Hope everyone has had a good holiday and new years break.
I was wondering if I could get some help/ advice regarding a used x79 motherboard I bought off ebay.
The item arrived damage. As per the attached picture you can see that one of the mounting points (not sure what this is called) is missing around the socket.
Therefore I can’t attach any sort of cooler to the motherboard. I have already got a return through the seller, however I unfortunately am out of pocket for the shipping (+ import charges) which is approximately 40 USD.
I still have the mobo so I was wondering if there is any way to replace the broken part. If you look closely the this mounting ring is a circular shape with star around it. I have a cheap knockoff x79 part which I have tried to pull out the same part from, to no avail.
Hmm thats going to be a tricky one.
Maybe if you have an old dead X79 board laying arround.
You could try to cut that section off with an angle grinder.
And them maybe somehow glue it to this board maybe?
Not sure if you could detach that socket base plate easally.
You can’t remove it without socket removal which requires a bga rework kit to resolder any lga pins back onto the board socket wise… it can be done but requires special equipment. You can however ghetto mount anything you want you have a singular star pattern available … the ones diagonal will usually do as long as you tighten then well and wiggle the cooler
Just thinking out loud. Do you think I would damage the board if I drilled straight through the holes on the mobo. Or would I be destroying some electircal traces or something?
If I drilled through the holes I would be able to attach a 1366 socket cooler I have as it lines up with the holes on the mobo.
Never would I recommend to drill through a PCB, even if it is through an existing hole. Often traces are quite close to existing holes when a board is very densely layed out like a motherboard.
I admit I made this mistake in the past and ruined a PCB by increasing a hole by 0.5 mm in diameter and that killed it. Unless you know the trace layout do not drill into a PCB, it will most likely kill it.
I would go with @PhaseLockedLoop s advice and use the two diagonal mount points.
Well if you really really want a dead motherboard sure… I would not do this lol The traces run very close to the holes like within millimeters so drilling will screw them up. Motherboards are very balanced delicate pieces of electronics.
Thanks @MazeFrame that diagram is amazing. I was looking on ebay, aliexpress and amazon and couldn’t see the part needed, but I will check out the hardware store as suggested and see if they have something.
I was looking at some m4 lifting ring eye bolts. I’m thinking maybe if I i can use this to remove the stud from my cheap chinese mobo.
