Designing and Manufacturing Motherboards: A Step-by-Step Guide

[polaris90]

I've been looking all over the internet but can't find anything about it. How are motherboards made?
By that I mean, how are they made from scratch? I'm interested in the whole process of it, such as the main board and how the components are chosen and put together. I'm not trying to build my own as it would be too much, but in the future I would like to maybe build a small microcontroller just for fun. I read on a forum that the motherboard should be designed according to the chipset used. i.e. if I'm using an intel, chip I would have to know its specifications so I can build the board that works with it(correct me if I'm wrong). I would like to see an outline of the process from scratch until it is manufactured(just for the heck of it) if someone could provide me with one.

 

[meBigGuy]

Very slowly and methodically? Motherboard board design is multi-disciplined, dealing in complex issues in the area of power systems management, signal propagation, mechanical design and component selection and integration. Then you can think about the Bios. I'm probably leaving out a dozen things.

At its simplest Motherboard design is largely an exercise in implementing a uP chip vendor's reference design and determining how to integrate additional functionality (which is generally provided for by the chip vendor). The chips set might consist of the uP, Northbridge, and southbridge. You should cruise the intel site to see if you can find applications information.

I would expect that the applications guide or implementation guide for a chip set is probably confidential. There may be some old stuff around to give you an idea.

Just building the programmable switching power converters to supply the chip is a significant design task.

 

[polaris90]

thanks for the reply. I just wanted to know what it takes to make one but as you and many others said, it's not an easy and short process. I guess I will look into other things.

 

[meBigGuy]

I didn't mean to discourage you. It would be a good exercise to understand more about what is involved in motherboard design. Here is a link to an intel design reference for the Pentium 4.

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/ww...es/pentium-4-e7205-chipset-platform-guide.pdf

 

[polaris90]

I'm not discourage, I'm still interested in learning more about it. But I will look more into something that's achievable within the amount of work I can put into and the time dedicated at the moment. Thanks for the link by the way, I will look into it. If there are any other links yo would like to share(whether it's about the thread or something of your own interest that can be interesting/useful), they are welcome.