after many years of exclusively being a console gamer i'm taking the head first dive into PC gaming. my question is that i was installing the motherboard stand-offs in my case and i noticed that my case only matches up with 6 of the 7 screw holes on my motherboard. i just want to know if i'm safe letting it go that way or am i gonna have to buy a new case. . the case is a fractal arc midi r2 and the mobo is a gigabyte GA - 970A -D3P . any info would be very appreciated
Weird. All should fit. Open up the instruction guide to the case(ermagerd instructions eww. read em anyways), and make sure you're putting the standoffs into the correct holes. Otherwise, you can go without a couple standoffs, I guess. I remember my old ATX rig only had like 5 standoffs and it worked just fine.
You should be fine leaving out one standoff. You may want to try putting the standoff in upside down through the other side of the mobo so it provides some support to avoid bending the motherboard too much when you're cabling.
very odd... especially from a Fractal case... I'd double check and make sure everything was lined up properly... but yea it's fine if you're missing 1 standoff be careful cabling as warpig said...
If you can get by with no standoff's then that's OK! Problem with that is the laws of physics and things like gravity. ;-)
Therefore, use as few standoffs as necessary to make sure the mobo is securly mounted and not rattling around. That's really the only critical thing. But do check with the mobo manual since some of those holes may not be intended for mounting too.
If you're worried, next time check the "form factor" of your motherboard. In this situation I can see that your Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 (rev. 1.0/1.1) is a full ATX board that would require a full ATX case. And there's good news since I also see that a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 FD-CA-ARC-R2-BL-W is a full ATX (mid tower) case.
...And don't forget the back plate that should have come with your mobo (although you may not need it).
[edit] Make sure you have enough support so that when you're inserting something like a RAM module that you don't crack the board from bending it. (Don't know if that needed saying since I would hope it was obvious.)
so i double checked the fitment just now and there is no standoff hole drilled in the case for the mounting hole on the motherboard . so i guess ill just go without it. thanks guys for all the help and tips . and also sorry for posting this twice .
If it's not too late, I'd recommend doing as much as you can with the motherboard out of the case. That way you can do it on a solid surface like the mobo box and avoid the uneven standoffs. Good luck!