Securing the video card on a de-cased motherboard?

[TheShaner]

This falls into the category of "Doh! I totally didnt anticipate this when I planned to de-case my computer"!

So I have a computer, de-cased,



... an older picture, but it serves the purpose.  I hadnt thought about it before, but everything on it is securely fastened but the video card.  Any ideas on how to anchor it down so it doesnt wiggle.  I thought to use tie straps, but that seems a little cheesy.

[Chappie]

Zip tie both ends (hopefully you have a hole on the inside corner and use the metal bracket on the outside corner.

[boardjunkie]

You can screw it to the side of the cabinet...carefully. You wanna only put enough tension on the tab of the card to hold it in place. Don't "torque it down". I had to do this with both the sound and video cards.

[Nephasth]

Hindsight is 20/20. When I was considering decasing my computer, I thought about this before hand and used the mobo tray and I/O panel so I could secure the video card and other PCI cards. This doesn't help your situation any, but it might help out someone else...

[BadMouth]

I never have secured it.  
I've only had little s-video cables that weigh nothing plugged into them though.

Trying to do higher quality work on the current build;
I plan to pick up a strip of metal stock from the hardware section and bend it into a bracket shaped like this.
    _
   /
_/

(bottom screwed into cab, nut and bolt on the top securing it to the video card's mounting tab)
Similar shaped brackets are used to brace the I/O boards on my megatouch machines.

[TheShaner]

Neph,

You are 100% right on this one.  I realized this a while back.  If I were to do the decasing all over again, I would definitely keep select pieces of the case if possible to provide the support and mounting brackets.

[drventure]

In my buffet, the box I built provided a place to screw down plug in cards.

But in my Jukebox, the mobo stands vertically and the vid card is as well, it's not tied down, but, since it's inside, once I buttoned everything up, I don't imagine it'll move much.

Still, it'd be a more solid install to have it tied down, but I'm not sure it's strictly necessary.

[rooter]

I am looking for a better solution to this myself.  I have my video card zip tied inside my pinball cabinet.  It didn't feel like a problem until I got my shaker motor working this weekend.

[404]

Nephasth's solution is easily the quickest and best way to go about this. Just be careful to have a closer look at your motherboard tray as some of them are quite flimsy and could be riveted to the rest of the case in order to stay sturdier.

for those that have theirs without a mobo case, all is not lost. The best way to fix this is to make yourself a small bar the height of the pci slot. Have a look at some pics of standard ATX bench test stands for some inspiration. There are numerous ways to approach and solve this.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HighspeedPC/Top_Deck_Tech_Station_Large/
http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/Spotswood_/2T-ATX-Station/Gallery/2T-ATX-StationwExtraPartsC-640.jpg
http://www.black-talon.org/pics/2/Tech_Stn_01_0800.jpg

[IG-88]

Slap a little hotglue on it where it meets the motherboard connector after you've plugged it in.

This is exactly what I do with my bartops and never have had a problem with them. My original is almost 6yrs old     and has been moved LOTS of times without it ever becoming loose. You can remove the card too if need be. The hot glue has just enough strength to hold it still but not to much to never let go if you get my meaning.

[tony.silveira]

i have yet to try them but i'm thinking of a pci riser/extension cable.  that way you could put your video card flat on a surface

http://compare.ebay.com/like/290573248772?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

[phyrosis]

a $40 solution is not a solution... hot glue works, or just keep the case parts

[tony.silveira]

never said it was a solution, it's an option.  but thanks for determining for others what is a solution or not for their machines

[tony.silveira]

mmmm pixie dust.  the $40 link was just the first i found, no doubt you can get them cheaper

[capsule]

You can also usually find a hole somewhere in the card when you remove the metal connections plate and run a screw through that into something else mounted on your wood.

I think that's a good solution but instead of removing the plate:
- keep the metal connection plate on the card
- drill a hole at the bottom of it
- use a L shape metal bracket to fix the card plate to the cabinet wood.

[rooter]

mmmm pixie dust.  the $40 link was just the first i found, no doubt you can get them cheaper

$5 on Amazon

I'm definitely getting one.  Now I can just mount the card to the frame and I can lock down the cables as well.
Thanks for the idea.

[Mysterioii]

I was gonna suggest the hot glue yesterday but everyone beat me to it.  My only concern would be if the board started getting hot enough to remelt the glue, but with it open like that hopefully that wouldn't be an issue.  No big deal if it does, I think hot glue is nonconductive even when it's melted, it would just be messy.

Might consider keeping a few "utility products" on hand like sugru, hobby-level thermoplastics like InstaMorph and a few other brands, or polymer clays like sculpey and fimo.  Depending on the application they're all good for making little odd brackets and such.

[TheShaner]

I hotglued the two cards I had in the board yesterday.  Worked great.  Not as sturdy as screwing it in obviously, but definitely did the trick!

[JoeB]

I also used hot glue, it need 300+ degrees to melt so no issue with remelting.  Just put it on thick so you can easily remove it in the future.

[Ravenger]

I went the easy route and salvaged a removable motherboard tray from an old case - one that also has a backplate for securing add-in cards.

I drilled new mounting holes and screwed the tray to a piece of old kitchen shelving using mounting feet for printed circuit boards, along with a hard disk and PSU secured using metal brackets.

The whole thing is mounted vertically in my cab, the shelf secured to the side of the cab by self-adhesive heavy duty velcro. Makes it easy to get the whole PC setup out if I need to without having to unscrew anything.