I'd meant resellers, that they are the ones selling these
things for profit but if they dont know exactly what you
need, any time spent tracking it down would not be
worthwhile, so you'd have to find one that went the extra
mile with customer service as a priority rather than $ as
priority- and places like that are getting hard to find for
such small items.
It has an unusual rear port arrangment particularly the
audio optical port, you may need to contact MSI if all else
fails,
North America Headquarter
901 Canada Court
City of Industry, CA 91748 Tel 626 913 0828
Fax 626 913 0818
Well if you already have one modified, you're done....
though I seldom use dremel tools, too fiddly on such things.
When worst comes to worst I tilt up the motherboard on a
scanner, scan the ports and use a photo editing program to
get a mirror image outline of them onto a laser transfer
sheet, iron that onto a sheet of aluminum and use a drill
press to cut out series of circles. It's easier that it
might seem, but I've used similar process for other purposes
too so it may be all in what you've practiced at.
One thing about using thicker aluminum sheeting is that it's
not as likely to tear the holes, but of course it doesn't
snap in, you have to decide based on the case how to attach
it, whether it be taller and have a couple holes on top and
slits/forked bottom, or holes at each end, or more difficult
is precision holes such that the screws on the motherboard
ports hold it down (but there are fewer screws these days
with even parallel, serial and game/midi ports going out of
fashion). The other option is to make the plate smaller and
attach to a real plate cut out oversized and used as a
frame, then you can attach the new one to the old with epoxy
or screws, rivets, whatever- though sometimes clearance is a
problem, plugs like those for the audio might have fat
plastic bodies and not plug in all the way if it's mounted
on the outside.
You don't have as much of a problem as some people do
regarding the recirculation of air, because the back of that
board has so many and tall port blocks, although inevitably
it is still quite a bit more airflow past though ports,
which will tend to accumulate more dust around them.
I'd keep looking for more MSI email addresses and the above
phone number. Also contact whoever you got the board from,
we never did find out why you dont' have the rear plate
already (?).
