Install Motherboard

If you have followed along with us through the preceeding articles by installing your drives, CPU and memory, you should now be ready to install the motherboard itself. This is probably the most important step of the whole operation, and as usual you should be sure to ground yourself before handling the motherboard to avoid damage caused by discharging static electricity.

The orientation at which your motherboard will be attached inside your case should be obvious by observing that the ports on the edge of the motherboard must line up with the holes in the back of the case. If you have a tower case, lay it on its side; this will allow you to lower the motherboard inside the case enabling easier installation. Your case should already be open, so the first thing to do is make sure the screw-holes in the motherboard line up correctly with the screw sockets in the case. It's not necessary that every hole have a corresponding socket in the case, but at least a few should line up. If they don't, you should be able to physically move some or all of the screw sockets to new holes in the case (how this is accomplished depends on the case and the type of screw socket; some screw sockets will snap out of the holes while others might be held on with screws).

Once you have determined the correct orientation for the motherboard and ensured that the holes line up, you may carefully lower the motherboard inside the case, line it up correctly and begin screwing the motherboard to the case. As mentioned, not all holes need to be secured so start with the holes near the four corners, then make sure the board is secured somewhere near the center. If you have screws left over, use them in the holes close to the slots, and then by the CPU.

After the motherboard is properly secured it's time to connect the power supply. If you have an ATX style board, take the largest of the connectors from the power supply and plug it into the appropriate receptacle (consult your motherboard's manual if necessary); it should only fit in one orientation. If you have an AT style motherboard, the two largest power connectors are used and must be inserted so that the dark wires are towards the center of the power receptacle on the motherboard and the colored wires are towards the outside; be absolutely sure to do this right as you will almost certainly fry your motherboard if you hook it up the wrong way. Whichever type of motherboard you have, make sure the power cord is pushed all the way into the receptacle; there should be a small clip that will snap shut.

Now you must connect all the wires for the switches and lights on your case to the motherboard. This step can seem confusing, and sometimes is if the wires aren't properly labelled. If you don't see any labels on the connectors at the ends of the wires, try following them to the case to see which wire is for what. If this is impossible, you can generally proceed by trial and error, keeping in mind that it is standard for the colored wire to be positive and the black or white wire to be negative. To determine where the wires attach to your motherboard, consult the manual or look for labels on the motherboard itself. You also need to connect the internal speaker, the case (also known as the chassis) fan, the CPU fan, and the front USB ports if your case has them and your motherboard supports it.

If you haven't already done so, connect the drives to the motherboard by following the directions in our article "Installing Drives", and you're done! Your patience will soon pay off, there are only a few steps remaining before you're ready to power up your newly-built computer.