You can pull a power switch from an old case complete with wire and jumper. I keep a spare in my toolbox just for these purposes. And I just use a flat table with an anti-static bag under the motherboard. You can always use a motherboard box to raise it up so when you put cards into the slots, there is overhang clearance.

I test them on wooden table with overhang on edge, but it is not great because it is not thoroughly grounded. But it works, I guess? Also I don't test motherboards too often, because 90% PCs I have in case and 90% loose mobos are dead. Which reminded me I wanted to fix that 286 board with leaked battery.

Motherboard box FTW 😀

I have cut a notebook box to fit CD-ROM and Floppy inside. Motherboard is on top. PSU in on the right side of the box. When I get time I'll try to make whole thing from wood.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Motherboard box FTW 😀

^^This

And I wouldn't put the mobo on an antistatic bag when powering it up.

Yup works great. It's only on newer gear, like P4, that I like the board to be screwed down. Otherwise the cooler will flex the board and the contact between cooler and CPU will actually be reduced and then the chip could throttle.

I once had a tower case which had a removable motherboard mounting tray and used that as a test bench for a long time.

Buy a cheap case and get out the hacksaw

Tetrium wrote:

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Motherboard box FTW 😀

^^This

And I wouldn't put the mobo on an antistatic bag when powering it up.

How come?

> And I wouldn't put the mobo on an antistatic bag when powering it up.

Some people are afraid as they think the electrostatic bag can cause shorts because it is conductive. But not even in the megaohms range any resistance can be measured on such a bag. The typical electrostatic bag is too highly resistive to have an effect.