|
Fitting the Motherboard and Adapter Cards
Fitting the Motherboard
With the PC Case ready, collect together the 'fixings' kit
and follow these steps.
Unpack the Motherboard. You will notice that it is packaged
in a special bag (usually black or silver in color.) This
is a special anti-static bag. Try to keep the motherboard
inside this bag until it is needed.
A good quality motherboard will be supplied with a User
Manual, driver disk/CD and all the cables you will need to
configure your PC, including a Floppy Drive cable, one or
more IDE cables and where supported, one or more Serial-ATA
cables. In addition, you should also receive an IO Shield
which can be fitted into the PC Case to match the connectors
on the motherboard.
You will notice, in various places on the motherboard, there
are small holes with bare metal 'rings' around them. These
can be used to fix the motherboard to the inside of the PC
Case.
Find the corresponding points inside the case and fit the
standoffs as appropriate to allow you to screw the
motherboard into place. The standoffs should raise the
motherboard around half an inch off the metal mounting
plate, preventing a short-circuit.
Fitting the Motherboard and Adapter Cards
Fitting PCI/AGP/PCI-Express Adapter Cards
Now that the Motherboard is fitted, we can proceed to
install the adapter cards.
Note: If
your motherboard has video and/or sound adapters built in,
you may skip this step as necessary.
You will notice at the back of the PC Case, there are a
number of thin strips of metal held in by a screw. These are
Blanking Plates. In order to fit adapter cards (video /
sound cards etc.) it is necessary to remove these plates as
necessary. At this stage, it is wise to remove all of them,
and store them nearby.
note that these are the standard colours, but colour may
vary on newer motherboards.
PCI-Express and AGP Slots are only for Video cards. PCI
slots can be used for any suitable adapter card, as can ISA
slots, although ISA is gradually being phased out and will
not be available in newer PC's.
Unpack your adapter card taking extra care to handle it by
the edges and not touching any of the components. You will
notice that it has a plate at one end very similar to the
blanking plates as discussed earlier.
It should be possible to gently push the card into the
matching slot, such that the plate on the card fits into one
of the blanking plate holes at the back of the PC Case. You
can then use the original screw that held in the blanking
plate to secure the card to the case.
Repeat this procedure as necessary with any other adapter
cards you may have, and complete the task by refitting
blanking plates in any holes that are unoccupied by cards.
|