I want to build a test setup for components. THe setup is going to include a motherboard, processor, processor fan, powersupply, maybe a chasis fan. What I need to know is, is it okay to mount this on wood, and if so, how thick should the would be? Also, anyother very low cost suggestions (preferably <$10) you have for something to mount this on would be helpful.

~Viz

All togeather your not going to find all of that for $10 But for best prices look on www.Pricewatch.com you can use some peice of crap metal big enough for little motherboard scrues, then you should customly make a base to hold the motherboard on which wont scratch the back of it, so probaly 4-5 plastic/rubber holdy thingys. Or maybe use a cardboard box or any thing you can use I make a lot of custom cases, infact I made one of the ones that Ebbinger showed (he goes to school with me and we have WWWp (World Wide Web publishing if you couldn't figure that out) and he comes over and we will make computers out of what ever we can. Right now we are making one out of an old vaccum (I'll post pictures when we are done). and we get the cheapest stuff from Pricewatch, you can find parts for all under $10 But not togeather for $10 (you could allways go on ebay and search for a crappy computer that is selling for a dollar though).

{Edit} woops I made a () inside the middle of the same thing...

I have the computer components, and I have things to raise the motherboard off of the mounting object. I'm assuming that it would be a good idea to raise the motherboard off the object. Do I have to worry about ground the object, or with wood (I keep mentioning wood because I think I have some) would grounding not be an issue?

Pricewatch is a good tip. And one of these days I'm going to start case modding, but right now I don't have all the tools I'd need (or the funds).

~Viz

You can ground the object, make sure theres no way it can scratch the motherboard or any of the other microchip things, if you have wood cut it thing like the thickness of a full or half of a cd case (the little plastic cases in which you by programs in). (Just to make sure your talking about keeping the object on the ground right?)

You know making Custom cases you just need a drill and a cheap saw or knife, I made a backpack pc by layering it with cardboard buying a bunch of cheap boards, and creating custom mounts for the cd drive and the motherboard (Then was the hard part where I had to make sure one side of the backpack didn't hit the other one because if it did the motherboard would get scratched horribly by the HD which was fun to make just used remainin cardboard, it ended up having 4-5 fans in it, I sold it not too long ago on E-Bay for 3 times as much as it was worth (I spent 100 bucks on it, I sold it for 250 since i didnt have to pay for the backpack, the cardboard, the RAM cause I had some left over. Hehe, now I have my home computer which my parents bought and I took from them. And the comp that I made by myself for 700.

Facinating story huh? Well any way where was I with the whole mounting thing,you probaly don't want the HD to touch ground since if it gets dirty it has 60-80% chance of scruing up and losing all it's data. anything else you can mostly have touch the ground (xcept for the main things like Video, Ram, Cpu, you know the stuff you usually woulden't want to touch the ground or get scratched.) keep all dust away from it if it's going to be in the open cover it with a bag when it is not in use I'm telling you this just as a warning cause I have had BIG computer crashes (even one that made the computer spark). If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Right, I figured on the keep clean and all the other stuff too. (I worked for a time as an intern in a comp repair shop that had a similar setup, but they were not the brightest comp people (they sold computers with blood in them!) so I wanted confirmation here.) Thank you so much, and for the case modding stories, I think I'm going to make a case this summer (I have some other hardware (not the comp kind, building) work to do and will have leftover pieces).

~Viz

I'm only a sophmore in highschool so I've done a little too much with computers and know to much about them lol I work in a business my brother made during one of the summers when him, his friend and I were bored. coolest thing is we are all A+ certified. So I can tell my computer admin at school that im A+ cert and hes not.

{Edit} woops I forgot to write the purpose of this post. If you need any help with any complication with the computer or what to use to make the computer case just PM me and I'll answer it as soon as I can See ya later

I probably should get A+ certified, need to find out how much it costs. Or maybe I'll apply for a job at Best Buy Geek Squad, they will pay for you to take the exam. Anyway, temporarily, could I just lay my motherboard down some wax paper (I want to see if I can overclock the CPU on the motherboard, but it's not in a case right now, and I don't feel like sticking it in one unless I can overclock it to make it worthwhile)?

~Viz

Wax paper will do aslong as there is nothing around it, and make sure the mother board dosen't get too hot other wise the waxpaper will melt on the motherboard and wax paper is a real bit(# to get off of mother boards. the cert test is usally 200-300 bucks Thanks to my class in school it was free though. lol and I got a ride to the tech so I didn't have to waste gas, although it woulden't be a waste but anywho. Joining Geek Squad would be good, only thing is you have to teach them how to actually fix computers last time my brother called them they came over and gave my brother the wrong diagnostics on the computer, so my brother showed them the real problem and how to fix it. It was fun watching the Geek Squad, they were getting soo soo mad.

{Edit} Now this is my actuall last reply I got to sleep I'm so tired.

Okay, idea for keeping the wax paper cool, please tell me if you think it will work. Place a bunch of ice in a sealable plastic bag. Place that bag in a sealable plastic bag. Make sure the ice is flat. Place the wax paper over that and another piece of wax paper over that. The idea is to use the ice for cooling (since this is only a temporary setup) and have the condesation be bewteen pieces of wax paper to keep it away from the motherboard.

~Viz

I woulden't suggest that because the water would created dew on the outside of the bag and that would get on the motherboard, and that is not good. I'd think your motherboard would be alright on wax paper aslong as it has sufficient cooling cpu fan+small fan on the side. Well I wont be back untill 6 so, I will reply to any further comments around then.