Hardware Secrets
Home | Camera | Case | CE | Cooling | CPU | Input | Memory | Mobile | Motherboard | Networking | Power | Storage | Video | Other
Content
Articles
First Look
Gabriel's Blog
News
Reviews
Tutorials
Main Menu
About Us
Awarded Products
Compare Prices
Datasheets
Dictionary
Download
Drivers
Forums
Links
Manufacturer Finder
Newsletter
On The Web
RSS Feed
Test Your Skills
Twitter
Newsletter
Subscribe today!
Search




Recommended
Building The Perfect PC
Building The Perfect PC, by Barbara Fritchman-Thompson (O'Reilly Media), starting at $0.01
Home » Motherboard
How to Install a Motherboard
Author: Gabriel Torres
Type: Tutorials Last Updated: May 25, 2005
Page: 6 of 7
$ Check REAL-TIME pricing for ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX Motherboard - Retail $.
Newegg: $129.99 CircuitCity: $129.99
Amazon: $135.00 TigerDirect: $129.99

Installing I/O Brackets, Drives and Power Supply

Together with your motherboard came some I/O brackets, such as more USB ports, Firewire ports and audio jacks (see Figure 18). It is time to connect them to the motherboard, but leaving them uninstalled from the case for now. Of course you can install them later to the motherboard, but once again it is easier to install them while the motherboard isn't inside the case yet.

How to Install a Motherboard
click to enlarge
Figure 18: I/O brackets from the motherboard.

You should install them following the directions presented on the motherboard manual. We cannot publish were exactly they should be installed since it varies depending on the motherboard model.

Next, install the flat cables coming from the hard disk drive, optical units and floppy disk drive. If you didn't install these devices to the case yet now it is a good time to do so.

The cable from the hard disk drive must be installed on the IDE1 (primary) port and the cable from the optical unit must be installed on the IDE2 (secondary) port. The floppy cable should be installed on the floppy port. To install the cable, just pay attention on the red wire, it should be installed facing the "pin 1" marking on the motherboard. This marking is usually a number "1" or "2" painted on one of the sides of the connector (the opposite side should be marked "40" or "39", or "33" or "34" in the case of the floppy port).

How to Install a Motherboard
click to enlarge
Figure 19: Cables from the hard disk drive, optical unit and floppy disk drive correctly installed.

The next step is connecting the power supply. The power supply has one 20-pin connector and your motherboard can have an extra 4-pin connector called ATX12V, which should also be installed (not all motherboards have this extra connector). You may need to lift the motherboard in a 45º angle with the table you are using to assemble your PC, since usually the wires from the power supply aren't long enough to reach the motherboard while it is on the table outside the case.

How to Install a Motherboard
click to enlarge
Figure 20: Installing the power supply connector.

How to Install a Motherboard
click to enlarge
Figure 21: Installing the ATX12V connector (only if your motherboard has it).

Pages (7): « 1 2 3 4 5 [6] 7 »
Print Version | Send to Friend | | Bookmark Article | Comments (4)

Related Content
  • Cloned Motherboards
  • Your nForce 2 may be an nForce 2 400 Ultra
  • Replacing the Motherboard Battery
  • Small Details on Motherboards
  • ECS Factory Tour in ShenZhen, China

  • Recommended Deal.
    Motherboard Desktop Intel LGA X58Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Motherboard - Retail


    Newegg: $188.99 Amazon: $187.75
    TigerDirect: $189.99 Buy.com: $189.97

    RSSLatest News
    IN WIN LAN Party in Southern California
    November 20, 2009 - 12:37 PM PST
    Patriot Announces PS-100 SSD Series
    November 19, 2009 - 7:30 AM PST
    Antec Launches TPQ-1200 PSU
    November 18, 2009 - 11:30 AM PST
    AMD/ATI Launches Radeon HD 5970
    November 18, 2009 - 10:18 AM PST
    OCZ Launches Colossus SSD Series
    November 17, 2009 - 1:39 PM PST
    NZXT Unleashes Tempest EVO Mid-Tower Case
    November 17, 2009 - 1:06 PM PST
    nVidia Launches GeForce GT 240
    November 17, 2009 - 10:18 AM PST
    Arctic Cooling Announces Accelero TWIN TURBO PRO VGA Cooler
    November 16, 2009 - 11:46 AM PST
    PowerColor Announces PLAY! HD5770 Video Card
    November 13, 2009 - 12:51 PM PST
    G.Skill Announces Falcon II SSD Series
    November 11, 2009 - 3:31 PM PST
    .:: More News ::.

    RSSLatest Content
    Ultra X4 500 W Power Supply Review
    Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB Hard Disk Drive Review
    Nintendo Wii Fit Plus Review
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table
    Gigabyte G41M-ES2L Motherboard
    Netflix on Playstation 3 Review
    CM Storm Sentinel Advance Mouse Review
    Titan Skalli CPU Cooler Review
    Nexus RX-6300 630 W Power Supply Review
    Gigabyte P55-UD6 Motherboard
    Nintendo Wii Review
    SilverStone Grandia GD04 Case Review
    Can We Trust the 80 Plus Certification?
    NZXT Gamma Case Review

    Our Most Popular Articles
    Maximum CPU Temperature
    1,078,659 views
    How to Find Out Your Motherboard Manufacturer and Model
    706,681 views
    nVidia Chips Comparison Table
    679,439 views
    Connecting Two PCs Using a USB-USB Cable
    593,756 views
    How To Correctly Apply Thermal Grease
    562,759 views
    AMD ATI Chips Comparison Table
    560,355 views
    ATI Radeon X1300 Pro Review
    488,018 views
    ATI Radeon X1600 XT Review
    477,174 views
    How To Perform a BIOS Upgrade
    394,726 views
    Sempron vs. Athlon XP
    338,597 views

    Latest Threads in Our Forums
    Dell Inspiron 6000 Powers but will not boot...
    by Merman
    Ultra X4 500 W Power Supply Review
    by Merman
    IN WIN LAN Party in Southern California
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Getting A Hard Copy
    by Trevorrross
    Am I Making The Right Choice?
    by need2know
    Is it available to mount the Zalman cooler?
    by Olle P
    dsl modem prob
    by Sherry
    Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB Hard Disk Drive Review
    by Hardware Secrets Team
    Overclocking a dell xps 410
    by 6dracing
    How to recover mp3's, pdf & chm files, applications from formated harddrive partition
    by tomahawk 1705
    .:: Visit Our Forums ::.


    © 2004-9, Hardware Secrets, LLC. All rights reserved.
    Advertising | Legal Information | Privacy Policy
    All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST, GMT -08:00)