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motherboard installation question

A

azztec

Senior member
ive never installed a motherboard into a case before and im sitting here with my enlight 7237 and my ecs k7s5a. first of all it seems like there are an awful lot of places for screws on the motherboard and not nearly as many places to attach it to the case, how many screws do i need to secure it? also, the case came with a bag full of screws, a couple little nylon pieces that look similar to screws, several metal bridge looking things, and several skinny metal pieces that have threaded holes in them. can i just screw the motherboard into the metal pieces (assuming its not resting flush with the motherboard tray) or do i use the nylon things?

also if you guys have advice/warnings or links to good info on building that would be much appreciated. thanks in advance.
 
Azztec -

There are more holes in your case than you will need - this is to accomodate all different Mobo designs and hole patterns. What you need to do:
<edit> a) Find the screws that fit into your brass standoffs. You may have screws of several widths, so find all those that fit the standoffs and put them in a separate pile.
1) Lay the case down flat, set the mobo on its plastic, and ground yourself.
2) Set the mobo in the case: orient it so the PCI slots are near the PCI 'holes' in the case.
3) line up the holes in the mobo (there will be brass looking rings surrounding these holes) to screw holes in your case. Keep a mental note of the case holes. Note that there are 9 holes in the board (3 lines of three holes; 1 at each side, and one 2/3 to one side). You want to use all of these, or your board will flex (and possibly crack) when you add RAM, new components, etc). Put Mobo back on plastic.
4) Screw the brass standoffs into the holes in the case. These are the things with a screw post on one side, and a screw hole on top. Screw these in pretty tight.
5) Ground yourself, and then set the mobo on the offsets. Fit the outuput ports (PS2, Parallet, etc) through the appropriate slots on the back of the case. Make sure each mobo hole shows a brass standoff behind it.
6) Screw in the mobo to the case. Don't over tighten.

Good Luck!
 
thanks bravesfan.

i found the nine holes that match up and put the standoffs in them. now i think i have just two more questions.
1. is it ok to use the metal screws into the metal standoffs to hold the mb in place? for some reason i thought the nylon pieces might have to be between the mb and any metal.

2. what are those nylon pieces for if they dont hold the mb in place.

thanks
 
Azztek -

To be honest, I don't know what the nylon pieces are for. I just installed my K7S5A last weekend, and I didn't have any nylon parts. The system works fine using metal screws and standoffs, and no insulators. The brass 'rings' in the board are pretty wide, so you shouldn't have problems with a screw contacting the board and shorting it out. Also, as I think about it, I think you want to have the metal screws contacting that brass ring (and not an insulated washer, etc) so that static charge on the board can dissipate through the screws to the case.

Do you have a manual that came with your case explaining the screws, etc that came with it?

Also, from your first question:
PCmech.com has a pretty thorough 'how to build' guide. Anand has one on his site that glosses over a lot of the details, but it does advise checking that the system POSTs as soon as you have your RAM, Processor and vid card installed - PC mech has you assemble everything and then try it out, which I regretted.
 
If the plastic/nylon pieces are threaded on one end, but then are triangular on the other, they they can be used as a one-piece standoff/fastener. screw them into your case, then you should just have to guide the mobo in. They'll snap in. Much faster than metal standoffs, but I would guess it's just a matter of taste. 🙂

 
It isn't really necessary to use 9 standoffs/screws. If you install your RAM and stuff outside the case (where it's much easier anyway), you can get away with just the 2 leftmost rows, 6 screws total. Yes, I'm that lazy 😉
 
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