Hey everyone, I am doing a little experiement with a logic board but there's a vertical RAM slot in the way of what I want to do. It's PC2700 RAM, 184-pins. Is there any way you know of getting a special ribbon cable with an additional connector on one end I could plug the memory into so I could move it out of the way? If not, do you think it would work if I just bent the connector over? It has to bend pretty far over though... I'm not confident with soldering 184 pins lol.

Hey Madmax Vertical Ram slot that sounds different. The ribbon thing you mentioned, I dont think I have ever heard or seen such a device. As far bending the pins or connector; I dont know if thats such a good idea bro;) I do know you can get an expandable PC ram card, but these are expensive and I wouldnt even know where to get one. Good luck;) BTW, what you trying to do?

I'm trying to add a touch screen directly onto the logic board so in effect I will have a basic tablet-PC. The logic board is only 1/2" high except for the darn RAM sticking up and out over an inch. It's in the way of mounting the screen and It would make the entire thing thicker than I want. Hmm...maybe I could cut 1/2 of the connector off...nahh lol I'll try to see if there's a ribbon cable that will work. The pins are probably a standard distance apart. The little dip in the RAM divides the pins on each side into a group of 40 and a group of 52 (40x2+52x2=184). Maybe i can get a busted laptop logic board since it must have the flat/lying RAM connector...who knows how hard that would be to solder tho... OHH i have an idea. I need to somehow get a spare memory connector maybe mouser.com has one. Then I'll just etch a curved PCB to match the pattern and bridge the two. Yesssssssssssss! http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?handler=displayproduct&lstdispproductid=346104&e_categoryid=619&e_pcodeid=57236

Sounds like an interesting project. Good luck then bro;)

I hope you're taking pictures - it might be interesting to see what you're doing.

Here's the basic idea:

This is an odd idea: Can you turn the curcuit board over so it is upside down? You'd still have a lump where the memory is but you'd be able to move the screen closer to the board . . . (?)

I could, but I think it would make it harder to connect the screen as the cable would need to go around the edge to plug in. I think this bent pcb silliness of mine will work, even tho it's sort of an odd solution. The second tallest component on the board is the CPU heatsink, and with this little add-on to the RAM slot they should be just about even.

hmm..if they made standoffs that could be inserted through the screw holes on the system board. Say extending upwards rather than downwards. The main thing to keep in mind is to allow for sufficient ventilation, because these puppies heat up over time.

madmax some really serious advice for you concerning the bending of those pins. From working on many cb radio and shortwave receivers i have learned that anything with fine pins like on the ram should never be bent..it only take that little bit to much pressure/preasure and you will snap one or more pins...trust me mate i have done it many times with PLL chips and yes i broke more than i hadn't.

Just an idea, De-solder the connector and try to remove some of the plastic surrounding, re-solder and this may give some bending room. Or De-solder and extend the pins on the bottom of the connector (wire or something). Maybe lol.

nice ideer, show us some fotos off your progress.

Here's my updated plan: Slightly higher than the other method, but much simpler to make and saves horizontal space, plus gives me the vertical room I need. As soon as I have the tools and stuff I need I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the help everyone!!

Good Luck, you may find that you will need to back off the memory timings. Introducing an extra connector like this is likely to increase the RF crosstalk on the memory bridge so slacker settings / better error correction (use ECC RAM) may be needed to get round it.