I would advise you to plug in the 3 pin fan connectors straight into a molex to 2 pin connector. its the way you are supposed to plug them in. as far as the motherboard goes. i had no problems what so ever, it was extremely easy. The rivet if anything made it easier as it lined up the whole board for me. It is very nice to have the motherboard standoffs already installed aswell. if you are planning on getting blue led fans, i would recommend the Xigmatek crystal fan series. i recently bought 6 Coolermaster sickle flow fans and to my surprise they were extremely loud.