Making a CPU backplate?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Doe
  • Start date Start date
J

John Doe

Not difficult, right? Seems to me like I need is a square piece of
metal with four holes drilled through it. And some insulating
padding in the center where it contacts the underside of the
motherboard. And four bolts.

Thanks.
 
John said:
Not difficult, right? Seems to me like I need is a square piece of
metal with four holes drilled through it. And some insulating
padding in the center where it contacts the underside of the
motherboard. And four bolts.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Post a link to your pic when you're finished.

Page 17 and page 51 here, show some details about socket
design and fixing the cooler in place. And why a plate on
the back might be used. The term "preload" occurs so many
times in this doc, it's ridiculous. Maybe page 17 defines
it, but I can't be sure I've got the concept down right.

http://download.intel.com/design/processor/designex/31780406.pdf

Now, if you look at the cooler provided in the box with the
CPU, that's shown on page 57 (exploded view), page 66
(showing how the clip in the heatsink acts as a stiffener),
and page 67 (showing clip sitting underneath aluminum fin section).
The clip is intended to take the place of the backing plate.

It's possible some of this is related to heatsinks that violate
the maximum mass spec for LGA775 coolers. If your after-market
heatsink weighs 2 pounds, maybe then it really needs that
backing plate. And for the purpose, of protecting the motherboard
if the PC receives a sharp shock.

Paul
 
Paul said:
It's possible some of this is related to heatsinks that violate
the maximum mass spec for LGA775 coolers. If your after-market
heatsink weighs 2 pounds, maybe then it really needs that
backing plate. And for the purpose, of protecting the
motherboard if the PC receives a sharp shock.
Click to expand...

That's not the only reason. As anybody who has the painful
experience of installing an Intel CPU cooler should know, the
process nearly breaks your motherboard. I'm surprised the device
can bend the board that much without braking circuit board traces.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27532210@N04/

As usual, the first time building something (even extremely simple
somethings) is problematic for me. All I had was a piece of
hardwood. You can use lots of different and better materials, if
they are on hand. Like a thin piece of soft wood. But I was in a
hurry, since the motherboard and memory arrived. The metal plate
was made from an electric outlet plate, just barely big enough.
Cutting those holes to 72 mm and then smoothing the edges of the
plate were the only difficult parts. Good thing I had time to work
on that. Aligning the plate with the motherboard is really easy,
given a procedure. And if it's glued, it should make installing
the cooler very easy, too. Here goes finding out...
 
That's not the only reason. As anybody who has the painful
experience of installing an Intel CPU cooler should know, the
process nearly breaks your motherboard. I'm surprised the device
can bend the board that much without braking circuit board traces.
Click to expand...

I build outside the case before finalizing the assembly inside. Have
a 3x3 fold-out metal card table beside me, although may put on the CPU
from underneath this long desk, underneath a swing-arm lamp with a
glass loop magnifier. MB on top a towel should reduce any stress. No
way you should be flexing a MB during the heatsink/fan procedure. Set
in the case, then, sometimes the PS is last to go in. Actually, could
be sort of a two-table assembly. MB on this conference table and the
case and drives on the card table. Also have powerful Cree LED AAA
spotlites, a cheap 115v clip-on lamp with a swirl fluorescent tube,
and various power hand-held magnifiers.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27532210@N04/

As usual, the first time building something (even extremely simple
somethings) is problematic for me. All I had was a piece of
hardwood. You can use lots of different and better materials, if
they are on hand. Like a thin piece of soft wood. But I was in a
hurry, since the motherboard and memory arrived. The metal plate
was made from an electric outlet plate, just barely big enough.
Cutting those holes to 72 mm and then smoothing the edges of the
plate were the only difficult parts. Good thing I had time to work
on that. Aligning the plate with the motherboard is really easy,
given a procedure. And if it's glued, it should make installing
the cooler very easy, too. Here goes finding out...
Click to expand...

Good for you. Sounds like the electric guitar I got into modifying
with updated hardware and pickup swapouts. It's turning into more and
more of a nightmare with Dremel Tools out, routing and shaping, vacuum
cleaner and clouds wood or acrid paint-laden dust. Broke down in the
middle, said screw this, and just bought a new red pearloid pickguard
faceplate from Ebay for it. Lucky thing in pricing and even shipped
within my state. Oddball modeled Fender Nashville Telecaster with a
thinline Duncan twin-paired single coils for a humbucker config in the
middle, and pure single coils on either side, neck and bridge. Normal
5-way throw switch and a 3-position, 6-contact for the Duncan for
going variously into series/parallel sound possibilities. The
soldering is shit at that complexity, (it's a West Coast Route 101
Fender offshoot and not something from south, at Fender's Ensenada
facilities), as most will traditionally slap all the grounds into a
pile of crap onto the back of the POTS. So, that's next on the
agenda. Needs to be totally redone, electrically, with a ground lug
and strip, to include-double sided conductive brass or folded A/C duct
tape cavity shielding.
 
The piece of wood fell off before starting the installation, so that
gave me the opportunity to improve the installation (I might not have
pulled it off, for fear of ripping epoxy off of the motherboard). I
ended up using various parts instead of the wood. But the metal plate
was used, and that was the most difficult part to get right, drilling
the holes exactly 72 mm apart. My stock Intel CPU heat sink and fan
brackets are very close to the motherboard, and I used a caliper to
measure their tightness. I'm surprised how readily the motherboard
warps. Anyway… It appears to be running cool. And, given the parts,
it's much easier than trying to install a stock Intel CPU heatsink
Without a back plate.
 
John said:
The piece of wood fell off before starting the installation, so that
gave me the opportunity to improve the installation (I might not have
pulled it off, for fear of ripping epoxy off of the motherboard). I
ended up using various parts instead of the wood. But the metal plate
was used, and that was the most difficult part to get right, drilling
the holes exactly 72 mm apart. My stock Intel CPU heat sink and fan
brackets are very close to the motherboard, and I used a caliper to
measure their tightness. I'm surprised how readily the motherboard
warps. Anyway… It appears to be running cool. And, given the parts,
it's much easier than trying to install a stock Intel CPU heatsink
Without a back plate.
Click to expand...

For mid-weight steel, I use corner braces from the Home Despot.
This is an example of smaller stock.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...Id=-1&keyword=stanley+L+bracket&storeId=10051

They come in various sizes. They're the ones with a flat profile,
and made from solid metal. Up to around 5" braces, I can bend them
in a bench vice, with a hammer. As the material gets thicker,
they get harder to work. I can't bend them and get
"clean corners" when they're too thick. I've worn out
a few drill bits, drilling holes in those. (It helps, if you can
line up the existing holes in one, with your project.)

But those wouldn't have the right dimensions, if I needed a
"square of metal". I don't know what I'd use if I needed a
plain square. The zinc coated squares used for building boat docks,
the exterior finish is awful. And the base plates for Jack Posts
are too thick to be worked.

*******

If you look around, you can find various pieces of stuff on the
specialty sites. I'm not saying these are good, merely
that they're available.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...155_1156_Motherboard_Back_Plate_S1156-BP.html

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5921/bra-10/Intel_Pentium_4_Socket_775_Backplate.html

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1..._Rev_30_1156_CPU_Block_Backplate_-_10012.html

Note - to find those, don't use the search engine on the site itself.
I use a regular search engine, and add "site:frozencpu.com" to dig
those up.

Paul
 
I used a square piece of steel from the local hardware store. It's
for electrical boxes, it's about 4 inches square. Drilled right, it's
barely big enough, but it fit the purpose just fine, as you can see
in the picture. Also, I used number six machine screws. They easily
put more than enough pressure on the CPU.
 
John said:
I used a square piece of steel from the local hardware store. It's
for electrical boxes, it's about 4 inches square. Drilled right, it's
barely big enough, but it fit the purpose just fine, as you can see
in the picture. Also, I used number six machine screws. They easily
put more than enough pressure on the CPU.
Click to expand...

(Makes note in shop README... :-) )

Good choice.

I've used outlet covers, but so long
ago I completely forgot about them :-)

I think I may have used the outlet box cover,
to make a part for my old road bike. Maybe
fifteen years ago. The poor old bicycle finally
bit the dust, because now it needs welding :-(
One of the flanges that holds on the back wheel,
needs to be welded. I looked at it for days,
but couldn't figure out a way to reinforce it
enough so it didn't need to be welded.

There's only so much that bubble gum and
binder twine can do.

Paul
 
(Makes note in shop README... :-) )

Good choice.

I've used outlet covers, but so long
ago I completely forgot about them :-)

I think I may have used the outlet box cover,
to make a part for my old road bike. Maybe
fifteen years ago. The poor old bicycle finally
bit the dust, because now it needs welding :-(
One of the flanges that holds on the back wheel,
needs to be welded. I looked at it for days,
but couldn't figure out a way to reinforce it
enough so it didn't need to be welded.

There's only so much that bubble gum and
binder twine can do.

Paul
Click to expand...

I've two Lincolns, a wire feed and stick, O/A tanks, too. Tiny tanks
vary from plumbing setups, to A/C work, to jewelers and hobby handheld
setups. Testing a weld, I can throw some metal joints from the garage
door, over the driveway, into the street, where I'll see if it
breaks. After brazing a bike, testing may call for improvisation.
 
As the material gets thicker,
they get harder to work. I can't bend them and get
"clean corners" when they're too thick. I've worn out
a few drill bits, drilling holes in those.
Click to expand...

Found for $30 in a pawn shop a belt & two-pulley table press, with
various sized pulley mounts to each size of the belt to account for
the drill variable speeds. A bit can be sharpened, but by oiling
while drilling it'll go a lot farther, last longer, with a table press
most definitely going places where a hand drill won't even scratch (I
used that drill on 8"x2" cut lengths of pressed 3/8" steel brackets
from a metal salvage yard I bent to L-brackets in a 100lb vise with a
mallet, when I mounted to posts 8x6' board-on-board length and put up
my backyard fence).
 
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