10 Tips: Motherboard & Case Installation(Part 1)

1-Keep ports and plates in line along your PC's back end.

On the I/O plate, you'll notice some "bendy bits" (for lack of a technical term) around most of the port openings, little tabs of excess metal that extend inside the case. These springy tabs apply pressure to the ports to align them with the plate openings, as well as perform a grounding function. Make sure none of these tabs gets jammed inside a port when you install the motherboard, however--they tend to do so.

2-Clear out cabling before motherboard installation.

Your average PC case has a mass of cables cluttering up the interior before you even start installing the motherboard (especially if your case has its power supply preinstalled). Untangle and drape all cables outside the case before starting the build; don't try to install around them.

3-Use a paper and pencil to install your motherboard correctly.

As noted in Tip 3, you'll need to mount standoffs in your PC's case to support your motherboard. But how can you tell into which holes you should install them? Your case bottom will have lots of holes. Some cases have indicators stamped next to the holes (for example, marking the holes for ATX- or MicroATX-form-factor boards), but it's best to examine the board you have for guidance.

4-Install your standoffs strategically if you don't have enough.

Sometimes a case doesn't come with enough brass standoffs to accommodate your board. You can get by without installing a required standoff or two, but choose any that you omit strategically, making sure there's enough support for the board underneath areas you'll press down on when installing hardware--for example, under the PCI and PCI Express (PCIe) slots, the IDE and Serial ATA (SATA) ports, and the CPU socket region.

5-Thumbscrews are a cheap, highly handy upgrade.

If you're a frequent hardware upgrader, it's well-worth fitting out your case with thumbscrews for the case lids and expansion cards. They cost only a few cents each and eliminate the need for a screwdriver. Look for large-headed, easy-to-grasp thumbscrews for the case exterior, along with smaller ones for the expansion-card bracket.