Mounting the Motherboard

[JonnyBGood]

Guys,

It's been a long while since I've built a new system. I just bought a Thermaltake V3 chassis and a ASROCK H55M Pro motherboard and I'm about to mount the motherboard to the case. There seems to be raised metal "tabs" on the chassis that the motherboard is supposed to be mounted on, but do I really want to mount the motherboard DIRECTLY to the chassis? I used to use a lot of plastic stand offs to prevent the chassis from touching the motherboard, but these newer motherboards seem to have the mounting holes with ground traces. So is it safe to mount the motherboard directly onto chassis without any isolation?

Thanks in advance

 

[MadAdmiral]

You need to mount it using the standoffs. There should be some in the bag of miscellaneous parts. They go in the little screw holes, and the standoffs should line up with the holes in the motherboard.

 

[JDFan]

You need to mount it using the standoffs. There should be some in the bag of miscellaneous parts. They go in the little screw holes, and the standoffs should line up with the holes in the motherboard.

Actually I think the thermaltake case already has the raised standoffs as a part of the case - so it does not include any standoffs in the accessories and in fact if you do try you use standoff the MOBO will be raised too high so that no expansion cards will fit since the board will sit too high on the tray ! (my HEC case was made the same way - Look at the pic of the inside of the case on this page and you can see the raised mounts ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=11-121-072-S11&ISList=11-121-072-S01%2c11-121-072-S02%2c11-121-072-S03%2c11-121-072-S04%2c11-121-072-S05%2c11-121-072-S06%2c11-121-072-S07%2c11-121-072-S08%2c11-121-072-S09%2c11-121-072-S10%2c11-121-072-S11&S7ImageFlag=1&Item=N82E16811121072&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=HEC%206T%20Series%206T10BBHP585D%20Black%200.7mm%20SECC%20Steel%20MicroATX%20Mini%20Tower%20Computer%20Case%20585W%20Power%20Supply) - and if you look at the closeup of the screws included you will see only 2 standoff that are only used if mounting a micro ATX MOBO (since if they raised those spots in the case it would interfere with the bottom of an ATX MOBO causing a short so they use standoffs for those 2 spots) - I was a bit worried also when seeing that but installed the MOBO using the raised parts in the case without standoffs and everything lined up and there has been no problems (ie. shorting of the MOBO on the case) so it was designed to be installed that way. (and don't worry I'm not using that PSU on my system (I already had a good quality PSU and needed that one to reinstall all of my old socket 754 AGP video system back together which is used only as a backup for light internet browsing etc. so it fills the need and if it takes the system out at some point is not a big deal !!)

 

[theJ]

I recently had a case that was the same as yours, with the raised metal tabs. I think it's ok, because there shouldn't be any circuits running around the holes on the motherboard that will cause a short. Especially if your case didn't come with any isolation hardware (like a plastic washer).

But what i'm going to do is buy some thin plastic washers to put between the mobo and case. Plastic so it doesn't short the mobo, and thin so it doesn't mess with the alignment of the ports with the back panal.

Really, spending about a $1 is worth it in this case when you're not sure.

Note: My system isn't up and running yet because i had some DOA hardware.

 

[JonnyBGood]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the information. I think that I used to use those plastic stand offs, but I think that the metal 'tabs' in the case is going to be grounded through the power supply. I guess that this is just the way it is supposed to be. Thanks for the help.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

You will notice that there is a metal ring around the screw holes in the MoBo. This is to provide a grounding point between the MoBo and the case. If you use plastic washers, you will break that ground connection which would be a bad thing.

In the "old days", some of these holes didn't have the ring and felt washers were used, but I haven't seen that in this millenium.

 

[JDFan]

You will notice that there is a metal ring around the screw holes in the MoBo. This is to provide a grounding point between the MoBo and the case. If you use plastic washers, you will break that ground connection which would be a bad thing.

In the "old days", some of these holes didn't have the ring and felt washers were used, but I haven't seen that in this millenium.

Yep - which is why you used to have a couple Brass/metal standoffs when using the plastic ones (the brass ones used for the holes that did have the rings and the plastic ones for those without) also so that there was at least one or two places where the MOBO was grounded to the chasis !

 

[Influence713]

the V3, has no standoff's the only thing you would need standoffs for is a mATX case.
Full size, just use the risers. there is a preinstalled post in the middle to help you line up the MoBo in the case with the holes.

Just installed mine, was skeptical at first, but found some sites to confirm. Built in standoffs for this one.