Motherboard Design

[SeansRightHere]

I'm looking into a cool project, and was wondering if anyone knew how to contact a motherboard manufacturer for a custom build and a limited run of 10... Any ideas?

[LukeSavenije]

you can try via their costumer service, but they normally only reply when they're interested

[Votivee]

2 minutes ago, SeansRightHere said:

I'm looking into a cool project, and was wondering if anyone knew how to contact a motherboard manufacturer for a custom build and a limited run of 10... Any ideas?

Kinda curious why you would want to do this. I mean, there are already soooo many different motherboard variations.

 

Also, anything is possible if your pockets are deep enough.

[Mira Yurizaki]

I'm sure there's an address or email on their website you could write to. But the chances of them considering your request are next to nothing. Plus the expense would be a lot more than what you'd pay for something at a store due to the low volume and turn around time depending on how fast you need it done.

 

Also do you have any experience with designing and testing electronics? Because they aren't really going to do that for you either.

[WereCatf]

4 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

you can try via their costumer service, but they normally only reply when they're interested

Not to mention that they wouldn't be interested, unless they got a boatload of money for such an endeavour, or a shitton of marketing and still a truckload of money. At a quick guess, they probably wouldn't even bother scoffing in your direction for anything less than a $100k payment.

[Lurick]

Unless the project involves quite a bit of cash on hand, I'm pretty sure a small run of 10 boards would be shot down by most (if not all) manufacturers

[LukeSavenije]

heck... now i think about it

 

even a fab would make more chance

[Mira Yurizaki]

If you're trying to get a custom PCB built, there might be a smaller manufacturer who can do relatively low volume runs for you.

 

But again, they won't design and test it for you. Manufacturers expect you to have the layout and something that tells them where the components go. And that's about it. They won't even plug it in and turn it on to make sure it works.

[WereCatf]

Just now, Mira Yurizaki said:

If you're trying to get a custom PCB built, there might be a smaller manufacturer who can do relatively low volume runs for you.

 

But again, they won't design and test it for you. Manufacturers expect you to have the layout and something that tells them where the components go. And that's about it. They won't even plug it in and turn it on to make sure it works.

One would still need to either customize Libreboot or buy and customize some commercial BIOS -- both of which require intricate knowledge of low-level hardware programming. Also, commercial BIOSes aren't cheap.

[WereCatf]

5 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

heck... now i think about it

 

even a fab would make more chance

The more practical approach would be to just buy some some existing mobos and customize the various heatsinks, instead.

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

One would still need to either customize Libreboot or buy and customize some commercial BIOS -- both of which require intricate knowledge of low-level hardware programming. Also, commercial BIOSes aren't cheap.

plus chipsets, sockets, pcie certification, usb certification, hdmi certification and so on

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, WereCatf said:

The more practical approach would be to just buy some some existing mobos and customize the various heatsinks, instead.

yeah... true

 

it depends how "customized" you want it

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, LukeSavenije said:

plus chipsets, sockets, pcie certification, usb certification, hdmi certification and so on

Well, certifications are only needed, if you plan on selling the mobos. You don't need certification for private use.

[mariushm]

For only 10, most motherboard makers are probably not even gonna bother answering to you.

 

If you're thinking having them modify one of their existing designs and making some small changes like adding usb connectors, adding an extra sata controller, adding PCI or changing a pci-e slot from x1 to x4 or something like that... they may be willing to do it, but a production run of 10 is too small, the minimum would probably 500-1000 units. A small company in China that makes tablets or DVRs may make as little as 100 units, but they're not doing boards as complex as motherboards.

 

That's because the prices are cheap when they're making 500-1000 circuit boards, tooling and setup costs are one time fees so they cost the same no matter if you make 10 boards or 100...

Also for a low volume they'd basically have to get people to manually place components on the motherboards because it would be cheaper or you'd gonna have to pay something like 500$ just to setup pick and place machines to reconfigure them from making one motherboard design to making another... and 10 boards... it's basically one hour of pick and place machine time, but you're taking that machine maybe 2-3 hours out of use because it takes time to setup jobs and then set the previous job after they're done with the 10 pcs.

 

[Slayerking92]

 

Strange parts just did an episode about custom PCB designs, and listed the company if you needed a small run of boards.

 

https://www.pcbway.com/?from=strangeparts

 

[LukeSavenije]

8 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

Well, certifications are only needed, if you plan on selling the mobos. You don't need certification for private use.

hm... still need the chipsets and sockets then

[Mira Yurizaki]

14 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

hm... still need the chipsets and sockets then

This is assuming OP is trying to make a PC motherboard. For all I know they wanted to do some other thing and thought a motherboard manufacturer could get them what they wanted.