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Laptop Conundrum?
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Sosetsuken:
Hey guys,

I've been browsing the boards for a very long time, and have been talking to my brother (a Kitchenfitter/Cabinet Maker/Woodworker Extraordinaire) and i'm finally ready to build my own Arcade ! :D

I'm looking to build a fairy standard 2*(Joystick+6button) with start and credit (later will be coin mechs).  I am using a fairly old, but good laptop for the cab:

Intel Pentium-M 1.7ghz (Donthan, Centrino)
ATi Radeon 9700 (64mb)
1gb DDR2-667 Ram
80gb HDD
Onboard sound

It wasn't working (I gave it to my brother to use in a job, but he ended up breaking the screen :/), so i took it apart, removed the screen and wireless card and some other useless parts and cleaned it.  It works fabulously now, with a fresh install of an nlited XP.

The problem i'm facing is that it currently looks like this (Sorry for crappy phone image quality):




Its the motherboard, screwed to a piece of partical board.  It seems to get insanely hot, like 90C+ so i hacked an old xbox fan to run from usb power an slapped that on the cpu which brought temps down a lot.

Now my question is, how could i mount this securely (and airflow efficient)? because at the moment its not very well screwed in, and i'm sure its still getting badly hot underneath the board next to the partical board.  (Raisers like in a pc case?  spacers?)

Also, should i remove the laptop cooler and try to custom fit a desktop cooler to the cpu?

Any ideas/suggestions are most welcome.  (My brothers coming down tommorow night, and i will probably look a little wierd with a naked laptop screwed to partical board  :'(

Thanks guys (and gals)!
HaRuMaN:
An easy way to make some cheap spacers would be to cut a Bic pen into pieces.  I would think that if you have the mobo up about an inch, it will help with the heat situation.
Malenko:
bic pen spacers, maybe cut vent holes in the wood or even mount fans on the other side of the board to pull heat through the holes you cut in the wood?
Sosetsuken:
Oh yeah HarumaN, i might try that thanks mate.  I'm going down to Dick Smith Electronics tomorrow, i might see if they have spacers like that.

Thats also a great idea Malenko cheers man, i might head down to the hardware store and grab a sheet of wood tommorow as well.  I've got a router and drills here.


Another question, does anyone know of plans for a Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat machine on the net?  

Something like:

(Minus the horrible spacing/layout on the controls)

or


Thanks :)

EDIT:  Oh Malenko, i've checked out your cab threads.  I noticed in this image the spaces would be perfect for what i was doing:



Are they common at hardware stores?
ghettodish:
for cooling maybe build a box over it with fans on each end...
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