Case standoff’s? Do I need them?

[PortzJ]

Hey, 

 

My motherboard sits to high in my case and I was wondering if it’s because my standoff’s. I don’t want to fry my mother board so can someone tell me if I even need them for this case. My graphics card can not be mounted correctly because it’s high, that makes sense

[Levent]

yes you absolutely need them.

[mariushm]

No, it seems like the case is designed to have that metal bits raised where you typically put standoffs.

Only install standoffs where the metal is flat and the motheboard has a hole in that location.  For example, if your board is mATX you may need to add two standoffs above the center - in your last picture that red and black is right over one of the two holes.

[Guest]

your mobo will touch the case. aka 1 little power surge and dead. also you cant even put in mobo wthout standoffs

[PortzJ]

My case has these little mounds im just not sure tho 

 

[mariushm]

Guys look at the pictures before commenting. He has one of those cases that has a metal standoffs created from the metal of the case (and those can't be removed), for the standard ATX screw locations.

 

If the board is not ATX or has additional holes, he can add standoffs. 

 

@PortzJ the standoffs are there so that exposed metal on the back of your motherboard will not touch the flat panel of the case and short circuit something.

Only the holes on your motherboard are surrounded by a bit of metal which is intended to connect to the metal case, so you only want standoffs where the motherboard holes are.

Those bumps on your case do the job of preventing the back of the motherboard from touching the case, but your motherboard may have more screw holes than those bumps - so just add standoffs where needed, if needed.

[I-r0k]

In conclusion, you should use the standoffs. If you choose not use them, it will be very risky.

[PortzJ]

Thanks @mariushm can I use any kind of screws to bolt down the mobo?

[Montgomery C Burns]

-

[mariushm]

You can only use two kinds of screws ... either the

1. UNC 6-32 (imperial thread , used for mechanical hard drives, screwing video cards to case etc, typically have that hexagonal head) or

2. M3 screws (metric, 3mm diameter, so a bit smaller diameter and finer thread than the other, used typically to screw optical drives to the case mostly, and they usually have a round disc in the head shape)

 

It's up to the case manufacturer to choose the screw and standoffs, the majority go with the unc 6-32 screws. So try those bigger ones and if they don't thread easily, don't force them and try the smaller M3 ones.

The diameter of M3 screws is smaller than the holes for imperial screws, so if you try to screw a m3 in imperial hole, the m3 screws would just never screw, they'd just turn around in the hole. And imperial screws have diameter bigger than M3 holes, so you can't screw them in unless you really force it. Can't really get them wrong unless you're really forcing things.

 

 

 

 

unc 6-32 on the left , M3 in the center , bottom right are screws for mounting fans , top right I'm not sure, probably unc 6-32 (can't see the thread pitch well)