Hello, i was wondering how can i mod the motherboard IO from normal ITX to Thin ITX. It wold basicly mean that i would end up with Thin ITX motherboard with full size pcie and all the features like normal one. Thanks
Modding the motherblard IO
- Thread starter AleksandarK
- Start date
I don't have a proper answer to your question because this is above my pay grade in terms of knowledge, but one issue I foresee is that your motherboard's (24-pin) power connector will normally take up a fair amount of vertical height. A lot of thin ITX motherboards have a DC-IN as part of the I/O area.
That is easy fixed by de soldering conectors and soldering back 90 degree ones
I would personally try to take the shielding off the tallest part, remove anything overheight without damaging the other components, then trim and reattach the shielding.
Additional clarification on what I was talking about. You could probably cut the IO with a Dremel if you're careful.
If i cut the top conectors will it damage the bottom ones? I dont like dremel, angle grinder only.
Additional clarification on what I was talking about. You could probably cut the IO with a Dremel if you're careful.
I'm not an authority on this, but I think that normally each component has its own link to the PCB and shouldn't disrupt ports below. Any chance you have an old crappy board you can test this on?
I have a motherboard for pentium 3 but i dont have a cpu and psu
. Jt is something i plan for the future and i will not try it out now, but i was just wondering. Any chance i could contact a manufacturer to simply jut put a usb and ethernet as far as the IO. I am sure that it is not hard for them to do.
Yup, just make sure none of the left over connections touch each other or anything.
^
Any chance i could contact a manufacturer to simply jut put a usb and ethernet as far as the IO
You could try, not sure what they'd say though.
Can anyone actually tell my what all six 3.5mm headphone jacks do? I know one is headphone, one is mic and one is line out. I find myself wondering what they need to have six as standard for on motherboards.
Yeah I actually looked this up after I decided not to be so lazy. They are designated as right/left channel, rear channel and centre channel. I find myself wondering how often these are actually used as most PC speaker sets with multiple channels seem to only use line out and anyone using a more serious audio solution is no doubt using one of the higher end audio out signals into a receiver.
I definitely think it's "vestiegal" at this point. At the same time, our current (ATX?) standard for I/O leaves plenty of room, and it probaby doesn't take a whole lot of extra copper or electronics to include the points. It's also partially due to the fact that manufacturer's boards might look "anemic" compared to competitors' boards if they were the first to stop including so many dang ports.
To my understanding, with certain drivers, you can actually use the ports for different audio if you have a strange use case. Like, two sets of headphones or something.
To my understanding, with certain drivers, you can actually use the ports for different audio if you have a strange use case. Like, two sets of headphones or something.
I think that audio on the mobo IO should consist only out of the green one and the red one and that everything else is only for pro audio users that use their pc to edit sound tracks. But it is only my op.
Front speakers, rear speakers, center+sub. The old 5.1 layout. However, nowadays, if you want some serious sound, you use optical. If not, stereo+mic is quite enough.
Its good to see this discussed. I found a few videos on youtube where a guy desoldered some of the i/o but I believe its an unnecessary risk compared to cutting off the shielding and components.
I also looked into doing this.. not for height clearance purposes but for an exhaust vent for a duct that is running over the CPU heatsink surface which I want to exit out of the back of the case.
There is lots of airflow space that is blocked by potentially unused components and also closed up by the I/O shield.
What I probably will end up doing for safety and convenience is either drilling holes in the existing I/O shield or 3d printing a new one one to make it a little nicer. Of course, can also just run it without any I/O shield.
I also looked into doing this.. not for height clearance purposes but for an exhaust vent for a duct that is running over the CPU heatsink surface which I want to exit out of the back of the case.
There is lots of airflow space that is blocked by potentially unused components and also closed up by the I/O shield.
What I probably will end up doing for safety and convenience is either drilling holes in the existing I/O shield or 3d printing a new one one to make it a little nicer. Of course, can also just run it without any I/O shield.
I consider desoldering to be less dangerous than cutting off parts. The last one you have to be careful not to damage the PCB or other components, need to mind metal dust flakes and short circuits due to exposed circuits. I wouldn't have those concerns for desoldering as it allows for clean removal using the right tools and techniques.
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Cutting off parts wouldn't be a problem. All ports should have separate connections to pads on the PCB, so you're just cutting the connection of those. Sometimes you'll be able to just desolder parts, that depends on what you need and what you don't.
But, re-soldering is an entirely different story. If you want to replace one part with another, you'll have to find out the exact model number FIRST, then see if you can find a part with 100% matching pinout and pad positioning, only then can it be replaced. Even normal USB2.0 sockets are available in widely different pad styles and layouts, even from the same manufacturer.
The most critical part will be the audio stack because of shielding, but I think you already got good ideas on that from others.
But, re-soldering is an entirely different story. If you want to replace one part with another, you'll have to find out the exact model number FIRST, then see if you can find a part with 100% matching pinout and pad positioning, only then can it be replaced. Even normal USB2.0 sockets are available in widely different pad styles and layouts, even from the same manufacturer.
The most critical part will be the audio stack because of shielding, but I think you already got good ideas on that from others.