ok so this is the first time ive done this and i cant tell if i need more standoffs or whatever theyre called.


basically the case came with one installed standoff, which i replaced with another one that would allow me to put a screw in it so i could tightten it, the restof the "standoffs" were premade, like little raised V shaped places in the case that could be screwed into, and all of these match up, but there are 2 more holes in the mobo that look like they should have screws in them also, except theres no place on the case to screw into.


are they even necessary or no, i can only assume 4 grounding points is enough, but i want to be sure before i turn it on.

9 stand offs are what your supposed to have. 8 you screw in and one in the middle that came there. i would put your original middle standoff back. Does your mobo touch the raised V places and sit well on the middle stand off?


http://i.imgur.com/d5RdGlq.jpg

This post was edited by DeathChicken on Mar 5 2016 02:18pm

Let Ghot explain this one for u with some master paint pic

Put back other one that was originally in there.
Look in manual for where to put other 8

theres no plac ein the case to put them... id have to drill holes. The mobo is securethats not the problem, if it NEEDS to be grounded there then its an issue, if not i dont think its a huge deal. I have to go buy a dvi adapter or something cause the video card doesnt have a place to put the monitor.

I went ahead and turned it on, all the fans turn, but it doesnt post, and the monitor doesnt show anything i assume because it needs a video card rather than the mobo hook up.

the one i replaced with is exactl the same except it has a drilled out middle so you can tighten it down, theres TONS of screws in here, most of them in case you want install 15 harddrives and 10 cd drives and 15 things in thge pci slots.

the manual is a single sheet of paper folded 8 ways, and this is the manual online.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/680373/Msi-H81m-P33.html?page=12#manual

its a joke lol, i figured out the jfp panel, put in all that crap, installed all the power, its not posting though and i have no pciture so im gonna go get the adapter i need either way, and then sort the rest of this out.

There is the off chance that you got a motherboard and case, that are NOT compatible.... it would help if you linked the motherboard and case.

Rule of thumb: one standoff for each motherboard screw...no more, no less.

ok i guess it may have posted without sound or something cause im installing windows now, so everything seems to be in order, it gave me a bit of a scare. Ill go through the laundry list of things that pissed me off as soon as im satisfied everything is working.

Im gonna put up some pics later for now ive given it a break, it took quite awhile to be honest, at least 2 or 3 hours, alot of this was spent unboxing crap though and trying not to break the case, dealing with putting the mobo in, for now all looks well though.


I did not like

#1, my power LED lead from the case, was 3 pins, but the header was 2 pins, so i had to take a pin and bend back the little black holder dohookey and then move the lead to another pin holder so it would fit. Im still not sure its working properly to be honest, but the power button is blue. The other lead, the hdd led im not sure what thats supposed to light up.

#2 The usb thing was pretty neat, 2 ports plug into 1 header and it was simple. The power supplly was a mess, idk how people keep the cases clean, mine is not, i could route them through the backside of the case but what would be the point, it would still be a mess and theyd hardly fit. This is mostly due the case i guess but thats just the way it is.

#3 I was upset the power supply was supposed to point down, firstly i like that it draws air in the from the case and pushes it out, more air for everything, rather than sucking it in from the outside just for itself, i udnerstand why, but if your pc is so hot the air cant be used, you have a bigger problem than the psu, also... in order to clean out thatlittle vent, id have to remove the power supply which is screwed in 6 times, in order to change it, and thats just pain, plus theres no telling how often id need to change it so that was a no go, i put it in right side up

#4 there were 6 holes in the mobo for mounting, but only 4 suitable standoff points, the mobo is plenty secure, and im no computer engineer, but i cant imagine that mounting points play any real role in pc stability or fuction, theyre their for grounding and to hold it in place, i figure 4 is plenty anyway, and before anyone asks their was no other way to fit it, its a micro atx board in a mid case, so i guess it jsut fits a little differently.

#5 putting in the processor almost gave me a heart attack, i looked at the underside to make sure the one corner with one less gold thing was aligned right, then when i put it down i forgot how i put it down and almost feinted lol... their is also a triangle to help but i didnt till after so its all good anway.

#6, some idiot put a sticker on the back of the mobo, and i naturally peele dit off, but not all of it peeled it off, this led me to 10 minutes of painstakingly trying to get off all the sticky shit without hurting the board, i couldnt even get it all off so some of it still there on the back of the board and will eventually collect dust im sure.

#7 for some reason, my monitor didnt not come with a dvi cable, it came with sub-d or whatever, but my video card did not, wheni hooked this "vga/sub-d" or whatever into the mobo port, the screen did not register which is alrming cause i thought the 4170 came with integrated graphics, and i was going to use it to install windows while i drove out and got an adapter for my video card. To make matters worse, i would turn on the pc and listen for the post sound, thinking that the reason i got nothing on screen was an issue with the mobo idk, but no post sound... this scared me cause i thought maybe the mobo was fkd, i come home with adapter, plug it into video card, and start installing windows everything works fine, it just doesnt make a sound when it posts i guess


these are all issues ihad and this is before i get to windows 7 which i have never used but im sure ill hat for some time to come


Thank you guys all for the help along the way im goign to make another post with some pics soon as i get the chance, and i may be back here a little today to ask a few questsions as well, but for now i think everything is working well enough for me to figure out on google or whatever.