Making my Motherboard Look Less Ugly

CT854 · December 20, 2021

A while ago I bought an ugly, charmless Q170A board off eBay. It's a classic green PCB with nothing fancy to it at all. This is the picture of it on the eBay listing I got it from:

It works well enough and I got it for a decent deal. Paired it with an i5-6500 for a side build I have. I have, though, been thinking of cleaning up the build it's in, dressing it up with some RGB LEDs (no ARGB header so I'll probably do some cheapo controller thing) and selling it to someone who wants a cheap gaming rig. One thing I haven't been able to get past, though, is how on earth I'd be able to sell it if it has the forest green PCB.

I've been wondering if I could mod the motherboard to kinda look like the the NZXT N7 B550 board:

Much cleaner, and pleasing to the eye. I could probably 3D-print plates that look like the plats on the N7 so that isn't the issue.

My question, though, is how on earth would I be able to mount those plates? I have the manual to the Q170A board but I guess my question lies more in, what can I do to the board to get the plates to mount on it without physically damaging the board, rendering it useless? I obviously can't drill holes through the PCB and I don't really know what else I could do without damaging the board. Any ideas?

RONOTHAN## · December 20, 2021

The way I would design it would be that the cover mounts on when you mount the motherboard, that way you can use the same screw holes you already have. It will make the motherboard a little more annoying to mount, and you'll probably have to get some longer screws to use in the motherboard standoffs, but it's probably the most straightforward and easy way to make something like this. You want to avoid drilling through the motherboard, and aside from using some sort of clip mechanism that would be very hard to design, it seems like your best option.

EDIT: Another thing you could do would be to just mount the motherboard into the case with standoffs, they're threaded the same way as most motherboard mounting screws and should hold the motherboard in just fine. That way you get the motherboard mounted, and then you mount the cover right after, making it easier overall, and the motherboard remains grounded to the case (not something that's really necessary, but still nice to have if possible).

adarw · December 20, 2021

you can use something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Mounting-Tape-110-ESF-White/dp/B00004Z498

Mister Woof · December 20, 2021

Easiest thing would be to get a case with a solid side panel

CT854 · December 20, 2021

12 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

The way I would design it would be that the cover mounts on when you mount the motherboard, that way you can use the same screw holes you already have. It will make the motherboard a little more annoying to mount, and you'll probably have to get some longer screws to use in the motherboard standoffs, but it's probably the most straightforward and easy way to make something like this. You want to avoid drilling through the motherboard, and aside from using some sort of clip mechanism that would be very hard to design, it seems like your best option.

It would indeed be annoying to mount it at the same time as the case screws, since I'd also have to either source or design standoff screws that are just that much longer so I can mount the cover as well. But it probably looks like my best option right now so I'll keep it in mind.

12 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

EDIT: Another thing you could do would be to just mount the motherboard into the case with standoffs, they're threaded the same way as most motherboard mounting screws and should hold the motherboard in just fine. That way you get the motherboard mounted, and then you mount the cover right after, making it easier overall, and the motherboard remains grounded to the case (not something that's really necessary, but still nice to have if possible).

This is... interesting. I think I actually do have spare standoffs lying around. I can test this to see if it works...

12 hours ago, adarw said:

you can use something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Mounting-Tape-110-ESF-White/dp/B00004Z498

Just a lil' squeamish about this screwing with internals on the board but I have thought about this.

11 hours ago, Mister Woof said:

Easiest thing would be to get a case with a solid side panel

Yeah, it would be the easiest. But I kinda wanna see what I can do to mod it before I weasal my way out with a solid side panel. I already have the case, which is just some acryllic monstrosity that mounts onto the side of the case, so 3D printing a side panel would be... easy, if a bit time-consuming.