Please Help! Building my Computer

[trickymickey]

Ok I might be a total noob, but I can't figure out wtf is wrong. I ordered all my parts and started putting together my computer. Everything seemed to be going well, I got the cpu and heatsink installed on the mobo no problem, installed the mobo in the case seemingly lined up properly, installed the power supply in the case. I figured I was 80% done and just need to plug in power, video card, ram, etc. I go to plug in my PCI cards and they don't line up with the back of the case, and to be able to screw in my PCI cards, I have to flex the mobo quite a significant amount.

Is there any chance the case/mobo are not compatible, i didn't think this was possible. I've checked to make sure cables are out of the way, the offsets are all screwed in hand tight and appear to be flush. I even checked the case to make sure it was level, it is. Parts list is below, any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

Antec 900 Case
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX
Corsair 750TX 750W
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA
3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Samsung SH-223F DVD Burner
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

 

[Eureka]

Look at the back of the case, make sure that the ports are all lined up. While all case/mobos follow the general ATX standard, I've seen Antec cases with a good amount of offset. You might just have a warped case.

 

[brblx]

did you tighten up the mobo screws a little at a time? i like to start them all and torque them down very carefully to make sure there's no pressure on the board.

how does the IO panel on the board line up?

 

[trickymickey]

It seems to line up well, except at the top where the ps2 mouse/keyboard ports are, which seem like they're slightly high and there appears to be a small gap at the bottom, the rest of the ports seem almost spot on. I also started all the screws but didn't tighten them all the way until they were all in, then tighten them all.

 

[brblx]

did you try loosening all the screws and pushing it towards where it needs to go? sometimes the IO plate puts pressure on the mobo and kind of pushes it out of place, you've got maybe 2-3mm of play in the mobo mounting holes that could be the problem.

if you're sure the standoffs are in the right positions and you just can't coax the board into position, the case might be tweaked and need to be rma'd.

 

[trickymickey]

It needs to go down. By down I mean I have the case on it's side with the cpu heat sink facing up. As I look at it from the back of the case, the top corner closest to me needs to go down. I can push on the standoff and it seems to move in the right place (at least everything on the back panel seems to line up) but then the standoff just pops back into place. How much can I play with the case before they won't take it back if I can't make things work?

 

[brblx]

are you saying the mobo is actually sitting too high, as in, too far away from the mobo tray? are you sure you don't have one taller standoff in there?

 

[trickymickey]

Yes, I am saying the mother board seems to be sitting high in one corner. I switched the standoff and it didn't help, the standoffs look identical to me.

 

[Eureka]

Place the case flat on the ground and put a bb or marble on the motherboard tray...

 

[brblx]

decent idea.

for the last stupid question- are you sure you didn't use too many standoffs? you could have an odd one hitting on a solder joint instead of flat pcb.

 

[trickymickey]

I don't have a marble, but I used a level and it looks good. I also took out all of the standoffs and put them back in randomly. There are 9 standoffs and I can see each one below the hole although I can only find 8 screws to go into them. There aren't any randomly placed ones on a solder joint though.

I put in the video card without screws in the mobo, and it lines up at the bottom, but to get it screwed at the top in I have to pick up the back side of the mobo to shift the screw holes over. It looks like it's all the way in though.