How do OEM's solder motherboards? Curious to find info

[Joey Kapish]

Hello guys, wondered more about this and was wondering if any of you know how motherboards are soldered together? Obviously you guys may not know all the trade secrets on how manufacturers solder their motherboards but I was wondering if you guys maybe know a in-depth article/video on how that whole process works? I want to know how do these OEM's take Nvidia cards and Intel chips and solder them together? I would like to know if these OEM's buy in bulk and then run them through the assembly line? 

 

I just want to know how that whole soldering process works? 

 

Something tells me that both Nvidia and Intel offer a variant version to these OEM's making it easier to chop up and solder the chips together but then again I don't know how that whole process works. I'm interested to learn and find out how this soldering(in regards to OEM's chopping up and soldering chips together) process works....

[WereCatf]

Reflow-ovens and wave-soldering, mostly.

[-rascal-]

As @WereCatf mentioned, the parts are placed / put into place, and are all soldered simultaneously (or in stages).

 

 

[Joey Kapish]

Hmmm.. Didn't really learn much from you guys vague answers and the video didn't help much. I wanted to learn how (more specifically speaking) mobile motherboards are soldered together. I wanted to (specifically) understand how these OEM's get their parts to solder together. I more-or-so wanted to know if the manufacturers literally buy Nvidia graphics cards and literally disassemble them and take them apart and then solder them to the motherboard.

 

Like I had mentioned in my original post, I have a feeling that these OEM's receive a more (for lack of better words) "NAKED" version of these parts before soldering them together.

 

For example, I would like to know (more specifically) how a laptop mobile motherboard is made and put together. Like for instance how does these OEM's integrate an Intel chip with a GTX 1070 max q? I want to know how that whole process works. I want to know if these OEM's literally buy Nvidia graphics cards in bulk and disassemble them and literally melt them and solder them together. Basically I want to know why consumers (like me and you) cannot buy or purchase an Nvidia GTX 1070 max q graphics card or an Intel 8750h cpu SEPARATELY?

[TheRandomness]

3 minutes ago, Jason Greene said:

Hmmm.. Didn't really learn much from you guys vague answers and the video didn't help much. I wanted to learn how (more specifically speaking) mobile motherboards are soldered together. I wanted to (specifically) understand how these OEM's get their parts to solder together. I more-or-so wanted to know if the manufacturers literally buy Nvidia graphics cards and literally disassemble them and take them apart and then solder them to the motherboard.

 

Like I had mentioned in my original post, I have a feeling that these OEM's receive a more (for lack of better words) "NAKED" version of these parts before soldering them together.

 

For example, I would like to know (more specifically) how a laptop mobile motherboard is made and put together. Like for instance how does these OEM's integrate an Intel chip with a GTX 1070 max q? I want to know how that whole process works. I want to know if these OEM's literally buy Nvidia graphics cards in bulk and disassemble them and literally melt them and solder them together. Basically I want to know why consumers (like me and you) cannot buy or purchase an Nvidia GTX 1070 max q graphics card or an Intel 8750h cpu SEPARATELY?

They get the GPU itself and the CPU itself straight from the distributers, before then using the ovens and soldering methods to get them soldered to the motherboard. If they do graphics switching, they do it in firmware. 

[WereCatf]

1 hour ago, Jason Greene said:

Hmmm.. Didn't really learn much from you guys vague answers and the video didn't help much. I wanted to learn how (more specifically speaking) mobile motherboards are soldered together.

The exact same way as the non-mobile ones. Literally no difference.

Quote

I wanted to (specifically) understand how these OEM's get their parts to solder together. I more-or-so wanted to know if the manufacturers literally buy Nvidia graphics cards and literally disassemble them and take them apart and then solder them to the motherboard.

That would be idiotic. Obviously NVIDIA, Intel, AMD etc. just sell the manufacturers the bare chips and the schematics for a reference board using the chip, then the manufacturers modify the schematic to suit their own needs/wants.

 

Quote

Basically I want to know why consumers (like me and you) cannot buy or purchase an Nvidia GTX 1070 max q graphics card or an Intel 8750h cpu SEPARATELY?

You'd have to take that up with NVIDIA and Intel, they decide who they sell to and what the chips they sell are allowed to be used for.

[Lord Nicoll]

1 hour ago, Jason Greene said:

Hmmm.. Didn't really learn much from you guys vague answers and the video didn't help much. I wanted to learn how (more specifically speaking) mobile motherboards are soldered together. I wanted to (specifically) understand how these OEM's get their parts to solder together. I more-or-so wanted to know if the manufacturers literally buy Nvidia graphics cards and literally disassemble them and take them apart and then solder them to the motherboard.

 

Like I had mentioned in my original post, I have a feeling that these OEM's receive a more (for lack of better words) "NAKED" version of these parts before soldering them together.

 

For example, I would like to know (more specifically) how a laptop mobile motherboard is made and put together. Like for instance how does these OEM's integrate an Intel chip with a GTX 1070 max q? I want to know how that whole process works. I want to know if these OEM's literally buy Nvidia graphics cards in bulk and disassemble them and literally melt them and solder them together. Basically I want to know why consumers (like me and you) cannot buy or purchase an Nvidia GTX 1070 max q graphics card or an Intel 8750h cpu SEPARATELY?

Oh, I can help here.

Generally, they will go to a supplier looking for parts. The supplier could be either a middle man company that stocks a lot of parts, or the actual manufacturer, and buy the parts they want. Sometimes they will specify the exact part, sometimes they'll just give a list of specs and what ever the supplier thinks is best, or best matches what they want, will be supplied. 

Nvidia, Intel and AMD will sell bulk (thousands and thousands) of chips in a tape and real for soldering to suppliers and OEMs alike, but they will only sell to actual confirmed businesses, and generally it's done through third party suppliers for smaller companies. 

[Joey Kapish]

Ahhhh okay I see, so in-conclusion a "Nvidia GTX 1070 max q" doesn't really exist at all and is technically a bare raw "NAKED" chip without the fan? Is that right?

[Joey Kapish]

Hmmm.. For a tech forum, it is sort-of silent when it comes to technical questions. 

[Dissitesuxba11s]

12 hours ago, Jason Greene said:

in-conclusion a "Nvidia GTX 1070 max q" doesn't really exist at all

It does exist. They are tuned 1070 chips that have their power ceilings limited so that they do not produce the typical heat that a 1070 produces at the cost of performance. This is done either through software or hardware. Source: https://pcmag.com/article/359907/what-is-nvidia-max-q

12 hours ago, Jason Greene said:

is technically a bare raw "NAKED" chip without the fan?

No chip has a fan directly soldered on it. All chips are simply in contact with the heat spreader to distribute heat through heat pipes in the case of a laptop.

[bob345]

Lots of standardized automated equipment. Same thing applies for pretty much any sized pcb.

 

 

[Temp94]

You're really committed to building that laptop huh? 

[Joey Kapish]

This whole pcb and motherboard business doesn't make sense to me. It just all sounds shady and it smells really bad. I don't understand this whole soldering thing and why only a select few companies(like foxconn) are doing this. It doesn't make sense at all, and the more I dig into this topic the more I realize that both Nvidia and Intel have been controlling businesses for decades.

 

Nobody here(on this forum), seems to fully grasp the inner-workings of how mobile motherboards are made and when I ask questions I get these vague responses that doesn't make any sense. 

 

The whole idea about mobile motherboards being expensive to make sounds absurd and it doesn't make sense (unless Intel has complete control over the market). I have studied how motherboards are soldered together and from what I've seen they're really isn't that much complications to it, you just remove the components not needed and glue all the components needed and activate through firmware and WHALLAH, you just built your own mobile laptop. 

 

I want to know why a pc building company like "Cyber Power Pc"(for example) won't do custom built laptops from the ground up. From my understanding, if you take apart a "GTX 1070" and solder it to a motherboard, that GPU would now be referred to as "GTX 1070 max q". So my question is why are only popular brands building laptops and not just anyone. Something isn't right here, either some type of monopoly is going on or some shady business between Intel and Nvidia. This whole thing just doesn't make any sense at all.