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How to Build a Mainboard: ECS Production Tour

Posted by timothy on from the sheep-dip-is-the-last-step dept.

Unts writes "Ever wondered how they put a mainboard together? HEXUS.net has taken a tour of ECS's production facilities, following a mainboard from PCB creation, right through to burn-in testing. From the article: 'The final production testing is done by skilled female technicians who have the ability to test two at a time, in tandem. They've got some test hardware that I'm jealous of (fast-removal memory modules, CPU heatsinks that don't need full attachment, PCI and PCI Express logic testers, etc.) and can have a mainboard fully functionally tested in a matter of minutes.'"

5 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Fun in the Factory! by rueger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    From TFA:

    "So next time you purchase a mainboard, think about the guys and gals that put them together, since it's not completely automated... Volume counts and the people are pushed a lot harder that I thought they'd be, to keep that volume up."

    Would that be the people who are housed on-site "with ECS providing everything you need to live and work in pretty much the same place" and who apparently never leave the workplace because "work and play are rarely separated, since it's a fair run in to ShenZhen city and you live directly on-site next to the factories"?

    Gee Whiz Wally, isn't it nice that they allow their workers an "on-site restaurant and relaxation area, well kept garden for spending free time in, (and an) employee-built library"?

    How grand.

    --
    Three Squirrels
    1. Re:Fun in the Factory! by mister_llah · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It's a very cyberpunk sort of thing, I think... the big zaibatsu providing everything you need from birth to death... very William Gibson.

      Kind of funny/scary/unusual, if you ask me...

      --
      MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
      http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
  2. Re:Building Your Own Wire-wrapped PC Board... by mako1138 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    No way to do that for modern processors, but I've been interested in doing a retro-type computer myself. You could look into a Z80, a simple RISC, or an early Apple. Though you could probably find a 8088 if you look hard enough.

  3. Re:Building Your Own Wire-wrapped PC Board... by siliconwafer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't recommend it unless you've got a logic analyzer handy, or at minimum an oscilloscope (preferrably both). Wirewrap will be flaky at high frequencies, but I recommend getting an 8086 and running it at say 4MHz. You can throw some SRAM and EEPROM (or Flash) on the board to write a very basic monitor program and do some neat stuff. Make sure you include a UART, PIC, PIT.. and an FPGA or CPLD helps for decode logic and such too.

  4. why to buy non Tier-1 systems by brontus3927 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    From TFA:
    Capacity for production is over two million mainboards per month, and ECS regularly make that many. ECS respectfully request that we don't name their customers, since those customers don't even know who else uses ECS for manufacture, but rest assured that it's a veritable who's who in the PC mainboard game, with a couple of vendors on the list that you might be shocked to learn don't produce all their own products.

    Based on the horrible crap that comes out of ECS/Elite/PC Chips with their own name on it, I can't think of a better argument to sway people into buying from a small shop or building their own system. I just found a new sales tool, thank you slashdot and hexus!

    --
    Free MacMini