OPENING THE COMPUTER CASE
The first step will be to open the case up. The method for opening the case will vary depending upon how the case was manufactured. Most new cases have either a side panel or door while older ones require the whole cover be removed. Remove any screws hold the cover to the case and set them aside in a safe place.
Some cases have a removable motherboard tray that slides out of the case to make it easier to install a motherboard. If your case has such a tray, now is the time to remove it from the case.
REPLACE THE ATX CONNECTOR PLATE
While there is a standard ATX connector design for the back of the motherboard, each manufacturer can layout the connectors however they need to. This means that the basic ATX connector face plate will need to be removed from the case and the custom one that ships with the motherboard be installed.
To remove the basic ATX plate, gently press in on the corner of the installed ATX plate until it pops out. Repeat this on the opposite corner to fully remove the plate.
Install the new ATX place by aligning the connectors properly (PS/2 keyboard and mouse should be on the side towards the power supply) and gently pressing from the inside until it snaps into place.
DETERMINE THE MOTHERBOARD MOUNTING LOCATION
There are a variety of sizes that a desktop motherboard can come in. In each case, there is a series of mounting holes that need to be lined up between the motherboard and the case or tray. Compare the motherboard to the tray that it is going to be installed in. Any location that has a mounting hole will require a standoff installed in the tray.
INSTALL THE MOTHERBOARD STANDOFF'S
Install the standoffs in the appropriate location. The standoffs may come a variety of styles. The most common is the brass hex standoff that requires a hex driver to install. Others include a clip style that snaps into the tray.
FASTEN THE MOTHERBOARD
Lay the motherboard over the tray and align the board so all the standoffs are visible through the mounting holes. Starting with the center most mounting point, insert the screws to fix the motherboard to the tray. After the center, work in a star pattern to affix the corners of the board.
ATTACH ATX CONTROL WIRES
Locate the power, hard drive LED, reset and speaker connectors from the case. Using the manual from the motherboard, attach these connectors to the appropriate headers on the motherboard.
ATX POWER CONNECTION
This is the common 20-pin ATX power connector that is needed to power the motherboard and all of its other components
This is the ATX12V power connector that most modern motherboards require. It's used to power most modern high-speed processors and in some rare cases, it's used with AGP Pro ports.
This is the AUX (auxiliary) power connector that some older Pentium 4 motherboards require. It's seldom used in Athlon-based systems. It's used in most high-end server boards, especially dual processor systems.
This is the popular Molex four-pin power connector that's used with most devices such as your optical drives and hard disk drives. It's also used with some high-end graphics cards, Firewire cards and casing fans.
This is the smaller 4-pin power connector that is normally used to power floppy disk drives. It's also used with certain graphics cards, Firewire cards, coolers and the Sound Blaster
This is a recently introduced power connector used specifically only for SATA hard disk drives. Most motherboards provide a converter cable for this power connector, so it's not a compulsory requirement yet. However, it's handy to have it included with the power supply unit.
Note the location of the latches
Now the motherboard needs to be connected to the power supply. All motherboards will use the standard 20-pin ATX power connector block. Find this and plug it into the connector on the motherboard. Since most new computers require additional power, there may also be a 4-pin ATX12V power connector. If there is, locate this power cord and connect it into the connector on the motherboard as well.
Replace the motherboard(If removed previously).
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