

I mean, it's basically a slab of metal with the drill holes in the right place, and fins attached to it.....
 
The CPU has no IHS I think. So if you try to put a normal heatsink on it, tightening the screws may be very tricky. It could be possible to crush the naked die.
 
igor_kavinski said:
The CPU has no IHS I think. So if you try to put a normal heatsink on it, tightening the screws may be very tricky. It could be possible to crush the naked die.
Click to expand...
Huh, I wonder if anyone makes a base plate that would work well to make certain that the laptop cpu is not crushed before adding the heatsink? I think I have a 1 ounce copper round lying around from coin collecting - wonder if that would work if I drilled holes with a drill press?
 
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